I think there needs to be care taken into how many come into play tapped lands we use! Against fast aggro being too slow is not good.
In regards to Magosi, the Waterveil besides again coming into play tapped and then skipping a turn to take a turn later on as well as bouncing itself to your hand, I would be using it to see what my opponent would do in 2 turns and I would only skip my next turn if I had board advantage and enough life not to be worried about alpha strikes killing me.
You have to see this card as skip your next turn to give your opponent 2 draw phases, 2 attack phases so the best time to skip a turn is after sweeping the board with something to back up what ever they do, be it a counter, creature kill , bounce, etc.
In regards to Bloodghast just have magma spray in your sideboard if it is a real pain.
How is the Veinpost testing out? I am against it but then again I have not had much a chance to do testing myself of late.
Using artifacts for mana acceleration is a double edged sword, good early game crap late game unless of course you have Chandra Ablaze out and discard the Veinfire Borderpost to her.
Personally I would not run them as there will be too much aggro running around! However, if testing proves they are viable then I would be open to them.
Lavaball Trap depends on the meta, if you face lots of decks bringing in multiple lands per turn then it deserves a sb spot at best!
I definately think Mindbreak Trap is a 2 of in the sb again this depends on the meta but I have a feeling it will more aggro / mid range than control, too early to tell at this stage.
Right now I think Burst Lightning is best way to go. Speaking of which if you use Chandra Ablaze ultimate does the kicker get paid or do you have to spend extra mana?
Personally I dont think there should be too many high casting cost spells in this deck. Dont get me wrong the following cards are awesome, but there needs to be right ratio of low cc to high cc otherwise aggro will own you.
If you dont want to fork out money for Reflecting Pool then you could always cut the ghitu encampments for Savage Lands instead and run these in addition to Auntie's Hovel, Sulfurous Springs and Graven Cairns. Doing this should see early double black mana.
5cc will always be able to draw more cards than this deck, the trick is to keep putting on the pressure turn after turn. If you run out of steam then you have probably already lost unless you get top deck Banefire but even then 5cc runs Swerve so be careful.
Faeries is pretty straight forward, burn burn burn.
Esper Lark is very annoying and game 1 could be an auto loss depending on your build. Magma Spray will shine in this matchup if your build runs it though, to get rid of lark targets.
Are you serious about the Specter? I mean, he's my favorite creature and art (ABU4th), but without Dark Ritual, he bites removal badly. If you want to force counters/removal out thier hand to kill him and not something else, that's another story, but I don't see him in any situation (other than a really slow one) worth using.
Even if M10 reprints Dark Ritual AND Hyppie, I think people would just use the Rit for better things.
~ Please I WOULD like to see a reason to run him effectively though.
Alas, I was semi-serious. If hypnotic specter cost 2B instead of 1BB he would be better.
I also agree with other posters who think there are too many 3cc creatures / spells. That is why I am testing Murderous Redcap out in place of Shambling Remains as it has an immediate effect when it comes into play.
In regards to Magosi, the Waterveil besides again coming into play tapped and then skipping a turn to take a turn later on as well as bouncing itself to your hand, I would be using it to see what my opponent would do in 2 turns and I would only skip my next turn if I had board advantage and enough life not to be worried about alpha strikes killing me.
You have to see this card as skip your next turn to give your opponent 2 draw phases, 2 attack phases so the best time to skip a turn is after sweeping the board with something to back up what ever they do, be it a counter, creature kill , bounce, etc.
In regards to Bloodghast just have magma spray in your sideboard if it is a real pain.
How is the Veinpost testing out? I am against it but then again I have not had much a chance to do testing myself of late.
How is Diabolic Tutor testing out?
Care to elaborate on the strange testing results? Got me curious!
Personally I would not run them as there will be too much aggro running around! However, if testing proves they are viable then I would be open to them.
I definately think Mindbreak Trap is a 2 of in the sb again this depends on the meta but I have a feeling it will more aggro / mid range than control, too early to tell at this stage.
probably better to just have a burn spell in that place, possible candidates for extra burn:
Earthquake
Fireball
Magma Spray
Banefire
Volcanic Fallout
Bituminous Blast
Burst Lightning
Punishing Fire
Right now I think Burst Lightning is best way to go. Speaking of which if you use Chandra Ablaze ultimate does the kicker get paid or do you have to spend extra mana?
Time Warp 5cc
Cruel Ultimatum 7cc
Chandra Ablaze 6cc
Sphinx of Lost Truths 5cc
Magma Phoenix 5cc
I agree that the above list works well in this deck, but I think in following quantities...
2 Time Warp
3 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Pyroclasm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
Planeswalker
2 Chandra Ablaze
4 Jace Beleren
4 Sedraxis Specter
3 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Magma Phoenix
3 Hell's Thunder
Land
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Scalding Tarn
5 Mountain
3 Swamp
2 Island
4 Blightning
4 Negate
3 Infest
4 Double Negative
I was thinking something along the lines of the following...
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Bloodghast
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Doomblade
3 Duress
3 Sign in Blood
Enchantment
3 Bloodchief Ascension
Planeswalker
2 Sorin Markov
Land
22 Swamp
2 Crypt of Agadeem
4 Deathmark
4 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Vampire Hexmage
1 Doomblade
1 Duress
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Sign in Blood
Not too sure about deck thinning lands for Nocturnus as too many come into play tapped lands = frustration when trying to be on the offense.
If control is giving you a hard time make sure you have Thoughtseize, Banefire and Vexing Shusher in the sideboard.
5cc will always be able to draw more cards than this deck, the trick is to keep putting on the pressure turn after turn. If you run out of steam then you have probably already lost unless you get top deck Banefire but even then 5cc runs Swerve so be careful.
Faeries is pretty straight forward, burn burn burn.
Esper Lark is very annoying and game 1 could be an auto loss depending on your build. Magma Spray will shine in this matchup if your build runs it though, to get rid of lark targets.
Alas, I was semi-serious. If hypnotic specter cost 2B instead of 1BB he would be better.
I also agree with other posters who think there are too many 3cc creatures / spells. That is why I am testing Murderous Redcap out in place of Shambling Remains as it has an immediate effect when it comes into play.