Deck Changes
Araganor, 11 years ago
Sorry guys! The deck is now $25 (SO EXPENSIVE, right?), thanks to the inclusion of Young Pyromancer, who should definitely be worth it. The Pyromancer should help to stall out the early game with 1/1 tokens while you are waiting for your Possibility Storm to hit the board. Then, Young Pyromancer will double in token output, since the first spell you cast with the Storm still triggers its ability! Yay! Dropped Divination, hopefully it shouldn't affect things too much. On the bright side, if you cast Blast of Genius now, you know for sure you will be getting another Blast of Genius. I may end up upping the Blast count to 3 though, we'll see.
First battles
delectabletea, 11 years ago
So first up I went up against a standard Boros deck running Boros Reckoner, Frontline Medic and similar annoying battalion guys. The ground assault removal was awesome when it came for free from Burning-Tree Emissary. I easily broke down the battalion mechanic for a swing and won 4/4 games with Savageborn Hydra attacks.
Next up I faced off against a Rakdos/Goblin token deck hybrid that I beat 3/4 using the same spot removal. Lost one game to Rubblebelt Raiders that just escalated too quickly for me to catch up with even after throwing in some bloodrush.
Finally I went up against a white weenie deck that used Cavalry Pegasus to fly loads of annoying heroic and battalion cards over my big creatures. Lost one to an over-enchanted hero flying over all my big hitters, but thrashed him in the other matches using Mizzium Mortars to wipe his board and Gruul Charm to pick out the Cavalry Pegasus and his flying buddies.
Domri Rade is a beast and showed up more often than I expected, ramping him in on turn 2 was awesome and allowed me to get his ultimate off in one of the matches for an easy win. I'll be removing the 3 Gyre Sage to beef up Gruul Charm Ground Assault and Hunter's Guile to playsets as these cards really shone and the more access the better. Skarrg Guildmage is out because I nearly always won with a Ghor-Clan Rampager Bloodrush so the trample is just not needed. I'll add in some Nylea, God of the Hunt if I get a couple to give a solid trample. Have added x2 Mistcutter Hydra to keep the pressure on in the early game, but more often that not a bloodrushed Burning-Tree Emissary paved the way for a quick double strike victory when Savageborn Hydra stomped in around turn 4. Vastwood Hydra performed quite well and was surprisingly handy for setting up a Savageborn Hydra kill with each of its tokens being worth two damage when transferred to Savageborn's double strike. My only other thought is to take a couple of extra high power bloodrush cards to make the Gruul Charm no blocking more decisive and brutal and get a victory a turn earlier. Domri Rade was awesome for scrying the creatures I needed and will definitely be in the final deck as a pair if I can trade for another one.
All in all the deck has now received a few tweaks and I believe it to be quite successful in early playtesting.
Old Comments
TroyG, 11 years ago
jackalope117, 11 years ago
Updated for Born of the Gods.
Trying out Fall of the Hammer for a bit, normally Lightning Strike but want to see if the possible more damage and lifelink from Whip of Erebos make up for the drawbacks.
Playtested
MrMeToo, 11 years ago
Made a few tweaks. Fairing pretty well. Beats red, golgari, BUW, devo. My biggest threat is esper control I'd say. Sideboard has a good mix to counters counters.
Most awesome win swing!
DodgeNDive, 11 years ago
Okay, so try to follow through, because it was so awesome!
It's turn 7, amongst other cards, I have the following in hand: Bioshift, Corpsejack Menace, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
On the field, I have:
1 Sylvan Caryatid, 1 Elvish Mystic, 1 Corpsejack Menace, 1 Garruk Wildspeaker, 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, 2 Overgrown Tomb
, and 2 Forest.
I didn't play any land because Nyx was the only land in my hand so I used Garruk's +1, giving me a Corpsejack Menace, 1 Gyre Sage, 1 Sylvan Caryatid, and 2 Forest
After some time thinking, it began:
Tap 2 forests, tap Nykthos: 5 G mana from devotion. Tap Tomb for a B, spend 3G from Nykthos to play the second Corpsejack - 2 floating G.
