So I've been testing a semi-aggro mardu wedge version of this deck, and so far it's performed reasonably well against affinity (thoughtseize into smallpox is my new favorite thing in magic), splinter twin, elves, and some other rogue brews. I need some more practice, but I think it could be a solid tier 3ish deck, maybe 2 if the list was improved and the pilot wasn't terrible like me
EDIT: Oops, forgot to include my thoughts/explanations
Shadow of Doubt I feel is probably the weakest card in the 75. When it's relevant it's amazing, sometimes it surprise pumps Myth Realized, or makes elemental tokens EOT, but it at least always draws me a card. I like it, and I have 2 in the side for the matchups where it's better.
Faith's Shield has been surprisingly relevant - protect Myth Realized or make it unblockable (or both if the try to remove it pre-blocks), protect Lili, or your land from Boom // Bust, possibly get an extra turn - all sorts of fun stuff. However, it does kind of sit in your hand for a while against more durdly decks (reactive v. Poractive and all that).
Tombstalker has been working well for me as a singleton. I can usually cast him by T3 or 4 without too much trouble (this deck sends a good bit of stuff to the yard). He's fat (survives Anger of the Gods), he flies, he's cheap - not much else to really say about him. I'd say try him out in a few practice matches and see how you like him. I have a good bit of (H/L)and disruption protecting him, but yes - he does die to removal
Young Pyromancer is "kind of good enough" - though I'm having the same problem with it that 8rack had with Liliana's Caress/Waste Not - should I delay my disruption for value? Generally, no, I don't do that. It feels a little "win-more" to be able to get away with something like that, and I noticed games that were in my favor being lost due to being slow. 1R might not seem like a lot, but we need 1RB or 1RR plus an instant/sorcery in hand to really make use of it (all to get a 1/1 - I feel like Ravenous Rats or Rotting Rats would get me similar (though much worse late game/against faster decks) value for fewer cards and mana spent), which means delays. The slot might be better filled with non-creature threats, or maybe something like Sin Collector, thought I'm really looking for an actual threat to put in those slots, and I don't want to add a ton more delve cards. Bloodghast just doesn't feel big enough in modern, but maybe I need to give it another shot, or maybe I'm still just shell shocked over the efficiency of Abzan/Jund's creatures.
Anyway, would love to hear your guys' thoughts regarding the pox/LD archetype - I'm sticking with Mardu colors for now since they've worked out, and that was the thread's original post, but the potential of Life from the Loam seems good, I don't know how I'd handle losing the red cards, or even going 4C (bleh).
Do you think the deck should lean more aggressively? Is Bloodghast good enough, assuming everything DOESN'T go according to plan and their board isn't empty? Are there better, cheap fatties than Tombstalker? Is something like Bitterblossom worth considering in place of Young Pyromancer? I mean, you get a token every turn for 0 additional effort, Bitterblossom itself procs Myth Realized, and you could always sac it to Crack the Earth if the life loss gets out of hand. On the jankier side of the tracks Curse of the Pierced Heart is a card - it's slow, but cheap ($$ and mana-wise), and requires no mana investment, and the damge can't be electrolyze'd or blocked.
If we went more creature based, Young Pyro is clearly the winner here. Blanks all symmetrical effects with tokens, and suplimemts Myth Realized for a clock. I will be drafting a Pyro list and updating the OP soon.
Random Though: Had an idea about Junk Myth, GWB using Life From the Loam and Raven's Crime and a Smallpox package as a way to power Myth Realized. This seems rather interesting....
That looks like you're going more in the direction of loam pox (link is to a mtgsalvation thread about it). If you're running G + urborg, tomb of yawgmoth in a LD deck Spreading Algae could be a thing. Also, I always suggest at least 1 of each basic land per color you're running - losing to blood moon isn't nearly as fun as winning with it
After playing around a bit with the deck, I noticed that Myth Realized is fairly excellent (as I've stated before), but gets chump blocked all day every day by swarm-style decks. Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods, Volcanic Fallout, or any sweeper works really well with him (as he dodges it), but I've bee toying around with the idea of Funeral Charm. Killing x/1's can be good, making a player discard a drawn land before their first main would be magical christmas, and giving Myth Realized swampwalk with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth could be game-winning. Again, this is assuming it's relevant/not just a worse Raven's Crime. Also could be used as a bad shock for that extra 1-2 damage on an unblocked swing. Just a thought.
