I really like imp's mischief, that is an interesting card. The big reason I included 4x Rakdos Charm was due to graveyard strategies I've been coming across. I feel like with a discard deck you really need something to remove everything out of the graveyard, otherwise something like Living End rolls you. With my 8rack deck, I have Ensnaring Bridge and Leyline of the Void against Living End, Vengevine, etc. I'm not sure how this deck deals with those threats. I suppose Relic of progenitus might be something better since it also helps against decks with Snapcaster Mage. I added Shattering Spree because in my local meta affinity has a pretty big presence. Since I am building this deck online, I will probably just take these out. I only used Extirpate because that's what I have online, I think Surgical Extraction is better although I think the split second is nice against Twin. Same goes for Molten Rain, I already have it online, but I agree that Fluminator Mage is better with the recursion.
After some thought, I'd like to try this as a sideboard:
I would like the Molten Rain to be Fulminator Mage, but I don't have the spare cash to buy them right now. Also, I think Kolaghan's Command is an automatic 2-for-1 in affinity, so that is why I am including 2 in the sideboard.
Looking Sharp, Out There! This new archetype is developing nicely with a lot of ingenuity. I dig the strain that is adhering to a very low mana curve. Ace1 is on to something, and I like a lot of the new cards that are being suggested to join our armory. How shall we judge them, and how effective are some of the variants going to be? For context, let's think about how our deck is going to interact with the other kids in the sandbox. One of the reasons why Smashpacman did so well is that his deck had a marked advantage over the primary decks in the current meta. He didn't just build a cool deck with synergies, he built against the field. What I'm suggesting is to keep this very close to the forefront of your mind as you're developing your decks. What I've done is a print screen of Tier 1 decks and another print screen of Tier 2 decks from MTGsalvation. I keep those 2 sheets handy as I'm developing variants. It's increasingly important to be able to handle the speed demons out on the track: Affinity, Zoo, Burn, and Infect as well as Abzan - the proverbial tortoise that can beat the hare.
For that reason, I agreed with pacman that the important thing to add to Ace's deck is more targeted discard and more removal. He suggested a Thoughtseize and Murderous Cut. I tend to agree, although I do like the suggestion by darkhelmet of 1 slaughter pact, and I might make mention of a victim of the night. I know that thoughtseize sucks pump when combined with dark confidant, but it's really needed when you consider trying to beat the decks I listed above. Can your deck be as fast or as disruptive enough to keep up and overcome the tier 1s? I honestly don't know, but I have to posit that multiple Kolaghan's Command, although cool, probably isn't the answer.
My approach is still the most mid-rangey with the highest land count {24} and 4-CMC spell count. The question becomes, "can I give up that much early ground, and make it back with my mid-game titans? The testing and battles have been very positive, and I encourage folks to try this side of the coin. Essentially, I think we've got (2) camps going: 3-cmc cap and the mid-range. Phyrexian Obliterator, Night of Souls' Betrayal, and reliable dump down opportunities into an ensnaring bridge can be all the difference. The disadvantage is the lack of life gain, and fearing for a grind-out win from an opponent.
I found it interesting that pacman dropped all bridges from his last variant. That's fine, as I often do a game 2 without them, but I do bring in more creatures (6 big beaters total). So, I am surprised that he can bring enough pressure to bear with fewer creatures. I do like delve, and need to exploit it more in my blitzkrieg build, but I also think that you've gone a little too delve heavy in your design. Lotsa talk about leyline. Nothing thumps a leyline of sanctity like a good old-fashioned creature attack - I find it to be a more proactive approach than wear // tear.
I do think that the use of 20 land is dangerously low. 8rack, as a monocolor deck with no fetch lands, has pretty much universally agreed to 22 lands with three manlands (mutavault).
A final sideboard note is that, upon the suggestion of demonboy, (2) Bile Blight has found it's way into my sideboard as a 3rd/4th Lightning Bolt. Again, I only run 2 bolts main deck which is sketchy (chandra, pyromaster really should be a 3rd bolt, but I'm not ready to let go of my pet card just yet). I love having that kind of answer (bile bolt) when you consider the speed demons listed above.
The reason i'm not playing murderous cut is bob. Flipping a 5cc removal spell is super awful. I might end up cutting kolaghan's command for 2 thoughtseizes, but i'd like to at least test it first.
Hi guys, magic online player here. I have been tinkering with this, and I'd like to share my experiences and get some feedback if possible. Fair warning: I am a cheapskate. It has taken me years to build up the tickets to get the lands in this deck, and I don't see me paying for Dark Confidant, Liliana of the Veil, or even The Rack. I know my build will never be better than Tier 3, but budget players deserve to have fun too, eh?
I chose the aggressive Young Pyromancer route since I don't have any copies of The Rack. It's been phenomenal with the discard shell, and opponents are hesitant to board in pyroclasms against just one threat.
Raven's Crime has proven to be very important in control matchups. If an opponent has enough card draw to offset our discard spells, we are quickly outmached, and this little guy turns every late game land into a useful draw. It's no Liliana, but it'll do.
Rift Bolt is stupid, but it has saved me in too many game 1's for me to remove them. Sometimes the 3 extra damage helps end the game, sometimes it threatens an important creature...I am up for suggestions for better options though.
Stupor is even more stupid, but before adding it, i was consistently running out of gas while the opponent still had 1 or 2 cards in hand. Very bad for Shrieking affliction. Overall, it's not the best but I have never been wholly unhappy to draw it.
2 Rix Maadi is a frustrating (due to color screw) but necessary measure due to the lack of Lilianas. There are a LOT of counterspells going around the Tournament Practice room online, and a bit of extra pressure seems important to drain them.
Sideboard: I completely ignored scapeshift and tron when making the sideboard, because I have no idea how to deal with those decks without Blood Moon. Scapeshift especially...I have to roll over because I can't win before they topdeck scapeshift with enough lands for the kill. My dubious plan is to use my Extirpates. My intuition tells me that Extirpate is a terrible card...but I am always thrilled to draw it. It's removed Cryptic commands, Splinter Twins, 'Tron components...always uncounterable and instant speed. Delirium skeins is basically a placeholder...I never side them in.
Overall, I win nearly half my matches against Tier 1 decks, but I feel the deck isn't close to being optimized yet (even for the budget build) Does anybody have any suggestions, especially on the sideboard choises/strategy?
Also, I tried out Monastery Swiftspear in my initial versions of the deck. It never works very well, as it doesn't offer enough utility in this shell. It only rarely got bigger than 2/3 and because of the low creature count in the deck, there was always a removal spell with ol' Swiftspear's name on it.
