I agree that B/R is the way to go, as this deck dies too frequently without sweeper effects. I also like Banefire being uncounterable. That said, there's no reason to feel anger toward those who want to play monoblack. Most decks have many incarnations.
I agree that B/R is the way to go, as this deck dies too frequently without sweeper effects. I also like Banefire being uncounterable. That said, there's no reason to feel anger toward those who want to play monoblack. Most decks have many incarnations.
Fair enough. For removal, I have 4 Disfigure, 4 Fleshbag, 4 Gatekeeper, 4 Tendrils, 3 Consume, 2 Sorin....with 4 Infest SB. That's a LOT of removal.
I believe Sorin does not belong in the B/R build. With lightning bolts, earthquakes, banefires, some people running fallout, and your opponents using fetches....getting them to 10 usually happens anyways.
In the mono black/minor red splash builds, and black/white builds, I can see Sorin's merit in being able to instantly drop them to ten life.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And you, too, are one of us, and yet you are not. In your words I hear anger, hatred. I see a darkness that is not cold and lifeless, but is alive and moving, like a living entity. I feel caged, trapped, a yearning for escape. --Death Gate Cycle Volume 3: Fire Sea
I had enough creature control to mantain board control while filling my graveyard for the first five or six turns. Around turn six, after dropping at least one Crypt earlier, start kicking off the win conditions. It usually took two turns to kill them unless i had multiple Crypts out. My only loss was against Vampire aggo. He was dropping guys faster than i could kill them and Nocturnus gave them all flying and pumps so the sweepers didn't do much. Some feedback would be appreciated.
Two questions, Acidlake. Did the lack of Pyroclasms ever hurt, and how good was Tendrils? I'm thinking about removing Nighthawks for them. It's one less creature for crypt, but the survivability (for me) factor on tendrils is better.
Another question - why Infest over Pyroclasm or Fallout on the sideboard?
And another question...how did Sign of Blood work out?
Other than that, your deck is somewhat similar to mine. Good job.
I'll be posting my list either later on tonight or tomorrow but mine lacks pyroclasm as well but does not falter. My list is B/R and earthquakes plus all of the spot sac creatures help cover the early game provided I don't have an earthquake in hand and just in case I really need the sweepers I run infest in the sideboard. I was contemplating running a blue black version and using the blue black cyclers and rite of replication as one of my win cons. Malakir bloodwitch plus rite of replication is 30 to the dome which is actually a 60 point life swing. Plus you don't necessarily need the witch, a kicked rite of replication on anything generally wins games if it resolves. Possibly a grixis crypt deck is in order.
One big problem I run into with this deck is cards erasing my graveyard and with cascade running around generally being jund there are Jund charms everywhere and that's generally where my blue idea came in. Duresses do a decent job getting rid of them but a topdecked one can be a real problem. One other big one that's been running around my meta due to time sieve being fairly prevalent is relic of progenitus. I have sided 3 pithing needles just for it. They do help against plainswalkers as well but that's the main use. The other one for plainswalkers for me is vampire hexmage which I run as a 4 of in my side due to the prevalence of plainswalkers in my meta.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
First tournament top 8 11/4/12 at the SCG IQ in Santa Cruz!
@ ulacanis: i never needed pyroclasm. earthquake did the same job as well as drop my opponents life total. Both are positive. The reason i ran infest over pyroclasm and fallout was that pulling double red could be problemsome for fallout and the extra mana for infest over pyroclasm isn't a big deal in this deck. The tendrils worked much better than i thought they would. They usually hit for at least five, which gets rid of baneslayer or anything else big. and the life gain off the tendrils gave me room to use sign in blood. Sign in blood worked great. extra draw in this deck is phenomenal.
You should not have given them the time to hit a kicked sadistic sacrament and unkicked it only removes 3. With all of the draw and if you kept a decent hand then you should have at least one anyways and if your build is right, as acidlake said, the crypts arent 100% needed.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
First tournament top 8 11/4/12 at the SCG IQ in Santa Cruz!
@ Hix360: how fast can you normally get the lavaball traps off? I've been thinking about putting them in my deck but i'm not sure how fast they are. do you have any play testing results from your deck yet?
@acidlake: Congrats man! How where your matchups like?
Lavaball Trap doesn't quite need to be activated that early, but you can hardcast it turn 5 with some decent draws. But as i said before, sweeping the board (including x/4 a**) and trying to color screw your opponent is great even in mid/late-game. I will try to build this deck in MTGO since the budget would be quite low for standard (in BR of course).
Has someone tried Liliana Vess as a means to get your combo pieces and as a possible win condition? With all the creatures you're dumping in the grave, and all the sweepers to protect her, that could be funny...
We've only got one image and a tag line to go on. For all we know the portrait could just have been 'taken' on a gloomy day and the world could be populated by Pegasus's, squid-folk, and bear people who sing songs about friendship and ride rainbow rafts of chocolate.
