I think there are a couple of changes that could be made, but overall I am happy with it so far. Juse this afternoon I had a crazy turn 2 that ended with me having a gravecrawler, a Hooting Mandrills, 2 Vengevines and a bloodghast on the table.
I'm considering the following changes so far though:
1. I would switch the Breeding Pool for a Steam Vents if I had one.
2a. I would consider replacing the two Hooting Mandrills for Golgari Grave Troll if I had them as well. The Mandrills have been great and very explosive so far, but I could use a bit more dredge power sometimes to be more consistent. It's a trade off either way really, but both are good.
2b. I would also like to try switching Hooting Mandrills for 1 Golgari Grave Troll and one more Gurmag Angler. the extra power and toughness stand up to Tassigur better and it's a zombie to boot. costs one more though, which results in needing to exile a recurring creature to pay for it occasionally and that's no fun.
2c. I would try replacing Hooting Mandrills with Tassigur. The one extra toughness is great and the ability may (rarely) be relevant. It also costs the same as Mandrills which is awesome, but losing out on trample is unfortunate. I think Mandrills can push more damage through early game because of that. Again, another trade off.
That's pretty much it at the moment. Just a couple of mall adjustments to be made I think... and a sideboard.
Vengeful Pharaoh has been awesome so far as well btw. It's a wonderful deterrent against decks that attack only with one or two key creatures because they can't do anything about it game 1 at least. It's also easy to get back in the grave if it activates. If not I have also won by hard casting it before, because it's a zombie to boot!
It used to be mono black, but I added green for Collected Company (and since then, also some Abrupt Decays)
The deck was good before, but ran out of steam in the later game. CoCo helps a lot with this. It also used to play Blood Scrivener, but Relentless Dead is a much better 2 drop to fill the spot now.
I also had a list before that contained Smallpox and Lilliana of the Veil. It was a slower deck that way, but it had its benefits too sometimes. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions you have on that deck for sure, especially if other people are able to playtest it a bit vs a variety of opponents.
IMHO, Lotleth Troll is one of the best zombies so far with relevant play roll on the deck for his low-cost abilities. You can clearly benefit from discarding Gravecrawler, Bloodghast (if considering this) or Brain Gorgers and cast it with madness... Now, you can discard any other zombie for counters on the Troll, considering that you'll get the chance put them back to the board with Relentless Dead afterwards!
The thing is, last time zombies were seen in standard, Deathrite Shaman was granting the one mana advantage to pay Troll's regen ability cost on T2... Unable to do this in modern, we're always one turn behind, so we have to work it out, delaying the opponent with Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek untill the 3ed land is on the board and we get to do "stuff"...
It certainly does seem that the best zombie 2 drops are better played as 3 drops these days sadly. It's a tough spot to fill with creatures, even with Relentless Dead now. I wasn't really considering bloodghast (also a great card though) because it doesn't benefit from any of the zombie synergies that the deck is going for, but the deck can always change a bit. I'm interested in trying Lotleth Troll mainly due to regeneration, although it may also slow down the deck a little. Is anyone able to play test this list?
Playing 2 urborgs is a good way to fix the mutavault problem. I think you're going to need the reach of manlands one way or another, even if it's only a couple hissing quagmires.
Mutavault's ability to let you cast gravecrawler in the event you have an empty board is really stellar.
If I knew I could draw them then it would certainly be worth it. I'm a little hesitate at the moment because I need BB on turn 2 frequently, but it's worth trying at the least.
I think casting CoCo on turn 4 is fine as long as you have some disruption before hand at least. It's nice to hold up 4 mana to represend either a CoCo, a removal spell or the ability to bring back something if they kill Relentless Dead for sure.
I have been debating adding another swamp to the deck though to get it up to 23 lands. Since the deck only needs 3 to play anything aside from Co, missing 1 land drop often isn't the end of the word either so far. It would be nice to ensure though. That said, I can't see adding in any mana to the deck that doesn't produce black on its own. Nykthos and Mutavault are both dead lands if you get them before turn 3, which is concerning. I would love to have 4 Mutavaults, but it would prevent me from playing almost every card in the deck on curve...
