"I would get rid of [...] Unstable Obelisk which [is] darn slow." - Artaud, 2015. Tut tut
I find it interesting that you went for Sign in Blood of all the variants. Night's Whisper loses the shock potential but is friendlier on the mana, the new kid Succumb to Temptation is instant speed for one mana more. Is the targetability that big a deal?
"I would get rid of [...] Unstable Obelisk which [is] darn slow." - Artaud, 2015. Tut tut
When did I say it? You have no proof! Anyway Obelisk IS slow as a mana rock in any competitive meta but playing MBC I don't have much choice. I need response to artifacts and enchantments. I could play Karn (I did actually) or Spine of Ish Sah which costs the same to "activate" but they are all sorcery speed which is too slow most of the time. Eye of Doom is still good but using it in Stax/MLD environment is harder.
I find it interesting that you went for Sign in Blood of all the variants. Night's Whisper loses the shock potential but is friendlier on the mana, the new kid Succumb to Temptation is instant speed for one mana more. Is the targetability that big a deal?
There is one big thing that makes SiB better than NW. I have a foil version of it Jokes aside it doesn't make much difference in mono-black especially when using Coffers and I'd rather keep colorless mana open for Warping Wail which already earned its reputation in my meta. Succumb to Temptation is three mana and I don't really need an instant speed for drawing two cards. It's not FoF.
Just run Scour from Existence, you know you want to jokes aside, the Obelisk also combos quite handily with Myr Retriever for extra value. I'm getting a kick out of you starting to run cards I have/had in the list. The diffusion in the other direction is real - my Ugin just came and I need to figure out a cut for it
Yeah, when you need colourless then you can hold it, but the flexibility to only need a single black if in dire mana crunches seems decent. And the instant speed so you can cast it if you held interaction and then it was unneeded. Still, all of these are minutiae.
Battle report from yesterday. Obelisk definitely stays in - it protected my Ugin against charging Craterhoof allowing me to ultimate him next turn and win the whole game. I also won another one on the back of Void Winnower again. This thing rocks. Tooth Collector on the other hand did a whole nothing so I'm going to replace it with card I always wanted to try. Necroplasm. Looks like a token-killer and eats mana-dorks after a round. In theory at least. I also finally acquired Mana Crypt (thanks to @Vysogota) so it will gonna rock next week. I hope. I'm little worried about shock effect which already killed some players a few times in my meta though.
I'm little worried about shock effect which already killed some players a few times in my meta though.
Yet another reason to bemoan the loss of Braids, Cabal Minion. It's been almost two years and I still can't get over the nonsense of her banning (along with Rofellos and Erayo, which was equally stupid).
Yea, I still can't understand why "banned as Commander" and "banned at all" rules were merged together. Losing Braids literally killed one of this deck (and others as well) game plans. There's still Smokestack but it's slow and doesn't have legs so it can't work with Shelly. Seeing Timetwisters flying on first Turn or someone comboing T3 I'm not so scared about dropping Braids, even on Turn 2. Not to mention using her to destroy my own Mana Crypt if needed.
Yea, I still can't understand why "banned as Commander" and "banned at all" rules were merged together.
The Rules Committee is obviously never gonna admit that, but the main reason for this change was probably MTGO, which is so poorly written that it can't handle this difference (back then you could play Braids, Rofellos or Erayo as your commanders online, because MTGO didn't understand the "banned as a commander" idea).
Unless you're playing an incredibly slow deck or you're getting focused hard, I never worry about Mana Crypt's drawback. Especially when you pack lifegain
And I'm the kind of person who has the kind of luck that makes me lose 5 of the 6 rolls.
It's been a while since I changed anything in a deck, mostly because there were not many quality cards in latest sets. Deck runs smoothly but it still needs to be little faster and more oppressive so I have some things in mind to test. First some more or less minor changes:
Blinkmoth Well -> Drownyard Temple - Well was going out anyway and Temple goes suprisingly well with discard outlets like Apprentice or Mindslicer Phyrexian Reclamation -> Animate Dead - Reclamation is great when fighting reanimators with Faerie Macabre but why should I exile their stuff when I can take it as my own? Goes well with Entomb and discard outlets too. Tooth Collector -> Magus of the Will - that's a change worth its name. Magus may look like a worse YawgWin but it serves mostly as removal magnet or even a beater than value card. Sure if it lives a turn it can give me some stuff back but the best thing is it can be done at instant speed. Imagine a graveyard full of removal and counters...