Play Nykthos, destroying the first and used the 2 floating G to tap it, now 6G mana from devotion. Tap the second Tomb for a B, spend 3G to play the third Corpsejack - 3 floating G.
Used 2 floating G to play Gyre Sage from hand
Tapping Sylvan Caryatid on field + the last floating G let me cast the sylvan caryatid in hand, triggering Gyre Sage's Evolve.
1 counter for evolve, doubled by first Corpsejack (2 counters), doubled again by the second Corpsejack (4 counters), doubled again by the third Corpsejack (8 counters).
I swing with my first Corpsejack Menace which goes unblocked as my opponent went full swing at me the previous turn with a Brave the Elements
Tap Elvish Mystic, play instant Bioshift moving the 8 counters from my Gyre Sage to my Corpsejack, which triggers Corpsejack's ability:
8 counters doubled by first (16), second (32), and third Corpsejack (64). I swing for 68 damage with a 68/68 Corpsejack Menace for the win!
A New Take On Mono-Black Control
darkmist29, 11 years ago
I've played a few games with the new changes. I'm pleasantly surprised. The concept is that I have creatures in the deck that are hard to get rid of. I can only have around 8 creatures. Lifebane Zombie is doing well in the deck but the opponent will remove it before it does too much damage. I needed some creatures with staying power. Dark Revenant was an obvious choice. Haunted Plate Mail tends to avoid a lot of things, and can deal with creatures that have protection from black. I haven't had the chance to buff a Plate Mail with Liliana, but I like that idea.
The feeling I get from playing is that there is some nice synergy that can happen with my current set of cards. And with the recent addition, here are some nice two card combinations.
Liliana's buff gives me some nice options if the other player is tapped out.
*Liliana + Dark Revenant
*Liliana + Pack Rat
*Liliana + Haunted Plate Mail
The Pack Rat likes me to have extra cards, and sometimes I'm not going to need certain cards.
*Pack Rat can eat a Mind Rot, or a Thoughtseize when the person has no cards.
*Pack Rat can eat a Plate Mail when I have sufficient creatures already - like the Pack Rat!
*Pack Rat can eat a removal card like Devour Flesh if they have no creatures.
*Pack Rat can eat a Dark Revenant if I have too many in my hand at the time. Really you only need one Dark Revenant, unless you don't have anything else.
*Pack Rat can eat those extra Swamps that Liliana can pull out.
*Pack Rat can eat extra cards that Underworld Connections pulls.
*Dark Revenant + Haunted Plate Mail
*Dark Revenant + Underworld Connections if your Revenant dies, at least you get a card.
That explains just about all the reasons I have for the cards in the deck thus far. I'm going to look over the list of black and artifact cards again, just to be sure. But I think this is pretty good for starters. The only card I miss is Diabolic Tutor But I haven't found a place for it yet.
FNM results (3-1)
Bromjunaar, 11 years ago
The deck did awesome last night, holding it's own in all of its match-ups. Surprisingly, I never played any control decks (though there were a couple there) nor any RDW.
Match 1: 2-0 vs Selesnya The first match was verse a Selesnya deck helmed by a guy who had just returned to magic. Blow out the first game, fair match the second.
Match 2: 2-1 vs Gruul Went up against a Gruul deck running most of the staples, including a couple Mistcutter Hydra. The sideboard Pacifism were great in that scenario. Managed to pull out a win during game 3 due to some very lucky topdecking after mulling down to five cards.
Match 3: 1-2 vs Naya midrange This match was vs a guy running Voice of Resurgence and Advent of the Wurm in a Naya shell. Lost the 3rd game because I chose to attack into him with my one creature after dropping the Sphere of Safety onto the field at which point he dropped an Advent to block and kill it (had some 2 enchants on a Hopeful Eidolon.