I think I will try replacing the 3 Dismembers with 1 land and 2 Abrupt Decay. I'm open to removing the Geth's Verdict, but I don't know that another 3 costing creature would be my choice for replacement. Fleshbag Maurader is great when hit with a CoCo, but otherwise kinda clogs up the 3 drop spot further. Other 2 cost removal spells might be better to remove what's important to hit, while keeping the Verdicts in sideboard for certain matchups.
@Imborj - I'm still uncertain on why Lotleth will fit well in this deck. i love the card, but I don't want to discard creatures in this build aside from Gravecrawler, so he'll be a 3/2 with regen at best in most cases. unless I can discard a few cards to get the win or something. Could you eplain it further?
Thanks for the feedback so far guys! i'll make some changes to the decklist tonight. I'm thinking:
-2 Dismember
-2 Geth's Verdict
+3 Abrupt Decay
+1 Swamp
Might have to add an extra green source in as well, which I suppose means the deck is no longer Mono Black...
I have no issues playing 3x Abrupt Decay as the main board removal as i definitely think it would be useful. it might require taking a bit more damage from the land base though, which could become a little concerning.
I'm not sure I understand the benefits of Lotleth Troll in a deck like this though. aside from Gravecrawlers, you don't actually want to discard any of your creatures. I am a big fan of the card for sure, but i don't see the advantage here. Could you explain?
Overall I would consider the deck more of a midrange deck though than a full on aggro deck. It can't put out super fast damage like the best aggro decks, but it also has more staying power once the innitial rush has been dealt with. out of sideboard, i'm sure we could put together some cards that would help us gain life or otherwise deal with their aggro though. The deck used to have Liliana and Smallpox to help slow things down, but I had removed them for now because they make it difficult to get to the 3 mana needed for the new creatures.
If the meta becomes hyper aggro with Merfolk or Affinity only, the deck may struggle a bit. If it's Infect or Boggles then we're in great shape, and if it slows down a bit now that Eldrazi is weakened a little, then we should be in a good place.
Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to check out my deck!
Now I know what you're thinking... How can it be a mono black deck when it includes Collected Company? Well... Technically it's not, but Collected Company is the only green card in the deck. Everything else is black, from the creatures to the spells it plays.
Why splash green then?
I've played this deck off and on for a while now, and it can definitely be a competitor in certain metas at the very least. It is a strong aggro/midrange deck that has recursion and few tricks to allow it to win even in the grindy matches. Now with the new addition of Relentless Dead and a small green splash for Collected Company, it can finally fill in one of the decks major weaknesses in the past: Sometimes it just ran out of gas, and there were no great cards to get you back in the game once you started slowing down. Thanks to these new cards, I can finally remove Blood Scrivener and it's now entirely possible to bounce back once things start slowing down. Also, it will likely help with sideboard spells like Abrupt Decay and whatnot.
I'm hoping people will see this list, tweak a few cards here and there and, most importantly, help me playtest it! So far I've only been able to play this new version vs Faeries (which is a very favourable match for this deck), but it needs to be tested against much more than this to be considered good of course.
Here are some notes to explain some of the cards and interactions in the deck:
Gravecrawler - A beater that can return from the grave as long as any creature in the deck (Viscera Seer excluded) is on the field. Excellent when paired with a Death Baron because he becomes a 3/2 that the opponent can't even block with something larger effectively. Also, it is a semi-combo enabler.
Viscera Seer - Honourary Zombie; A 1 costed sac outlet that lets us scry as many times as we have mana to cast Gravecrawler. Also enables us to sac Relentless Dead for graveyard card advantage any time.
Relentless Dead - Hard to block for the opponent, and doing so generally results in us getting it back + another zombie onto the field anyway.
Geralf's Messenger - Coming into play tapped is annoying, but much less so at the end of the opponents turn with Collected Company!
Diregraf Colossus - A late game/grind all-star. Often entering the battlefield somewhere between a 3/3 and a 6/6 for 3, the price for the power is decent. However, Diregraf Colossus + Viscera Seer + GraveCrawler = a 2/2 token for 1 mana that can be repeated as many times as you can pay for it. Since it's not unlikely that two of the 3 can be found off of a Collected Company, it's not difficult to do either.
Death Baron - Gives deathtouch to everything, which means our creatures push through or trade at worst, and we can often just replay our threats again on the same turn!
