The problem is that the 3cmc curve is already topped with both Lilianas and Lingering Souls, which only leaves free spots on the >=4cmc (taken by Sorin / Gideon) and <=2cmc (which is much better in BG with the Goyfs and Oozes). I haven't find a good 2cmc creature that acts as a finisher, though. The rats are interesting, but you need card advantage and not needing the cards in hand for them to work. You also need Mutavaults, which I think are inferior to FoR since the latter can act as a removal for manlands and as a way to consolidate the victory against Tron.
The problem is that the 3cmc curve is already topped with both Lilianas and Lingering Souls, which only leaves free spots on the >=4cmc (taken by Sorin / Gideon) and <=2cmc (which is much better in BG with the Goyfs and Oozes). I haven't find a good 2cmc creature that acts as a finisher, though. The rats are interesting, but you need card advantage and not needing the cards in hand for them to work. You also need Mutavaults, which I think are inferior to FoR since the latter can act as a removal for manlands and as a way to consolidate the victory against Tron.
For Pack Rats, this is where I wonder about how well Night's Whisper would do, especially since it's card advantage. If you could combine those two you might have something.
I find this list to be pretty cool. I have noticed that most of my losses were coming from: 1. Tron, 2. Dredge 3. Amulet Titan, aka "Unfair" Decks that are insanely fast and can get something out before you can respond. I think that this deck does a really good job of taking care of those bad matchups, since in my experience nearly every other matchup is at least 50/50. Gideon is just an insane beating against control matchups and he doesn't die to Celestial Purge which is nice!
For those of you who've played with Death Cloud, what matchups do you normally bring it in for? That's the one thing I'm never sure of. Just fair creature matchups?
I also just noticed that Lili the Last Hope is almost 50 bucks now, jeez.
Just been doing some testing, right now I've settled on this. 2 Maindeck Fulminator is beyond great and has helped out a lot vs some of the big mana decks. Also, I've been sort of unhappy with the Path to Exile, so I'm looking at replacing it with a Murderous Cut since we pretty rarely use our GY, and there is some anti synergy with Fulminator Mage. Path is great sometimes, but honestly, Murderous Cut would have done the trick pretty much 9 times out of 10. Of course, the issue with Cut is Dark Confidant where it's CMC 5. Maybe Go For the Throat or Victim of Night? We'll see in testing.
So big changes: +1 Fulminator, -1 Swamp, -1 Sorin Solemn, +1 Gideon
Gideon closes out games like nobody's business but you have to be mindful of having more white sources. I'm aware that this deck is definitely moving toward the W/B Tokens side, but it just has much more disruption and I think it has a much better gameplan overall
White-Black Denial (This is what Mtggoldfish seems to call it), but I still like WB Sewer in honor of Gabe Nassif.
The results were... Well, really bad. However, I got some insights that might be interesting. The deck performed really well during the first few turns, but when the board was controlled, it lacked the speed to kill my opponents before they could recover. Almost every match can be resumed that way, really.
I had a Nihil Spellbomb teched on the last minute, and it resulted to be amazing. It's a great response against Storm and Snappies, as well as a way to not be completely dead against Dredge on game 1. I'd like to add a couple more MD, maybe replacing the Whispers since they have the same role.
Another card that resulted to be amazing was Field of Ruin. It helped a lot killing Azcantas and manlands. However, I really missed Mutavaults to pressure my opponents. On the other hand, I never had an opportunity to use VotA.
Since killpower seems to be what's lacking, I'm thinking about adding +3 Gideon, AoZ on the main deck. However, that makes it difficult to fit the Spellbombs. I'm not completely sold on the Fulminators MD, though, since FoR achieves the same results for the decks where FM is needed but it's not a just 2/2 for 3 mana for the matches where it's not.
I don't know that you need 3 Gideon AoZ, one or two should be good.
As someone who wasn't sold on the mainboard fulminator I see where you're coming from. I'm not sure that it's the best we can do, but sometimes it lines up perfectly. Opponent is stuck on 2 lands, blow one up. They flipped a search for azcanta, blow it up. They have a celestial collonade, play fulminator and dare them to activate it.
I've played Myth Realized in BW Smallpox. It was good but a little inconsistent. The issue is that you need to play it turn 1 which is when BW decks want to be playing discard spells. So your whole curve kind of gets shifted down a turn. This is fine against Midrange / Control but those were already good match ups. Against aggro / combo the turn 1 discard was too important. So problem #1: sequencing early game was not great.
Problem #2: it was slightly under powered in the late game. Against aggro having a 5/5 blocker / beater was great! but had I sequenced better I likely could have managed without it. Against midrange a 4/4 or 5/5 gets out classed by goyfs / anglers / shadows more often than not. Against control the combo with LotV was really good... until they realized they could bounce with cryptic in response to the LotV activation... Even if I didn't have to discard Myth, the fact that it came down as a 0/0 meant it was a dead card at that point in the game anyway.
It was a fine card and when it worked it really worked. There were games where 5c Humans had to stop attacking so my 7/7 didn't eat anymore guys / win the game. There were games where it got bigger than goyfs. But these games were few and far between. It's a very inconsistent card.
The results were... Well, really bad. However, I got some insights that might be interesting. The deck performed really well during the first few turns, but when the board was controlled, it lacked the speed to kill my opponents before they could recover. Almost every match can be resumed that way, really.
Unfortunate to hear about your results, but at least it was a good learning experience. For posterity’s sake, would you mind posting what decks you went up against? I can kind of sort of figure out that you played vs Control and Midrange, but that’s about it. I definitely like the 1 maindeck Nihil Spellbomb, that's a smart choice.
Another card that resulted to be amazing was Field of Ruin. It helped a lot killing Azcantas and manlands. However, I really missed Mutavaults to pressure my opponents. On the other hand, I never had an opportunity to use VotA.
Since killpower seems to be what's lacking, I'm thinking about adding +3 Gideon, AoZ on the main deck. However, that makes it difficult to fit the Spellbombs. I'm not completely sold on the Fulminators MD, though, since FoR achieves the same results for the decks where FM is needed but it's not a just 2/2 for 3 mana for the matches where it's not.
Right, and FoR is just a colorless land for the matches where it’s not, -and- it’s harder to sideboard with them, too.
Fulminator makes for a great threat and allows us to be more proactive. It’s a 3 mana spell that comes down as a 2/2 and always threatens. I’m glad that you are liking Field of Ruin, but unfortunately, you’re losing a ton of firepower with the loss of the Mutavaults.
My concern is that you’re dropping Mutavaults for Field of Ruin, so you lose the ability to turn the corner, which then further warrants more changes main deck. You’ll need to add more white mana for multiple Gideons, and I’m not sure what you would drop to change it.
That being said, like you, I still rarely find a use for Vault of the Archangel. This deck uses its mana nearly every turn and I haven’t really found too many spots where I just happen to have 5 mana open to activate it.
