I've been enjoying mono-white metalcraft a lot lately, and I've been missing some key aspects of traditional Ravager-Affinity in the cookie-cutter online pauper builds. Atog-Disciple is cute, but the standard build has too few sac outlets and it hasn't been having too much success for folks who've tried in my LGS (we play with the Online legality banlist, and the meta is pretty cut-throat). I've recently stumbled into a playset of one of my favorite cards ever, Agent of Shauku, and while trying to put them to good use, after many iterations, ended up with an all-in black aggro list which I'm looking to refine further.
The deck uses Dark Ritual and Springleaf Drum to power out a lot of small guys. Bonesplitter, Unnatural Stamina and Agent of Shauku help them attack for damage or trade upwards, and Springleaf Drum helps you play dudes every turn while keeping mana up for your pumps. The deathtouch on Dhund Operative futher helps you trade, and the evasion and lifelink on Vault Skirge help you race. Unnatural Stamina also helps race or counter enemy removal, and Agent of Shauku and Defiant Salvager team up with Disciple of the Vault to burn enemies out while also doing other stuff.
Springleaf Drum and Dark Ritual enable you to be very fast, but retain relevance throughout as you're likely to turn your lands into damage via the Agent and the Salvager. Springleaf Drum also enables many shennanigans as it lets you play your cheap dudes while keeping mana open for your equips, the multi-purpose Stamina or pumps with the Disciple.
I thought the deck would fold to Electrickery, but this isn't necessarily the case, as Weil of the Nim is actually playable in the board due to all the mana acceleration. I also thought decks which play a lot of 2/2 for 0-1-2, or token swarms would give it pause, but it turns out Evincar's Justice is also playable for much the same reasons, and you can build into an Evincar's Justice and then quickly flood the board with your swarm to turn the tables. The lifegain from Vault Skirge and Night Market Lookout helps race stuff, and the lifeloss from NML and Disciple work through fog.
I've also had a lot of fun playing Dusk Legion Zealot in a somewhat similar shell (Ritual, Drum, Bonesplitter, Unnatural Stamina, Agent of Shauku) so I could see a less Affinity-Centric build with Dregscape Zombie, Unearth and Phyrexian Rager in the mix.
Anyone have experience with this sort of thing and knows some random but key stuff that'd work well?
I was thinking Veil of the Nim, Evincar's Justice, some edict, Duress and Nihil Spellbomb in the side for sure. Any better plans?
Also - if this deck would actually run a fatso, it'd have to be either Angler or Myr Enforcer. With the Agent and Bonesplitters in the mix it's not a clear-cut choice for one or the other. Or is it?
"Masques Block is the worst block ever! There's not one decent card in there! The whole internet say's so, you're literally the only person who ever said it was good!" - random noob in a conversation with an Eldrazi.
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Creatures
4X Disciple of the Vault
4X Night Market Lookout
4X Vault Skirge
4X Dhund Operative
4X Agent of Shauku
3X Defiant Salvager
Artifacts
4X Springleaf Drum
4X Bonesplitter
Spells
4X Dark Ritual
3X Disfigure
4X Supernatural Stamina
Lands
4X Vault of Whispers
4X Darksteel Citadel
10X Swamp
The deck uses Dark Ritual and Springleaf Drum to power out a lot of small guys. Bonesplitter, Unnatural Stamina and Agent of Shauku help them attack for damage or trade upwards, and Springleaf Drum helps you play dudes every turn while keeping mana up for your pumps. The deathtouch on Dhund Operative futher helps you trade, and the evasion and lifelink on Vault Skirge help you race. Unnatural Stamina also helps race or counter enemy removal, and Agent of Shauku and Defiant Salvager team up with Disciple of the Vault to burn enemies out while also doing other stuff.
Springleaf Drum and Dark Ritual enable you to be very fast, but retain relevance throughout as you're likely to turn your lands into damage via the Agent and the Salvager. Springleaf Drum also enables many shennanigans as it lets you play your cheap dudes while keeping mana open for your equips, the multi-purpose Stamina or pumps with the Disciple.
I thought the deck would fold to Electrickery, but this isn't necessarily the case, as Weil of the Nim is actually playable in the board due to all the mana acceleration. I also thought decks which play a lot of 2/2 for 0-1-2, or token swarms would give it pause, but it turns out Evincar's Justice is also playable for much the same reasons, and you can build into an Evincar's Justice and then quickly flood the board with your swarm to turn the tables. The lifegain from Vault Skirge and Night Market Lookout helps race stuff, and the lifeloss from NML and Disciple work through fog.
I've also had a lot of fun playing Dusk Legion Zealot in a somewhat similar shell (Ritual, Drum, Bonesplitter, Unnatural Stamina, Agent of Shauku) so I could see a less Affinity-Centric build with Dregscape Zombie, Unearth and Phyrexian Rager in the mix.
Anyone have experience with this sort of thing and knows some random but key stuff that'd work well?
I was thinking Veil of the Nim, Evincar's Justice, some edict, Duress and Nihil Spellbomb in the side for sure. Any better plans?
Also - if this deck would actually run a fatso, it'd have to be either Angler or Myr Enforcer. With the Agent and Bonesplitters in the mix it's not a clear-cut choice for one or the other. Or is it?
And how would a deck like this answer Cuombajj Witches?