An engine-based combo deck for the M14/Theros/RTR/GC/DM sets.I was examining the positioning of mono-black control post-rotation and I realized that the best black removal and control spells in the format are actually cmc 1 creatures- so we take advantage of that fact, and the rock that's in standard, Bogbrew Witch, to create an engine that's capable of winning games.Bogbrew is a card that's well-positioned, since removal is not played heavily. Shock and Doom Blade are the most playable removal spells in this new standard, and Bogbrew is both out of burn range and is Black, and therefore avoids these pratfalls. It also, being cmc 4, is out of range of Abrupt Decay, which will see heavy play to counter Detention Sphere, which cauldron is decent at protecting our board against.The main problem with this engine is that it peters out after a while. You get four newts, and your opponent is still at a considerable life total, and probably has better board position than you, but has been disrupted, letting you get to later turns.Here, the recursion baked fresh into this brew kicks in.To make the cauldrons useful again, we have to recur our newts, which are in our graveyards, if things have gone well. To do this, we utilize Immortal Servitude, which lets us recur all of our cmc 1 creatures from the graveyard. We can then immediately reuse our Newts to wipe the board and maybe finish them off; and, with Drainpipe Vermin, limit our opponent's resources.Supposing we're gaining some decent amount of life in the course of this game, we should have a means of utilizing that; and since our things die so much, it makes sense to use a strong engine that was printed in m14- Dark Prophesy. As we recur our newts with immortal servitude, we get a substantial draw advantage with dark prophesy, possibly netting us further Immortal Servitudes- and since we're using bubbling cauldron, we can maintain a reasonable life total and use the newts as instant-speed removal. It also must be said that Immortal Servitude can recur our cmc 4 creatures later in the game, and to that effect, the fairly strong Slum Reaper has been included for purposes of recursion. Slum Reaper also has synergy with Drainpipe Vermin.
Since our curve is high and our mana demands are considerable, I use a large mana base of 26 lands, which is the high-end, and also include corrupt, which can finish off our opponent immediately if they are low enough.
The idea behind this deck is that it's a combo-control engine, working to give itself enough time through disruption to do enough damage to win the game- and the nice part is that the combo pieces are themselves useful in the beginning parts of the game.
Does anyone have any suggestions to improve the deck's synergistic interactions between Bogbrew, Newt, and Immortal Servitude? I feel like the rest of the deck is fairly weak, except for Corrupt, which I feel is well-positioned.
