This is the basic tenets of MBC...Hand Disruption, Creature Destruction and a few win cons. It is missing card draw, as the only viable spell in block is Null Profusion, which I don't feel has a place here. I am utilizing Shrouded Lore and Demonic Collusion as semi-forms of card selection, if not card draw. Win comes are:
Sengir Nosferatu, who can only be dealt with with Sudden Shock/Death and Wipe Away...
Phyrexian Totem, who is pretty tough to deal with an empty board and/or hand...
Enslave, to turn their Spectral Force against them...
Twisted Abomination, who accelerates early and beats late game...
Urza's Factory, for those long attrition games...
EDIT: What do you feel is the better 2-of win con? Nosferatu or Stronghold Overseer? Nosferatu is hard to kill, other than Sudden Shock/Death while Overseer is immune to both, and Overseer can hold off weenie hordes by -1/-0 effects...
Please remember to label your threads with the proper block lettering. -Feuer
I really like this list for block, everything a player could want. OK, we could use some draw but I'm sure we'll get that in the next set (what block hasn't had some form of black draw for life). Have you considered haunting hymn in mindstab's place. It may not be able to suspend, but it can either be used at instant speed or nab more cards for the same price. The collusion just seems out of place as a one of, perhaps add another tendrils or enslave, or maybe another win condition and without card draw it may be harder to find one (ireally like the nosferatu as the win, when skellie rotates expect her price to jump).
I really like this list for block, everything a player could want. OK, we could use some draw but I'm sure we'll get that in the next set (what block hasn't had some form of black draw for life). Have you considered haunting hymn in mindstab's place. It may not be able to suspend, but it can either be used at instant speed or nab more cards for the same price. The collusion just seems out of place as a one of, perhaps add another tendrils or enslave, or maybe another win condition and without card draw it may be harder to find one (ireally like the nosferatu as the win, when skellie rotates expect her price to jump).
Yeah, the only draw available is Null Profusion or Candles, neither of which help much here. I did consider Haunting Hymn, but I like that turn 1 suspended Mindstab. It forces aggro to overextend into a Damnation and obviously hurts control as there are few good counters in block. The Collusion is there mainly to offset the lack of draw. It can nab me a Damnation in a pinch, or one of my win cons. It can also be easily bought back by pitching dead discard spells in the late to mid game.
I'm still considering Stronghold Overseer as a potential win con. He shuts down Weenies (other than Priest and Dauthi Slayer!), and he is immune to the majority of creature kill in this block with his 6 toughness. Something like:
I'm sure this will get tweaked of course, but it's been pretty strong in playtesting so far around the kitchen table. I'm going to a block tourney this saturday, so we'll see how it fares there.
Deck edited. Being most likely an aggro based format, I moved Mindstab to the board, as it was useless past turn 1 against aggro. I also am now running 2 Imp's Mischief maindeck, as they are fun against burn, discard, and especially nice to redirect targeted draw effects. Also, Curse of the Cabal is a card I want to experiment with. If it's suspended turn 3 thanks to a Lens, and I play a Damnation turn 4, it can hit my opponent's manabase...
Curse of the cabal is not worth it unless you can consistently hardcast it. Making your opponent sacrifice something once every two turns isn't going to make a huge difference post-damnation. You also may want to consider a second Urborg in the deck to help improve your chances of drawing one (as MBC doesn't have any decent draw yet).
Curse of the cabal is not worth it unless you can consistently hardcast it. Making your opponent sacrifice something once every two turns isn't going to make a huge difference post-damnation. You also may want to consider a second Urborg in the deck to help improve your chances of drawing one (as MBC doesn't have any decent draw yet).
I was thinking of replacing the Curse with Mindless Automaton. He's at least a small source of draw, and can pitch unnecessary cards, like Stupor when my opponent is topdecking, or extra lands, etc. A second Urborg is probably a good idea as well.
