This is getting good.

kelladros, 10 years ago

Done a ton of testing, and made a few changes. Got rid of Profaner of the Dead. Just wasn't doing as much good as I'd hoped. Put 2 Dromoka's Command into the main. Added an extra Dragonlord Dromoka in the side. I really want to add another Den Protector in there but I'm not sure what I should cut for it. Overall this deck has been preforming amazing, against super aggro decks it just flat out wins. Mid-range, is pretty good most of our stuff is big enough to block anything they can through at it. Control actually is not that bad of a match up surprisingly enough just play very carefully.

Sample Games

LabManiac_cobblepott, 10 years ago

**Game 1** 3 player against Mayael and Narset **Opening hand:** Animate Dead, Forest, Vampiric Tutor, Altar of Dementia, Carrion Feeder, Verdant Catacombs, Wood Elves T1. Draw Reveillark Play Verdant Catacombs -> Bayou (eot for last opponent) Vampiric Tutor for Entomb T2. Draw Entomb Play Forest Play Altar of Dementia T3. Draw Godless Shrine Play Godless Shrine Play Entomb putting Boonweaver Giant in the yard Play Animate Dead on Boonweaver Giant gg **Game 2** 4 player against Nahiri, Kruphix, and Derevi **Opening hand:** Llawnmower Elves, Diabolic Intent, Swamp, Phyrexian Tower, Animate Dead, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Windswept Heath T1. Draw Forest Play Windswept Heath -> Bayou Play Llawnmower Elves T2. Draw Spore Frog Play Swamp Tap elves and play Spore Frog Play Diabolic Intent sacking Frog -> Survival of the Fittest T3. Draw Enlightened Tutor Play Forest Play Survival of the Fittest (eot for last opponent) Activate Survival discarding Iona -> Boonweaver Giant Activate Survival discarding Boonweaver -> Carrion Feeder T4. (Derevi player had played Rising Waters, so only Bayou untaps) Draw Brushland Play Phyrexian Tower Play Carrion Feeder Activate Phyrexian Tower on Llawnmower Elves for BB Play Animate Dead on Boonweaver gg **Game 3** 4 player against Jhoira, Kruphix, and Derevi (same players as game 2, but with Nahiri swapping to Jhoira) **Opening Hand** - I have a terrible opening hand and even after mulling down to 5, only have 1 land in hand. Sakura-Tribe Elder is in there and I don't want to go to 4, so I keep. **Early Turns** - Derevi player gets off to a really fast start, planting Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Derevi, Edric, and a bunch of mana dorks. - Jhoira player seems to have mana trouble. He plants Jhoira T4 and suspends Worldgorger Dragon for some reason. - Kruphix player sets up his mana base while disrupting some of Derevi player's moves. It's evident that this list is very similar to mine, being a counterspell.dec which means he'll be unstoppable if he's allowed to establish a big cache of mana. - I don't wind up hitting a second land until T6. Midgame - Derevi player was really looking like he was going to run away with the game. Kruphix player lands Prophet of Kruphix and Derevi steals it with Gilded Drake. - Jhoira player buys everyone some time by resolving Blasphemous Act. He then feels the sadness when his Worldgorer Dragon resolves effectively giving him nothing to do (we're all happy to leave him with no land). - Kruphix player is glad to have the extra time as he sits there stockpiling mana. - The gap created from my early mana trouble is closing as I've been able to ramp modestly and the Blasphemous Act makes the difference in development less pronounced. I am able to land Hermit Druid, which I'm hoping will help me dig for a win con before Kruphix locks everyone down. **Key Moment** - I've had to activate Hermit Druid three times (kind of