Packrat seems like a loose choice IMO. Against UW it's a dead card, against Naya or Red it can be easily dealt with by burn. It's a mediocre lategame top deck, and it takes a long time to set up. It can steal games for sure though, but I feel like it's way too cute to actually be viable. You need to be able to get 4 copies into play to protect them from Anger of the Gods, 5 to protect from Mizzium Mortars. Outside of discard we have no real way to protect the rat either.
I like the concept in a vacuum, but in reality I just don't see it really being that great. I would much rather run answers and bigger over the top threats like the demons over him. Cool interaction though, but it's not what this deck is really looking for.
Watched replays of two monoblack decks 4-0 dailys.... One splashed blue but the only card I saw that was blue was the returned phalanx ability and the 3cc specter...
The other monoblack lost played pharikas cure, probably to meta game monored.
One guy was playing Lilliana of the dark realms also...
Got a bunch of swamps, killed a Boros reckoner.... He won with corrupts, the dude that played it was the monoblack with no splash. Won against Dega midrange...
Controllish version of the deck has two severe problems:
- no black card to beat 4 x 2/2 on turn 3 monored draws. Needs either infest or some unburnable blocker. We have those, but not in black.
- no ways to outdraw revelation decks. Even with 4x bones and 4x connections and 8x different discard spells (including return) I was always constantly behind because they have access to more draw spells and their spells draw more and don't kill them. Turn 4 slaughter games on Aetherling is funny though.
What I liked about the deck:
- hero's downfall - probably in top 2 black cards in the THS with thoughtseize. I try black every format and every time it was folding to walkers before this card got printed.
- disciple of phenax - good when you play it for 4 or more, bad otherwise.
- read the bones is a very good card
- the way deck snowballs when it gets connections + merchants going - you don't need to tap dudes sideways, just play stuff and opponent dies. Lifedrain also allows to ignore what opponent is doing unless it's something crazy.
Now I'm sure that this deck needs to be some kind of midrange built around dark prophecy with 5cmc merchant being the top of the curve.
We miss the 2cmc spot , unfortunately , we dont have any good card at the moment. Pack rat can die to everything ,as almost all the 2 drops , but it gives you option , and how its a bad card against UW?? TO me is pretty good against UW.
I think its a good option against aggro too. At least you can stop some small creatures .
I love Liliana , she can even be a finisher , using the -3 to burst Lifebane or DD... but she cant take the erebos , DD and whip spot.
Not sure about how good this is (been out of standard since scars rotated) but Rescue from the Underworld plus a couple of Gray Merchant seems pretty nuts
I have been absolutely tearing through other decks with this brew. Consider this the swarm variant, because it focuses on creating lots and lots of creatures and overwhelming your opponent. Mid-range and aggro decks simply cannot deal with the amount of creatures you are pumping out once it's up and running. Keep in mind that this list is a WiP, and there's no sideboard yet, but I'm very happy with its performance so far.
The basic strategy with this specific brew is to use early removal and Pack Rat to limit what your opponent can do, but you're going to have to tank for a couple turns. That's OK. Once you hit 4 lands, you can start playing Whip of Erebos for lifelink, and Liliana's Reaver to block attacks. At 5 lands, you play Gray Merchant to stabilize, then at 7 you drop Abhorrent Overlord. Then you whip them back until you either drain your opponent to death with Gray Merchant, or you have enough harpy or rat tokens to blot out the sun. Lifelink keeps you going, and Underworld Connections and Read the Bones refills your hand.
I'm using some cards that aren't in the primer, so here's my rationale on their inclusion:
Ultimate Price: This was a meta call. These slots were taken up by Doom Blade, but I found that there were far too many black decks on MTGO at the moment to make it useful. While Ultimate Price was unthinkable in RTR block, Theros gives us plenty of juicy targets, like Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos, World Eater.
Devour Flesh: Another meta call, this card is absolute poison for midrange decks. It's included to specifically deal with two threats that are a huge problem for this brew, Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Obzedat, Ghost Council. Obviously, it's useful against other things, especially under-costed fatties that out-race our curve, or for thinning out an all-out aggro rush.
