8 Dorks
This whole list is built around making 8 dorks good - it's the originally concept I used when building it. The main cards that are focused on this are Gavony Township, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Collective Brutality (extra dorks are good discard fodder), Voice of Resurgence (sort of), and Distended Mindbender.
Anafenza the Foremost
I played with this card forever and in the end it just wasn't doing enough against decks that utilize their graveyard. The +1/+1 counter's are pretty nice, especially with 8 dorks, but in the end it just wasn't doing enough. I prefer running the sideboard Leyline of the Voids.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar
This card is terrible against red decks, but it has single handily won me numerous games. It excels against combo (especially Tron) and against other creature decks that want to gum up the board. Once you combine it with the sideboard Thoughtseize and Distended Mindbender you no longer struggle against Tron, Scapeshift, Eldrazi, Ad Nas, and a whole host of lower tier decks.
Collective Brutality
This card is the stone cold nuts in this shell. The 8 mana dorks give you extra discard fodder for it and late game I've used it to kill my opponent numerous times. I rarely board it out.
Painful Truths
God I love having these in the mainboard. Your deck gains so much life that it's very little cost and 3 cards for 3 mana is just an unbelievable rate.
Eidolon of Rhetoric
I just put this in so I haven't gotten to try it yet but I theorize it'll excel in quite a few important match-ups. Of course it's great against Infect, Snapcaster Mage decks, and storm, but it also shuts down Cheeri0s and Kari Zev's Expertise + Breaking and Entering.
I'm now running 1 in the sideboard and it's awesome. It's fantastic against infect, burn, and Jund/Junk and quasi-useful in a bunch of other scenarios.
I picked up this deck 2-3 months ago and have had great success with some unorthodox choices. I'll lay out my list, talk about a few of the principles I used when building it, and talk about some of the less common cards choices.
1. Certain common inclusions were established during a meta that doesn't exist anymore
My two big non-inclusions are Loxodon Smiter and Qasali Pridemage. Counter magic just isn't good right now, it was never as strong against creatures as it is against spells, and any Jund player worth there snot is going to ID your deck and not plus Liliana of the Veil. I realize that there are uses for Qasali Pridemage but frankly, it got into this deck because of Splinter Twin and those days are gone.
2. You need to maximize the number of sideboard cards that are also threats
We're an aggro deck and want to play that role in almost every match-up. This is the rationale behind the following sideboard choices I'll explain below: Shriekmaw, Distended Mindbender, and Scavenging Ooze
3. Jund is bad right now
The meta is pretty stacked with fast combo that Jund/Abzan/Grixis Midrange-Control decks are not favored against. This is why I'm leaving cards like Painful Truths and Sigarda, Host of Herons out of my sideboard. I get that they're good but we have to make sacrifices somewhere.
Select Card Choices
1.Thalia, Heretic Cathar
This card has been the stone cold nuts for me. Turn 2 Thalia, even on the draw, has won me every game I've played against Eldrazi, Tron, Scapeshift, and Ad Nas. I get that it's bad against Lightning Bolt but not every card can be perfect against everything and this goes a long way to shoring up some tough match-ups. This card performs best with 8 dorks.
2. Anafenza, the Foremost
Part of the reason I'm playing a fetchland manabase over fast lands is to up the black sources for Anafenza. Her abilities are more relevant right now than Loxodon Smiter, especially the +1/+1 counters. This plus Gavony Township makes running 8 dorks better.
3. Shriekmaw
I'm in love with this card. It's extra removal for when you need it, bonkers against Eldrazi, and makes up for not having cards to bring in against Jund. It also gets bonus points for not getting countered by Spell Snare or Spell Pierce
4. Distended Mindbender
I've just started testing this. I've cast it twice, once against Bant Eldrazi and once against Grixis Control. It was game over both times. One of the best ways to emerge it is off of 4 lands and 2 dorks, saccing one of them. I anticipate that this is good against a lot of combo and helps keep your clock going.
5. Scavenging Ooze
Honestly I haven't played Dredge yet. I don't know if Scooze plus Anafenza plus lots of good blockers is going to be enough. However, Scooze is good against any deck trying to use the graveyard and serviceable against Burn.
Nice list. I have changed the scooze on this deck for the anafenza too, it is 4/4, stops dredge just in time, can reset finks and get two +1+1 from Leaf. Do you think that the 3 gavony + 8 dorks worth? I think it is too much and situational. I was wondering about replacing my 2 elephants for the 2 new Thalia, the downside is that she has a weaker body and gets only one +1+1 from leaf, where the deck becomes less wilders, but slowing up the opponent is a plus. I think you have too few removal main deck, this deck struggle against some combo decks...
