Rotting Control

Modern* djgunn

SCORE: 11 | 48 COMMENTS | 2799 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER


Bring it back —May 20, 2012

Decided it was time to revisit this deck, as it's one of my favorites, and I wanted a chance to play it again before it rotated out of standard. I've made some tweaks to the deck, as I haven't done anything with it since Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored became available.

crabopolis says... #1

i find the 1 ofs for Inkmoth Nexus , and card:Curse of Death's Hold slightly out of place. i know the moth's are infect but seems like maybe Blighted Agent would be as useful or more with a Sword of Feast and Famine .

November 12, 2011 2:58 p.m.

djgunn says... #2

Well, if I had more Inkmoth Nexus at my disposal, I'd have a playset in the deck. And the card:Curse of Death's Hold can be a pretty hefty trump card, when some one is playing weeny creatures, but I don't particularly want to play more than one, due to the cost.

November 12, 2011 5:55 p.m.

djgunn says... #3

It's looking more and more like I'm probably going to drop out Inkmoth Nexus for Nephalia Drownyard . It gives me another element of control.

November 13, 2011 3:10 p.m.

ThePoptart says... #4

I wouldn't trade the Inkmoth Nexus out for a three cost three card mill. It's just not that good a trade off, if anything you are right and should put in more Moth's.

One card:Curse of Death's Hold is perfect, for it's cost it isn't something you want to worry about all the time, but every so often it is nice to just take out the little guys that never attack or block.

Great comboing the swords with the crusaders as well. +1

November 14, 2011 1:36 a.m.

djgunn says... #5

I've been doing some serious playtesting with this deck, and I've come to a few conclusions. Inkmoth Nexus definitely stays. And I need more of them. They're, if nothing else, an amazing spot blocker when I need it. When some one swings through with a Mirran Crusader with Sword of Body and Mind and Sword of War and Peace on it, I can still activate that trusty ol' Nexus and block.

At the moment, I'm still running Lashwrithe in place of the Sword of Feast and Famine because I don't have the swords yet, and they aren't exactly cheap to get your hands on. Lashwrithe has been mediocre at best. I also really need to get another Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon in the deck, so I can draw him more reliably. I've found that so long as I can get a creature out, I can pretty reliably win, but unfortunately, I've been having trouble reliably drawing creatures. The Forbidden Alchemy 's that I just put into the deck seem to be helping. But we'll see how it continues to pan out.

I'm also considering Tribute to Hunger in the deck for some removal, because it seems like one of the areas I really hurt on in the deck. I've already pulled out Distress because it just wasn't delivering.

November 14, 2011 12:29 p.m.

tommyg2583 says... #6

I like the deck. I understand where you are coming from with those swords... but they are so darn pricy! Take a look at my "Tezzeret Infect Control" deck. Its pretty similar. One of the things i found during play is that with all the draw cards and multitude of creatures in it, i rarely wanted to spare mana for using Mana Leak . I found that creature removal came in handy a lot more. Doom Blade and Go for the Throat Regardless, +1

November 14, 2011 2:23 p.m.

djgunn says... #7

Thanks for the input tommyg2583! I've found that mana leak has been useful to be a number of times, especially with the prevalence of creatures with hexproof right now. Some one drops out a Geist of Saint Traft or Invisible Stalker and suddenly my Doom Blade and Go for the Throat are pretty useless.

But I think i'll give a go to trying some Tribute to Hunger s. See how those work out for me. And I'll give Doom Blade a go in the deck too, just to see if it does pay off reliably.

November 14, 2011 2:35 p.m.

tommyg2583 says... #8

Good point. I mostly play against my friends and they run legacy decks. Hexproof is definitely more popular now than ever.

November 14, 2011 2:46 p.m.

apbevan says... #9

card:Curse of Death's Hold does not seem like much of a trump card vs weenies as most weenie decks have cards that boost them like Honor of the Pure . A 1 off card like this does not add to the reliability but also does not terrible hurt the deck either.

I think Ponder is much better for you than Forbidden Alchemy and card:Tezzeret's Gambit much better than Think Twice

November 14, 2011 3:13 p.m.

djgunn says... #10

Ok, I made some pretty major changes to this deck, which I'm hoping are going to help me control the board better.

