I agree with Fenrir Rex. Psychonautical ideologies are an Izzet thing, for sure. I also like the Arjun, the Shifting Flame suggestion a lot too. I was gonna say that one. He can represent the overwhelming waves of knowledge that come with the use of psychedelics. The knowledge isn't always useful, and is sometimes gone before you can put it to good use. A++
Another one I thought of was Melek, Izzet Paragon. Could represent cracking open one's own mind for things you can make use out of. But you might not always like what you get.
Lastly, this one is a little on-the-nose, But I think Ghave, Guru of Spores could be a pretty good one too. I mean, he is a Fungus Shaman...
That's my 2 cents. Cool idea. I look forward to seeing where this goes.
Someone may have posted this one before me. But, in a game of EDH, I was able to float a boat load of mana and cast a Realm Razer, then follow it up with an Oblivion Sower. That was pretty evil, imo. All the players scooped. Ha ha.
Went 3-1 last Friday. Got 2nd outta 12. Felt pretty good. Beat BW Control (Not really "Angels," more straight-up "Control"), Bant Company Humans, and a 5 Color SuperFriends type deck. I got 2-0'd by a GW tokens deck. Too many bodies on the field, and without a real sweeper in my deck, it was a tough match up. Although, I fell like that match is winnable with the right draw. My sideboard is about to change so maybe I will have to shore up that MU.
That's awesome! Good work. I got 2nd with my list on Friday as well! I've heard some mutterings online that R ins't in a great position in the meta at the moment. But I haven't been seeing that, exactly. Although, I can't seem to get this deck past X-1. My only match loss for the night was to GB Delirium Mid-range (0-2). Game 1 he cast the same Ishkanah 3 times in 4 turns. It was brutal. Game 2 I got stuck on 3 land for most of the game. A poor finish to what otherwise felt like a pretty good day for the deck. It was a bummer because I 2-0'ed that same deck the week before.
I can't complain thou, because I was able to use my winnings towards a Conspiracy 2 draft later that night.
Thanks for the detailed write up! I dig some of your choices. They seem to make sense from a pure-aggro stand point. And, I cant agree with you more when you say that you need something to counter some life gain. I'm hoping for something like that to be dropped in Kaladesh. *Fingers Crossed*
Here's something; If you are using Exquisite Firecraft for Kalitas, wouldn't Collective Defiance be better? I know those just shot up in price, so they might not be "budget" anymore. But the versatility can be pretty good. I like to run 3 main-board for the same reason you run Firecraft. I run 3 Firecrafts in the board for the match ups where 4 damage to the face is better than 3, or when I need the Spell Mastery mode. Just my 2 cents.
Ronnie328, Thank you for the suggestions! My first thought was to stay away from the dragon list that is running around because most of the heat rotates in a few weeks. But I do like the Dragonloft Idol idea thou. Could work with Thunderbreak Regent, etc. Especially in a budget list.
Great suggestion with the Akoum Firebird. This is a card I pulled out to test but haven't gotten around to it yet. Having Haste helps this card a lot, I think. But my fear is that it still doesn't stand up to any of the angels in the BW lists. Linvala, the Preserver, Gisela, the Broken Blade, Bruna, the Fading Light, (not to mention Brisela, Voice of Nightmares) all eat it for lunch. But its probably worth testing anyway. Never know till you test it out...
Anyway, had an OK showing last night with the deck list shown above. Went 2-1, and dropped before the 4th round. I'm gonna make some changes and give it another go on Friday. Thanks for the input!
I guess I would consider this a "Budget Deck". It's roughly $75, last I checked. It was originally built as a home-brew, but after checking out MTG Top 8, I guess its an actual deck. I've been doing pretty alright in my local meta with it, with 2 pretty OK performances(2-1, 3-1) and 1 mediocre (2-2) so far. I am looking for any advice to improve it. Here it is...
3) I do have one question for you: I notice you actually run quite a low number of instants/sorceries considering Jace. Do you ever find he sits with nothing to flashback? You do run one less Jace than me so I suppose it could balance out. I ask because, thinking on Creamy's earlier point, I am considering dropping a Jace for that last Lotleth Troll. Decisions, decisions!
Honestly, I've only Goldfished this list. I need some real opponents to test the Jace/Instant and sorcery counts. I will say that, while goldfishing, every time I have flipped JVP, I have had at least 1 target for him to flashback. But with that said, I may try the Wayfinder-less list. That gives me the room for +1 Grisly Salvage, +1 Raven's Crime, +1 Darkblast(or something along those lines). I will agree, Wayfinder is always useful, but never an All-Star.