Geth's Verdict - Untargeted removal that's great vs decks playing a small number of powerful creatures, especially vs Infect/Boggles because they can't protect from it.
There are currently 3 spots that are open in the deck, which I think should be used for disruption of some kind. Preferably costing 1 or 2 mana if at all possible. Right now I'm try out Dismember, since it can kill pretty much anything in the format and can be casted for 1 mana in a pinch most times. Often it is cast for 2 though, which minimizes life loss a bit. I'm open to other suggestions as well though of course. I haven't tried using it for discard yet, but it might be just as good or better overall.
One last thing about the mana: Untapped Black mana is the most important thing you can get in the deck. On turn 1, you need B, On turn 2 you need BB, and on turn 3 you need BBB. This is why the deck is mainly basics, and why even a single Forest isn't included (I'd put 1 in sideboard for Path to Exile decks though).
Again, I'm hoping for some feedback on the deck to improve it further, and I hope it interests a few of you enough to do some play testing with it!
This deck look amazing. I put it into TappedOut immediately to give it a try. I can see it completely wrecking anything that plays black with ease, but how does it fair vs aggro type decks of other colours? seems like it might be a tad slow to beat them. Super cool idea though!
Granted it can only be used on Ezuri really, but who knows? The one extra point could be the difference. It would be very rare I'm sure, but it comes into play untapped and can play every spell in the deck still. Seems like it'd be nice to have the extra option as a 1 of, since it doesn't cause any trouble to the mana base at all. Any reason not to play it? Not like people are going to sideboard Blood Moon vs a mono green deck really.
I really like that State champ list though. I think that's my goal right now, with perhaps the only change being +1 Ezuri and -1 Heritage Druid. Also 2 Cavern of Souls if I could actually get them.
I must admit that your write up of the final match made me laugh aloud twice, and then again every time I think of it again. Great write up.
In the past (when I was considering playing elves before I actually had them) I'd have thought it crazy to run anything less than 4 Heritage Druid. Now having played the deck a few times in real life, I'm finding them to be less and less important in the Collected Elves style of build. They're integral in the combo version, but I think playing 3 or possibly even 2 might actually be fine in the Ezuri build.
I like your build now, but how do the Dismembers fair against non-combo decks? Seems like they'd be difficult to use since you're always taking 4 every time. Perhaps some number of Gilt-Leaf Palace would help with this on occasion? There's almost no instance I can think where you wouldn't just be revealing the elf you're about to cast, so it should come into play untapped unless you're hand is empty.
I hope to read more write ups in the future from you!
I got wiped 3 games in a row vs U/W heroic (extra game for fun) and I think it's just unwinnable. They have so much to give their creatures flying/unblockable and we have no removal main deck. They're also pretty fast with it. In the last for fun match we played, I managed to land 3 Murderous Cut's thanks to good draws and a Den Protector. Still wasn't enough.
I ended up winning the next two matches, but they weren't against top tier decks at all.
Flying certainly does wreck this deck, as [WyvernSlayer] said. It has been the cause of every loss I've had so far I believe. One creature I can't block attacking over and over again...
I also think Nighthowlser has won 70% of the games I played so far. I used to play a Strength deck for a bit when Constellation first came out, and I think it was slightly better back then. Den Protector has it's benefits, but it still doesn't really compare to Lotleth Troll when it comes to Nighthowler (or even other bestow creatures).
It's my favourite card of recent memory for sure, and is undervalued I believe.
I beat Jeskai tokens 2-0 and lost to a W/G Anafenza type deck 2-0. vs Jeskai I won game 2 off of an EoT Boon Satyr after a board wipe, followed by a bestowed Nighthowler with an active Strength out for 16 damage. Versus G/W, he got an ideal draw both games with the outlast guy that makes all creatures with counters gain flying, and this deck has nothing that can beat flying at all in it...
There were a total of 3 whole people at the event today... it was pretty sad. However, one of the attendees had won a mat the day before, and I beat the other person who did not. Thus, I "won" despite it actually being a complete 3 way tie. We did all play 2 rounds of a board game called Splendor after that I won both of, so I will consider this the tie breaker.
Still, the store owner paid out much more in prizing than he needed to for such a small crowd, so they have my respect for sure.
The deck has some serious power, but it also has some serious weaknesses. I'll probably play it for fun a few more times, but I don't think it'll be highly tournament viable going forward.