dissappointing as now I'm finding all that missing land), but my yard is now stocked with notables including Boonweaver Giant, Sun Titan, Fiend Hunter, and Karmic guide. I'm not going to be able to do the usual Boonweaver dance, since most of his Pattern of Rebirth targets are in the yard instead of the library. - My hand has Animate Dead, Necromancy, Viscera Seer, Altar of Dementia, Eternal Witness and Shred Memory. Looking at the yard, I've got a win con with Altar of Dementia coupled with Fiend Hunter and either Sun Titan or Karmic Guide. All I've got to do is resolve Altar and reanimate a guy to win. With the Kruphix player online, that will take some work. - The Kruphix player has all of his land untapped with some 20 colorless in the cache. He has 2 cards in hand with Kruphix and Mystic Remora in play. Against this kind of Kruphix deck you need to assume that every single card is a counter, so I want to draw those out before playing the win con. - During my turn I'll have access to 8 mana, which should be enough to play Viscera Seer, Altar, Animate Dead, and Necromancy. Since he only has 2 potential counters, if I sequence this right and Kruphix counters each, I should be able win. - **Key Misplay** Before untapping for my turn I had an open mana and Qasali Pridemage on the field. I didn't account for fact that the Kruphix Player's Mystic Remora would draw him a card on each of my casts. I only considered the 2 cards in hand. The correct play would have been to destroy the Remora before untapping for my turn. - I play Viscera Seer hoping he'll counter... resolves. - I play Altar of Dementia. Remora triggers and Kruphix player draws and ... resolves. (!!!) - I play Necromancy, Kruphix player draws and counters. - I play Animate Dead, Kruphix player draws and counters. - This was the moment where the game was winnable and it passed. **End Game** - On my next turn, I activate Pridemage and destroy Remora. - I play Eternal Witness... resolves and I get Animate Dead back. - I play Animate Dead and Kruphix responds with Time Stop, exiling Animate Dead. - On his turn, Kruphix player lands Spawnsire of Ulamog. I inform him that I didn't agree to sideboard rules, but would let it slide because we weren't playing for prizes or anything. Derevi player concedes. - Jhoira player is still way behind because no one will interact with his Worldgorger, but he stays in. - My turn again, I transmute Shred Memory into Dance of the Dead and cast ... countered. - I play Karador ... resolves. - Karador returns Eternal Witness... resolves and returns Dance of the Dead. - I play Dance of the Dead... countered. - Kruphix players turn, he activates Spawnsire... and gets Trickbinded by Jhoira player! - Back to my turn, I can try the Eternal Witness into Dance of the Dead again, but Kruphix has 3 cards and will probably counter. He doesn't have the mana to activate Spawnsire on my turn (but will when he untaps) and doesn't have haste so I'll have one turn more before getting attacked by an army of Eldrazi. I choose to cement my position and try for the win next turn instead so... - I play Birthing Pod... Kruphix thinks for awhile and seeing only Karador, Hermit, and Viscera Seer, lets it resolve. - I target Karador with Birthing Pad to go get Iona naming Blue. Counters be damned. - Kruphix players turn, he untaps and passes. Hmm. - Jhoira untaps and passes. - Back to me. I cast Eternal Witness... no responses and get Dance of the Dead. - I play Dance of the Dead... Kruphix responds with what everyone expected. He activates Spawnsire to cast all the eldrazi, Ulamag kills Iona, Kozilek draws 4, and Dance gets countered. - gg

