i really don't get the green splash. all you get is putrefy and birds. try voidslime perhaps or you could go the graft route with cytoplast root kin and company.
Putrefy is an incredibly important card. I've run B/U before, and my biggest problem was always dealing with the larger creatures (out of gasp range.) And second turn hyppie is pretty good.
Voidlslime is pretty mana intensive, I don't run hinder for the same reason. Notice that every nonbasic in my deck produces black, so double black is no problem, but other double costs are hard on the mana base.
This deck's main goal is to force through an early Hypnotic Specter, Dimir Cutpurse, or Jitte equipped creature by using counterspells and removal, and then ride the resultant card advantage to victory. It performs decently against a wide range of decks, though it has no "autowin" matches. I'm looking through what simic's brought to the table to see what to run. Here are some possibilities:
Plaxmanta- one of my top choices, it helps protect your Hypnotic or Cutpurse, and gives you a nice creature on the side. Also functions as a suprise blocker.
Plaxcaster Frogling- A bit costly to use effectively, but it can protect your creatures either through +1/+1 counters or untargetability. It would also be a larger creature for the deck, which could be beneficial.
Trygon Hunter- I tested this a bit, and wasn't all that impressed with its triggered ability. However, being a 2/3 flyer was actually suprisingly helpful.
Right now I'm thinking of adding plaxmanta, as it seems the fastest and most versatile. Feel free to suggest other things though! Also, help me decide what to cut to make room for the new goodies.
Here's a similar question:
A card like sunforger requires three qualities: a red or white instant with converted mana cost 4 or less. We already know that Odds//Ends can be searched for with Sunforger, since one side fulfills both requirements. However, I'd like to know if the requirements can be fulfilled seperately, as in the case of Research//Development
Azorius Herald doesn't do anything for the deck. It gains life, but it doesn't fly, costs 3, and only has 1 toughness and 2 power.
I don't really understand why you don't like Azorius Herald. It's no more vulnerable than any of your other creatures, and the 4 life really helps against other aggro decks. And unblockability is quite a bit better than flying. Just because the deck contains Pride of the Clouds doesn't mean every single creature has to have flying.
First off I believe your curve is too high for confidant, the lack of 1 drops just makes it look even worse.
This has never been a problem for me, except against owl. Obviously I side out Dark Confidant in that matchup. The thing is, by running more removal than most BW, Dark Confidant is not as dangerous to me, since I won't be taking as much damage from my opponant's creatures.
By raising your curve so much and playing so much MD aggro hate you've weakened the decks matchups agaisnt owl. Owl hates 1 drops and by not including them in the deck you are left with only 1 spell to play during your first 2 turns, none of which are gonna really bother the deck and 1 of which makes them quite happy. Since your deck plays like a control deck Owl has a matchup against you thats way in their favor.
You are absolutely correct. However, I feel it is worth the better games against Zoo. There was one owl deck in the last tournament I entered, and about 8 Zoo.
I don't see how the deck is strong against zoo. Your only early drops have 1 toughness. Your removal is kinda screwy, Mortify is super good, and it should be in the deck. The shoal is problematic especially against the two aggro decks in your meta. To kill the creatures that make an impact for zoo and BW you are going to have to ditch a win condition to the shoal, and you only have 4 total so I can see that being a problem.
Lastly wrath is a great card in the format, if you can cast it reliably on turn 3-4 to set up a clean board thats in your favor. The problem is that your deck kinda seems to run wrath as a last ditch effort, and by then zoo has already beat you down to burn range, and BW has ghost council to slide out, or creatures in hand(they play confidant too)
You may be right about sickening shoal, I have been considering switching it with shining shoal/last gasp. However, the rest I think you are mistaken about.
Here's how I win zoo games:
1) My early drops gain me card advantage quickly, and can therefor be sacrificed as chump blockers without a loss of card advantage. Also, often the deadly duo of Ravenous Rats and Shrieking Grotesque will knock the burn out of the Zoo player's hand.
2) If(Opponant's Creatures > 2) Wrath
3) Descendant of Kiyomaro makes topdecked burn worthless, proceed to win.
Honestly I say you should go a more pure aggro approach or go a more control route. Sitting on the fence with a deck like this doesn't make it stronger, it just shows the flaws of both kind of decks.
A pure aggro BW deck can't keep up with Zoo, and a pure BW control deck can't compete with Izzetron or RWU. A metagame with both demands a deck that can function as both aggro and control. At least that's my theory.
As you can see, this is a much more controlling deck than most posted here. However, I feel that this control element is nessecary in a metagame defined by Zoo and BW aggro (Which mine is, even if yours isn't.) However, by including an aggro element, you maintain your threats against control decks like RWU conrol and Izzetron. The deck's worst matchup is UR Owl, by far, though I recently manage to beat it in the semifinals of a local tournament using Terashi's Grasp followed up by Cranial Extraction. I'm sure that won't happen all the time, though. I thought at first that this deck would fair poorly against Izzetron and RWU, but it actually does well, thanks mainly to the 8 discard creatures combined with Ink Eyes; the single orzhova does its part as well.
Due to me never needing to side in Leave No Trace, I am going to replace it with either 2 more Cranial Extractions or 2 Hokori. I'm not sure which, but I'm leaning towards Cranial Extraction, since it's been usefull against Owl.
