Hey nice to see your list! I hadn't checked the forum in a while. I'm going to try them out on MTGA since I have all of those cards unlocked. I find that thief of sanity never lives when it lands, but im intrigued by your second list with the rekindling phoenix just being a major pain for every type of deck.
I've done a lot of testing and I've changed the card counts/choices to this. Its been working really well for me. If anybody has any feedback or tries this list out lemme know. I've been playing it in MTGA, the deck is like $300 USD.
Hey man! Welcome to MTG, hope you enjoy it! I would try building this deck in MTG Arena if you can and give it a shot, a few quick observations/suggestions I have for you.
1. I would personally cut the Haunt of Hightower for Demon of Catastrophes. Its a lower cost creature with better stats right off the bat, and it also enables you to sacrifice some of your afterlife cards (Yay Synergy!).
2. Basilica Bell-Haunt is a really solid card which gives you card advantage on a very capable creature you might want to think about adding it to your roster.
3. I would swap out the consecrate/consume for Mortify, you should probably run 3-4 of these as it is a really good removal spell. (Oops didn't see you had it in there)
4. I would ditch the Pestilent Spirit and the Forbidding Spirit and add Priest of Forgotten Gods. She is an amazing sacrifice enabler which gives you removal, mana and card draw.
5. I would suggest sticking a couple Reassembling Skeleton or Gutterbones as creatures that can be sacrificed and then reanimated to your advantage. These obviously work really well with Priest of Forgotten Gods
6. I would bump the Tithe Taker number up a bit to 2-3 at the least.
Finally as just a kind of general note, its often best to put 3-4 of a card in a deck to create as much stability as possible. What I mean by this is that you will start to consistently draw what you intended to put in your deck to create your synergies. This of course is different when talking about legendary creatures/legendary enchantments because you can't have two on the field at the same time.
I'll post a list of what I would run with this kind of deck archetype in a minute.
I totalled it on Card Kingdom and its ~$90 USD. You can make this even more budget friendly by swapping out the shock lands for regular gates although it will make your deck slower.
I did some testing, and I added back in the Ministrant of Obligation as a 4 of.
I've been playing this list on MTGA with some decent results. Its a decent control deck which seeks to capitalize on playing dragon spells. There are a bunch of win cons, the dragons obviously are very strong on their own, but with the addition of the planeswalkers and the captive audience there is a variety of ways for this deck to finish an opponent if you survive into the lategame.
MTG A haha, I was a touch salty last night about facing off against endless RDW decks but I'm over it now.
The deck actually has some legs and performs well, its worst matchup seems to be decks that can go wide (token decks and White weenie decks). RDW is a decent matchup like I said but it somewhat hinges on whether or not this deck gets to play first or not.
Yea i've made the changes you've suggested and the deck is feeling better. I removed the MOC for 2 Walk the Planks and 2 Cast downs. I was using cast down as a sorcery a lot of the time to remove blockers, and the Walk the plank can also hit those pesky legendaries. Also having one or two vraaskas in there is working well even though its at the top end of the mana costs.
I am running treasure map as a 1 of, so far it seems a little slower and clunkier than the Fountains but i'll keep giving it a shot.
I've been toying around with this list and its been actually working pretty well, especially against a few meta decks (cough RDW cough). The creatures are fast enough, hit hard enough, and come back to the field often enough to put solid pressure on control matchups. Liliana is a solid threat that deals small amounts of damage while dumping your zombies into the graveyard to be reanimated. Karn is solid card draw, and also good for creating artifact creatures.
The Phylactery Lich is a little risky sometimes but I find that most people don't run artifact removal in BO1, so creating a treasure token with the heartless pillage or by putting the token on the fountain of renewal you can keep him in play reasonably easily. And I don't mind keeping the fountain of renewal in the deck because it helps mitigate damage from spawn of mayhem and Midnight Reaper, as well as being a really valuable card against the RDW matchup.
Hey Guys, been playing around with this list on MTG:A. Its been performing pretty well all things considered. I would like some advice, currently its sitting at 66 cards and I think it should probably be slimmed down to 60 but I can't figure out what to cut. I was thinking possibly of cutting the lockets but I like that they can add card draw and mana. Any and all feedback would be awesome. I checked around in the established deck lists and I didn't see much that is super similar.
Also I know I should have the better lands but currently I haven't unlocked them from MTG:A yet.
2 Plains
4 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Clifftop Retreat
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Godless Shrine
3 Mountain
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Footlight Fiend
3 God-Eternal Bontu
2 Tithe Taker
3 Teysa Karlov
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
4 Hero of Precinct One
4 Judith, the Scourge Diva
1 Seraph of the Scales
1 Revival // Revenge
3 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator
I'm currently experimenting with this deck, I think there might be room for siege gang commander somewhere in there.