Rescue from the Underworld: I know this seems redundant because of the 3 Whips, but this card has swung enough games for me single-handedly that I can support it as a 1-2-off. Although this can be useful for grabbing a fatty, it's best use is to grab Gray Merchant of Asphodel. That way, even if the Merchant dies again, it can be whipped back for yet another drain. The stone nuts play here is blocking their fatty with a Gray Merchant, playing Rescue, sac'ing the Merchant before damage to go grab the other merchant, and then returning on your upkeep for a 12+ point drain.
Pack Rat: This is a very controversial card, and for good reason. It's pricey, it doesn't make a splash immediately, and it costs card advantage to make big. But that doesn't really matter for us. Pack Rat has so much synergy in this deck that I can't imagine running it without the little guy. For one, we have to run a lot of land to make sure that we can get to 7-8 so we can either hard-cast Abhorrent Overlord or play Whip of Erebos and then bring something back in the same turn. That means that we get flooded out relatively often. So what do we do with all that extra land? We feed it to the Pack Rat. We make more Pack Rats. Your opponent tries to attack? We chump it with a Pack Rat, then we make more. If he kills all of our Pack Rats, we whip back a Pack Rat and copy it before it gets exiled, so we get a brand new Pack Rat. And with only 4 of these bad boys on the field, they suddenly turn into a huge threat. Finally, every single clone of Pack Rat has one black mana symbol on the card, which means that every time we make another rat, our devotion goes up. Highly, highly recommended.
Liliana's Reaver: This is the jankiest creature in the brew right now, but it's done some solid work. The most relevant thing that he brings is deathtouch. On turn 4, this can be a huge problem for aggro decks. If the curve is too low, they risk losing an attacker ever time they swing, and they have to either waste removal when they could have played a creature, or waste a creature doing damage. If you're playing mid-range, suddenly they risk losing Polukranos in the attack. And if you're playing control, you can swing the next turn and start stripping cards if they can't immediately remove it. You're not going to be attacking with him that often, as he quickly gets out-classed by decks with a bigger curve, but when you do, his ability is quite nice, and it gives you yet another chump blocker. Plus, 2 devotion is very good for our purposes.
Abhorrent Overlord: Finally, we arrive at the big daddy. I have been impressed with him in limited, but after running him in a constructed deck, I simply can't imagine playing this archetype without him. The Overlord is a 7-mana creature that immediately takes over games single-handedly. At a bare minimum, you're going to have 2 devotion on the field by the time you cast him, which means you're getting a flashbacked Lingering Souls along with your 6/6 fatty. There is simply no other flying creature that can get through this wall. Stormbreath Dragon gets chumped all day by harpies, and loses if he meets Overlord himself. The Harpies can chump people on the ground too, or swing in the air. Since you have so many, they can clump together to take down a fatty. And when you run low on harpies, you can just whip the Overlord back for more. Seriously, try this card. Out of all the cards on this list, this is the one that I think most deserves a spot in this archetype.
Anyway, hopefully you can understand my blatherings. Please let me know what you would change in this list, or what cards you think I need on the sideboard.
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I mainly play Standard and Modern.
MTGO Nick: neonordnance
LGS: Dream Wizards in Rockville, MD
I too can vouch for the awesomeness of Abhorrent Overlord. I run him in the mono black devotion deck I just built which I went 4-1 with at my last FNM, narrowly losing only to a G/W deck very similar to what won SCG Cleveland this past weekend. However I had no Thoughtseize or Lifebane Zombies yet, which should be corrected soon.
One thing I didn't notice in any of the prior lists is Crypt Ghast. He seems fragile but at least in my local meta, there is not much removal being packed. Untapping with him and being able to cast 2 Gray Merchants on turn 5 (ideally with a Nightveil Specter already in play as well) is great fun.
I don't quite understand the choice for Reaver over Desecration... They cost the same, but Desecration has flying, +2/+3 more in P/T respectively, and is viewed as the superior card.
