In: Noxious Gearhulk - It's going to Chainer, where it can be abused drastically. Really good card, I'm tempted to pick up another one for Sydri anyway.
I'm also thinking about adding further versatility to the tap/untap scenario by adding something like Whirler Rogue - this deck is obscene at generating tokens efficiently, so I might as well give myself options with them. It might be redundant add, but it could also be a winner.
In: Noxious Gearhulk - There's a good chance Sydri could miss this. But it is a very good add here. Graveborn Muse - More reasonable, steady draw here than in G&G, where it was a shotgun blast to my own face. Corpse Connoisseur - Repeatable grave filler. Skullclamp - Things are dying, why not?
Truth be told I'm reluctant to remove it, but I intend to replace the copy at some point soon. The altar should speed things up a little. Makes me want to consider adding Indomitable Creativity for super speed vomiting of things onto board.
This is probably as much of a nod to tutoring as I'm willing to head towards here: This deck needs the 3 CMC artifacts: Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar or Coalition Relic - one of the three, depending on the point at which I'm playing the Trophy Mage. By comparison the Hart is slow, big ramp. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it doesn't quite serve as well as it could in other decks.
This lowers the curve, and reduces mass reanimation options, but gives me instant speed low cost specific reanimation. Kind of fills out a reanimation suite that should make the deck remarkably resilient. I've been waiting to track down a copy of Saffi for a long time now, happy to have ticked the box.
In: Necrotic Ooze - this deck has a limited amount of draw options, so being able to copy abilities like that of Cryptbreaker will be advantageous.
Out: Graveborn Muse - This could be a bad idea, but I doubt it. I know in one breath I say limited draw and another I take draw options out. But this is suicide draw. With things like Tombstone Stairwell and Endless Ranks of the Dead active, I'm likely shoot myself in the face with this more often than not. Besides, I more need incremental draw in this deck than heavy, 'more than maximum hand size' draw.
I'd be interested in some feedback as to how this plays. Given your comments on my thread I'm not surprised with the areas you have suggested for improvement.I think it's a very strong list anyway, you've got a lot of value here and I'd not be too concerned moving forward. Having said that, the areas you mention with concern I have suggestions for:
Colour fixing:
To my mind, running Coldsteel Heart or similar is fair. I don't see that you'd need HUGE colour fixing requirements, as essentially this is a mono coloured deck, but I guess it couldn't hurt. By virtue of not entering tapped I'd personally prefer to take the risk and run Fellwar Stone. Have you considered the possibility of running Liliana of the Dark Realms? It's slow ramp for sure, but black should take it where it can get it. All abilities are relevant, and it may draw attention away from other threats you present.
Graveyard dependence:
I think at some point you'll have to resolve the fact that you're running reanimator and you are always going to be dependent on the graveyard. That being said, there's no reason not to run things like Phyrexian Reclamation or Oversold Cemetery to have multiple ways to get resurrect your graveyard threats. If you do see a lot of graveyard hate in things like Relic of Progenitus or Agent of Erebos, you do have some answers here already, if you're after more I'd suggest looking at things like Spine of Ish Sah and Scour from Existence. Black is low on non creature removal always, so you take what you can get. SFE is instant speed though, so you can't argue with that and the Spine is reusable if you're able to kill it (Oblivion Stone?)
Sepulchral vs RSD - It really depends on your reanimation targets and your meta to my mind. If you're looking at amassing an army for alpha strike and you know your meta plays bomb creatures then Sepulchral is probably your guy. If your meta is more control or spell slinger then go for the Demon. Playtesting will give you the answer as you say.
I think there are a couple of areas where this gets a bit grey.
Firstly there's a big difference between demonic Tutor and Razaketh the Foulblooded - there are other reasonably valid reasons for playing Raz, and DT serves no other purpose whatsoever. The same could be said for Eye of Ugin vs something like Expedition Map - I run the Eye in Kozi simply for cost reduction, I don't think I've actually cracked it for a tutor yet, whereas I run the map in the same deck and again, it serves no other purpose. I see the value in playing the variants that have multiple areas of value, but I'm much less likely to play the straight tutor.
Secondly, there's a big difference between consistency and predictability. I love a deck that doesn't do what you expect it to, has different avenues to victory, or is unpredictable in the ways that games turn out. I DON'T love a deck that requires one to a few cards in order to get off the ground at all - partly that gives an indication that it's poorly built,or you've put all of your eggs in one basket, or it's a deck that enables the use of tutors. In this instance, I'd prefer to adjust to go for the first - synergy is cheaper to build monetarily, and gets the grey matter working more, as you have to really use some forethought and planning to achieve the advantage you want from your deck (In my opinion - not hating on tutor users, it's a personal thing, I totally respect people who use them I just choose not to in most cases).
