Your early game plan is piecing together the a combo from the cards you start with in opening hand and something from the many tutors in the deck. usually you get some kind of tutor or card draw pretty quickly. With so many combos you will probably start with half of one in your hand and just tutor up the other half right away.
The primary win condition is Flash/Hulk, which can be done at instant speed on opponent's turn. The first Protean Hulk search gets Karmic Guide and Viscera Seer, Karmic Guide reanimates Hulk, sacrifice to Seer and search for Felidar Guardian and Blood Artist, Guardian blinks the Karmic Guide and reanimates Hulk again to get Kiki-Jiki to make infinite Guardian tokens that all either have haste to attack or can be sacrificed to seer and loss of life with Blood Artist.
The next option to win is Birthing Pod, from a board position of Pod in play and any two CMC creature, you only need 4 mana and 8 life to win the game from your precombat main phase. Activate Pod and sacrifice the two CMC creature for Derevi, untapping the Pod and then activate again sacrificing Derevi to get Felidar Guardian blinking the Pod. Activate again, sacrificing Felidar Guardian to get Karmic Guide and reanimate Felidar Guardian, blink the pod then activate again sacrificing Felidar Guardian to get Kiki-Jiki and tap Kiki-Jiki to copy the Karmic Guide to reanimate Felidar Guardian, blinking Kiki-Jiki to make infinite hasted Felidar Guardian tokens.
Alternatively you can Buried Alive or Entomb and put any number of things into your graveyard, and make use of the Reanimate package. Necrotic Ooze gets very powerful with the number of activated creature abilities. Sneak Attack can really surprise people also. With Kiki-Jiki and Mogg Fanatic in graveyard, using Sneak Attack to cheat a Necrotic Ooze into play will make infinite tapped ooze tokens that can all be sacrificed to deal one damage each. But the Ooze with Razaketh in yard is also a pay 2 life and sacrifice a warrior token to demonic tutor at instant speed! Then just Reanimate the Razaketh! With Razaketh's ability and Najeela's powerful way to make lots of tokens and generate lots of life, you can effectually instantly tutor for any card in your deck - counterspell on demand!
There are also several cards in the deck that lead to infinite combat steps with Najeela! Phyrexian Altar, Bear Umbra, Sword of Feast and Famine, Derevi, Druids' Repository. Najeela gets exponential with creating tokens because every attack with a token creates more tokens, and the tokens all get lifelink so expect to gain a lot of life. This is of course a backup plan, but if you are spending any turns digging for the combo, might as well swing on players with no creatures and make tokens, gain life, and get triggers in the meantime. If you can overload a Cyclonic Rift, and make infinite combat steps the game is probably done.
Weaknesses
The deck is weak to Torpor Orb and Cursed Totem, so there is lots of cheap counterspells and lots of Artifact and Enchantment destruction. Suggestions are welcome.
I am frustrated that this "Primer" is written for a weaker build. Is there a primer for a stronger competitive build?
I cover 4 builds, 2 of which are competitive. Check the 'other mishra builds' section. The stax is quite oppressive in multiplayer, and Mishra flies under the radar early, which makes establishing our lock easier; and the storm variant is very dangerous in 1v1, though is not legal by 1v1 french ban list rules.
I just don't feel like a competitive list is getting the proper attention. the best list should be the primer and the 75% or whatever should be an alternative list. I don't even think your better lists are up to par.
Now that goblins and other tribal decks have cavern of souls, would it be so bad to unban black vise, mystical tutor, and mental misstep? Already brought back the land tax, and misstep won't ruin goblins anymore, so let's give it some real targets.
You also don't gain 7 life every time you swing into your opponent with Yawgmoth's Bargain. Obviously if Griselbrand said pay one life draw a card, it would be banned already. The 7/7 flying lifelink body attached to a multiples of 7 version of Bargain is what makes it better than just a Yawgmoth's Bargain. He is a win condition. Maybe 4BB is castable, but it still isn't a one black reanimate, or an activation of sneak attack.
They could have even tacked on something like "activate this only at sorcery speed" or "only once per turn" but as the card is printed, it's more broken than Bargain.
I see no one arguing that Necropotence is better than Griselbrand. How about Black Vise? Is that card really more of a threat to anyone than Griselbrand?
