Every matchup? I feel that it is way too slow in Burn, with twin we have the ability to kill their combo or not, affinty we just kill their creatures, merfolk is a toss up if they get more lords than our kill spells (or if they draw speading seas). For each of these matchups pack rats just seems too slow.
I almost always side pack rat out, am I just crazy or do other people do this?
What matchups are you having trouble in? What are you siding in? Twin and Affinity are generally good matchups. With the addition of Shambling Vent, Burn ranges from close to favorable if you're willing to devote sideboard space. Merfolk is definitely tough but I can't think of a two drop creature that would change it much. If I had to play against Merfolk a lot, I'd make sure Engineered Explosives or Damnation was in my sideboard and maybe even something like Ghostly Prison.
Pack Rat is interesting. It adds a hyper-aggro dimension you can't get anywhere else. Think of it as an infinite supply of uncounterable flash lords, i.e. Merfolk in a can. Mutavault is just icing on the cake. I like Pack Rat in every matchup as a resilient and versatile win condition.
Shambling Vent has been awesome. The deck wanted some incidental lifegain not to mention the manland for its colors. At first I thought the Elspeth interaction was magical christmas land but I played a bunch and it was so good that I added another Elspeth.
Spellskite and Shadow of Doubt are probably the weirdest things about this deck. Each maintains a high floor against the field and can be a true hoser in certain situations due to its unique disruptive effect. I like to play a controlling style so I will put cards like that in the main if I think they are good enough against the average opponent. Definitely among the most flexible slots in the deck.
Objective is to move fast with leeches while getting bloodghast in the graveyard and a master of the wild hunt resolved by turn 6. this all builds a platform for xathrid demon. duress and vines are there to foil plans and grim discovery to recur the cobra, fetch lands, and fleshbag. it's standing in for sign in blood and i think it's better.
What matchups are you having trouble in? What are you siding in? Twin and Affinity are generally good matchups. With the addition of Shambling Vent, Burn ranges from close to favorable if you're willing to devote sideboard space. Merfolk is definitely tough but I can't think of a two drop creature that would change it much. If I had to play against Merfolk a lot, I'd make sure Engineered Explosives or Damnation was in my sideboard and maybe even something like Ghostly Prison.
Shambling Vent has been awesome. The deck wanted some incidental lifegain not to mention the manland for its colors. At first I thought the Elspeth interaction was magical christmas land but I played a bunch and it was so good that I added another Elspeth.
Here is my decklist:
4 Marsh Flats
4 Shambling Vent
3 Mutavault
3 Godless Shrine
3 Swamp
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Plains
Planeswalker
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Dark Confidant
4 Pack Rat
2 Spellskite
1 Kitchen Finks
Sorcery
4 Lingering Souls
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
Instant
4 Path to Exile
2 Shadow of Doubt
1 Dismember
1 Darkblast
2 Stony Silence
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Celestial Purge
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Thoughtseize
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
Spellskite and Shadow of Doubt are probably the weirdest things about this deck. Each maintains a high floor against the field and can be a true hoser in certain situations due to its unique disruptive effect. I like to play a controlling style so I will put cards like that in the main if I think they are good enough against the average opponent. Definitely among the most flexible slots in the deck.
I'm trying out the new Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Elspeth, Knight-Errant is quite good with Shambling Vent.
Sideboard is a work in progress.
4 Verdant Catacomb
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Oran Reif the Vastwood
1 Gargoyle Castle
7 Swamp
4 Forest
Black Spells(18)
3 Bloodghast
3 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
3 Xathrid Demon
3 Duress
4 Grim Discovery
1 Sorin Markov
3 Scute Mob
2 Lotus Cobra
3 Master of the Wild Hunt
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Vines of Vastwood
Multicolored(6)
4 Putrid Leech
2 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Disfigure
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Soul's Majesty
1 Ant Queen
1 Swamp
1 Forest
Reactions?
Objective is to move fast with leeches while getting bloodghast in the graveyard and a master of the wild hunt resolved by turn 6. this all builds a platform for xathrid demon. duress and vines are there to foil plans and grim discovery to recur the cobra, fetch lands, and fleshbag. it's standing in for sign in blood and i think it's better.