Honestly I love having 8 dorks and 3 township. While I haven't measured, it seems like I win far more games with turn 1 dork and having Anafenza plus 3 township helps you keep them from being such bad draws in the late game.
Thalia has really helped with Tron, Ad Nas, and Eldrazi specifically. Frankly I'm kind of in love with the card, even though it gets boarded out in quite a few match-ups. It's just never completely useless and helps you get some badly needed game 1 wins against those decks.
I run 2 thoughtseize as a hedge against these type decks as sort of a replacement for more removal, but I've definitely considered trying to get 2 Abrupt decay in the main board. What would you take out if you did put in more removal?
Honestly I love having 8 dorks and 3 township. While I haven't measured, it seems like I win far more games with turn 1 dork and having Anafenza plus 3 township helps you keep them from being such bad draws in the late game.
Thalia has really helped with Tron, Ad Nas, and Eldrazi specifically. Frankly I'm kind of in love with the card, even though it gets boarded out in quite a few match-ups. It's just never completely useless and helps you get some badly needed game 1 wins against those decks.
I run 2 thoughtseize as a hedge against these type decks as sort of a replacement for more removal, but I've definitely considered trying to get 2 Abrupt decay in the main board. What would you take out if you did put in more removal?
I just like that Thougthseize is a catch all spell. I've thought about swapping it for Abrupt Decay since that makes them spend their mana first but Thoughtseize is better against combo. I also tried Scooze in that slot but Thoughtseize is just so universally applicable.
Distended Mindbender is expensive, but I see cards like it as payoff for running the full 8 dorks - which is the original reason I decided to run this deck. I just love how good it is at making dorks a less than terrible topdeck later in the game. Time will tell though, I don't have that much experience with Distended Mindbender yet.
I picked up this deck 2-3 months ago and have had great success with some unorthodox choices. I'll lay out my list, talk about a few of the principles I used when building it, and talk about some of the less common cards choices.
1. Certain common inclusions were established during a meta that doesn't exist anymore
My two big non-inclusions are Loxodon Smiter and Qasali Pridemage. Counter magic just isn't good right now, it was never as strong against creatures as it is against spells, and any Jund player worth there snot is going to ID your deck and not plus Liliana of the Veil. I realize that there are uses for Qasali Pridemage but frankly, it got into this deck because of Splinter Twin and those days are gone.
2. You need to maximize the number of sideboard cards that are also threats
We're an aggro deck and want to play that role in almost every match-up. This is the rationale behind the following sideboard choices I'll explain below: Shriekmaw, Distended Mindbender, and Scavenging Ooze
3. Jund is bad right now
The meta is pretty stacked with fast combo that Jund/Abzan/Grixis Midrange-Control decks are not favored against. This is why I'm leaving cards like Painful Truths and Sigarda, Host of Herons out of my sideboard. I get that they're good but we have to make sacrifices somewhere.
Select Card Choices
1.Thalia, Heretic Cathar
This card has been the stone cold nuts for me. Turn 2 Thalia, even on the draw, has won me every game I've played against Eldrazi, Tron, Scapeshift, and Ad Nas. I get that it's bad against Lightning Bolt but not every card can be perfect against everything and this goes a long way to shoring up some tough match-ups. This card performs best with 8 dorks.
2. Anafenza, the Foremost
Part of the reason I'm playing a fetchland manabase over fast lands is to up the black sources for Anafenza. Her abilities are more relevant right now than Loxodon Smiter, especially the +1/+1 counters. This plus Gavony Township makes running 8 dorks better.
3. Shriekmaw
I'm in love with this card. It's extra removal for when you need it, bonkers against Eldrazi, and makes up for not having cards to bring in against Jund. It also gets bonus points for not getting countered by Spell Snare or Spell Pierce
4. Distended Mindbender
I've just started testing this. I've cast it twice, once against Bant Eldrazi and once against Grixis Control. It was game over both times. One of the best ways to emerge it is off of 4 lands and 2 dorks, saccing one of them. I anticipate that this is good against a lot of combo and helps keep your clock going.
5. Scavenging Ooze
Honestly I haven't played Dredge yet. I don't know if Scooze plus Anafenza plus lots of good blockers is going to be enough. However, Scooze is good against any deck trying to use the graveyard and serviceable against Burn.