As someone who wasn't sold on the mainboard fulminator I see where you're coming from. I'm not sure that it's the best we can do, but sometimes it lines up perfectly. Opponent is stuck on 2 lands, blow one up. They flipped a search for azcanta, blow it up. They have a celestial collonade, play fulminator and dare them to activate it.
Unfortunately, I think that Fulminator really is the best that we can do.
I believe that the reason this deck does well is that it ruthlessly destroys the synergies in your opponent’s deck while generally advancing your own gameplan at the same time. A typical B/W deck will have at least 11-12 hand disruption cards, discard from Liliana, and of course, removal for key creatures. Remember, this is a midrange deck, so it can shift gears depending on the matchup. Fulminator Mage is the only land destruction card I know of that helps you do both.
I’ve had 4/2 lifeline Fulminators attacking, as well as a 2/2 that serves as a chump blocker, as well as a mana screwer. It’s a great card for this deck.
The Rock (G/B) can use FoR because it has powerful beaters like Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf to offset - we don't. Thus, we need different cards to achieve similar purposes.
BTW, I echo everyone in saying that Assassin’s Trophy should have been W/B!
Unfortunate to hear about your results, but at least it was a good learning experience. For posterity’s sake, would you mind posting what decks you went up against? I can kind of sort of figure out that you played vs Control and Midrange, but that’s about it. I definitely like the 1 maindeck Nihil Spellbomb, that's a smart choice.
Of course. I haven't had time to write the report, but in summary it was something like this:
R1 - UB Midrange: This match up wasn't bad. I lacked firepower, though, so we ended up 1-1. Nihil Spellbomb and FoR were all stars in this match up. Some interesting cards he played MD were FoR, Mutavaul, Creeping Tar Pit and Bitterblossom MD.
R2 - Mono G Tron: Having FoR MD in this match up worked as good as I could expect, and 6 answers to Tron lands post board (3 FoR + 3 Fulminators) really helped. Again, I didn't have enough firepower, he could eventually hit an Ugin, destroy my tokens and win.
R3 - Storm: The Spellbomb shined in this match up, but I would have loved to draw more gy hate.
R4 - Titanshift: He didn't find a way to combo me before I could disrupt his whole hand. Watch out for the Ballistas, though.
R5 - Jund: This one was really difficult since he drew 2-3 AssTrophies per match, and finished with Raging Ravine and the Elves.
R6 - UW Control: The first match was great, but again, on the second one I didn't draw anything to finish the game after I had it under control, so he topdecked Baneslayer Angel and Teferi and won. We ended up 1-1. FoR, Spellbomb and Kambal worked amazingly well here.
The takeovers for me are that I need a more reliable finisher and that teching Spellbombs was a good choice, even if I didn't do well.
Right, and FoR is just a colorless land for the matches where it’s not, -and- it’s harder to sideboard with them, too.
Fulminator makes for a great threat and allows us to be more proactive. It’s a 3 mana spell that comes down as a 2/2 and always threatens. I’m glad that you are liking Field of Ruin, but unfortunately, you’re losing a ton of firepower with the loss of the Mutavaults.
My concern is that you’re dropping Mutavaults for Field of Ruin, so you lose the ability to turn the corner, which then further warrants more changes main deck. You’ll need to add more white mana for multiple Gideons, and I’m not sure what you would drop to change it.
That being said, like you, I still rarely find a use for Vault of the Archangel. This deck uses its mana nearly every turn and I haven’t really found too many spots where I just happen to have 5 mana open to activate it.
You are right, but FoR doesn't usually screw or curve (our mana base is already pretty consistent) but having 10-11 3cmc cards can make some hands too slow. And having both FoR and Fulminator really helps against Tron. In the MUps were Fulminator is not helpful (mostly Aggro), it's spot could be a removal or a cantrip, while FoR is still a land that doesn't hurt us much. However, I really missed Mutavaults, and I'm thinking about doing -1 VotA and -1 FoR to add +2 Mutavault. I might try 2 md Fulminators, though, if I'm able to find a place for them, since they could free me some spots in the SB and, as you say, it's still a good card.
I've been playing an unreasonable amount of Tron lately, it's my most played match up, and while Fulminator Mage is good, Stony Silence and Gideon Ally of Zendikar is the best combo against them. Gideon is probably the fastest clock we want to play in a BW Midrange deck besides delve creatures (I'm currently testing Tombstalker but I don't have much to say on it yet).
That said, you will need more W sources if you plan to run Gideon. He requires 16 sources and you only have 14 right now. You probably don't want to count FoR as a sources since you'll want to cast Fulminator Mage turn 3, though FoR has a similar effect. But I would add at least 1 W source.
Mutavault and Shambling Vent are good ways to keep up the pressure late game. I'm not sure Vault of the Archangel is the best without more tokens. Even then, it's not amazing.
Have any of you tried Bojuka Bog as maindeck graveyard hate? It's obviously not as good as Nihil Spellbomb but it takes up a land slot rather than a spell slot and that could be relevant.
Those are 18 black and 16 white sources. I'd prefer to have 1-2 more basic lands, though.
Edit: the problem with Bog is that you don’t want it as a land drop but as a way to remove a gy later in the game, so if you draw it on you opening hand makes it more difficult to curve out.
Oh, right, I don't play Bob. I think playing 1 or 2 Delve threats is fine with Bob but ya, it's pretty scary.
This mana base looks OK. Personal preference but I don't love Fetid Heath as more than a 1-off and I would suggest 0. You have 6 colorless lands right now (Heath / Muta / FoR). That will make for a non-zero number of must-mulligan hands. Also, you play a lot of 4 drops so maybe you don't want 4 Concealed Courtyard, but I'm not sure. Maybe 2 Isolated Chapel seems a little better when you need 4 drops.
I've been playing 4 Shambling Vent and 2 mutavault and it's been pretty good. I always have a manland when I need it. playing too many tap lands is a bit of issue though since we usually play on curve for at least 3 turns but I haven't had too much of an issue.
The takeovers for me are that I need a more reliable finisher and that teching Spellbombs was a good choice, even if I didn't do well.
The thing is that versus big mana, you have to have a fast clock - which the Mutavaults can often provide. As you yourself found out, even 6 land destruction spells aren't enough. I've seen and played enough Tron to know that even Blood Moon isn't lights out if they can't assemble something quickly.
You are right, but FoR doesn't usually screw or curve (our mana base is already pretty consistent) but having 10-11 3cmc cards can make some hands too slow. And having both FoR and Fulminator really helps against Tron. In the MUps were Fulminator is not helpful (mostly Aggro), it's spot could be a removal or a cantrip, while FoR is still a land that doesn't hurt us much. However, I really missed Mutavaults, and I'm thinking about doing -1 VotA and -1 FoR to add +2 Mutavault. I might try 2 md Fulminators, though, if I'm able to find a place for them, since they could free me some spots in the SB and, as you say, it's still a good card.