3 Whips is too many. Remember that is is legendary, so you can only have 1 out at a time. I'd say 2 is enough for the deck.
I am still not sold on Pharika's Cure. I'd rather have a Doom Blade or a Hero's Downfall instead, to be honest. At least then I know it will kill want needs killed.
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Nothing, I have just gotten back after a long hiatus, and am just now starting to rebuild my collection.
I don't quite understand the choice for Reaver over Desecration... They cost the same, but Desecration has flying, +2/+3 more in P/T respectively, and is viewed as the superior card.
3 Whips is too many. Remember that is is legendary, so you can only have 1 out at a time. I'd say 2 is enough for the deck.
I am still not sold on Pharika's Cure. I'd rather have a Doom Blade or a Hero's Downfall instead, to be honest. At least then I know it will kill want needs killed.
Reaver was partly a budget choice, and partly because Demon is no good against aggro (they can sac to tap him every turn). I will get a playset of Demons if it comes to that, it's just not a very fun way to spend 10 tickets.
As for the whip, though, three was a very deliberate choice. You need the card every single game, so 3 ensures that I always draw it. Extra copies can be pitched to Pack Rat, and I have back-ups in case my opponent destroys the first with Destructive Revelry (already seeing people maindeck this) or counters it. That's also why I run two copies of Nykthos.
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I mainly play Standard and Modern.
MTGO Nick: neonordnance
LGS: Dream Wizards in Rockville, MD
Reaver was partly a budget choice, and partly because Demon is no good against aggro (they can sac to tap him every turn). I will get a playset of Demons if it comes to that, it's just not a very fun way to spend 10 tickets.
Reaver dodges Selesnya Charm. Deathtouch will also kill anything in the mono green match up. You could just stall long enough with this guy on the board till you find your removal. Both decks are very popular. Its not a terrible choice and worth looking into.
Reaver dodges Selesnya Charm. Deathtouch will also kill anything in the mono green match up. You could just stall long enough with this guy on the board till you find your removal. Both decks are very popular. Its not a terrible choice and worth looking into.
The other thing I like about Reaver is that it demands an immediate response from control or it starts sapping Card Advantage, which means I often see control players wasting Supreme Verdict and the like on him. Plus if you Whip him back and swing, he either trades with a creature or saps a card from their hand and leaves behind a 2/2. Very good value.
He wasn't that great when Innistrad was still around because stuff like Geralf's Messenger provided way more value, but now that it's cycled out, he brings a lot of meat for 4 measly mana.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention that I still need to pick up 2 copies of Hero's Downfall, so I don't have a lot of extra cash for Desecration Demon.
I think we want green in here to ramp up into demons and merchants.
The only thing I'm not 100% sure on is lifebane zombie, I'm going to be trying out lotleth troll over it to help out against mono red. I'm also intrested in nightveil spector, it can profitably block the vast majority of creatures form mono red (and it can block chandra's pheonix which is a big deal), it provides 3 devotion, and it has evasion. I'm just not sure my deck can support spector's mana cost. Oh and duress is now thoughtsieze.
You guys are crazy to play the reaver over demon.
Sure demon dies to selesnya charm, and aggro can tap the demon, but the demon is a 6/6 that just threatens to end the game. They have to answer it immediately, and it's not easy to kill. The reaver dies to lightning strike and mizzium mortars, both things that can't kill the demon. So mono red literally can't kill the demon. They have to sacrifice creatures to it. And in any other match, the demon is the scarier threat, especially if you are playing whips.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
So I've been theory crafting a little bit and came up with this list. The main thing that I want is some more early dudes. the only one I can think of however is tithe drinker which is kind of small for this deck. It doesn't block well but lifelink and extort are awesome.
So I've been theory crafting a little bit and came up with this list. The main thing that I want is some more early dudes. the only one I can think of however is tithe drinker which is kind of small for this deck. It doesn't block well but lifelink and extort are awesome.
