Ifnir Black -- budget mono-Black Aggro
Standard
SCORE: 34 | 10 COMMENTS | 4951 VIEWS | IN 16 FOLDERS
Ixalan Full-Spoilers Released —Sept. 15, 2017
We just got to see the full Ixalan set and the most straightforward changes after rotation are:
Vampire Cutthroat --> Vicious Conquistador
I really like Night Market Lookout for this slot, but I'd need to work in some way to tap it without attacking (namely Aethersphere Harvester) and that seems like a different deck. Deadeye Tracker is interesting but probably too slow. Blight Keeper is almost good enough, but something has gone terribly wrong if we ever get to 8 mana and Blight Keeper isn't going to be enough to dig us out of that hole. That leaves us with Vicious Conquistador, which is sorta a 2/2 for (B) -- not too shabby. It probably won't do much more than chip in a few times before being eaten by a bigger creature, but that should be fine as long as we've gone wide enough. Still, I'm gonna keep an eye out for a better 1-drop.
For other creatures, Fathom Fleet Captain is cool, but our current 2-drops are better. Kitesail Freebooter is great for more controlling decks but isn't aggressive enough for us here. I love Wanted Scoundrels but ramping our opponent by 2 is a terrible idea. All said, I'm inclined to stick with the current roster, other than Vampire Cutthroat.
Grasp of Darkness --> Walk the Plank
Obvious change. Losing instant speed and the ability to kill Hazoret really hurts but there's nothing for it.
This is another easy change. We're pretty well set up to deal with creature decks already and the cost reduction will really help us stay streamlined.
That's all the changes I'm sure about. I'm also considering trying out Sentinel Totem in Crook of Condemnation's sideboard spot. Crook is a better card overall since careful use can stop a graveyard strategy from getting off the ground if cast early and prevent it from ever rebuilding, but Sentinel Totem is much cheaper to fire off, which might matter.
Thanks for the suggestions! Glad you like the deck.
Gonti's Machinations is a weird card to evaluate. When it's good, it's really, really good, enabling some crazy-strong plays. When it's bad, it's not usually that terrible. Topdecking it with 0 energy isn't fantastic, but you're probably only one or two turns away from cracking it, even against decks that don't win with damage, and you can probably use the rest of your mana pretty efficiently. It is occasionally a dead draw, but there's usually not much that could save you in those situations anyway that you'd realistically want in the deck. I recommend playing with it a little before taking it out. It plays much better than it looks.
That said, I'm not opposed to experimenting with other options.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh is an interesting card but it feels kinda win-more here. This deck often wants to make attrition-based attacks to force trades so if we've swung with a big board and many of our creatures are still alive, we're probably winning handily anyway. Meanwhile, this does stone nothing if we're behind. I'll give it some testing, though. It's basically free on MTGO so there's no reason not to give it a whirl and see how it purrs.
I really like Aethersphere Harvester (even more than Throne) but it's a 3-drop and decidedly not stronger here than Ammit Eternal, so slotting it in would require raising the land count. It's also $2 a pop online so testing it is more difficult. My hunch is that it would work better in a deck based specifically around Throne where the goal is to tap creatures for value through non-combat means and then drain your opponent out rather than just a beat-stick.
Still, to spitball, here's a possible list of changes for this new version post-rotation:
-4 Gonti's Machinations, -4 Vampire Cutthroat, -2 Bone Picker
+4 Night Market Lookout, +3 Throne of the God-Pharaoh, +2 Aethersphere Harvester, +1 Desert of the Glorified or maybe just +1 Swamp.
That could work. Might be worth trying it out, at least.
August 31, 2017 12:54 p.m.
I like the name! Naming the deck after a desert, just like Ramunap Red. I did the same thing in green. It should be here.
Hashep Green
Standard
101 VIEWS
theo30 says... #1
Seems cool! As much as I like seeing offbeat stuff like machinations see play, I've been working with Throne of the God-Pharaoh in modern lately and I think that may end up doing more work in the long run. Aside from that, is there any merit to throwing in something like Aethersphere Harvester? Could synergize with Throne and night market post rotation. Keep it up!
August 31, 2017 11:59 a.m.