Fulminator at the very least trades with most aggro creatures in a worst-case scenario. I think that we're not really so much arguing over Fulminator vs FoR, but FoR vs Mutavault. I'd probably not mind replacing Vault with another Mutavault to have 3 total in my list.
One thing I'm thinking is that Damping Sphere is probably preferable to most of the alternatives in general.
Hey guys I was wondering what your opinion was on history of benalia in this deck? It would be another way to two for one the opponent, and it would pump your mutavaults. It might mean too many three drops though. It's just tearing up standard, and usually cards that are format defining in standard are at least playable in modern. Has anyone given it a shot?
I was also kind of interested in knight of malice and knight of grace. Malice in particular seems really good against humans and uwx control, while grace would be good against the decks leaning on push and trophy. First strike on a 3/2 is no joke and they could block a large portion of the meta. Anybody tried these guys yet, and what are your thoughts?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Fulminator at the very least trades with most aggro creatures in a worst-case scenario. I think that we're not really so much arguing over Fulminator vs FoR, but FoR vs Mutavault. I'd probably not mind replacing Vault with another Mutavault to have 3 total in my list.
I'm not really arguing FoR vs Mutavault nor if we should run land destruction MD, but if that land destruction should be on a land spot or on a 3cmc spot. The curve of the deck is really high, and having 10-11 3cmc cards and 4-5 4cmc cards results in a lot of hands where you can do nothing until turn 3-4.
One thing I'm thinking is that Damping Sphere is probably preferable to most of the alternatives in general.
Damping Sphere might be really good against Storm and Tron, though I find Stony Silence + GY removal (Spellbomb + RIP) more reliable, since Storm doesn't usually play enchantment removal and you can shut up Oblivion Stone and maps against Tron. That said, I wouldn't mind to try it as a 1-off on my SB since it is pretty versatile.
I'm trying both Mutavault and FoR on the same mana base, as well as Gideon AoZ as a finisher. I've also been testing 2 Fulminators MD, though, just to see if they perform better than I think, but I don't have conclusive results yet. I'd like to add the 3rd TSeize, I'll test if 3 Sorins and 2 Gideons are really necessary and if not I'll swap one of them.
Been trying this recently. So far I'm very pleased with Serra avenger. Never really feel the drawback of not being able to play it early since the first few turns are spent disrupting the opponent. 3/3 flying vigilance is just straight good for two mana. I understand that there will be skepticism, but just give it a try if you haven't.
The zealous persecution is a new addition I hadn't tried mainboard before. I'm still not exactly sure about it, but it has such a high ceiling that it seems worth the inclusion as a 1-of.
I'm actually really liking this deck for the current meta. The more people move toward linear solitaire-esque decks, the better unrelenting disruption seems.
Edit: after further testing Gifted aetherborn seems better in those slots. I'm also wondering if this deck couldn't use a second copy of path in the main.
I've been playing a version of this deck built around vehicles lately. Part of the issue with this deck is that all of the creatures are too small to compete in combat, and their small size makes it hard to close against combo decks before they can get out of whatever lock piece we present them with post-sideboard.
The vehicles I'm using in particular are Smuggler's Copter and Aethersphere Harvester.
Smuggler's copter is perfectly sized to beat all of the threats coming out of humans and spirits, it also digs us closer to our hate-pieces, as well as allowing us to play a threat on turn 2 in the face of a lightning bolt or some other removal from the various midrange/control/phoenix decks running around.
Aetherphere Harvester is almost unbeatable against humans, spirits, and phoenix. 5 toughness might as well be infinite, that and the lifegain makes it very unprofitable to attack into, and lets us swing the race much more quickly than a sorin would.
Both Vehicles also have the added benefit of dodging sorcery speed reflector mage, jace minus, ugin minus, sorcery speed wraths, and any targeted removal provided to check that the coast is clear before crewing. They are extremely versatile cards that are very difficult to interact with.
The one downside.... and it's a big one, I won't lie..... is that you can't play stony silence. However, damping sphere and kambal shut down ironworks anyway (aside from explosives ruining our day),and obviously sphere is better against tron than stony is, so ironworks and tron aren't huge issues. The worst part about not playing stony is that hardened scales is super hard to beat without it. We still have RIP and you can play disenchants and such, but walking ballista is a rediculous card, and you can't just play pithing needle on ballista, because the rest of the deck will get you. I feel like there's a good solution to the match that I just haven't found yet though. The vehicles increase our percentage against so many decks though, that I thinks it's ok if we lose to this one some-what fringe deck.
Toolcraft allows this deck to close much more quickly. It trades with every threat out of humans and spirits aside from thalia, and even against thalia, if we have 3 artifacts (deck has 16 sources) it can trade. I haven't had too many issues turning it on, but sometimes it does fail, I won't lie. It is a very fast clock most of the time though. It's almost literally a wild nacatl.
Inspector is more artifacts for toolcraft. But what it's really here for is as a one drop that does something. Lingering souls is really slow right now, and it can be clunky. It's almost always just chumping against humans and spirits, and, lets be honest, it's too slow for the combo decks. Inspector is a turn 1 play and it lets us double spell turn 3 as well as letting us get a 2-1 when we need to grind. He's one of the best crewers.
Sculler is also an amazing crewer, since it check that the coast is clear before lift off, also helps that it's a artifact for toolcraft.
Mutavault is also huge for this deck, it's super easy to activate, dodges the same stuff that the vehicles do and it crews them for just 2 mana, mutavault is possibly the best manland in the format, and it's even better here.
So green gives us a lot of upgrades.
First off, Emmara is REDICULOUS with vehicles, attack in the sky and hold off the ground with a lifelinking army. I started with 2 and when to 4 pretty fast, you can loot away uneeded copies with copter as well.
Assassin's trophy is just really flexible, I like having at least one catchall in my decks.
Gavony township is stupid good at leveling up our dorks (and the emmara army) it just wins games on it's own.
Stirring wildwood acts sort of like harvester in that it's really hard to spirits, humans, and phoenix decks to break-through.
You also get teeg in the board, and potentially knight of autumn as well.
Green adds alot of firepower, but it's with a more painful manabase. I'm also not sure if 4 mutavault is correct here either since you can't cast emmara with 1 land and a mutavault. But emmara is really a turn 3+ play anyway, so I think it's probably ok.
Let me know what you guys think, both of these decks have been doing really well for me.
After testing this idea a bunch, I have to say that I don't think it's in a good place right now. Not being able to play stony silence is really rough.
Honestly BW in general is just lacking to much to be a deck outside of the hatebears version.
We really need a good two drop threat, I personally think they're going to unban stoneforge mystic in the next b&r announcement. If that's the case then we might be able to make this a good deck again.
