How reliable has gravecrawler given there are only 6 other zombies?
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pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
It's really 9 (the other 3 crawlers) other creatures + Kalitas' tokens. Gravecrawlers serve 3 purposes: cheap damage, recurring devotion & Kalitas synergy. This is a more aggro version with a gary finisher version.
I like the look of the deck Ocitrebla. How do you fare against other Aggro decks (Affinity, 5c Humans, Death's Shadow)? You have a TON of creatures that come into play tapped.
Round 1: Won 2-0 against BR burn. Nothing to write home about here.
Round 2: Lost 2-1 (narrowly) against Abzan Midrange. Struggled against tokens game 1 when I didn't have any sweepers. All three games were incredibly grindy.
Round 3: Won 2-1 against BW Vampires. It was a pretty spicy brew, tbh, a great combination of old and new school vamps.
Round 4: Lost 2-0 against G Tron. Tron... I got him down to 4 game one (at 36 life) and he won. 2nd game I got mana screwed. Terrible matchup, wish I could improve it further as mono B.
Notes and improvements after tonight:
Very happy with Herald of Torment. Played it both as a 3/3 Flyer for 3 and for its bestow cost for 5. Lifebane Zombie did some work, especially against Abzan and Vampires. Not thrilled with Vampiric Link, I may go back to running 1-2 Collective Brutality in SB.
Otherwise very happy. Would love tips on beating Tron.
Round 1: Won 2-0 against BR burn. Nothing to write home about here.
Round 2: Lost 2-1 (narrowly) against Abzan Midrange. Struggled against tokens game 1 when I didn't have any sweepers. All three games were incredibly grindy.
Round 3: Won 2-1 against BW Vampires. It was a pretty spicy brew, tbh, a great combination of old and new school vamps.
Round 4: Lost 2-0 against G Tron. Tron... I got him down to 4 game one (at 36 life) and he won. 2nd game I got mana screwed. Terrible matchup, wish I could improve it further as mono B.
Notes and improvements after tonight:
Very happy with Herald of Torment. Played it both as a 3/3 Flyer for 3 and for its bestow cost for 5. Lifebane Zombie did some work, especially against Abzan and Vampires. Not thrilled with Vampiric Link, I may go back to running 1-2 Collective Brutality in SB.
Otherwise very happy. Would love tips on beating Tron.
Tron is and will always be an uphill battle.
You need to put early pressure on them and disrupt them.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
This decklist is obviously a bit budget constrained and heavily influenced by what cards I already owned before I decided to spend money on this.
I splashed green for Maelstrom Pulse and Abrupt decay because mono black has zero way to deal with most GY hate besides hand disruption. I personally find that hand disruption not only slows down our already comparatively slow game plan, but also leads to too many dead draws late game for my taste and doesn't contribute to our devotion.
I Know, 21 lands with 1 land that doesn't even produce mana is at least 2-3 too few, but since I strongly dislike dead draws late game, more lands lead to more dead draws, so I rather mull a bit more often. It's riskier, but feels better.
Round 1: 1-2 vs. Mardu Pyromancer
First Game I got slowed down by his Blood Moon and me having 1 Swamp and 3 nonbasics by turn 4.
Second Game he got land flooded.
Third Game I got stuck at 2 lands for a while and died after a few turns of back-and-forht-1-for-1-ing to my Phyrexian Arena... admittedly after repeatedly taking 2 Bedlam Revelers to the face.
Round 2: 2-1 vs. BW Tokens
Game1 was just me killing his stuff and attacking him, mostly with recurring Bloodghasts.
Game2 he manages to Thoughtseize both the Garys I drew and Nihil Spellbombs my GY at the most inconvnient time.
Game3 was like Game1, but a bit tougher with a bit fewer removal on my side.
Round 3: 0-2 vs. Humans
Well.. Both games I fought hard and felt like I had a chance, but Reflector Mage and Meddling Mage in the Hand of a good player will bring you down. And though I managed to hold out quite a while and I avoided him Hostage Takering my Phyrexian Obliterator in Game2, he just Dire Fleet Daredeviled my kill spells and steamrolled over me unopposed.
Round 4: 2-1 vs. Burn
Game1 he starts strong with his Goblin Guides and Monastery Swiftspear versus me without removal in hand, but loses steam after a while. I kill his dudes after a few turns and he can't do anything about the stuff that I keep throwing in his face.
Game2 NEVER start with only 1 land in Hand.... NEVER!!!
