Pack Rats or Deathrite Shamans?
Deck Help forum
Posted on July 22, 2014, 7:31 p.m. by rochdalekilla9
So I built a new deck that centers around Waste Not and Shrieking Affliction . I never playtested it and brought it to MNM and went 3-1, collecting third place. I was happy with the results but lacked Liliana Vess and another Waste Not , which are now in the deck. What my question for all of you is, what do you think fits better in this deck, Pack Rat or Deathrite Shaman ? I found myself siding out Pack Rat for almost every game 2 and was wondering if Deathrite Shaman would be more beneficial. Help would be wonderful and if you like the deck or have comments, feel free to comment and +1!
Here is the deck:Goodbye Hand, Hello Victory
rochdalekilla9 says... #3
Slycne I understand that perfectly. I think that makes sense all around. Do you think I should add another Pack Rat or two? Or is 2 enough do you think?
July 22, 2014 7:52 p.m.
Personally, I would shave 2 Rakdos's Return for the 3rd-4th Pack Rat . Your 23 land deck isn't going to be firing off Rakdos's Return for a relevant amount that often. And while Pack Rat might not be the best card in every match-up: discard spell taking their removal T1 into T2 Pack Rat can win games all on its own. That's a pretty rare quality for any card.
July 22, 2014 8:05 p.m.
Personally, I think DRS is actually better in your situation. All of your discarding will feed the graveyard and give him plenty of targets. Pack Rat requires that you invest more resources into him, and since you don't have a ton of card draw options, I think he hurts you in the long run. The tokens from Waste Not will give you the board presence you need, but currently you don't have anything that really takes advantage of a full graveyard. That's where DRS can come in and round out your strategy.
July 22, 2014 8:09 p.m.
rochdalekilla9 says... #6
The Rakdos's Return helped me win games. It wasn't there to inflict a whole lot of damage but merely to take away the rest of the cards in their hand in order for Shrieking Affliction to take effect. Although I am not opposed to taking out 1 or 2 of them to fit in either 2 more Pack Rat s or 2 Deathrite Shaman s. kmcree, that is exactly why i was thinking about DRS in the first place. Their graveyards get filled with all sorts of things and I am not utilizing that aspect of the deck and DRS would be ideal for that. I would mainly use its ability to gain life to stabilize or to make them use life. Both of your points are valid. I may use 2 of each but I don't know yet.
July 22, 2014 8:30 p.m.
rochdalekilla9 says... #7
And then I'm an idiot and didn't realize Deathrite Shaman s third ability needs a forest to operate. Dang.
July 22, 2014 8:46 p.m.
rochdalekilla9 says... #8
But I really would only need to utilize his second ability because I would have a lot of instants and sorcerys in my graveyard so he is completely useful...this is why magic is awesome...so many things one can do.
Slycne says... #2
I still like Pack Rat for your deck. You're going to hit situations where both you and your opponent are in top deck mode and rather than all your discards spells being dead draws Pack Rat gives you something useful to do with them.
July 22, 2014 7:41 p.m.