As long as Griselbrand is legal, I don't see why Yawgmoth's Bargain needs to be banned. Griselbrand is easier to get into play, plus a 7/7 flying lifelink creature. If Bargain were unbanned, I can't see why anyone would choose to play it over Griselbrand. The demon is just better all around, at least Bargain has a drawback of skipping your draw step. Necropotence has considerably more drawbacks than Griselbrand, skip your draw step, any card you discard is exiled, and you don't even get the cards until the beginning of your next end step. What's Griselbrand's drawback? An 8 CMC that you aren't going to pay anyway? U and 2 is much easier casting cost than trip black. Here's my vote to unban Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargin in legacy. I can't believe we're even having this conversation.
On another note, is anyone still frightened by a turn one black vise? That seems irrelevant when staring down a turn one Griselbrand. What's the worst that could happen?
Yeah, I was gonna call it Aggro Grixis, but it's basically what I liked about B/R Zombies and what I liked about B/U Zombies combined... just so happens I'm only running 12 actual zombies.
This deck is tweaked a little for my local meta. I felt like Brimstone Volley was wasted in the sideboard, and should either be main-deck or not in the deck at all. The sideboard needs more whipflare. I also felt like I drew too much land. Could probably drop down to 21 without too much negative side effects, especially if it was replaced with the fourth ponder - which was uh-mazing. I played against Humans, Delver, Infect, and more Delver. Made short work of the humans and infect, had a little trouble with delver if I didn't see a whipflare pretty quick. I'm surprised I didn't have more trouble with the mana-base, being in three colors.
favorite play: turn three messenger, turn four image copying messenger, turn five aristrocrat, sac the image to the aristrocrat trigger undying and then copy aristrocrat - swing 9 flying, haste.
Does anyone know what is up with the Blazing Archon and the Malfegor in the sideboard of the burn deck that got 15th at the SCG Worcester Legacy Open on Sunday?
The only thing I can think of is protection against Exhume in Reanimator (which won that tournament) but I don't see anyway to get those creatures into the yard, it's really confusing to me.
I have been patiently waiting on the primer update, but I really must insist someone please do something that reflects the recent burn victories before someone tries to take the primer-suggested list to a tournament.
Also, how many first place victories do we need to get a sticky thread the proven category? Or are they waiting for us to update the thread?
1 Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
Creature
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Blood Artist
1 Body Double
1 Bloom Tender
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Viscera Seer
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Felidar Guardian
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Mindblade Render
1 Spellseeker
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Tymna the Weaver
1 Dark Confidant
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
1 Eternal Witness
1 Karmic Guide
1 Gilded Drake
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Protean Hulk
1 Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Enchantment
1 Mystic Remora
1 Necromancy
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Bear Umbra
1 Aura Shards
1 Druids' Repository
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sneak Attack
1 Sylvan Library
1 Animate Dead
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Command Tower
1 Mana Confluence
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Plains
Artifact
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Birthing Pod
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Mana Crypt
1 Fire Covenant
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Mental Misstep
1 Silence
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Flusterstorm
1 Swan Song
1 Mana Drain
1 Flash
1 Pact of Negation
1 Mystical Tutor
Sorcery
1 Timetwister
1 Meltdown
1 Buried Alive
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Reanimate
1 Life // Death
1 Vandalblast
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Manglehorn
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Pull from Eternity
1 Noxious Revival
1 Intuition
1 Nature's Claim
1 Krosan Grip
1 Summoner's Pact
1 Faithless Looting
Your early game plan is piecing together the a combo from the cards you start with in opening hand and something from the many tutors in the deck. usually you get some kind of tutor or card draw pretty quickly. With so many combos you will probably start with half of one in your hand and just tutor up the other half right away.
The primary win condition is Flash/Hulk, which can be done at instant speed on opponent's turn. The first Protean Hulk search gets Karmic Guide and Viscera Seer, Karmic Guide reanimates Hulk, sacrifice to Seer and search for Felidar Guardian and Blood Artist, Guardian blinks the Karmic Guide and reanimates Hulk again to get Kiki-Jiki to make infinite Guardian tokens that all either have haste to attack or can be sacrificed to seer and loss of life with Blood Artist.