Is anyone looking at Spirit of the Labyrinth plus the new Geier Reach Sanitarium to lock people out of their draw step? 7 inq/seize + 4 sculler + 4 Lily should get anyone hellbent pretty fast. Bob still works with Spirit and you can run Wall of Omens if you like to improve your aggro match-up and increase the deck's velocity/find the combo.
Introduction
I'm a black mage, a spike, and consummate brewer. Reconciling this gets hard because I really don't like playing other people's decks or losing. This is my best modern creation yet and I'm ready to share.
This is a hybrid control deck that seeks to create an easily reproducible board state that is difficult to defeat. This board state is usually some number of Bloodghast and Lingering Souls tokens. Rather than backing this up with counter magic like its Hybrid Control brothers UB Faeries and Caw Blade, this deck uses Smallpox, hand disruption, and removal to quickly tax your opponent's board and resources to make them reliant on top decking while you beat them down with recurring threats. The deck also includes the tempo-oriented Gurmag Angler, which can just destroy them if you take their removal with hand disruption.
Smallpox
The whole deck is designed to maximize the utility of this card. We have 12 cards that can be cast or replayed from the graveyard. We have 2 lands that find you another if sacrificed with it. Playing Smallpox puts tons of cards in the graveyard for delving Gurmag Angler. It's definitely the best card in the deck and you rarely, if ever, want to sideboard it out.
Lingering Souls
These fine ladies make your discard spells better and give you pseudo card advantage. They're also a major source of damage over the long term.
Gurmag Angler
Your deck puts so many cards in the graveyard that the big fish can frequently come down on turn 2 or 3. If you have taken their removal you put them on a short clock while you seek to establish your later game board state. It's also worth noting that if you board this guy out you just blanked all of your opponent's spot removal.
The Spells
Liliana of the Veil
This is the second best card in the deck. You need the removal and the discard is literally always working out better for you than your opponent.
Faithless Looting
This is the toolbox card. With all of your graveyard recursion it's often card advantage instead of disadvantage. It's also fantastic at searching for sideboard cards. Additionally, it can give you explosive starts like double Bloodghast in play on turn 2 with removal up for their play or turn 2 Gurmag Angler
Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek
I found that you really need hand disruption as some cards aren't that easily answered by your removal spells. I also just love playing with perfect information. You can always pitch these late game with Faithless Looting
Lightning Bolt
This one needs no introduction. It's great against so many creatures in the format and also helps you get the opponent down to 10 so your Bloodghast has haste.
Terminate
This is your catch all removal spell. Sometimes I want a 3rd in the mainboard.
Kolaghan's Command
Oh sweet sweet card advantage. Being able to get back a Gurmag Angler is really handy on top of the other 3 extremely relevant abilities.
Damnation
I've found having a board wipe to be necessary. You're weak to aggro and sometimes you don't get the removal you need on time against tempo. This card really doesn't hurt your deck all that much so why not?
The Manabase
I've built this manabase using Frank Karsten's calculations. This gives you a 90% chance to have the colors you need on the turn you need it.
Blood Crypt + Godless Shrine + Swamp + Plains
These are your fetch targets. You have the basics you need to play around Blood Moon and use Flagstones of Trokair without really any inconvenience. You are frequently fetching the swamps anyway to cut down on damage to yourself.
Ghost Quarter
This really solidifies your advantage against many combo decks and your manabase can afford it.
Flagstones of Trokair
This card further increases your position vis-a-vis Smallpox. The manabase can't really afford more than 2 because of the black and red needs and you only have 2 plains to fetch anyway.
The Sideboard
This is certainly a continuous work in progress as I've only got about 20 matches under my belt with the deck. The deck's mainboard construction is favored against most control and combo decks because of the super heavy disruption. It's sideboard strategies are:
1. To become increasingly disruptive and resilient against Midrange Control (think Midrange attrition decks like Jund and Value Abzan). The mainboard has a roughly 50/50 matchup with this archetype.
2. To become more resilient and use board wipes to get 2 for 1s against Aggro, Midrange Beatdown, and Aggro Control decks (think Tempo decks like Delver). The mainboard is unfavored against these matchups.
3. To become super disruptive against combo decks.
4. To become super disruptive and then start landing Planeswalkers against control decks
Ajani Vengeant
My goal with this guy is to pull double duty - use him as a Lightning Helix on a stick against burn and as a resilient threat against Midrange and Control.