Taking this to Game Day tomorrow with one change. I replaced a Courser for a Nighthowler.
I have played only two games with the deck so far, but Nighthowler actually ended up winning them both for me. Courser is great, but when you're playing a SftF deck, the top card of your library can be the difference between 0 and 20 damage. I've had many times in the past (playing a similar deck before Khans block) when the opponent did or didn't do something they would have done in favour of holding up mana for removal because they could see the top card of my deck.
Anyway, I'm worried about the control match mainly. They'll be able to remove everything important, and I feel like it won't be a good matchup. Mistcutter was great before because some of control's removal was UW split, but now with UB being the flavour, it's not quite as good... All their removal is black, so it likely won't get more than a hit in at X=4 or so if we're lucky.
What else can I include for the control match up in sideboard?
A fair number of people run G/R or G/W around here so I want to try Extinguish All Hope here as a one sided board wipe more or less. Great for when the board gets stalled, as they'll have a Courser or two left at best to my everything.
The fact that he went 1-6 in constructed though is pretty concerning...
I've been so close to buying up the Elves list many times now, but always stop just short. I was super close again recently, but if he was only able to win a single game... I just don't know if I can pull the trigger.
I just spent a bunch of money to buy the remaining cards I needed to finish this deck because it plays a ton of cards I love.
Question about it though. How does it do vs combo?
My meta has a lot of blue combo/control and some Jund mostly. With next to no removal in most of these decks, is it able to stand up well vs these decks? I'm sure vs pure control we're favoured due to reoccuring aggro creatures, but I feel like I'll be getting Splinter Twin'd on turn 4 fairly often with it...
Hardcasting Sidisi is preferable to whip; with whip, her best case scenario is definitely better than Hornet Queen (6 bodies 12 power) and most of the time she is going to average about 2-3 zombies. While more power overall w/less bodies, the flying and deathtouch from a guaranteed 4 bodies is really really good. It's the main reason I prefer Junk splash blue instead of all in on BUG reanimator, your white cards are very high impact. When someone sweeps Sidisi, you don't have that guarantee of getting as many tokens back. Still, she is solid value and does an excellent job of gumming up the ground. I don't think I have to explain how bonkers Sultai Charm is, card was great all night.
Just as an FYI, Sidisi can only generate 1 token per activation. Even if all 3 cards flipped over are creatures, she only gives you one token. It's a common misconception really, and it's sad that it works this way. She would be really amazing if she got a token for each creature revealed.
I'm looking to move from Sulti / 4c Reanimator to Abzan I think. Can anyone comment on the decks ability to close out games? The biggest issue with my current deck is that while I can definitely win, I'm often likely to go time out and draw before being able to finish the opponent... or even start a game 3.
4 Gravecrawler
1 Gurmag Angler
2 Hooting Mandrills
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
4 Vengevine
4 Faithless Looting
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Breeding Pool
3 Copperline Gorge
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
I think there are a couple of changes that could be made, but overall I am happy with it so far. Juse this afternoon I had a crazy turn 2 that ended with me having a gravecrawler, a Hooting Mandrills, 2 Vengevines and a bloodghast on the table.
I'm considering the following changes so far though:
1. I would switch the Breeding Pool for a Steam Vents if I had one.
2a. I would consider replacing the two Hooting Mandrills for Golgari Grave Troll if I had them as well. The Mandrills have been great and very explosive so far, but I could use a bit more dredge power sometimes to be more consistent. It's a trade off either way really, but both are good.
2b. I would also like to try switching Hooting Mandrills for 1 Golgari Grave Troll and one more Gurmag Angler. the extra power and toughness stand up to Tassigur better and it's a zombie to boot. costs one more though, which results in needing to exile a recurring creature to pay for it occasionally and that's no fun.
2c. I would try replacing Hooting Mandrills with Tassigur. The one extra toughness is great and the ability may (rarely) be relevant. It also costs the same as Mandrills which is awesome, but losing out on trample is unfortunate. I think Mandrills can push more damage through early game because of that. Again, another trade off.
That's pretty much it at the moment. Just a couple of mall adjustments to be made I think... and a sideboard.
