I've been testing this list for awhile now & I believe it has the mettle to go from a tier 2/1.5 deck to perchance a tier 1.
The main strategy is to outvalue the opponent. This is easier said than done as we are outside of the archetypical value colors (Ie; G/B/x). However, we still manage to accomplish a value driven game that gains an incremental foothold for every spell we cast.
How do we accomplish this?
Squadron Hawk, Lingering Souls, Pack Rat, Darkblast & Syphon Life (Why not raven's crime you ask? We already have enough mb hand hate, this helps you stabile late game whilst providing a means to slowly bleed your opponent out should you not have any of the win conditions on the field and are not drawing into anything besides land).
As you may have correctly noticed, all these cards have a synergy with Pack Rat. You can pitch these cards to the Rat and still gain value whilst building an army that becomes unstoppable after 2 or 3 turns. The card's however, with the exception of Squadron Hawk are strong enough on their own to ensure you out value your opponent and win the game incrementally.
The swords, ie; Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Fire and Ice, serve as nifty ways to beef up our weaker cards (Squadron) or turn our win-con's into unstoppable monsters, ala: Mirran Crusader. Sword of Light and Shadow has a nifty interaction with Pack Rat as you can bring back creature's you discarded to make a rat to repeat the process.
The 2 of Dark Confidant ensures we stay with the card draw of control decks, whilst not encumbering us so that we would struggle against aggro decks. The singular Darkblast is included as both rat food and a way to kill your Dark Confidant without losing card advantage.
Mirran Crusader is included as a way to punish G/B/X decks and to survive the onslaught of Tarmogoyf or other g/b/x value machines, ie; Thragtusk. He also serves as an exceptionally fast way to close out a game whilst equipped with one of our swords.
Our planeswalker's, namely: Lilianna of the Veil & Sorin, Solemn Visitor - can either be classified as "win-more" or stabilization factors. They hep us stabilize by drawing aggo, forcing the opponent to sac creatures or discard (Lilianna) and or giving our creatures lifelink & increasing their power or creating another blocker (Sorin). Both their ultimates are relatively easy to pull off should you have control of the game by the time you land one. Both have the potential to win a game by themselves. They therefore aid our game plan whilst qualifying as win conditions themselves.
Our removal suite comprises of a playset of Path to Exiles - which function as general cheap removal and can hit everything except pro-white creatures such as a Stornmbreath Dragon (Which luckily is not played much in modern). A singular Slaughter Pact to catch combo decks by surprise or to prevent alpha strikes which would kill you. Darkblast serves as rat food and a way to deal with
Vendillion Clique
, 2 toughness creatures and tokens in general - or it can be a convenient way to kill off your Dark Confidant. The singular Dismember serves as colorless removal to shut down threats such as Magus of the Moon & Stormbreath Dragon - it also kills indestructible creatures such as a Sarkhan. 2 Utter End serve as general purpose removal that can hit all problems throughout the game.
Our hand hate package consists of 3 Thoughtseize which generally take care of any problem you may have. 2 inquistion of kozilek which are our preferred t1 scouting method against unknown decks & 3 Tidehollow Sculler the name sake of the deck, a way to potentially wreck an opponent's hand whilst providing a beater or a way to simply see their hand and draw out removal.
4 Lingering Souls provide a stong counter to many decks. They also help stave or R/X aggro decks and G/B/x decks. Combined with Vault of the Archangel it can lead to opponents being hesitant to attack you & or resulting in one of their creatures deaths due to their negligence.
Our land base is one typical of W/B/x decks and thus I will not delve too deeply into the choices I have made. We do however run 1 mana confluence to potentially go up to 3 charges on Engineered explosives.
MATCHUPS
COMBO
Side in: Illness in ranks (Twin), Rest in Peace (Storm), Rule of Law (storm), Memoricide, Auriok Champion (Twin), Kor Firewalker (Storm)
Side out: Mirran Crusader, Utter End
Our matchup against combo are good postboard - where we can side in things such as Illness in the ranks (Twin), Memoricide, engineered explosives (twin), rule of law & Auriok champion and in some respects kor firewalker (If storm is still a thing).
ZOO
Side in: Engineered Explosives, Auriok Champion, Kor Firewalker
Side out: Squadron Hawk, Utter End, Thoughtseize
Engineered Explosives, Path to Exile, Auriok Champion & Massacre Wurm provide us with effiecient answers to their varied threats. If the version of zoo you are facing is the Tribal zoo variant, side in Kor Firewalker to stave off some of their burn. Our Matchup is 50/50 pre board, and perhaps 65/50 post board. This is not an easy matchup - and requires you to pilot the deck correctly to pull of a win.
CONTROL VARIANTS
Side in:Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Disenchant, Memoricide
Side out: Mirran Crusader, 2 Path to Exile, Squadron Hawk.
Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Disenchant - provide us our means to combat control decks. Rest in peace shuts down gy strategies and Snapcaster Mage however it also impacts our mainboard strategy, so beware. Stony silence shuts down Batterskull etc. Disenchant is encluded as misc removal for anything they may have sided in against us, ie; Ghostly Prison, Leyline of Sanctity. If their list is very enchantment heavy do not be afraid to side in a Paraselene.
BOGLES
Postboard this matchup is very much weighed in our favor. Preboard however the matchup is in favor of bogles as our only answer to their enchantments is when we reach 4 mana, Utter End or Lilianna's -2.
Side in: Engineered Explosives, Paraselene, Massacre Wurm, Disenchant
Side out: Path to Exile, any other targetted removal.
R/X aggro / Burn
Preboard is determined on how well you manage your resources & utilize you lifegain sources. Post board is somewhat in our favor, however this matchup will be a tough one and will test your mettle as a pilot.
Side in: Kor Firewalker, Auriok Champion, Rule of Law, Memoricide
Side out: Utter End, Thoughtseize
AFFINITY
Preboard the machup is in favor of Affinity. Postboard it swings in our favor.
SIDE IN: Stony Silence, Disenchant, Memoricide
SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize
That about covers it I believe. Let me know if you have any suggestions and or improvements! Thanks.