Timely Reinforcements
This guy will usually get both triggers if you're playing against Aggro, Aggro Control (tempo), or Midrange Beatdown. Otherwise don't bring him in. He's gold against these decks though.
Anger of the Gods
This guy is amazing against Aggro, Elves, and anyone running persist cards. You have to play your Bloodghast around it or board them out - the latter is acceptable if you're bringing in Timely Reinforcements to compensate for the loss of threats.
Thoughtseize
This is great against combo, control, and any decks with openings you're afraid of.
Engineered Explosives
This is your only way to get rid of Rest in Peace. It also kills artifacts and can serve as a semi sweeper effect against aggro.
Kolaghan's Command
This is good against affinity and any other deck that has a slow plan. It's just more card advantage.
Shadow of Doubt
This one is interesting. I bring it in against any slower 3 color deck. It's a huge blowout and it can be cycled if you don't have the opportunity to use it. It's also great against Chord of Calling and Expedition Map. This deck sorely needs card advantage so I'm trying it over Fulminator Mage.
That's it! I'll keep updating this thread as I get more experience and try out people's suggestions. Thanks for reading!
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Siege Rhino
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells: 13
4 Path to Exile
3 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
2 Painful Truths
Land: 23
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Forest
3 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Distended Mindbender
3 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of the Void
A few notes on updates:
8 Dorks
This whole list is built around making 8 dorks good - it's the originally concept I used when building it. The main cards that are focused on this are Gavony Township, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Collective Brutality (extra dorks are good discard fodder), Voice of Resurgence (sort of), and Distended Mindbender.
Anafenza the Foremost
I played with this card forever and in the end it just wasn't doing enough against decks that utilize their graveyard. The +1/+1 counter's are pretty nice, especially with 8 dorks, but in the end it just wasn't doing enough. I prefer running the sideboard Leyline of the Voids.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar
This card is terrible against red decks, but it has single handily won me numerous games. It excels against combo (especially Tron) and against other creature decks that want to gum up the board. Once you combine it with the sideboard Thoughtseize and Distended Mindbender you no longer struggle against Tron, Scapeshift, Eldrazi, Ad Nas, and a whole host of lower tier decks.
Collective Brutality
This card is the stone cold nuts in this shell. The 8 mana dorks give you extra discard fodder for it and late game I've used it to kill my opponent numerous times. I rarely board it out.
Painful Truths
God I love having these in the mainboard. Your deck gains so much life that it's very little cost and 3 cards for 3 mana is just an unbelievable rate.
Eidolon of Rhetoric
I just put this in so I haven't gotten to try it yet but I theorize it'll excel in quite a few important match-ups. Of course it's great against Infect, Snapcaster Mage decks, and storm, but it also shuts down Cheeri0s and Kari Zev's Expertise + Breaking and Entering.
Honestly I love having 8 dorks and 3 township. While I haven't measured, it seems like I win far more games with turn 1 dork and having Anafenza plus 3 township helps you keep them from being such bad draws in the late game.
Thalia has really helped with Tron, Ad Nas, and Eldrazi specifically. Frankly I'm kind of in love with the card, even though it gets boarded out in quite a few match-ups. It's just never completely useless and helps you get some badly needed game 1 wins against those decks.
I run 2 thoughtseize as a hedge against these type decks as sort of a replacement for more removal, but I've definitely considered trying to get 2 Abrupt decay in the main board. What would you take out if you did put in more removal?
Thalia has really helped with Tron, Ad Nas, and Eldrazi specifically. Frankly I'm kind of in love with the card, even though it gets boarded out in quite a few match-ups. It's just never completely useless and helps you get some badly needed game 1 wins against those decks.
I run 2 thoughtseize as a hedge against these type decks as sort of a replacement for more removal, but I've definitely considered trying to get 2 Abrupt decay in the main board. What would you take out if you did put in more removal?
Distended Mindbender is expensive, but I see cards like it as payoff for running the full 8 dorks - which is the original reason I decided to run this deck. I just love how good it is at making dorks a less than terrible topdeck later in the game. Time will tell though, I don't have that much experience with Distended Mindbender yet.