Vengeful Pharaoh has been awesome so far as well btw. It's a wonderful deterrent against decks that attack only with one or two key creatures because they can't do anything about it game 1 at least. It's also easy to get back in the grave if it activates. If not I have also won by hard casting it before, because it's a zombie to boot!
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/685746-mono-black-collected-zombies#c10
It used to be mono black, but I added green for Collected Company (and since then, also some Abrupt Decays)
The deck was good before, but ran out of steam in the later game. CoCo helps a lot with this. It also used to play Blood Scrivener, but Relentless Dead is a much better 2 drop to fill the spot now.
I also had a list before that contained Smallpox and Lilliana of the Veil. It was a slower deck that way, but it had its benefits too sometimes. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions you have on that deck for sure, especially if other people are able to playtest it a bit vs a variety of opponents.
It certainly does seem that the best zombie 2 drops are better played as 3 drops these days sadly. It's a tough spot to fill with creatures, even with Relentless Dead now. I wasn't really considering bloodghast (also a great card though) because it doesn't benefit from any of the zombie synergies that the deck is going for, but the deck can always change a bit. I'm interested in trying Lotleth Troll mainly due to regeneration, although it may also slow down the deck a little. Is anyone able to play test this list?
If I knew I could draw them then it would certainly be worth it. I'm a little hesitate at the moment because I need BB on turn 2 frequently, but it's worth trying at the least.
I have been debating adding another swamp to the deck though to get it up to 23 lands. Since the deck only needs 3 to play anything aside from Co, missing 1 land drop often isn't the end of the word either so far. It would be nice to ensure though. That said, I can't see adding in any mana to the deck that doesn't produce black on its own. Nykthos and Mutavault are both dead lands if you get them before turn 3, which is concerning. I would love to have 4 Mutavaults, but it would prevent me from playing almost every card in the deck on curve...
I think I will try replacing the 3 Dismembers with 1 land and 2 Abrupt Decay. I'm open to removing the Geth's Verdict, but I don't know that another 3 costing creature would be my choice for replacement. Fleshbag Maurader is great when hit with a CoCo, but otherwise kinda clogs up the 3 drop spot further. Other 2 cost removal spells might be better to remove what's important to hit, while keeping the Verdicts in sideboard for certain matchups.
@Imborj - I'm still uncertain on why Lotleth will fit well in this deck. i love the card, but I don't want to discard creatures in this build aside from Gravecrawler, so he'll be a 3/2 with regen at best in most cases. unless I can discard a few cards to get the win or something. Could you eplain it further?
Thanks for the feedback so far guys! i'll make some changes to the decklist tonight. I'm thinking:
-2 Dismember
-2 Geth's Verdict
+3 Abrupt Decay
+1 Swamp
Might have to add an extra green source in as well, which I suppose means the deck is no longer Mono Black...
I'm not sure I understand the benefits of Lotleth Troll in a deck like this though. aside from Gravecrawlers, you don't actually want to discard any of your creatures. I am a big fan of the card for sure, but i don't see the advantage here. Could you explain?
Overall I would consider the deck more of a midrange deck though than a full on aggro deck. It can't put out super fast damage like the best aggro decks, but it also has more staying power once the innitial rush has been dealt with. out of sideboard, i'm sure we could put together some cards that would help us gain life or otherwise deal with their aggro though. The deck used to have Liliana and Smallpox to help slow things down, but I had removed them for now because they make it difficult to get to the 3 mana needed for the new creatures.
If the meta becomes hyper aggro with Merfolk or Affinity only, the deck may struggle a bit. If it's Infect or Boggles then we're in great shape, and if it slows down a bit now that Eldrazi is weakened a little, then we should be in a good place.
Now I know what you're thinking... How can it be a mono black deck when it includes Collected Company? Well... Technically it's not, but Collected Company is the only green card in the deck. Everything else is black, from the creatures to the spells it plays.
Why splash green then?
I've played this deck off and on for a while now, and it can definitely be a competitor in certain metas at the very least. It is a strong aggro/midrange deck that has recursion and few tricks to allow it to win even in the grindy matches. Now with the new addition of Relentless Dead and a small green splash for Collected Company, it can finally fill in one of the decks major weaknesses in the past: Sometimes it just ran out of gas, and there were no great cards to get you back in the game once you started slowing down. Thanks to these new cards, I can finally remove Blood Scrivener and it's now entirely possible to bounce back once things start slowing down. Also, it will likely help with sideboard spells like Abrupt Decay and whatnot.