Game3 Comparable to Game1, but he has Eidolon of the great Revel and Grim Lavamancer in play and doesn't run out of steam. Finally I play Arena and declare on my end step that I'm tapping my already tapped Geralf's Messenger and ask him which of his dudes he wants to tap. Cue the "JUDGE!" calls and immediate googling. It is confirmed that I can do that and he loses his Eidolon, then the Goblin and as he is at 6 life, I draw Gary, don't even cast him, just reveal him and he shakes my hand.
Everybody I played against sincerely said it was a good match and I felt that every match was fun.
I am now more convinced than ever that Bx Devotion is THE deck for me and that with a bit more tuning and more experience on my side, a 4-0 in the right meta is at least somewhat possible.
Two cards that I am excited about though, are Cast Down (1b) and Josu Vess, Lich Knight (2bb). With Cast Down, we can destroy any non-legendary creature at instant speed, and with Josu Vess we have decent attack/defense plus menace, and an insane kicker (8 2/2 zombies with menace). So the next question, is Fatal Push vs. Cast Down?
But regarding Josu - I still can't imagine a situation in which I would not prefer to draw Kalitas, traitor of Ghet or Gary over Josu Vess, Lich Knight... I already hardly ever kill with Gary. Most of the time when I can cast him, I'm either already winning anyway or he gives me those 1-2 more turns that let me win. Or I'm already losing hard enough that not even a kicked Josu could save me.
In an "ideal" goldfish match with t1 Gravecrawler, t2 Bloodghast, t3 Nykthos & Geralf's Messenger, t4 Phyrexian Obliterator, you could cast him with kicker on turn 5, but the opponent will have already lost 15 life by then and you would be dealing 12 damage in that fifth turn anyway.
In such an ideal scenario, you could in theory cast Gary instead of Obliterator on t4 post combat, after already having dealt 15 damage, draining the opponent for 8 and winning.
That scenario will never happen, the opponent will kill/exile/thoughtseize/counter your stuff and you will do the same to him -- you will definitely not have 10 devotion on the battlefield by t5 and I'd prefer something more impactful than just a menace guy by then.
So IMHO replacing any of our good 4+cmc dudes with Josu would only delay the final blow and would give the opponent more time to win, he's a smaller threat without kicker, he can't win you the game when he hits the battlefield even with kicker and does absolutely nothing when there's an Ensnaring Bridge in play.
But who am I to talk? I run Arena in a decklist that probably has the lowest land count among all Bx devotion decks out there...
I'd like to hear what more experienced Bx Devotion pilots have to say about Josu Vess, Lich Knight.
Cast Down is definitely an upgrade and is going to replace my copies of Victim of Night.
I'm taking this back, VoN is back in my decklist, because:
If we aren't able produce BB on turn 2, we are doing something very wrong and should have taken a mulligan.
Our worst matchups (IMHO) are decks containing legendaries that NEED to be dealt with that Victim of Night is able to kill, but Cast Down isn't (Baral, Thalia, Emrakul).
Sure, Fatal push may be able to do the job as well in most cases, but chances are we don't draw that Push when we need it and we topdeck one of our other kill spells. It would suck if that was a dead draw and our opponent starts storming off thanks to their now unkillable Baral.
Any other opinions/input/feedback or am I the only one actively trying to brew/improve Bx Devotion at the moment?
I run a slower mono black deck than most in this thread, but I don't see that card replacing any of my other three drops (gatekeeper and nighthawk). It could be sweet for a more aggressive build though. Maybe try out one or two?
So, since Seth (probably better known as Saffronolive) has done a few Devotion videos lately, I've seen lots of Bx Devotion decks being played on xMage. Most, if not all of them, a BR variant.
I never see a GB variant floating around and I quite consistently keep beating BR devotion, so I think in the mirror, BR is the weaker deck.
Only a handful of tier decks feel very unfavorable or unwinnable with BG, so I thought I'd update & share my current decklist for those who are interested in trying/refining it:
With the green splash and colourless lands, BBB and BBBB is awkward at times, so fewer of those guys and more action in the lower area of the mana curve is better.
4 Garys is overkill. We rarely need more than 1 per game, and with last hope Lily and Phyrexian Arena, we usually get him when we need him. Sometimes even twice.
As much as I love Bloodghast, he can't block. Good to have him, but I don't want more than half of my dudes to be unable to block. Drawing the third bloodghast when we desperately need a blocker for that Goyf/HollowOne sux.
