Sideboard
3x Go For The Throat
3x Pistus Strike
3x Virulent Wound
2x Sylvanok Replica
2x Memoricide
2x Black Sun's Zenith
Viridian Emissary : Mana Fixing. Triggers when used with Birthing Pod.
Spellskite : Protect our combo, with all the artifact hate in block, it’s used to save Pod.
Glissa : This card makes Beast Within very good. Glissa alone can handle the tokens and bring back Spellskite, Golem, Wurmcoil and our Pod.
Entomber Exarch : I’m in love with this card. Turn 3 Sac a 3CC Creatures, get the Exarch to either make your opponent discard a removal/Planeswalker or bring back any creatures that you sacrificed before.
Precursor : Only 5CC Creature i could come up with. It’s fragile, but if you removed any form of removal with the Exrach, it should survive a turn. When you sac it to pod, you still have 2x 3/3 Tokens in play.
Wurmcoil : Best 6CC Creature in the format, when you sac it you get 2x 3/3 as well and you can brin git back with Glissa and/or Exarch.
Sheoldred : That right there, is a monster in the deck. If it stays online for only 1 turn, the whole deck gets another spin of wheel. Either bring back Corrupter to destro an artifact, the golem to get a small army, the Exarch to bring another creature.
Have you considered Thrun, the last troll? Even having just one would be enough, I also like having a replica main since it has synergy with glissa.
Birthing Pod is definatley my favorite card out of NPH, so I'd be interested to see if a variant of this type of deck could be made competitive. As it is now, it feels like it would just get run over versus steel ww, and mono b poison.
I look forward to brewing with birthing pod, but as I only play mtgo, I gotta wait a few more weeks.
Sylvok Replica should be a MD x4 in any deck that runs glissa straight up. I've literally gone late game with him and glissa for so much CA, or with 7/8 lands in play, dropp him with glissa on the table and after a turn or two, the other guy scoops. There's so many artis and some enchantments seeing play in every single Tier MD, hell, even just for Inkmoth Nexus. Since you have the pod to tutor, you could probly live with only 2 in the MD, but get them in there.
At the 5 slot, have you considered skittles? You could get a small infect subtheme going. When you sac into him, you'll have swamps up for haste, or a block with regen(Plus you likely just stripped removal with Exarch). Add some Inkmoth Nexus, on top of your corrupters, and you could literally race via infect against the infi-life combo that's out now, or just magically have a flying haste to kill a walker(Say goodnight Koth). Having an additional line of attack is never bad. Skittles can just outright steal games you really shouldn't be winning. I'm a big fan of randomly stealing games.
(My Glissa list has a misers Mindslaver, so much fun....Take your turn, walk your dude into mine, Get back Mindslaver...Repeat?) Seriously, when you have 6 Land in play, Evil is always unhappy to see it, when you have ten, it almost always warrants an instant scoop)
Since you're tutoring, I'd cut 2 Golems for 2 Skittles, then maybe drop Slice In Twain for the replica? Yes, twain cantrips, for 1 card. However, Replica will recur for upwards of 3 or 4 on a regular basis. Block is a slower format, so games tend to go longer, which means more value.
Perilous Myr needs to be MD, or at the very least SB. That guy just screams VALUE. He's like an Arc Trail. Use pod to sac him at will for the 3 damage. Tutor up glissa, get him back shortly there-after, repeat. If you expect quick aggro like MWSteel, or Infect to give you trouble, that little guy is boss. Could maybe replace Spellskite in those matchups? They tend to be weaker on removal. I like the skite though in the list, don't take him out. Esp for protecting Glissa who's just so abuseable. Most people can't fight through the CA she gives, it's gross.
I guess those are my thoughts, I really like the idea, and the colors. Best of luck to you.
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Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
TheFireMind: Very good suggestions. I was thinking about infect subtheme as well. My only concern is Inkmoth. It would be nice, but i really need to hit 2 Forest on turn 3, for either Glissa or Corrupter.