Now then, the deck list:
4x Death Baron
4x Diregraf Colossus
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Geralf's Messenger
4x Gravecrawler
4x Relentless Dead
3x Viscera Seer
4x Geth's Verdict
4x Collected Company
3x ??? (Removal)
Land (22)
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Woodland Cemetery
13x Swamp
3x Dismember (Current test)
3x Mortarpod
3x Liliana of the Veil
I'm hoping people will see this list, tweak a few cards here and there and, most importantly, help me playtest it! So far I've only been able to play this new version vs Faeries (which is a very favourable match for this deck), but it needs to be tested against much more than this to be considered good of course.
Here are some notes to explain some of the cards and interactions in the deck:
Gravecrawler - A beater that can return from the grave as long as any creature in the deck (Viscera Seer excluded) is on the field. Excellent when paired with a Death Baron because he becomes a 3/2 that the opponent can't even block with something larger effectively. Also, it is a semi-combo enabler.
Viscera Seer - Honourary Zombie; A 1 costed sac outlet that lets us scry as many times as we have mana to cast Gravecrawler. Also enables us to sac Relentless Dead for graveyard card advantage any time.
Relentless Dead - Hard to block for the opponent, and doing so generally results in us getting it back + another zombie onto the field anyway.
Geralf's Messenger - Coming into play tapped is annoying, but much less so at the end of the opponents turn with Collected Company!
Diregraf Colossus - A late game/grind all-star. Often entering the battlefield somewhere between a 3/3 and a 6/6 for 3, the price for the power is decent. However, Diregraf Colossus + Viscera Seer + GraveCrawler = a 2/2 token for 1 mana that can be repeated as many times as you can pay for it. Since it's not unlikely that two of the 3 can be found off of a Collected Company, it's not difficult to do either.
Death Baron - Gives deathtouch to everything, which means our creatures push through or trade at worst, and we can often just replay our threats again on the same turn!
Geth's Verdict - Untargeted removal that's great vs decks playing a small number of powerful creatures, especially vs Infect/Boggles because they can't protect from it.
There are currently 3 spots that are open in the deck, which I think should be used for disruption of some kind. Preferably costing 1 or 2 mana if at all possible. Right now I'm try out Dismember, since it can kill pretty much anything in the format and can be casted for 1 mana in a pinch most times. Often it is cast for 2 though, which minimizes life loss a bit. I'm open to other suggestions as well though of course. I haven't tried using it for discard yet, but it might be just as good or better overall.
One last thing about the mana: Untapped Black mana is the most important thing you can get in the deck. On turn 1, you need B, On turn 2 you need BB, and on turn 3 you need BBB. This is why the deck is mainly basics, and why even a single Forest isn't included (I'd put 1 in sideboard for Path to Exile decks though).
Again, I'm hoping for some feedback on the deck to improve it further, and I hope it interests a few of you enough to do some play testing with it!
Thanks for reading my wall of text,
SonicKaos
This deck look amazing. I put it into TappedOut immediately to give it a try. I can see it completely wrecking anything that plays black with ease, but how does it fair vs aggro type decks of other colours? seems like it might be a tad slow to beat them. Super cool idea though!
Granted it can only be used on Ezuri really, but who knows? The one extra point could be the difference. It would be very rare I'm sure, but it comes into play untapped and can play every spell in the deck still. Seems like it'd be nice to have the extra option as a 1 of, since it doesn't cause any trouble to the mana base at all. Any reason not to play it? Not like people are going to sideboard Blood Moon vs a mono green deck really.
I really like that State champ list though. I think that's my goal right now, with perhaps the only change being +1 Ezuri and -1 Heritage Druid. Also 2 Cavern of Souls if I could actually get them.
In the past (when I was considering playing elves before I actually had them) I'd have thought it crazy to run anything less than 4 Heritage Druid. Now having played the deck a few times in real life, I'm finding them to be less and less important in the Collected Elves style of build. They're integral in the combo version, but I think playing 3 or possibly even 2 might actually be fine in the Ezuri build.