Thrill-Kill Assassin might be a choice you glanced over. A 2/3 Deathtouch for 2cmc is really harsh to block for Aggro decks. Even if we left him as a 1/2 so he could block, he'd still apply some pressure. Not nearly what HPoP would do, but still.
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Nothing, I have just gotten back after a long hiatus, and am just now starting to rebuild my collection.
Reaver dies so easy in my experience, lightning strike being in every deck with red just about. Desecration demon is great against Aggro it just sucks against a bunch of tokens or burning tree bullcrap nutdraw. Reaver just doesn't live long and isn't a great board control card like DD so in my MBC list last season I cut all reapers because I felt they weren't high enough impact and died pretty easy
I don't quite understand the choice for Reaver over Desecration... They cost the same, but Desecration has flying, +2/+3 more in P/T respectively, and is viewed as the superior card.
3 Whips is too many. Remember that is is legendary, so you can only have 1 out at a time. I'd say 2 is enough for the deck.
I am still not sold on Pharika's Cure. I'd rather have a Doom Blade or a Hero's Downfall instead, to be honest. At least then I know it will kill want needs killed.
I agree with all your points except the cure, if your playing underworld connections and thoughtsiezes MD then in order to survive against Monored you will need these in the main or the side... If you play them in the side you will lose game 1... I don't like the card either but life totals mean so much against them... You can side them out against GW for more blades and downfalls against GW since 2 damage doesn't kill much.... To play them main or SB is entirely up to your meta but I think they warrant a slot in your 75.
Do not play reaver over demon, the demon is superior... Dodges more removal and acts as a pseudo removal spell when they sacrifice to either attack through it or when they can't afford to get hit by it....
I agree with all your points except the cure, if your playing underworld connections and thoughtsiezes MD then in order to survive against Monored you will need these in the main or the side... If you play them in the side you will lose game 1... I don't like the card either but life totals mean so much against them... You can side them out against GW for more blades and downfalls against GW since 2 damage doesn't kill much.... To play them main or SB is entirely up to your meta but I think they warrant a slot in your 75.
Do not play reaver over demon, the demon is superior... Dodges more removal and acts as a pseudo removal spell when they sacrifice to either attack through it or when they can't afford to get hit by it....
I suppose you are right about the Cure. I will probably try running them just in case.
Btw, here is my current deck. I know a lot of my stuff is sub-par, but that is because I haven't had a chance to order the optimal cards yet.
Please note that I am replacing Thrill-Kill with Nightveil Specter when I get them. I have always been curious about how well it would play out in the deck, and decided to order a few to try them out.
And I have had a lot of success using Erebos and his Whip. I am trying to get a second Erebos to replace an Alms Beast with, just to have a greater chance of drawing him.
Aside from that, any questions or comments?
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Currently Running:
Nothing, I have just gotten back after a long hiatus, and am just now starting to rebuild my collection.
Please note that I am replacing Thrill-Kill with Nightveil Specter when I get them. I have always been curious about how well it would play out in the deck, and decided to order a few to try them out.
And I have had a lot of success using Erebos and his Whip. I am trying to get a second Erebos to replace an Alms Beast with, just to have a greater chance of drawing him.
Aside from that, any questions or comments?
How is Alms Beast doing for you? Apologies if you've answered this already.
I like the concept in a vacuum, but in reality I just don't see it really being that great. I would much rather run answers and bigger over the top threats like the demons over him. Cool interaction though, but it's not what this deck is really looking for.
The other monoblack lost played pharikas cure, probably to meta game monored.
One guy was playing Lilliana of the dark realms also...
Erebos whip was house for those guys....
Got a bunch of swamps, killed a Boros reckoner.... He won with corrupts, the dude that played it was the monoblack with no splash. Won against Dega midrange...
Controllish version of the deck has two severe problems:
- no black card to beat 4 x 2/2 on turn 3 monored draws. Needs either infest or some unburnable blocker. We have those, but not in black.