Shadow of Doubt. I know, this card wants to be good, it really does, and it might not be the best thing since sliced bread, but I think it could find it's way into the 75. Worst case scenario: instant card draw. No harder to cast than Smallpox. What we generally hope for: "kills" a fetch (for added hilarity - fetch in response to their fetch, then cast). Randomly have better game against Scapeshift, Amulet of Vigor, Gifts Ungiven, Tron, anything reliant on searching their library, really. Also especially mean against any deck in 3 or more colors (they tend to run more fetches, I find).
I've struggled against abzan/jund if I don't mana screw them or disrupt them enough right away. Against seemingly "mono removal/goodstuff" decks, Faith's Shield seems attractive. "Counters" Abrupt Decay, prevents planeswalkers from taking attack damage of the chosen color, or redirected damage of the chosen color (should you target the walker with faith's shield, I believe you need to cast it before the opponent chooses whether to redirect or not, so you'd probably tank the damage, but hey, planeswalker's still around). You could even give the land you control targeted with Boom // Bust pro red to prevent it getting destroyed. All for W - what a steal! Again, magical christmas scenarios, it could also possibly be useless. Reactive, not proactive. Perhaps an extra turn with fateful hour online. Oh, also can't be spellskite'd as a plus, but can't be used to randomly mess with splinter twin either, which is a minus. Probably not maindeckable, but maybe sideboardable, depending on expected meta.
Things I hate seeing when I play this deck: Æther Vial, Control Decks, never-ending removal/maelstrom pulse/"goodstuff" decks. I dislike mulliganing, but I usually want to see at least either a turn 1 disruption card or turn 2 pox effect. What about you guys, what to you need/want at minimum to keep a starting hand?
I might be way off the mark here, but could Gurmag Angler or Tombstalker be good here? Not needing mana to attack seems good, one has evasion, both are fat, and not much is being done with the yard as far as I know (besides Murderous Cut). If Boom // Bust is being used along with fetches, chromatic stars and crack the earth, there should be plenty to delve, assuming one isn't running more than 2 copies of each. Proper sequencing with smallpox and lingering souls or some other less valuable creatures would be necessary, or just wait for the opponent's inevitable removal (dies to removal, right?)
Another creature I was curious about testing was Young Pyromancer, as casting crack the earth will net you a token, which you can sac for a mostly one-sided effect. Same goes for smallpox. Monastery Mentor has a similar but better effect for an increased mana cost.
Just a thought. I'm loving Myth Realized as I don't have to worry about playing around my own smallpox, but when I play it feels a little threat-light. I don't like the idea of letting the opponent stabilize while I want for a win condition. Does anyone else have this problem? Is card draw a better choice than increased threat density? We're in B after all.
EDIT: A Misspelling was preventing proper card tagging
It feels like you're kind of flying by the seat of your pants with this - by which I mean you're leaving a lot up to RNG. Since you have the enchantment theme already, why not use Idyllic Tutor to help you get your silver bullet enchantments when you need them?
It seems like Myth Realized might be another (tutorable) win con, should you choose to include both it and the tutor.
Do you find yourself siding out Nevermore often? At a glance it feels more like a sideboard card, with a max of 1 or possibly 2 main depending on your meta.
This deck doesn't seem very explosive, but appears to have mass creatures generally under control - have you considered perhaps replacing a few paths for Oblivion Rings? Between the 8 attack taxes and the 4 wraths, it seems like cutting 2 or so paths would be beneficial were they to be replaced with Orings (or Banishing Light, but Oring has shenanigans it can do that light can't)
Finally, I don't know how married to the idea of mono-white you are, but splashing red could add some interesting lines of play with Boros Charm "countering" enchantment destruction or a wrath effect wiping your heliod tokens, Assemble The Legion as an additional win con, and Blood Moon as just a total bomb against many decks.
