I see an underwhelming amount of discussion on the Excavator. Agreed, he's not doing much on his own, but in limited, the UW skies deck is underdrafted currently. Snag some allies, a Hedron Crab, and you'd have a pretty sick turns 1-3 with Crab, Excavator, Raptor. Also one more tool in the bag of the control players for limited. Rite of Replication is also there for the taking (4-5th pick in my area).
For my money, the Apprentice is an upgrade over the Glaivemaster I so direly tried to make good in Mirrodin/Onslaught standard.
Quelian, your points you've brought up through the thread are all very accurate. FWIW, Hell's Thunder was in the Ball Lightning slot in my list, just in a different document. Also, for anyone it's pertinent to, GG + Bloodghast is going to make you sad on more than one occasion.
The list I presented tried to present both of the ideas I'm about to bring up at once, thus making it pretty ineffective. Dispite this, I think BBE could still be useful for our deck with the very light & easily achievable green splash, but Broodmate has to be too far above the curve for us. The one drops (including my previously given scenario) aren't the best targets, but everything else is hot in Quelian's list.
There are going to be two different ways people will play this deck, imo, and only one could properly suit Ascention. There will be the 321 suicide, 8 1-drops 8 2-drops 4 3-drops+burn lists, and the more midrange-esque, unearth+5-drop finisher lists. Ascention should work out in the faster list, where you will be more likely to have counters coming on in the early turns behind your other 1-drops.
However, I don't think either list should be running it. R/B aggro, as far back as it's been played, has been a "10 cards or less" deck. After the first 4-5 spells where you're dropping lands and establishing a board position, you won't want to see Ascention, and more times than not (basic stats) it is just dead.
The amount of 3ofs I'm having to force for BBE kind of bothers me, I'll test and see what happens. One bonus is the flexibility of the list, though. Aggro heavy meta? Drop SiB. Non W/U control? Out goes Nighthawk. Wall of Denials? Get rid of that Burst Lightning.
I actually am quite a fan of your list, Quelian. I don't mean to be taking steps into Jundland, but with the lack of 1-drops, could we potentially be adding in BBE? Being able to play a Savage Land or Rootbound Crag turn 1 makes creating a manabase much smoother. That, and the cascade targets would be very nice, IMO. Business spells, guys with haste, and Bloodghast, whom we aren't exactly concerned with losing to Day of Judgment.
Blightning seems like an odd card to have in the SB. IMO, it will still be the best turn 3/4 in Standard to play Blightning x2 with 2-3 guys on board.
With Pulse, Nixilis, Bit Blast & Sign in Blood (all good cards, don't get me wrong), how close are you to just playing a Midrange deck? Seems like you have a mixed creature & spell suite to me.
For my money, the Apprentice is an upgrade over the Glaivemaster I so direly tried to make good in Mirrodin/Onslaught standard.
The list I presented tried to present both of the ideas I'm about to bring up at once, thus making it pretty ineffective. Dispite this, I think BBE could still be useful for our deck with the very light & easily achievable green splash, but Broodmate has to be too far above the curve for us. The one drops (including my previously given scenario) aren't the best targets, but everything else is hot in Quelian's list.
There are going to be two different ways people will play this deck, imo, and only one could properly suit Ascention. There will be the 321 suicide, 8 1-drops 8 2-drops 4 3-drops+burn lists, and the more midrange-esque, unearth+5-drop finisher lists. Ascention should work out in the faster list, where you will be more likely to have counters coming on in the early turns behind your other 1-drops.
However, I don't think either list should be running it. R/B aggro, as far back as it's been played, has been a "10 cards or less" deck. After the first 4-5 spells where you're dropping lands and establishing a board position, you won't want to see Ascention, and more times than not (basic stats) it is just dead.
So, this?
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
5 Swamp
8 Mountain
4 Bloodghast
4 Hell's Thunder
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Burst Lightning
4 Sign in Blood
4 Blightning
1 Earthquake
The amount of 3ofs I'm having to force for BBE kind of bothers me, I'll test and see what happens. One bonus is the flexibility of the list, though. Aggro heavy meta? Drop SiB. Non W/U control? Out goes Nighthawk. Wall of Denials? Get rid of that Burst Lightning.
Any of those impressions grossly wrong?
Regardless, here's the list I will start testing:
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
4 Swamp
9 Mountain
Creatures
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Bloodghast
4 Ball Lightning
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
4 Blightning
2x Earthquake
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Thought Hemmorage
4 Pithing Needle
3 Goblin Outlander
Ball Lightning, Bloodchief Ascention, Plated Geopede, Quest & Malakir Bloodwitch all seem interesting. Testing will tell the tale, I suppose.
With Pulse, Nixilis, Bit Blast & Sign in Blood (all good cards, don't get me wrong), how close are you to just playing a Midrange deck? Seems like you have a mixed creature & spell suite to me.