I don't really think this is a turn 4 format. The premier Aggro deck, Mono-Black, struggles to finish the game by that point. Boros Feather/Heroic can do the job, but their hand has to line up really well into 0 blockers or interaction.
Over the weekend I played a few leagues online with a pair of friends Skyping in, and we kept running into matches where the game was over if we just drew the namesake. That in mind, we went back to the drawing board and I've been playing 4C Rally again... better Plan A, worse Plan B.
It's quickly becoming evident that the worst card in the deck is Stitcher's Supplier, I'm considering cutting all 4 copies of it.
Let me start off by saying that I've been working on and tweaking this deck since week 1 of Pioneer, and every week I still find cards I've never thought of that fill my slots better than before.
Initially, this deck started out as 4C Rally. I have tried the following versions...
Base Abzan, splashing U for JVP alone
Base Sultai, splashing W for Rally alone (more cards like Sidisi's Faithful)
Base UG, splashing B and W for the Drain creatures alone
Full 4C Rally, playing JVP, Reflector Mage, Deputy of Detention, etc
4C rally without Stitcher's Supplier to play a more toolbox deck (Plaguecrafters and Knight of Autumn)
A brief side note as to why I make a difference between Engine and Enablers: If I were to register a deck full of enablers (for example, a deck containing 20 copies of Stitcher's Supplier, 20 copies of Rally the Ancestor, and 20 lands) I wouldn't ever be able to execute the win condition. If I include even 1 set of the Engine, I am now able to execute my win condition. In my view, the Enablers create the winning conditions, but the Engine is what executes on them.
The next chunk is Payoff. This category exists simply because without it, the deck wouldn't have much purpose in existing. For all intents and purposes, this chunk is here solely to win the game immediately, and with that definition in mind I have also included the 5-card Renegade Ghost Form combo.
For those who are unaware, the Renegade Rallier + Kaya's Ghostform combo needs 1) a sacrifice outlet, 2) Revolt to be enabled, 3) a life drainer in play, and 4) Kaya's Ghostform to be either in the Graveyard when Renegade Rallier's trigger goes on the stack, or in your hand when the 3/2 is in play. What happens is, the 3/2 returns the Ghostform to play, enchanting itself. Then you sacrifice Renegade Rallier, triggering a 1-point drain from your opponent's life and also triggering Ghostform to return the Rallier to play. If the conditions are all still valid, the Ghostform will be brought back, attached to Rallier again, and your opponent will be reduced to 0 life by repeating this loop.
Now, by itself, that combo is likely impossible to execute. You have to have 2 creatures in play, trigger Revolt (hard with only 4 fetchlands), have a Ghostform in the yard, and then case a Renegade Rallier.
By itself, this combo is hard to execute.
However, when you add in the extra dimension of being a regular Rally deck which can typically win the game by resolving Rally the Ancestors any time after turn 4, this combo gains a lot of free wins. Your opponent is trying to keep you from killing them with chip-shot damage, while also trying to kill you, while also worrying about an instant-speed Rally that will just end the game... factor all of that in, and an EOT Collected Company can often spell DOOM for your opponent. And sometimes, you just manually get them with a T1 Stitcher's Supplier, T2 Zulaport Cutthroat, T3 Nantuko Husk, T4 play Renegade Rallier, and either cast Ghostform from hand or off the 6 cards you mill with the Stitcher. Magical Christmasland? Sometimes! But in a deck with 5 sacrifice outlets and 6 drainers, the odds aren't so far off.
The last card in this chunk is one I found on accident, when I was searching through Gatherer for Black creatures with the word "Haste" in their text box. BOY, has this guy won me a lot of games! Basically, it allows you to win off of turn 5 Rally a lot more often, by giving your Nantuko Husk's Haste and Intimidate, along with most of the rest of your team. So an average game, you Rally for X=3, and bring back 6 creatures, including the Marauder. You now have a Nantuko Husk, a pair of Drain creatures, the Marauder, and a couple of 3/1 Glowspore Shamans -- all with Haste and Intimidate.
You attack, opponent can't block, sacrifice the Marauder to the Husk for +2/+2 and drain 2 life, you move to resolve damage and they take 12 damage from combat, now they're at 6 life and you can sacrifice your team for the remaining amount. This card can swing you into games that weren't in reach, and there have been several games where it's the only card in the deck that can put me in a winning position. That being said, you really don't want to have many copies because it's not worth multiples, and the deck is very powerful at finding singletons due to the milling and Collected Company.