Another card that might be intresting in a jund-esque version of this deck would be the newly spoiled Basilica Bell-Haunt.
One of the biggest issues with the midrange version that I've had is the lack of a well-rounded 4 drop. The contenders seem to be both sorins and Gideon. The issue with solemn visitor is that while he is amazing with a board full of creatures, he just makes a 2/2 and gets bolted or attacked down (because a 2/2 isn't holding off anything really). The issue with lord of innistrad is that he just isn't fast enough without a board full of creatures, his emblem is really good though, and he pluses to make a guy, that's why I think he's currently our best 4 drop, but, like solemn visitor, he doesn't do much if you are behind, and his tokens don't fly which makes it hard to protect him. Gideon makes 2/2's which don't line up well with most decks, and he doesn't gain life. He's great against midrange and control, but not good against anything else really.
Bell-Haunt's body is relevant because it walls off humans and doesn't die to bolt. Gaining life is super important in our deck because of bob and bitterblossom (I think bitterblossom is way too good for this deck to not run it honestly), and this buffs our life in a bolt-heavy meta. The discard is also important in our grindier games. I will at least test this as a 3-of if we solve the 2 drop problem.
Well, with the full ravnica allegiance set spoiled, let's talk about some possible additions.
I'm honestly disappointed with the spoilers, I was expecting a "fixed" vindicate that didn't lava spike us, a good two drop, and a reprint of gerrard's verdict, but we didn't get any of those.
Anyway,
Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
At first glance I was really mad about this card when she got spoiled, but I'm starting to come around.
I look at Kaya as a Scavenging Ooze with a little bit of Vraska, Golgari Queen, and Shrine of Burning Rage.
Like ooze, Kaya keeps graveyards down while gaining life. Her upside here is that she can gain more life than ooze could, she has the potential to eat through a yard quicker, and she doesn't consume mana to use this ability. Obviously ooze is a threat in addition to it's ability, but so is Kaya with her ultimate. However just like ooze, she's probably not completely shutting down a graveyard strategy like dredge. Not being able to eat a yard at instant speed is also a ding against her.
Her -1 actually hits something in most decks.
Death's Shadow, Mox opal, vial, hierarch, champions, swiftspear, guide, amulet, around 30% of the hardened scales deck, flameblade adept, chalice of the void, and mausoleum wanderer are the biggest hits I can think of, but there are others. While she doesn't hit every deck with her -1, those are the ones that are affected by the +1.
Her ultimate isn't particularly game-winning on it's own, but we do run paths and rest in peace, so it's more than achievable.
So incremental life-gain and grave-hate, the possibility of exiling something, and a fireball all in one package. I think it's possible she's good, and it's worth testing her.
Basilica Bell-Haunt
I already posted about this card, so I won't go into length about it.
It survives bolt, beats all of the threats out of the humans/spirits decks, gains us life (3 life is almost worth a card in modern, and it is worth a card in some matchups), and forcing discard means this is almost always a 2-1 at minimum, it's a 3-1 in alot of matchups.
I will be testing 3 of this card.
Another side-note about this card is that it does provide 4 devotion to Athreos, God of Passage, probably not a big deal, but this guy and any permanent with one blip turns it on.
Kaya's Wrath
I think this is better than Damnation for our deck, since we will have creatures on our board most of the time we wrath, recouping the life lost to bitterblossom and bob seems worth the color requirement.
I will be testing 2 in the sideboard.
Angel of Grace
5 mana is alot and that might price this out of the deck.
I have always wanted an extra sideboard slot for Angel's Grace in the board, just as a way to go "Surprise! Your combo does nothing!" to combo decks after they go all-in, then laugh maniacally as they start crying.
Seriously though, this can stop lightning storm, grapeshot, valakut triggers (off of a scapeshift, titan will still kill you unfortunately), I think ther's probably a spot in the kci loop for you to drop her but I'm not sure.
The main purpose for her though is that she can ambush pheonix's, humans, spirits, hollow ones, and many other threats, and eat them. She also at least trades with most threats. Having flash lets us mess up a control player's sequencing, although it is awkward with liliana in our deck. While 6 mana is alot, gaining 10 means gg for burn.
She's probably not good enough, but there's potential for her.
Font of Agonies
I'm not sure we pay enough life for this to work, if only bob and bitterblossom were payments instead of losing life, this would be sick.
I played the list I posted above (without damping sphere in the board, because I just forgot about it ) in a friendly league on mtgo and went 4-1.
R1: Izzet Pheonix 2-0
I will say that this player was using Kiln Fiend over drakes, which is obviously not as good, but they did only play one kiln fiend in the match, and it wouldn't have mattered if it was a drake because it died immediately to a Liliana minus.
I won one game with a kaya ultimate, and kaya was nuts against this deck. I exiled a looting and a phoenix the turn she came in and gained about 8 life with her that game, while building a wall of faeries with bitterblossom.
R2: Abzan Delerium 1-2
I won game 1 because of kaya keeping them off of delerium, exiling the back half of lingering souls, and managing goyfs. I had the token advantage, so it was an easy win.
I had 3 kaya's wraths in the board, but felt that I wanted the 4 inguisitions against them because of liliana the last hope, and I feel it's important to stick a bob or bitterblossom early and wanted to clear the way for that so I only brought in 2. Turns out I should have brought in the third wrath, because it was gas everytime I drew it, and I ended up just dying to multiple goyfs and souls tokens. I think another reason I lost was because the delerium decks tend to only run 19/20 lands because of traverse and bauble, so their topdecks were just better than mine. Having the third wrath (or possibly a 4th) gives us a nice way to catch up in that matchup.
R3 Burn 2-0
Kaya and bell-haunt are obviously incredible here. Bell-haunt made them discard a boros charm, and with gaining the life, and being a 3/4 made it too much for them to handle. Field of ruin is also great against them, because they don't run a basic plains, so you can easily color-screw them.
I think the matchup is very favored for us, and I wasn't scared at any point.
R4 Tron 2-1
This is when I realized I didn't put damping sphere in my deck, and just expected to be 0-2'ed quickly LOL.
I actually won game 1, as you do sometimes against tron with field of ruin in your deck. You take out their land, tear apart their hand, and get lucky as all-hell haha.
Game 2 I took out their land but I flooded really hard, and they just cast ugin on turn 8 and that's game.
Game 3 I took out their land and surgicaled it. They bricked on lands and that's all she wrote.
R5 Hollow One 2-1
This was the BR version of hollow one.
Game 1 I won, again, with a kaya ultimate, in a position where nothing else would have worked, they were at 12, I was on the ropes against an angler and multiple pheonix's, and drained them for 10, and hit them with 2 bitterblossom tokens. Felt great.
Game 2 I died to pheonix's and a turn 2 hollow one.
Game 3 We traded back and forth, I landed rest in peace, but bitterblossom got me down to 2 and we were both empty handed, luckily I drew a shambling vent, and faded a lightning bolt, and won. So I got kinda lucky.