Have you done a whole lot of testing yet? I found 25 land was too much for me personally(Just a Glissa Rock list, no pod shenanigans though). You'll actually be filtering your deck of threats ironically with the pod, thus increasing your land draws. Could make for some sour late game topdecks. You could cut 1 or 2. Maybe even the Inkmoth x1/2 since he'd really be in there to just speed up skittles clock 1 turn, so you only ever need to see one (4+4+1+1 = 10). I get what you mean about the lands though. I use horizon Spellbomb in my list. Fetches my lands I need, and works as recurable draw with Glissa.
Infect will likely be a bit rough for you. Glissa helps alot, they pack removal though. Plus, Then they can blow you out randomly with Skittles. Having him in there is actually good tech -Against- infect. GFTT will be a big player(Getting Vatmothers) and Melira will certainly help. No 1 Drops to tutor into her though, so I would be running like 3 of her in the board since it looks like your worst matchup(If you draw doubles, feed one to the pod, then play her again).
Pistus Strike is good, and works well with your Infect subtheme. A card to consider though, and something I've personally used to way more success then I ever dreamed, Wing Puncture. I put it in the board as a 2 of, since my mtgo account was on a super tight budget at the time, and I randomly drafted 2 of those and needed to fill my sideboard. It was awesome! Inkmoth is a 1/1 Plague Stinger is a 1/1 and Glint Hawk/Glint Hawk Idol are 2/2's Those are the ones I have the most issues with. 1 Mana removal on those is epic. You actually can pull ahead tempo wise with that. I have alot of deathtouch in my deck as well, and killing Consecrated Sphinx the turn it's played for G = The second greatest feeling in the world. The actual greatest is having Wurmcoil, Mortarpod, and Glissa online with a good 8/10 Mana in play lol. Or maybe Glissa with Mindslaver, that's good too.
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Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
I really think the Black Sun's Zenith should be maindeck. it deals with so many threats that you otherwise can't do much about...such as Mirran Crusader. Another option is Life's Finale. That seems like a good card for your deck as you can easily rebuild from one. I am gonna try this deck out myself online, once nph comes out. I really like the interactions in it. I don't know what you have sideboard right now as your latest list didn't post a sideboard. Could you mention what your current sideboard is, or is it the same as the previous list?
I can't see 23 lands being enough, especially with 5, 6, and 7 drops in your deck. You can't depend on birthing pod for these cards, and i can't find a way for you to put them back into your library from your hand. I think 25 land and 4 emissary is good, or maybe try some spellbombs with 24 land. Also, I think 2 Sheoldred is 1 too many.
Yah, Brave is right about that. I haven't even tried a deck recently with less than 25 land. Between that and the Emmisarys, you should be fine. But no less than 25.
Might want to Edit the above, BW doesn't deal with Mirran Crusader. Perlilous Myr does a fantastic job though. Not that BW isn't an amazing Staple, but it doesn't answer the crusader. I've actually been memoriciding them away, since they are so troublesome.
Removing one Sheoldred is also sound advice.
BSZ I think deserves SB slots. If nothing else, for the crusader. It does good against weenies of various kinds, and against other green black decks, or Birthing Pod decks. Sweeping their board sure makes chaining hard...Otherwise it's a good answer to flyers. I don't MD in my G/B, but I don't use a Pod engine either :/
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Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
Check out the thread in Standard Development and we've hashed out some really good conversations. Some might be relevant to Block since most of the decks are 99% are block cards anyway. It's definately what I'm running post rotation standard if it stays supported. Also...
I've been running a version of this on MTGO without Birthing Pod or Glissa and running a large amount of removal, mostly because of the metagame on MTGO is half WW/Steel decks. I've so rarely caught myself with removal in my hand that I wasn't happy to see and it has handled fairly well. It plays very much like old school G/B Rock. It still has gaps though. Current testing build:
I'm still not completely happy with it though. The Spellbombs are recent additions and I'm still not sure if I should be using them over Wellspring. This used to run 25 lands and no land searching, but I found myself often having issues getting the GG or BB when it was important, and Viridian Emissary, where I feel is needed, is unreliable. I keep having the discussion in my head of Spellbomb v Wellspring. This deck has no pre-board 1 drop other than Spellbomb, so in the opening hand, it's nice, but otherwise, it seems pretty average. The issue with Wellspring is that 90% of the time, it's just a land for 2 and you'll never get the back end land. If I ran Glissa, I think using Spellbomb becomes a bit better, but when taking out removal for Glissa, it seems to be wrecked by the amount of cheap flyers that WW can offer.