- no ways to outdraw revelation decks. Even with 4x bones and 4x connections and 8x different discard spells (including return) I was always constantly behind because they have access to more draw spells and their spells draw more and don't kill them. Turn 4 slaughter games on Aetherling is funny though.
What I liked about the deck:
- hero's downfall - probably in top 2 black cards in the THS with thoughtseize. I try black every format and every time it was folding to walkers before this card got printed.
- disciple of phenax - good when you play it for 4 or more, bad otherwise.
- read the bones is a very good card
- the way deck snowballs when it gets connections + merchants going - you don't need to tap dudes sideways, just play stuff and opponent dies. Lifedrain also allows to ignore what opponent is doing unless it's something crazy.
Now I'm sure that this deck needs to be some kind of midrange built around dark prophecy with 5cmc merchant being the top of the curve.
I think its a good option against aggro too. At least you can stop some small creatures .
I love Liliana , she can even be a finisher , using the -3 to burst Lifebane or DD... but she cant take the erebos , DD and whip spot.
4 Read the Bones
3 Devour Flesh
2 Ultimate Price
2 Pharika's Cure
2 Rescue from the Underworld
4 Abhorrent Overlord
4 Pack Rat
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Liliana's Reaver
3 Whip of Erebos
3 Underworld Connections
Land
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
23 Swamp
I have been absolutely tearing through other decks with this brew. Consider this the swarm variant, because it focuses on creating lots and lots of creatures and overwhelming your opponent. Mid-range and aggro decks simply cannot deal with the amount of creatures you are pumping out once it's up and running. Keep in mind that this list is a WiP, and there's no sideboard yet, but I'm very happy with its performance so far.
The basic strategy with this specific brew is to use early removal and Pack Rat to limit what your opponent can do, but you're going to have to tank for a couple turns. That's OK. Once you hit 4 lands, you can start playing Whip of Erebos for lifelink, and Liliana's Reaver to block attacks. At 5 lands, you play Gray Merchant to stabilize, then at 7 you drop Abhorrent Overlord. Then you whip them back until you either drain your opponent to death with Gray Merchant, or you have enough harpy or rat tokens to blot out the sun. Lifelink keeps you going, and Underworld Connections and Read the Bones refills your hand.
I'm using some cards that aren't in the primer, so here's my rationale on their inclusion:
Ultimate Price: This was a meta call. These slots were taken up by Doom Blade, but I found that there were far too many black decks on MTGO at the moment to make it useful. While Ultimate Price was unthinkable in RTR block, Theros gives us plenty of juicy targets, like Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos, World Eater.
Devour Flesh: Another meta call, this card is absolute poison for midrange decks. It's included to specifically deal with two threats that are a huge problem for this brew, Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Obzedat, Ghost Council. Obviously, it's useful against other things, especially under-costed fatties that out-race our curve, or for thinning out an all-out aggro rush.
Rescue from the Underworld: I know this seems redundant because of the 3 Whips, but this card has swung enough games for me single-handedly that I can support it as a 1-2-off. Although this can be useful for grabbing a fatty, it's best use is to grab Gray Merchant of Asphodel. That way, even if the Merchant dies again, it can be whipped back for yet another drain. The stone nuts play here is blocking their fatty with a Gray Merchant, playing Rescue, sac'ing the Merchant before damage to go grab the other merchant, and then returning on your upkeep for a 12+ point drain.
Pack Rat: This is a very controversial card, and for good reason. It's pricey, it doesn't make a splash immediately, and it costs card advantage to make big. But that doesn't really matter for us. Pack Rat has so much synergy in this deck that I can't imagine running it without the little guy. For one, we have to run a lot of land to make sure that we can get to 7-8 so we can either hard-cast Abhorrent Overlord or play Whip of Erebos and then bring something back in the same turn. That means that we get flooded out relatively often. So what do we do with all that extra land? We feed it to the Pack Rat. We make more Pack Rats. Your opponent tries to attack? We chump it with a Pack Rat, then we make more. If he kills all of our Pack Rats, we whip back a Pack Rat and copy it before it gets exiled, so we get a brand new Pack Rat. And with only 4 of these bad boys on the field, they suddenly turn into a huge threat. Finally, every single clone of Pack Rat has one black mana symbol on the card, which means that every time we make another rat, our devotion goes up. Highly, highly recommended.