All this being said, in this particular Likert scale I'd put myself at 6.5. I see the value in tutors, but I'm much more likely to use soft tutors or pseudo-tutors and achieve synergy to the best of my deckbuilding abilities than use hard tutors. There's far more variability and it's totally possible to achieve consistent advantage without them.
Thanks a lot! It's hard to get good feedback on it because it is such an obscure theme. It's a lot of fun though. Thinking of doing Coltaine and the chain of dogs next, with Kresh the Bloodbraided as Coltaine.
I'd strongly recommend finishing the series (obviously). I'm on the 9th now, and this is my third reread, fourth counting audiobooks. It's one of the few series that truly rewards rereading - you really do pick up different things every time you read through, just through sheer depth of material and the amount of detail put into the books.
Always good to have a plan B. Putting all eggs in one basket is asking for your deck to be shut down.
Good to hear he's worth the investment, and surprisingly less expensive than I'd anticipated. He looks like a shoe in here. It honestly seems like you could end the game within a few turns of him hitting the field.
It can take a while in some cases. And to be honest, having said this in the previous reply I made, a counter argument could be made for keeping close variants so that you're not putting all of your eggs in one basket. For example, running Oversold Cemetery in a Chainer, Dementia Master deck or similar.
Good spotting! I don't think there's too many Malazan fans on the forums here - I noticed one member called FiddlertheDrum, but otherwise just me that I've seen. Far and away my favourite books, they're so rewarding. I've themed a deck around them, and am tossing up doing another based on different characters from the series.
Definitely, and it's hard to decide what to cut in those cases. I find it hardest when I have a deck working quite well, and a clear entry comes along. My best guess answer to this question is to look at the existing entries and decide which contributes least to what you're trying to achieve. Or, which is weakest in a vacuum ie. which is the least useful card without taking into consideration any other card in the deck (of course if you run enough tutors this argument is redundant - I don't run tutors if at all possible).
Fair enough! I guess it just comes across that way in a summary article because there are so many guilds to track through ~1-2 pages of information. I always thought the nephilim would play more of a part, too, considering how unique they are.
Thanks so much Jay. This is the last bit of lore I've really wanted to know for a while. Teferi being one of my favourite characters and wanting to know more about the Mending and 'modern Bolas', this was a great read, and well timed coming into Dominaria.
Great article. Long but not unnecessarily. I can pretty well agree with the conclusion too. My first thought was Leshrac, but not knowing a HUGE amount of older lore (I started playing at a young age), Leshrac seems unlikely. Lim-Dul fits the bill. It would be a great twist at some point too.
What are the odds the reveal happens in the upcoming Dominaria set next year? Fingers crossed.
In:
Noxious Gearhulk - It's going to Chainer, where it can be abused drastically. Really good card, I'm tempted to pick up another one for Sydri anyway.
Out:
Marionette Master - Solid card with Cranial Plating, or just on it's own in some cases.
I'm also thinking about adding further versatility to the tap/untap scenario by adding something like Whirler Rogue - this deck is obscene at generating tokens efficiently, so I might as well give myself options with them. It might be redundant add, but it could also be a winner.
In:
Vizier of Many Faces
Out:
Chronozoa
Versatility add really. As much as I like Chronozoa academically, it's a slow card without Paradox Haze or Hex Parasite etc etc.
In:
Glorious End
Out:
Temporal Cascade
In:
Noxious Gearhulk - There's a good chance Sydri could miss this. But it is a very good add here.
Graveborn Muse - More reasonable, steady draw here than in G&G, where it was a shotgun blast to my own face.
Corpse Connoisseur - Repeatable grave filler.
Skullclamp - Things are dying, why not?
Out:
Armillary Sphere
Filth
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Whip of Erebos
Seems a mighty good upgrade to me.
In:
Ashnod's Altar
Out:
[c]Skullclamp[c/]
Truth be told I'm reluctant to remove it, but I intend to replace the copy at some point soon. The altar should speed things up a little. Makes me want to consider adding Indomitable Creativity for super speed vomiting of things onto board.
In:
Trophy Mage
Out:
Burnished Hart
This is probably as much of a nod to tutoring as I'm willing to head towards here: This deck needs the 3 CMC artifacts: Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar or Coalition Relic - one of the three, depending on the point at which I'm playing the Trophy Mage. By comparison the Hart is slow, big ramp. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it doesn't quite serve as well as it could in other decks.
