I don't really see his deathtouchers as the main damage output here. He sets them up with ping and fight to control the board while stalling o get the real fatties out like Desecration Demon and Wolfir Silverheart . I don't think he wants trample because he doesn't want blockers to have stayed on the board. +1 (because I forgot to do it last time I guess) Mind helping me fix up my deck:populate-everything deck for RtR?

@strateupjee: i used to have Rancor s, but as krotash says, I mainly control the board and swing with fatties.

@krotash: I'll give it a look!

I enjoy this deck very much. I am definitely going to build it for an fnm once RtR drops.

+1

@ChuckLee: good to hear! tell me how it does there. also, if you come up with anything good for sideboard let me know that too.

Perhaps Murder , Tragic Slip and whatever the new go to for the throat is. for the sideboard.

Tragic Slip may be something to consider for mainboard. it would give you extra board control.

I hate to be that guy, but... Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip is a lot better for a midrange strategy like this than card:Druid's Familiar. Then again, you have no instants... So maybe not. You might want to swap them out for more Deadly Recluse s.

Also, try out Revenge of the Hunted . I was underwhelmed at first too, but it can completely turn the game around 180 degrees, espescially with all of your deathtouchers and the ever-nutty Vampire Nighthawk . It's essentially a one-sided board wipe. Speaking of those, Bonfire of the Damned is amazing in any creature oriented deck.

Again, sorry if I'm being the guy telling you: "Go buy the good cards, you nugget!" Because trust me, I've been on that end of the stick plenty of times. +1 for sure.

Since you want deathtouch, why not put Nightshade Peddler for a bounded deathtouch. Pair it with silverheart, and boom

I made a really similar deck just by luck, deck:field-clearer. What have you noticed to be the pitfalls of your deck?

Deathrite Shaman can also be very powerful, turns your killed off creatures into health and your opponents spells into pure damage.

@kingboo3000: I'm a big johnny player, so "buying the good cards" for me can sometimes feel completely against my nature. The soulbond board position helps better than the other options in my deck as it can buff my creatures needed for the combo, thus making the combo harder to break.

@FridayWing: I tried peddler when I first started building the deck, but it ended up asking for too much from the deck. I would have to draw a lot of answers fast to either build the combo or keep it alive.

@toxonic: R/B Zombies stomps my deck in the face. Every other archetype in current standard I can deal with by adjusting my playing style. Does your deck have a similar problem? Also +1 to your deck; I simply love the way our decks play--plenty of fun games, happy top decks, and, hey, they even win a few times!

I havent had much chance to playtest it, the only deck ive played against was white/black spirit tokens with Intangible Virtue , ruined that pretty good.

Thats the good thing about Deathrite Shaman vs zombies, it can exile them from the graveyard at instant speed, so much value :)

I currently have 3x Rakdos, Lord of Riots because he is a great beater (and Lightning Prowess makes him so easy to cast), but im thinking of putting in Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord instead so i can recover from field wipes easily and use the fling ability with the Desecration Demon s...what do you think?

I prefer the demons over rakdos in my deck, seeing as i don't have to worry about the legendary rule, they're easier to drop, and giving your opponents tough choices is always a great way to stack on the pressure.

Jarad I haven't really tried out yet, so I dunno about him.

This deck looks awesome. :D

I have two questions though: How do you survive/bounce back from board clears like Supreme Verdict and Cyclonic Rift , and how do play against general Azorius/izzet/burning vengeance decks that are more spell than creature?

Okay, I play tested this against my Go forth and populate (which I've been testing against as many decks as I can to try and improve it).

Obviously I am never going to play your deck as well as you do, but this is how the games went.

1) After some early pressure from me you got out a terrifying Wolfir Silverheart /card:Druid's Familiar pair. Hanging on by 1 life, you cleared my board with an Ulvenwald Tracker and two Flames of the Firebrand . You replaced the wolfir with a second familiar after I Selesnya Charm ed it, and then swung a couple times to win.

2) Your hand gave you trackers, assassins and familiars aplenty, which gave you a strong position early game. I opted to focus on flying tokens, since I knew my centaurs and knights would just just get blocked to death. After dropping an Intangible Virtue and a Growing Ranks I was able to outrace your removal and swing over your head for the win.

3) In hindsight I probably should not have kept your deck's hand. It had plenty of death touch and a Lightning Prowess , but no red mana. I was hoping that you would be able to draw something that produced red by turn three, but you didn't end up getting any red at all through the game. If you had, it probably would have gone better. In any case, I went full bore flying with this game, which you were expecting and ready for with a quick Desecration Demon . What you weren't prepared for was my quick ramp into Intangible Virtue AND Collective Blessing . I only needed two flying tokens, easily sacking my grounded tokens to keep your demon tapped since there was no way they were getting through your death touch wall, in any case. So, two 5/5 builds ended the game before you could get a Rootbound Crag .

The main thing I would suggest is to try to have something to combat control, and some enchant/artifact removal. You have plenty of creature kill, but my enchants let me recover and outrace that. Additionally, if I had been playing counters or Oblivion Ring s, I don't feel like your deck would have been able to deal with it.

I'm trying to point out these weaknesses because I really like your idea and ant to see it rock. :P Of course, I could just be playing it wrong. -_-; If I missed anything important in how you play that would nullify my arguments, I would love to hear it.

@Timekeeper: Thanks for the feedback!

For control decks, I try to outrace them with fatties, keeping the pressure up as much as I can.

For enchantments, I have Naturalize , etc sideboarded to help with that.

If I feel that my opponent is holding onto a board wipe, I hold back creatures in my hand, keeping only the bare minimum on the board.

What's actually been giving me problems at FNM is fast aggro decks. My removal simply can't keep up with them. I also feel (after the prerelease) that Bant aggro/control will be giving me some problems.