Match 4: 2-1 vs Gruul Went up vs a Gruul deck running both of the R/G plainswalkers as well as Primeval Bounty which led to some longer games after neither of us could draw into what we needed to end the 3rd game until the round was over.
Considering pulling the Bred for the Hunt as I never pulled it when I needed it and it was generally the first item I would sideboard out. I think I'm going to switch it and Sphere of Safety and try that for a while.
Big Change
Taejam, 11 years ago
I took out quite a few things and added some more aggressive creatures and the deck runs quite a bit faster now In FNM I placed fourth instead of 10th which is what I placed last week so I think it helped
First FNM Testing
Sweet-Nightmare, 11 years ago
So what I saw was if I didn't draw the demon early, or if he was countered or killed, I lost a lot of traction, or I would draw a Frostburn Weird or Steam Augury and feel disappointed. I think it's time to take my old buddy Guttersnipe for another go. He's frail, but turns counters and kills into burns, and this deck sorely needs just a small bump in speed, since I can't Sphinx's Revelation my way back from death. Ashiok performed exactly as I hoped, as a really helpful distraction, though I'm learning to watch out for grave recursion before stealing anything with it. I despise Thoughtseize, but can't deny it's a good card, so I'm keeping two. I didn't like my lack of card draw, so I added a Divination, Opportunity, and two Read the Bones. I really wish there was a standard Exsanguinate type card that didn't need devotion. I can always hope for the next set, eh?
I ended up going 2-2 out of four rounds of swiss, and I feel like it performed well, but could do better. We'll see what happens next week.
FMN 11/15/2014
Rasta_Viking29, 11 years ago
Decided to splash blue at the last minute. Took the deck without any playtesting and was pleasantly surprised.
2-2 Overall
Round 1 Esper Control 2-1
Game 1 went to Esper after stabilizing at 4 life with a Sphinx's Revelation. Game 2 was won with 1 Mountain and 3 Rakdos Cackler + 2 Shock. Game 3 I overwhelmed and won with devotion.
Round 2 Mono-Black Devotion 1-2
Came up 1 damage short of taking game 3
Round 3 Mono-Blue Devotion 0-2
Lost 2 close games. Game 1 was 2 damage short and Game 2 was 1 damage short
Round 4 Opponent Dropped
Overall I was pleased. Came up a little short but I've fixed that with Boros Charm and will be playing with the Stars & Stripes deck.
Completely Rebuilt
Rasta_Viking29, 11 years ago
The last build was kind of a mess with the blue splash so I rebuilt it mono-black.
3rd place at FNM Bayshore!
arimondry, 11 years ago
Went 3-0 at FNM and took 3rd! Round 1- Vs. Aggressive Boros Deck Wins 2-1, the deck was very fast, and he had a bunch of Boros Recknoners as well; he won the second game with Ash Zealots and direct burn. I was able to ram with a Spark Trooper midgame and get ahead. Relied a lot on Chained to the Rocks in the sideboard, and Fiendslayer Paladin helped a lot as well. Round 2- Vs. Mono-Green Devotion 2-0, the deck was not super fast but presented a bit of a problem with stuff like Polukranos and Boon Satyr, until I removed them with Charms. I was able to stomp through pretty easily and keep pace. And Nylea was a problem until I could remove creatures and get their devotion down. Round 3- Vs. Golgari Midrange Control 2-1, excellent build. Abrupt Decay and putrefy were the main removal sources, along with Hero's Downfall. Lost a game due to a pumped-up Lotleth Troll and a Boon Satyr, but was able to come back full force. Spark Trooper was a help yet again, and it was still relatively easy to deal with Polukranos. Even if he did Thohtseize one of my a Fiendslayer Paladins. But my opponent really knew what he was doing and was a pleasure to play against. It was an incredibly close match.
Changed Main/Side in Response to Comments
exodus359, 11 years ago
Cut 2 Jace, Memory Adept from main and moved into side.