Moving into the Mana base, we have 14 sources of Black mana and 15 sources of both White and Green mana. While Black looks more dominant at a glance, the Green mana is more crucial because it helps find more lands, and the White mana needs to have double pips in order to combo kill the opponent. That being said, the 2 Blast Zone are recent additions that took the place of 2 Mana Confluence which were often unnecessary because of the Wayfinders and Glowspore Shamans helping fix colors.
The Blast Zones are a nod to the deck's Game 1 weakness to Kalitas and Scavenging Ooze, which has become more profoundly noticed after I removed Reflector Mage from the Mainboard. I also needed a hedge vs the UWx decks with Wishboards that could grab a Game 1 Hate card from their board (Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage), and since this deck can both dig for the land and recur it once it's been milled/used, I think it's going to be a mainstay moving forward. I can easily see this card being too much on the mana, but the deck originally was only 21 lands, so as lands 22 and 23, I think the math works out that I don't need more than 15 of each source.
Originally, the SB's that I kept building had too many spells. 4 Thoughtseize, 3 Abrupt Decay, 4 Leyline of the Void, et al. Obviously, in hindsight, the 27-creature deck has problems when it's bringing in 10 spells to combat hate so I tried to find creature options to fill each role.
Brain Maggot is the one I get the most questions about, it's also one of the best cards in the Sideboard. For the most part, the information it gives me is worth more than the card it keeps, and vs UWx decks the Maggot is just intended to strip them of Counterspells on my Combo turn.
The Knight of Autumn's are the best card in the SB, and I can see many worlds in which this is correct to play copies of in the MB. Vs most decks I start with a minimum of 2 copies coming in, to battle whatever GY hate they may be packing, and vs decks like UW or GB, I'll bring in all 4 because it's also just a 3-mana 4/3 attacker that I can find off of Collected Company. The secret to this deck's future lays in the alternate win condition of being a mediocre creature deck whenever the opponent goes too deep into beating your Plan A, and it's surprising how often this card is just a 4/3 for the deck. It also helps vs the Mono Red decks a lot, and even vs the Mono-Black Aggro decks, it is a body that trades and gains 4 life, or eliminates a Smuggler's Copter from the field.
Witch's Vengeance is a nod to the decks like U/W Spirits, or B/W Zombies, R/G Goblins, or the Humans deck that is shaping up -- all of which can overrun a deck like this one too quickly for us to get off our combo. Versus decks like those, I'm more than happy to trim a couple Collected Company and play this spell instead, as it will single-handedly buy me more time than grabbing 2 blockers off the top of my deck in most scenarios. If I find a better card for keeping me in the game vs Go-Wide Aggro, this card will be quickly eliminated.
Ravenous Chupacabra and Plaguecrafter both serve similar roles: Kill Scavenging Ooze and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet before the opponent ruins my entire gameplan. The Plaguecrafter also happens to upgrade my mopey 1/1s into a 3/2 that forces my Control opponent to either discard a card or sacrifice their precious Planeswalkers, and often at Instant Speed, so there's not many cards I'd slot in over this one. However, Chupacabra being targeted does mean we have a better shot at eliminating the exact threat we need to, so the split feels necessary.
The last card in the Sideboard is a Miser's Abrupt Decay, and that's a card I'm considering replacing with a 5th Knight of Autumn (I wish). Jokes aside, I've been considering something like Thalia, Heretic Cathar or some other utility creature, because I like the digging power of Collected Company. At the moment, it's the best option I have for being good against Aggressive strategies while also eliminating hate cards like Grafdigger's Cage, Ashiok, and Rest in Peace. Could see this becoming something like Reclamation Sage as a 5th pseudo-Knight too.
That's all I've got for now!
For those who like to look at lists, I've got about 2 dozen variations on this deck all saved and posted online, so if you're looking for ideas or want to know if I've tried something, just let me know. I'm going to run this deck into the ground until they finally stop letting me register Rally the Ancestors!!
Hi, I'm a long-time member whose account has become inaccessible after the Twitch merge. It no longer lets me accss. My original account was kodieyost: I can provide verification via ID (as that is my legal name, and I don't think there's another person playing MTG with my name xD), or anything else you'd deem required. Please and thank you in advance for any assistance!!
Over the weekend I played a few leagues online with a pair of friends Skyping in, and we kept running into matches where the game was over if we just drew the namesake. That in mind, we went back to the drawing board and I've been playing 4C Rally again... better Plan A, worse Plan B.