Since i never play online i have no idea what prices look like but are blackcleave cliffs that expensive? They are a major incentive to play straight b/r because they save you a lot of life loss and turn on all your turn one play.
Also sygg, river cutthroat was mentionned and i think a 2 of makes sense, especially with rift bolts. Again i have no clue if they are costly MODOs but they could be a fine budget alternative to dark confidant. They also make playing delve spells not suicidal at all.
Hello Lightning Rack players! I have been playing this variation of 8Rack at my local shop for over a month now. I have had a lot of success, tying for first once, and all but one FNM ending as a 3-1. The set up is very creature light main board with a whittle down strategy. The main deck is actually very similar to one of the featured on the front page, with the only major changes to the mana base and sideboard
Mana Base
I've been running this and loving it. Since I only have one 4cmc spell in the main, so running 4 Blackcleave Cliffs has never been an issue or cost me a game. the six fetches are for deck thinning to prevent useless land draws after the 3rd or 4th land drops, and since I only run 2 Thoughtseize having to shock every once in awhile is fine. The singleton Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace is where it's at, I tried two at one point and I drew it enough times to screw me over on needing black to drop it to a one of again.
Sideboard
My sideboard may seem a little wonky and narrow, but it covers the major weaknesses I have noticed with this build.
- Damnation and Lifebane Zombie are used for match ups with loxodon smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege, Damnation also being brought in against creature heavy games such as fish and zoo.
- The rest don't need much explaining, Slaughter Games and Surgical Extraction for Tron and control, and Rakdos Charm for decks that love their graveyards.
I would love some feedback on this, I will hopefully be taking this list to the GPT at Realms in SC tomorrow, I'll let you know how it does.
Man, I think that your list doesn't need the rix maadi at all... If you are running Raven`s Crime, you should concentrate on that, put some more lands and cut Rix. In other side, RIP can take your strategy down if you play it, and wont work well with Raven's. I think you should revisit more the sinergies of your deck. Running 20 lands with Raven's seem not enough to me. I think its also important, if you want to empty enemy's hand to win without creatures, to use more Wrench Minds and Blightnings. Those are the two most important cards of any rack-based list. And having only two swamps makes Blood Moon a big pain, realy, you could see that too. And finally, if you are running white, why not some enchantment hates on the sideboard?? Would be good =). Those were my two cents...
It's great to see people popping in on this brand new thread, Blightning Rack. I really like some of the tech and deck designs getting suggested.
Housekeeping Note: Our moderator, ktkenshinx, did say that since the threads have recently been reorganized and streamlined, they would be "cracking down" on budget deck suggestions in non-budget deck threads. I wish we could be more accommodating to budget players, as we've all been card-poor at some point. But, we're still trying to get our footing as to what is and isn't working. I'm optimistic that we'll soon have grown to a point where we can host a 'pauper' thread.
@killerxkidxx: that's a cool creation, and hope you did some damage at your GPT yesterday. It's a build that closely follows the 'turtle-bolt' design put forth by airmanmaki (though I see that you've been playing it since before he posted it up). When I look at the main deck construction, my first thought is Kolaghan's command....how good is this card?!? It has this forum confounded! 1 of them has stolen a slot from Blightning which I have a hard time stomaching, but I get that you're already so full at the 3-CMC slot. So, yeah, maybe it's something.
Then, there are more personal choices. you have (3) terminate and (4) lightning bolt, I might consider swapping that around. Yet, since you're on the Ensnaring Bridge plan, it may not be so important. I just consider Tasigur, the golden fang and Deceiver Exarch as critical kills which bolt can't deliver. I'm glad you're running a higher land count - which is really required when you go on a bridge plan - and, I think your land decisions are sound. Last main deck decision: Mogis, God of Slaughter? How has this god been working out for people? I feel like Chandra, Pyromaster is a better overall call, but she is pretty much the 59-60th card in my deck.
Your sideboard is definitely adhering to that transformational approach that can turn an opponent's sideboaring effort's on their head. This is one of the most devastating elements of this deck. Again, people perceive Lightning Rack as some sort of variant of 8rack with no creatures. When the bridges get pulled, and the Tanks come in, it's a blast! How often is Lifebane Zombie hitting paydirt? I'm sure he's a lot better on the play, and can later be paired with a grim lavamancer to take down a Siege Rhino or Tasigur - earlier game he can trade with a zoo creature. My only concern with the Zombie is that he needs to come down in the early game, as the opponent will otherwise pretty much cast any topdecked creature (unless he's getting racked).
@aparthia: You've got a lot going on in that deck of yours. Maybe, too much? Yours is the first to suggest Blackmail which I've also considered for a good while, as nothing is worse than popping a Thoughtseize, and find that a cost of two life revealed 3 lands in your opponent's hand. Otherwise, LucasBayde is right to have you revisit your Blightning and Wrench Mind count. To me, this is an automatic 4-of for both before exploring more 1-for-1 discard options. The bedrock of this deck is maximizing "X-For-1 effects." That means Liliana of the Veil, Wrench Mind, Blightning, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace. With 8 racks (4 shrieking affliction and 4 the rack), this build is looking more like an 8rack design.
Other thoughts, you've gotta max your ensnaring bridge count to 4 (you play no creatures that attack, so why suppress that count?), add Liliana of the Veil, and reconsider raven's crime. That card is so weak without an engine to feed it (dark confidant or Life from the loam). Contrary to what Lucas suggested, I think you're better off adding an extra Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace if you're thinking to add lands [and drop Necrogen Mists].
Hey guys, sorry I haven't been able to post for a while. Between work and school, I really haven't had time to sit down and contribute to the thread. I hope to have time soon to respond to questions and talk about the Lightning Rack build. Until then, I will poke my head in when I can. I will be graduating from Purdue University in about 4 weeks. After that, I should be able to help anyone who needs it. Cheers!
Can I just say that I prefer the name Blitzkrieg over Lightning Rack?
Makes it sound more like its own archetype rather then just 8 rack splashing for bolts. I've also got to say that its both good and sad that other people are working on this archetype. Good because it means that there is much more testing involved and so good choices can be found quicker, but sad because it means that I'm less likely to 'crack' it and make it explode onto the world stage!