Cut 2 Pithing Needle from side to make room for the Jace, Memory Adept.
Removed 3 Magma Jet completely.
Added 1 Doom Blade to main. Making a 2-2 split with Ultimate Price.
Added 2 Stormbreath Dragon to main. Needed a new alt win con with the removal of jjace, memory adept.
![Loathing, Hate, and Malice [Grixis Control] thumbnail](http://static.tappedout.net/chart/0-40-35-25-0-small.png)
![Frostburn Weird feature for Loathing, Hate, and Malice [Grixis Control]](http://static.tappedout.net/mtg-cards/return-to-ravnica/frostburn-weird.jpg)
Help request.
Chrysis, 11 years ago
I'm looking for places for the following cards. I'm light on Mana now.Phyrexian Delver Eastern Paladin Western Paladin and Rise of the Dark Realms.
Only the strong
Chrysis, 11 years ago
Thanks to MagicMike69 Aelorith2117 and MisterListertheSisterFister. I've been weeding out the chaff from this deck. Thank all 3 of you for your time and comments. Changing out Skinrender for Tsabo's Assassin (who is a zombie!) Adding in Sheoldred, the Whispering One Jet Medallion and Phyrexian Obliterator. I'm loving the changes so far.
FNM
owenps99, 11 years ago
I went 4-1 at fnm the first time I played this deck.
Match 1 against golgari midrange: Game one he played first, and got out anExperiment One and Kalonian Tusker by turn two. I couldn't stop his big creatures, as my creatures are mostly 2/1. I stayed on the defense until I could get out my Elspeth, Sun's Champion (took it out), but it was too late by the time I got her out. Game two, I got out way too fast, Dryad Militant T1, the Precinct Captain turn two. Soon enough I had an army of tokens, and finished him off with Ajani, Caller of the Pride. Game 3, same thing. Mvp of the match was Precinct Captain. He went 0-3 then Dropped.
1-0
Match 2 against junk midrange Game 1, he Thoughtseized away my Ajani, Caller of the Pride.soon I started beating him down with Soldier of the Pantheonas he was only playing multicolor creatures. Soon He started to stabilize and layed down a Blood Baron of Vizkopa to finish me off. Game two I played Soldier of the Pantheon t1, Precinct Captain, and used Banisher Priest on his Reaper of the Wilds. ( he tapped out for it.) I won with Ajani, Caller of the Pride soon after. Game three he kept a one lander, and couldn't draw a land until turn three. When he did get a creature out, I played Azorius Arrester and swung for lethal. He went on to go 4-1. mvp of the match was Soldier of the Pantheon
2-0
Match 3 against B/U/G ramp midrange
Game 1 he had two Sylvan Caryatids ou, which my little creatures couldn't get past except the Daring Skyjek. He held me off until he could get out Reaper of the Wilds and Kalonian Hydra. Game two, I got a Daring Skyjek and Hopeful Eidolon (which I took out), and beat him down until I could top deck an Ajani, Caller of the Pride. Game three he got off to a fast start with a turn three Reaper of the Wilds. I layed down a bunch of little guys, and attempted to overwhelm him. I brought him down To 8 life, until he golgari charmed most of my creatures away, except for 2 Precinct Captains and a Daring Skyjek with a +1 counter on him from Ajani, Caller of the Pride. Next turn I banish his Kalonian Hydra, and swing with everybody. he blocks a Precinct Captain with Reaper of the Wilds, and chump blocks the other with a mana dork. Hes down to 5 now. Next turn, I draw a banisher priest, and swing with everybody again. He kills theBanisher Priest, and chump blocks the Precinct Captain. I banish then Kalonian Hydra again. He's down to 2. All I have is a Banisher Priest and a Precinct Captain. He has a Reaper of the Wilds, Sylvan Caryatid and an Elvish Mystic. He passes to me, where I draw a Gods Willing, to put the game away. Mvp of the match was Daring Skyjek. He went on to go 3-2.