Deck edited. Being most likely an aggro based format, I moved Mindstab to the board, as it was useless past turn 1 against aggro. I also am now running 2 Imp's Mischief maindeck, as they are fun against burn, discard, and especially nice to redirect targeted draw effects. Also, Curse of the Cabal is a card I want to experiment with. If it's suspended turn 3 thanks to a Lens, and I play a Damnation turn 4, it can hit my opponent's manabase...
2 Curses are not worth it, just making the deck more inconsistant. To get anything out of it, you need to suspend 2 to make opponent sac every round or hardcast it (ouch, both variants). Any nice fattie or active Phyrexian totem post-damnation seem to be much better play to me.
I would cut lenses and curses, and add Totem, Sudden death, Urborg and maybe abominations for early swampcycle
2 Curses are not worth it, just making the deck more inconsistant. To get anything out of it, you need to suspend 2 to make opponent sac every round or hardcast it (ouch, both variants). Any nice fattie or active Phyrexian totem post-damnation seem to be much better play to me.
I would cut lenses and curses, and add Totem, Sudden death, Urborg and maybe abominations for early swampcycle
My 0.02$
Yeah, I'm finding more and more that Lens is not that necessary...Curses are definitely out. Aboms were originally in there, maybe they need to go back in. How about:
It sets me back a land was my problem with it, though I guess Totems help make up for it. I'll try it out, thanks!
i am thinking of using only the totem as the only "creature" in the deck so as to make the opponent's anti-creature spells useless.... but i dun know if that will reduce the win-conditions too much... the isnt any "drain life" in this format...;)
i am thinking of using only the totem as the only "creature" in the deck so as to make the opponent's anti-creature spells useless.... but i dun know if that will reduce the win-conditions too much... the isnt any "drain life" in this format...;)
That was my original plan also, but then I realize that Sengir's "self-blink" ability and Abomination's regen helped in that regard as well, and they both serve great purposes. Sengir is the primary finisher and Abom can thin my deck of lands in the early game.
That was my original plan also, but then I realize that Sengir's "self-blink" ability and Abomination's regen helped in that regard as well, and they both serve great purposes. Sengir is the primary finisher and Abom can thin my deck of lands in the early game.
ya that is true.. the abom swampcycling is great to thin out the deck... by the way have you thought of adding in the storage land with U/B.. may be a good inclusion to cast some bigger spells in late game.. also opens up U for more SB options... my 2 cents worth.. haha
ya that is true.. the abom swampcycling is great to thin out the deck... by the way have you thought of adding in the storage land with U/B.. may be a good inclusion to cast some bigger spells in late game.. also opens up U for more SB options... my 2 cents worth.. haha
Well, I played this tonight at a block tourney and went 4-0. I played:
RWG Sliver
BR Aggro Madness
Stuffy Doll/Pyrohemia
MGA
The only match in which I lost a game was RWG Sliver. He simply overpowered me with quick creatures and not a Damnation in sight. I fully feel that MBC is a viable deck in block. Hopefully, Future Sight brings some draw to Black.
I too have been experiementing with this. I would recommend trying out Null Profusion again. My list is very similar to yours, but i run no Abom's and no maindeck enslave, and run a Null Profusion and 3 total Collusion. Collusion seems really solid here, allow you to play a lot of one-ofs.
Im experiementing with Avatar of Woe as well, and on a side note, i highly reccomend 4 Terramorphic expanse.
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Commander Decks: WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU GFreyalise and the ElvesG GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU
I too have been experiementing with this. I would recommend trying out Null Profusion again. My list is very similar to yours, but i run no Abom's and no maindeck enslave, and run a Null Profusion and 3 total Collusion. Collusion seems really solid here, allow you to play a lot of one-ofs.
Im experiementing with Avatar of Woe as well, and on a side note, i highly reccomend 4 Terramorphic expanse.