Liliana's Reaver: This is the jankiest creature in the brew right now, but it's done some solid work. The most relevant thing that he brings is deathtouch. On turn 4, this can be a huge problem for aggro decks. If the curve is too low, they risk losing an attacker ever time they swing, and they have to either waste removal when they could have played a creature, or waste a creature doing damage. If you're playing mid-range, suddenly they risk losing Polukranos in the attack. And if you're playing control, you can swing the next turn and start stripping cards if they can't immediately remove it. You're not going to be attacking with him that often, as he quickly gets out-classed by decks with a bigger curve, but when you do, his ability is quite nice, and it gives you yet another chump blocker. Plus, 2 devotion is very good for our purposes.
Abhorrent Overlord: Finally, we arrive at the big daddy. I have been impressed with him in limited, but after running him in a constructed deck, I simply can't imagine playing this archetype without him. The Overlord is a 7-mana creature that immediately takes over games single-handedly. At a bare minimum, you're going to have 2 devotion on the field by the time you cast him, which means you're getting a flashbacked Lingering Souls along with your 6/6 fatty. There is simply no other flying creature that can get through this wall. Stormbreath Dragon gets chumped all day by harpies, and loses if he meets Overlord himself. The Harpies can chump people on the ground too, or swing in the air. Since you have so many, they can clump together to take down a fatty. And when you run low on harpies, you can just whip the Overlord back for more. Seriously, try this card. Out of all the cards on this list, this is the one that I think most deserves a spot in this archetype.
Anyway, hopefully you can understand my blatherings. Please let me know what you would change in this list, or what cards you think I need on the sideboard.
MTGO Nick: neonordnance
LGS: Dream Wizards in Rockville, MD
One thing I didn't notice in any of the prior lists is Crypt Ghast. He seems fragile but at least in my local meta, there is not much removal being packed. Untapping with him and being able to cast 2 Gray Merchants on turn 5 (ideally with a Nightveil Specter already in play as well) is great fun.
3 Whips is too many. Remember that is is legendary, so you can only have 1 out at a time. I'd say 2 is enough for the deck.
I am still not sold on Pharika's Cure. I'd rather have a Doom Blade or a Hero's Downfall instead, to be honest. At least then I know it will kill want needs killed.
Currently Running:
Nothing, I have just gotten back after a long hiatus, and am just now starting to rebuild my collection.
Reaver was partly a budget choice, and partly because Demon is no good against aggro (they can sac to tap him every turn). I will get a playset of Demons if it comes to that, it's just not a very fun way to spend 10 tickets.
As for the whip, though, three was a very deliberate choice. You need the card every single game, so 3 ensures that I always draw it. Extra copies can be pitched to Pack Rat, and I have back-ups in case my opponent destroys the first with Destructive Revelry (already seeing people maindeck this) or counters it. That's also why I run two copies of Nykthos.
MTGO Nick: neonordnance
LGS: Dream Wizards in Rockville, MD
Reaver dodges Selesnya Charm. Deathtouch will also kill anything in the mono green match up. You could just stall long enough with this guy on the board till you find your removal. Both decks are very popular. Its not a terrible choice and worth looking into.
The other thing I like about Reaver is that it demands an immediate response from control or it starts sapping Card Advantage, which means I often see control players wasting Supreme Verdict and the like on him. Plus if you Whip him back and swing, he either trades with a creature or saps a card from their hand and leaves behind a 2/2. Very good value.
He wasn't that great when Innistrad was still around because stuff like Geralf's Messenger provided way more value, but now that it's cycled out, he brings a lot of meat for 4 measly mana.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention that I still need to pick up 2 copies of Hero's Downfall, so I don't have a lot of extra cash for Desecration Demon.