And even though the deck is loaded with removal and I'm generally happy with it, I would love to take a couple out to put a couple more creatures in there. The decks biggest problem right now is Tezzeret. If it can't be removed quickly via Beast Within, it gets out of hand quickly. That's why the sideboard is currently littered with Memoricide and Despise, of which I need to decide which one to run over the other. Memoricide seems better in the long run and I've got plenty of things I'd like to put in there for Despise. Memoricide also removes annoying things like Red Sun's Zenith, Phoenix, and since those threats are generally turn 4+, I like the choice of Memoricide. Other than spot removal when needed and a Emissary, pre-turn 5-6, this deck likes to play a land and pass the turn.
I'd love to be able to fit cards like Glissa, or the already mentioned Massacre Wurm. It is very meta-gamed toward WW right now. It's the slow control decks that have a better late game than Wurmcoil Engine, those are the decks it loses to.
I caught myself putting Beast Within against EVERY matchup, so I moved the 4th to the main and pulled the less impressive Replica out. The addition of Glissa makes a bigger difference than I originally though and I find myself often getting my spellbombs back, which makes me keep those in there. It does well against Steel and Paladin Steel, very well against Big Red, but still struggles to Tezzeret. Considering there aren't many other decks out there that seem extremely competitive, I'm okay with the one awful matchup with favorable to good matchups to the other three. Tezzeret and Mirran Crusader are really the only two cards that make me cry when I see them, but I haven't seen a ton of Crusaders lately in testing. I think that they have been moved out or into most sideboards. That's at least what I'm seeing on MTGO. Still could use a slight bit of tweaking, but I'm much happier.
Looks solid. Someone has been sneaking a couple 4-0's in the dailies with BG pod recently. Have you tried gremlin mine in the sideboard? Works like a charm with glissa.
Continued testing has yielded two disturbing facts:
1) If any deck gets a crazy fast draw, the chances of a win are slim. This deck WANTS to go on the draw to get the extra card, but any fast deck with multiple 1-2 drops, it is just tough to race, so you almost always have to go on the play, which leads into the 2nd issue....
2) This deck begs for a card like Rampant Growth. Getting the GG or BB on turn 3/4 seems to be a struggle from time to time and often, I've sat there with cards that are needed to be played on turn 4 but simply cannot be played. I've tested taking out the Inkmoth for more colored mana, but haven't really tested it in detail.
It just seems one turn behind lately with Steel and Paladin decks, and that concerns me.
A bit more tuned to Steel with 2 main deck Replicas. Took out the Inkmoth and evened out the mana base at 12 and 12, don't miss them at all. Getting GG/BB is a little bit easier, and the Spellbombs, although slower than Wellspring, gives the one land early and makes a good late game card drawing engine with Glissa. Found out that the best possible card to get under Mimic Vat is Phyrexian Metamorph, so out goes one of the Glissa's and in goes one copy. Also moved the Throat to the sideboard, I'm finding the only matches that I really want to draw that against are Big Red for Koth lands and Phoenixes and Tezzeret for that damn Sphinx. Grasp is just so much better against all other matches as it kills almost everything out there.
It still loses to the insane quick turn 1-3 from Steel. It doesn't appear that there is much in the environment that can beat that unless you are also playing Steel. That just seems like the current meta, at least on MTGO. Kill any flyers quickly, take out Inkmoth, use mass removal whenever possible, and if you can get past turn 3 in good shape and aren't battling from behind and losing card advantage, the match turns favorable. The 2 Zeniths in the side are essential for Mirran Crusader. The only answers without it are Mimic Vat creatures from their side and artifact creatures. It still makes the deck cry.
Paladin seems like a better matchup, but I'm seeing less and less of it. All the removal makes their offensive equipment pretty weak. The rest plays the same as Steel.
Big Red is probably the best matchup out there. It's slow but has no real end game unless the game gets out of hand. The best thing possible to see is a turn 3-4 Koth, make a 4/4 and then kill the mountain. Kill their mana base and Koth crumbles. It nullifies pretty much the entire deck.