I feel the deck is too reactive to run Null Profusion. You won't be proactively playing a lot of spells to take advantage of the play a card, draw a card aspect. Mainly it reads, "Pay 4BB to skip your draw step." Terramorphic Expanse isn't a bad idea, as it thins the deck of land even more. They can also tap for B with an Urborg out...
Ok, I played this last night against several decks, including The Deck to Beat (Blink Riders) and I learned several things.
You are right about Null Profusion, the reactiveness of this deck makes Recycle a bad card.
My build was attempting to abuse Demonic Collusion, using such combos as Mirari/Gauntlet of Power and Shrouded Lore. Gauntlet is really powerful, once it got into play, everything started going my way.
One big problem with this deck is its complete lack of card draw. I hate to be a negative nancy, but without card draw i fear this deck will not be able to consistantly overcome Blink Riders and mono-red burn.
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Host of "Do I Still Love It?" - The Nostalgia Podcast where comedians re-watch the films they remember loving as children to see if they still love them now that they're grown up.
Commander Decks: WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU GFreyalise and the ElvesG GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU
Ok, I played this last night against several decks, including The Deck to Beat (Blink Riders) and I learned several things.
You are right about Null Profusion, the reactiveness of this deck makes Recycle a bad card.
My build was attempting to abuse Demonic Collusion, using such combos as Mirari/Gauntlet of Power and Shrouded Lore. Gauntlet is really powerful, once it got into play, everything started going my way.
One big problem with this deck is its complete lack of card draw. I hate to be a negative nancy, but without card draw i fear this deck will not be able to consistantly overcome Blink Riders and mono-red burn.
You could always splash white for Flagstones as an anti-Riders card, and mono-R burn does nothing as Tendrils of Corruption makes all that life back really quick.
totally agree with that... but the part about the card drawing is still a pain in the neck... if there is only a good card draw....:-/
The best I could think of was utilizing Mindless Automaton. You can utilize some black madness cards, and also pitch unnecessary discard spells or lands in the mid-late game.
I dont see how dilluting the MBC manabase by adding Flagstones and plains is a good idea for combatting Riders. And besides, on turn 3-4 when they drop the riders (with lens for the turn jump) you will have 2-3 lands of your own (say 1 flagstones and 2 swamps). Why would any good player target the land that nets him no advantage? He will obviously target swamp.
Also, as for the tendrils overtaking red burn, your argument assumes to draw multiples of a single card in your deck, and not only draw them, but draw them quickly before you hit 0. This is nigh impossible to do as the deck has no card draw, and its tutor card costs 5, preventing you from tutoring and then tendrils on the same turn.
Im afraid that after playing about a week straight with this deck making various alterations and and such, IMO the deck cannot work in block at this time. Maybe Future Sight will change this, but lack of card draw and a lack of answers to land destruction make this deck incredibly weak versus the strongest and most popular decks in the format.
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Host of "Do I Still Love It?" - The Nostalgia Podcast where comedians re-watch the films they remember loving as children to see if they still love them now that they're grown up.
Commander Decks: WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU GFreyalise and the ElvesG GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU
I have been piloting MBC ever since PC was being spoiled. It is a very strong deck, just not quite sure it has tier 1 power yet. Hopefully FS will bring us more tools. The problem with mbc is its weakness to artifacts and enchantments. Not there are many, but there are some decks that will just shut you down. NEVER run Null Profusion...while this card is very very powerful, too many decks run discard, 3 really good ones are used very often. Piracy Charm, Funeral Charm, and Stupor. Any one of these will spell game over for you if you run this. Mindless Automation might be an interesting card drawer. But he belongs in a madness deck or something you want to reanimate. I think that MBC should run extirpate main. It's too good a card to leave out. With all your discard and creature kill, it will hit something of value. Sengir Nosferatu is an interesting choice. Pretty much invulnerable to everything except damnation and sudden death. I think that is worth while, but maybe only 2 of. I am not sold on Imp's Mischief, how many times has it actually saved you? With Tendrils being the only life gain,..I am not sure it's worth while or not. Maybe only on draw cards...not sure really. Shrouded Lore is pretty much crap. Especially late game when you have a lot of cards in grave, it's expensive just to retrieve a card back. I tested that card and most of the time it really didn't do much except tie up valuable mana. I must as soon just use a Feldon's Cane for that kind of stuff. I dont know, to each his/her own I guess. I splashed a tiny bit of blue for some artifact tricks with Academy...here's my list. I am still working on the fine tuning, but it seems to work well. Like everyone has been saying, it suffers from no real decent card draw. I thought about maybe using think twice since I am already splashing blue, but then it starts to look more like u/b control...and I dont really want to go that route. I will have to consider Mindless Automation or the tutor. One card that would go well with Automation is Psychotic Episode, which is a great discard card...
