This deck (now version 2) was created as a mixture of several of my favorite themes, and surprisingly has proven very, very effective. Price wise, it is much cheaper than current tier 1 archetypes in standard, but still expensive for a "budget" deck. The initial version had Drana, Liberator of Malakir, who was largely replaced by Bygone Bishop (see the "Air" section below for why).
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Halp!! I am continually trying to refine my decks. Your input is greatly appreciated; feel free to comment. If you go so far as to playtest the deck, please let me know how it went (I'm flattered that you would try). Also, a +1 is always appreciated.
Deck Theme
This deck has three methods to attack the opponent, all of which are creature driven: drain, land, and flying attacks. This "trident" of fronts of attack make it very hard to prevent us from damaging our opponent.
Creatures
The driving engine of the deck is its creatures. In order to get them out, we need mana and card draw. The Beastcaller Savant is an excellent mana dork. Cryptolith Rite can explosively increase our access to mana once we have a few champs on the board. Even in the early rounds, if you have a few creatures on the battlefield, you can cast Rite, tap those units, and get another creature out on the same turn. Several of our creatures are not good for attacking (Beastcaller Savant,
Kalastria Healer
, and Zulaport Cutthroat) and the Rite makes them useful for mana.
Card draw is generated by Duskwatch Recruiter
and Bygone Bishop (see "Air" below). Duskwatch is a superb mana sink. With a Rite in play at the opponent's end stage, the card generation can get crazy. The Evolutionary Leap also helps us keep our hand full if our creatures are going to die. A late
March from the Tomb
can be a both unexpected and game ending flood of creatures onto the battlefield.
Prong 1: Drain
The lifedrain (and health gain) are fueled by the
Kalastria Healer
, and Zulaport Cutthroat. Almost all of our creatures are allies, and will trigger the healer's ability.
Eerie Interlude
not only can save our board state, but can re-trigger this ability. A late game Interlude with 2 healers and 3 other allies will drain 10 life, and often end the game if it resolves. The same is true if healers can take part in a
March from the Tomb
.
Prong 2: Ground
Our hero on ground offense and defense is the
Veteran Warleader
. The deck attempts to go wide, and he can get very big. More important are his optional abilities. If he is big, you can send him at the opponent. If they chump block, then you can give him trample after blockers are designated. If they put in enough threats to kill him, or an equal sized creature, then you can give him first strike, often for devastating effect. If you need him for defense, he can have vigilance too.
Prong 3: Air
Several decks in the current meta have no flying defense at all. In that situation, flying attackers can be very valuable. My first version of this deck used Drana, Liberator of Malakir as the flying threat, supported by Cliffhaven Vampire. However, Drana almost never got to scale up, and the CMC of the Cliffhaven Vampire limited his particiaption. Another problem was a lack of card advantage. If an opponent could eliminate a few threats, we would often run out of cards before we could amass an army. Because of all this I looked elsewhere and found a new gem, Bygone Bishop.
The Bygone Bishop served a role as an early game flying blocker, who might hit for a few points now and then. However, his big benefit is his investigate ability. This deck is all about putting a bunch of low CMC creatures on the battlefield, which readily generates clue tokens. The resilience and draw strength the clues provide cannot be understated. This also pushed Cliffhaven Vampire off the roster, as his high cost was limiting his role as a drain amplifier.
The other change I made for version two was adding some more removal. Often, my opponents would play a sizeable threat early in the game, and my low power/toughness creatures would be forced to chump block. In order to buy enough time to succeed, I found that the deck needed more removal. In order to make room, I dropped an
Expedition Envoy
and a Beastcaller Savant off the list. This weakened our early game and our ramp, but the benefit seems worth it.
Downgrades and Upgrades
If you want to make the deck cheaper, replacing the
Sorin, Grim Nemesis
is a reasonable first card to remove, adding another
Expedition Envoy
or Beastcaller Savant. The Westvale Abbey
can be replaced with basic land; Shambling Vent and
Hissing Quagmire
can be replaced with cheaper dual or common lands. The
Declaration in Stone
could be replaced with another Ultimate Price.
The deck is pretty tight as is, but overpowered cards like Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Archangel Avacyn
would make it stronger. Likewise Dromoka's Command could replace the Anguished Unmaking.
Sylvan Advocate
might fit as an ally, but there is actually little room to add him in the deck.
Sideboard
The 3 Duress and 3 Transgress the Mind are there to help prevent wrath spells, which are our kryptonite. The also serve well against a control deck, where an extra Evolutionary Leap is helpful. Sigarda, Heron's Grace is there for tutelage or burn decks.
