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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Highway Robber
Creature — Human Rogue Mercenary
When Highway Robber enters the battlefield, target opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
EnbyGolem on
Black Burn Torment Of Black Fire
2 years ago
Wow, I love this idea! I don't know many Modern creatures but I think Highway Robber and Cuombajj Witches have newer printings which should make them legal! They are pretty fun but might be too expensive for the effect they provide.
If for what ever reason you make a Vintage version of this theme, Urborg Stalker, Rathi Fiend, Dakmor Ghoul, The Fallen, Choking Sands, Drain Life, and Famine are some of my favorite old-school direct damage cards :)
Zorous on
mindcrank/Bloodchief kill deck
4 years ago
Haven't seen this combo before, but it looks juicy. I think a problem you might have is just getting some guaranteed damage to get the Bloodchief counters. Subbing in a Piranha Marsh or two for some swamps could get help in getting some of those counters.
Vicious Conquistador , Cauldron Familiar + Witch's Oven , or Retreat to Hagra could also be a way to get some life loss going on. Though this isn't quite getting you there.
Something like Stab Wound would be perfect if they have a big enough creature to put it on. Highway Robber also guarantees the 2 life loss and is a man on the field or Hideous End for some removal, and to get a trigger on your enemy's turn.
If you are leaning towards Vicious Conquistador , Fell Specter and Arterial Flow could work up some good synergy.
Hope this helps!
goldlion on
Marchesa, the Black Rose EDH: Steal Yo Gurl!
5 years ago
Wow, Expropriate is wild! That'd go nicely in my Lazav, Dimir Mastermind deck. Definitely expensive though. I might prefer Insurrection in your deck, for the fact it needs creativity to permanently steal their creatures (I like that challenge) - but they are both nuts in there. I see what you mean about Razaketh, the Foulblooded, and the lag to play one of those other two after you search for them...
...If that's the win-con package, maybe some passive ramping could help? A couple examples of what I mean would be Pitiless Plunderer and Black Market. I run both those in my Ghave, Guru of Spores to great effect. A Ruthless Knave, rather than the plunderer, offers a sac engine while creating two treasure tokens. Not efficient enough for this deck I think, but more for inspiration :). He offers a mana sink if you find yourself with extra mana in the first 5-6 turns and helps you position yourself for 1 big turn.
Maybe, after playing this version a bit, swapping your high cmc for Grave Betrayal and some one sided board wipes like Plague Wind could be an interesting take to try out?
I put an Unspeakable Symbol in mine as well. Seems like it was made for her, taking your life below your opponents while putting on the counters. I dream of having it out in this "Steal Yo Gurl!" style, with a Champion of Stray Souls on the battlefield. If the sequencing and mana could work... Value town.
In regards to the version I'm working on: We have a lower level player in our playgroup who doesn't quite have the cards or the know-how for stronger deck building. I wanted to make something less powerful than Kresh and Ghave, for playing him while still enjoying myself. Madness is a really fun mechanic I'm building around with a lot of trigger opportunities through the draw, discard to cast, and different recursion. Such great value, just not the power. Madness fits naturally with the Innistrad vampires that get +1/+1 counters for dealing damage. Great synergy with Marchesa and it's letting me play interesting cards, including some sweet old commons, that I probably wouldn't play otherwise (ex: Bog Witch). Cards like Archfiend of Ifnir and Squee, Goblin Nabob become elite. I'll let you know when a version is online.
One jankyish build I was thinking for Marchesa: If I can find a more ways in her colours to put +1/+1 counters on creatures, I could run Highway Robber type cards with Blood Artist triggers.
RingweMakil on
6 years ago
APPLE01DOJ - I don't know. Yesterday, I could have written you an essay; today, I'm facing down Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I know nothing until further testing. I have rushed to bring back two copies of Liliana of the Veil to the list since the unbans, a card I had eschewed very quickly in my original construction of the deck, since it hardly favours the player drawing an extra card a turn; however, with the advent of Bloodbraid Elf and Jace TMS, opponents are now likely to be able to keep up with the CA of Phyrexian Arena, and as such, Liliana of the Veil is likely to be good again (even if the format is being overrun by lots of Bloodghast, Hollow One, and Faithless Looting).