Anyway, thanks for the feed back. I will pop back in when I have some useful testing results.
Thankyou both for your replies, both have given me a bit to think about.
I really love the idea on the grisly salvages. Never once thought of it in that way. The abrupt decay fakeout is very nice too! As Killer pointed out, it even synergises amazingly with Jace. Definitely gonna give that a go! Still what I wouldn't do for a Careful Study reprint....
I'm skeptical of running less than 4 of the recurrers but if its to be any its definitely the Bloodghasts that get a trim as they have no gravecrawler synergy and can never block. I'll try 3 and see. @Killer: If you can think of what to cut to get the 4 then I'm all ears.
I've also mindful of Rotting Rats but I'm not sold on him just yet. Might try Charizard for a bit longer, call me the sentimental sort if you must
Finally I'm eyeing up the very risky move of cutting a land. I'm thinking that should be a Darkslick if i go down that road but as I mentioned long ago. I've always been rubbish at land base evaluation. I don't recall ever running low on land so I think I could be ok at 20. Famous Last words perhaps, we shall see.
My saddest thoughtline is that I can't possibly see how to squeeze that last Grave-Troll in. I really want the extra dredger but its already so damn tight >.<
So I'd guess i'm looking at this atm:
In essence, the only comparable card is Skaab Ruinator, but that suffers from being blue, and costing 1 extra mana. Rat allows you to discard a card, which is good, and forces the opponent to discard. I honestly believe it to be the best card in the Amalgam lists, but sits nicely as a 1-of.
Rat lets you go from an empty board to a massive board extremely quickly, because it can then allow you to trigger double crawler into vengevine and/or amalgam. Like I say, nothing else does this.
It's raw power isn't the best, but it's flexibility and synergy is. I certainly wouldn't leave home without it!
This is what I was thinking, Ruinator and rats fight. Worth noting though, Rats is not a cast so you do need the 2 Gravecrawlers for a Vengevine trigger. Ruinator on the other hand IS cast so you only need 1 gravecrawler, essentially voiding that extra mana requirement. You also get a permanent creature and he can come back multiple times if he hits removal.
Lyvefire: I dig your list. And you have a lot of good info in there. Glad to see someone is still trying to make U work. This is the list that I ended up with (not that you asked):
A few things to note, I like having Skaab Ruinator because, not only is it a big flying beater, but it allows us to cast it from the yard, plus a Gravecrawler, to spring Vines. The Rats requires us to have it, plus 2 Gravecrawlers. It just requires a little more set up, for the same amount mana, and same payoff (basically, all the reasons you said).
Also, I'm running a 3/3 split of Grisly Salvage/Satyr Wayfinder. They help me get off the ground when I don't have a Crab in the opening hand. Another reason I went with a 3/3 split, instead of 4 Grisly Salvage is because its nice to have the extra creatures in the yard to be able to exile to the Skaab Ruinator, when I need to.
Anyway, This is the list I plan on testing. Its done pretty OK in some of the Goldfishing I've done. But I need some real opponents to know for sure. Any comments or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
With the addition of this new Zombie, it might be time for me to go back to the drawing board all together. I was struggling with finding room for the Bloodghasts + Amalgams. So, now seems like a good time to reevaluate things from top to bottom. It will take me a few days to make this happen.
Testing says: if we go off (usually by t3 Faithless Looting) we go off hard. Only having 4 big dredgers and 1 smaller one really hurts consistency, though. Especially because of the lack of Wayfinders/Grisly Salvages. Playing 2 each might be too few. Wayfinder also seems considerably weaker in this version than Salvage because of the missing card and the inability to grab Anglers. Speaking of which, Anglers underperformed in every game I played. I didn't cast a single one in almost a dozen games. I never thought I'd say this, but I might swap them out for more Salvages.
Minor things to note: I would not have wanted to ever see a Diregraf Colossus and am glad I didn't put him in. Sinister concoctions on the other hand would have been useful in some situations, but I never drew them. We'll see how good it is against real opponents.
This is great! Thank you for doing some testing, and sharing your results. This confirms my thoughts about removing Anglers for Bloodghasts. Now I know where to start.
I totally get the appeal of Sinister Concoction. I guess, I was just thinking that Abrupt Decay does the removal job a little better. But, I look forward to hearing about your test results with the card. I would love to be wrong on this one.
And, Prized Amalgam: Sure, he can block, but is he going to? Amalgam enters the battlefield tapped, and at the end of turn. So, unless you are cracking a fetch on the opponent's turn to recur a Bloodghast or something, your opponent is going to have a turn to either deal with it, or swing in and kill you.