Anyway, food for thought. Out of curiosity, what are you facing mostly? Seems pretty well positioned against creature decks at this stage.
Here's my (very) rough decklist
2x Liliana of the Veil
Creature (5)
1x Tombstalker
4x Young Pyromancer
Enchantment (4)
4x Myth Realized
Instant (8)
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Murderous Cut
1x Shadow of Doubt
Sorcery (20)
3x Boom // Bust
4x Crack the Earth
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Lingering Souls
4x Smallpox
1x Stone Rain
3x Thoughtseize
1x Raven's Crime
3x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Flagstones of Trokair
2x Godless Shrine
1x Marsh Flats
1x Mountain
1x Plains
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Wear // Tear
1x Faith's Shield
2x Shadow of Doubt
2x Terminate
3x Anger of the Gods
4x Leyline of Sanctity
EDIT: Oops, forgot to include my thoughts/explanations
Shadow of Doubt I feel is probably the weakest card in the 75. When it's relevant it's amazing, sometimes it surprise pumps Myth Realized, or makes elemental tokens EOT, but it at least always draws me a card. I like it, and I have 2 in the side for the matchups where it's better.
Faith's Shield has been surprisingly relevant - protect Myth Realized or make it unblockable (or both if the try to remove it pre-blocks), protect Lili, or your land from Boom // Bust, possibly get an extra turn - all sorts of fun stuff. However, it does kind of sit in your hand for a while against more durdly decks (reactive v. Poractive and all that).
Tombstalker has been working well for me as a singleton. I can usually cast him by T3 or 4 without too much trouble (this deck sends a good bit of stuff to the yard). He's fat (survives Anger of the Gods), he flies, he's cheap - not much else to really say about him. I'd say try him out in a few practice matches and see how you like him. I have a good bit of (H/L)and disruption protecting him, but yes - he does die to removal
Young Pyromancer is "kind of good enough" - though I'm having the same problem with it that 8rack had with Liliana's Caress/Waste Not - should I delay my disruption for value? Generally, no, I don't do that. It feels a little "win-more" to be able to get away with something like that, and I noticed games that were in my favor being lost due to being slow. 1R might not seem like a lot, but we need 1RB or 1RR plus an instant/sorcery in hand to really make use of it (all to get a 1/1 - I feel like Ravenous Rats or Rotting Rats would get me similar (though much worse late game/against faster decks) value for fewer cards and mana spent), which means delays. The slot might be better filled with non-creature threats, or maybe something like Sin Collector, thought I'm really looking for an actual threat to put in those slots, and I don't want to add a ton more delve cards. Bloodghast just doesn't feel big enough in modern, but maybe I need to give it another shot, or maybe I'm still just shell shocked over the efficiency of Abzan/Jund's creatures.
Anyway, would love to hear your guys' thoughts regarding the pox/LD archetype - I'm sticking with Mardu colors for now since they've worked out, and that was the thread's original post, but the potential of Life from the Loam seems good, I don't know how I'd handle losing the red cards, or even going 4C (bleh).
Do you think the deck should lean more aggressively? Is Bloodghast good enough, assuming everything DOESN'T go according to plan and their board isn't empty? Are there better, cheap fatties than Tombstalker? Is something like Bitterblossom worth considering in place of Young Pyromancer? I mean, you get a token every turn for 0 additional effort, Bitterblossom itself procs Myth Realized, and you could always sac it to Crack the Earth if the life loss gets out of hand. On the jankier side of the tracks Curse of the Pierced Heart is a card - it's slow, but cheap ($$ and mana-wise), and requires no mana investment, and the damge can't be electrolyze'd or blocked.