It's quickly becoming evident that the worst card in the deck is Stitcher's Supplier, I'm considering cutting all 4 copies of it.
Initially, this deck started out as 4C Rally. I have tried the following versions...
Here's the list I'm currently playing online:
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Concealed Courtyard
4 Fabled Passage
1 Forest
2 Plains
2 Mana Confluence
2 Blast Zone
1 Swamp
4 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
Creatures: 27
1 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Cruel Celebrant
4 Glowspore Shaman
1 Mogis's Marauder
4 Nantuko Husk
3 Renegade Rallier
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Stitcher's Supplier
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
4 Collected Company
4 Rally the Ancestors
Enchantments: 2
2 Kaya's Ghostform
1 Abrupt Decay
3 Brain Maggot
4 Knight of Autumn
2 Plaguecrafter
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Witch's Vengeance
I'm going to start with chunking the deck down into categories to help make the list digestable.
First, the Enablers. Unsurprisingly, these cards enable the deck to execute fast, explosive kills in the early game.
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Glowspore Shaman
4 Collected Company
Next, the Engine. These cards are what keep the deck running once you've started, and without them present the deck wouldn't function in any capacity.
2 Cruel Celebrant
1 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Nantuko Husk
A brief side note as to why I make a difference between Engine and Enablers: If I were to register a deck full of enablers (for example, a deck containing 20 copies of Stitcher's Supplier, 20 copies of Rally the Ancestor, and 20 lands) I wouldn't ever be able to execute the win condition. If I include even 1 set of the Engine, I am now able to execute my win condition. In my view, the Enablers create the winning conditions, but the Engine is what executes on them.
The next chunk is Payoff. This category exists simply because without it, the deck wouldn't have much purpose in existing. For all intents and purposes, this chunk is here solely to win the game immediately, and with that definition in mind I have also included the 5-card Renegade Ghost Form combo.
2 Kaya's Ghostform
1 Mogis's Marauder
4 Rally the Ancestors
For those who are unaware, the Renegade Rallier + Kaya's Ghostform combo needs 1) a sacrifice outlet, 2) Revolt to be enabled, 3) a life drainer in play, and 4) Kaya's Ghostform to be either in the Graveyard when Renegade Rallier's trigger goes on the stack, or in your hand when the 3/2 is in play. What happens is, the 3/2 returns the Ghostform to play, enchanting itself. Then you sacrifice Renegade Rallier, triggering a 1-point drain from your opponent's life and also triggering Ghostform to return the Rallier to play. If the conditions are all still valid, the Ghostform will be brought back, attached to Rallier again, and your opponent will be reduced to 0 life by repeating this loop.
Now, by itself, that combo is likely impossible to execute. You have to have 2 creatures in play, trigger Revolt (hard with only 4 fetchlands), have a Ghostform in the yard, and then case a Renegade Rallier.
By itself, this combo is hard to execute.
However, when you add in the extra dimension of being a regular Rally deck which can typically win the game by resolving Rally the Ancestors any time after turn 4, this combo gains a lot of free wins. Your opponent is trying to keep you from killing them with chip-shot damage, while also trying to kill you, while also worrying about an instant-speed Rally that will just end the game... factor all of that in, and an EOT Collected Company can often spell DOOM for your opponent. And sometimes, you just manually get them with a T1 Stitcher's Supplier, T2 Zulaport Cutthroat, T3 Nantuko Husk, T4 play Renegade Rallier, and either cast Ghostform from hand or off the 6 cards you mill with the Stitcher. Magical Christmasland? Sometimes! But in a deck with 5 sacrifice outlets and 6 drainers, the odds aren't so far off.
The last card in this chunk is one I found on accident, when I was searching through Gatherer for Black creatures with the word "Haste" in their text box. BOY, has this guy won me a lot of games! Basically, it allows you to win off of turn 5 Rally a lot more often, by giving your Nantuko Husk's Haste and Intimidate, along with most of the rest of your team. So an average game, you Rally for X=3, and bring back 6 creatures, including the Marauder. You now have a Nantuko Husk, a pair of Drain creatures, the Marauder, and a couple of 3/1 Glowspore Shamans -- all with Haste and Intimidate.
