The lantern is a bit redundant here. This deck doesn't struggle with colour fixing so much now and the Keeper can feed an altar, search for an altar or relic, or a Trophy Mage to find any of the above or any number of other valuable 3 drops. Should be great here.
Quick switch out - trying Archeomancer instead of Profaner of the Dead. It's certainly more versatile in the answers it can potentially give me, and Profaner has whiffed in the past.
The relic will come in handy moreso in a different deck - without ways to abuse it, it doesn't quite pop. The aristocrat is better as a squid that explodes into other squids. The equipments were never crucial, and these two replacements may or may not fit, but they could be good so they're both worth a shot.
These should all be strict upgrades - helm should be fun, FoF is solid draw and sometime reanimation fodder, Hunger should be an absolute beating here, and Stunt Double is very versatile copying.
Dread leaves for The Eldest Reborn. Slightly a flavourful choice, but also the BBB is not easy for a tri-colour deck. It may not be worth it, or it might do some good work.
River Kelpie leaves for Grave Titan. Solid token production, solid beater, I'd be happy to put those zombies on an altar, the Titan under a Mimic Vat. Easy upgrade.
So, it's been a while since I looked critically at this deck. Recently, a couple of games have seen the two major avenues to advantage fall a little flat; those are sacrifice as ramp, and reanimation. So I've kind of added a bit of redundancy and some support cards for those avenues and taken out a couple of the cards that fall a little flat.
In: Ash Barrens - doesn't enter tapped, can colour fix if needed. Feldon of the Third Path - Gives me the best of whatever is in my graveyard, for ramp or combat at instant speed. Sacs if Thrax or Dictate of Erebos is in play. Dimir House Guard - Free sac outlet for resilience, but predominantly here for the sheer amount of 4-drop value cards it can pick up via transmute. Beetleback Chief - Pure sac fodder. In a pinch it's 3 creatures for 4, but predominantly it's here to hit an altar. In Garruk's Wake - It's expensive, but it's what I had in the folder. Flayer of the Hatebound - It's resilient, and it's a nifty addition to some of the more decent reanimation pieces in the deck. 6 mana is a lot but I like that it sticks around.
Out: Rakdos Guildgate - Enters tapped. Mana Geyser - It's once off burst mana that isn't on a creature, so it's less useful than it should be. Archaeomancer - There really aren't many pieces for this to pick up, so it's a dead draw mostly. Slum Reaper - Without more attrition pieces like Grave Pact, it's too expensive at 4. Dawn of the Dead - It's the BBB that gets me, but also without a guaranteed sac outlet I'm not altogether keen to exile my creatures every turn. Barter in Blood - Altogether, entirely outclassed by Vona's Hunger. If I don't have to sac my creatures for anything other than my own gain I don't want to.
Playtesting changes. This deck has been, as per usual, a hell of a lot of fun to play. I've been tossing up the existence of another deck recently, my Sydri build. It's been a pet of mine for a while, and it just hasn't gelled. So I finally ripped the band aid off and pulled it apart for good. I've ported over some of the staples to Thrax to give us some more consistency and shenanigans.
These should all be decent adds. The least valuable is probably the Ruins, but then a lot of my artifacts are high impact, so it may come in handy more than I expect.
The main issues I've been having with the deck is early turn colour, ramp and draw. The demon is nice, but kills a lot of key pieces of mine, too. The house guard was nice insurance, but very slow. Everything else is really just fleshing out the curve at present.
This is basically an upgrade from a chump blocker/sac fodder to early game draw, which this deck has really needed. Infiltrator hits early and does good work. Even a couple of swings and a couple of draws and its earned its place. Its seen value in other decks I've played it in and won't be any different here, most likely. This deck needs early draw and ramp and this will help a lot.
Sort of making the deck a little more mean and weird. Mindmoil helps me dig for land and potential answers, and in the last few games I've found myself struggling for sac outlets and reanimation spells. Enter Beacon, Hypnotist and Executioner. The Archetype hasn't been all that relevant, and Beetleback is really just a mini Endrek. It's not the same.