3 Mountain
3 Island
3 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Demanding Dragon
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
//Artifacts/Enchantments//
2 Dragon's Hoard
2 The Eldest Reborn
2 Search for Azcanta
//Spells//
3 Sinister Sabotage
3 Thought Erasure
4 Fiery Cannonade
3 Discovery // Dispersal
3 Lava Coil
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Essence Scatter
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
1. I would personally cut the Haunt of Hightower for Demon of Catastrophes. Its a lower cost creature with better stats right off the bat, and it also enables you to sacrifice some of your afterlife cards (Yay Synergy!).
2. Basilica Bell-Haunt is a really solid card which gives you card advantage on a very capable creature you might want to think about adding it to your roster.
3. I would swap out the consecrate/consume for Mortify, you should probably run 3-4 of these as it is a really good removal spell. (Oops didn't see you had it in there)
4. I would ditch the Pestilent Spirit and the Forbidding Spirit and add Priest of Forgotten Gods. She is an amazing sacrifice enabler which gives you removal, mana and card draw.
5. I would suggest sticking a couple Reassembling Skeleton or Gutterbones as creatures that can be sacrificed and then reanimated to your advantage. These obviously work really well with Priest of Forgotten Gods
6. I would bump the Tithe Taker number up a bit to 2-3 at the least.
Finally as just a kind of general note, its often best to put 3-4 of a card in a deck to create as much stability as possible. What I mean by this is that you will start to consistently draw what you intended to put in your deck to create your synergies. This of course is different when talking about legendary creatures/legendary enchantments because you can't have two on the field at the same time.
I'll post a list of what I would run with this kind of deck archetype in a minute.
1 Isolated Chapel
3 Forsaken Sanctuary
7 Plains
8 Swamp
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
4 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Hunted Witness
2 Basilica Bell-Haunt
2 Tithe Taker
4 Ministrant of Obligation
2 Plaguecrafter
3 Imperious Oligarch
2 Teysa Karlov
2 Demon of Catastrophes
3 Costly Plunder
3 The Eldest Reborn
I totalled it on Card Kingdom and its ~$90 USD. You can make this even more budget friendly by swapping out the shock lands for regular gates although it will make your deck slower.
I did some testing, and I added back in the Ministrant of Obligation as a 4 of.
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Dragonskull Summit
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
3 Island
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
-- Spells --
2 Spell Pierce
3 Sinister Sabotage
3 Thought Erasure
4 Fiery Cannonade
2 Chemister's Insight
2 Lava Coil
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
-- Enchantment/ Artifacts --
2 Dragon's Hoard
2 Search for Azcanta
2 The Eldest Reborn
1 Treasure Map
1 Captive Audience
The deck actually has some legs and performs well, its worst matchup seems to be decks that can go wide (token decks and White weenie decks). RDW is a decent matchup like I said but it somewhat hinges on whether or not this deck gets to play first or not.
3 Diregraf Ghoul
2 Gutterbones
2 Plague Wight
2 Death Baron
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Spawn of Mayhem
4 Heartless Pillage
2 Liliana, Untouched by Death
2 Midnight Reaper
3 Graveyard Marshal
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
3 Phylactery Lich
3 Fountain of Renewal
2 Cast Down
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Walk the Plank
1 Treasure Map
I am running treasure map as a 1 of, so far it seems a little slower and clunkier than the Fountains but i'll keep giving it a shot.
The Phylactery Lich is a little risky sometimes but I find that most people don't run artifact removal in BO1, so creating a treasure token with the heartless pillage or by putting the token on the fountain of renewal you can keep him in play reasonably easily. And I don't mind keeping the fountain of renewal in the deck because it helps mitigate damage from spawn of mayhem and Midnight Reaper, as well as being a really valuable card against the RDW matchup.
21 Swamp
--Creatures--
3 Diregraf Ghoul
3 Gutterbones
2 Plague Wight
2 Death Baron
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
3 Phylactery Lich
3 Graveyard Marshal
2 Midnight Reaper
2 Spawn of Mayhem
4 Heartless Pillage
2 Duress
4 Moment of Craving
4 Fountain of Renewal
-- Planeswalkers --
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Liliana, Untouched by Death
Let me know what you guys think/any ideas for improvements you might have.
Also I know I should have the better lands but currently I haven't unlocked them from MTG:A yet.
8 Forest
3 Breeding Pool
4 Woodland Stream
4 Frilled Mystic
1 Hydroid Krasis
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Ripjaw Raptor
2 Carnage Tyrant
2 Vine Mare
2 Pelakka Wurm
3 Chemister's Insight
4 Wilderness Reclamation
2 Simic Locket
2 Vivien Reid
3 Open the Gates
1 Mass Manipulation
2 Cancel
3 Simic Guildgate
4 Growth Spiral