Granted, take all of what I said with a grain of salt. I have done no testing with these new cards.
Another one I thought of was Melek, Izzet Paragon. Could represent cracking open one's own mind for things you can make use out of. But you might not always like what you get.
Lastly, this one is a little on-the-nose, But I think Ghave, Guru of Spores could be a pretty good one too. I mean, he is a Fungus Shaman...
That's my 2 cents. Cool idea. I look forward to seeing where this goes.
Edit: grammar
I can't complain thou, because I was able to use my winnings towards a Conspiracy 2 draft later that night.
Here's something; If you are using Exquisite Firecraft for Kalitas, wouldn't Collective Defiance be better? I know those just shot up in price, so they might not be "budget" anymore. But the versatility can be pretty good. I like to run 3 main-board for the same reason you run Firecraft. I run 3 Firecrafts in the board for the match ups where 4 damage to the face is better than 3, or when I need the Spell Mastery mode. Just my 2 cents.
Anyway, thanks for the response.
Great suggestion with the Akoum Firebird. This is a card I pulled out to test but haven't gotten around to it yet. Having Haste helps this card a lot, I think. But my fear is that it still doesn't stand up to any of the angels in the BW lists. Linvala, the Preserver, Gisela, the Broken Blade, Bruna, the Fading Light, (not to mention Brisela, Voice of Nightmares) all eat it for lunch. But its probably worth testing anyway. Never know till you test it out...
Anyway, had an OK showing last night with the deck list shown above. Went 2-1, and dropped before the 4th round. I'm gonna make some changes and give it another go on Friday. Thanks for the input!
3 Geier Reach Sanitarium
3 Hanweir Battlements
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
3 Collective Defiance
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Fiery Temper
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Lightning Axe
1 Collective Defiance
3 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Reality Smasher
3 Rending Volley
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Tears of Valakut
Specifically, I need help with the BW Control/Angels MU. Its a tough one for me. The life-gain basically makes it un-winnable.
Anyway, any advice anyone could give would be great!
Edit: Decklist
Honestly, I've only Goldfished this list. I need some real opponents to test the Jace/Instant and sorcery counts. I will say that, while goldfishing, every time I have flipped JVP, I have had at least 1 target for him to flashback. But with that said, I may try the Wayfinder-less list. That gives me the room for +1 Grisly Salvage, +1 Raven's Crime, +1 Darkblast(or something along those lines). I will agree, Wayfinder is always useful, but never an All-Star.
Anyway, thanks for the feed back. I will pop back in when I have some useful testing results.
Lyvefire: I dig your list. And you have a lot of good info in there. Glad to see someone is still trying to make U work. This is the list that I ended up with (not that you asked):
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Island
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Gravecrawler
4 Hedron Crab
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Bloodghast
4 Vengevine
4 Prized Amalgam
3 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Golgari Grave-Troll
3 Satyr Wayfinder
1 Skaab Ruinator
3 Grisly Salvage
1 Life from the Loam
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Darkblast
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Golgari Brownscale
2 Golgari Charm
2 Spellskite
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Thoughtseize
A few things to note, I like having Skaab Ruinator because, not only is it a big flying beater, but it allows us to cast it from the yard, plus a Gravecrawler, to spring Vines. The Rats requires us to have it, plus 2 Gravecrawlers. It just requires a little more set up, for the same amount mana, and same payoff (basically, all the reasons you said).
Also, I'm running a 3/3 split of Grisly Salvage/Satyr Wayfinder. They help me get off the ground when I don't have a Crab in the opening hand. Another reason I went with a 3/3 split, instead of 4 Grisly Salvage is because its nice to have the extra creatures in the yard to be able to exile to the Skaab Ruinator, when I need to.
Anyway, This is the list I plan on testing. Its done pretty OK in some of the Goldfishing I've done. But I need some real opponents to know for sure. Any comments or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
OK... I don't think I can justify playing U instead of R anymore.
With the addition of this new Zombie, it might be time for me to go back to the drawing board all together. I was struggling with finding room for the Bloodghasts + Amalgams. So, now seems like a good time to reevaluate things from top to bottom. It will take me a few days to make this happen.
This is great! Thank you for doing some testing, and sharing your results. This confirms my thoughts about removing Anglers for Bloodghasts. Now I know where to start.
And, Prized Amalgam: Sure, he can block, but is he going to? Amalgam enters the battlefield tapped, and at the end of turn. So, unless you are cracking a fetch on the opponent's turn to recur a Bloodghast or something, your opponent is going to have a turn to either deal with it, or swing in and kill you.
Granted, take all of what I said with a grain of salt. I have done no testing with these new cards.