The eldrazi should be a game ender, when it hits the board. It's a huge target, but with a strong sac game it should get silly. I don't really ever plan to be able to hardcast it, but it's not entirely out of the question either. Whisper represents a good way to eke out extra value from the sac oriented pieces, and a more flexible reanimation engine than Liliana. The nonlegendary clause was more relevant than I thought it might be, and I've never hit her emblem. Plus, Whisper is instant speed. The hexmage was often a dead duck, and without playing Dark Depths is pretty weak as a sac outlet. It's really a planeswalker killer, but I don't see a ton of them anyway.
So, got the esper precon over the weekend and decided these would make a fun addition. Thrax gets recast a lot, considering we're swinging him in so often. I'm not sure Night Incarnate is a good fit, but we'll see how it goes.
So, I took apart a Daretti deck last night. I'd barely played it, and it was holding up some bombs I own that I'd completely forgotten about. Thrax got some cool upgrades:
...and decided I'd give it a go. The removals here are mostly not going to be missed overly; Archfiend has had very little board impact, as it telegraphs heavily and bites removal quickly. Trophy and Autocrat I thought twice about, but not for overly long. Skulker I don't think I've ever popped for squids, so I was happy to remove it.
Nether Traitor comes in in place of Harsh Mentor. Mentor paints a target, which is a little frustrating. Traitor is a nice early drop with evasion and recursion. Might be fun in terms of a sac strategy.
In:
Treasure Keeper
Out:
Chromatic Lantern
The lantern is a bit redundant here. This deck doesn't struggle with colour fixing so much now and the Keeper can feed an altar, search for an altar or relic, or a Trophy Mage to find any of the above or any number of other valuable 3 drops. Should be great here.
3 Mimic Vat
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
3 Chasm Skulker
4 Bident of Thassa
3 Haunted Cloak
3 Whispersilk Cloak
3 Coalition Relic
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
The relic will come in handy moreso in a different deck - without ways to abuse it, it doesn't quite pop. The aristocrat is better as a squid that explodes into other squids. The equipments were never crucial, and these two replacements may or may not fit, but they could be good so they're both worth a shot.
In:
River Kelpie
Out:
Emrakul's Hatcher
The Kelpie may or may not pull it's weight. Time will tell.
In:
Fact or Fiction
Helm of Possession
Stunt Double
Vona's Hunger
Out:
Promise of Power
Vampiric Rites
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Soul's Fire
These should all be strict upgrades - helm should be fun, FoF is solid draw and sometime reanimation fodder, Hunger should be an absolute beating here, and Stunt Double is very versatile copying.
Dread leaves for The Eldest Reborn. Slightly a flavourful choice, but also the BBB is not easy for a tri-colour deck. It may not be worth it, or it might do some good work.
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Dread Return
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Expedition Map
Haven't found myself using the Stronghold, and there's enough colour fixing to not need the Map.
River Kelpie leaves for Grave Titan. Solid token production, solid beater, I'd be happy to put those zombies on an altar, the Titan under a Mimic Vat. Easy upgrade.
In:
Ash Barrens - doesn't enter tapped, can colour fix if needed.
Feldon of the Third Path - Gives me the best of whatever is in my graveyard, for ramp or combat at instant speed. Sacs if Thrax or Dictate of Erebos is in play.
Dimir House Guard - Free sac outlet for resilience, but predominantly here for the sheer amount of 4-drop value cards it can pick up via transmute.
Beetleback Chief - Pure sac fodder. In a pinch it's 3 creatures for 4, but predominantly it's here to hit an altar.
In Garruk's Wake - It's expensive, but it's what I had in the folder.
Flayer of the Hatebound - It's resilient, and it's a nifty addition to some of the more decent reanimation pieces in the deck. 6 mana is a lot but I like that it sticks around.
Out:
Rakdos Guildgate - Enters tapped.
Mana Geyser - It's once off burst mana that isn't on a creature, so it's less useful than it should be.
Archaeomancer - There really aren't many pieces for this to pick up, so it's a dead draw mostly.
Slum Reaper - Without more attrition pieces like Grave Pact, it's too expensive at 4.