Anyway I've been focused on a more 'creature' based build, purely because the number of infect and boggles players in my meta generally requires me to have blockers rather quickly if I don't want to be turn 3'd. For that reason I tended to move 'away' from using too many single target discards (even though I admit I should likely try to) and focused more on 'value' creatures that were hard to kill or 1 for 1.
Admittedly mine wasn't the most focused list, but it was also built around a partial mind game for the opponent, being able to switch from the Blitzkrieg Strategy to a more 'traditional' 8 rack strategy game 2, and then switch back or to a number of 'hybrid' strategies depending on what the current opponent was up to and whether or not I got the chance to survive long enough. My mana base wasn't quite as rocksteady as I would have liked, being a bit more painful for myself due to keeping the bloodghasts longer then I likely should have.
The Purphoros in the sideboard was for when I switched to what I jokingly called 'elemental rack' which was a variation of the typical build with bridges to stop them from attacking and the God to help me kill them with Bloodghast and token spam. After reading this thread though, I suspect I'd run the Rack in the side board and the afflictions main, purely to try and trick them into removing artifact hate if I intend to switch to a more 'conventional plan'.
@Raystack and smashpacman - Nice to see this thread grow with lots of interests and ideas. I might hold off my third modern deck for this by configuring the mono black list. But for now I am currently building my second deck and using the mono black list for tournaments. I might try your build Raystack, as I believe you need to be aggressive using this deck.
Hopefully, I'll be able to use both 8Rack and Lightning Rack in future.
Thanks for the interest! Kolaghan's Command has actually been a strong player in quite a few match-ups, namely bots as a 2-for-1 trade. The instant speed and synergy with nabbing an early Grim Lavamancer loss and potentially negating someones draw step for a turn later in the game is great. Early game a Blightning is wished for, but its ability to be so toolboxy in a lot of match-ups in the main makes me love this card.
I did feel the Terminate being a 3-of, it actually hurt more than I wanted it to. I used to run it as a 4-of with a singleton Slaughter Pact with some good success, so losing 2 kill spells like that is in for a change. Some Mogis, God of Slaughter talk is in order. First off, if he lands against a control match-up he ends up devastating the opponent. They have to either suffer from 2 damage a turn with very few creatures to sacrifice, or bounce it with a Cryptic Command so that they don't bleed to death on it and racks. He is also a nice assured two damage when opponents stock cards past rack range and I don't draw into enough discard later on, but against a creature heavy match-up with no bridge he only tickles the opponent while I sit back and get hammered.
Now for Lifebane Zombie. He was a snap decision against decks such as Zoo and The Rock, but I find him to whiff harder than I would like. I have had the 3/1 body win for me with some nice beatdown, but at 3cmc he is just too slow unless you are on the play. I feel like his slot in the sideboard would be better used with other ways to deal with Smiters and Lieges.
As for the GPT, I ended up going 2-2
First round I played boggles taking 2-0 with two crushing victories. First game my opponent was on the play and he hit the ground running with boggles turn one and enchantments soon to follow. My third turn I slammed down a bridge against a 7/x boggles with 4 cards in hand. My opponents face immediately dropped and he conceded to game two soon after. Game two he sided in artifact hate and started the exact same way, only this time mulling down to five. I Inquisitioned turn one taking out the gladecover scout and followed it up with a surgical extraction. He had no other creatures in hand so turn three I dropped a Liliana of the veil and ran away with the game
Game two I played against American control, and also took a 2-0 victory. The first match I Inquisitioned out early counters and then mass discarded his hand into oblivion, leaving him with 3-4 mana and no hand. I dropped racks and stole the first game. Game two was a little harder, he ended up Sphinx Revving twice but was short on mana so he only managed the first for 2 and second for 3. Mogis actually won me this game by constantly pinging him while he shut off my racks with Sphinx's Revelation.
Third match I played against Junk and went 0-2. Both games weren't much of a contest, I ended up getting mana flooded both times and was unable to draw appropriate answers or the discard I needed.
Fourth match was B/G Tron and I went 1-2. The first match I started off with solid discard but he ended up getting an early Ugin out and I couldn't Compete with his high loyalty counters or damage per turn. Second match post sideboard I stole the game with 2 Nyxathid. I was able to drop them both very early and follow up with hard discard to swing for lethal by turn 7. Final round he dropped an early pithing needle naming liliana, I was holding two in my hand, and he quickly follow that with a witchbane orb. I saw neither of my Kolaghan's Command So i was helpless whenever he dropped an ugin and a wurmcoil.
After was all said and done I believe I stole 5th place out of 14, I was able to hold a top 4 slot until my final match against Tron. I had fun and learned a lot. I'm currently thinking of a solid Mardu version of this deck, dropping Mogis, God of Slaughter, (1) Lightning Bolt, all (4) Wrench Mind, (3) Terminate and (2) The Rack for (3) Path to Exile, (2) Lightning Helix, (3) Tidehollow Sculler, and (3) Lingering Souls. Part of the Reasoning is for a better sideboard with cards such as Timely Reinforcements against burn, Celestial purge, Stony Silence, Wear//Tear and other excellent removal cards.
- - 3 cards I'd LOVE evaluation on for a deck such as this.
*Butcher of the Horde* Excellent synergy with lingering souls, He can close out a game with haste, bring us back with lifelink, stay up as a defender with vigilance, and has evasion to boot. His synergy with bridge is low, but in the match-ups he would be good in I feel bridge can be reduced or sided out entirely, similar to the Blitzkrieg strategy.
*Mardu Charm* Instant speed targeted discard (albeit weaker against creature heavy decks), the creature removal is lackluster against Tasigur and Rhino, and the two 1/1 tokens with first strike for a turn (Which I feel is the card's strongest option)
*Crackling Doom* Mildly targeted edict with a shock attached. This one I feel could do well, especially against decks with Tasigurs and Rhinos, where the Charm falls short.
- - I feel they would be decent-good sideboard options depending on which deck was being played against, shoring up weaknesses that may exist in the meta.
I don't want to sound ungrateful that you're playing and making changes to your deck to improve it, but you are most definitely just switching it up into the Dega Midrange deck. Those changes effectively make it a different deck from where it started, so you should check that thread out.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Some folks aren't thrilled with the shifting name of this thread. It wasn't easy. But, the name Blightning Rack, though less imaginative than Blitzkrieg, is simply more inclusive of the ideas that are being generated in this thread, and it references our signature card. Blitzkrieg follows a formula of A.) bolt/heavy discard/removal B.) low-cost/high powered creatures - ala, air raid followed by panzer tanks: blitzkrieg. However, there is a 2nd, almost equally popular design A.) bolt/heavy discard/removal B.) slam up a wall of defenses, cast no creatures, and start 'rack attacking'. In this case, blitzkrieg becomes a misnomer: you can't have the blitz without the krieg. I added 'shock and awesome' as the flavor, because that's exactly what we do. We A.) Shock the hell out an opponent and B.) Drop something awesome on the table that makes an opponent go
As we are forming this new archetype, it's critical to develop an identity. We need a unifying brand. All the other premier decks out there have that element of recognition and tribal belonging.