In:
Saffi Eriksdotter
Out:
Champion of Stray Souls
This lowers the curve, and reduces mass reanimation options, but gives me instant speed low cost specific reanimation. Kind of fills out a reanimation suite that should make the deck remarkably resilient. I've been waiting to track down a copy of Saffi for a long time now, happy to have ticked the box.
In:
Necrotic Ooze - this deck has a limited amount of draw options, so being able to copy abilities like that of Cryptbreaker will be advantageous.
Out:
Graveborn Muse - This could be a bad idea, but I doubt it. I know in one breath I say limited draw and another I take draw options out. But this is suicide draw. With things like Tombstone Stairwell and Endless Ranks of the Dead active, I'm likely shoot myself in the face with this more often than not. Besides, I more need incremental draw in this deck than heavy, 'more than maximum hand size' draw.
In: Corpse Connoisseur
Out: Necrotic Ooze
There was nothing absolutely crucial for the ooze to copy, so I'd rather speed things along with the corpse.
Colour fixing:
To my mind, running Coldsteel Heart or similar is fair. I don't see that you'd need HUGE colour fixing requirements, as essentially this is a mono coloured deck, but I guess it couldn't hurt. By virtue of not entering tapped I'd personally prefer to take the risk and run Fellwar Stone. Have you considered the possibility of running Liliana of the Dark Realms? It's slow ramp for sure, but black should take it where it can get it. All abilities are relevant, and it may draw attention away from other threats you present.
Graveyard dependence:
I think at some point you'll have to resolve the fact that you're running reanimator and you are always going to be dependent on the graveyard. That being said, there's no reason not to run things like Phyrexian Reclamation or Oversold Cemetery to have multiple ways to get resurrect your graveyard threats. If you do see a lot of graveyard hate in things like Relic of Progenitus or Agent of Erebos, you do have some answers here already, if you're after more I'd suggest looking at things like Spine of Ish Sah and Scour from Existence. Black is low on non creature removal always, so you take what you can get. SFE is instant speed though, so you can't argue with that and the Spine is reusable if you're able to kill it (Oblivion Stone?)
Sepulchral vs RSD - It really depends on your reanimation targets and your meta to my mind. If you're looking at amassing an army for alpha strike and you know your meta plays bomb creatures then Sepulchral is probably your guy. If your meta is more control or spell slinger then go for the Demon. Playtesting will give you the answer as you say.
Firstly there's a big difference between demonic Tutor and Razaketh the Foulblooded - there are other reasonably valid reasons for playing Raz, and DT serves no other purpose whatsoever. The same could be said for Eye of Ugin vs something like Expedition Map - I run the Eye in Kozi simply for cost reduction, I don't think I've actually cracked it for a tutor yet, whereas I run the map in the same deck and again, it serves no other purpose. I see the value in playing the variants that have multiple areas of value, but I'm much less likely to play the straight tutor.
Secondly, there's a big difference between consistency and predictability. I love a deck that doesn't do what you expect it to, has different avenues to victory, or is unpredictable in the ways that games turn out. I DON'T love a deck that requires one to a few cards in order to get off the ground at all - partly that gives an indication that it's poorly built,or you've put all of your eggs in one basket, or it's a deck that enables the use of tutors. In this instance, I'd prefer to adjust to go for the first - synergy is cheaper to build monetarily, and gets the grey matter working more, as you have to really use some forethought and planning to achieve the advantage you want from your deck (In my opinion - not hating on tutor users, it's a personal thing, I totally respect people who use them I just choose not to in most cases).
All this being said, in this particular Likert scale I'd put myself at 6.5. I see the value in tutors, but I'm much more likely to use soft tutors or pseudo-tutors and achieve synergy to the best of my deckbuilding abilities than use hard tutors. There's far more variability and it's totally possible to achieve consistent advantage without them.
I'd strongly recommend finishing the series (obviously). I'm on the 9th now, and this is my third reread, fourth counting audiobooks. It's one of the few series that truly rewards rereading - you really do pick up different things every time you read through, just through sheer depth of material and the amount of detail put into the books.
Good to hear he's worth the investment, and surprisingly less expensive than I'd anticipated. He looks like a shoe in here. It honestly seems like you could end the game within a few turns of him hitting the field.
Good spotting! I don't think there's too many Malazan fans on the forums here - I noticed one member called FiddlertheDrum, but otherwise just me that I've seen. Far and away my favourite books, they're so rewarding. I've themed a deck around them, and am tossing up doing another based on different characters from the series.