It's going late so that's all for tonight but next time I'm going to review some more cards from latest sets, especially ones I'm up to test next like Collective Brutality or Gonti, Lord of Luxury.
Time to make up for few months of silence with quick review of most interesting cards from latest sets.
Conspiracy 2
Not much here as most cards were just reprints. Capital Punishment - weak modes for the high cost so it's a big NO Custodi Lich - becoming monarch is two-edged sword and Fleshbag sacrifices for cheaper
Commander 2016
Not much here either as it was focused on multicolor this time. Cruel Entertainment - may be fun but there is high possibility that both players unite against Shelly after forcing them to entertain; Curtains' Call - I don't know. 3 mana for killing two birds with one curtain at 4 people table seems like a bargain but it's still blocked by Gaddock and loses effectiveness the less players are left in play. Magus of the Will - already in
Kaladesh
Artifact-oriented plane is always welcomed for all mono-colored decks but Vehicle focus doesn't go well with control theme. There are some potential targets though: Demon of Dark Schemes - it's Massacre Wurm ver.2 but without pain attached. No pain - no gain. Gonti, Lord of Luxury - recurrable Praetor's Grasp with smaller cardpool to choose from but allows playing exiled cards using any mana. Perfect testing candidate and fits 4cmc toolbox. Noxious Gearhulk - competes for 6cmc slot with Kokusho and Evincar so it's a tough call. Life gain attached makes it better than any other ETB killer but this deck manages opponents' creatures just fine already. Inventors' Fair - not much to search for, Mindslaver being probably the only target. Cultivator's Caravan - could be a competition to Phyrexian Totem but needs 3 power of creatures to Crew so it won't do anything after Damnation at the like. Smuggler's Copter - Skeleton Crew makes it valid attacker/defender and card looting fits reanimation. It will probably participate in testing as soon as I get one for the lowered price
Aether Revolt
Second visit to Kaladesh comes with interesting cardpool. Vehicle focus remains but there are few cards to consider. Fatal Push - not in a format with fatties Herald of Anguish - needs better artifact support but his abilities look juicy. I wish he was legendary. Yahenni's Expertise - Damnation's better although it can be a meta call for dork-dominated tables. Hope of Ghirapur - can lock single opponent with the help of Phyrexian Reclamation or part-lock with Shelly but mass discard is better against spellslingers anyway. Planar Bridge - powerful but too slow Scrap Trawler - needs higher artifact density to be efficient I suppose Treasure Keeper - works nicely with Sensei's Divining Top, sac outlet and Shelly's reanimation so it will probably go in for some testing period Walking Ballista - unreanimatable
So I'm back from a trip of some kind. I've got tired and angry of Sheoldred in the late January as she kept losing against combo decks and there was nothing I could do about it except for building combo deck myself. So I switched Shelly for Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, took out all the stax and toolboxes for combo and synergy stuff and started to fight fire with fire.
First I've got some good results. Won few games, lost some in a close fight and started to like it. It lasted until I realised that I'm still just trying to keep my opponents from winning (like I did with Shelly) and slowly killing them with Mike and some random mana dorks most of the time. There was always a missing combo part I couldn't draw into or I was out of sources to search for it. It probably was deck's composition or one-trick-pony Mike that led it so I finally decided to abadon it and give Shelly a long homeback hug.
Shelly's comeback must not be without some major changes. She demands them so there are three ways I'm going to try:
1. Strengthen the Stax - add more hurt or make the one I have hurt more. I'm thinking Tangle Wire-like stuff, Panharmonicon for killer ETBs and more discard backed up by Waste Not I always wanted to try.
2. Go Reanimation - add more heavy stuff with more ways to discard it (Smuggler's Copter) or bury it for later use (Buried Alive). It would telegraph my plays and make Shelly even much bigger target but who cares.
