Well, I'm usually playing fast aggro. I think the forest/mountain combo is a great one, because of the overpowered Kird Ape and the extremely violent Lightning Bolt. If I could drop four lands and get another four Lightning Bolt, that'd be great. :)))
Mostly geared to a MP format - but the win-con is Rite, targeting Reaper King.
Mikaeus is there to keep scarecrows bouncing back into the battlefield after being sac'd with Scarecrone. Tatterkite is nice with this, acting like a draw engine. Triskelion is an alternate win-con.
So it wasn't either of the ways I thought it worked..which is good to know.
I think I was confusing it with another question I had awhile back with Rite of Replication and Reaper King - I thought initially that this scenario was like it, but I now see the difference/error I was making.
Appreciate the explanation - thank you for taking time to walk through the process for me
I could see where it might get even a little more tedious with there were 2 of valkas and 1 utvara, or 1 valkas and 2 utvara, or even 2 of each out at the time of the triggers..
Needless to say, the two cards work together better than I initially thought
When I attacked, I did so with a total of 4 dragons.
This triggered Utvara, which resulted in 4 dragon tokens entering the battlefield. This then activated Scourge - however I was unsure of how it played.
I know the tokens all entered the field at the same time, but I was unsure of how the damage was calculated.
Would each dragon token that enters the field be a separate occurrence of damage that triggers from Valkas? I.E. 10 damage (10 dragons), that occurs 6 times (1x for each token), which can be different targets, as noted on Valkas?
Or does it calculate the total damage together, and trigger Valkas once? I.E. 10 damage total, and only able to select 1 target?
I think I'm going to start building this deck only problem is a few cards are expensive af lol like the thune, never the less this seems like a perfect deck for me for sure, thanks a lot for your help!!
No problem -
Yeah, some of them can be pricey..
It won't be as effective without Thune, but it should still do fairly well for some casual games. If you don't run Thune, I would run a playset of Baneslayers and 3 Blood Baron, or just make it a playset of Barons and leave Baneslayer where it is.
Either option could work - I'm partial to Baneslayer myself, she just kicks ass.
I didn't mean the ones that end at my next turn I mean the ones that stay +/+ like dark favor, unholy strength and gift of orzhova, but I see what you mean, I just want a deck that I can be competitive against most types of decks. When I started out I had a blue deck that did nothing but flying so I would have like 20 worth of flying damage to hand out at times but that's all it did, now I'm moving on, upgrading to an actual good deck you know? Also what's the point of phyrexian arena? To be able to pick up 2 cards instead of one? At the beginning of my upkeep?
The issue with those sorts of boosts generally result in you being 2-for-1'd.
Your opponent only needs 1 card to rid the field of 2 of yours - they have their place, sure; but generally speaking, Thune will outpace those particular cards.
Thune increases the size of your creatures, including herself, whereas the other enchantments are static. Would you rather get +2/+1 once, or have the creature steadily grow in power as the game goes on?
Phyrexian Arena is one of those cards that I will usually 'always' jam into a black deck. It is also a card that can be moved from deck to deck over the years and never disappoint. When I first started out, I saw the card and scoffed at it... "pfft..I purposefully lose a life? for a card? I'll pass..."
Oh how wrong I was.
The card will give you card advantage, plain and simple. If you are drawing 2 cards a turn to your opponents 1, you will be accessing more of your deck than he is. Therefore, you will have more options as the game progresses. It also helps prevent top decking in longer games. With the lifelink and such in the deck, the 1 life requirement on your upkeep is virtually canceled out - letting you draw 2 cards a turn - for paying 3 mana up front.
You won't draw 2 cards on your upkeep, though.
On your turn, you will draw a card and lose 1 life during your upkeep step, and then draw your normal draw on your draw step.
The point is to allow you to dig deeper into the deck, help ensure land drops, keep your hand full, and such. If you ever acquire some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, it is also a nice card with BB in it's cost to increase devotion.
It is rare for me to not run the card if there is black in my deck - that's how addicted to the card I am. It's a lot like playing with the ABUR duals - once you get a taste of them, you never want to play without them.
That deck^^^ but with a few " target creature gets +/+ would be almost perfect! How to you think that deck would do in general? Would it be a good "all around" deck? I may just build that one
The deck doesn't really need it..
I suppose you could run some equipment if you were so inclined - and not sure if you read Thune or not.
If Thune is on the field, any of your creatures (save 2) that do combat damage will add +1/+1 counters to each creature you have...because each creature has lifelink (except Artist and Keeper, but I digress). If 3 lifelink creatures do damage, each creature gets 3 counters..why waste slots in the deck on a 1 time effect that ends at end of turn? Counters placed by Thune stick around.