I'm taking this to a StarCityGames Premier Event this weekend. A couple tweaks here and there, but I feel good about where I am. Shoosh, lotta testing - lotta testing.
EDIT: Instead of the Delve Demon why not Gurmag Angler
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Kekule_the_Magician on the inclusion of Devouring Light in a TurboFog Deck:
Quote from Kekule_the_Magician »
As a person who typically plays very creature oriented decks, I HATE when an opponent has Devouring Light. It is infuriating to finally get through with a creature on to have it exiled.
I've come to hate White in general now because it gets everything to the point where it is almost unfair. White has boardwipes (Wrath of God, End Hostilities), targeted exile and removal (Devouring Light, Banishing Light, Last Breath), lifegain spells, lifelink, low cost/high power enchantments and auras, flying creatures; my goodness what don't they get!?
Gurmag Angler has been used with some success in other builds. But, I'm not running 4-8 Fetch Lands, full 4 lightning bolt, and full 4 thoughtseize. So, I'm not filling my graveyard fast enough to cast a B6 creature w/ delve. Similarly, I'm not running Grim Lavamancer or Murderous Cut (I'd rather go with Victim of Night as my 5th Terror). That said, I still dig Hero's Downfall as an adaptable answer to so many decks.
As opposed to the Blightning Rack style that runs about 21 lands with fetches and no spells above 3-cmc (they prefer Nyxathid or Gurmag Angler to Phyrexian Obliterator - my place is with P.O.) With a mid-range, non-fetchland Blightning Rack build with 24 land, the synergies are higher:
- the extra land count allows for interactions with Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and Lavaclaw Reaches to run at a high clip.
- once you commit to (4) Phyrexian Obliterator, then you forego the inclusion of Blood Moon {which is a potential bummer, but again it's too reactive for me} and the aforementioned lands remain ideal mana sinks.
- 4-cmc spells like Night of Souls' Betrayal become highly doable. This card may be the best sideboard card in Modern today.
- Bridging up with Ensnaring Bridge becomes easy, and one common mistake with that card is not playing with enough land to continually generate mana and dump down. And, when you're bridging, Chandra, Pyromaster is more effective than Mogis, God of Slaughter at delivering reliable damage while ticking towards a triple play of, hopefully, Blightning Bolt.
Oh wow, lots going on here. I'll go in reverse order.
@Raystack - Thanks for your work on this thread. I've actually cut Nyxathid from my 75 altogether in favor of Gurmag Angler. Mathematically speaking, it's much easier to get out on curve with the ability to do more than one thing on the turn it is cast. Playing it for one or two mana is just unreal.
@purklefluff - Some variations might seem like the Dega deck, but a lot of those variations are not the archetype as it was originally intended. Blightning Rack is a variation of 8-Rack, and is going much more on the discard strategy than the midrange strategy.
@Killerxkidxx - Nice write-up. You have some interesting deck choices. How good is Path to Exile? Is it worth the white splash? Is it better than a green splash to go Jund?
@Sucal - Bloodghast is one of my favorite cards ever printed. That decklist looks really sweet, and Bloodghast gives the deck something else to do on turn two. Having a recurring threat also seems pretty good. I might try that one out myself. I feel like you want a little bit more disruption, but if it's working, then run with it. I recommend Gurmag Angler over Tasigur if you're going to go on the Delve-a-creature strategy, although it's a bit of a non-bo with Bloodghast, but without a way to activate Tasigur, she's worse than Angler almost always.
@ShrimpPoBoy - Nice list. I would appreciate updates from you (and anyone else) on Young Pyromancer, how good the card is, and if it is worthwhile to have in the deck over other options.
Sometime soon I'm going to put up a nice long rant about Dark Confidant, specifically how poorly positioned it currently is, and why it shouldn't see too much play in these lists especially with all the new Delve toys.
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
@purklefluff - Some variations might seem like the Dega deck, but a lot of those variations are not the archetype as it was originally intended. Blightning Rack is a variation of 8-Rack, and is going much more on the discard strategy than the midrange strategy.
amongst other changes, he basically ended up with a slightly discard-heavy Dega midrange deck.
i have other qualms about this thread, insofar as the ensnaring bridge version with the rack and shrieking affliction is just 8rack splashing red, and there's no real way you can argue out of that. the decks are only a handful of cards different, which makes it less of a new distinct archetype and instead just a re-hash of something people are actively already trying to develop, with its own thread.
i get that people are enthusiastic, but the "blitzkrieg" version was actually its own deck, quite clearly. the other 'grey-area' versions which are entirely possibly pre-existing decks should really be kept to those other threads, for the sake of effectively developing them further and giving them the recognition they deserve.
that said, i like this deck. the posters in the thread just have to be very mindful of appropriating pre-existing archetypes.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
I appreciate the sentiments offered by purklepuff. Bottom Line: Blightning Rack is a new archetype, but it has very close associations with other established deckstyles. Most notably: 8 rack. I have posted over 200 posts on that exact thread (new and old), and am intimately involved with the concepts and self-defeatist nature of its theme: mono-black, 3-cmc limit, single win-condition with a reaching, fragile lockdown suite of cards. In other words, I am well aware of its limitations, and have strived to improve upon its mechanics for years.
The thread's former host calls the creation, "Modern's Discard Deck". Yet, it has not won or top-16ed any discernible amount of tournaments - ever. I don't count 4 round, online, MTG Dailies as a legitimate tournament. Please understand that I am not casting judgements in these statements. I'm merely reporting the facts. However, I will give you the following opinion that I proffer with 100% assuredness: WE are Modern's Discard Deck.
Still, we are young. It's a disservice to our growth to be entertaining and encouraging every idea presented. For instance, the proposed deck that had 8 racks? No offense, but it's pretty clear where that needs to be posted . Also, budget decks were offered by a few contributors. It's simply not fair to the forum to spur on decks that are purposely sub-par due to money. Again, not our rule - it's MTGsalvation's new guideline.
