Been toying with this for a while - Have been winning a good number of bo1. i don't play many OKO's - for whatever reason arena doesnt match me with them.
Obviously, this deck focuses on cleaning up the board with sacrifices. Mayhem Devil shines, but even if you can't stick him to board, you can still do pretty well without him.
I just recently added the Bontu and Lilliana. Not sure how they will work out, but card draw always seems like a good thing.
Let me know if you try this out. would love some advice on how to improve it.
Counter-heavy decks are tough, but I have still won out on quite a few, thanks to the low cost spells and the danger of each one (spark harvest/claim the firstborn). Actual allows you to strategically manage their counters.
Your version is pretty similar to the Rakdos one already though I will say Liliana seems like too much at 6 mana and Priest of Forgotten Gods is a card you'll really want. Particularly if you run chandra since curving Priest into CHandra can be back breaking.
thanks - hadnt seen those. But i tried priest, and honestly, have never had luck with it. Seems too slow, and gets killed, or just hardly gets its ability off. Many other ways to have fun with chandras 2 buddies.
cavalier seems great though....gotta add that.
actually - everything looks fun there. But I do like the spark harvest a lot. Yes its 2 cards ... but with claim and spark harvest, you destroy 2 creatures/planes, for same mana cost as angrath.
Obviously this type of deck kind of got popular real fast. Especially with banning of oko.
I've continued to play it. I tried a lot of the top8 decks, but found them bleh. Tuned this deck QUITE A LOT! And still find it to be extremely fun.
This current iteration I thought was worth sharing, as I don't compete against anything really like it.
A few of the main differences:
light up the stage
RDW loves this card...and rightfully so - 1 mana for 2 cards. Worst case scenario, you see two 3/4 mana cards pop up at turn 2 or 3, and one gets exiled. All other scenarios, you get a land, or some good 1 mana drops.
Spark Harvest
Why does no one play this card in this deck? It has such range. Kills a creature or planeswalker for 1 mana...OK? YES PLEASE! Not only that, but with Claim the Firstborn, it serves as an additional sacrifice outlet to kill opponents creature if youre missing Witch's Oven.
Act of Treason
How many times has this card won me the game? I want more..but i can't figure out what to get rid of. Thing I love about this deck is how versatile it is and how many different cards you can use to change the deck up. But Act of Treason - you need at least 2. I'd like 3...but unfortunately, the deck needed more creatures (2 drops in my case).
Vraska, Golgari Queen
Was looking for more sac outlets to add to Witch's Oven (as I never seem to get them, or get all 4). Vraska serves as nice card draw option (which synergizes Mayhem Devil with a nice way to take out a 1-3 mana flier or other troublesome card. It essentially fills liliana, Dreadhorde General's role, but at a cheaper cost.
Piper of the Swarm
This is my current wildcard. I took out Korvold, Fae-Cursed King for these guys - lol. Korvold is super cool, and when I play against him, he always gets pumped up and looks cool...But I have been pretty lucky in treasoning him for wins...nearly everytime he comes out (he cost too much - comes out too late - and is too slow). Now - I experimented with having just 1 in the deck .. but i never seem to get him...so i opted to take him out completely for these dudes. Piper seems cool - as for 2 mana he provides a nice sac outlet for cards like Vraska and spark harvest. Still in testing, but I kind of like him. Maybe I just wanted this guy to be used for a long time, and I'm trying to force him into the deck...
Either way - Piper x 3 gives you 3 extra cards you can move around in this deck.
I've had a pretty good winrate so far (I play on geforce now on mac, so I don't use tracker). Anyway...pretty cheap cards. Also cards most people have anyway - so give it a try and let me know if something doesn't work.
Here are some honorary mentions that were swapped out of this current iteration:
Thrashing Brontodon
I was running 2 of this card before I put in vraska. Vraska seemingly covers enchantment removal in most cases. But Im going to keep an eye on it, and if vraska can't cut it, might move this card back in.
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
I already talked about this card. It's great in this deck ... and would be perfect if it only cost 4 mana (and maybe only got +1+1 and card draw when attacking/saccing). Anyway - I think he's awesome, and he starts working for you as soon as he lands. But he cost a lot - For 1 more mana you get liliana. Maybe i need more than 2...need to keep trying him out in different ways.
Murderous Rider
It was between this guy and spark harvest, and I found that I much more often wanted more mana on turn 3/4/5 than to cast this guy. Also, 2 swamps requirement slows you down a lot more often than you'd like it to. Still a strong card of course.
Massacre Girl
I get why this card went into this deck - I just feel like other cards can take its place. Maybe I just dont see as much aggro as I used to. With 2 ovens and a cat, you can do something like...4-5 toughness damage when the planets align. Pretty nice. Though that scenario doesnt seem to pop up that often.
Finale of Eternity
Was looking for some more kill cards. For me this card took Massacre Girls place after a bunch of testing. Still good, but like Massacre Girl, I found that claim/act of treason/spark harvest enough to keep me going.
// 4 Artifact
4 Witch's Oven
// 16 Creature
4 Cauldron Familiar
3 Gutterbones
3 Midnight Reaper
4 Mayhem Devil
2 God-Eternal Bontu
2 Castle Locthwain
8 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Fabled Passage
4 Blood Crypt
// 5 Planeswalker
3 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
3 Spark Harvest
4 Claim the Firstborn
2 Bankrupt in Blood
2 Act of Treason
1 Blood for Bones
Been toying with this for a while - Have been winning a good number of bo1. i don't play many OKO's - for whatever reason arena doesnt match me with them.