Also I noticed that a lack of consistency can be in our favor.
If you slam Lily on game 1, they have THE FEAR. Even if they won't see her again. If they don't see Lily, surprise Lily is best Lily.
Once they notice the dudes that come back from the GY, they sideboard in GY hate and waste turns/cards/resources while we keep hitting them with those dudes. Most GY hate can be dealt with Pulse/Decay anyway.
And yes, taking a mulligan happens a bit often due to "too few" lands, of which some make colourless mana, one no mana at all. But compared to the usual 24 land builds, this one seems to draw more gas/action more consistently. I don't mind not drawing land #5 on turn 5. I'd rather cast one more Messenger and have mana left for the Push/Thoughtseize I just drew.
The only thing I'm not sure about atm is the sideboard. Damping Matrix is basically just filler and mainly to slow down Affinity.
I'm thinking about getting 2 Engineered Explosives instead, to be able to hit a wider range of hard matchups as well (Bogles/Elves/CoCo/Humans)
Thank you, this is the kind of feedback I need/want/like.
I'll definitely think about Loleth Troll. Don't know why he wasn't on my radar already.
Victim of Night might really be a better choice.
I'm not sure if I want to cut Bile Blight. It seems useful against a lot of token decks and as a combat trick, but maybe you're right and the SB is the better place for it.
Yes, Arena is a bad card. And it feels bad when I have it in my opening hand, but the times it saved my ass in the late game and worked as both removal and pseudo mini fog still makes me want to keep it.
I'll sooner or later cut it, but at the moment this is the kind of spicy jank that makes me want to play the deck.
And the Leylines... yes, they take up 4 slots, but they're an auto-win in some matchups, slow down everything with delve threats and things like Bedlam Reveler for as long as the Leyline's on the battlefield, and they provide 2 devotion for free.
But maybe I'm just too much of a noob to be able to assess the correct timing of when to crack the spellbomb. Because that's the issue I have with it - if the spellbomb resolves it'll do nothing at first, the opponent can do something about it or react to me cracking it while stuff still goes into and out of their GY before and after cracking it, while the Leyline is harder to kill and works from turn 0 until it has been dealt with. Maybe one day I'll see why spellbomb is better, today is not that day.
Sadly Kalitas does nothing vs. decks like KCI. He's mainboard spice that synergizes with most of the other creatures and gives a nice pseudo-leyline effect. Took me long to realize he's good and include him, but having more than 1 would make me want to warp the whole deck around him and cut the Obliterators and maybe even go down a Gary... but that's not my game plan.
As I said, I somewhat like the bit of jankiness and lack of consistency. It can lead to interesting mind games with the opponent. But I'll definitely take your feedback into consideration. Even though I primarily play to have fun, it is definitely desirable to win more often and more consistently.
You can expect an update in a few months after refining and playing a bit more.
Gatekeeper is probably more of a SB card (for bogles) as well.
As it is basically a 3-drop I'd consider: Dread Shade, the 4th Messenger or maybe a Vampire Nighthawk (for some more lifegain) instead.
I like the deck, you have a critical mass of annoying threats so I think fair decks like burn, control and midrange etc really struggle against you. I also think the Empirion combo is neat, I can see that catching some people off guard, although I always find that combo to be a bit underwhelming game two. Maybe put it in the sideboard as an answer to some difficult match ups?
I also think the drown in sorrow would be better off as a damnation in your sideboard, but other than that the deck is sweet.
Forgot to mention I think blood moon is a bit of a trap as a four-of in the board. Speaking from experience, jamming a blood moon on t3 can really mess up your devotion for the rest of the game, so I'd cut down to 2 maybe 3. Just something to consider.
As someone who splashes G for better/wider removal, this seems like a subtle upgrade in my case.
It's castable with 3 lands, even with bad land draws like Swamp + Field of Ruin + the 1-of-Forest.
Most of the other 1- and 2-drops can come back from the GY and are good sac fodder, a Geralf's Messenger on the BF that hasn't undying'd yet is pure value.
It can hit a planeswalker or make a burn player discard a pivotal burn spell while in most cases adding 3 power and a blocker.
It doesn't target any player. Players getting some kind of hexproof is a thing.
I think those points make up for 1 less devotion on the field - at least in decks that splash.
Thinking of:
- Splashing with G to replace VoN with Assassin's Trophy. Any other important GB sideboard cards I should consider if I go down that route?