You attack, opponent can't block, sacrifice the Marauder to the Husk for +2/+2 and drain 2 life, you move to resolve damage and they take 12 damage from combat, now they're at 6 life and you can sacrifice your team for the remaining amount. This card can swing you into games that weren't in reach, and there have been several games where it's the only card in the deck that can put me in a winning position. That being said, you really don't want to have many copies because it's not worth multiples, and the deck is very powerful at finding singletons due to the milling and Collected Company.
2 Concealed Courtyard
4 Fabled Passage
1 Forest
2 Plains
2 Mana Confluence
2 Blast Zone
1 Swamp
4 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
Moving into the Mana base, we have 14 sources of Black mana and 15 sources of both White and Green mana. While Black looks more dominant at a glance, the Green mana is more crucial because it helps find more lands, and the White mana needs to have double pips in order to combo kill the opponent. That being said, the 2 Blast Zone are recent additions that took the place of 2 Mana Confluence which were often unnecessary because of the Wayfinders and Glowspore Shamans helping fix colors.
The Blast Zones are a nod to the deck's Game 1 weakness to Kalitas and Scavenging Ooze, which has become more profoundly noticed after I removed Reflector Mage from the Mainboard. I also needed a hedge vs the UWx decks with Wishboards that could grab a Game 1 Hate card from their board (Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage), and since this deck can both dig for the land and recur it once it's been milled/used, I think it's going to be a mainstay moving forward. I can easily see this card being too much on the mana, but the deck originally was only 21 lands, so as lands 22 and 23, I think the math works out that I don't need more than 15 of each source.
The Sideboard
3 Brain Maggot
4 Knight of Autumn
2 Plaguecrafter
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Witch's Vengeance
Originally, the SB's that I kept building had too many spells. 4 Thoughtseize, 3 Abrupt Decay, 4 Leyline of the Void, et al. Obviously, in hindsight, the 27-creature deck has problems when it's bringing in 10 spells to combat hate so I tried to find creature options to fill each role.
Brain Maggot is the one I get the most questions about, it's also one of the best cards in the Sideboard. For the most part, the information it gives me is worth more than the card it keeps, and vs UWx decks the Maggot is just intended to strip them of Counterspells on my Combo turn.
The Knight of Autumn's are the best card in the SB, and I can see many worlds in which this is correct to play copies of in the MB. Vs most decks I start with a minimum of 2 copies coming in, to battle whatever GY hate they may be packing, and vs decks like UW or GB, I'll bring in all 4 because it's also just a 3-mana 4/3 attacker that I can find off of Collected Company. The secret to this deck's future lays in the alternate win condition of being a mediocre creature deck whenever the opponent goes too deep into beating your Plan A, and it's surprising how often this card is just a 4/3 for the deck. It also helps vs the Mono Red decks a lot, and even vs the Mono-Black Aggro decks, it is a body that trades and gains 4 life, or eliminates a Smuggler's Copter from the field.
Witch's Vengeance is a nod to the decks like U/W Spirits, or B/W Zombies, R/G Goblins, or the Humans deck that is shaping up -- all of which can overrun a deck like this one too quickly for us to get off our combo. Versus decks like those, I'm more than happy to trim a couple Collected Company and play this spell instead, as it will single-handedly buy me more time than grabbing 2 blockers off the top of my deck in most scenarios. If I find a better card for keeping me in the game vs Go-Wide Aggro, this card will be quickly eliminated.
Ravenous Chupacabra and Plaguecrafter both serve similar roles: Kill Scavenging Ooze and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet before the opponent ruins my entire gameplan. The Plaguecrafter also happens to upgrade my mopey 1/1s into a 3/2 that forces my Control opponent to either discard a card or sacrifice their precious Planeswalkers, and often at Instant Speed, so there's not many cards I'd slot in over this one. However, Chupacabra being targeted does mean we have a better shot at eliminating the exact threat we need to, so the split feels necessary.
The last card in the Sideboard is a Miser's Abrupt Decay, and that's a card I'm considering replacing with a 5th Knight of Autumn (I wish). Jokes aside, I've been considering something like Thalia, Heretic Cathar or some other utility creature, because I like the digging power of Collected Company. At the moment, it's the best option I have for being good against Aggressive strategies while also eliminating hate cards like Grafdigger's Cage, Ashiok, and Rest in Peace. Could see this becoming something like Reclamation Sage as a 5th pseudo-Knight too.
That's all I've got for now!
For those who like to look at lists, I've got about 2 dozen variations on this deck all saved and posted online, so if you're looking for ideas or want to know if I've tried something, just let me know. I'm going to run this deck into the ground until they finally stop letting me register Rally the Ancestors!!