Removed: 4x Despise , 2x Think Twice , 1x Phyrexian Metamorph

Added: 3x card:Geth's Verdict, 2x Tribute to Hunger , 2x card:Black Sun's Zenith

And I finally have the 2 Sword of Feast and Famine I needed for the deck! No more Lashwrithe for me!

November 14, 2011 11:39 p.m.

djgunn says... #11

Also, read a fantastic article over at star city about how [ [ponder]] and Forbidden Alchemy are the best draw cards in standard right now. And I don't really need the proliferate that you get from card:Tezzeret's Gambit.

November 15, 2011 4:31 a.m.

popeyroach says... #12

I think this build looks pritty epic. maybe you could use a second skittles. however the one piece of advice I would give you is do everything you can to secure 3 more inkmoth nexus. blackmail, theft, trade your grandmother, whatever it takes. they're going to be a staple in the vast majority of decks until the day it rotates. I have 9 at the moment :p

November 15, 2011 1:02 p.m.

tommyg2583 says... #13

Haha, i traded an old card:Gaea's Cradle for 2 Inkmoth Nexus

November 15, 2011 3:02 p.m.

RiotMaker says... #14

Sounds like you made a bad deal.

November 15, 2011 3:21 p.m.

djgunn says... #15

popeyroach, I'm working on that very thing. I've had just that one little Inkmoth Nexus win games for me. I used to have 5 of them, and before they started seeing a lot of play, and sky rocketed in price, I traded them away. And also, yes, I'm working on getting another Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon for the deck, because with only one in the deck, I don't get a chance to see him often.

November 15, 2011 5:27 p.m.

Surfkatt says... #16

Im not gonna comment on the mana base because i understand the lack of duel lands and inkmonths due to money. Why are you playing the geths verdicts, damage does not seem relevant to you. I would cut them and add another tribute to hunger and 2 doom blades. Also you might take your own advice and change the alchemy's to ponder's, especially due to the lower land count. Other than that its a cool deck idea, nice job +1

November 16, 2011 7:19 p.m.

popeyroach says... #17

yeah it's very tempting to trade/sell cards when they spike in price, i've done it many times. it's a shame this game costs so much!

November 16, 2011 8:34 p.m.

djgunn says... #18

The card:Geth's Verdict can actually lead to a pretty decent combo off of Virulent Wound . The only reason I don't play more of the Darkslick Shores is because they're only good early game, and I don't want them hurting me later in the game -- I don't often have an issue hitting my mana with this deck.

I've considered the Ponder /Forbidden Alchemy switch, but with this deck, feeding my graveyard isn't such a bad thing... plus, I like playing things on the opponents turn. Though, I'm going to give them a shot, just to see how they work out.

November 17, 2011 2:23 a.m.

djgunn says... #19

Minor changes made: -1 card:Geth's Verdict to put in another Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon .

November 21, 2011 12:59 p.m.

Might I suggest using Think Twice over Forbidden Alchemy or Ponder . Sure you don't get to look for what you need, but the draw is better than both. You can play it on your opponents turn, and you can do it twice per card, putting you at 8 draw spells for 4 card slots.

November 29, 2011 5:34 p.m.

Oh, another thing I forgot, Plague Stinger is really sufficient because it's cheap, flying, 1/1 infect. It carries a Sword of Feast and Famine really well, and getting a play set of them is super easy because they're a dime a piece.

November 29, 2011 5:36 p.m.

djgunn says... #22

I tried Think Twice before I put Forbidden Alchemy in, because it's cheaper, for both of it's castings. But the chance of drawing your "out" with Think Twice on turn 4 (assuming you have 3 of your "out" in the deck) is around 7%. The chance of getting my "out" with Forbidden Alchemy on turn 4 is 23% (assuming I have 3 of my "out" int the deck).

November 29, 2011 5:38 p.m.

djgunn says... #23

I considered Plague Stinger instead of Whispering Specter . but the specter gives another nice element of control with the capability to cripple your hand. It's still something I've been considering, though.

November 29, 2011 5:40 p.m.

I think you could easily drop the Snapcaster Mage for the Plague Stinger . Sure Snappy is good, but he doesn't seem actually needed in this deck.

November 29, 2011 5:44 p.m.

djgunn says... #25

It's again, another card that just worked wonderfully for me. But I'll give the switch out a shot, and see what happens.

November 29, 2011 8:18 p.m.