- Waiting for damnation to add to SB (replace hypno or Black Sun Zenith)
- I welcome any suggestions for SB improvements (Surgical Feels like its not needed)
- Not decided on 2x vs 3x Phyrexian Arena. Did anyone try running Bob over Arena or is it impossible?
Hi everyone! Been pretty quiet for a while, but I wanted to get your thoughts on the new spawn of mayhem card from Ravnica Allegiance. Do you think it could replace Phyrexian Obliterator? Flying and trample is nothing to sneeze at, plus the -1 to everyone each turn (which we'd be able to easily make up with gray merchant of asphodel.
Hi, IMHO Spawn of Mayhem can lead to not as restrictive manabase as Phyrexian Obliterator and opens use of e.g. Field of Ruin. On the other hand I don't see many ways to enable Spectacle mechanic outside of combat or red splash Lightning Bolt but that will be then 4 CMC card anyway, just my point of view. For me personally Phyrexian Obliterator is the card why I play Black devotion and is better against creature decks and Burn.
It's a bit quiet over here. But I'd like to share my deck list, because I have a lot of fun with it!
May it be inspirational for some.
Overall:
* I'm really happy with the Kalitas maindeck. For me, it's a no-brainer in the current meta.
* 3x gray merchant & 3x obliterator is enough. Especially with the card draw engine Phyrexian Arena in de deck. You will find those monsters anyway and don't need a playset.
* Yahenni's expertise is amazing! It really is!
Possible improvements / considerations:
* The deck lacks some good 2cmc cards. Relentless dead is more a turn 3 card. Therefore, the mana curve isn't perfect yet.
* I'm considering extra spot removal (collective brutality) or discard (inquisition of kozilek), but that will weaken the devotion count. And don't know what to cut.
* Maybee cutting a Nykthos? Sometimes it's clunky, sometimes it's amazing.
* Thinking about Leyline of the void in the sideboard, because it's devotion. But Spellbomb feels good too.
Questions, suggestions, feedback is always welcome ;-)
i personally splashed some green card like assassin's trophy for removal and main collective brutality(this card is like a swiss knife.. it's never useless)
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Scored a record of 4-1 & 3-2 in the last 2 FNM's I have gone to within the last month.
Let's discuss!
4x Gravecrawler
4x Geralf's Messanger
2x Phyrexian Obliterator
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Fatal Push
2x Dismember
1x Damnation
3x Sign in blood
4x Polluted Delta
2x Blood Crypt
13x Swamp
Sideboard:
2x Abrade
2x Collective Brutality
1x Mindbreak trap
2x Ratchet Bomb
3x Blood Moon
2x Flaying Tendrils
3x Leyline of the void
How reliable has gravecrawler given there are only 6 other zombies?
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
2x Relentless Dead
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Herald of Torment
2x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
2x Phyrexian Obliterator
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Fatal Push
1x Dismember
1x Go for the Throat
1x Slaughter Pact
3x Sign in Blood
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
17x Swamp
Sideboard:
3x Bontu's Last Reckoning
1x Yaheeni's Expertise
3x Fulminator Mage
2x Pithing Needle
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Extirpate
1x Vampiric Link
2x Lifebane Zombie
Round 1: Won 2-0 against BR burn. Nothing to write home about here.
Round 2: Lost 2-1 (narrowly) against Abzan Midrange. Struggled against tokens game 1 when I didn't have any sweepers. All three games were incredibly grindy.
Round 3: Won 2-1 against BW Vampires. It was a pretty spicy brew, tbh, a great combination of old and new school vamps.
Round 4: Lost 2-0 against G Tron. Tron... I got him down to 4 game one (at 36 life) and he won. 2nd game I got mana screwed. Terrible matchup, wish I could improve it further as mono B.
Notes and improvements after tonight:
Very happy with Herald of Torment. Played it both as a 3/3 Flyer for 3 and for its bestow cost for 5. Lifebane Zombie did some work, especially against Abzan and Vampires. Not thrilled with Vampiric Link, I may go back to running 1-2 Collective Brutality in SB.
Otherwise very happy. Would love tips on beating Tron.
Tron is and will always be an uphill battle.
You need to put early pressure on them and disrupt them.
