The following is the metagame for standard with Zendikar, with percentages of how often the deck is being played:
Tier 1:
5% Boros Bushwhacker - These are the people who have figured out that it is awesome, is over 50% vs Jund, and who actually have the fetchlands needed.
50% Jund - Prepare to play a ton of mirror matches. Jund is powerful and consistent.
Tier 2:
10% UWR Control - These are the people who are trying to make a decent control deck in this metagame, but havent figured it out yet. The deck is pretty good but has trouble against the tier 1 decks. Various builds exist.
Tier 3:
15% Vampires - These people love Twilight and havent figured out that the deck isnt all that good.
10% Lotus Cobra decks - These players are rich enough to make this deck, but dumb enough to not realizes it loses.
10% Random other decks that lose to Jund and Boros.
The answer is none, because Scythe Tigers are pretty terrible. There are plenty of creatures out there that are as good or better, and require no land sacrifice, such as Wild Nacatl and Steppe Lynx.
I've been playing the Boros deck this evening and it is REALLLLY good. Geopede and Steppe Lynx are insane, and it kills whatever creature you play for 1 mana and keeps attacking. Ranger of Eos for Bushwhacker is amazing.
For any deck to be good, you will have to test it against this and Jund, and if it cant beat them, throw it away. If anyone can come up with a control deck that actually beats these two, it will be the control deck to play, imo.
Lotus Cobra seems silly to me now, it will just get Burst Lightninged before you take 7 on turn 3.
Here is my starting point.
The ones without ? seem like auto-includes. Blademaster and Aeronaut are the top 2 drops and should be in there. Armorsmith is good too but mostly against Volcanic Fallout. I'd rather board him.
I'm not sure Path is a great idea anymore, it triggers their landfall. I like Journey to Nowhere better but its hard to find room. Journey is vulnerable to maelstrom pulse however so I wouldnt want a bunch of them. So I am trying out 1 Journey and 1 ORing, just to see what they are like.
(22 creatures)
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Steppe Lynx ?
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kor Aeronaut
2 Veteran Swordsmith ?
2 Conqueror's Pledge ?
2 Captain of the Watch ?
(13 spells)
4 Harm's Way
4 Honor of the Pure
1 Journey to Nowhere ?
1 Oblivion Ring ?
3 Ajani Goldmane
(25 land)
15 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats (the fetches are for Steppe Lynx)
2 Gargoyle Castle
Obviously you only play fetches if you play Steppe Lynx.
SB ideas:
Brave the Elements (vs damage based sweepers, or similar to sleep)
Journey to Nowhere
Veteran Armorsmith (vs Volcanic Fallout)
Lapse of Certainty (vs Day of Jedgement / control decks)
Devout Lightcaster
It could be kicker without costs - the kicker is based on conditions, such as controlling a certain amount of lands, having dealt damage to an opponent this turn, etc.
Harm's Way is SICK when you're running Baneslayer. Watch a Burn deck waste double burn on her, only to have you Harm's Way it back to them, and see your Baneslayer live.
Yes it is
Its also great when you save your Sower from Volcanic Fallout with it and kill their bigger guy.
I have been playing this deck, mostly online, for about the last month and I feel that I know how to play against most of the match up however I played against Faeries last night, for the first time, and I got absolutely crushed. The sorcery speed nature of this decks is something that Faeries likes to pray on but I'm wondering if someone has any pointers or advice on how to play against faeries?
Faeries is the worst matchup for this deck, basically you board in celestial purge, negate and essence scatter and hope you can keep bitterblossom off the board.
Fortunately it beats basically everything else. I've been playing 3 maindeck Harms Way and that turns the Merfolk matchup in you favor, while being good against many other things as well.
Borderposts require sufficient basic lands - like 14+ or so.
Also I feel Kitchen Finks is pretty important, especially against aggro. Its better than plumeveil, though plumeveil is good.
Most Baneslayer decks run Glen Elendra Archmage.
SB:
3 Burrenton Forge Tender
1 Harms Way
2 Essence Scatter
3 Negate
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Celestial Purge (Mainly for bitterblossom, plus Jund, and Ajani Venjeant)
Its pretty much beating everything but Faeries. Harm's Way beats Merfolk.
I'm using 3 Harm's Way / 3 Path because often I need to kill something early but I dont want to give them a land. Harm's Way achieves this. It also protects your creatures from burn (especially Volcanic Fallout). Sower with a white up to Harm's Way is awesome. But I still need Path because Harm's Way is bad against very large creatures, and against Putrid Leech. 3/3 is 6 total, which gives me more ability to survive early aggro.
I have considered 4/2 splits in favor of Harm's Way.
I am considering swapping Meddling Mage for a couple Ethersworn Canonists from the board. (Then the mages go to the board or I get more room for other stuff). Often I name somethng like Bloodbraid Elf with the mage, and they Bituminous Blast it, or vice versa. I've been seeing way too many 5 color cascade decks recently. 2 drops are really nice with Harm's way, as on turn 3 you cna block their guy, harm's way, and wreck them, and still have mana for something like Broken Ambitions for 1 or Essence Scatter. I'd like to use some WW cost guy like Orchid, but the manabase is already a bit painful when you dont get Mystic Gate. (Gargoyle Castle is so good though).