I've seen RW Burn being run to top 8. It did run a few creatures though, 3 Zo-zu and 4 Skyknight Legionaires maindeck, with 4 kami of ancient law sideboard. The key burn spell that people forget about is Gaze of Adamaro. Not only do you deal 6-7 damage to most control decks, you can splice glacial ray on it for more fun.
In the B/W aggro thread, there's a link to some japanese decks that run Bob, Wrath, no Descendant, Sickening Shoal, Okiba Gang, castigate instead of blackmail and Jitte. Maybe something to try, since they seemed to be doing pretty well.
2. The genju, for starters, can't be activated several times to gain extra life... it doesn't gain multiple instances of 'Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life' any more than it becomes 4/10 if you activate it twice.
You are incorrect. The Genju DOES gain multiple instances of spirit link when activated multiple times.
Putrefy is an incredibly important card. I've run B/U before, and my biggest problem was always dealing with the larger creatures (out of gasp range.) And second turn hyppie is pretty good.
Voidlslime is pretty mana intensive, I don't run hinder for the same reason. Notice that every nonbasic in my deck produces black, so double black is no problem, but other double costs are hard on the mana base.
4 Dark Confidant
4 Hand of Cruelty
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Dimir Cutpurse
4 Last Gasp
4 Putrefy
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Mana Leak
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Watery Grave
4 Underground River
3 Llanowar Waste
3 Swamp
5 Forest
2 Island
Sideboard:
3 Seize the Soul
4 Remand
4 Naturalize
This deck's main goal is to force through an early Hypnotic Specter, Dimir Cutpurse, or Jitte equipped creature by using counterspells and removal, and then ride the resultant card advantage to victory. It performs decently against a wide range of decks, though it has no "autowin" matches. I'm looking through what simic's brought to the table to see what to run. Here are some possibilities:
Plaxmanta- one of my top choices, it helps protect your Hypnotic or Cutpurse, and gives you a nice creature on the side. Also functions as a suprise blocker.
Plaxcaster Frogling- A bit costly to use effectively, but it can protect your creatures either through +1/+1 counters or untargetability. It would also be a larger creature for the deck, which could be beneficial.
Trygon Hunter- I tested this a bit, and wasn't all that impressed with its triggered ability. However, being a 2/3 flyer was actually suprisingly helpful.
Right now I'm thinking of adding plaxmanta, as it seems the fastest and most versatile. Feel free to suggest other things though! Also, help me decide what to cut to make room for the new goodies.
A card like sunforger requires three qualities: a red or white instant with converted mana cost 4 or less. We already know that Odds//Ends can be searched for with Sunforger, since one side fulfills both requirements. However, I'd like to know if the requirements can be fulfilled seperately, as in the case of Research//Development
This has never been a problem for me, except against owl. Obviously I side out Dark Confidant in that matchup. The thing is, by running more removal than most BW, Dark Confidant is not as dangerous to me, since I won't be taking as much damage from my opponant's creatures.
You are absolutely correct. However, I feel it is worth the better games against Zoo. There was one owl deck in the last tournament I entered, and about 8 Zoo.
You may be right about sickening shoal, I have been considering switching it with shining shoal/last gasp. However, the rest I think you are mistaken about.
Here's how I win zoo games:
1) My early drops gain me card advantage quickly, and can therefor be sacrificed as chump blockers without a loss of card advantage. Also, often the deadly duo of Ravenous Rats and Shrieking Grotesque will knock the burn out of the Zoo player's hand.
2) If(Opponant's Creatures > 2) Wrath
3) Descendant of Kiyomaro makes topdecked burn worthless, proceed to win.
A pure aggro BW deck can't keep up with Zoo, and a pure BW control deck can't compete with Izzetron or RWU. A metagame with both demands a deck that can function as both aggro and control. At least that's my theory.
4 Wrath of God
4 Castigate
2 Sickening Shoal
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Ghost Council of Orzhova
2 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Shrieking Grotesque
4 Dark Confidant
3 Descendant of Kiyomaro
4 Godless Shine
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Orzhova, Church of Deals
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Eiganjo Castle
5 Swamp
8 Plains
Sideboard:
2 Leave No Trace
3 Leyline of the Void
3 Seize the Soul
2 Cranial Extraction
2 Circle of Protection: Red
As you can see, this is a much more controlling deck than most posted here. However, I feel that this control element is nessecary in a metagame defined by Zoo and BW aggro (Which mine is, even if yours isn't.) However, by including an aggro element, you maintain your threats against control decks like RWU conrol and Izzetron. The deck's worst matchup is UR Owl, by far, though I recently manage to beat it in the semifinals of a local tournament using Terashi's Grasp followed up by Cranial Extraction. I'm sure that won't happen all the time, though. I thought at first that this deck would fair poorly against Izzetron and RWU, but it actually does well, thanks mainly to the 8 discard creatures combined with Ink Eyes; the single orzhova does its part as well.
Due to me never needing to side in Leave No Trace, I am going to replace it with either 2 more Cranial Extractions or 2 Hokori. I'm not sure which, but I'm leaning towards Cranial Extraction, since it's been usefull against Owl.
Any thoughts?
EDIT: I still don't want to run it, though