The most important cards to attack
1 ugin, the spirit dragon
1 ancient stirrings
fulminator mage is too slow against them. ghost quarter is much better. surgical extraction and extirpate are also good in the SB, I've used it to strip ancient stirrings.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
3x Gravecrawler
4x Fatal Push
1x Expedition Map
1x Thoughtseize
4x Bloodghast
3x Gifted Aetherborn
2x Victim of Night
2x Bile Blight
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
3x Gatekeeper of Malakir
2x Geralf's Messenger
3x Phyrexian Arena
2x Phyrexian Obliterator
3x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
8x Swamp
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Field of Ruin
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Arena
1x Overgrown Tomb
2x Woodland Cemetery
2x Silent Gravestone
1x Leyline of the Void
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Fulminator Mage
1x Surgical Extraction
2x Extirpate
2x Thoughtseize
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Bontu's last Reckoning
This decklist is obviously a bit budget constrained and heavily influenced by what cards I already owned before I decided to spend money on this.
I splashed green for Maelstrom Pulse and Abrupt decay because mono black has zero way to deal with most GY hate besides hand disruption. I personally find that hand disruption not only slows down our already comparatively slow game plan, but also leads to too many dead draws late game for my taste and doesn't contribute to our devotion.
I Know, 21 lands with 1 land that doesn't even produce mana is at least 2-3 too few, but since I strongly dislike dead draws late game, more lands lead to more dead draws, so I rather mull a bit more often. It's riskier, but feels better.
Round 1: 1-2 vs. Mardu Pyromancer
First Game I got slowed down by his Blood Moon and me having 1 Swamp and 3 nonbasics by turn 4.
Second Game he got land flooded.
Third Game I got stuck at 2 lands for a while and died after a few turns of back-and-forht-1-for-1-ing to my Phyrexian Arena... admittedly after repeatedly taking 2 Bedlam Revelers to the face.
Round 2: 2-1 vs. BW Tokens
Game1 was just me killing his stuff and attacking him, mostly with recurring Bloodghasts.
Game2 he manages to Thoughtseize both the Garys I drew and Nihil Spellbombs my GY at the most inconvnient time.
Game3 was like Game1, but a bit tougher with a bit fewer removal on my side.
Round 3: 0-2 vs. Humans
Well.. Both games I fought hard and felt like I had a chance, but Reflector Mage and Meddling Mage in the Hand of a good player will bring you down. And though I managed to hold out quite a while and I avoided him Hostage Takering my Phyrexian Obliterator in Game2, he just Dire Fleet Daredeviled my kill spells and steamrolled over me unopposed.
Round 4: 2-1 vs. Burn
Game1 he starts strong with his Goblin Guides and Monastery Swiftspear versus me without removal in hand, but loses steam after a while. I kill his dudes after a few turns and he can't do anything about the stuff that I keep throwing in his face.
Game2 NEVER start with only 1 land in Hand.... NEVER!!!
Game3 Comparable to Game1, but he has Eidolon of the great Revel and Grim Lavamancer in play and doesn't run out of steam. Finally I play Arena and declare on my end step that I'm tapping my already tapped Geralf's Messenger and ask him which of his dudes he wants to tap. Cue the "JUDGE!" calls and immediate googling. It is confirmed that I can do that and he loses his Eidolon, then the Goblin and as he is at 6 life, I draw Gary, don't even cast him, just reveal him and he shakes my hand.
Everybody I played against sincerely said it was a good match and I felt that every match was fun.
I am now more convinced than ever that Bx Devotion is THE deck for me and that with a bit more tuning and more experience on my side, a 4-0 in the right meta is at least somewhat possible.
But regarding Josu - I still can't imagine a situation in which I would not prefer to draw Kalitas, traitor of Ghet or Gary over Josu Vess, Lich Knight... I already hardly ever kill with Gary. Most of the time when I can cast him, I'm either already winning anyway or he gives me those 1-2 more turns that let me win. Or I'm already losing hard enough that not even a kicked Josu could save me.
In an "ideal" goldfish match with t1 Gravecrawler, t2 Bloodghast, t3 Nykthos & Geralf's Messenger, t4 Phyrexian Obliterator, you could cast him with kicker on turn 5, but the opponent will have already lost 15 life by then and you would be dealing 12 damage in that fifth turn anyway.
In such an ideal scenario, you could in theory cast Gary instead of Obliterator on t4 post combat, after already having dealt 15 damage, draining the opponent for 8 and winning.
That scenario will never happen, the opponent will kill/exile/thoughtseize/counter your stuff and you will do the same to him -- you will definitely not have 10 devotion on the battlefield by t5 and I'd prefer something more impactful than just a menace guy by then.