Kaya was great in this league. She obviously does nothing against tron, but gaining life was crucial, and she can take out swiftspears and flameblade adepts, as well as manage lingering souls pretty well. The ultimate is also a real tangible thing. Right now I think she deserves maindeck play, but I can see her being a sideboard option, with the potential unbanning of a certain card.
bell-haunt was good, not amazing, but not bad either. I think it's a good middle ground between the sorins. The lifegain is important, and the discard is pretty gross, liliana into bell-haunt is great. It obviously doesn't line-up well against anglers and hollow ones, but it's good against swiftspears and bobs. I really wish it had deathtouch though. So it's good, I'll keep playing 3, I wouldn't mind going to 4 either.
Kaya's wrath is nuts in this deck, there are times where bitterblossom isn't enough, and being able to kill everything, gain 2-3 life from your random tokens, and then allow blossom to take over the game is really strong. I kind of want to go to 4, but that might be too much with the ammount of combo in the format currently.
Other notes:
Collective brutality just isn't good right now imo, it doesn't do much against phoenix, it only kills a thing against humans (for potentially 3 mana too, yikes) and would rarely tag anything important against spirits, so I don't think I want it. I'd rather have kaya's wrath. You could argue that it's a duress effect as well, but bell-haunt does this better against burn, and we already have 7 targeted discard effects, as well as liliana, and bell-haunt against combo, not to mention some of that combo doesn't even get hit with brutality (kci), so I think I'm cutting it from my sideboard.
I wanted to try out surgical over a rest in peace because I don't see alot of kci on mtgo, and I think with it potentially getting banned, surgical is going to be better since it hits pheonix's and can snag a tron land for the cost of nothing. But rest in peace is just a combo with kaya, and I really want to try to make that happen at least once lol.
I kind of want anguished unmaking over fragmentize because it's an out to planeswalkers, but fragmentize is better against burn, and it's cheaper. It could also be disenchant, so it would hit hollow ones. So that's a card I'm unsure of.
For Pack Rats, this is where I wonder about how well Night's Whisper would do, especially since it's card advantage. If you could combine those two you might have something.
:edit: Also, here's the most recent 5-0 from November 2nd. It follows Gabe Nassif's list and the most recent challenge list, with a few cool alterations
Big things
Maindeck
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in place of a Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3 Fulminator Mage
24 Lands (-1 Shambling Vent)
Sideboard:
1 Death Cloud
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Fulminator Mage
You can see the whole thing here, I just summarized the main changes:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1441139#paper
I find this list to be pretty cool. I have noticed that most of my losses were coming from: 1. Tron, 2. Dredge 3. Amulet Titan, aka "Unfair" Decks that are insanely fast and can get something out before you can respond. I think that this deck does a really good job of taking care of those bad matchups, since in my experience nearly every other matchup is at least 50/50. Gideon is just an insane beating against control matchups and he doesn't die to Celestial Purge which is nice!
For those of you who've played with Death Cloud, what matchups do you normally bring it in for? That's the one thing I'm never sure of. Just fair creature matchups?
I also just noticed that Lili the Last Hope is almost 50 bucks now, jeez.
So big changes: +1 Fulminator, -1 Swamp, -1 Sorin Solemn, +1 Gideon
Gideon closes out games like nobody's business but you have to be mindful of having more white sources. I'm aware that this deck is definitely moving toward the W/B Tokens side, but it just has much more disruption and I think it has a much better gameplan overall
White-Black Denial (This is what Mtggoldfish seems to call it), but I still like WB Sewer in honor of Gabe Nassif.
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
//5 Instant
4 Fatal Push
1 Path to Exile
//24 Land
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Mutavault
2 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
5 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Fetid Heath
//8 Planeswalker
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
//2 Artifact
2 Ensnaring Bridge
//3 Creature
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
//4 Enchantment
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
//1 Instant
1 Anguished Unmaking
//5 Sorcery
1 Duress
1 Collective Brutality
2 Damnation
1 Death Cloud
2 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Marsh Flats
5 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Godless Shrine
4 Shambling Vent
2 Concealed Courtyard
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Field of Ruin
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
2 Collective Brutality
2 Night's Whisper
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
3 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Damnation
The results were... Well, really bad. However, I got some insights that might be interesting. The deck performed really well during the first few turns, but when the board was controlled, it lacked the speed to kill my opponents before they could recover. Almost every match can be resumed that way, really.
I had a Nihil Spellbomb teched on the last minute, and it resulted to be amazing. It's a great response against Storm and Snappies, as well as a way to not be completely dead against Dredge on game 1. I'd like to add a couple more MD, maybe replacing the Whispers since they have the same role.
Another card that resulted to be amazing was Field of Ruin. It helped a lot killing Azcantas and manlands. However, I really missed Mutavaults to pressure my opponents. On the other hand, I never had an opportunity to use VotA.
Since killpower seems to be what's lacking, I'm thinking about adding +3 Gideon, AoZ on the main deck. However, that makes it difficult to fit the Spellbombs. I'm not completely sold on the Fulminators MD, though, since FoR achieves the same results for the decks where FM is needed but it's not a just 2/2 for 3 mana for the matches where it's not.
As someone who wasn't sold on the mainboard fulminator I see where you're coming from. I'm not sure that it's the best we can do, but sometimes it lines up perfectly. Opponent is stuck on 2 lands, blow one up. They flipped a search for azcanta, blow it up. They have a celestial collonade, play fulminator and dare them to activate it.
Problem #2: it was slightly under powered in the late game. Against aggro having a 5/5 blocker / beater was great! but had I sequenced better I likely could have managed without it. Against midrange a 4/4 or 5/5 gets out classed by goyfs / anglers / shadows more often than not. Against control the combo with LotV was really good... until they realized they could bounce with cryptic in response to the LotV activation... Even if I didn't have to discard Myth, the fact that it came down as a 0/0 meant it was a dead card at that point in the game anyway.
It was a fine card and when it worked it really worked. There were games where 5c Humans had to stop attacking so my 7/7 didn't eat anymore guys / win the game. There were games where it got bigger than goyfs. But these games were few and far between. It's a very inconsistent card.
Unfortunate to hear about your results, but at least it was a good learning experience. For posterity’s sake, would you mind posting what decks you went up against? I can kind of sort of figure out that you played vs Control and Midrange, but that’s about it. I definitely like the 1 maindeck Nihil Spellbomb, that's a smart choice.
Right, and FoR is just a colorless land for the matches where it’s not, -and- it’s harder to sideboard with them, too.
Fulminator makes for a great threat and allows us to be more proactive. It’s a 3 mana spell that comes down as a 2/2 and always threatens. I’m glad that you are liking Field of Ruin, but unfortunately, you’re losing a ton of firepower with the loss of the Mutavaults.
