MTG Salvation

Has anyone tried out Phyrexian Scriptures? I've seen it in some lists, and but am unsure of how it would play out.

It does disrupt tempo a bit for our opponents, delaying a potential threat, with a minimal upside of getting rid of random Scrapheap Scroungers and eternalize creatures. It does not, however, wipe the board the turn you draw it.

I want to test it and see how it performs, but if anyone has any experiences with it, the data would be appreciated.

Quote from Tvtyrant »

I've never played standard before, but MBC being cheap and big mana got me excited. With some tweaking I ended up with the following list, I will eventually pick up 4 Walking Ballista in place of the Torment of Venom and Josu. I'm playing the compass/blood fast split because additional Arguels' are worthless, and against control Compass is better.

ryxsyn's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
22 Swamp 4 Cabal Stronghold 3 Never/Return 3 Divest 3 Arguel's Blood Fast 4 Battle at the Bridge 2 Torment of Venom 3 Torment of Hailfire 2 Thaumatic Compass	4 Gifted Aetherborn 4 Kitesail Freebooter 4 Dread Shade 2 Josu Vess, Lich Knight 3 Yahenni's Expertise 3 Lost Legacy 4 Duress 4 Knight of Malice 1 Torment of Venom

Did you just say, in place of Josu?

Please don't.

I run 3 in my list and many times I want a fourth. I've learned that a 4/5 with menace on turn 4 is POWERFUL backed by removal. He's a walker killer and a hell of blocker at that point.

Phyrexian Scriptures I want to try it. I've just not been able to test much this past week and I'm honestly not satisfied with what i've tested so far. Some day I will get some time to run some games with it.

Quote from ryxsyn »

Quote from Tvtyrant »

I've never played standard before, but MBC being cheap and big mana got me excited. With some tweaking I ended up with the following list, I will eventually pick up 4 Walking Ballista in place of the Torment of Venom and Josu. I'm playing the compass/blood fast split because additional Arguels' are worthless, and against control Compass is better.

Tvtyrant's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
22 Swamp 4 Cabal Stronghold 3 Never/Return 3 Divest 3 Arguel's Blood Fast 4 Battle at the Bridge 2 Torment of Venom 3 Torment of Hailfire 2 Thaumatic Compass	4 Gifted Aetherborn 4 Kitesail Freebooter 4 Dread Shade 2 Josu Vess, Lich Knight 3 Yahenni's Expertise 3 Lost Legacy 4 Duress 4 Knight of Malice 1 Torment of Venom

Did you just say, in place of Josu?

Please don't.

I run 3 in my list and many times I want a fourth. I've learned that a 4/5 with menace on turn 4 is POWERFUL backed by removal. He's a walker killer and a hell of blocker at that point.

Phyrexian Scriptures I want to try it. I've just not been able to test much this past week and I'm honestly not satisfied with what i've tested so far. Some day I will get some time to run some games with it.

As I recall you aren't playing Torment of Hellfire. Your list is closer to a midrange then mine, which is more focused on control and the end game. Torment is nearly always better IME, reaching lethal damage quite early on and sealing wins.

I am playing it actually. You know what I don't like about Torment? Drawing it when yer behind. It's a dead card. Mr. Vess can flat out swing a game around that you are behind on. Torment? Can not. Not unless you have a billion mana at that point, yes, that can happen but I'll choose consistency over flash every day of the week.

It seems we will be moving onto the Established or Competitive forums soon. There's a MBC list that went undefeated on Day 1 of GP Birmingham, and seems to be doing well on Day 2.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpbir18-standard/8-0-players-grand-prix-birmingham-standard-2018-05-13

Plus, some pros out there are also giving the deck a crack. Here's to hoping!


Regarding the list, I do find it odd he's only running 3 Ballistas, and Tetzimoc seems interesting.

I believe I will have to concede to ryxsyn that Golden Demise seems to be better than Yahenni's Expertise.

I'll get some more tests in tomorrow and let you guys know how it plays out!

Intersting list.

I'm surprisingly not surprised about the lack of Shades. They get chumped so easily it seems. Tetzimoc for seemed only a 7 mana Nekrataal 4 of 5 times. He's neat but I ended up moving him to the sideboard where I can tutor for him if needed. He Shined in that location. Too often at running 1 in the Main Deck he was a "dead" card. I was looking over those lists and Demises misses 2 cards below 3 CC. 1 at 4 CC. Goblin Chainwhirler, Winding Constrictor and Rekindling Phoenix.