So IMHO replacing any of our good 4+cmc dudes with Josu would only delay the final blow and would give the opponent more time to win, he's a smaller threat without kicker, he can't win you the game when he hits the battlefield even with kicker and does absolutely nothing when there's an Ensnaring Bridge in play.
But who am I to talk? I run Arena in a decklist that probably has the lowest land count among all Bx devotion decks out there...
I'd like to hear what more experienced Bx Devotion pilots have to say about Josu Vess, Lich Knight.
I'm taking this back, VoN is back in my decklist, because:
If we aren't able produce BB on turn 2, we are doing something very wrong and should have taken a mulligan.
Our worst matchups (IMHO) are decks containing legendaries that NEED to be dealt with that Victim of Night is able to kill, but Cast Down isn't (Baral, Thalia, Emrakul).
Sure, Fatal push may be able to do the job as well in most cases, but chances are we don't draw that Push when we need it and we topdeck one of our other kill spells. It would suck if that was a dead draw and our opponent starts storming off thanks to their now unkillable Baral.
Any other opinions/input/feedback or am I the only one actively trying to brew/improve Bx Devotion at the moment?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgEFhvuV4AIHJDL.jpg
I never see a GB variant floating around and I quite consistently keep beating BR devotion, so I think in the mirror, BR is the weaker deck.
Only a handful of tier decks feel very unfavorable or unwinnable with BG, so I thought I'd update & share my current decklist for those who are interested in trying/refining it:
4x Gravecrawler
4x Fatal Push
2x Thoughtseize
3x Bloodghast
3x Gifted Aetherborn
2x Cast Down
1x Bile Blight
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Gatekeeper of Malakir
3x Geralf's Messenger
2x Phyrexian Arena
2x Phyrexian Obliterator
3x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
10x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Field of Ruin
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Arena
1x Overgrown Tomb
4x Leyline of the Void
1x Ghost Quarter
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Extirpate
1x Thoughtseize
2x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Bile Blight
2x Damping Matrix
Why there's hardly any 4-ofs?
With the green splash and colourless lands, BBB and BBBB is awkward at times, so fewer of those guys and more action in the lower area of the mana curve is better.
4 Garys is overkill. We rarely need more than 1 per game, and with last hope Lily and Phyrexian Arena, we usually get him when we need him. Sometimes even twice.
As much as I love Bloodghast, he can't block. Good to have him, but I don't want more than half of my dudes to be unable to block. Drawing the third bloodghast when we desperately need a blocker for that Goyf/HollowOne sux.
Also I noticed that a lack of consistency can be in our favor.
If you slam Lily on game 1, they have THE FEAR. Even if they won't see her again. If they don't see Lily, surprise Lily is best Lily.
Once they notice the dudes that come back from the GY, they sideboard in GY hate and waste turns/cards/resources while we keep hitting them with those dudes. Most GY hate can be dealt with Pulse/Decay anyway.
And yes, taking a mulligan happens a bit often due to "too few" lands, of which some make colourless mana, one no mana at all. But compared to the usual 24 land builds, this one seems to draw more gas/action more consistently. I don't mind not drawing land #5 on turn 5. I'd rather cast one more Messenger and have mana left for the Push/Thoughtseize I just drew.
I'm still torn on Cast Down vs. Victim of Night...
The only thing I'm not sure about atm is the sideboard. Damping Matrix is basically just filler and mainly to slow down Affinity.
I'm thinking about getting 2 Engineered Explosives instead, to be able to hit a wider range of hard matchups as well (Bogles/Elves/CoCo/Humans)
I'll definitely think about Loleth Troll. Don't know why he wasn't on my radar already.
Victim of Night might really be a better choice.
I'm not sure if I want to cut Bile Blight. It seems useful against a lot of token decks and as a combat trick, but maybe you're right and the SB is the better place for it.
Yes, Arena is a bad card. And it feels bad when I have it in my opening hand, but the times it saved my ass in the late game and worked as both removal and pseudo mini fog still makes me want to keep it.
I'll sooner or later cut it, but at the moment this is the kind of spicy jank that makes me want to play the deck.
And the Leylines... yes, they take up 4 slots, but they're an auto-win in some matchups, slow down everything with delve threats and things like Bedlam Reveler for as long as the Leyline's on the battlefield, and they provide 2 devotion for free.