3-0
Match 4 against selesnya tokens This match was the easiest of the day. He didn't have any removal, and got out just a bit late. I beat him down very hard with Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Daring Skyjek.game two same exact thing, I had an army of guys, including a Soldier of the Pantheon who was immune to theArmada Wurm out. Eventually he plays some mana dorks and an Advent of the Wurm, but I put the game away with an Ajani, Caller of the Pride flying double strike. Mvp of the match were both Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Daring Skyjek. He went 3-2.
4-0
Match 5 against mono blue devotion There's not much to say about this matchup, I couldn't get out fast enough, and he layed down lots of devotion. His hand was too fast and hit me too hard. He had too many fliers for Ajani, Caller of the Pride or Daring Skyjek to be relevant.
4-1
I got 21 dollarsand second place, so I got some zendikar lands, 3 packs of theros and an m14 pack. I pulled a Thoughtseize, a Hero's Downfall, and some crap.
FNM Results
jdeedrick, 11 years ago
Round 1 Black/Red Aggro 2-0
This deck does well against aggro. The deck has enough 1 drops to block the early haste guys; it also has life gain with the nylea's bow and Scavenging Ooze, which helps get a little extra life if you get low.
Round 2 Blue/White Control 0-2
My deck needs more Heroes Downfall to deal with Elspeth, the Sun's Champion. Game two I sided in Savage Summoning, Pithing Needle, and Vraska the Unseen. I saw one Pithing Needle, but it was taken out by a Detention Sphere.
Round 3 Blue/White Control 2-0
This deck was more white than the last one. Also this deck didn't perform. Game 1 he got land flooded and Game 2 he didn't get enough land to control me.
Round 4 White Devotion w/ Red 1-1-1
Game 1 I got a Kalonian Hydra and it never got answered so I won.
Game 2 He got an early board presences and I didn't get enough land to keep up.
Game 3 Neither one of us could attack and win. He should have won, but never drew and card to break the stalemate. Time ran out with to large boards.
Overall the night went well. I would like to get more Hero's Downfall and one more Nylea, God of the Hunt. Any suggestions are welcome.
mukas999, 11 years ago
Playtesting:
Esper Control (deck:esper-cutroll)
(2-0)
Game 1:
My one creature in hand was duressed, but I top decked a Rakdos Cackler and then a Tormented Hero which both did some work. He used two removal spells on my guys, the first killed off the cackler, the second I negated with Orzhov Charm to save the hero. I then played the hero, and triggered heroic twice to win. This game was made alot easier by his shock lands, I basically only had to do him 14 to win.
Game 2:
Much closer game, he dominated early with Detention Sphere, Far / Away, and Azorius Charm, so by turn 5 he was still at a healthy 16. He then played a Blood Baron of Vizkopa (sideboard), which seriously worried me. I answered by emptying a hand of creatures I'd been drawing all game. After I pass the turn and he plays a Soldier of the Pantheon I had 5 creatures facing him down, with a hand of two enchantments, and him a hand of two land. I top decked a doom blade to kill the soldier, then played a Gift of Orzhova on a Rakdos Cackler. The life gain battle went back and forth for a few truns with no big top decks, untill I hit an Orzhov Charm. That was only just in time, as he top decked a Hero's Downfall, but I was able to save my cackler and win a few turns later.
Matcup Rating: 3/5 (Even
GW Aggro (Conclaves Boombox)
(2-0)
Game 1: Could gave been pretty bad, he got way ahead after killing a Rakdos Cackler plus enchantment with a Selesnya Charm token, and then slamming a Soldier of the Pantheon and a Loxodon Smiter, but I had an Orzhov Charm for the smiter, and a Doom Blade for the soldier. I then made him sac a wurm token to Agent of the Fates and won with the agent.
