lagotripha Playtwister -

• Edit User
• Edit Profile
• Enable styles
• Disable styles
• Unblock user
• Block user
• Disable chat
• Enable chat
• Remove friend
• Add as friend
• Gift Tokens
• Settings

This feels like a cool idea.

I wouldn't be able to resist being a Heartless Summoning list (probably with a Myr Retriever loop) myself, but in mono red some stuff like Storm Entity & Brighthearth Banneret deserve consideration.

My biggest rec is Fossil Find - its ability to loop with itself is substantial before the utility of retrieving combo pieces is considered, and it fights through etb effects well.

Danny66

I actually took the deck apart a while ago to run the Myr Retriever combo variant (which got a lot of support in Goblin Engineer ). If I wanted to build it again, I'd update the creature choices a lot - likely running blue for Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip.

Danny66

Mono black is a great place to start, due to the large number of redundant options, and is perfect for FNM.

What kind of decks do you enjoy playing? Aggro, control, combo? I'll see if I can put together an updated budget list.

Danny66

This is a very old list I built - the idea was to draw a lot of cards using Asylum Visitor + Blood Scrivener alongside discard, then win through card advantage and attacking with disposable creatures. It never performed well due to the lack of pressure.

Little black thing is its still very old descendant which held up for a while before modern moved on, while Mono black deckbuilder's toolbox is the big list of cards that I used for the more improvised mono black lists afterwards - the main competitive edge was reading the local metagame and responding to it without forecasting anything.

Echoing wallisface, budget aggro lives or dies by casting 1 mana spells as fast as possible.

If you move to straight rakdos colours, you lose only Daring Saboteur and Frantic Inventory , while your mana becomes a lot more reliable.

With the land set here, I'd go so far as to run almost entirely 1 colour with splashes for higher cmc spells.

A few options; Deadeye Tracker + Grasping Scoundrel + Outcast with a focus on 1 and 2 mana black spells - Kitesail Freebooter in particular is good in a black shell with other sources of discard.

Rigging Runner + Daring Buccaneer + Fanatical Firebrand will work well with a focus on fast damage partucularly spells that deal direct damage and like creatures. I'd look at Captain Ripley Vance and the budget staple Curse of Stalked Prey alongside sources of evasion.

Blue as a primary colour has some neat options if you want to go for a more instant-speed tempo game - Siren Stormtamer , Spectral Sailor , & Brineborn Cutthroat , while opening up sideboard tricks like Crafty Cutpurse and cheap past staples like Mana Leak .

There are a few notable pirates to build combos around - Skyship Plunderer , Timestream Navigator , but they don't have a coherent theme which will make builds awkward.

This looks like a fun start on a classic archetype. Avarice Totem is an all star.

Lich's Tomb can be neat alongside Jackal Pup effects.

Blue gets cards like Sky Swallower , Role Reversal and Vedalken Plotter .

For each X your opponents conntrol cards can work well in lists like this, especially artifact hate.

Ascension + Approach is a really neat setup.

Any thought given to popping 3 Environmental Sciences in the side so you can use learn to turn on ascension more consistently/have the right lands?

Nevinyrral's Disk has been printed recently, so its fairly cheap and helps the gameplan.

In terms of dies triggers, Thragtusk or Whisperwood Elemental are the ideal 'leaves behind a body', persist creatures like Safehold Elite or Heartmender offer some extra options. Blisterpod and the like exist, but 1/1s are rarely a fast enough clock to close out before the boardstate gets big again.

Alternative cheats include Blizzard Brawl , Darkmoss Bridge cycle etc.

If I was trying to push this to fnm competitive, I'd throw in Upheaval and mana rocks to try and get a reliable '6 mana, win the game' turn.

Above curve if compared to other 4/4 flyers in MtG - not above curve for 2 drops overall. Fliers that aren't printed straight into modern need to not break their limited format, which leaves them underperforming.

Compared to most of modern two drops its a decent body that likes a wide board and needs you to play a tapland T1 to come down T2, (which is fine with this deck's focus on 2 drops).

I can see why its here, but it liking a big board while also not being a hit for cascade, not triggering general and being an artifact feels like it needs some tweaking unless the flying keyword is vital to your metagame.

I was comparing it to reach for a reason - the thing that has set strong midrange decks apart in the past has been the way they draw one card and kill you out of nowhere in the grind game. Its the whole reason BBE is good - BBE into direct damage is a third of a life total or more without setting back the grind. Its the entire principal behind your sideboard choices. Its just weird not to see that more mainboard given the rest of the deck's primary pressure on life total.

Tribal flames isn't enough of a payoff, but something like Boros Charm or Kolaghan's Command , or even moving some sideboard cards mainboard should compete for slots with it without impacting grind.

I'm not sure I'd pick Scion of Draco over Tribal Flames - this feels like the kind of deck where reach really matters. That said, the deck feels light on 2 drops creatures otherwise. I'd feel better about it if it protected itself like Naya Hushblade . Something to be tinkered with.

I like this idea. It reminds me of the old Presence of Gond or Turntimber Ranger combo lists.

I feel like getting redundant options for ivy lane is the most important thing - Blade of the Bloodchief +sac outlet will let you get a lot of sacrifices in, Rite of Passage / Urban Daggertooth , Thornbite Staff and Blasting Station will get a lot of etb triggers. Triskelion and Death's Presence exist. Fecundity has been a combo staple for a while. Llanowar Reborn offers a way to get the first counter on herd.

Altar of the Brood is a neat alternative wincon.

If you want to go the old Turntimber Ranger route, there are more changeling options, and alternative lines like Deeproot Elite to take advantage of whichever changeling effect you are using.

I was mucking about with this list (I'm remebring yorion fires and trying to play around with that) when I tried Thing in the Ice  ^Flip. It feels a lot better than it looks.

Treasure Map  ^Flip is a solid value engine with synergies. Inspiring Statuary lets you cast some big spells, or small spells fast. Rampage of the Clans lets you turn a bunch of tokens into centaurs for beatdown. Grinding Station opens up synergies with your own graveyard while offering a backup wincon.

Splashing into more colours feels fairly low cost here between gilded goose and treasure tokens, even before looking at the MH2 legendaries. I'm talking options like Ravenous Squirrel , Disciple of the Vault and Savvy Hunter - things that love artifacts and can help smooth out the curve. Basically every colour has 1 or 2 drops that love artifacts - I'm most used to splashing black but there is something in all of them.