My concern is that you’re dropping Mutavaults for Field of Ruin, so you lose the ability to turn the corner, which then further warrants more changes main deck. You’ll need to add more white mana for multiple Gideons, and I’m not sure what you would drop to change it.
That being said, like you, I still rarely find a use for Vault of the Archangel. This deck uses its mana nearly every turn and I haven’t really found too many spots where I just happen to have 5 mana open to activate it.
Unfortunately, I think that Fulminator really is the best that we can do.
I believe that the reason this deck does well is that it ruthlessly destroys the synergies in your opponent’s deck while generally advancing your own gameplan at the same time. A typical B/W deck will have at least 11-12 hand disruption cards, discard from Liliana, and of course, removal for key creatures. Remember, this is a midrange deck, so it can shift gears depending on the matchup. Fulminator Mage is the only land destruction card I know of that helps you do both.
I’ve had 4/2 lifeline Fulminators attacking, as well as a 2/2 that serves as a chump blocker, as well as a mana screwer. It’s a great card for this deck.
The Rock (G/B) can use FoR because it has powerful beaters like Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf to offset - we don't. Thus, we need different cards to achieve similar purposes.
BTW, I echo everyone in saying that Assassin’s Trophy should have been W/B!
Of course. I haven't had time to write the report, but in summary it was something like this:
The takeovers for me are that I need a more reliable finisher and that teching Spellbombs was a good choice, even if I didn't do well.
You are right, but FoR doesn't usually screw or curve (our mana base is already pretty consistent) but having 10-11 3cmc cards can make some hands too slow. And having both FoR and Fulminator really helps against Tron. In the MUps were Fulminator is not helpful (mostly Aggro), it's spot could be a removal or a cantrip, while FoR is still a land that doesn't hurt us much. However, I really missed Mutavaults, and I'm thinking about doing -1 VotA and -1 FoR to add +2 Mutavault. I might try 2 md Fulminators, though, if I'm able to find a place for them, since they could free me some spots in the SB and, as you say, it's still a good card.
That said, you will need more W sources if you plan to run Gideon. He requires 16 sources and you only have 14 right now. You probably don't want to count FoR as a sources since you'll want to cast Fulminator Mage turn 3, though FoR has a similar effect. But I would add at least 1 W source.
Mutavault and Shambling Vent are good ways to keep up the pressure late game. I'm not sure Vault of the Archangel is the best without more tokens. Even then, it's not amazing.
Have any of you tried Bojuka Bog as maindeck graveyard hate? It's obviously not as good as Nihil Spellbomb but it takes up a land slot rather than a spell slot and that could be relevant.
I've changing my mana base a bit to add more white sources, and right now it looks like this:
2 Plains
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Marsh Flats
2 Fetid Heath
2 Mutavault
2 Field of Ruin
2 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
Those are 18 black and 16 white sources. I'd prefer to have 1-2 more basic lands, though.
Edit: the problem with Bog is that you don’t want it as a land drop but as a way to remove a gy later in the game, so if you draw it on you opening hand makes it more difficult to curve out.
This mana base looks OK. Personal preference but I don't love Fetid Heath as more than a 1-off and I would suggest 0. You have 6 colorless lands right now (Heath / Muta / FoR). That will make for a non-zero number of must-mulligan hands. Also, you play a lot of 4 drops so maybe you don't want 4 Concealed Courtyard, but I'm not sure. Maybe 2 Isolated Chapel seems a little better when you need 4 drops.
I've been playing 4 Shambling Vent and 2 mutavault and it's been pretty good. I always have a manland when I need it. playing too many tap lands is a bit of issue though since we usually play on curve for at least 3 turns but I haven't had too much of an issue.
The thing is that versus big mana, you have to have a fast clock - which the Mutavaults can often provide. As you yourself found out, even 6 land destruction spells aren't enough. I've seen and played enough Tron to know that even Blood Moon isn't lights out if they can't assemble something quickly.
Fulminator at the very least trades with most aggro creatures in a worst-case scenario. I think that we're not really so much arguing over Fulminator vs FoR, but FoR vs Mutavault. I'd probably not mind replacing Vault with another Mutavault to have 3 total in my list.
One thing I'm thinking is that Damping Sphere is probably preferable to most of the alternatives in general.
I was also kind of interested in knight of malice and knight of grace. Malice in particular seems really good against humans and uwx control, while grace would be good against the decks leaning on push and trophy. First strike on a 3/2 is no joke and they could block a large portion of the meta. Anybody tried these guys yet, and what are your thoughts?
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
I'm not really arguing FoR vs Mutavault nor if we should run land destruction MD, but if that land destruction should be on a land spot or on a 3cmc spot. The curve of the deck is really high, and having 10-11 3cmc cards and 4-5 4cmc cards results in a lot of hands where you can do nothing until turn 3-4.
Damping Sphere might be really good against Storm and Tron, though I find Stony Silence + GY removal (Spellbomb + RIP) more reliable, since Storm doesn't usually play enchantment removal and you can shut up Oblivion Stone and maps against Tron. That said, I wouldn't mind to try it as a 1-off on my SB since it is pretty versatile.
The last list I've been working on:
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
2 Collective Brutality
1 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Godless Shrine
3 Shambling Vent
4 Concealed Courtyard
3 Field of Ruin
2 Mutavault
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
3 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Damnation
I'm trying both Mutavault and FoR on the same mana base, as well as Gideon AoZ as a finisher. I've also been testing 2 Fulminators MD, though, just to see if they perform better than I think, but I don't have conclusive results yet. I'd like to add the 3rd TSeize, I'll test if 3 Sorins and 2 Gideons are really necessary and if not I'll swap one of them.
Been trying this recently. So far I'm very pleased with Serra avenger. Never really feel the drawback of not being able to play it early since the first few turns are spent disrupting the opponent. 3/3 flying vigilance is just straight good for two mana. I understand that there will be skepticism, but just give it a try if you haven't.
The zealous persecution is a new addition I hadn't tried mainboard before. I'm still not exactly sure about it, but it has such a high ceiling that it seems worth the inclusion as a 1-of.
I'm actually really liking this deck for the current meta. The more people move toward linear solitaire-esque decks, the better unrelenting disruption seems.
Edit: after further testing Gifted aetherborn seems better in those slots. I'm also wondering if this deck couldn't use a second copy of path in the main.
The vehicles I'm using in particular are Smuggler's Copter and Aethersphere Harvester.
Smuggler's copter is perfectly sized to beat all of the threats coming out of humans and spirits, it also digs us closer to our hate-pieces, as well as allowing us to play a threat on turn 2 in the face of a lightning bolt or some other removal from the various midrange/control/phoenix decks running around.
Aetherphere Harvester is almost unbeatable against humans, spirits, and phoenix. 5 toughness might as well be infinite, that and the lifegain makes it very unprofitable to attack into, and lets us swing the race much more quickly than a sorin would.