2x Forest
3x Gavony Township
1x Godless Shrine
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Marsh Flats
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
3x Razorverge Thicket
1x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
3x Anafenza, the Foremost
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Kitchen Finks
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Siege Rhino
3x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4x Voice of Resurgence
3x Wilt-Leaf Liege
Sorceries
4x Lingering Souls
2x Thoughtseize
Instants
4x Path to Exile
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Creeping Corrosion
2x Distended Mindbender
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Shriekmaw
1x Stony Silence
2x Thoughtseize
2x Zealous Persecution
Principles
1. Certain common inclusions were established during a meta that doesn't exist anymore
My two big non-inclusions are Loxodon Smiter and Qasali Pridemage. Counter magic just isn't good right now, it was never as strong against creatures as it is against spells, and any Jund player worth there snot is going to ID your deck and not plus Liliana of the Veil. I realize that there are uses for Qasali Pridemage but frankly, it got into this deck because of Splinter Twin and those days are gone.
2. You need to maximize the number of sideboard cards that are also threats
We're an aggro deck and want to play that role in almost every match-up. This is the rationale behind the following sideboard choices I'll explain below: Shriekmaw, Distended Mindbender, and Scavenging Ooze
3. Jund is bad right now
The meta is pretty stacked with fast combo that Jund/Abzan/Grixis Midrange-Control decks are not favored against. This is why I'm leaving cards like Painful Truths and Sigarda, Host of Herons out of my sideboard. I get that they're good but we have to make sacrifices somewhere.
Select Card Choices
1.Thalia, Heretic Cathar
This card has been the stone cold nuts for me. Turn 2 Thalia, even on the draw, has won me every game I've played against Eldrazi, Tron, Scapeshift, and Ad Nas. I get that it's bad against Lightning Bolt but not every card can be perfect against everything and this goes a long way to shoring up some tough match-ups. This card performs best with 8 dorks.
2. Anafenza, the Foremost
Part of the reason I'm playing a fetchland manabase over fast lands is to up the black sources for Anafenza. Her abilities are more relevant right now than Loxodon Smiter, especially the +1/+1 counters. This plus Gavony Township makes running 8 dorks better.
3. Shriekmaw
I'm in love with this card. It's extra removal for when you need it, bonkers against Eldrazi, and makes up for not having cards to bring in against Jund. It also gets bonus points for not getting countered by Spell Snare or Spell Pierce
4. Distended Mindbender
I've just started testing this. I've cast it twice, once against Bant Eldrazi and once against Grixis Control. It was game over both times. One of the best ways to emerge it is off of 4 lands and 2 dorks, saccing one of them. I anticipate that this is good against a lot of combo and helps keep your clock going.
5. Scavenging Ooze
Honestly I haven't played Dredge yet. I don't know if Scooze plus Anafenza plus lots of good blockers is going to be enough. However, Scooze is good against any deck trying to use the graveyard and serviceable against Burn.
Comments are most welcome. Here is the deck link on tappedout as well: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/abzan-midrange-beatdown-2/
Introduction
I'm a black mage, a spike, and consummate brewer. Reconciling this gets hard because I really don't like playing other people's decks or losing. This is my best modern creation yet and I'm ready to share.
This is a hybrid control deck that seeks to create an easily reproducible board state that is difficult to defeat. This board state is usually some number of Bloodghast and Lingering Souls tokens. Rather than backing this up with counter magic like its Hybrid Control brothers UB Faeries and Caw Blade, this deck uses Smallpox, hand disruption, and removal to quickly tax your opponent's board and resources to make them reliant on top decking while you beat them down with recurring threats. The deck also includes the tempo-oriented Gurmag Angler, which can just destroy them if you take their removal with hand disruption.
The Deck
4x Bloodghast
4x Gurmag Angler
Spells
2x Damnation
4x Faithless Looting
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Liliana of the Veil
4x Lingering Souls
4x Smallpox
2x Terminate
2x Thoughtseize
1x Arid Mesa
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Flagstones of Trokair
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Godless Shrine
4x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Ajani Vengeant
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Dreadbore
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Kolaghan's Command
3x Shadow of Doubt
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1x Thoughtseize
2x Timely Reinforcements
Card Choices
The Namesake
Smallpox
The whole deck is designed to maximize the utility of this card. We have 12 cards that can be cast or replayed from the graveyard. We have 2 lands that find you another if sacrificed with it. Playing Smallpox puts tons of cards in the graveyard for delving Gurmag Angler. It's definitely the best card in the deck and you rarely, if ever, want to sideboard it out.
The Threats
Bloodghast
This buddy is the workhorse of the deck. He can be pitched with Faithless Looting, Smallpox, or Liliana of the Veil and can deal consistent damage over the course of the game.
Lingering Souls
These fine ladies make your discard spells better and give you pseudo card advantage. They're also a major source of damage over the long term.