3. Combo for the Win - make a deck able to win by combo. Adding back Rings of Brighthearth would enable infinite mana engines (two or even three if necessary) to draw a deck (Top, Skullclamp with Skeleton) and win any way I like.
There is also a new cycling route that's worth research, especially Archfiend of Ifnir looks juicy. I will probably wait for Hour of Devastation though.
Battle report. Waste Not turned out great for my meta where combos with discard outlets and spells roam. It also won me one game with the help of Myojin yesterday.
Speaking of discard I'm going to fit in Oppression to make a deck more... oppressive. Archfiend of Ifnir will probably follow. I also consider testing Hope of Ghirapur as a Silence-like effect.
EDIT: I also consider including Haakon and Nameless Inversion "combo". I think I have enough discard outlets to make it viable especially if I'm going to expand my discard suite (Oppression). Haakon can suplement Skeleton for keeping Contamination alive at least.
Battle report. Oppression is bonkers! It's even good on its own and doesn't hurt me much as I can easily get my stuff back but really shines with Waste Not. Speaking of the latter I added even more support for it with Memory Jar. Which is good on its own too.
Oh hey, you're running Phyrexian Totem! I was considering including it in my deck. Has it been working out for you? I've really liked it in Legacy Pox as it converts mana into beats, which is nice, but I was worried it might be too low impact in EDH.
Hrrrrrm. But you can recur Sidisi with Sheoldred. I remember that was a very nice thing the deck used to do back when I played it
It was a tough call but I've found Sidisi to rot in my hand (she's a zombie after all) to often than I had opportunity to cast her. Most of the time I cannot afford myself to use up all my mana to tutor for a card I will play next turn. I need to play it right away or keep mana open for removal / counter. If I have 8+ mana available I just wreck opps with Myojin / Ugin / Mindslaver or search for Contamination at which point it doesn't matter what tutor I use. I can cycle Rite early game to keep tempo. I don't dismiss bringing her back later though.
Oh hey, you're running Phyrexian Totem! I was considering including it in my deck. Has it been working out for you? I've really liked it in Legacy Pox as it converts mana into beats, which is nice, but I was worried it might be too low impact in EDH.
I love that card. Opponents forget about it very often which allows my to punish them. 5 damage a turn can be a lot if someone's using life as a resource (Ad Nauseum, Sylvan Library, numerous Mana Crypts and Ancient Tombs) and combos - which roam my meta - do not have relevant blockers to keep me from attacking. It's also last resort sac target for Contamination. Watch out for Mindslaver effects though.
EDIT: Updated first two posts with all the changes made recently.
It's time for more changes but first let's look at potential replacements from Ixalan:
- Arguel's Blood Fast / Temple of Aclazotz - twice as cheap Erebos (barring indestructibility and LG block) with an option to turn into life-gaining sac outlet looks promising. I tend to loose a lot of life during a game so it can transform pretty often. Worth a try.
- Kitesail Freebooter - little bigger and flying Mesmeric Fiend / Brain Maggot. It doesn't exile creature cards but they are the least of my worries. Mass discard outlets trump it though.
- Revel in Riches - new version of Black Market is both better and worse. Great in creature heavy matchups and useless against spellslingers and combos. Will not make a cut probably.
- Ruthless Knave - ramping sac outlet is what I was looking for. Activation cost may be high but profits seem even higher. Worth testing.
- Vraska's Contempt - Hero's Downfall is 1 mana cheaper but exile clause tempts. No reason to run both though and lower CMC wins here.
- Ruin Raider - such effects can kill me faster than opps so "it will not cut".
- Dowsing Dagger - giving opponent sac fodder is not wise and having to connect with a creature is not a way of this deck.
- Thaumatic Compass - not bad but Liliana's better
- Conqueror's Galleon - not enough creatures to Crew
As for changes I'm going to reduce manabase to 34 lands and fit in Torpor Orb. I have only 3 ETB creatures so it won't affect me as much as the others. Some ETB effects are too powerful to let them go. I also think about cutting Magus of the Will as it's only good for late game and even then it's too slow with tapping requirement. Oblivion Stone and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are also taken into consideration for cuts. I like my enchantments to stay on board.
