I just finished building mine, and I like it a lot. Theater of Horrors is the centerpiece of the deck. Very good card and I want to enable it as much as possible as it is the card that holds "all the garbage" together. It lets you stay in the game when it gets long and also lets you deal damage once you have excess lands.
The basic plan is deal as much damage as possible until they stall you, and after that sit and chump block to finish them. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator is very important to have in the maindeck because it gives you multiple creatures and stops any lifegain that would otherwise be annoying.
Mulliganing is very important as this deck NEEDS to reach 3 mana in order to function.
This is my latest list, I like it a lot better. Still loses to Narset though. I could've won FNM yesterday but punted hard on round 3 against Dinosaurs. I had the option to cast double Gate's Ablaze to take out his team and didn't because it was still "safe" to wait. Turns out it wasn't because he topdecked Ghalta and even with double Gates Ablaze the Dino was too big... Next time I'll be more careful. Afterwards on game 2 he just went off and had over 20 power by turn 4 with haste... lesson learned.
Currently testing Narset's Reversal, The Immortal Sun and Augur of Bolas. All of them seem quite promising and better than what I've been playing. I think Knight of Autumn is no longer needed.
Have any of you tried playing Lightning Strike in the maindeck?, it could be an answer to Narset and other Walkers that get low on loyalty, as well as being removal against a lot of stuff.
I'd go:
-1 Depose // Deploy
-1 Fight with Fire
-1 Shivan Fire
+3 Lightning Strike
Or maybe leave in Depose//Deploy and play 2 copies of Strike.
I dont think they're even trying honestly because last I spoke with a wizards employee, he said they was open for suggestions...
Regarding the "deckbuilding process", hey... we all know this, it still won't stop you from getting flooded or screwed from time to time... And even if they finally fixed this issues, the game would still be random so I don't see why it would be bad for the game just as the new London Mulligan wasn't.
Cheerios made 4th place in the last SCG tournament. It was playing exactly one Temple Garden and a Eladamri's Call maindeck (and another 2 or 3 copies in the sideboard), the rest was pretty stock
Fix Mana-Screw and Mana Flood for once... its been 25 years already. Dont tell me you can't come up with a solution. L5R made it look easy.
It's an intentional part of the game's design.
Have they actually said that?, because it makes no sense at all with their focus on tournaments.
What's the point of having tournaments if finals are gonna be decided by who flooded or got mana screwed?, there's no skill in that, and its happened countless times over the game's history.
The basic plan is deal as much damage as possible until they stall you, and after that sit and chump block to finish them. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator is very important to have in the maindeck because it gives you multiple creatures and stops any lifegain that would otherwise be annoying.
Mulliganing is very important as this deck NEEDS to reach 3 mana in order to function.
4 Ember Hauler
1 Mayhem Devil
3 Fireblade Artist
4 Footlight Fiend
2 Judith, the Scourge Diva
4 Fanatical Firebrand
Other 22
4 Shock
2 Heartfire
4 Lightning Strike
3 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Theater of Horrors
Lands 20
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Swamp
10 Mountain
2 Bladebrand
3 Fry
2 Chandra's Pyrohelix
2 Act of Treason
4 Lava Coil
2 Goblin Chainwhirler
EDIT: Updated to the current version
2 Augur of Bolas
2 Arboreal Grazer
4 Gatebreaker Ram
1 Elvish Rejuvenator
Other 24
1 Narset's Reversal
4 Gates Ablaze
4 Growth Spiral
1 Depose // Deploy
4 Guild Summit
1 Banefire
2 Scapeshift
3 Opt
1 Fight with Fire
1 Shivan Fire
1 The Mending of Dominaria
1 The Immortal Sun
2 Field of the Dead
4 Azorius Guildgate
1 Breeding Pool
4 Gruul Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
2 Gateway Plaza
4 Izzet Guildgate
4 Plaza of Harmony
1 Forest
2 Veil of Summer
2 Sky Tether
1 Mesmerizing Benthid
2 Ravager Wurm
1 Deafening Clarion
2 Remorseful Cleric
1 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
3 Negate
Currently testing Narset's Reversal, The Immortal Sun and Augur of Bolas. All of them seem quite promising and better than what I've been playing. I think Knight of Autumn is no longer needed.
Have any of you tried playing Lightning Strike in the maindeck?, it could be an answer to Narset and other Walkers that get low on loyalty, as well as being removal against a lot of stuff.
I'd go:
-1 Depose // Deploy
-1 Fight with Fire
-1 Shivan Fire
+3 Lightning Strike
Or maybe leave in Depose//Deploy and play 2 copies of Strike.
Other than that, the presence of Narset in the meta just kills me and I haven't found a solution to that.
1 Loaming Shaman
2 Arboreal Grazer
4 Gatebreaker Ram
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Other 23
4 Gates Ablaze
4 Growth Spiral
1 Depose // Deploy
4 Guild Summit
1 Expansion // Explosion
1 Banefire
2 Scapeshift
3 Opt
1 Fight with Fire
1 Shivan Fire
1 The Mending of Dominaria
2 Field of the Dead
4 Azorius Guildgate
1 Breeding Pool
4 Gruul Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
2 Gateway Plaza
4 Izzet Guildgate
1 Selesnya Guildgate
4 Plaza of Harmony
1 Forest
3 Veil of Summer
3 Sky Tether
1 Mesmerizing Benthid
2 Ravager Wurm
2 Remorseful Cleric
1 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
3 Negate
I'm pretty sure I need more white sources too.
Regarding the "deckbuilding process", hey... we all know this, it still won't stop you from getting flooded or screwed from time to time... And even if they finally fixed this issues, the game would still be random so I don't see why it would be bad for the game just as the new London Mulligan wasn't.
Have they actually said that?, because it makes no sense at all with their focus on tournaments.
What's the point of having tournaments if finals are gonna be decided by who flooded or got mana screwed?, there's no skill in that, and its happened countless times over the game's history.