In decks like UWR midrange (my choice) with Essence Scatter, Syncopate, Detention Sphere etc. why do you care about early game Smiters? It's a joke creature.
The reality is, Bonfire is still very powerful in the right decks. If you connect with Geist even once and your deck runs 8 or so burn spells + Snapcasters, then a Bonfire is the same overpowered win condition it ever was. Turn 5+ it ends games, and it doesn't really matter who the opponent is.
Vraska seems to fit really well in the BG version, protecting herself if there is a creature on the board, killing a permanent Abrut Decay could'nt deal with and having a win condition as his ultimate allows with three assassins tokens. I would'nt play more than two but she can be nuts with Liliana on the board too.
She's too slow for Standard or Modern, so she's about 5x too slow for Legacy. In a format where you can die before turn 2 it just doesn't make sense.
A few things. I wouldn't play this deck without mainboard Bojuka Bogs anymore. I wouldn't run Pox without Sensei's Diving Top. A single maindeck Surgical or Extirpate is almost always good (whereas a card like Innocent blood can be dead).
I don't see any reason why this deck shouldn't run some package of Sensei's Divining Top and Fetchlands. Honestly, they prevent Jace locking you down with his +2 and they help make Sensei's Top even better. (Fetches also help fuel whatever number of Tombstalkers you are running.. obviously if you are running big Pox they become a liability, but otherwise the damage is negligible). Also, the number of times where I use top and the top 2 cards are not what I need is amazing. It makes Dark Ritual slightly better, since you can remove it as a draw in the late game as well (and other cards for that matter depending on the matchup).
Maindeck Ratchet Bombs seem fine but they aren't aggressive at all. They also are antisynergistic with our 1-2 and 3 drops. For me, they are definitely a sideboard first option.
I am also considering cutting the 4th Mishra's Factory for a 9th Swamp.
It's not an odd choice really.. I mean, we run Urborg, so every land including our opponent's become swamps. Additionally, the Mutavaults provide additional "zombies" with which to recur Gravecrawlers.
Also, I finally ordered my APAC Swamps (pricey but worth it). Almost complete with my deck.
I played a ton of matches tonight against competitive decks and I am going to g out on a limb and say if you are playing without Bonfire, you're playing a weaker deck. Period. Full stop. Bonfire makes this deck competitive.
I wonder what you could replace Delver with though? There really isn't anything more efficient. I wish we still had a Porcelain Legionnaire or something.. Splashing white gets you creatures with evasion at low cost, but what do we have?
Shrieking affliction is not very good, it is fairly irrelevent.
While at first I thought that the difference between a hand size of 3 and 1 would be minimal, that goal post is actually miles apart in the matchups where I'm hoping to win with the rack.
honestly a 2-2 split could be ok to help against removal/surgical, but this isn't your rack 5-8
Yep, the Affliction/Rack variant is just straight bad.
The argument for combining some number of Desperate Ravings and/or Think Twice along with 2-4 Thought Scours is that it adds velocity to the deck. It makes you draw more cards and in turn makes you Delvers stronger by virtue of drawing into spells to protect them, spells to flash back, spells to power Runechanter's Pike etc. I don't think they were arguing that it helps flip Delver.
With regards to Mizzium Mortars, the argument is that Bonfire is just insane late game. You essentially win when you draw it turn 6-10 most games. That kind of power cannot be overlooked. The argument against Mortars is that when compared to Bonfire it just isn't any comparison at all. Bonfire is just that much better in practice.
The reality is, Bonfire is still very powerful in the right decks. If you connect with Geist even once and your deck runs 8 or so burn spells + Snapcasters, then a Bonfire is the same overpowered win condition it ever was. Turn 5+ it ends games, and it doesn't really matter who the opponent is.
She's too slow for Standard or Modern, so she's about 5x too slow for Legacy. In a format where you can die before turn 2 it just doesn't make sense.
8 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bojuka Bog
Creatures (3):
2 Nether Spirit
1 Tombstalker
Planeswalkers (4):
4 Lilana of the Veil
Artifacts (7):
3 The Rack
2 Sensei's Diving Top
2 Cursed Scroll
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Smallpox
3 Innocent Blood
3 Dark Ritual
2 Sinkhole
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Duress
1 Darkblast
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Extirpate
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Enginered Plague
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ratchet Bomb
A few things. I wouldn't play this deck without mainboard Bojuka Bogs anymore. I wouldn't run Pox without Sensei's Diving Top. A single maindeck Surgical or Extirpate is almost always good (whereas a card like Innocent blood can be dead).
I don't see any reason why this deck shouldn't run some package of Sensei's Divining Top and Fetchlands. Honestly, they prevent Jace locking you down with his +2 and they help make Sensei's Top even better. (Fetches also help fuel whatever number of Tombstalkers you are running.. obviously if you are running big Pox they become a liability, but otherwise the damage is negligible). Also, the number of times where I use top and the top 2 cards are not what I need is amazing. It makes Dark Ritual slightly better, since you can remove it as a draw in the late game as well (and other cards for that matter depending on the matchup).
Maindeck Ratchet Bombs seem fine but they aren't aggressive at all. They also are antisynergistic with our 1-2 and 3 drops. For me, they are definitely a sideboard first option.
I am also considering cutting the 4th Mishra's Factory for a 9th Swamp.
A lot of people do
You're not going to have the zombies necessary to make the Gravecrawlers work though, assuming you go for the Gravecrawler route in testing.
Also, I finally ordered my APAC Swamps (pricey but worth it). Almost complete with my deck.
2 Cursed Scroll
Creatures
1 Filth
4 Gravecrawler
Instants
4 Dark Ritual
Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil
Sorceries
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Innocent Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Sinkhole
4 Smallpox
1 Nether Void
Basic Lands
11 Swamp
Lands
2 Mishra's Factory
4 Mutavault
4 Wasteland
Legendary Lands
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 The Rack
2 Tombstalker
3 Engineered Plague
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Spinning Darkness
Yep, the Affliction/Rack variant is just straight bad.
With regards to Mizzium Mortars, the argument is that Bonfire is just insane late game. You essentially win when you draw it turn 6-10 most games. That kind of power cannot be overlooked. The argument against Mortars is that when compared to Bonfire it just isn't any comparison at all. Bonfire is just that much better in practice.