I didn't update this thread for long but I dismantled my Shelly. She was fun to play for a long time but could not stop all the combos in my meta and was much slower in winning than two most popular black commanders - Razaketh and Sidisi. Worry not - I feel Muldrotha will take her place soon enough. I will lose benefits of running mono-black (Ghast, Liliana, Merchant) but gain ramp (Green), control (Blue) and much more recursion than ever. I hope she'll have ties with Phyrexia as her name is pretty badass
I find it interesting that you went for Sign in Blood of all the variants. Night's Whisper loses the shock potential but is friendlier on the mana, the new kid Succumb to Temptation is instant speed for one mana more. Is the targetability that big a deal?
When did I say it? You have no proof! Anyway Obelisk IS slow as a mana rock in any competitive meta but playing MBC I don't have much choice. I need response to artifacts and enchantments. I could play Karn (I did actually) or Spine of Ish Sah which costs the same to "activate" but they are all sorcery speed which is too slow most of the time. Eye of Doom is still good but using it in Stax/MLD environment is harder.
There is one big thing that makes SiB better than NW. I have a foil version of it Jokes aside it doesn't make much difference in mono-black especially when using Coffers and I'd rather keep colorless mana open for Warping Wail which already earned its reputation in my meta. Succumb to Temptation is three mana and I don't really need an instant speed for drawing two cards. It's not FoF.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Yeah, when you need colourless then you can hold it, but the flexibility to only need a single black if in dire mana crunches seems decent. And the instant speed so you can cast it if you held interaction and then it was unneeded. Still, all of these are minutiae.
Obelisk definitely stays in - it protected my Ugin against charging Craterhoof allowing me to ultimate him next turn and win the whole game. I also won another one on the back of Void Winnower again. This thing rocks. Tooth Collector on the other hand did a whole nothing so I'm going to replace it with card I always wanted to try. Necroplasm. Looks like a token-killer and eats mana-dorks after a round. In theory at least. I also finally acquired Mana Crypt (thanks to @Vysogota) so it will gonna rock next week. I hope. I'm little worried about shock effect which already killed some players a few times in my meta though.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Yet another reason to bemoan the loss of Braids, Cabal Minion. It's been almost two years and I still can't get over the nonsense of her banning (along with Rofellos and Erayo, which was equally stupid).
GWU Derevi, the Prison Queen UWG
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
The Rules Committee is obviously never gonna admit that, but the main reason for this change was probably MTGO, which is so poorly written that it can't handle this difference (back then you could play Braids, Rofellos or Erayo as your commanders online, because MTGO didn't understand the "banned as a commander" idea).
GWU Derevi, the Prison Queen UWG
And I'm the kind of person who has the kind of luck that makes me lose 5 of the 6 rolls.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Blinkmoth Well -> Drownyard Temple - Well was going out anyway and Temple goes suprisingly well with discard outlets like Apprentice or Mindslicer
Phyrexian Reclamation -> Animate Dead - Reclamation is great when fighting reanimators with Faerie Macabre but why should I exile their stuff when I can take it as my own? Goes well with Entomb and discard outlets too.
Tooth Collector -> Magus of the Will - that's a change worth its name. Magus may look like a worse YawgWin but it serves mostly as removal magnet or even a beater than value card. Sure if it lives a turn it can give me some stuff back but the best thing is it can be done at instant speed. Imagine a graveyard full of removal and counters...
It's going late so that's all for tonight but next time I'm going to review some more cards from latest sets, especially ones I'm up to test next like Collective Brutality or Gonti, Lord of Luxury.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Conspiracy 2
Not much here as most cards were just reprints.
Capital Punishment - weak modes for the high cost so it's a big NO
Custodi Lich - becoming monarch is two-edged sword and Fleshbag sacrifices for cheaper
Commander 2016
Not much here either as it was focused on multicolor this time.
Cruel Entertainment - may be fun but there is high possibility that both players unite against Shelly after forcing them to entertain;
Curtains' Call - I don't know. 3 mana for killing two birds with one curtain at 4 people table seems like a bargain but it's still blocked by Gaddock and loses effectiveness the less players are left in play.