That looks like you're going more in the direction of loam pox (link is to a mtgsalvation thread about it). If you're running G + urborg, tomb of yawgmoth in a LD deck Spreading Algae could be a thing. Also, I always suggest at least 1 of each basic land per color you're running - losing to blood moon isn't nearly as fun as winning with it
After playing around a bit with the deck, I noticed that Myth Realized is fairly excellent (as I've stated before), but gets chump blocked all day every day by swarm-style decks. Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods, Volcanic Fallout, or any sweeper works really well with him (as he dodges it), but I've bee toying around with the idea of Funeral Charm. Killing x/1's can be good, making a player discard a drawn land before their first main would be magical christmas, and giving Myth Realized swampwalk with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth could be game-winning. Again, this is assuming it's relevant/not just a worse Raven's Crime. Also could be used as a bad shock for that extra 1-2 damage on an unblocked swing. Just a thought.
Shadow of Doubt. I know, this card wants to be good, it really does, and it might not be the best thing since sliced bread, but I think it could find it's way into the 75. Worst case scenario: instant card draw. No harder to cast than Smallpox. What we generally hope for: "kills" a fetch (for added hilarity - fetch in response to their fetch, then cast). Randomly have better game against Scapeshift, Amulet of Vigor, Gifts Ungiven, Tron, anything reliant on searching their library, really. Also especially mean against any deck in 3 or more colors (they tend to run more fetches, I find).
I've struggled against abzan/jund if I don't mana screw them or disrupt them enough right away. Against seemingly "mono removal/goodstuff" decks, Faith's Shield seems attractive. "Counters" Abrupt Decay, prevents planeswalkers from taking attack damage of the chosen color, or redirected damage of the chosen color (should you target the walker with faith's shield, I believe you need to cast it before the opponent chooses whether to redirect or not, so you'd probably tank the damage, but hey, planeswalker's still around). You could even give the land you control targeted with Boom // Bust pro red to prevent it getting destroyed. All for W - what a steal! Again, magical christmas scenarios, it could also possibly be useless. Reactive, not proactive. Perhaps an extra turn with fateful hour online. Oh, also can't be spellskite'd as a plus, but can't be used to randomly mess with splinter twin either, which is a minus. Probably not maindeckable, but maybe sideboardable, depending on expected meta.
Things I hate seeing when I play this deck: Æther Vial, Control Decks, never-ending removal/maelstrom pulse/"goodstuff" decks. I dislike mulliganing, but I usually want to see at least either a turn 1 disruption card or turn 2 pox effect. What about you guys, what to you need/want at minimum to keep a starting hand?
EDIT: Æther Vial, I accidentally a leter
Another creature I was curious about testing was Young Pyromancer, as casting crack the earth will net you a token, which you can sac for a mostly one-sided effect. Same goes for smallpox. Monastery Mentor has a similar but better effect for an increased mana cost.
Just a thought. I'm loving Myth Realized as I don't have to worry about playing around my own smallpox, but when I play it feels a little threat-light. I don't like the idea of letting the opponent stabilize while I want for a win condition. Does anyone else have this problem? Is card draw a better choice than increased threat density? We're in B after all.
EDIT: A Misspelling was preventing proper card tagging
It seems like Myth Realized might be another (tutorable) win con, should you choose to include both it and the tutor.
Do you find yourself siding out Nevermore often? At a glance it feels more like a sideboard card, with a max of 1 or possibly 2 main depending on your meta.
This deck doesn't seem very explosive, but appears to have mass creatures generally under control - have you considered perhaps replacing a few paths for Oblivion Rings? Between the 8 attack taxes and the 4 wraths, it seems like cutting 2 or so paths would be beneficial were they to be replaced with Orings (or Banishing Light, but Oring has shenanigans it can do that light can't)
Finally, I don't know how married to the idea of mono-white you are, but splashing red could add some interesting lines of play with Boros Charm "countering" enchantment destruction or a wrath effect wiping your heliod tokens, Assemble The Legion as an additional win con, and Blood Moon as just a total bomb against many decks.
Anyway, food for thought. Out of curiosity, what are you facing mostly? Seems pretty well positioned against creature decks at this stage.