Credit goes to Polupus for original idea.
based on polupus's combo of Dark Petition
+
Raven's Crime
+
Spellweaver Helix
where casting another raven's crime lets you tutor a land and add BBB, meaning that for every land left in your deck you can produce BB, which can then be funneled into an Exsanguinate for lethal.
I brewed with and expanded upon this idea, arriving at the current list. Syphon life is the innovation here, as Dark Petition
+
Syphon Life
+
Spellweaver Helix
is is essentially drain x where x is twice the number of lands left in your deck, effectively serving the same function as exsanguinate combo while providing more utility in the early game in terms of being a repeatable source of life drain against aggressive decks, at the cost of working against leyline of sanctity.
Considered splashing U for Trophy Mage, but the hit to mana base reliability and slots for interaction wasn't worth the greater tutoring for helix and access to U cantrips and filtering.
post board I bring in creatures at the cost of combo slots, both because most opponents will side out their removal and because they provide an alternate way of winning through hate such as Leyline of Sanctity
If they are running a very creature heavy strategy and finding maindeck removal insufficient, board in Ruinous Path as both additonal removal and removal compatible with
Spellweaver Helix
as a value engine. Damnation is another option for consideration in circumstances like these.
relic comes in as grave hate that doesn't disrupt the combo unlike grafdiggers cage.
liliana is great for overall control post board, especially since you can break parity on her plus 1 with all of the retrace cards