4 shrouded lore
2 imp's mischief
4 prismatic lens
4 stupor
3 sudden death
2 phyrexian totem
4 damnation
4 tendrils of corruption
1 demonic collusion
2 enslave
4 desert
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 urza's factory
15 swamp
3 extirpate
2 imp's mischief
3 sudden spoiling
3 plague sliver
4 mindstab
This is the basic tenets of MBC...Hand Disruption, Creature Destruction and a few win cons. It is missing card draw, as the only viable spell in block is Null Profusion, which I don't feel has a place here. I am utilizing Shrouded Lore and Demonic Collusion as semi-forms of card selection, if not card draw. Win comes are:
Sengir Nosferatu, who can only be dealt with with Sudden Shock/Death and Wipe Away...
Phyrexian Totem, who is pretty tough to deal with an empty board and/or hand...
Enslave, to turn their Spectral Force against them...
Twisted Abomination, who accelerates early and beats late game...
Urza's Factory, for those long attrition games...
EDIT: What do you feel is the better 2-of win con? Nosferatu or Stronghold Overseer? Nosferatu is hard to kill, other than Sudden Shock/Death while Overseer is immune to both, and Overseer can hold off weenie hordes by -1/-0 effects...
Please remember to label your threads with the proper block lettering. -Feuer
Yeah, the only draw available is Null Profusion or Candles, neither of which help much here. I did consider Haunting Hymn, but I like that turn 1 suspended Mindstab. It forces aggro to overextend into a Damnation and obviously hurts control as there are few good counters in block. The Collusion is there mainly to offset the lack of draw. It can nab me a Damnation in a pinch, or one of my win cons. It can also be easily bought back by pitching dead discard spells in the late to mid game.
I'm still considering Stronghold Overseer as a potential win con. He shuts down Weenies (other than Priest and Dauthi Slayer!), and he is immune to the majority of creature kill in this block with his 6 toughness. Something like:
-3 Twisted Abomination
+1 Sengir Nosferatu
+2 Stronghold Overseer
I'm sure this will get tweaked of course, but it's been pretty strong in playtesting so far around the kitchen table. I'm going to a block tourney this saturday, so we'll see how it fares there.
I was thinking of replacing the Curse with Mindless Automaton. He's at least a small source of draw, and can pitch unnecessary cards, like Stupor when my opponent is topdecking, or extra lands, etc. A second Urborg is probably a good idea as well.
2 Curses are not worth it, just making the deck more inconsistant. To get anything out of it, you need to suspend 2 to make opponent sac every round or hardcast it (ouch, both variants). Any nice fattie or active Phyrexian totem post-damnation seem to be much better play to me.