Both Vehicles also have the added benefit of dodging sorcery speed reflector mage, jace minus, ugin minus, sorcery speed wraths, and any targeted removal provided to check that the coast is clear before crewing. They are extremely versatile cards that are very difficult to interact with.
The one downside.... and it's a big one, I won't lie..... is that you can't play stony silence. However, damping sphere and kambal shut down ironworks anyway (aside from explosives ruining our day),and obviously sphere is better against tron than stony is, so ironworks and tron aren't huge issues. The worst part about not playing stony is that hardened scales is super hard to beat without it. We still have RIP and you can play disenchants and such, but walking ballista is a rediculous card, and you can't just play pithing needle on ballista, because the rest of the deck will get you. I feel like there's a good solution to the match that I just haven't found yet though. The vehicles increase our percentage against so many decks though, that I thinks it's ok if we lose to this one some-what fringe deck.
Anyway, lets get to some decklists.
Here's where I am for Orzhov vehicles:
4 Mutavault
4 marsh flats
4 concealed courtyard
2 horizon canopy
1 vault of the archangel
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 shambling vent
2 godless shrine
2 swamp
2 plains
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Thraben Inspector
4 dark Confidant
4 Tidehollow Sculler
Spells: 12
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
2 Lingering Souls
Artifacts:
4 Smuggler's Copter
4 Aethersphere Harvester
2 Fagmentize
4 Rest In Peace
4 Damping Sphere
3 Zealous Persecution
2 Kamabal, Consul of Allocation
Toolcraft allows this deck to close much more quickly. It trades with every threat out of humans and spirits aside from thalia, and even against thalia, if we have 3 artifacts (deck has 16 sources) it can trade. I haven't had too many issues turning it on, but sometimes it does fail, I won't lie. It is a very fast clock most of the time though. It's almost literally a wild nacatl.
Inspector is more artifacts for toolcraft. But what it's really here for is as a one drop that does something. Lingering souls is really slow right now, and it can be clunky. It's almost always just chumping against humans and spirits, and, lets be honest, it's too slow for the combo decks. Inspector is a turn 1 play and it lets us double spell turn 3 as well as letting us get a 2-1 when we need to grind. He's one of the best crewers.
Sculler is also an amazing crewer, since it check that the coast is clear before lift off, also helps that it's a artifact for toolcraft.
Mutavault is also huge for this deck, it's super easy to activate, dodges the same stuff that the vehicles do and it crews them for just 2 mana, mutavault is possibly the best manland in the format, and it's even better here.
Now onto my main baby, Abzan Vehicles:
4 concealed courtyard
3 horizon canopy
4 marsh flats
3 verdant catacombs
1 stirring wildwood
1 shambling vent
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
1 gavony township
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
1 overgrown tomb
1 plains
1 swamp
1 forest
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Dark confidant
4 kitesail freebooter
4 emmara, soul of the accord
Spells: 12
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 fatal push
3 path to exile
2 assassin's trophy
Arifacts: 8
4 Smuggler's Copter
4 Aethersphere Harvester
4 rest in peace
4 damping sphere
2 gaddock teeg
3 zealous persecution
2 kambal, consul of allocation
So green gives us a lot of upgrades.
First off, Emmara is REDICULOUS with vehicles, attack in the sky and hold off the ground with a lifelinking army. I started with 2 and when to 4 pretty fast, you can loot away uneeded copies with copter as well.
Assassin's trophy is just really flexible, I like having at least one catchall in my decks.
Gavony township is stupid good at leveling up our dorks (and the emmara army) it just wins games on it's own.
Stirring wildwood acts sort of like harvester in that it's really hard to spirits, humans, and phoenix decks to break-through.
You also get teeg in the board, and potentially knight of autumn as well.
Green adds alot of firepower, but it's with a more painful manabase. I'm also not sure if 4 mutavault is correct here either since you can't cast emmara with 1 land and a mutavault. But emmara is really a turn 3+ play anyway, so I think it's probably ok.
Let me know what you guys think, both of these decks have been doing really well for me.
Honestly BW in general is just lacking to much to be a deck outside of the hatebears version.
We really need a good two drop threat, I personally think they're going to unban stoneforge mystic in the next b&r announcement. If that's the case then we might be able to make this a good deck again.
Another card that might be intresting in a jund-esque version of this deck would be the newly spoiled Basilica Bell-Haunt.
One of the biggest issues with the midrange version that I've had is the lack of a well-rounded 4 drop. The contenders seem to be both sorins and Gideon. The issue with solemn visitor is that while he is amazing with a board full of creatures, he just makes a 2/2 and gets bolted or attacked down (because a 2/2 isn't holding off anything really). The issue with lord of innistrad is that he just isn't fast enough without a board full of creatures, his emblem is really good though, and he pluses to make a guy, that's why I think he's currently our best 4 drop, but, like solemn visitor, he doesn't do much if you are behind, and his tokens don't fly which makes it hard to protect him. Gideon makes 2/2's which don't line up well with most decks, and he doesn't gain life. He's great against midrange and control, but not good against anything else really.
Bell-Haunt's body is relevant because it walls off humans and doesn't die to bolt. Gaining life is super important in our deck because of bob and bitterblossom (I think bitterblossom is way too good for this deck to not run it honestly), and this buffs our life in a bolt-heavy meta. The discard is also important in our grindier games. I will at least test this as a 3-of if we solve the 2 drop problem.
I'm honestly disappointed with the spoilers, I was expecting a "fixed" vindicate that didn't lava spike us, a good two drop, and a reprint of gerrard's verdict, but we didn't get any of those.
Anyway,
Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
At first glance I was really mad about this card when she got spoiled, but I'm starting to come around.
I look at Kaya as a Scavenging Ooze with a little bit of Vraska, Golgari Queen, and Shrine of Burning Rage.
Like ooze, Kaya keeps graveyards down while gaining life. Her upside here is that she can gain more life than ooze could, she has the potential to eat through a yard quicker, and she doesn't consume mana to use this ability. Obviously ooze is a threat in addition to it's ability, but so is Kaya with her ultimate. However just like ooze, she's probably not completely shutting down a graveyard strategy like dredge. Not being able to eat a yard at instant speed is also a ding against her.
Her -1 actually hits something in most decks.
Death's Shadow, Mox opal, vial, hierarch, champions, swiftspear, guide, amulet, around 30% of the hardened scales deck, flameblade adept, chalice of the void, and mausoleum wanderer are the biggest hits I can think of, but there are others. While she doesn't hit every deck with her -1, those are the ones that are affected by the +1.
Her ultimate isn't particularly game-winning on it's own, but we do run paths and rest in peace, so it's more than achievable.
So incremental life-gain and grave-hate, the possibility of exiling something, and a fireball all in one package. I think it's possible she's good, and it's worth testing her.
Basilica Bell-Haunt
I already posted about this card, so I won't go into length about it.