Tezzeret is still a beating. Memoricide is really the only real threat to take out Tezzeret...and then you still have to deal with Sphinx, Karn, Wurmcoil. Just a bad matchup. If there is anything that would prevent me from playing this deck in a PTQ season, this is it. It has a better end game, better card advantage, and the strength of all that removal is just not good against this matchup.
The other decks out there aren't a giant threat, but I haven't seen a ton other decks to be honest. Infect is a pretty favorable matchup with Dismember and other spot removal. The deck running Elspeth, the few times I saw it, aren't good, but I just haven't seen a ton of it.
I'm pleased with the deck, but not thrilled. It still seems like it is one turn behind against those real quick Steel matches and it really wants better land searching. With no dual land option or viable land searching or ramping up, it just seems a little slow sometimes. I do think that 24 land is the right number with 7 potential mana fixers, even if 4 of them are weak. I took out the Emissary and tried Wellspring, but then the ground game of Steel/Paladin runs free. Most of the time, they won't swing into an Emissary and it stalls out the game long enough to get the advantage. Although I do side Emissary out against Tezzeret.
If you can get past turn 4-5 in good shape and you aren't facing Tezzeret, the majority of the time, it's a win. And it can't be really any more overtuned for Steel, even though that seems like best deck out there, because then you just start losing keys other decks and the fast Steel hand STILL wins.
It's good, Steel and Tezzeret...still seem to be better.
You're packing too much removal I'd say. If anything I'd drop a lot of that and add in some perilous myrs. I wish I had a metamorph but thats out of my budget atm
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4x Viridian Emissary
3x Entomber Exarch
3x Spellskite
3x Precursor Golem
3x Glissa, The Traitor
2x Viridian Corrupter
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Sheoldred, Whispering one
4x Birthing Pod
4x Best Within
3x Despise
2x Slice In Twains
13x Forest
12x Swamp
Sideboard
3x Go For The Throat
3x Pistus Strike
3x Virulent Wound
2x Sylvanok Replica
2x Memoricide
2x Black Sun's Zenith
Viridian Emissary : Mana Fixing. Triggers when used with Birthing Pod.
Spellskite : Protect our combo, with all the artifact hate in block, it’s used to save Pod.
Glissa : This card makes Beast Within very good. Glissa alone can handle the tokens and bring back Spellskite, Golem, Wurmcoil and our Pod.
Entomber Exarch : I’m in love with this card. Turn 3 Sac a 3CC Creatures, get the Exarch to either make your opponent discard a removal/Planeswalker or bring back any creatures that you sacrificed before.
Precursor : Only 5CC Creature i could come up with. It’s fragile, but if you removed any form of removal with the Exrach, it should survive a turn. When you sac it to pod, you still have 2x 3/3 Tokens in play.
Wurmcoil : Best 6CC Creature in the format, when you sac it you get 2x 3/3 as well and you can brin git back with Glissa and/or Exarch.
Sheoldred : That right there, is a monster in the deck. If it stays online for only 1 turn, the whole deck gets another spin of wheel. Either bring back Corrupter to destro an artifact, the golem to get a small army, the Exarch to bring another creature.
Birthing Pod is definatley my favorite card out of NPH, so I'd be interested to see if a variant of this type of deck could be made competitive. As it is now, it feels like it would just get run over versus steel ww, and mono b poison.
I look forward to brewing with birthing pod, but as I only play mtgo, I gotta wait a few more weeks.
At the 5 slot, have you considered skittles? You could get a small infect subtheme going. When you sac into him, you'll have swamps up for haste, or a block with regen(Plus you likely just stripped removal with Exarch). Add some Inkmoth Nexus, on top of your corrupters, and you could literally race via infect against the infi-life combo that's out now, or just magically have a flying haste to kill a walker(Say goodnight Koth). Having an additional line of attack is never bad. Skittles can just outright steal games you really shouldn't be winning. I'm a big fan of randomly stealing games.
(My Glissa list has a misers Mindslaver, so much fun....Take your turn, walk your dude into mine, Get back Mindslaver...Repeat?) Seriously, when you have 6 Land in play, Evil is always unhappy to see it, when you have ten, it almost always warrants an instant scoop)
Since you're tutoring, I'd cut 2 Golems for 2 Skittles, then maybe drop Slice In Twain for the replica? Yes, twain cantrips, for 1 card. However, Replica will recur for upwards of 3 or 4 on a regular basis. Block is a slower format, so games tend to go longer, which means more value.