One last time: we're new. We are trying to forge an identity. There have been other threads that have chosen the path of 'making a decree' or 'issuing a judgement' when it comes to ideas that aren't canon. I plead for just the opposite. We simply need to know what to endorse and foster and when to ... keep silent.
There are a couple instances where Smallpox has been brought up but no one has continued discussing its usefulness for this deck. I think this is perfect here unlike in 8Rack to me really hurts that deck. With our low cost spells, Smallpox can steal some turns for us at the beginning since most of the discard can get rid of two cards.
The discard spell Blackmail pairs up well with Smallpox as it can force a discard of land. If your opponent is foolish enough to reveal lands to Blackmail on turn 1, a turn 2 Smallpox could just end the game there. Here is what i propose the deck should look like:
There are a couple instances where Smallpox has been brought up but no one has continued discussing its usefulness for this deck. I think this is perfect here unlike in 8Rack to me really hurts that deck. With our low cost spells, Smallpox can steal some turns for us at the beginning since most of the discard can get rid of two cards.
The discard spell Blackmail pairs up well with Smallpox as it can force a discard of land. If your opponent is foolish enough to reveal lands to Blackmail on turn 1, a turn 2 Smallpox could just end the game there. Here is what i propose the deck should look like:
There is room for tweaking, I would like to see Mogis, God of Slaughter or even Pack Rat in here, some of the four-ofs could be reduced to three.
What's cool about Smallpox is that it very likely would work a lot better with the new Delve cards, such as Gurmag Angler. It is definitely a possibility to attempt.
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
There are a couple instances where Smallpox has been brought up but no one has continued discussing its usefulness for this deck. I think this is perfect here unlike in 8Rack to me really hurts that deck. With our low cost spells, Smallpox can steal some turns for us at the beginning since most of the discard can get rid of two cards.
The discard spell Blackmail pairs up well with Smallpox as it can force a discard of land. If your opponent is foolish enough to reveal lands to Blackmail on turn 1, a turn 2 Smallpox could just end the game there. Here is what i propose the deck should look like:
There is room for tweaking, I would like to see Mogis, God of Slaughter or even Pack Rat in here, some of the four-ofs could be reduced to three.
What's cool about Smallpox is that it very likely would work a lot better with the new Delve cards, such as Gurmag Angler. It is definitely a possibility to attempt.
If you are considering Delve cards, I would go for Tasigur's Cruelty to replace a discard spell first. Gurmag Angler is outclassed by Tombstalker anyway.
@Sucal - Bloodghast is one of my favorite cards ever printed. That decklist looks really sweet, and Bloodghast gives the deck something else to do on turn two. Having a recurring threat also seems pretty good. I might try that one out myself. I feel like you want a little bit more disruption, but if it's working, then run with it. I recommend Gurmag Angler over Tasigur if you're going to go on the Delve-a-creature strategy, although it's a bit of a non-bo with Bloodghast, but without a way to activate Tasigur, she's worse than Angler almost always.
I like Tasigur more because I can get him out slightly quicker. Also at one stage the deck splashed green and had Scavenging Ooze instead of Blood Ghasts but I figured that was going a bit too much towards the 'cute' side. Personally if I was going to edit that deck I'd likely switch the racks for afflictions, drop the Tasigur completely (yes its a fast threat, but a remand can be a bit too much of a pain in the ass) add a pair of thoughseises and likely remove the 8rack sideboard plan completely. Its cute but rarely works against the same opponent more then once. Possibly would keep the Purph though.
The sideboard would likely have a sweeper or two, and a bit more 'targted' discard for the decks that I figured would need it as well as a Geth's Verdict or three for the boggles match up (I'd go with Black Sun's Zenith but wouldn't be quick enough for when and where I'd need it). Possibly would also put an obliterator in the sideboard for a third mainboard targeted discard.
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After some thought, I'd like to try this as a sideboard:
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Molten Rain
3 Extirpate
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Golgari Charm
I would like the Molten Rain to be Fulminator Mage, but I don't have the spare cash to buy them right now. Also, I think Kolaghan's Command is an automatic 2-for-1 in affinity, so that is why I am including 2 in the sideboard.
Modern:
BRBightning RackBR
RGoblinsR
WBDeath and TaxesWB
Legacy:
BPoxB
For that reason, I agreed with pacman that the important thing to add to Ace's deck is more targeted discard and more removal. He suggested a Thoughtseize and Murderous Cut. I tend to agree, although I do like the suggestion by darkhelmet of 1 slaughter pact, and I might make mention of a victim of the night. I know that thoughtseize sucks pump when combined with dark confidant, but it's really needed when you consider trying to beat the decks I listed above. Can your deck be as fast or as disruptive enough to keep up and overcome the tier 1s? I honestly don't know, but I have to posit that multiple Kolaghan's Command, although cool, probably isn't the answer.
My approach is still the most mid-rangey with the highest land count {24} and 4-CMC spell count. The question becomes, "can I give up that much early ground, and make it back with my mid-game titans? The testing and battles have been very positive, and I encourage folks to try this side of the coin. Essentially, I think we've got (2) camps going: 3-cmc cap and the mid-range. Phyrexian Obliterator, Night of Souls' Betrayal, and reliable dump down opportunities into an ensnaring bridge can be all the difference. The disadvantage is the lack of life gain, and fearing for a grind-out win from an opponent.
I found it interesting that pacman dropped all bridges from his last variant. That's fine, as I often do a game 2 without them, but I do bring in more creatures (6 big beaters total). So, I am surprised that he can bring enough pressure to bear with fewer creatures. I do like delve, and need to exploit it more in my blitzkrieg build, but I also think that you've gone a little too delve heavy in your design. Lotsa talk about leyline. Nothing thumps a leyline of sanctity like a good old-fashioned creature attack - I find it to be a more proactive approach than wear // tear.
I do think that the use of 20 land is dangerously low. 8rack, as a monocolor deck with no fetch lands, has pretty much universally agreed to 22 lands with three manlands (mutavault).
A final sideboard note is that, upon the suggestion of demonboy, (2) Bile Blight has found it's way into my sideboard as a 3rd/4th Lightning Bolt. Again, I only run 2 bolts main deck which is sketchy (chandra, pyromaster really should be a 3rd bolt, but I'm not ready to let go of my pet card just yet). I love having that kind of answer (bile bolt) when you consider the speed demons listed above.