The next option to win is Birthing Pod, from a board position of Pod in play and any two CMC creature, you only need 4 mana and 8 life to win the game from your precombat main phase. Activate Pod and sacrifice the two CMC creature for Derevi, untapping the Pod and then activate again sacrificing Derevi to get Felidar Guardian blinking the Pod. Activate again, sacrificing Felidar Guardian to get Karmic Guide and reanimate Felidar Guardian, blink the pod then activate again sacrificing Felidar Guardian to get Kiki-Jiki and tap Kiki-Jiki to copy the Karmic Guide to reanimate Felidar Guardian, blinking Kiki-Jiki to make infinite hasted Felidar Guardian tokens.
Alternatively you can Buried Alive or Entomb and put any number of things into your graveyard, and make use of the Reanimate package. Necrotic Ooze gets very powerful with the number of activated creature abilities. Sneak Attack can really surprise people also. With Kiki-Jiki and Mogg Fanatic in graveyard, using Sneak Attack to cheat a Necrotic Ooze into play will make infinite tapped ooze tokens that can all be sacrificed to deal one damage each. But the Ooze with Razaketh in yard is also a pay 2 life and sacrifice a warrior token to demonic tutor at instant speed! Then just Reanimate the Razaketh! With Razaketh's ability and Najeela's powerful way to make lots of tokens and generate lots of life, you can effectually instantly tutor for any card in your deck - counterspell on demand!
There are also several cards in the deck that lead to infinite combat steps with Najeela! Phyrexian Altar, Bear Umbra, Sword of Feast and Famine, Derevi, Druids' Repository. Najeela gets exponential with creating tokens because every attack with a token creates more tokens, and the tokens all get lifelink so expect to gain a lot of life. This is of course a backup plan, but if you are spending any turns digging for the combo, might as well swing on players with no creatures and make tokens, gain life, and get triggers in the meantime. If you can overload a Cyclonic Rift, and make infinite combat steps the game is probably done.
Weaknesses
The deck is weak to Torpor Orb and Cursed Totem, so there is lots of cheap counterspells and lots of Artifact and Enchantment destruction. Suggestions are welcome.
and added
haven't got my hands on a Transmute Artifact yet, but it's definitely one I would like to add. another card I am considering is Staff of Domination.
This is my list, I am still not happy with it.
Commander
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Instants
Sorceries
Enchantments
Creatures
Artifacts
Lands
Cards currently on order:
I just don't feel like a competitive list is getting the proper attention. the best list should be the primer and the 75% or whatever should be an alternative list. I don't even think your better lists are up to par.
They could have even tacked on something like "activate this only at sorcery speed" or "only once per turn" but as the card is printed, it's more broken than Bargain.
I see no one arguing that Necropotence is better than Griselbrand. How about Black Vise? Is that card really more of a threat to anyone than Griselbrand?
On another note, is anyone still frightened by a turn one black vise? That seems irrelevant when staring down a turn one Griselbrand. What's the worst that could happen?
3x Fume Spitter
4x Gravecrawler
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Blood Artist
4x Geralf's Messenger
3x Falkenrath Aristrocrat
// Artifacts
3x Mortar Pod
3x Ponder
3x Tragic Slip
3x Geth's Verdict
// Lands
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Drowned Catacomb
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
3x Dragonskull Summit
3x Cavern of Souls
6x Swamp
3x Manic Vandal
3x Mental Misstep
3x Brimstone Volley
2x Killing Wave
2x Whipflare
2x Despise
This deck is tweaked a little for my local meta. I felt like Brimstone Volley was wasted in the sideboard, and should either be main-deck or not in the deck at all. The sideboard needs more whipflare. I also felt like I drew too much land. Could probably drop down to 21 without too much negative side effects, especially if it was replaced with the fourth ponder - which was uh-mazing. I played against Humans, Delver, Infect, and more Delver. Made short work of the humans and infect, had a little trouble with delver if I didn't see a whipflare pretty quick. I'm surprised I didn't have more trouble with the mana-base, being in three colors.
favorite play: turn three messenger, turn four image copying messenger, turn five aristrocrat, sac the image to the aristrocrat trigger undying and then copy aristrocrat - swing 9 flying, haste.
The only thing I can think of is protection against Exhume in Reanimator (which won that tournament) but I don't see anyway to get those creatures into the yard, it's really confusing to me.
Also, how many first place victories do we need to get a sticky thread the proven category? Or are they waiting for us to update the thread?