Perilous Myr needs to be MD, or at the very least SB. That guy just screams VALUE. He's like an Arc Trail. Use pod to sac him at will for the 3 damage. Tutor up glissa, get him back shortly there-after, repeat. If you expect quick aggro like MWSteel, or Infect to give you trouble, that little guy is boss. Could maybe replace Spellskite in those matchups? They tend to be weaker on removal. I like the skite though in the list, don't take him out. Esp for protecting Glissa who's just so abuseable. Most people can't fight through the CA she gives, it's gross.
I guess those are my thoughts, I really like the idea, and the colors. Best of luck to you.
Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
Here's an updated decklist
3x Entomber Exarch
3x Glissa The Traitor
3x Spellskite
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Sheoldred, Whispering One
2x Skythrix, Blight Dragon
1x Precursor Golem
4x Birthing Pod
4x Beast Within
3x Despise
Land
12x Forest
9x Swamp
4x Inkmoth Nexus
Infect will likely be a bit rough for you. Glissa helps alot, they pack removal though. Plus, Then they can blow you out randomly with Skittles. Having him in there is actually good tech -Against- infect. GFTT will be a big player(Getting Vatmothers) and Melira will certainly help. No 1 Drops to tutor into her though, so I would be running like 3 of her in the board since it looks like your worst matchup(If you draw doubles, feed one to the pod, then play her again).
Pistus Strike is good, and works well with your Infect subtheme. A card to consider though, and something I've personally used to way more success then I ever dreamed, Wing Puncture. I put it in the board as a 2 of, since my mtgo account was on a super tight budget at the time, and I randomly drafted 2 of those and needed to fill my sideboard. It was awesome! Inkmoth is a 1/1 Plague Stinger is a 1/1 and Glint Hawk/Glint Hawk Idol are 2/2's Those are the ones I have the most issues with. 1 Mana removal on those is epic. You actually can pull ahead tempo wise with that. I have alot of deathtouch in my deck as well, and killing Consecrated Sphinx the turn it's played for G = The second greatest feeling in the world. The actual greatest is having Wurmcoil, Mortarpod, and Glissa online with a good 8/10 Mana in play lol. Or maybe Glissa with Mindslaver, that's good too.
Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
4x Viridian Emissary
3x Entomber Exarch
3x Glissa The Traitor
3x Perilous Myr
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Sheoldred, Whispering One
2x Sylvok Replica
2x Skithiryx, Blight Dragon
1x Precursor Golem
4x Birthing Pod
4x Beast Within
3x Despise
2x Go For The Throat
2x Mimic Vat
11x Forest
9x Swamp
3x Inkmoth Nexus
I really think the Black Sun's Zenith should be maindeck. it deals with so many threats that you otherwise can't do much about...such as Mirran Crusader. Another option is Life's Finale. That seems like a good card for your deck as you can easily rebuild from one. I am gonna try this deck out myself online, once nph comes out. I really like the interactions in it. I don't know what you have sideboard right now as your latest list didn't post a sideboard. Could you mention what your current sideboard is, or is it the same as the previous list?
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Right now i'm playtesting with proxies, against non block deck and it's doing good.
I agree that i should up the land count to 24 and that i should remove one Sheoldred.
As for Mirran Crusader, i have Beast Within and Perilous Myr to get ride of them.
More to come.
Removing one Sheoldred is also sound advice.
BSZ I think deserves SB slots. If nothing else, for the crusader. It does good against weenies of various kinds, and against other green black decks, or Birthing Pod decks. Sweeping their board sure makes chaining hard...Otherwise it's a good answer to flyers. I don't MD in my G/B, but I don't use a Pod engine either :/
Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
Despise will be used to remove them then
BSZ, unless i'm wrong, doesn't affect Mirran Crusader either.
I will have to either play Memoricide in the board and maybe some Tumble Magnet.
Explain to me why Phyrexian Crusader doesn't die to a Slagstorm then?
