Using -1/-1 counters to control your opponents board while building yours!
Initially, this was a jund list. It featured Soul-Scar Mage and a couple burn spells. The problem was it wasn't reliable enough to have both the mage on board and a burn spell, especially since you need a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons or a Nest of Scarabs to get any real value from that.
Since that wasn't reliable, it ended up being better to have a much more stable manabase and just cut the red. After doing that, I decided I needed better protection against fliers, So I added Ishkanah, the Grafwidow. Once, I added the spider queen, I needed to hit delirium more reliably because she's mediocre without it and traversing for creatures became more important. So I trimmed out the
Crocodile of the Crossing
and Fatal Push from the deck and added Liliana, the Last Hope and
Grapple with the Past
. Instead, I'll rely on spiders to protect myself.
It plays sort of like the old G/B delirium in the Emrakul days. Instead of a busted top end though, you use tokens to stall and deathtouch their board until you either have a huge board or lili ults. The deck stalls with
Filigree Familiar
giving a little life, a block, and a re-draw, and Cartouche of Ambition lifelinking, ideally on devastation beetle (which is a limited all-star, probably a little janky in constructed but he triggers your -1/-1 synergies too)
Anyway, if you want an alternative strat and like grindy midrange decks, check this out.
Only 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet because Traverse can get him if you need it and if he's in the grave, even better Liliana, the Last Hope or
Grapple with the Past
can grab him. 3 Hapatras and Ishkanahs may be wrong, particularly the spider. 2 copies of her may be better and then another Channeler Initiate to get you into the mid/late game faster and have counter synergies or even a
Crocodile of the Crossing
. Though I think you're too slow for the croc to influence the board when he comes in.
Grasp of Darkness over Fatal Push because even though this deck revolts fairly well, you can't hit Archangel Avacyn
or Glorybringer with it. I'll take the harder Mana requirements to answer almost everything push can possibly hit plus some huge midgame threats that can lead to blowouts. Plus, you need BB for Lili anyway, so it doesn't hurt your mana curve alot. Also, (it should be obvious) only use removal on threats that require an answer.