But maybe I'm just too much of a noob to be able to assess the correct timing of when to crack the spellbomb. Because that's the issue I have with it - if the spellbomb resolves it'll do nothing at first, the opponent can do something about it or react to me cracking it while stuff still goes into and out of their GY before and after cracking it, while the Leyline is harder to kill and works from turn 0 until it has been dealt with. Maybe one day I'll see why spellbomb is better, today is not that day.
Sadly Kalitas does nothing vs. decks like KCI. He's mainboard spice that synergizes with most of the other creatures and gives a nice pseudo-leyline effect. Took me long to realize he's good and include him, but having more than 1 would make me want to warp the whole deck around him and cut the Obliterators and maybe even go down a Gary... but that's not my game plan.
As I said, I somewhat like the bit of jankiness and lack of consistency. It can lead to interesting mind games with the opponent. But I'll definitely take your feedback into consideration. Even though I primarily play to have fun, it is definitely desirable to win more often and more consistently.
You can expect an update in a few months after refining and playing a bit more.
It is not really an aggro deck so having creatures which can't block seems bad and I'm not sure I'd keep Gravecrawler either over some more discard spells for 1-mana and lands (2x IoK + 2x Swamp).
Gatekeeper is probably more of a SB card (for bogles) as well.
As it is basically a 3-drop I'd consider: Dread Shade, the 4th Messenger or maybe a Vampire Nighthawk (for some more lifegain) instead.
I like the deck, you have a critical mass of annoying threats so I think fair decks like burn, control and midrange etc really struggle against you. I also think the Empirion combo is neat, I can see that catching some people off guard, although I always find that combo to be a bit underwhelming game two. Maybe put it in the sideboard as an answer to some difficult match ups?
I also think the drown in sorrow would be better off as a damnation in your sideboard, but other than that the deck is sweet.
As someone who splashes G for better/wider removal, this seems like a subtle upgrade in my case.
I think those points make up for 1 less devotion on the field - at least in decks that splash.
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
4x Phyrexian Obliterator
4x Gifted Aetherborn
2x Kitesail Freebooter
4x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4x Dread Shade
1x Hypnotic Specter
2x Collective Brutality
2x Phyrexian Arena
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Fatal Push
3x Victim of Night
2x Leyline of the Void
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Collective Brutality
3x Thoughtseize
1x Dismember
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Hypnotic Specter
Thinking of:
- Splashing with G to replace VoN with Assassin's Trophy. Any other important GB sideboard cards I should consider if I go down that route?
- Waiting for damnation to add to SB (replace hypno or Black Sun Zenith)
- I welcome any suggestions for SB improvements (Surgical Feels like its not needed)
- Not decided on 2x vs 3x Phyrexian Arena. Did anyone try running Bob over Arena or is it impossible?
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
1 Collective Brutality
4 Assassin's Trophy
2 Phyrexian Arena
2 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Geralf's Messenger
1 Dread Shade
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Also I like the White splash version that recently 5-0'ed.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1483059#paper
May it be inspirational for some.
Overall:
* I'm really happy with the Kalitas maindeck. For me, it's a no-brainer in the current meta.
* 3x gray merchant & 3x obliterator is enough. Especially with the card draw engine Phyrexian Arena in de deck. You will find those monsters anyway and don't need a playset.
* Yahenni's expertise is amazing! It really is!
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Polluted Delta
17 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Interaction (10)
4 Fatal Push
4 Thoughtseize
2 Liliana of the Veil
3 Phyrexian Arena
Creatures (23)
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Gifted Aetherborn
3 Gravecrawler
3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Relentless Dead
3 Contaminated Ground
2 Dismember
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Pithing Needle
3 Yahenni's Expertise
Possible improvements / considerations:
* The deck lacks some good 2cmc cards. Relentless dead is more a turn 3 card. Therefore, the mana curve isn't perfect yet.
* I'm considering extra spot removal (collective brutality) or discard (inquisition of kozilek), but that will weaken the devotion count. And don't know what to cut.
* Maybee cutting a Nykthos? Sometimes it's clunky, sometimes it's amazing.
* Thinking about Leyline of the void in the sideboard, because it's devotion. But Spellbomb feels good too.
Questions, suggestions, feedback is always welcome ;-)
RBWMardu Nahiri, GBElves, UW Emeria, RSkred Red,
GBelcher, BDevotion, GWRNaya landfall, UWBEsper Miracles