Magus of the Will - already in
Kaladesh
Artifact-oriented plane is always welcomed for all mono-colored decks but Vehicle focus doesn't go well with control theme. There are some potential targets though:
Demon of Dark Schemes - it's Massacre Wurm ver.2 but without pain attached. No pain - no gain.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury - recurrable Praetor's Grasp with smaller cardpool to choose from but allows playing exiled cards using any mana. Perfect testing candidate and fits 4cmc toolbox.
Noxious Gearhulk - competes for 6cmc slot with Kokusho and Evincar so it's a tough call. Life gain attached makes it better than any other ETB killer but this deck manages opponents' creatures just fine already.
Inventors' Fair - not much to search for, Mindslaver being probably the only target.
Cultivator's Caravan - could be a competition to Phyrexian Totem but needs 3 power of creatures to Crew so it won't do anything after Damnation at the like.
Smuggler's Copter - Skeleton Crew makes it valid attacker/defender and card looting fits reanimation. It will probably participate in testing as soon as I get one for the lowered price
Aether Revolt
Second visit to Kaladesh comes with interesting cardpool. Vehicle focus remains but there are few cards to consider.
Fatal Push - not in a format with fatties
Herald of Anguish - needs better artifact support but his abilities look juicy. I wish he was legendary.
Yahenni's Expertise - Damnation's better although it can be a meta call for dork-dominated tables.
Hope of Ghirapur - can lock single opponent with the help of Phyrexian Reclamation or part-lock with Shelly but mass discard is better against spellslingers anyway.
Planar Bridge - powerful but too slow
Scrap Trawler - needs higher artifact density to be efficient I suppose
Treasure Keeper - works nicely with Sensei's Divining Top, sac outlet and Shelly's reanimation so it will probably go in for some testing period
Walking Ballista - unreanimatable
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
First I've got some good results. Won few games, lost some in a close fight and started to like it. It lasted until I realised that I'm still just trying to keep my opponents from winning (like I did with Shelly) and slowly killing them with Mike and some random mana dorks most of the time. There was always a missing combo part I couldn't draw into or I was out of sources to search for it. It probably was deck's composition or one-trick-pony Mike that led it so I finally decided to abadon it and give Shelly a long homeback hug.
6 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Creatures: 24
0 Walking Ballista
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Hex Parasite
1 Viscera Seer
2 Smuggler's Copter
2 Soldevi Adnate
3 Basal Sliver
3 Blood Vassal
3 Cathodion
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Merciless Executioner
3 Offalsnout
3 Ophiomancer
3 Overeager Apprentice
4 Crypt Ghast
4 Crystalline Crawler
4 Necrotic Ooze
4 Xiahou Dun
5 Puppeteer Clique
5 Shriekmaw
5 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
6 Demon of Dark Schemes
6 Triskelion
1 Dark Ritual
1 Entomb
1 Reanimate
1 Tragic Slip
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Imp's Mischief
2 Plunge into Darkness
2 Sign in Blood
2 Warping Wail
2 Withering Boon
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Read the Bones
3 Toxic Deluge
4 Damnation
4 Snuff Out
5 Living Death
5 Moonlight Bargain
Artifacts: 15
0 Mana Crypt
1 Expedition Map
1 Mana Vault
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Charcoal Diamond
2 Grim Monolith
2 Jet Medallion
2 Mind Stone
3 Blasting Station
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Phyrexian Totem
2 Animate Dead
2 Heartless Summoning
3 Fallen Ideal
3 Necromancy
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Grave Pact
Lands: 36
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Barren Moor
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Deserted Temple
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 Strip Mine
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
26 Swamp
Shelly's comeback must not be without some major changes. She demands them so there are three ways I'm going to try:
1. Strengthen the Stax - add more hurt or make the one I have hurt more. I'm thinking Tangle Wire-like stuff, Panharmonicon for killer ETBs and more discard backed up by Waste Not I always wanted to try.
2. Go Reanimation - add more heavy stuff with more ways to discard it (Smuggler's Copter) or bury it for later use (Buried Alive). It would telegraph my plays and make Shelly even much bigger target but who cares.
