I have thought about Venser, but there just isn't any room. Same with counterspells. And Venser's only job would pretty much be making my stuff unblockable, since I have the Contagion Clasps to keep the charge counters up on everything. I've been wanting to put in Spellskite to protect my stuff, but haven't figured out what to take out, yet.
Thanks for the comment!
That's just a theory on how to extrapolate information using a known deck, but it applies to rogue decks. The rogue deck builders usually have a game plan that should be visible when you play him. If your opponent doesnt seem to have any plan, the deck is probably just jank and losing to him is a fluke for a competitive deck.
Good luck, and keep practicing, especially with your deck building because it will help you figure out what your opponent is doing!
1. If you don't draw or resolve Burning Vengeance, you flat out lose.
2. This is a fast meta, meaning you will be taking a lot of damage quickly. You wont be able to spend a lot of life casting phyrexian spells.
3. If there is any graveyard hate, you lose.
4. You only have 3 reliable removal spells.
1. Do not go for overkill.
2. Read all the cards.
He was sitting on a Batterskull equipped with a Runechanter's Pike and an empty hand. I had Primeval Titan on board and Inkmoth with Kessig. I had 2 Primevals in hand. I attacked with both the titan and the Inkmoth, and pumped the inkmoth to put him at 9 poison. He blocked the titan, and then goes "He's dead." And I felt a shiver go through my spine because I realized I just gave him the game.
I ended up dropping that round at 4-2 because I didn't think it was worth it to stay another 4 hours for $20 profit.
I think my biggest concern is staying calm and thinking rationally.
Is that because of theft? Or people worrying you have a larger sideboard than you should?
What should I do/not do at a larger event?
Besides extensive playtesting, how should I prepare?
What should I look out for so I don't get screwed by a technicality (commonly used excuses to get an opponent a game loss)?
He's incredibly useful against the mirror, and when you don't have board control, like when they already dropped a titan or a planeswalker that you can't answer by attacking. He's usually the card I tutor with Rune-Scarred Demon.
U/B control can't really answer him, so he can wreck their day if you can resolve it.
The only matchups that I find he's not great in are against tokens and humans (he does have some value against humans, though).
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
2 Rune-Scarred Demon
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Viridian Emissary
4 Sphere of the Suns
1 Karn Liberated
2 Gideon Jura
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Day of Judgment
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Doom Blade
1 Unburial Rites
2 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Woodland Cemetery
2 Swamp
2 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Forest
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Autumn's Veil
2 Celestial Purge
2 Naturalize
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Beast Within
2 Timely Reinforcements
I won too many games on the back of Karn Liberated to cut him, and I found that Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon gives a good amount of reach because he can survive Day of Judgment.
Gideon Jura was awesome last week, so having him be a little more expendable should be beneficial.
The only thing I used Tragic Slip for was to shoot Inkmoth Nexus, so I cut 2 for 1 Doom Blade for a save against a pumped Nexus.
I really liked the argument about Lingering Souls. Because I took out the Sun Titans, and rely more heavily on Kessig, I added one Kessig Wolf Run.
I'm keeping 1 Unburial Rites to ensure that one of my fatty 1-ofs will stick around. It worked well last week, but in multiples it was bad.
Wish me luck!
I actually took out Life's Finale before the tournament for 2 Beast Within. And Increasing Ambition was a bit of a flop. I think I only saw it twice the entire tournament anyways lol.
I chose 2 Sun Titan because I only had room for 1 Kessig and 2 Inkmoth. I think i'm going to cut that down to 1, though, since I can tutor it with Rune-Scarred Demon.
Overall, I think this deck is a beast. I went 3-1-1, then split so we could go home early with a a decent prize ($26 store credit each). The one round I lost was because I missed 2 land drops. I think I'm going to do this to the main deck:
-1 Tragic Slip
-1 Sun Titan
-1 Increasing Ambition
-4 Viridian Emissary
+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (I'm just going to cave and buy her because no one in my playgroup will trade)
+4 Rampant Growth
+1 Wurmcoil Engine
+1 ????? Maybe an alternative finisher like Sorin's Vengeance?
1 Mountain
2 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Forest
3 Plains
2 Island
That should give you more consistent ramp options. All you really need to do is be able to hit ramp turn 2. It shouldn't be a problem getting double of all colors after you ramp twice.
Also, I think Vapor Snag could go. This isn't really a tempo deck. It's a beatdown-with-fatties deck. I would probably go:
-4 Vapor Snag
-1 Blue Sun's Zenith
-1 Green Sun's Zenith
+3 the three extra land shown above
+2 Oblivion Ring
+1 planeswalker that fits your meta
Good luck!
I think you're right about Liliana. She was clunky in testing.
But Rune-Scarred Demon is ridiculously good in this deck. It has won me quite a few games when I played a Jund version. Also, without GSZ, I think 1 Increasing Ambition is relevant with all the 1-ofs in the deck. Late game, it becomes massive card advantage.
I ended up going:
-2 Liliana of the Veil
-1 Unburial Rites
+3 Tragic Slip, for relevant 1-drops
I also think Unburial Rites is a beast in this deck. It gives a lot of reach in the mirror.
Why cut BSZ, though? Does this deck not need 4 sweepers?
2 Sun Titan
2 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Karn Liberated
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Gideon Jura
4 Sphere of the Suns
1 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Day of Judgment
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Tragic Slip
1 Increasing Ambition
2 Unburial Rites
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Forest
3 Plains
3 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Autumn's Veil
2 Celestial Purge
2 Naturalize
2 Revoke Existence
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Life's Finale
I'm not playing Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite because I stupidly traded her last week. If I can get another copy before FNM starts, I'll probably go -1 Solemn Simulacrum or -1 Unburial Rites for her.
-1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
-1 Plains
-1 Gideon Jura
-2 Blade Slicer
+3 Sword of War and Peace
+2 Dismember
This deck should never really be hitting turn 7 anyway, so Elesh Norn is mostly dead (the same can be argued for Sun Titan, but he can get relevant cards back from the grave. Blade Slicer competes with the Crusader and Geist, and the token is non-white, so it doesn't benefit from your Honor of the Pures. 23 land is enough for a weenie deck, so taking one land out for some extra removal should help against aggro match-ups.