Dawn of the Dead - It's the BBB that gets me, but also without a guaranteed sac outlet I'm not altogether keen to exile my creatures every turn.
Barter in Blood - Altogether, entirely outclassed by Vona's Hunger. If I don't have to sac my creatures for anything other than my own gain I don't want to.
In:
Academy Ruins
Tezzeret the Seeker
Chromatic Lantern
Baleful Strix
Out:
Barrin, Master Wizard
Rakdos Signet
The Eldest Reborn
Aether Hub
These should all be decent adds. The least valuable is probably the Ruins, but then a lot of my artifacts are high impact, so it may come in handy more than I expect.
In:
Windfall
Thought Vessel
Coalition Relic
Burnished Hart
Out:
Hedron Archive
Victimize
Demon of Dark Schemes
Dimir House Guard
The main issues I've been having with the deck is early turn colour, ramp and draw. The demon is nice, but kills a lot of key pieces of mine, too. The house guard was nice insurance, but very slow. Everything else is really just fleshing out the curve at present.
In:
Shadowmage Infiltrator
Out:
Reassembling Skeleton
This is basically an upgrade from a chump blocker/sac fodder to early game draw, which this deck has really needed. Infiltrator hits early and does good work. Even a couple of swings and a couple of draws and its earned its place. Its seen value in other decks I've played it in and won't be any different here, most likely. This deck needs early draw and ramp and this will help a lot.
In:
Merciless Executioner
Sadistic Hypnotist
Beacon of Unrest
Mindmoil
Out:
Strionic Resonator
Coalition Relic
Archetype of Aggression
Beetleback Chief
Sort of making the deck a little more mean and weird. Mindmoil helps me dig for land and potential answers, and in the last few games I've found myself struggling for sac outlets and reanimation spells. Enter Beacon, Hypnotist and Executioner. The Archetype hasn't been all that relevant, and Beetleback is really just a mini Endrek. It's not the same.
In:
Whisper, Blood Liturgist
It that Betrays
Out:
Vampire Hexmage
Liliana, Heretical Healer
The eldrazi should be a game ender, when it hits the board. It's a huge target, but with a strong sac game it should get silly. I don't really ever plan to be able to hardcast it, but it's not entirely out of the question either. Whisper represents a good way to eke out extra value from the sac oriented pieces, and a more flexible reanimation engine than Liliana. The nonlegendary clause was more relevant than I thought it might be, and I've never hit her emblem. Plus, Whisper is instant speed. The hexmage was often a dead duck, and without playing Dark Depths is pretty weak as a sac outlet. It's really a planeswalker killer, but I don't see a ton of them anyway.
In:
Night Incarnate
Skull Storm
Out:
Ogre Slumlord
Sadistic Hypnotist
So, got the esper precon over the weekend and decided these would make a fun addition. Thrax gets recast a lot, considering we're swinging him in so often. I'm not sure Night Incarnate is a good fit, but we'll see how it goes.
In:
Rings of Brighthearth
Chaos Warp
Duplicant
Blasphemous Act
Out:
Chasm Skulker
Sengir Autocrat
Archfiend of Depravity
Trophy Mage
So, I had no qualms adding Warp, Act, or Duplicant. Rings I was hesitant about, but then I looked over all of the different things it can copy...
3 Burnished Hart
3 Doomed Necromancer
3 Feldon of the Third Path
4 Whisper, Blood Liturgist
5 Havengul Lich
5 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
6 Champion of Stray Souls
5 Liliana Vess
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
8 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
3 Necropotence
3 Phyrexian Altar
3 Mimic Vat
3 Ashnod's Altar
4 Helm of Possession
4 Bident of Thassa
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Academy Ruins
...and decided I'd give it a go. The removals here are mostly not going to be missed overly; Archfiend has had very little board impact, as it telegraphs heavily and bites removal quickly. Trophy and Autocrat I thought twice about, but not for overly long. Skulker I don't think I've ever popped for squids, so I was happy to remove it.
Nether Traitor comes in in place of Harsh Mentor. Mentor paints a target, which is a little frustrating. Traitor is a nice early drop with evasion and recursion. Might be fun in terms of a sac strategy.