Tier 1:
5% Boros Bushwhacker - These are the people who have figured out that it is awesome, is over 50% vs Jund, and who actually have the fetchlands needed.
50% Jund - Prepare to play a ton of mirror matches. Jund is powerful and consistent.
Tier 2:
10% UWR Control - These are the people who are trying to make a decent control deck in this metagame, but havent figured it out yet. The deck is pretty good but has trouble against the tier 1 decks. Various builds exist.
Tier 3:
15% Vampires - These people love Twilight and havent figured out that the deck isnt all that good.
10% Lotus Cobra decks - These players are rich enough to make this deck, but dumb enough to not realizes it loses.
10% Random other decks that lose to Jund and Boros.
I think the biggest problem that Tiger has is that it isnt nearly as good as Wild Nacatl.
We arent hurting for good 1 drops right now.
Yeah they posted a bad, old version of the deck, without the good landfall creatures.
For any deck to be good, you will have to test it against this and Jund, and if it cant beat them, throw it away. If anyone can come up with a control deck that actually beats these two, it will be the control deck to play, imo.
Lotus Cobra seems silly to me now, it will just get Burst Lightninged before you take 7 on turn 3.
Constructed, I dont think so.
The ones without ? seem like auto-includes. Blademaster and Aeronaut are the top 2 drops and should be in there. Armorsmith is good too but mostly against Volcanic Fallout. I'd rather board him.
I'm not sure Path is a great idea anymore, it triggers their landfall. I like Journey to Nowhere better but its hard to find room. Journey is vulnerable to maelstrom pulse however so I wouldnt want a bunch of them. So I am trying out 1 Journey and 1 ORing, just to see what they are like.
(22 creatures)
4 Elite Vanguard
4 Steppe Lynx ?
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kor Aeronaut
2 Veteran Swordsmith ?
2 Conqueror's Pledge ?
2 Captain of the Watch ?
(13 spells)
4 Harm's Way
4 Honor of the Pure
1 Journey to Nowhere ?
1 Oblivion Ring ?
3 Ajani Goldmane
(25 land)
15 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats (the fetches are for Steppe Lynx)
2 Gargoyle Castle
Obviously you only play fetches if you play Steppe Lynx.
SB ideas:
Brave the Elements (vs damage based sweepers, or similar to sleep)
Journey to Nowhere
Veteran Armorsmith (vs Volcanic Fallout)
Lapse of Certainty (vs Day of Jedgement / control decks)
Devout Lightcaster
But then, maybe that has also already been done?
Yes it is
Its also great when you save your Sower from Volcanic Fallout with it and kill their bigger guy.
Faeries is the worst matchup for this deck, basically you board in celestial purge, negate and essence scatter and hope you can keep bitterblossom off the board.
Fortunately it beats basically everything else. I've been playing 3 maindeck Harms Way and that turns the Merfolk matchup in you favor, while being good against many other things as well.
Also I feel Kitchen Finks is pretty important, especially against aggro. Its better than plumeveil, though plumeveil is good.
Most Baneslayer decks run Glen Elendra Archmage.
4 Reveillark
4 Mulldrifter
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Meddling Mage
4 Cryptic Command
3 Broken Ambitions
3 Path to Exile
3 Harm's Way (They crush everything!)
8 Island
7 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Mystic Gate
3 Gargoyle Castle
SB:
3 Burrenton Forge Tender
1 Harms Way
2 Essence Scatter
3 Negate
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Celestial Purge (Mainly for bitterblossom, plus Jund, and Ajani Venjeant)
Its pretty much beating everything but Faeries. Harm's Way beats Merfolk.
I'm using 3 Harm's Way / 3 Path because often I need to kill something early but I dont want to give them a land. Harm's Way achieves this. It also protects your creatures from burn (especially Volcanic Fallout). Sower with a white up to Harm's Way is awesome. But I still need Path because Harm's Way is bad against very large creatures, and against Putrid Leech. 3/3 is 6 total, which gives me more ability to survive early aggro.
I have considered 4/2 splits in favor of Harm's Way.
I am considering swapping Meddling Mage for a couple Ethersworn Canonists from the board. (Then the mages go to the board or I get more room for other stuff). Often I name somethng like Bloodbraid Elf with the mage, and they Bituminous Blast it, or vice versa. I've been seeing way too many 5 color cascade decks recently. 2 drops are really nice with Harm's way, as on turn 3 you cna block their guy, harm's way, and wreck them, and still have mana for something like Broken Ambitions for 1 or Essence Scatter. I'd like to use some WW cost guy like Orchid, but the manabase is already a bit painful when you dont get Mystic Gate. (Gargoyle Castle is so good though).