Gurmag Angler
Your deck puts so many cards in the graveyard that the big fish can frequently come down on turn 2 or 3. If you have taken their removal you put them on a short clock while you seek to establish your later game board state. It's also worth noting that if you board this guy out you just blanked all of your opponent's spot removal.
The Spells
Liliana of the Veil
This is the second best card in the deck. You need the removal and the discard is literally always working out better for you than your opponent.
Faithless Looting
This is the toolbox card. With all of your graveyard recursion it's often card advantage instead of disadvantage. It's also fantastic at searching for sideboard cards. Additionally, it can give you explosive starts like double Bloodghast in play on turn 2 with removal up for their play or turn 2 Gurmag Angler
Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek
I found that you really need hand disruption as some cards aren't that easily answered by your removal spells. I also just love playing with perfect information. You can always pitch these late game with Faithless Looting
Lightning Bolt
This one needs no introduction. It's great against so many creatures in the format and also helps you get the opponent down to 10 so your Bloodghast has haste.
Terminate
This is your catch all removal spell. Sometimes I want a 3rd in the mainboard.
Kolaghan's Command
Oh sweet sweet card advantage. Being able to get back a Gurmag Angler is really handy on top of the other 3 extremely relevant abilities.
Damnation
I've found having a board wipe to be necessary. You're weak to aggro and sometimes you don't get the removal you need on time against tempo. This card really doesn't hurt your deck all that much so why not?
The Manabase
I've built this manabase using Frank Karsten's calculations. This gives you a 90% chance to have the colors you need on the turn you need it.
Marsh Flats + Bloodstained Mire + Arid Mesa
9 fetch lands seems to generate plenty of delve fodder while fixing your mana.
Blood Crypt + Godless Shrine + Swamp + Plains
These are your fetch targets. You have the basics you need to play around Blood Moon and use Flagstones of Trokair without really any inconvenience. You are frequently fetching the swamps anyway to cut down on damage to yourself.
Blackcleave Cliffs + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
You need these for turn 1 Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Faithless Looting, Lightning Bolt. They also cut down on the damage your manabase does to you.
Ghost Quarter
This really solidifies your advantage against many combo decks and your manabase can afford it.
Flagstones of Trokair
This card further increases your position vis-a-vis Smallpox. The manabase can't really afford more than 2 because of the black and red needs and you only have 2 plains to fetch anyway.
The Sideboard
This is certainly a continuous work in progress as I've only got about 20 matches under my belt with the deck. The deck's mainboard construction is favored against most control and combo decks because of the super heavy disruption. It's sideboard strategies are:
1. To become increasingly disruptive and resilient against Midrange Control (think Midrange attrition decks like Jund and Value Abzan). The mainboard has a roughly 50/50 matchup with this archetype.
2. To become more resilient and use board wipes to get 2 for 1s against Aggro, Midrange Beatdown, and Aggro Control decks (think Tempo decks like Delver). The mainboard is unfavored against these matchups.
3. To become super disruptive against combo decks.
4. To become super disruptive and then start landing Planeswalkers against control decks
Ajani Vengeant
My goal with this guy is to pull double duty - use him as a Lightning Helix on a stick against burn and as a resilient threat against Midrange and Control.
Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Same deal except he can't kill a creature but works great with tokens from Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements.
Timely Reinforcements
This guy will usually get both triggers if you're playing against Aggro, Aggro Control (tempo), or Midrange Beatdown. Otherwise don't bring him in. He's gold against these decks though.
Anger of the Gods
This guy is amazing against Aggro, Elves, and anyone running persist cards. You have to play your Bloodghast around it or board them out - the latter is acceptable if you're bringing in Timely Reinforcements to compensate for the loss of threats.
Thoughtseize
This is great against combo, control, and any decks with openings you're afraid of.
Dreadbore
Sometimes you just want another removal spell and this guy kills Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Engineered Explosives
This is your only way to get rid of Rest in Peace. It also kills artifacts and can serve as a semi sweeper effect against aggro.
Kolaghan's Command
This is good against affinity and any other deck that has a slow plan. It's just more card advantage.
Shadow of Doubt
This one is interesting. I bring it in against any slower 3 color deck. It's a huge blowout and it can be cycled if you don't have the opportunity to use it. It's also great against Chord of Calling and Expedition Map. This deck sorely needs card advantage so I'm trying it over Fulminator Mage.
That's it! I'll keep updating this thread as I get more experience and try out people's suggestions. Thanks for reading!