The Deck
A work in progress Temur Bloodbraid deck splashing black for Kolaghan's Command, Abrupt Decay and Terminate. However, with 8 Fetchlands + 3 Black Shocks, as well as Lotus Cobra fixing, casting these spells shouldn't be an issue.
The deck wants to stabilize the early game with our black and red removal package, then finish out with efficient threats such as Savage Knuckleblade, Tarmogoyf, and Tireless Tracker that Bloodbraid Elf can cascade into.
Card Choices
The deck is fairly consistent in getting what you want off of Bloodbraid Elf whenever you want. Serum Visions and Courser of Kruphix allow you to easily see and prepare what you cascade into, while Savage Knuckleblade and Tireless Tracker are some of the best creatures you can hit.
A small land engine is used in the deck with Courser of Kruphix, Tireless Tracker, and Lotus Cobra allows you to hit nearly every land drop, while producing enough mana to consistently crack clues and cast any spell you might have in your hand. All these cards work very well with fetchlands. Courser of Kruphix lets you see if the top card of your library is worth shuffling away, and lets you see if it might be worth holding off on cracking a fetch to draw whats next first. Lotus Cobra gets 2 mana on fetches, and lets you cast a Bloodbraid Elf on turn 3 with an extra red or green floating in case you hit a Savage Knuckleblade or Scavenging Ooze. Tireless Tracker, like Lotus Cobra, has it's effect go off twice, giving us additional card draw.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance, while it cannot be hit with Cascade in this deck, still provides great value. She pings our opponents, gives us additional mana, and helps keep the top of your library clear of unplayable lands revealed with Courser of Kruphix, and can even allow you to set up a spell to cast early with Serum Visions. In the worst case, she removes a blocker.
All of our instants act as removal and/or tempo plays. Generally, the worst card we can hit with the deck is Lotus Cobra, and even then it isn't too terrible, as it works with the above cards.
Eternal Witness is a solid card recovery option that can be hit by Bloodbraid Elf to bring back the best card in our graveyard. Scavenging Ooze helps keep graveyards clean and allows us to mess with any type of reanimation deck, or anything with small creatures we destroy. Tarmogoyf, simply put, is a big dumb beater.
The Sideboard
I have not had much of a chance to see what my best sideboard options are at the moment, so the current one is just basic cards in preparation of the meta. Check back later after it has been adjusted.
Other Options
One good option to consider for the mainboard is Tribal Flames. Despite being a Sorcery, the ability to pay 2 mana (or 4 and get a 3/2 Hasty beater) to kill a creature or deal 4 damage to the face shouldn't be overlooked.
If you're worried about Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Liliana of the Veil, Dreadbore is a decent alternative to Terminate. It still fits the role of a basic removal spell, but pairs unfavorably against cards like Celestial Colonnade and Restoration Angel on the defensive. In addition, as Dreadbore is not an instant, you can't sneak it out with Lotus Cobra and an uncracked fetchland on an opponent's turn. I would recommend against cards like Hero's Downfall in this shell, as the deck runs too few black sources to pay the cost effectively, even with Lotus Cobra.
Speaking of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, it seems like he would work pretty well in this deck. Brainstorm is an extremly powerful card with cascade and fetchlands, and Jace is a card that will eventually win the game itself. Getting to Fateseal 2 or Scry 2 every turn is also nice, and in the worse case bouncing a blocker can be a decent tempo play. As far as other planeswalkers, if you want to run fewer non creature spells and remove black, Domri Rade seems like a great fit. Getting to draw another card each turn is nice, though his other modes will not be used as much. Domri also seems good in situation where you get to play him for free off of a cascade trigger. Speaking of cascade, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is another great addition to a deck like this. She produces blockers to protect herself, and can pump the team to break through a board, making Courser of Kruphix more than just a blocker and Lotus Cobra more than a board decoration. The only major downside is that it feels like she doesn't do enough. You probably won't get her ultimate, but if you can protect her, drawing ~5-6 cards should get you close to a win.
Painful Truths is a great and efficient draw card, but pairs extremely terribly with Bloodbraid Elf. If you want to draw more cards, look somewhere else, such as Ancestral Vision, Telling Time, or Compulsive Research. Ancestral Vision is backbreaking off of cascade, and Compulsive Research gets us 3 cards deep, and allows us to discard any lands we have had stuck in our hand. Telling Time combos with Bloodbraid Elf,
Courser of Kruphix, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance to an extent.
Speaking of card draw, Sultai Charm does a little bit of everything the deck might want. It can remove some key creatures such as Tarmogoyf and Death's Shadow, destroy any annoying enchantments or artifacts if we're going against affinity, bogles, lantern, or Hollow One, and in the worst case digs 2 cards deep, and lets us discard the worst card in our hand. Continuing on modal spells...
If you want to run counterspells, some of the best options are Izzet Charm and/or Supreme Will. Both cards are great counterspells in that they won't have to counter our spells if we cascade into them. Izzet Charm has an additional option or loot, while Supreme Will has the option to Impulse. They aren't normally the best counterspells, but they do work in a deck like this.
Possible Changes
Currently thinking about cutting something for another Savage Knuckleblade, but not sure what. Most likely an Eternal Witness.
I also feel like the deck could use some more card draw, and am considering running Ancestral Vision, but it just feels too clunky, as we do not have any way to reliably manipulate the top card of our deck, and it is a dreadful draw after our opening hand.