I think i'm right. Someone prove me wrong
Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, which is more dangerous then to copy others. It leads to sterility. – Pablo Picasso
With Acidic Slime and Grave Titan in M12, we've got ourself some nice 5CC and 6CC creatures to add to the deck!
Here's my updated list!
4x Viridian Emissary
4x Perilous Myr
3x Glissa, The Traitor
2x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Viridian Corrupter
2x Skinrender
2x Precursor Golem
1x Entomber Exarch
1x Acidweb Spider
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
1x Thrun, The Last Troll
3x Birthing Pod
2x Mimic Vat
2x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Go For The Throat
2x Beast Within
1x Dismember
Lands
14x Forest
10x Swamp
3x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Viridian Corrupter
2x Dismember
2x Beast Within
2x Entomber Exarch
2x Go For The Throat
Massacre Wurm... ends games.
4x Viridian Emissary
1x Sylvok Replica
3x Viridian Corrupter
3x Skinrender
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
3x Wurmcoil Engine
Spells
3x Horizon Spellbomb
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Go for the Throat
2x Grasp of Darkness
3x Mimic Vat
3x Beast Within
4x Dismember
2x Black Sun's Zenith
11x Forest
10x Swamp
3x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Black Sun's Zenith
3x Memoricide
4x Despise
1x Go for the Throat
1x Viridian Corrupter
1x Beast Within
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Sylvok Replica
I'm still not completely happy with it though. The Spellbombs are recent additions and I'm still not sure if I should be using them over Wellspring. This used to run 25 lands and no land searching, but I found myself often having issues getting the GG or BB when it was important, and Viridian Emissary, where I feel is needed, is unreliable. I keep having the discussion in my head of Spellbomb v Wellspring. This deck has no pre-board 1 drop other than Spellbomb, so in the opening hand, it's nice, but otherwise, it seems pretty average. The issue with Wellspring is that 90% of the time, it's just a land for 2 and you'll never get the back end land. If I ran Glissa, I think using Spellbomb becomes a bit better, but when taking out removal for Glissa, it seems to be wrecked by the amount of cheap flyers that WW can offer.
And even though the deck is loaded with removal and I'm generally happy with it, I would love to take a couple out to put a couple more creatures in there. The decks biggest problem right now is Tezzeret. If it can't be removed quickly via Beast Within, it gets out of hand quickly. That's why the sideboard is currently littered with Memoricide and Despise, of which I need to decide which one to run over the other. Memoricide seems better in the long run and I've got plenty of things I'd like to put in there for Despise. Memoricide also removes annoying things like Red Sun's Zenith, Phoenix, and since those threats are generally turn 4+, I like the choice of Memoricide. Other than spot removal when needed and a Emissary, pre-turn 5-6, this deck likes to play a land and pass the turn.
I'd love to be able to fit cards like Glissa, or the already mentioned Massacre Wurm. It is very meta-gamed toward WW right now. It's the slow control decks that have a better late game than Wurmcoil Engine, those are the decks it loses to.
3x Glissa, The Traitor
1x Massacre Wurm
2x Skinrender
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Viridian Corrupter
4x Viridian Emissary
2x Wurmcoil Engine
Spells
3x Mimic Vat
1x Black Sun's Zenith
4x Beast Within
4x Dismember
2x Go for the Throat
2x Grasp of Darkness
3x Horizon Spellbomb
1x Ratchet Bomb
11x Forest
3x Inkmoth Nexus
10x Swamp
1x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Entomber Exarch
1x Go for the Throat
4x Memoricide
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Skinrender
2x Sylvok Replica
2x Viridian Corrupter
I caught myself putting Beast Within against EVERY matchup, so I moved the 4th to the main and pulled the less impressive Replica out. The addition of Glissa makes a bigger difference than I originally though and I find myself often getting my spellbombs back, which makes me keep those in there. It does well against Steel and Paladin Steel, very well against Big Red, but still struggles to Tezzeret. Considering there aren't many other decks out there that seem extremely competitive, I'm okay with the one awful matchup with favorable to good matchups to the other three. Tezzeret and Mirran Crusader are really the only two cards that make me cry when I see them, but I haven't seen a ton of Crusaders lately in testing. I think that they have been moved out or into most sideboards. That's at least what I'm seeing on MTGO. Still could use a slight bit of tweaking, but I'm much happier.