I still have my hopes for a decent blue/black version of this deck, although I imagine it would play quite different from the red/black version.
The highlights to me would be the Esper Sojourners (untapping your crypts at will seems pretty mad), Illusory Demon, Soul Manipulation... I'm quite partial to Kathari Remnant too.
Call me crazy, but with all the cycling in crypt decks, I'm even tempted to try Archmage Ascension...
We've only got one image and a tag line to go on. For all we know the portrait could just have been 'taken' on a gloomy day and the world could be populated by Pegasus's, squid-folk, and bear people who sing songs about friendship and ride rainbow rafts of chocolate.
Most of the stuff in the deck seems pretty standard for the build, however I threw in some seemingly underrated goodies.
For starters, I added Defiler of Souls which seems like it could be a total bomb these days since many people are not using multicolored creatures due to Zendikar, and considering the build he seems like he could shine in a deck like this. Defiler can eliminate some of the most common threats that we will come up against in meta (Baneslayer Angel, Rampaging Baloths, and vampires to name a few). He also acts as another win condition.
There are a few cards I am iffy about. I would like to add more Expedition Maps, but I can't find out where to put them (or if they are even necessary). I also was considering Earthquake because it seems like it may be necessary with all of the aggro floating around in meta, and it never hurts to have another win condition. Lastly, I'm having a tough time deciding between Sadistic Sacrament, Thought Hemorrhage, or Duress. I really like Sadistic Sacrament in this deck since it is heavy B, but Thought Hemorrhage is the **** and Duress makes for a great first turn play.
Edit: After tinkering with things for a bit, I'm looking at this build below. I'm still kind of skeptical of this build nevertheless.
"People who lack the knowledge or wisdom to perform well are often unaware of this fact. That is, the same incompetence that leads them to make wrong choices also deprives them of the savvy necessary to recognize competence, be it their own or anyone else's." ~Unknown
My first match was against exalted Bant. easily won that match. earthquake kept his guys under control. My second match was against g/w allies. Again this one was pretty easy. The marauders and gatekeepers kept them in check while i kicked off consume spirits for the win. My third match was against esper weenie. the marauders and gatekeepers were the stars yet again in this match. they maintain board control while i build up for the kill. the fourth match was against vampire aggro. The first game would have went better if i didn't hit a pocket of eight land. that stalled me out while he dropped dudes to win that game. the second game he dropped guys faster than i could keep up and then a nocturnus to pump his guys and give them flying so i couldn't kill them. My last match was against g/b rock that splashed white for baneslayer. The marauders and gatekeepers won this one for me again.
The fleshbag marauders and gatekeepers of malakir were major contributors to my wins. I was relatively surprised about that. I was planning on just using them to fill my graveyard but they were much much better.
My first match was against exalted Bant. easily won that match. earthquake kept his guys under control. My second match was against g/w allies. Again this one was pretty easy. The marauders and gatekeepers kept them in check while i kicked off consume spirits for the win. My third match was against esper weenie. the marauders and gatekeepers were the stars yet again in this match. they maintain board control while i build up for the kill. the fourth match was against vampire aggro. The first game would have went better if i didn't hit a pocket of eight land. that stalled me out while he dropped dudes to win that game. the second game he dropped guys faster than i could keep up and then a nocturnus to pump his guys and give them flying so i couldn't kill them. My last match was against g/b rock that splashed white for baneslayer. The marauders and gatekeepers won this one for me again.
The fleshbag marauders and gatekeepers of malakir were major contributors to my wins. I was relatively surprised about that. I was planning on just using them to fill my graveyard but they were much much better.
Thanks for the little report, glad to see it on wizards as well, allthough i found the list to be kinda weird.
Fair enough. For removal, I have 4 Disfigure, 4 Fleshbag, 4 Gatekeeper, 4 Tendrils, 3 Consume, 2 Sorin....with 4 Infest SB. That's a LOT of removal.
Even beeing a lot of removal, they are no sweepers.
In the mono black/minor red splash builds, and black/white builds, I can see Sorin's merit in being able to instantly drop them to ten life.
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Igneous Pouncer
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Tendrils of Corruption
3 Sign in Blood
4 Consume Spirit
2 Earthquake
2 Banefire
1 Sorin Markov
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Swamp
1 Mountain
4 Duress
4 Infest
4 Magma Spray
3 Terminate
I had enough creature control to mantain board control while filling my graveyard for the first five or six turns. Around turn six, after dropping at least one Crypt earlier, start kicking off the win conditions. It usually took two turns to kill them unless i had multiple Crypts out. My only loss was against Vampire aggo. He was dropping guys faster than i could kill them and Nocturnus gave them all flying and pumps so the sweepers didn't do much. Some feedback would be appreciated.
Another question - why Infest over Pyroclasm or Fallout on the sideboard?
And another question...how did Sign of Blood work out?
Other than that, your deck is somewhat similar to mine. Good job.