You could probably cut out Blood Baron and run a playset of Thune if you were so inclined. Or drop Baron to 1 and Thune to 3 - that'd work too.
Check out skirsdag High Priest for this deck, and maybe an altar's reap or two. 5/5 flying tokens almost every turn are nothing to sneeze at.
Thank-you. I forgot to mention that I have a full play-set of Altar's Reap. I can't work out (mathematically) which card is better. Sign in blood = 2 mana, lose 2 life, draw 2 cards. Trading one card for two. Altar's Reap entails sacrificing a creature (which I will get back), and drawing two cards. So = 3 mana, draw two cards, proc anything from the sacrificed creature (blood artist, pawn, gravepact). Seems like Altar's Reap might be better than Sign in Blood? Only other consideration is the two damage I can dish out as burn. Is my thinking here correct?
Skirsdag is a great suggestion. Maybe I will trial him in place of desecration demon some time soon.
Thank-you!
I agree with TheKnave on phyrexian arena over sign in blood. The question on altar's reaps is more on how often you can sac a blocking creature to speedbump and trigger morbid. Its a good way of getting additional value out of a bad block or triggering a sacrifice. It is NOT card advantage. You are losing both the altar's reap and a creature (2 cards total) to net two cards. I'd probably run two altars reaps and two phyrexian arenas. Underworld connections is kinda bad. As for Mikaeus, I'd look into him if you run reanimate spells. I'd also look into Geralf's messenger for multiple sacrifices and being a nasty beatstick.
Underworld Connection is the budget variation of Arena - it's not 'bad' per se.
Mikeaus can be used in this type of deck - reanimate spells have nothing to do with it.
Carrion Feeder and Gravecrawler in play - if Grave Pact is in play, well that's just all the better. Provided he has even 5 mana, that's 10 creatures killed, 10 counters given.
Heaven forbid we also have a Blood Artist in play - that's 10 life to the opponent, and you are up 10.
Mikaeus makes decks like this absolutely bonkers - not just in reanimate/recursion based decks. Grave Crawler and NT have their own recursion built in.
Some may mention he would strictly 'win-more' but I disagree. He would basically be a soft lock - because even if they pop carrion feeder, Mikaeus is a zombie himself will still triggers the ability for gravecrawler. And if they target Mikaeus, you still have Blood artist and carrion feeder around.
If they nail Artist, well, you still have carrion and mikaeus.
Lava Spike
or perhaps a Vexing Devil
4 Watery Grave
2 Sunken Ruins
3 Grand Coliseum
4 Swamp
8 Island
1 Tinker
2 Rite of Replication
1 Brilliant Ultimatum
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Tatterkite
4 Adaptive Automaton
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Scarecrone
3 Reaper King
2 Triskelion
3 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Mostly geared to a MP format - but the win-con is Rite, targeting Reaper King.
Mikaeus is there to keep scarecrows bouncing back into the battlefield after being sac'd with Scarecrone. Tatterkite is nice with this, acting like a draw engine. Triskelion is an alternate win-con.
So it wasn't either of the ways I thought it worked..which is good to know.
I think I was confusing it with another question I had awhile back with Rite of Replication and Reaper King - I thought initially that this scenario was like it, but I now see the difference/error I was making.
Appreciate the explanation - thank you for taking time to walk through the process for me
I could see where it might get even a little more tedious with there were 2 of valkas and 1 utvara, or 1 valkas and 2 utvara, or even 2 of each out at the time of the triggers..
Needless to say, the two cards work together better than I initially thought
Thanks!
Scourge of Valkas
Utvara Hellkite
I currently run a Dragon deck and this situation came up during a game recently that hasn't occurred before, and I was unsure of how it played out.
I had 1 Scourge of Valkas and 1 Utvara Hellkite on the field, plus a 4 other dragons (2x Furnace Whelp, 2x Rakdos Pit Dragon).
When I attacked, I did so with a total of 4 dragons.
This triggered Utvara, which resulted in 4 dragon tokens entering the battlefield. This then activated Scourge - however I was unsure of how it played.
I know the tokens all entered the field at the same time, but I was unsure of how the damage was calculated.
After the tokens enter the field together, I would then have a total of 10 dragons on the field:
1x Scourge of Valkas
1x Utvara Hellkite
2x Furnace Whelp
2x Rakdos Pit Dragon
4x Dragon Token (6/6 version)
Would each dragon token that enters the field be a separate occurrence of damage that triggers from Valkas? I.E. 10 damage (10 dragons), that occurs 6 times (1x for each token), which can be different targets, as noted on Valkas?