However, I can offer a breakdown of how the creatures function in non-blue matchups:
a. Pack Rat:
The deck started with the set of Pack Rat. But that all in-strategy was soon found to be suboptimal - drawing multiple Pack Rats was unnecessary and rarely served any purpose; not to mention the speed of Modern means turn 2 Pack Rat is often too slow. As sweepers, Detention Sphere, and Maelstrom Pulse became common, and as Hollow One and Death's Shadow and Tasigur, the Golden Fang started to surface, Pack Rat lost some of its luster.
The natural question, then, if Pack Rat is slow and vulnerable, why play him at all? The answer: Pack Rat is ten cards in one card. Backed up with any kind of disruption and removal, he takes over the board and ends the game, quickly and unstoppably. Two activations are more than enough to put away games, and trading spot removal for Rats is a losing proposition. So in this list, he's gone from being a windmill early slam, to a lategame engine that turns dead land drops and discard spells into an army of creatures. Barring Path to Exile before a single activation is possible, Liliana, the Last Hope can always buy him back - one copy of the Rat, therefore, is ample.
Fringe case: Pack Rat allows for arbitrarily large amounts of devotion for Gray Merchant of Asphodel in boardstalls/against Lantern.
I've covered the virtues of this card in a post above - essentially, he's my Tarmogoyf, but he flies. Whether he functions as The Abyss or as a 6/6 unblockable, he ends games very quickly, and many a game against combo/Tron has been put away by disruption into disruption into Demon. Of the quick clocks available to black, he's one of the better ones. I believe the added utility to be well worth the extra two mana over Goyf (besides, far be it from me to argue against 6 6 fliers for four - speaking of which, Demon is almost always a strictly superior option to Abyssal Persecutor, since Persecutor requiring us to find an additional kill spell for our own demon while Phyrexian Arena ticks down/the burn opponent is topdecking is not a good feeling).
I cannot praise this card enough in any mono black midrange list. He exiles creatures, he gains life consistently, and he makes every removal spell in our deck a 2 for 1. Traditionally, efficient mono black removal has been weak to graveyard recursion such as Flamewake Phoenix, Bloodghast, Geralf's Messenger, Kitchen Finks, and so forth, since all these cards must be killed more than once, at no additional expense to the opponent. Thoughtseize and Phyrexian Arena is a painful combination, especially in a world of Lightning Bolt and Kolaghan's Command. Kalitas solves all of these issues beautifully, and with any removal spell stalls the board incredibly easily and well.
d. Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Okay, have you seen the art? If Drana were real, she'd totally be my Valentine.
Jokes aside, one of the issues I was frequently running into with the deck was the amount of time it took me to close out once I had stabilised. While all of my creature threats (Gray Merchant of Asphodel is basically a Corrupt, he doesn't count) end the game quite quickly, I just wasn't drawing them fast enough - my opponent would get the opportunity to find that Cryptic Command or Sphinx's Revelation, or get those last 2 Boros Charm. There is a delicate balance between disruption and pressure that must be maintained in all decks that are not pure control, and maintaining that balance required me to find another fast game-ending threat.
I considered running the fourth Desecration Demon, but the idea of another big dumb beater was not appealing. I wanted a powerful threat with intrinsic value attached to its kit, that could help deal with the board even when I was not drawing multiple cards a turn, and hopefully one that was either resilient, or dodged some of the common removal in the format (Lightning Bolt, Abrupt Decay, Fatal Push - although I was open to playing four drops, since consistently having revolt to deal with a whole myriad of four drop threats is difficult). While black has plenty of value three drops, none of them offered this game ending power, or were too easily killed - Nightveil Specter and Lifebane Zombie, for instance, offer great card advantage in specific situations, but don't really pack the same punch as something like a Desecration Demon or Pack Rat army.
Finally, I settled on Drana. There are a lot of powerful five drops in black with value built in (Bloodgift Demon, for instance), but Drana does something none of the others do - she kills things, turn after turn, while being able to attack in the air for huge chunks. In a meta with Lingering Souls, Dark Confidant and Young Pyromancer, Drana seemed like an elegant solution, and so far, she has far exceeded my expectations. I do not think I should consider running multiples of her, since she is quite expensive and can be killed for no value the turn she comes into play, but untapping with her can feel a bit like untapping after a Supreme Verdict to an empty board.