I'll admit, I am surprised at the 2 Hailfires.

I am NOT surprised at the full set of Doomfalls. That card is so good game one vs nearly everything. Never a dead card so far. It's fun taking opposing Phoenix's with it.

Lately, more and more lists on competitive MOL events have been running Liliana, Death's Majesty. I want to try out one or two copies. Running her would probably mean an increase to big ETB effects, like Noxious Gearhulk, Chupacabra, or Belzenlok.

I saw a list running some Deadeye Trackers on the sideboard. Seems like a cute inclusion to generate some card advantage while getting rid of Eternalize creatures and Scrapheap Scroungers, but I wouldn't run them.

I can't afford the additional 2 Karns, but they are likely necessary. Will try to get some for cheap or trade for them at GP Vegas.

SaffronOlive ran this through a comp league and went 4-1:


He made the following conclusions:

1. Karn was amazing
2. Josu Vess was better than expected
3. Demonlord was impressive
4. Stronghold was great
5. Dread Shade was lackluster
6. Never felt out of any matchup - not heavily favored but not unfavored, either
7. Mastermind's Acquisition was great (especially grabbing a Torment of Hailfire) - could see adding a 2nd copy
8. Cut down to 1 MB copy each of Demonlord and Josu, opening up slots for 2nd Acquisition and another removal spell
9. 2 Blood Fast in SB might be overkill - replace with Sorcerous Spyglass?

A few different variations on MBC have been popping up on the 5-0 lists:









It looks like the Mastermind's Acquisition plan is either falling out of favor or not seeing a lot of success. I also only found one Torment of Hailfire among all of the recent 5-0 decks.

Gifted Aetherborn is popular.

Azor's Gateway seems clever. Especially in those UW/UB matchups where there are so many dead cards.

Doomfall is also getting a lot of love.

There's not as much Josu Vess usage as I expected. In general it seems like a lot of these decks are content with Walking Ballista as their main mana sink.

I tested the SaffronOlive deck with a few tweaks based on his retrospective suggestions and the deck feels strong. Karn has been awesome. I could see cutting the Mastermind plan and adding a few Liliana. I like having 1 Torment of Hailfire as an “oops, I win”/board sweeper/hand disruption catch-all, especially if running Gateway.

I tried running Tetzimoc based on what I saw from the list that went 8-0 at the GP. He's been stellar, particularly because my meta features a number of midrange-y creature decks. Dropping Tetzimoc on turn seven with nine mana swings games back in your favor.

I like Walking Ballista as it can kill people out of nowhere, but running one Josu Vess should be fine. A lot of decks simply cannot answer him, and he's not bad early game like Torment of Hailfire is.

More I play with Knight of Malice, the less impressed I am by it. In a meta with more W/X control decks, it gets way better, but if you find yourself surrounded by aggro and midrange, it drops like a rock.

I've been very impressed with Liliana, Death's Majesty. Even without going to value town with Chupacabras, Belzenlok, or Gonti, she brings back shades and Aetherborn while churning out a small army of zombies.

Has anyone tried The Eldest Reborn? It could be a 3-for-1, but 5 Mana seems very slow.

Quote from Stranger »

More I play with Knight of Malice, the less impressed I am by it. In a meta with more W/X control decks, it gets way better, but if you find yourself surrounded by aggro and midrange, it drops like a rock.

I've been very impressed with Liliana, Death's Majesty. Even without going to value town with Chupacabras, Belzenlok, or Gonti, she brings back shades and Aetherborn while churning out a small army of zombies.

Has anyone tried The Eldest Reborn? It could be a 3-for-1, but 5 Mana seems very slow.

I am currently running Eldest Reborn as a 2 of in place of Karn 3 and 4. It is slow but effective. Having Mana open on the turn after you have cast it, removes a lot and potentially remove multiple threats with one card. I think it will be more relevant post rotation.

Anybody have the deck lists from PT Dominaria - I am interested in what Sean Sabia and Jack Kiefer were playing, but can't seem to dig them up anywhere!! Sabia had an impressive looking deck when he was on camera!

Been running Tulio_Jaudy's latest list from MTGO (he went 7-1 in the recent MOCS). I've been running it on Arena, so I dropped his Hostile Deserts for more Swamps and a 4th Ifnir Dreadlands. It's been working really well, and the maindeck 6 discard spells works for the meta.