A small enchantress theme, but mostly it plays a bunch of small threats to put pressure on control and uses what few tools BG has at its disposal to keep combo at bay (Creeping Corrosion, Seeds of Innocence, Bane of Progress, my Commander herself, Bojuka Bog
+
Crop Rotation
, etc.). The deck is meant to play politically, which is the only reason Survival of the Fittest isn't in - it would draw too much hate from most of the groups I've played with, and this deck really can't handle being the Archenemy. Same goes for Painful Quandary.
Cool synergies include Pharika, God of Affliction
+
Tombstone Stairwell
, Eldrazi Monument
+
Tombstone Stairwell
, Eldrazi Monument
+
Pharika, God of Affliction
, Dimir House Guard
+
Sudden Reclamation
, Bane of Progress
+
Pharika, God of Affliction
, Insidious Dreams
+
Lurking Predators
, Dowsing Shaman
+
Necromancy
, and many more.
One of my biggest challenges with this deck is being drawn in too many directions. There's the enchantress theme, the high-creature-ratio theme (Lurking Predators), the graveyard-fillers (Avenging Druid, Life from the Loam), and the need for control cards, all of which compete for space and make each other somewhat worse than they could be. I ended up nearly completely cutting a life gain theme (Sapling of Colfenor, Grim Feast, Dross Harvester. Sanguine Bond), as well as cutting some helpful graveyard fillers (Grisly Salvage) and other graveyard play (Creeping Renaissance).
My biggest disappointment though was that I felt I had to cut Garruk Relentless. I mean, this is a deck that actively makes 1/1s for your opponents so you can transform him in just about any game, AND likes all of his Veil-Cursed abilities, come on! If he doesn't fit here, he probably doesn't fit anywhere. Honestly I still sometimes want to cut the other Garruk for him, but I'm so light on card draw that it's tough to justify.
Anyway, all feedback is appreciated. Thanks!
Update 2015.05.02
OUT: Bane of the Living, Nantuko Vigilante, Grim Haruspex, Hystrodon, Hooded Hydra, Creakwood Ghoul, Seal of Primordium
IN: Scavenging Ooze, Archetype of Endurance, Mindslicer, Tajuru Preserver, Spike Cannibal, Survival of the Fittest, Garruk Relentless
Thank you to the person who suggested more tutors. There's a debate over whether Survival of the Fittest is worthy of banning right now; it seems like most members of the community feel it's no fun. I disagree, and I believe this is exactly the deck to showcase how it can be fun. Maybe my playgroup will prove me wrong.
The other tutor I added was Garruk Relentless. Kind of a worse Survival, but still better than Fauna Shaman in my opinion.
With the tutors, I was able to justify including more narrow cards like Spike Cannibal, Mindslicer, and Tajuru Preserver. I cut the Morph cards for these ones, because really the only morph card I felt I wanted in this deck is Bane of the Living, and with the exception of Hystrodon they were all pretty bad with Lurking Predators.
Creakwood Ghoul is a pet card of mine, and may make it back into the deck, especially if I decide to go with a small life-utility package (Sanguine Bond, Necropotence, that kind of thing). But as is, it's just about strictly worse than Scavenging Ooze in this deck, so the swap was made.
I am definitely not putting Virulent Plague into this deck. I intend to target my own graveyard pretty often with Pharika, that's why the Constellation cards are there and it's why Seshiro the Anointed is there. Also, I kind of like that Pharika can play politically, targeting an opponent's graveyard when that opponent is being attacked by another opponent, so you get extra value if they block with their deathtouch snake, or perfectly fine value if they don't. Plague allows me to trigger my Constellation abilities and my Oath of the Ancient Wood, but it just messes up too many other things I want to do with this deck.
