MTG Salvation

Interesting and nice to see Hollow One take 1st place in Regionals this past weekend, up in New Jersey. After Hollow One put itself on the map, getting some nice finishes, and maybe even a 1st or two, decks like Humans and others seemed to have placed better this spring. So, a nice first place, using a pretty "standard list," but opting to go 1 Fatal Push, 1 Brutality instead of the usual 2 Brutality. Nice.

This deck proves interesting to sideboard against, and there seems to be no single "haymaker" card or strategy that really seals the deal. Although graveyard hate is a strategy that has value, many times the Hollow One deck sort of changes gears, and just casts everything in hand, rather than discarding. Of course, there is value in that, as the deck seems far less explosive that way, but the Hollow One deck is surprisingly versatile and flexible. It seems like Jeskai removal isn't ideally suited for Hollow Ones, as Lightning Bolts don't scare them, and bolting a Bloodghast or a Flamewake Phoenix is an exercise in futility, since they have such nice recursive abilities. Path to Exile does have value, making me wonder if a Declaration in Stone might be a useful addition to the sideboard as well, or something like Chained to the Rocks. All in all, seems like a bad matchup for Jeskai, as Jeskai has tons of tools and seems like a nice toolbox deck, but doesn't have the explosiveness that B/R Hollow One packs. Best of luck in the tourney; hope it turns out well.

I too run Amalgams (without blue lands) and that often proves to be a head-scratcher to my opponents in the shop, but I like the added layers of graveyard inexorability that the Amalgam offers; but I run 3 Amalgams and 1 Scourge Devil. I like having a few extra cards I actually "want" in my graveyard, and the Amalgams, Phoenixes, Bloodghasts and 1 Scourge Devil all fill that bill. I am still not running Lightning Bolts, and I still haven't felt that I really ever needed them. When Hollow One EXPLODES out the starting gate, I'm usually so far ahead that I just win. My win/loss ratio is considerably better than 65 to 70% in FNM matches, so I'm surprised your build is having such issues. Street Wraiths are pretty much mandatory though.

Swampwalk on Street Wraith is more useful than I ever imagined originally; there seems to be lots of swamps in my meta. If it gets to the long game, Street Wraith has won me games on the battlefield, although this is a real weird, corner-case scenario.

The double black mana to cast LOTV can be difficult, and LOTV won't enter the battlefield until the 3rd turn; when I play the B/R Roulette deck, I really need to kill someone by turn 4, most times, so playing Lili on Turn 3 won't have much effect and won't advance my game plan. I'm either already winning, at which point LOTV becomes a "win-more" card, or I'm behind and LOTV probably can't save me... It seems to me that the Roulette deck is sort of difficult to effectively sideboard with; of the popular "pro" list, the flex spots are 4 Lightning Bolts and 2 Collective Brutality. All 6 of those cards are useful and powerful, and in many instances, the exact tool we need... Diluting the game plan for sideboard cards is not advisable, as you want to maintain explosiveness.

It seems to me that with B/R Roulette, for any "bad matchups" like Bogles, or Humans or whatever, that you just hope to EXPLODE out of the gate and run them over before they stabilize. Winning the "long game" can be a bit much for any of these bad matchups, so you hope that Burning Inquiry helps your game plan, and hopefully mangles theirs.

So, I first bought the pieces for the deck after it had been out a few months, but hadn't exploded in popularity yet... I remember going to Lucky's, my local badass card shop, with a list of cards for the deck, and managed to walk out having spent about 30 bucks to get the Goblin Lores, the Burning Inquiries, and a few other pieces for the "stock" list.
Fast forward 3 months, and now Goblin Lores are going for about 25 bucks a pop... Making me wonder, is Goblin Lore the most expensive "uncommon" currently being played in Modern? Seems like it's on the top end of that list for sure.

What I love about the deck is that it feels decidedly "old school," and can have explosive first turns that just win the game for you... I remember back in the old days, when Swamp, Dark Ritual, Hypnotic Specter on the first turn would just WIN games by itself... Burning Inquiry into 2 Hollow Ones, with a graveyard full of Bloodghasts feels pretty solid and fun, and old-school explosive.

I like old-school explosive.

When I cast my Delve creatures in my version of B/R with Amalgams, I usually want all the creatures to say in the graveyard, and try to exile the Burning Inquiries, Goblin Lores, Collective Brutality, discarded Hollow Ones, things like that. That way my Amalgams, Bloodghasts and Phoenix can still do their thing in harmony. In my build, Soulflayer wouldn't jive with the rest of the deck; if it naturally had flying, maybe...

With other decks, I always mulligan if I don't get TWO lands. However, on playing this deck, I've learned to accept 1-land hands, especially if I have a Faithless Looting or Burning Inquiry, Street Wraith or something like that.

I would be hard pressed to keep a no-land hand, though I do see why you were tempted to try.

I'm surely in the minority as I run B/R Hollow One with Amalgams, and that may prove to be the less effective list, but I've been having a ball playing it the last few FNM's. I went 3-1 with my list last night, grabbing 4th at my local FNM.

I love the deck; it has such power and resilience, and can be crazy explosive. I lost one match, a terrible matchup against a Lantern deck, when he stabilized early, got the Ensnaring Bridge out early, and had me "locked" soon thereafter. I scooped rather than have my soul ground out by the Lantern deck, but was pleased with good results after that.

Turn 1 Hollow Ones are powerful, but unreliable due to all the random discard. I had this great sequence last night. Turn 1 Adept, Turn 2, Faithless Looting, draw two, discard Bloodghast, discard Amalgam, cycle Street Wraith, play land, Landfall trigger Bloodghast, activate Amalgam (EoT), cast Hollow One, cast Burning Inquiry with my available red mana, we both draw three, discard 3 at random, attack for 7 with Flameblade, end of turn Amalgam into play. My opponent just shook his head. It was a great 2 turn set up. The deck is a lot of fun.

Yeah, I opted to only buy 2 Street Wraith to start, as I had to buy Bloodghasts as well to build the deck.

I do agree, that a full set of Street Wraith is mandatory.

I played the deck at my FNM last night; on several occasions, I had two Hollow Ones in play at the end of the first turn.

This deck seems wacky powerful, and like a deck that will be "on the rise" in the months ahead.

If you look at my Decks portion of my profile, you can see my list if your are interested. I've built this in the last week after seeing SaffronOlive's take on the deck and have been fascinated by it...

Sometimes, the deck is a smelly donkey that you want to drop-kick, but that's rare. I had a weird situation playing last night (due to Godly draw and even better luck with random discard) where I had THREE Hollow Ones on the board on the first term, and a bunch of correlating Bloodghasts and Amalgams by turn 2... Nuts, man... Absolute nuts.

That might even beat a "Vintage" deck on occasion.

The go-to cards have skyrocketed in price over the last two weeks. This deck will be a THING, I think... And I'm really glad to have pooled the necessary cards to build it.

It's Way Fun too...