1) If any deck gets a crazy fast draw, the chances of a win are slim. This deck WANTS to go on the draw to get the extra card, but any fast deck with multiple 1-2 drops, it is just tough to race, so you almost always have to go on the play, which leads into the 2nd issue....
2) This deck begs for a card like Rampant Growth. Getting the GG or BB on turn 3/4 seems to be a struggle from time to time and often, I've sat there with cards that are needed to be played on turn 4 but simply cannot be played. I've tested taking out the Inkmoth for more colored mana, but haven't really tested it in detail.
It just seems one turn behind lately with Steel and Paladin decks, and that concerns me.
Double doom for your investment often dropping two threats in one activation of pod. And it fills that barren 5cc spot.
2x Glissa, The Traitor
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Skinrender
2x Sylvok Replica
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Viridian Corrupter
4x Viridian Emissary
2x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Mimic Vat
1x Black Sun's Zenith
4x Beast Within
4x Dismember
2x Grasp of Darkness
3x Horizon Spellbomb
1x Ratchet Bomb
Land
12x Forest
12x Swamp
2x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Entomber Exarch
2x Go for the Throat
4x Memoricide
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Skinrender
2x Viridian Corrupter
A bit more tuned to Steel with 2 main deck Replicas. Took out the Inkmoth and evened out the mana base at 12 and 12, don't miss them at all. Getting GG/BB is a little bit easier, and the Spellbombs, although slower than Wellspring, gives the one land early and makes a good late game card drawing engine with Glissa. Found out that the best possible card to get under Mimic Vat is Phyrexian Metamorph, so out goes one of the Glissa's and in goes one copy. Also moved the Throat to the sideboard, I'm finding the only matches that I really want to draw that against are Big Red for Koth lands and Phoenixes and Tezzeret for that damn Sphinx. Grasp is just so much better against all other matches as it kills almost everything out there.
It still loses to the insane quick turn 1-3 from Steel. It doesn't appear that there is much in the environment that can beat that unless you are also playing Steel. That just seems like the current meta, at least on MTGO. Kill any flyers quickly, take out Inkmoth, use mass removal whenever possible, and if you can get past turn 3 in good shape and aren't battling from behind and losing card advantage, the match turns favorable. The 2 Zeniths in the side are essential for Mirran Crusader. The only answers without it are Mimic Vat creatures from their side and artifact creatures. It still makes the deck cry.
Paladin seems like a better matchup, but I'm seeing less and less of it. All the removal makes their offensive equipment pretty weak. The rest plays the same as Steel.
Big Red is probably the best matchup out there. It's slow but has no real end game unless the game gets out of hand. The best thing possible to see is a turn 3-4 Koth, make a 4/4 and then kill the mountain. Kill their mana base and Koth crumbles. It nullifies pretty much the entire deck.
Tezzeret is still a beating. Memoricide is really the only real threat to take out Tezzeret...and then you still have to deal with Sphinx, Karn, Wurmcoil. Just a bad matchup. If there is anything that would prevent me from playing this deck in a PTQ season, this is it. It has a better end game, better card advantage, and the strength of all that removal is just not good against this matchup.
The other decks out there aren't a giant threat, but I haven't seen a ton other decks to be honest. Infect is a pretty favorable matchup with Dismember and other spot removal. The deck running Elspeth, the few times I saw it, aren't good, but I just haven't seen a ton of it.
I'm pleased with the deck, but not thrilled. It still seems like it is one turn behind against those real quick Steel matches and it really wants better land searching. With no dual land option or viable land searching or ramping up, it just seems a little slow sometimes. I do think that 24 land is the right number with 7 potential mana fixers, even if 4 of them are weak. I took out the Emissary and tried Wellspring, but then the ground game of Steel/Paladin runs free. Most of the time, they won't swing into an Emissary and it stalls out the game long enough to get the advantage. Although I do side Emissary out against Tezzeret.
If you can get past turn 4-5 in good shape and you aren't facing Tezzeret, the majority of the time, it's a win. And it can't be really any more overtuned for Steel, even though that seems like best deck out there, because then you just start losing keys other decks and the fast Steel hand STILL wins.
It's good, Steel and Tezzeret...still seem to be better.