Game 2: I had the god draw (Agent of Fates into Dark Favor into Dark Favor he was super low before finding a removal spell (Selesnya Charm) but I just saved it with Orzhov Charm and the heroic triggers were enough to win.
Matchup Rating: 4/5 (good)
Green Red Land Destruction Midrange (Land breaker 2013)
(0-2)
Game 1: Triple High Priest of Penance all eat removal spells, before a Sylvan Caryatid lands for him, and an Agent of the Fates lands for me. He tries to Mizzium Mortars the agent, but I save it with Orzhov Charm triggering heroic and causing him to sac his Sylvan Caryatid, I replay the Agent of the Fates but he uses Mizzium Mortars and I'm left with no creatures and a hand with only a Doom Blade and a Scourmark. He drops a Xenagos, the Reveler and starts churning out tokens. I draw only enchantments for the rest of the game and he wins on turn 12.
Game 2: Absolute Blow out. I kept a one land 6 and his land blow ups meant I never had another. Ended the game with a Stormbreath Dragon monstrosity with me at 6 cards in hand.
Matchup Rating: 2/5 (Bad)
Orzhov Midrange (deck:propaganda-due-orzhov-midrange)
(0-2)
Game 1: Game ones in this matchup are pretty rough. I'm just dead to alot of cards in his deck, and Agent of the Fates, while he does do some work, usually just dies to some removal spell. That was the case in this one, but an Orzhov Charm on his Desecration Demon gave me a chance. with me at 12 life and him at 6 he had another Desecration Demon, and an Alms Beast, and I had two Judge's Familiars, one with enchanted with a Gift of Orzhova and an Ethereal Armor. He swung with the two creatures, I chumped the alms beast with the non enchanted one to do to 7. If I top decked any enchantment I would win, but I top decked a Doom Blade so I passed the turn. He swung with both, I blocked the demon, went to two, and then drew a Scourmark on my turn, that if I had seen one turn earlier I would have won with. Sigh
Game 2: Blow out. He had double Thoughtseize to strip my hand, and then a Hero's Downfall for my agent of fates. He won with Blood Baron of Vizkopa.
Matchup Rating: 1/5(Terrible)
Red Deck Wins (deck:well-gg-turn-4-bro)
()
Game 1: I got mana screwed and just got beat down by Firedrinker Satr and Chandra's Phoenix. The creatures I landed just ate burn spells before I could get anything going.
Game 2: This one was alot closer. I got a turn one Tormented Hero into a Judge's Familiar into Ethereal Armor into a Gift of Orzhova on both my guys. That would normally be just absurd against a RDW deck, but he had a hand with triple Chandra's Phoenix, so it was actually very close. I ended up winning the race because of the life gain, despite being chump blocked four times by the same phoenix.
Game 3: Blisteringly fast game. I went turn one Rakdos Cackler into Dark Favor and swung him to 15 on turn 2. He went Radkos Cackler into Ash Zealot and swung me down to 15 turn two. He played a mountain and a Chandra's Phoenix and swung me down to 9. I missed my third land drop, and didn't have a white source to play the Yoked Ox in my hand, so I only swung him down to 10. and played a not unleashed Rakdos Cackler. He curved out into a Fanatic of Mogis for 6 and then swung for lethal.
Matchup Rating: 3/5 (Even)
1st @ FNM!
Demyx, 11 years ago
Finally got a chance to take it to FNM last night and it didn't let me down!
The biggest challenge for me was aggro. I played a few controls decks and won fairly easily. As for aggro, I had a couple close games with Boros and came out on top. I also faced Devotion to Blue (a pretty close, if not exact, copy of the Pro Tour winning deck, if I wasn't mistaken). We both won a decisive game each. In the third game, we were neck in neck and he dropped a Master of Waves for what looked like the win. I say "looked like", because Volatile Rig blew up the next turn with lifelink, putting him at 6 health, me at 71 health, and wiping the board. Booyah. With no way to gain life he couldn't stop me getting that remaining 6 damage in.