I like your build now, but how do the Dismembers fair against non-combo decks? Seems like they'd be difficult to use since you're always taking 4 every time. Perhaps some number of Gilt-Leaf Palace would help with this on occasion? There's almost no instance I can think where you wouldn't just be revealing the elf you're about to cast, so it should come into play untapped unless you're hand is empty.
I hope to read more write ups in the future from you!
I got wiped 3 games in a row vs U/W heroic (extra game for fun) and I think it's just unwinnable. They have so much to give their creatures flying/unblockable and we have no removal main deck. They're also pretty fast with it. In the last for fun match we played, I managed to land 3 Murderous Cut's thanks to good draws and a Den Protector. Still wasn't enough.
I ended up winning the next two matches, but they weren't against top tier decks at all.
Flying certainly does wreck this deck, as [WyvernSlayer] said. It has been the cause of every loss I've had so far I believe. One creature I can't block attacking over and over again...
I also think Nighthowlser has won 70% of the games I played so far. I used to play a Strength deck for a bit when Constellation first came out, and I think it was slightly better back then. Den Protector has it's benefits, but it still doesn't really compare to Lotleth Troll when it comes to Nighthowler (or even other bestow creatures).
It's my favourite card of recent memory for sure, and is undervalued I believe.
I ended up winning the Game day mat today.
I beat Jeskai tokens 2-0 and lost to a W/G Anafenza type deck 2-0. vs Jeskai I won game 2 off of an EoT Boon Satyr after a board wipe, followed by a bestowed Nighthowler with an active Strength out for 16 damage. Versus G/W, he got an ideal draw both games with the outlast guy that makes all creatures with counters gain flying, and this deck has nothing that can beat flying at all in it...
There were a total of 3 whole people at the event today... it was pretty sad. However, one of the attendees had won a mat the day before, and I beat the other person who did not. Thus, I "won" despite it actually being a complete 3 way tie. We did all play 2 rounds of a board game called Splendor after that I won both of, so I will consider this the tie breaker.
Still, the store owner paid out much more in prizing than he needed to for such a small crowd, so they have my respect for sure.
The deck has some serious power, but it also has some serious weaknesses. I'll probably play it for fun a few more times, but I don't think it'll be highly tournament viable going forward.
I have played only two games with the deck so far, but Nighthowler actually ended up winning them both for me. Courser is great, but when you're playing a SftF deck, the top card of your library can be the difference between 0 and 20 damage. I've had many times in the past (playing a similar deck before Khans block) when the opponent did or didn't do something they would have done in favour of holding up mana for removal because they could see the top card of my deck.
Anyway, I'm worried about the control match mainly. They'll be able to remove everything important, and I feel like it won't be a good matchup. Mistcutter was great before because some of control's removal was UW split, but now with UB being the flavour, it's not quite as good... All their removal is black, so it likely won't get more than a hit in at X=4 or so if we're lucky.
What else can I include for the control match up in sideboard?
Currently I'm running:
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
1 Soul of Innistrad
3 Murderous Cut
2 Extinguish All Hope
3 Thoughtseize
3 Doomwake Giant
A fair number of people run G/R or G/W around here so I want to try Extinguish All Hope here as a one sided board wipe more or less. Great for when the board gets stalled, as they'll have a Courser or two left at best to my everything.
Thanks in advance!
I've been so close to buying up the Elves list many times now, but always stop just short. I was super close again recently, but if he was only able to win a single game... I just don't know if I can pull the trigger.
I just spent a bunch of money to buy the remaining cards I needed to finish this deck because it plays a ton of cards I love.
Question about it though. How does it do vs combo?
My meta has a lot of blue combo/control and some Jund mostly. With next to no removal in most of these decks, is it able to stand up well vs these decks? I'm sure vs pure control we're favoured due to reoccuring aggro creatures, but I feel like I'll be getting Splinter Twin'd on turn 4 fairly often with it...
Thanks
Just as an FYI, Sidisi can only generate 1 token per activation. Even if all 3 cards flipped over are creatures, she only gives you one token. It's a common misconception really, and it's sad that it works this way. She would be really amazing if she got a token for each creature revealed.
I'm looking to move from Sulti / 4c Reanimator to Abzan I think. Can anyone comment on the decks ability to close out games? The biggest issue with my current deck is that while I can definitely win, I'm often likely to go time out and draw before being able to finish the opponent... or even start a game 3.