MTGO Nick: neonordnance
LGS: Dream Wizards in Rockville, MD
4 Goglari Guildgate
4 Overgrown Tomb
10 Swamp
6 Forest
Creatures: 21
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Lifebane Zombie
4 Desecration Demon
3 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
2 Liliana of the Dark Realms
Spells: 13
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Doom Blade
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Underworld Connections
2 Whip of Erebos
3 Duress
2 Pithing Needle
3 Devour Flesh
3 Golgari Charm
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Mistcutter Hydra
I think we want green in here to ramp up into demons and merchants.
The only thing I'm not 100% sure on is lifebane zombie, I'm going to be trying out lotleth troll over it to help out against mono red. I'm also intrested in nightveil spector, it can profitably block the vast majority of creatures form mono red (and it can block chandra's pheonix which is a big deal), it provides 3 devotion, and it has evasion. I'm just not sure my deck can support spector's mana cost. Oh and duress is now thoughtsieze.
You guys are crazy to play the reaver over demon.
Sure demon dies to selesnya charm, and aggro can tap the demon, but the demon is a 6/6 that just threatens to end the game. They have to answer it immediately, and it's not easy to kill. The reaver dies to lightning strike and mizzium mortars, both things that can't kill the demon. So mono red literally can't kill the demon. They have to sacrifice creatures to it. And in any other match, the demon is the scarier threat, especially if you are playing whips.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
4 Desecration Demon
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Sin Collector
//Enchantment (2)
2 Underworld Connections
3 Devour Flesh
3 Doom Blade
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Ultimate Price
//Enchantment Artifact (3)
3 Whip of Erebos
//Sorcery (3)
3 Thoughtseize
4 Godless Shrine
2 Mutavault
2 Orzhov Guildgate
3 Plains
10 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence
High Priest of Penance can be an absolute backbreaker against Aggro decks without unconditional removal.
MTGO Nick: neonordnance
LGS: Dream Wizards in Rockville, MD
it seems pretty bad against midrange and control though. I could definitely see sideboard play but it seems weak in the maindeck play.
Currently Running:
Nothing, I have just gotten back after a long hiatus, and am just now starting to rebuild my collection.
They have a lot of draw without revelation: Jace, charms, divinations\augury.
So it's not a big advantage.
Leaving them without aetherling will usually mean you have all the time in the world to win. They cannot reliably clock you without it.
I agree with all your points except the cure, if your playing underworld connections and thoughtsiezes MD then in order to survive against Monored you will need these in the main or the side... If you play them in the side you will lose game 1... I don't like the card either but life totals mean so much against them... You can side them out against GW for more blades and downfalls against GW since 2 damage doesn't kill much.... To play them main or SB is entirely up to your meta but I think they warrant a slot in your 75.
Do not play reaver over demon, the demon is superior... Dodges more removal and acts as a pseudo removal spell when they sacrifice to either attack through it or when they can't afford to get hit by it....
I suppose you are right about the Cure. I will probably try running them just in case.
Btw, here is my current deck. I know a lot of my stuff is sub-par, but that is because I haven't had a chance to order the optimal cards yet.
4 Orzhov Guildgate
2 Temple of Silence
7 Plains
10 Swamp
Creatures
4 Thrill-Kill Assassin
3 High Priest of Penance
4 Sin Collector
3 Alms Beast
1 Erebos, God of Death
3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Orzhov Charm
2 Doom Blade
1 Blind Obedience
3 Read the Bones
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Underworld Connections
2 Whip of Erebos
2 Merciless Eviction
Please note that I am replacing Thrill-Kill with Nightveil Specter when I get them. I have always been curious about how well it would play out in the deck, and decided to order a few to try them out.
And I have had a lot of success using Erebos and his Whip. I am trying to get a second Erebos to replace an Alms Beast with, just to have a greater chance of drawing him.
Aside from that, any questions or comments?
Currently Running:
Nothing, I have just gotten back after a long hiatus, and am just now starting to rebuild my collection.
How is Alms Beast doing for you? Apologies if you've answered this already.