No Geralf's Messenger, no Phyrexian Obliterator; only 2 Gray Merchant. I do not believe the all in devotion plan is likely to ever become Modern competitive, for sheer want of interactive capability and card advantage - if you are playing a midrange list in Modern, you need lots of early interaction in the form of hand disruption and removal, a proactive plan to end the game with efficient threats, and ways to pull ahead on cards after both players have been stripped down to limited resources. Gray Merchant is an extremely powerful card, as good as or better than Siege Rhino if it drains for upwards of five; it swings races, it ends games, it doesn't care about board stalls, and for all intents and purposes is basically a Modern legal Tendrils of Corruption (not my quote - blame LSV. Then again, that man also calls Disciple of Phenax Mind Twist, so take these statements with several grains of salt).
But despite his inherent power level, Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a very high variance card, and can sometimes be Highway Robber. Removal in Modern is aplenty, and curving out into enough devotion for Gray Merchant to be good is not a reliable plan. Even when the traditional mono black lists do manage to implement their plan - Geralf's Messenger into Gray Merchant, for instance, after having gotten two or more of their creatures removed, despite being an overall drain for seven to nine, just lacks the power/speed to push through opposing Tarmogoyf, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Grim Flayer, Death's Shadow - not to mention blue decks with their Cryptic Command and board sweepers and Sphinx's Revelation.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel in my list is therefore a card I'll often be discarding to the various discard outlets in the early game; using either the second copy or Liliana, the Last Hope's minus two to drain the opponent out if necessary later on. His being a zombie means he can be sacrificed to Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet either to simply grow the great vampire, or to be recursed with Liliana, as the situation calls.
I do not think running more than two of the card is likely to be feasible for Modern given the uncertainty of whether Merchant will be Corrupt or Highway Robber, and also given Merchant's relatively high mana cost; while it is possible that one is the correct number (and indeed, often in post board games, I do go down to one or no Merchant) at least in game 1, the proactive plan of discard, kill, kill, flier, smack, Merchant win is a very strong one. Having access to the second copy in case the first gets exiled and therefore cannot be returned with a future Liliana is also quite relevant against decks with Path to Exile and Pyxis of Pandemonium.
Despite Merchant's variance, I believe his power level and his ability to end the game on the spot through cards like Ensnaring Bridge and Witchbane Orb is not to be undervalued. In a deck with Phyrexian Arena and Ob Nixilis Reignited, every life point represents an extra card; while Highway Robber may be terrible, a five mana 2 4 that draws 4 cards on etb and drains the opponent for four is an absolutely phenomenal Magic card.
I would also like to point out the maindeck inclusion of incidental lifegain like Collective Brutality and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in conjunction with Gary makes most burn and aggro matchups extremely favourable.
While the creature suite has been carefully picked, and is constantly being chosen and rechosen and tweaked, the engine that enables this deck is Phyrexian Arena. Any interactive deck with reactive spells always runs the risk of its reactive measures not lining up well against the threats being deployed on the other side; Arena churning through the deck presents the critical mass of answers and threats to overwhelm the opponent, ensures land drops are made, and essentially in every regard dots the deck's i's and crosses its t's. With discard outlets like Collective Brutality and Liliana of the Veil to trade potentially dead cards for relevant spells early on, irksome draws with too many high cmc cards can still function smoothly and well.
RingweMakil on
6 years ago
Shleptar I'm glad you like it, give me a shout out if you have more questions you'd like to address!
As for playing more Gray Merchants - it's a terrible topdeck on an empty board state, and it's very bad in your opening hand. It's something you want to draw mid-late game, not an engine you want to rely on consistently on turn five. Modern has very good removal, and you probably won't have the necessary board state to be worth playing a Merchant. Merchant is good when it drains for five or ten, not when it's Highway Robber.
chaus12 on Strictly better list
6 years ago
Mercadian Masques
Dark Hatchling = Azimaet Drake
Fresh Volunteers = Knight Errant
Henge Guardian = Igneous Golem
Henge of Ramos = School of the Unseen
Jhovall Rider = Iron Tusk Elephant
Misshapen Fiend = Dakmor Bat = Bog Imp
Rishadan Airship = Cloud Spirit
Rushwood Dryad = Lynx = Zodiac Monkey
Skulking Fugitive = Tar Pit Warrior
Snorting Gahr = Slashing Tiger = Razorclaw Bear
Steadfast Guard = Veteran Cavalier = Alaborn Grenadier
Wild Jhovall = Tor Giant = Hill Giant = Ogre Warrior = Barbarian Horde
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