MTG Salvation

It seems like the general consensus around Pharika is that she's just "meh" overall, which is a shame, but our deck did gain access to Master of Feasts in JOU, so there's that. I'd still probably run Lifebane over him, but he could make a decent sideboard.

Quote from hylophobic

Hylophobic's The Rock 1.0Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Deathrite Shaman 4 Scavenging Ooze 4 Reaper of the Wilds 1 Pack Rat 2 Thoughtseize 4 Abrupt Decay 3 Devour Flesh 2 Hero's Downfall 3 Read the Bones 1 Gaze of Granite 2 Putrefy 1 Ultimate Price 1 Doom Blade 1 Golgari Charm 1 Underworld Connections	2 Vraska the Unseen 6 Swamp 6 Forest 4 Overgrown Tomb 2 Golgari Guildgate 2 Temple of Silence 2 Temple of Mystery 2 Mutavault

This is my Rock deck i have been testing recently. It seems as if you drain with Deathrite Shaman at least twice you get your value from it, and with all the removal you have in the deck it's easy to fill the graveyards with stuff to use with Deathrite.

Scavenging Ooze has been fantastic always, it helps gain life back and grow huge by eating up things we have killed with our removal

Reaper of the Wilds is insane. Digs us deeper while being a threat that is hard to remove, in addition to being able to trade with almost anything.

The 1 Pack Rat is basically free wins vs some decks like Mono U and GW.

The choice of having Read the Bones over more Connections is because turn 3 i might need something really bad at that moment, so being able to dig 2-4 cards into my deck for an answer or a threat is pretty good. Connections just feels too slow, but it is definitely better vs control decks, so more come in from the board.

Vraska is a good catchall that can act as a win condition.

I've been playing this deck for two weeks and the roughest matchup are Aggro Decks. If they get a fast enough start then they can hit you pretty hard. But you do have a bit of lifegain, so its possible to recover.
I'm still tweaking it. Desecration Demons might need to be added as another threat. I run a limited amount of creatures, so i will probably be testing it. Another candidate as another creature could be Polukranos, but i feel like the deck is better Black based than it is green based.

I've been meaning to try Vraska, but I could never get around to it; how often has she actually won you the game or paid for herself? I'd say Desecration Demon is certainly mandatory seeing as just how big of a threat he is.

I may be wrong about this, and someone correct me if I am, but I feel as if Doomblade and Gaze of Granite should be strictly sideboard cards. There's nothing worse than having removal in your hard that you can't use. I'm fairly sure adding 2 Golgari Charms can fix that, and Golgari Charm is an amazing card.

If you don't Thoughtseize Blood Baron, then you could always try dropping a Lifebane Zombie turn 4 to fish it out of their hand. Otherwise I run Mistcutter Hydra in my Sideboard, mainly to deal with control, but in this scenario, it may work as well.

If I'm not mistaken, she is the only minor god to have an activated ability you pay mana for. All WotC had to do to make her strong was add "Whenever a creature dies, you gain 2 life." Being the God of diseases and cures, its favorful and it makes her a lot better of a card.

I'm a bit disappointed to say the least.

I was just about to buy Lifebane Zombies for my BG Midrange deck when Wizards decides to spoil this. Now, I'm not sure now whether I'd rather have Master of the Feasts or Lifebanes since they occupy the same 3cmc slot. One one hand Master of the Feast hits like a truck for a 3 drop and puts an early clock on the enemy, but Lifebanes have situational disruption which could be just as useful.

Aidoneus42: If you're still lurking, it'd be nice to know how the sunday PTQ went.

Now that Pharika is finally spoiled, what does everyone think of it in relation to the deck? I'm still on the fence of whether or not she has a place here, but since we mostly aren't running reanimation, exiling our creatures from the grave won't exactly hurt us.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/budget-ish-orzhov-aggro-control/


I'm trying to be as competitive as I can with what cards I already have and what disposable income I have available.