One big problem I run into with this deck is cards erasing my graveyard and with cascade running around generally being jund there are Jund charms everywhere and that's generally where my blue idea came in. Duresses do a decent job getting rid of them but a topdecked one can be a real problem. One other big one that's been running around my meta due to time sieve being fairly prevalent is relic of progenitus. I have sided 3 pithing needles just for it. They do help against plainswalkers as well but that's the main use. The other one for plainswalkers for me is vampire hexmage which I run as a 4 of in my side due to the prevalence of plainswalkers in my meta.
My decks
Top 4 (4th) SCG IQ 11/4/12
I like Turtles
My decks
Top 4 (4th) SCG IQ 11/4/12
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Architects of Will
4 Igneous Pouncer
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Esper Sojourners
Spells
3 Pyroclasm
2 Soul Stair Expedition
2 Earthquake
2 Lavaball Trap
2 Banefire
2 Consume Spirit
2 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Expedition Map
4 Crypt Agadeem
4 Swamp
4 Mountain
4 Crumbling Necropolis
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Anathemancer
3 Swerve
3 Pithing Needle
3 Thought Hemorrhage
2 Earthquake
1 Lavaball Trap
Thoughts? And yes, Lavaball Trap is NUTS in this.
Lavaball Trap doesn't quite need to be activated that early, but you can hardcast it turn 5 with some decent draws. But as i said before, sweeping the board (including x/4 a**) and trying to color screw your opponent is great even in mid/late-game. I will try to build this deck in MTGO since the budget would be quite low for standard (in BR of course).
The highlights to me would be the Esper Sojourners (untapping your crypts at will seems pretty mad), Illusory Demon, Soul Manipulation... I'm quite partial to Kathari Remnant too.
Call me crazy, but with all the cycling in crypt decks, I'm even tempted to try Archmage Ascension...
It play so much unplayable cards (outside of limited) but this deck looks like crazy fun! good job
I tested this deck a bit, and its very hard to put 20 creatures into your grave...
4 Architects of Will
4 Defiler of Souls
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Viscera Dragger
Spells
1 Expedition Map
3 Terminate
4 Consume Spirit
4 Negate
2 Banefire
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Crypt of Agadeem
3 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Island
1 Mountain
8 Swamp
3 Vampire Hexmage
3 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Mindbreak Trap
2 Mindlock Orb
3 Pyroclasm
Most of the stuff in the deck seems pretty standard for the build, however I threw in some seemingly underrated goodies.
For starters, I added Defiler of Souls which seems like it could be a total bomb these days since many people are not using multicolored creatures due to Zendikar, and considering the build he seems like he could shine in a deck like this. Defiler can eliminate some of the most common threats that we will come up against in meta (Baneslayer Angel, Rampaging Baloths, and vampires to name a few). He also acts as another win condition.
I also added Mindlock Orb in the sideboard which can shut down many decks that are utilizing //gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&type=+[%22Land%22">&text=+[search]&set=|[%22Zendikar%22]|[%22Magic%202010%22]|[%22Conflux%22]|[%22Shards%20of%20Alara%22]|[%22Alara%20Reborn%22]"]fetchlands and Harrow for Landfall. I think this card should get a lot more play in meta sideboards with all the Landfall orientated cards in the Zendikar block, so I want to give it a shot here since I don't really have all that many cards that tutor for anything.
There are a few cards I am iffy about. I would like to add more Expedition Maps, but I can't find out where to put them (or if they are even necessary). I also was considering Earthquake because it seems like it may be necessary with all of the aggro floating around in meta, and it never hurts to have another win condition. Lastly, I'm having a tough time deciding between Sadistic Sacrament, Thought Hemorrhage, or Duress. I really like Sadistic Sacrament in this deck since it is heavy B, but Thought Hemorrhage is the **** and Duress makes for a great first turn play.
Edit: After tinkering with things for a bit, I'm looking at this build below. I'm still kind of skeptical of this build nevertheless.
4 Architects of Will
4 Defiler of Souls
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Viscera Dragger
Spells
4 Consume Spirit
4 Negate
2 Banefire
1 Earthquake
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Pyroclasm
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Crypt of Agadeem
3 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Island
1 Mountain
8 Swamp
4 Terminate
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Mindlock Orb
1 Earthquake
Anyway, I would like to hear your thoughts.
"People who lack the knowledge or wisdom to perform well are often unaware of this fact. That is, the same incompetence that leads them to make wrong choices also deprives them of the savvy necessary to recognize competence, be it their own or anyone else's." ~Unknown
The fleshbag marauders and gatekeepers of malakir were major contributors to my wins. I was relatively surprised about that. I was planning on just using them to fill my graveyard but they were much much better.
Thanks for the little report, glad to see it on wizards as well, allthough i found the list to be kinda weird.
The wizards...
Also, on Jund Sojouners, i really like it. It have always been usefull for me.