First, the build:
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Gurmag Angler
Spells
2 Raven's Crime
4 Shrieking Affliction
1 Stupor
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Rift Bolt
4 Wrench Mind
4 Thoughtseize
4 Blightning
4 Terminate
2 Murderous Cut
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
3 Arid Mesa
1 Grim Lavamancer
3 Pyroclasm
2 Rakdos Charm
3 Duress
4 Extirpate
2 Delirium Skeins
I chose the aggressive Young Pyromancer route since I don't have any copies of The Rack. It's been phenomenal with the discard shell, and opponents are hesitant to board in pyroclasms against just one threat.
Raven's Crime has proven to be very important in control matchups. If an opponent has enough card draw to offset our discard spells, we are quickly outmached, and this little guy turns every late game land into a useful draw. It's no Liliana, but it'll do.
Rift Bolt is stupid, but it has saved me in too many game 1's for me to remove them. Sometimes the 3 extra damage helps end the game, sometimes it threatens an important creature...I am up for suggestions for better options though.
Stupor is even more stupid, but before adding it, i was consistently running out of gas while the opponent still had 1 or 2 cards in hand. Very bad for Shrieking affliction. Overall, it's not the best but I have never been wholly unhappy to draw it.
2 Rix Maadi is a frustrating (due to color screw) but necessary measure due to the lack of Lilianas. There are a LOT of counterspells going around the Tournament Practice room online, and a bit of extra pressure seems important to drain them.
Sideboard: I completely ignored scapeshift and tron when making the sideboard, because I have no idea how to deal with those decks without Blood Moon. Scapeshift especially...I have to roll over because I can't win before they topdeck scapeshift with enough lands for the kill. My dubious plan is to use my Extirpates. My intuition tells me that Extirpate is a terrible card...but I am always thrilled to draw it. It's removed Cryptic commands, Splinter Twins, 'Tron components...always uncounterable and instant speed. Delirium skeins is basically a placeholder...I never side them in.
Overall, I win nearly half my matches against Tier 1 decks, but I feel the deck isn't close to being optimized yet (even for the budget build) Does anybody have any suggestions, especially on the sideboard choises/strategy?
Also, I tried out Monastery Swiftspear in my initial versions of the deck. It never works very well, as it doesn't offer enough utility in this shell. It only rarely got bigger than 2/3 and because of the low creature count in the deck, there was always a removal spell with ol' Swiftspear's name on it.
Also sygg, river cutthroat was mentionned and i think a 2 of makes sense, especially with rift bolts. Again i have no clue if they are costly MODOs but they could be a fine budget alternative to dark confidant. They also make playing delve spells not suicidal at all.
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 ThoughtSeize
4 Wrench Mind
3 Terminate
3 Blightning
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 The Rack
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Lands
7 Swamp
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Marsh Flats
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Blood Crypt
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
1 Rakdos Charm
2 Damnation
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Slaughter Games
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Nyxathid
Mana Base
I've been running this and loving it. Since I only have one 4cmc spell in the main, so running 4 Blackcleave Cliffs has never been an issue or cost me a game. the six fetches are for deck thinning to prevent useless land draws after the 3rd or 4th land drops, and since I only run 2 Thoughtseize having to shock every once in awhile is fine. The singleton Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace is where it's at, I tried two at one point and I drew it enough times to screw me over on needing black to drop it to a one of again.
Sideboard
My sideboard may seem a little wonky and narrow, but it covers the major weaknesses I have noticed with this build.
- Damnation and Lifebane Zombie are used for match ups with loxodon smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege, Damnation also being brought in against creature heavy games such as fish and zoo.
- The rest don't need much explaining, Slaughter Games and Surgical Extraction for Tron and control, and Rakdos Charm for decks that love their graveyards.
I would love some feedback on this, I will hopefully be taking this list to the GPT at Realms in SC tomorrow, I'll let you know how it does.
[]'s
Housekeeping Note: Our moderator, ktkenshinx, did say that since the threads have recently been reorganized and streamlined, they would be "cracking down" on budget deck suggestions in non-budget deck threads. I wish we could be more accommodating to budget players, as we've all been card-poor at some point. But, we're still trying to get our footing as to what is and isn't working. I'm optimistic that we'll soon have grown to a point where we can host a 'pauper' thread.
@killerxkidxx: that's a cool creation, and hope you did some damage at your GPT yesterday. It's a build that closely follows the 'turtle-bolt' design put forth by airmanmaki (though I see that you've been playing it since before he posted it up). When I look at the main deck construction, my first thought is Kolaghan's command....how good is this card?!? It has this forum confounded! 1 of them has stolen a slot from Blightning which I have a hard time stomaching, but I get that you're already so full at the 3-CMC slot. So, yeah, maybe it's something.
Then, there are more personal choices. you have (3) terminate and (4) lightning bolt, I might consider swapping that around. Yet, since you're on the Ensnaring Bridge plan, it may not be so important. I just consider Tasigur, the golden fang and Deceiver Exarch as critical kills which bolt can't deliver. I'm glad you're running a higher land count - which is really required when you go on a bridge plan - and, I think your land decisions are sound. Last main deck decision: Mogis, God of Slaughter? How has this god been working out for people? I feel like Chandra, Pyromaster is a better overall call, but she is pretty much the 59-60th card in my deck.
Your sideboard is definitely adhering to that transformational approach that can turn an opponent's sideboaring effort's on their head. This is one of the most devastating elements of this deck. Again, people perceive Lightning Rack as some sort of variant of 8rack with no creatures. When the bridges get pulled, and the Tanks come in, it's a blast! How often is Lifebane Zombie hitting paydirt? I'm sure he's a lot better on the play, and can later be paired with a grim lavamancer to take down a Siege Rhino or Tasigur - earlier game he can trade with a zoo creature. My only concern with the Zombie is that he needs to come down in the early game, as the opponent will otherwise pretty much cast any topdecked creature (unless he's getting racked).
@aparthia: You've got a lot going on in that deck of yours. Maybe, too much? Yours is the first to suggest Blackmail which I've also considered for a good while, as nothing is worse than popping a Thoughtseize, and find that a cost of two life revealed 3 lands in your opponent's hand. Otherwise, LucasBayde is right to have you revisit your Blightning and Wrench Mind count. To me, this is an automatic 4-of for both before exploring more 1-for-1 discard options. The bedrock of this deck is maximizing "X-For-1 effects." That means Liliana of the Veil, Wrench Mind, Blightning, Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace. With 8 racks (4 shrieking affliction and 4 the rack), this build is looking more like an 8rack design.
