Hey Surgeon, I'm fairly new to mtg but have experience in other TCGs, I wanted to discuss some things at length with you....would you mind contacting me/chatting sometime?

Wow, this looks a great deck! I hope to build it when I get more money.

Love the deck, but I don't think I like Robe of Mirrors. You want to cast protection in response to their removal, not the other way around. I'd be tempted to play the other two Apostle's Blessing instead in the mainboard; they're one-shots, but you don't need the guildmage to live that long in order to activate the combo. Nevertheless an awesome idea, +1 from me!

@brother1- I never did like the way Robe felt in the deck; though cheap, it's not the deck's style.

I'll side board some Surgical Extractions in place of the MB'ed Apostle's Blessing.

Thanks for the upvote!

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, you could kill up to five people on turn four if you have all of the Gut Shots in hand. Love the deck +1.

@lucal13- I won't correct you, as you are right.

The description was merely inended to highlight some of the different wincons in the deck. As good as killing 5 opponents sounds, it is much more likely to happen with only one Shot in hand.

Thanks for the upvote! Always appreciated!

What decks do you usually play against? I.e what decks does this do well against/bad against?

I've started building this, I currently run

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/slow-but-fatal-lobotomy/

I'm worried about the matchup against zoo, as I find my partners RW allies almost unbeatable and it's not as robust.

I know I could probably work on my play a lot, and think I'll improve the deck over time, but think switching the distress out for thoughtseize and IoK will help. Is there a reason you don't run IoK? Tempted to try to run playsets of both.

Nice job on the deck, just what I was looking for, can't wait to take it to FNM.

@Themiband- The deck already loses life through lands; and while it is designed to take some damage, running cards like IoK and Thoughtseize are unnecessary life losing cards for a deck that is already light on answers for an opposing board state. I used to run IoK and TS along with polluted deltas, but opted for a slower but just as effective land base and less pain for discard. Thanks for the kind words!

I like the control elements you built around the combo, but I agree with the comments above: why Distress?

Funeral Charm is much better if your plan is to make them discard on turn 4, since it would still be good if the opponent dumps their hand by that time and has some extra utility in picking off small dudes.

Geth's Verdict would also work well in here if you don't mind the

cheers!

whoops didn't see it in the side there. You're on it!

Bloodchief Ascension

Kezvin- Too slow and janky for this deck.

TheSurgeon- Yes, because a "janky" card would warrant a $6 price tag.

JK I can understand why you wouldn't want it. I just thought it would be an interesting addition since a deck like this existed a while back. It was called "Bloodcrank" and used Bloodchief Ascension and Mindcrank. That was the core combo. But Duskmantle Guildmage works as well, and it's probably more consistent/reliable.

Kezvin- the card had been brought to my attention when I first posted the deck, but doesn't fit this build. There's very little loss of life on the opponent's side so counters would be slow placing on the Ascension. So, janky is a correct term in this context.

I have done some playtesting with this deck now and encountered problems with Rest in Peace and Pithing Needle. The obvious answer would be Void Snare, but when you need to topdeck it you have huge problems. Therefore would I change one into a Boomerang so you can transmute for an answer. Noir you habe it instant speed as well

I'm currently rebuilding this for speed. The sideboard will also change as I have not updated this deck in quite a while.

Stay tuned!

if your getting rid of stuff..why setal with only a 1 turn removal and it comes back..I always run Curse of the Swine and if you need mana speed i always have them running in my deck...Dark Ritual for none tornament use..but if it needs to be legal then depending on your colorless mana # run 2x Everflowing Chalice its my favorit card..and I use 2-3x, signets.. like Dimir Signet love this little card you just pay one mana and get your mana back plus an extra one. also greatly helps when you get a little color screwed..thats all i can offer for now

@Brian1- With an average cmc of under 2, mana isn't an issue in this deck.

The deck is designed to only get out what is needed, protect those pieces, and simply wait for the correct time to pay for DMG's ability. Every other card in the deck works for a the wincon or protects you if necessary.

aeee i see..i didn't see the hidden side of that effect with all the shinaneganes going on

2 or + Cavern of Souls ?

Very nice Deck ;)Do you still play it? And are there any changes to this version?

+1, this combo is brilliant and there's a lot to love about the deck. Congrats on your success with it!

What about Inquisition of Kozilek over Distress?