Slightly Voltron

BobFromAccounting, 10 years ago

After testing in pods, have dumped some of the buffing zombies that didn't advance the game. This may make Endless Ranks of the Dead more of a worthless card, but will have to see (may become Glistening Oil or Phyresis). Added all pertinent green umbras to give more survivability and added benefits. Alpha Authority is also a new addition for evasiveness through hexproof and to give better mileage when Skullbriar has Trample.

Considering 2 new card choices:

Dauthi Embrace: I like the ability to grant Shadow at will, will see if this can squeeze in the deck.
Leshrac's Rite: In such a colorful format, allows me to go after anyone running swamps. Drawing into Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is even better.

Looking for suggestions on the new list (trying to avoid anything for Shroud as it makes my pumping cards/auras dead).

OPEN SUGGESTING IS NOW CLOSED

DERPLINGSUPREME, 10 years ago

#you must now suggest a card to put in AND take out.

Mana Fixing

MasterHellBrother, 10 years ago

The deck was updated to be less focused on having many slivers and more on being able to play the important slivers. Large amounts of mana ramp and mana fixing added, while the less useful slivers were removed

Joz, 10 years ago

Four more alters acquired: Draining Whelk, Mystic Gate, Arcane Sanctum, and Vesuva.

Playtest Success

Duckling, 10 years ago

Playtested the deck and got a hand of: 2 Plains 1 Swamp 1 Bloodsoaked Champion 1 Chief of the Edge 2 Molting Snakeskin.

Turn 1: Swamp, Champion

Turn 2: draw Spear of Heliod play plains, chief (attack for three)

Turn 3: Draw swamp, play swamp 2x snakeskin (attack for 10)

Turn 4: draw Dragon Hunter play plains, spear and attack for 12

This was my first playtest and I was fairly pleased with a $20 budget, this performs very well!

Sideboard Addition

Rondoin, 10 years ago

• Added 2 Palace Siege to the sideboard to rotate out Crux of Fate against control.
• Removed 1 Mardu Strike Leader and added 1 Vaultbreaker to help my third turn plays.

Thanks to Luken for the suggestion!

Deck on hold for a little bit

raverswivel, 10 years ago

so Ive spent the past month making micro-tweaks to the deck, and am finally pretty happy with it (or at least as happy as I think Im going to be for the time being). while I would love to find a way to add in a couple extra exploit creatures, I simply dont know what I would take out in order to make it work. with that in mind, I think Im going to put the deck on hold until theros rolls out (effectively losing athreos, dictate of erebos, prophet of kruphix, and gift of immortality, temple lands [easily replaced with life gain lands] and nykthos srine) and origins comes in (cant wait to play around with the new liliana) to see what might play well with the deck in the new set. I am toying around with the idea of making the post rotation deck all 5 colors to add in Impact Tremors which I feel will be brutal in conjunction with Abzan Ascendancy, and could allow me to diversify my 3 color lands a bit to really optimize the mana base.

after the rotation, I will post a link here to the new version of the deck. thanks to everyone who supported and helped making this deck so much fun to play =).

No to Divination

Dal36, 10 years ago

waste of time, maybe. Yes its worth having an extra card or two, but what could be used instead, for the same cost or less, or more? Another Counter instant spell.

64koopakid, 10 years ago

SteGoesRawr, 10 years ago

First Update:

As suggested Swift Warkite and Boltwing Marauder were removed.

Added 2x Kolaghan Forerunners and 2x Impact Tremors.

Deck update

Brycetastic, 10 years ago

I've made some changes to reflect feedback and additional playtesting. Took out a Shaman of the Great Hunt and added a Stormbreath Dragon. Also brought back the Frost Walker and cut the Flamewake Phoenix. The flamewake was decent, but wasn't worth the initial mana cost, especially when the choice was between a flamewake and a Thunderbreak Regent.

Splashing black

naterino, 10 years ago

After i work out the mana base, i plan on splashing black for Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Lingering Souls, and Inquisition of Kozilek. Thank you to everyone who has made suggestions, i really appreciate them.

benage310, 10 years ago

No need for hexproof hate

DudelRok, 10 years ago

Out Arcane Lighthouse, Possibility Storm and Heartless Hidetsugu

In with Reliquary Tower, Smokestack, and Lashwrithe.

Clearing up comments.. again.

RegisteredDecksOffender, 10 years ago

Spot Removal vs. Board Wipe

emeryhonor316, 10 years ago

After yet another groan of trying to target an artifact creature with Go for the Throat, I'm throwing in the Black Sun's Zenith I got a couple weeks ago. Toxic Deluge is great when you don't have a lot of mana but you have plenty of life, and Black Sun's Zenith is great when you have plenty of mana but not a lot of life. SOOO now I'm covered for both situations and Go for the Throat is out in the meantime.

Unuunilium, 10 years ago

In: Dark Depths

Out: Temple of the False God

Unuunilium, 10 years ago

In: Halimar Depths

Out: Simic Growth Chamber