Other thoughts, you've gotta max your ensnaring bridge count to 4 (you play no creatures that attack, so why suppress that count?), add Liliana of the Veil, and reconsider raven's crime. That card is so weak without an engine to feed it (dark confidant or Life from the loam). Contrary to what Lucas suggested, I think you're better off adding an extra Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace if you're thinking to add lands [and drop Necrogen Mists].
Makes it sound more like its own archetype rather then just 8 rack splashing for bolts. I've also got to say that its both good and sad that other people are working on this archetype. Good because it means that there is much more testing involved and so good choices can be found quicker, but sad because it means that I'm less likely to 'crack' it and make it explode onto the world stage!
4 Bloodghast
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Nyxathid
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
Artifacts (4)
4 The Rack
Spells (18)
4 Blightning
4 Terminate
4 Wrench Mind
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Blood Crypt
5 Swamp
3 Mountains
4 Bile blight
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Shrieking Affliction
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Murderous Cut
Admittedly mine wasn't the most focused list, but it was also built around a partial mind game for the opponent, being able to switch from the Blitzkrieg Strategy to a more 'traditional' 8 rack strategy game 2, and then switch back or to a number of 'hybrid' strategies depending on what the current opponent was up to and whether or not I got the chance to survive long enough. My mana base wasn't quite as rocksteady as I would have liked, being a bit more painful for myself due to keeping the bloodghasts longer then I likely should have.
The Purphoros in the sideboard was for when I switched to what I jokingly called 'elemental rack' which was a variation of the typical build with bridges to stop them from attacking and the God to help me kill them with Bloodghast and token spam. After reading this thread though, I suspect I'd run the Rack in the side board and the afflictions main, purely to try and trick them into removing artifact hate if I intend to switch to a more 'conventional plan'.
Hopefully, I'll be able to use both 8Rack and Lightning Rack in future.
I did feel the Terminate being a 3-of, it actually hurt more than I wanted it to. I used to run it as a 4-of with a singleton Slaughter Pact with some good success, so losing 2 kill spells like that is in for a change. Some Mogis, God of Slaughter talk is in order. First off, if he lands against a control match-up he ends up devastating the opponent. They have to either suffer from 2 damage a turn with very few creatures to sacrifice, or bounce it with a Cryptic Command so that they don't bleed to death on it and racks. He is also a nice assured two damage when opponents stock cards past rack range and I don't draw into enough discard later on, but against a creature heavy match-up with no bridge he only tickles the opponent while I sit back and get hammered.
Now for Lifebane Zombie. He was a snap decision against decks such as Zoo and The Rock, but I find him to whiff harder than I would like. I have had the 3/1 body win for me with some nice beatdown, but at 3cmc he is just too slow unless you are on the play. I feel like his slot in the sideboard would be better used with other ways to deal with Smiters and Lieges.
As for the GPT, I ended up going 2-2
First round I played boggles taking 2-0 with two crushing victories. First game my opponent was on the play and he hit the ground running with boggles turn one and enchantments soon to follow. My third turn I slammed down a bridge against a 7/x boggles with 4 cards in hand. My opponents face immediately dropped and he conceded to game two soon after. Game two he sided in artifact hate and started the exact same way, only this time mulling down to five. I Inquisitioned turn one taking out the gladecover scout and followed it up with a surgical extraction. He had no other creatures in hand so turn three I dropped a Liliana of the veil and ran away with the game
Game two I played against American control, and also took a 2-0 victory. The first match I Inquisitioned out early counters and then mass discarded his hand into oblivion, leaving him with 3-4 mana and no hand. I dropped racks and stole the first game. Game two was a little harder, he ended up Sphinx Revving twice but was short on mana so he only managed the first for 2 and second for 3. Mogis actually won me this game by constantly pinging him while he shut off my racks with Sphinx's Revelation.
Third match I played against Junk and went 0-2. Both games weren't much of a contest, I ended up getting mana flooded both times and was unable to draw appropriate answers or the discard I needed.
Fourth match was B/G Tron and I went 1-2. The first match I started off with solid discard but he ended up getting an early Ugin out and I couldn't Compete with his high loyalty counters or damage per turn. Second match post sideboard I stole the game with 2 Nyxathid. I was able to drop them both very early and follow up with hard discard to swing for lethal by turn 7. Final round he dropped an early pithing needle naming liliana, I was holding two in my hand, and he quickly follow that with a witchbane orb. I saw neither of my Kolaghan's Command So i was helpless whenever he dropped an ugin and a wurmcoil.
After was all said and done I believe I stole 5th place out of 14, I was able to hold a top 4 slot until my final match against Tron. I had fun and learned a lot. I'm currently thinking of a solid Mardu version of this deck, dropping Mogis, God of Slaughter, (1) Lightning Bolt, all (4) Wrench Mind, (3) Terminate and (2) The Rack for (3) Path to Exile, (2) Lightning Helix, (3) Tidehollow Sculler, and (3) Lingering Souls. Part of the Reasoning is for a better sideboard with cards such as Timely Reinforcements against burn, Celestial purge, Stony Silence, Wear//Tear and other excellent removal cards.
- - 3 cards I'd LOVE evaluation on for a deck such as this.
*Butcher of the Horde* Excellent synergy with lingering souls, He can close out a game with haste, bring us back with lifelink, stay up as a defender with vigilance, and has evasion to boot. His synergy with bridge is low, but in the match-ups he would be good in I feel bridge can be reduced or sided out entirely, similar to the Blitzkrieg strategy.
*Mardu Charm* Instant speed targeted discard (albeit weaker against creature heavy decks), the creature removal is lackluster against Tasigur and Rhino, and the two 1/1 tokens with first strike for a turn (Which I feel is the card's strongest option)
*Crackling Doom* Mildly targeted edict with a shock attached. This one I feel could do well, especially against decks with Tasigurs and Rhinos, where the Charm falls short.
- - I feel they would be decent-good sideboard options depending on which deck was being played against, shoring up weaknesses that may exist in the meta.
As we are forming this new archetype, it's critical to develop an identity. We need a unifying brand. All the other premier decks out there have that element of recognition and tribal belonging.
So, if you're down with Blightning, Wrench Mind, Lightning Bolt, Liliana of the Veil, Nyxathid/Phyrexian Obliterator/Grim Lavamancer, and the rack/shrieking affliction, then you've found a home, my friend.
I'm taking this to a StarCityGames Premier Event this weekend. A couple tweaks here and there, but I feel good about where I am. Shoosh, lotta testing - lotta testing.