While most of the cards on the list I already own, I'm not opposed to dumping money into making a deck, but I'm not sure how much I want to invest into Ravnica cards since they will cycle out in a couple months (namely a playset of Blood Barons since they happen to be really expensive). The few cards I need to purchase are Theros cards (Spirit of the Labyrinth and Soldier of the Pantheon) since I'll at least be able to make use of them later down the line.

As far as the actual deck goes, I'm running a set of nine removal cards; a number I'm fairly happy with. I also have Revoke Existence sitting in the deck to rid any Gods, artifacts, or even an Underworld Connections, but after a bit of testing I'm concerned with it being a dead card in the hand. Elspeth is a neat-win con, but she interacts poorly with Desecration Demon and Alms Beast. I'm thinking of dropping her, but it's a shame since she is one of the few more expensive cards I own. Sin Collector is nice, but perhaps 4 of them is too much; I'm considering dropping one or more for Spear of Heliod

Beyond that I am considering dropping money on Thoughtseize and replacing something. I'll probably slowly rotate my Guildgates into Scrylands since they are strictly better, but money is a limited resource and its not a huge priority for me right now.

I'm open to any and all suggestions. I'm fairly new to magic and would love to hear feedback. Thank you for reading.

It could be a pretty hilarious play against Kiki-Pod, perhaps Sideboard worthy in some decks.

I'd run a Qasali Pridemage or two in place of the Birds of Paradise. Since you are running green, Tarmogoyf is an option, as is Loxodon Smiter to punish Liliana. Peek is nice, but I prefer Serum Visions if you must have more card draw. I personally don't think you need all that card draw because you aren't running control and filtering your deck won't draw any answers since you have very few. I would run path and maybe even dismember, just so you can interact with the opponent and provide answers.

I like the direction in which this deck is going and I see Percy being mentioned a few times. Grafted Wargear and Bone Splinters with Percy is interesting, but as you mentioned earlier, it doesn't really suit the theme of the deck's 2-for-1. Bloodghast is pretty great value if you decide to run any fetch lands and Vampire Hexmage can be some cute sideboard tech. I'm not entirely convinced on the Vampire Nighthawk seeing as how he is a prime Lightning Bolt target.

For a casual game, sure you can roll with it, but this deck will not be competitive without some drastic changes.

For 4 mana, I don't feel as if he does enough. His +1 is negligible for the most part, and his 0 puts him in bolt range. Domri Rade on the other had is 1 less mana (which, although it doesn't seem like it, is a big deal) and gives card advantage with his +1 all while putting him out of bolt range. In addition, he gives removal and threatens his ultimate if you let him get out of hand (which may or may not be stronger than Xenegos's ultimate).

Vampire Lacerator and Kalastria Highborn are creatures you may want to consider.

Viscera Seer and fetch lands will help Vampire Nocturnus trigger.

Victim of the Night and Feast of Blood are alternatives to Doomblade.

I'm not positive of Gray Merchant yet, but Bloodline Keeper seems a bit slow for me, especially in an aggro deck. I don't think its too likely you'll be able to flip into Lord of Lineage. Personally I wouldn't mind splashing a little bit of red, since it gets you access to Stromkirk Noble, Stromkirk Captain, or even Lightning Bolt. Falkenrath Aristocrat makes a nice finisher and brings late game punch(acting as a mini Thundermaw Hellkite).

I'm not sure I understand the choice of Call of the Conclave here, do you mind explaining that choice?

I would probably drop the Aether Vial in favor of Lightning Bolt. I would replace Aether Membrane with Boros Reckoner as well, but you said you were already testing that one out. Skred on Boros Reckoner seems like a really unique way to finish the game.

Quick question: if you cast Vexing Devil (I know it isn't in your deck but bare with me on this) and your opponents choose to pay the 4 life, could you flash in your Whitemane Lion to "rescue" your devil and still have your opponent pay the 4 life? It would be pretty awesome if you could.