Obviously, this deck focuses on cleaning up the board with sacrifices. Mayhem Devil shines, but even if you can't stick him to board, you can still do pretty well without him.
I just recently added the Bontu and Lilliana. Not sure how they will work out, but card draw always seems like a good thing.
Let me know if you try this out. would love some advice on how to improve it.
Counter-heavy decks are tough, but I have still won out on quite a few, thanks to the low cost spells and the danger of each one (spark harvest/claim the firstborn). Actual allows you to strategically manage their counters.
Fun deck!
Is a rakdos version that is seeing success
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2463100#online
Is a jund version that is seeing success.
Your version is pretty similar to the Rakdos one already though I will say Liliana seems like too much at 6 mana and Priest of Forgotten Gods is a card you'll really want. Particularly if you run chandra since curving Priest into CHandra can be back breaking.
cavalier seems great though....gotta add that.
actually - everything looks fun there. But I do like the spark harvest a lot. Yes its 2 cards ... but with claim and spark harvest, you destroy 2 creatures/planes, for same mana cost as angrath.
Need to try out that brew and compare.
I've continued to play it. I tried a lot of the top8 decks, but found them bleh. Tuned this deck QUITE A LOT! And still find it to be extremely fun.
This current iteration I thought was worth sharing, as I don't compete against anything really like it.
A few of the main differences:
light up the stage
RDW loves this card...and rightfully so - 1 mana for 2 cards. Worst case scenario, you see two 3/4 mana cards pop up at turn 2 or 3, and one gets exiled. All other scenarios, you get a land, or some good 1 mana drops.
Spark Harvest
Why does no one play this card in this deck? It has such range. Kills a creature or planeswalker for 1 mana...OK? YES PLEASE! Not only that, but with Claim the Firstborn, it serves as an additional sacrifice outlet to kill opponents creature if youre missing Witch's Oven.
Act of Treason
How many times has this card won me the game? I want more..but i can't figure out what to get rid of. Thing I love about this deck is how versatile it is and how many different cards you can use to change the deck up. But Act of Treason - you need at least 2. I'd like 3...but unfortunately, the deck needed more creatures (2 drops in my case).
Vraska, Golgari Queen
Was looking for more sac outlets to add to Witch's Oven (as I never seem to get them, or get all 4). Vraska serves as nice card draw option (which synergizes Mayhem Devil with a nice way to take out a 1-3 mana flier or other troublesome card. It essentially fills liliana, Dreadhorde General's role, but at a cheaper cost.
Piper of the Swarm
This is my current wildcard. I took out Korvold, Fae-Cursed King for these guys - lol. Korvold is super cool, and when I play against him, he always gets pumped up and looks cool...But I have been pretty lucky in treasoning him for wins...nearly everytime he comes out (he cost too much - comes out too late - and is too slow). Now - I experimented with having just 1 in the deck .. but i never seem to get him...so i opted to take him out completely for these dudes. Piper seems cool - as for 2 mana he provides a nice sac outlet for cards like Vraska and spark harvest. Still in testing, but I kind of like him. Maybe I just wanted this guy to be used for a long time, and I'm trying to force him into the deck...
Either way - Piper x 3 gives you 3 extra cards you can move around in this deck.
// 4 Artifact
4 Witch's Oven
// 18 Creature
4 Cauldron Familiar
3 Gilded Goose
3 Piper of the Swarm
3 Midnight Reaper
4 Mayhem Devil
1 Rankle, Master of Pranks
2 Trail of Crumbs
// 23 Land
1 Castle Locthwain
3 Swamp
2 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
3 Fabled Passage
2 Vraska, Golgari Queen
// 11 Sorcery
3 Spark Harvest
3 Claim the Firstborn
2 Act of Treason
3 Light Up the Stage
I've had a pretty good winrate so far (I play on geforce now on mac, so I don't use tracker). Anyway...pretty cheap cards. Also cards most people have anyway - so give it a try and let me know if something doesn't work.
Here are some honorary mentions that were swapped out of this current iteration:
Thrashing Brontodon
I was running 2 of this card before I put in vraska. Vraska seemingly covers enchantment removal in most cases. But Im going to keep an eye on it, and if vraska can't cut it, might move this card back in.
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
I already talked about this card. It's great in this deck ... and would be perfect if it only cost 4 mana (and maybe only got +1+1 and card draw when attacking/saccing). Anyway - I think he's awesome, and he starts working for you as soon as he lands. But he cost a lot - For 1 more mana you get liliana. Maybe i need more than 2...need to keep trying him out in different ways.
Murderous Rider
It was between this guy and spark harvest, and I found that I much more often wanted more mana on turn 3/4/5 than to cast this guy. Also, 2 swamps requirement slows you down a lot more often than you'd like it to. Still a strong card of course.
Massacre Girl
I get why this card went into this deck - I just feel like other cards can take its place. Maybe I just dont see as much aggro as I used to. With 2 ovens and a cat, you can do something like...4-5 toughness damage when the planets align. Pretty nice. Though that scenario doesnt seem to pop up that often.
Finale of Eternity
Was looking for some more kill cards. For me this card took Massacre Girls place after a bunch of testing. Still good, but like Massacre Girl, I found that claim/act of treason/spark harvest enough to keep me going.