It survives bolt, beats all of the threats out of the humans/spirits decks, gains us life (3 life is almost worth a card in modern, and it is worth a card in some matchups), and forcing discard means this is almost always a 2-1 at minimum, it's a 3-1 in alot of matchups.
I will be testing 3 of this card.
Another side-note about this card is that it does provide 4 devotion to Athreos, God of Passage, probably not a big deal, but this guy and any permanent with one blip turns it on.
Kaya's Wrath
I think this is better than Damnation for our deck, since we will have creatures on our board most of the time we wrath, recouping the life lost to bitterblossom and bob seems worth the color requirement.
I will be testing 2 in the sideboard.
Angel of Grace
5 mana is alot and that might price this out of the deck.
I have always wanted an extra sideboard slot for Angel's Grace in the board, just as a way to go "Surprise! Your combo does nothing!" to combo decks after they go all-in, then laugh maniacally as they start crying.
Seriously though, this can stop lightning storm, grapeshot, valakut triggers (off of a scapeshift, titan will still kill you unfortunately), I think ther's probably a spot in the kci loop for you to drop her but I'm not sure.
The main purpose for her though is that she can ambush pheonix's, humans, spirits, hollow ones, and many other threats, and eat them. She also at least trades with most threats. Having flash lets us mess up a control player's sequencing, although it is awkward with liliana in our deck. While 6 mana is alot, gaining 10 means gg for burn.
She's probably not good enough, but there's potential for her.
Font of Agonies
I'm not sure we pay enough life for this to work, if only bob and bitterblossom were payments instead of losing life, this would be sick.
So here's where I'm starting:
4 concealed courtyard
4 field of ruin
4 shambling vent
4 marsh flats
2 godless shrine
2 plains
4 swamp
Creatures: 7
4 dark confidant
3 basilica bell-haunt
3 Bitterblossom
Planeswalkers: 7
4 Liliana of the veil
3 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
Spells: 19
4 fatal push
4 path to exile
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 thoughtseize
4 lingering souls
1 fragmentize
3 stony silence
3 rest in peace
2 damping sphere
2 collective brutality
2 kambal, consul of allocation
2 kaya's wrath
I'm looking for input, let me know what you guys think.
R1: Izzet Pheonix 2-0
I will say that this player was using Kiln Fiend over drakes, which is obviously not as good, but they did only play one kiln fiend in the match, and it wouldn't have mattered if it was a drake because it died immediately to a Liliana minus.
I won one game with a kaya ultimate, and kaya was nuts against this deck. I exiled a looting and a phoenix the turn she came in and gained about 8 life with her that game, while building a wall of faeries with bitterblossom.
R2: Abzan Delerium 1-2
I won game 1 because of kaya keeping them off of delerium, exiling the back half of lingering souls, and managing goyfs. I had the token advantage, so it was an easy win.
I had 3 kaya's wraths in the board, but felt that I wanted the 4 inguisitions against them because of liliana the last hope, and I feel it's important to stick a bob or bitterblossom early and wanted to clear the way for that so I only brought in 2. Turns out I should have brought in the third wrath, because it was gas everytime I drew it, and I ended up just dying to multiple goyfs and souls tokens. I think another reason I lost was because the delerium decks tend to only run 19/20 lands because of traverse and bauble, so their topdecks were just better than mine. Having the third wrath (or possibly a 4th) gives us a nice way to catch up in that matchup.
R3 Burn 2-0
Kaya and bell-haunt are obviously incredible here. Bell-haunt made them discard a boros charm, and with gaining the life, and being a 3/4 made it too much for them to handle. Field of ruin is also great against them, because they don't run a basic plains, so you can easily color-screw them.
I think the matchup is very favored for us, and I wasn't scared at any point.
R4 Tron 2-1
This is when I realized I didn't put damping sphere in my deck, and just expected to be 0-2'ed quickly LOL.
I actually won game 1, as you do sometimes against tron with field of ruin in your deck. You take out their land, tear apart their hand, and get lucky as all-hell haha.
Game 2 I took out their land but I flooded really hard, and they just cast ugin on turn 8 and that's game.
Game 3 I took out their land and surgicaled it. They bricked on lands and that's all she wrote.
R5 Hollow One 2-1
This was the BR version of hollow one.
Game 1 I won, again, with a kaya ultimate, in a position where nothing else would have worked, they were at 12, I was on the ropes against an angler and multiple pheonix's, and drained them for 10, and hit them with 2 bitterblossom tokens. Felt great.
Game 2 I died to pheonix's and a turn 2 hollow one.
Game 3 We traded back and forth, I landed rest in peace, but bitterblossom got me down to 2 and we were both empty handed, luckily I drew a shambling vent, and faded a lightning bolt, and won. So I got kinda lucky.
Kaya was great in this league. She obviously does nothing against tron, but gaining life was crucial, and she can take out swiftspears and flameblade adepts, as well as manage lingering souls pretty well. The ultimate is also a real tangible thing. Right now I think she deserves maindeck play, but I can see her being a sideboard option, with the potential unbanning of a certain card.
bell-haunt was good, not amazing, but not bad either. I think it's a good middle ground between the sorins. The lifegain is important, and the discard is pretty gross, liliana into bell-haunt is great. It obviously doesn't line-up well against anglers and hollow ones, but it's good against swiftspears and bobs. I really wish it had deathtouch though. So it's good, I'll keep playing 3, I wouldn't mind going to 4 either.
Kaya's wrath is nuts in this deck, there are times where bitterblossom isn't enough, and being able to kill everything, gain 2-3 life from your random tokens, and then allow blossom to take over the game is really strong. I kind of want to go to 4, but that might be too much with the ammount of combo in the format currently.
Other notes:
Collective brutality just isn't good right now imo, it doesn't do much against phoenix, it only kills a thing against humans (for potentially 3 mana too, yikes) and would rarely tag anything important against spirits, so I don't think I want it. I'd rather have kaya's wrath. You could argue that it's a duress effect as well, but bell-haunt does this better against burn, and we already have 7 targeted discard effects, as well as liliana, and bell-haunt against combo, not to mention some of that combo doesn't even get hit with brutality (kci), so I think I'm cutting it from my sideboard.
I wanted to try out surgical over a rest in peace because I don't see alot of kci on mtgo, and I think with it potentially getting banned, surgical is going to be better since it hits pheonix's and can snag a tron land for the cost of nothing. But rest in peace is just a combo with kaya, and I really want to try to make that happen at least once lol.
Here's what my sideboard will look like now.
3 rest in peace
3 stony silence
2 damping sphere
2 kambal, consul of allocation
3 kaya's wrath
I kind of want anguished unmaking over fragmentize because it's an out to planeswalkers, but fragmentize is better against burn, and it's cheaper. It could also be disenchant, so it would hit hollow ones. So that's a card I'm unsure of.