I would cut lenses and curses, and add Totem, Sudden death, Urborg and maybe abominations for early swampcycle
My 0.02$
Yeah, I'm finding more and more that Lens is not that necessary...Curses are definitely out. Aboms were originally in there, maybe they need to go back in. How about:
3 shrouded lore
2 imp's mischief
4 stupor
3 phyrexian totem
3 sudden death
4 damnation
4 tendrils of corruption
1 demonic collusion
2 enslave
3 twisted abomination
2 stronghold overseer
4 desert
2 urza's factory
2 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
14 swamp
3 extirpate
2 imp's mischief
3 sudden spoiling
3 plague sliver
4 mindstab
It sets me back a land was my problem with it, though I guess Totems help make up for it. I'll try it out, thanks!
i am thinking of using only the totem as the only "creature" in the deck so as to make the opponent's anti-creature spells useless.... but i dun know if that will reduce the win-conditions too much... the isnt any "drain life" in this format...;)
That was my original plan also, but then I realize that Sengir's "self-blink" ability and Abomination's regen helped in that regard as well, and they both serve great purposes. Sengir is the primary finisher and Abom can thin my deck of lands in the early game.
ya that is true.. the abom swampcycling is great to thin out the deck... by the way have you thought of adding in the storage land with U/B.. may be a good inclusion to cast some bigger spells in late game.. also opens up U for more SB options... my 2 cents worth.. haha
Well, I played this tonight at a block tourney and went 4-0. I played:
RWG Sliver
BR Aggro Madness
Stuffy Doll/Pyrohemia
MGA
The only match in which I lost a game was RWG Sliver. He simply overpowered me with quick creatures and not a Damnation in sight. I fully feel that MBC is a viable deck in block. Hopefully, Future Sight brings some draw to Black.
Im experiementing with Avatar of Woe as well, and on a side note, i highly reccomend 4 Terramorphic expanse.
Commander Decks:
WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW
URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU
GFreyalise and the ElvesG
GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG
UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU
I feel the deck is too reactive to run Null Profusion. You won't be proactively playing a lot of spells to take advantage of the play a card, draw a card aspect. Mainly it reads, "Pay 4BB to skip your draw step." Terramorphic Expanse isn't a bad idea, as it thins the deck of land even more. They can also tap for B with an Urborg out...
You are right about Null Profusion, the reactiveness of this deck makes Recycle a bad card.
My build was attempting to abuse Demonic Collusion, using such combos as Mirari/Gauntlet of Power and Shrouded Lore. Gauntlet is really powerful, once it got into play, everything started going my way.
One big problem with this deck is its complete lack of card draw. I hate to be a negative nancy, but without card draw i fear this deck will not be able to consistantly overcome Blink Riders and mono-red burn.
Commander Decks:
WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW
URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU
GFreyalise and the ElvesG
GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG
UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU
You could always splash white for Flagstones as an anti-Riders card, and mono-R burn does nothing as Tendrils of Corruption makes all that life back really quick.
totally agree with that... but the part about the card drawing is still a pain in the neck... if there is only a good card draw....:-/
The best I could think of was utilizing Mindless Automaton. You can utilize some black madness cards, and also pitch unnecessary discard spells or lands in the mid-late game.
Also, as for the tendrils overtaking red burn, your argument assumes to draw multiples of a single card in your deck, and not only draw them, but draw them quickly before you hit 0. This is nigh impossible to do as the deck has no card draw, and its tutor card costs 5, preventing you from tutoring and then tendrils on the same turn.
Im afraid that after playing about a week straight with this deck making various alterations and and such, IMO the deck cannot work in block at this time. Maybe Future Sight will change this, but lack of card draw and a lack of answers to land destruction make this deck incredibly weak versus the strongest and most popular decks in the format.
Commander Decks:
WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW
URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU
GFreyalise and the ElvesG
GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG
UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU
9 Swamps
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Desert
3 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Dreadship Reef
2 Academy Ruins
2 Island
1 Urza's Factory
Spells - 35
4 Phyrexian Totem
3 Prismatic Lens
2 Grinning Totem
4 Sudden Death
4 Damnation
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Funeral Charm
4 Stupor
2 Enslave
4 Extirpate
1 Triskelavus
4 Kor Dirge
2 Enslave
4 Sudden Spoiling
3 Psychotic Episode
1 Grinning Totem
REMINDER: THIS DECK IS STILL IN TESTING