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Shrieking Affliction
3 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Terminate
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Blightning
4 Wrench Mind
2 Thoughtseize
1 Kolaghan's Command
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
2 Bile Blight
2 Night of Souls' Betrayal
2 Spellskite
1 The Rack
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Tasigur's Cruelty
1 Duress
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Consume the Meek
1 Sowing Salt
1 Ensnaring Bridge
EDIT: Instead of the Delve Demon why not Gurmag Angler
As opposed to the Blightning Rack style that runs about 21 lands with fetches and no spells above 3-cmc (they prefer Nyxathid or Gurmag Angler to Phyrexian Obliterator - my place is with P.O.) With a mid-range, non-fetchland Blightning Rack build with 24 land, the synergies are higher:
- the extra land count allows for interactions with Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and Lavaclaw Reaches to run at a high clip.
- once you commit to (4) Phyrexian Obliterator, then you forego the inclusion of Blood Moon {which is a potential bummer, but again it's too reactive for me} and the aforementioned lands remain ideal mana sinks.
- 4-cmc spells like Night of Souls' Betrayal become highly doable. This card may be the best sideboard card in Modern today.
- Bridging up with Ensnaring Bridge becomes easy, and one common mistake with that card is not playing with enough land to continually generate mana and dump down. And, when you're bridging, Chandra, Pyromaster is more effective than Mogis, God of Slaughter at delivering reliable damage while ticking towards a triple play of, hopefully, Blightning Bolt.
@Raystack - Thanks for your work on this thread. I've actually cut Nyxathid from my 75 altogether in favor of Gurmag Angler. Mathematically speaking, it's much easier to get out on curve with the ability to do more than one thing on the turn it is cast. Playing it for one or two mana is just unreal.
@purklefluff - Some variations might seem like the Dega deck, but a lot of those variations are not the archetype as it was originally intended. Blightning Rack is a variation of 8-Rack, and is going much more on the discard strategy than the midrange strategy.
@Killerxkidxx - Nice write-up. You have some interesting deck choices. How good is Path to Exile? Is it worth the white splash? Is it better than a green splash to go Jund?
@Sucal - Bloodghast is one of my favorite cards ever printed. That decklist looks really sweet, and Bloodghast gives the deck something else to do on turn two. Having a recurring threat also seems pretty good. I might try that one out myself. I feel like you want a little bit more disruption, but if it's working, then run with it. I recommend Gurmag Angler over Tasigur if you're going to go on the Delve-a-creature strategy, although it's a bit of a non-bo with Bloodghast, but without a way to activate Tasigur, she's worse than Angler almost always.
@ShrimpPoBoy - Nice list. I would appreciate updates from you (and anyone else) on Young Pyromancer, how good the card is, and if it is worthwhile to have in the deck over other options.
Sometime soon I'm going to put up a nice long rant about Dark Confidant, specifically how poorly positioned it currently is, and why it shouldn't see too much play in these lists especially with all the new Delve toys.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
i assume you saw the post i was replying to, where the guy is dropping wrench mind and the rack entirely, in favour of lingering souls and lightning helix.
amongst other changes, he basically ended up with a slightly discard-heavy Dega midrange deck.
i have other qualms about this thread, insofar as the ensnaring bridge version with the rack and shrieking affliction is just 8rack splashing red, and there's no real way you can argue out of that. the decks are only a handful of cards different, which makes it less of a new distinct archetype and instead just a re-hash of something people are actively already trying to develop, with its own thread.
i get that people are enthusiastic, but the "blitzkrieg" version was actually its own deck, quite clearly. the other 'grey-area' versions which are entirely possibly pre-existing decks should really be kept to those other threads, for the sake of effectively developing them further and giving them the recognition they deserve.
that said, i like this deck. the posters in the thread just have to be very mindful of appropriating pre-existing archetypes.
The thread's former host calls the creation, "Modern's Discard Deck". Yet, it has not won or top-16ed any discernible amount of tournaments - ever. I don't count 4 round, online, MTG Dailies as a legitimate tournament. Please understand that I am not casting judgements in these statements. I'm merely reporting the facts. However, I will give you the following opinion that I proffer with 100% assuredness: WE are Modern's Discard Deck.
Still, we are young. It's a disservice to our growth to be entertaining and encouraging every idea presented. For instance, the proposed deck that had 8 racks? No offense, but it's pretty clear where that needs to be posted . Also, budget decks were offered by a few contributors. It's simply not fair to the forum to spur on decks that are purposely sub-par due to money. Again, not our rule - it's MTGsalvation's new guideline.
One last time: we're new. We are trying to forge an identity. There have been other threads that have chosen the path of 'making a decree' or 'issuing a judgement' when it comes to ideas that aren't canon. I plead for just the opposite. We simply need to know what to endorse and foster and when to ... keep silent.
The discard spell Blackmail pairs up well with Smallpox as it can force a discard of land. If your opponent is foolish enough to reveal lands to Blackmail on turn 1, a turn 2 Smallpox could just end the game there. Here is what i propose the deck should look like:
4 Liliana of the Veil
Artifact (4)
4 The Rack
Instant (11)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Terminate
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Wrench Mind
4 Blightning
4 Blackmail
4 Smallpox
6 Swamp
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Mountain
There is room for tweaking, I would like to see Mogis, God of Slaughter or even Pack Rat in here, some of the four-ofs could be reduced to three.
What's cool about Smallpox is that it very likely would work a lot better with the new Delve cards, such as Gurmag Angler. It is definitely a possibility to attempt.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
If you are considering Delve cards, I would go for Tasigur's Cruelty to replace a discard spell first. Gurmag Angler is outclassed by Tombstalker anyway.
I like Tasigur more because I can get him out slightly quicker. Also at one stage the deck splashed green and had Scavenging Ooze instead of Blood Ghasts but I figured that was going a bit too much towards the 'cute' side. Personally if I was going to edit that deck I'd likely switch the racks for afflictions, drop the Tasigur completely (yes its a fast threat, but a remand can be a bit too much of a pain in the ass) add a pair of thoughseises and likely remove the 8rack sideboard plan completely. Its cute but rarely works against the same opponent more then once. Possibly would keep the Purph though.
The sideboard would likely have a sweeper or two, and a bit more 'targted' discard for the decks that I figured would need it as well as a Geth's Verdict or three for the boggles match up (I'd go with Black Sun's Zenith but wouldn't be quick enough for when and where I'd need it). Possibly would also put an obliterator in the sideboard for a third mainboard targeted discard.