Or does it calculate the total damage together, and trigger Valkas once? I.E. 10 damage total, and only able to select 1 target?
Hopefully I was clear with the scenario -
Thanks for the help!
No problem -
Yeah, some of them can be pricey..
It won't be as effective without Thune, but it should still do fairly well for some casual games. If you don't run Thune, I would run a playset of Baneslayers and 3 Blood Baron, or just make it a playset of Barons and leave Baneslayer where it is.
Either option could work - I'm partial to Baneslayer myself, she just kicks ass.
The issue with those sorts of boosts generally result in you being 2-for-1'd.
Your opponent only needs 1 card to rid the field of 2 of yours - they have their place, sure; but generally speaking, Thune will outpace those particular cards.
Thune increases the size of your creatures, including herself, whereas the other enchantments are static. Would you rather get +2/+1 once, or have the creature steadily grow in power as the game goes on?
Phyrexian Arena is one of those cards that I will usually 'always' jam into a black deck. It is also a card that can be moved from deck to deck over the years and never disappoint. When I first started out, I saw the card and scoffed at it... "pfft..I purposefully lose a life? for a card? I'll pass..."
Oh how wrong I was.
The card will give you card advantage, plain and simple. If you are drawing 2 cards a turn to your opponents 1, you will be accessing more of your deck than he is. Therefore, you will have more options as the game progresses. It also helps prevent top decking in longer games. With the lifelink and such in the deck, the 1 life requirement on your upkeep is virtually canceled out - letting you draw 2 cards a turn - for paying 3 mana up front.
You won't draw 2 cards on your upkeep, though.
On your turn, you will draw a card and lose 1 life during your upkeep step, and then draw your normal draw on your draw step.
The point is to allow you to dig deeper into the deck, help ensure land drops, keep your hand full, and such. If you ever acquire some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, it is also a nice card with BB in it's cost to increase devotion.
It is rare for me to not run the card if there is black in my deck - that's how addicted to the card I am. It's a lot like playing with the ABUR duals - once you get a taste of them, you never want to play without them.
The deck doesn't really need it..
I suppose you could run some equipment if you were so inclined - and not sure if you read Thune or not.
If Thune is on the field, any of your creatures (save 2) that do combat damage will add +1/+1 counters to each creature you have...because each creature has lifelink (except Artist and Keeper, but I digress). If 3 lifelink creatures do damage, each creature gets 3 counters..why waste slots in the deck on a 1 time effect that ends at end of turn? Counters placed by Thune stick around.
You could probably cut out Blood Baron and run a playset of Thune if you were so inclined. Or drop Baron to 1 and Thune to 3 - that'd work too.
Lotus Cobra
Are always nice to see in snake decks.
And if part of your gameplan is snake tokens, you may also look at:
Doubling Season
Parallel Lives
Underworld Connection is the budget variation of Arena - it's not 'bad' per se.
Mikeaus can be used in this type of deck - reanimate spells have nothing to do with it.
Carrion Feeder and Gravecrawler in play - if Grave Pact is in play, well that's just all the better. Provided he has even 5 mana, that's 10 creatures killed, 10 counters given.
Heaven forbid we also have a Blood Artist in play - that's 10 life to the opponent, and you are up 10.
Mikaeus makes decks like this absolutely bonkers - not just in reanimate/recursion based decks. Grave Crawler and NT have their own recursion built in.
Some may mention he would strictly 'win-more' but I disagree. He would basically be a soft lock - because even if they pop carrion feeder, Mikaeus is a zombie himself will still triggers the ability for gravecrawler. And if they target Mikaeus, you still have Blood artist and carrion feeder around.
If they nail Artist, well, you still have carrion and mikaeus.
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Godless Shrine
4 Tainted Field
2 Fetid Heath
5 Swamp
5 Plains
4 Blood Artist
4 Tithe Drinker
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Bloodline Keeper
3 Baneslayer Angel
2 Archangel of Thune
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Unmake
4 Mortify
-shrug-
Omitted Scrubland and Vindicate, which would replace Tainted Field and Mortify, respectively.
Yeah - I run it in my Zombie tribal with Fleshbag Marauder and Noxious Ghoul.
I had to take out Grave Pact to tone the power of the deck down.
It gets stupid, I assure you.
For the CMC - you might try and get your hands on a Cabal Coffers or two, or some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
Also, for card draw over Sign in Blood - you can check out Underworld Connections or Phyrexian Arena.
Getting 2+ sac's out of a GC or NT a turn? And 2 critters for the opponent?
lulz.