3. Combo for the Win - make a deck able to win by combo. Adding back Rings of Brighthearth would enable infinite mana engines (two or even three if necessary) to draw a deck (Top, Skullclamp with Skeleton) and win any way I like.
While I'm deciding what road to take, I'm changing some cards for fun right away:
Underworld Connections -> Waste Not - to see how it works
Drownyard Temple -> Geier Reach Sanitarium - direct support for the above and reanimation targets' enabler
Disciple of Bolas -> Gonti, Lord of Luxury - one card advantage for another and the latter doesn't cost me a creature
There is also a new cycling route that's worth research, especially Archfiend of Ifnir looks juicy. I will probably wait for Hour of Devastation though.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Speaking of discard I'm going to fit in Oppression to make a deck more... oppressive. Archfiend of Ifnir will probably follow. I also consider testing Hope of Ghirapur as a Silence-like effect.
EDIT: I also consider including Haakon and Nameless Inversion "combo". I think I have enough discard outlets to make it viable especially if I'm going to expand my discard suite (Oppression). Haakon can suplement Skeleton for keeping Contamination alive at least.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Oppression is bonkers! It's even good on its own and doesn't hurt me much as I can easily get my stuff back but really shines with Waste Not. Speaking of the latter I added even more support for it with Memory Jar. Which is good on its own too.
Cycling stuff is still in - even more with Razaketh's Rite replacing Sidisi - but Archfiend of Ifnir will eventually get out.
I'm pretty excited with Vindictive Lich from C17. It will annoy a lot of people.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
[Primer] Erebos, God of the Dead
HONK HONK
Hrrrrrm. But you can recur Sidisi with Sheoldred. I remember that was a very nice thing the deck used to do back when I played it
It was a tough call but I've found Sidisi to rot in my hand (she's a zombie after all) to often than I had opportunity to cast her. Most of the time I cannot afford myself to use up all my mana to tutor for a card I will play next turn. I need to play it right away or keep mana open for removal / counter. If I have 8+ mana available I just wreck opps with Myojin / Ugin / Mindslaver or search for Contamination at which point it doesn't matter what tutor I use. I can cycle Rite early game to keep tempo. I don't dismiss bringing her back later though.
I love that card. Opponents forget about it very often which allows my to punish them. 5 damage a turn can be a lot if someone's using life as a resource (Ad Nauseum, Sylvan Library, numerous Mana Crypts and Ancient Tombs) and combos - which roam my meta - do not have relevant blockers to keep me from attacking. It's also last resort sac target for Contamination. Watch out for Mindslaver effects though.
EDIT: Updated first two posts with all the changes made recently.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
- Arguel's Blood Fast / Temple of Aclazotz - twice as cheap Erebos (barring indestructibility and LG block) with an option to turn into life-gaining sac outlet looks promising. I tend to loose a lot of life during a game so it can transform pretty often. Worth a try.
- Kitesail Freebooter - little bigger and flying Mesmeric Fiend / Brain Maggot. It doesn't exile creature cards but they are the least of my worries. Mass discard outlets trump it though.
- Revel in Riches - new version of Black Market is both better and worse. Great in creature heavy matchups and useless against spellslingers and combos. Will not make a cut probably.
- Ruthless Knave - ramping sac outlet is what I was looking for. Activation cost may be high but profits seem even higher. Worth testing.
- Vraska's Contempt - Hero's Downfall is 1 mana cheaper but exile clause tempts. No reason to run both though and lower CMC wins here.
- Ruin Raider - such effects can kill me faster than opps so "it will not cut".
- Dowsing Dagger - giving opponent sac fodder is not wise and having to connect with a creature is not a way of this deck.
- Thaumatic Compass - not bad but Liliana's better
- Conqueror's Galleon - not enough creatures to Crew
As for changes I'm going to reduce manabase to 34 lands and fit in Torpor Orb. I have only 3 ETB creatures so it won't affect me as much as the others. Some ETB effects are too powerful to let them go. I also think about cutting Magus of the Will as it's only good for late game and even then it's too slow with tapping requirement. Oblivion Stone and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon are also taken into consideration for cuts. I like my enchantments to stay on board.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward