New set, new thoughts. OGW made me rethink my deck once again and I'm trying to slightly modify Plan C (mass reanimation). But new cards first: Warping Wail - goes straight in. This card is so flexible here - it can act as another piece of removal, it can ramp or provide emergency Contamination fodder or deal with most dangerous situations like top decked T&N, extra turn or Armageddon-type spells. Replaces: Yawgmoth's Will Thought-Knot Seer - people call it Vendilion Clique for non-blue decks but I wonder... There is already Entomber Exarch and it didn't pass a test but TKS has more multiplayer applications so I'm going to test it anyway. Replaces: Havoc Demon Bearer of Silence - uncounterable Edict effect but it does nothing beside it. Slum Reaper of Fleshbag do much more. Sifter of Skulls - token-makers are waste of space here. Mirrorpool - great card but does little here. I don't need (or even want) double Living Deaths or mass removals and the only creatures I could see copied are Kokusho and Gary. Sea Gate Wreckage - seems to pair nicely with Mindslicer and Overeager Apprentice so it's on my watch list.
As for rest of the changes they are a part of speeding deck up: Nihil Spellbomb -> Faerie Macabre - Spellbomb usually just cycles and opponents just play around it if they see it. Fearie is suprice factor for them and can be recovered repeatedly with Phyrexian Reclamation. Phyrexian Arena -> Reanimate - I'm sad to see Arena go but it's too slow. I never tutor for it and it works early game only. Reanimate is cheap so it can go under stax effects and fetch an answer I need. Nirkana Revenant -> Massacre Wurm, Grave Titan or something else - like Arena I never use it as a tutor target. The lack of evasion doesn't help either and while mana-doubling is great, Crypt Ghast does it faster and Coffers are more resilient. 6-mana creature should be more threatening.
This card does nothing. If they don't counter it then they just tap all their mana. It's not worth a wasted slot.
If they tap mana it stays in mana pool and you can use it to play this spell. It says nothing about having to tap lands to pay for it but only that you CAN do it and play that spell if ABLE. I'm pretty sure it works this way otherwise it would not be worth 150$ (black border).
After extensive testing with new Commander's cards I decided to apply some changes: Sorin Markov -> Wretched Confluence - Sorin is great for crippling most dangerous opponent but it does nothing against that player's board position and other players still need to break through defences to finish the job. Confluence turned out to be quite useful in games I played with it. Praetor's Grasp -> Corpse Augur - this guy is fantastic. He draws minimum of 3 cards usually and can be brought back to draw more with easy condition to meet. Grasp is useful but more often than not I like to play MY deck than others'.
Since my meta is all about speed lately (to race combo and stax locks) I'm trying to make it faster, more resilient and even more oppresive. Next cards on my chopping block are: Underworld Connections - it's unique and foil but I use it less and less often. I may try Necropetence in its place but since Mindslavering is a thing I'm hesitant to do that. Havoc Demon - I'm not sold on it after all. I'd prefer something more oppresive in it's place, in the same or lower CMC slot preferably. Yawgmoth's Will - with the amount of blue Spirals in my meta I rarely have anything to play from graveyard which I couldn't reanimate with Sheoldred's ability. I need such tricks at instant speed most of the time anyway.
I wish I had opportunity to test Ritual of the Machine - could be on par with Helm and can be reccured with Xiahou. No one in my neighborhood has that card though.
I've chosen to run transmute/transfigure subtheme for having 4CC toolbox and because DHG and Fleshwrither are creatures, not just for more tutors. I'd rather run Beseech the Queen and/or Diabolic Intent than Netherborn Phalanx and other transmutes which are just bad on their own. Remember that tutoring takes mana so it have to be as cheap as possible cheap or have other applications. Also remember that you need more tutors only if your target is to combo. If you play control you need card advantage in form of card draw and both Dimir House Guard and Fleshwrither can be Skullclamped easily.
Now that full C15 spoler is up, let's take a look at new cards: Banshee of the Dread Choir - simple beater without evasion and mediocre stats. NO. Corpse Augur - now that's interesting. It fits 4CC toolbox and can draw a lot depending on situation. Better than many rares there. Definitely YES. Daxos's Torment - will trigger once or twice during a whole game and only beats face. Definitely NOT. Deadly Tempest - too costly for a wrath and life loss will be irrelevant unless killing Avenger of Zendikar and its plants. NO. Dread Summons - could be of some use if tokens didn't ETB tapped. NO. Scourge of Nel Toth - one of the cards I like to acquire but NOT for Sheoldred. Good card for token decks. Thief of Blood - no one plays Æther Snap and this one doesn't make much difference. NO. Wretched Confluence - I'm on the verge of decision with this one. If it had -3/-3 for a second mode it would be auto-pick (kills Prophet and Derevi among the others) but I'm afraid it will be "draw 3 cards lose 3 life" instant most of the time. It's not that bad but I don't see it replacing Moonlight Bargain which seems the only spot to consider. MAYBE. Blade of Selves - not many ETB creatures here but making clones of Solemn, Gary or Clique looks good on paper. Good card for most decks. MAYBE. Sandstone Oracle - its cost is steep but can be a hell of draw engine if used correctly. It also flies and that encourages to trying it at least. MAYBE. Scytheclaw - errr... NO. Seal of the Guildpact - NOT this deck. Thought Vessel - Mind Stone seems better and cleanup step discard can sometimes help. NO. Command Beacon - with 7CC commander this one can really help to go around commander tax in time of need. YES I suppose and it makes me reconsider including Crucible of Worlds again.
Changes I'm considering: Nullstone Gargoyle -> Void Winnower - opponents more often than not have some spells to burn before casting ones that matter and Winnower can block them entirely Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron -> ??? - thinking about removing this combo entirely as use it less and less often
@Rumpy
Pestilence effects are fine if you can manage two things - your life total and a lot of colored mana to burn. In my plays I often hit myself for half of my total life before receiving any damage from my foes so I would kill myself with Pestilence and the like. Sure I could run some more life-gainers but they are dead draws when I don't need to heal myself desperately. The second thing is mantaining a lot of spare mana to use. Cards like Wumpus or Crypt Rats are removal magnets and keeping them in play makes opponents hesitate to play creatures making these cards dead. I would rather play Decree of Pain and/or Night of Souls' Betrayal if I'm concerned about hordes of small creatures.
@Stefouch
Most of the cards you mentioned are probably better in your Balthor than my Sheoldred as you focus more on mass reanimation and less on control/stax (probably). I would not play things like Disciple, Shredder or Bloodghast though - there are far better options if these slots. High Market is a good call as I have only few sac outlets and another one won't hurt although I try to keep my non-basic land count as low as possible to make my Cabal Coffers better. I don't play Strands of Night for the same reason. Liliana is on my watch list but she's also pretty pricy for the moment. I already tried Dark Prophecy and Harvester and they turned out unreliable in meta infested with combo, control and stax. This is also the reason I don't use sorcery-speed point removal.
What are your thoughts on Ob Nixilis Reignited? What would you replace assuming you decided to run it?
Liliana probably. Ob's biggest flaw is his ultimate which not only doesn't make you win but rarely kills affected player. He's also one turn slower than Liniana which may be relevant in some metas. If he's cast after board wipe he acts as 5CC Arena. He can definitely become useful in slower meta though.
Grim Monolith will go in Basalt's place when I'll get my hand on it but Volrath's Stronghold seems unnecessary for me. Sheoldred and other reanimation stuff is enough and while I may not have access to it all the time I don't use creatures like Primordial or Rune Demon what could varrant this tempo loss either. It's a land so it's a thing to consider though. It's also another hard-to-come-by card from reserved list
Havoc Demon did not show up yet. Played only two games last Thursday but was badly mana screwed and couldn't do much except tossing cheap removal here and there. As for Trading Post while it looks juicy and all I was very unlucky with it most of the time. When I needed to sacrifice a creature I had no artifact to target. When I wanted to return an artifact my table was creatureless. Goat token was meaningless most of the time and the only draw I had out of it was when I sacrificed it in response to removal. I don't even recall if I used the lifegain option once.
"Exile Worst Fears" clause disqualifies this spell for me even if it costs less. I can use Myr Retriever to get Mindslaver back and use it again to make a hard lock against one player or cripple other players next turns. Did that few times to win.
Warping Wail - goes straight in. This card is so flexible here - it can act as another piece of removal, it can ramp or provide emergency Contamination fodder or deal with most dangerous situations like top decked T&N, extra turn or Armageddon-type spells. Replaces: Yawgmoth's Will
Thought-Knot Seer - people call it Vendilion Clique for non-blue decks but I wonder... There is already Entomber Exarch and it didn't pass a test but TKS has more multiplayer applications so I'm going to test it anyway. Replaces: Havoc Demon
Bearer of Silence - uncounterable Edict effect but it does nothing beside it. Slum Reaper of Fleshbag do much more.
Sifter of Skulls - token-makers are waste of space here.
Mirrorpool - great card but does little here. I don't need (or even want) double Living Deaths or mass removals and the only creatures I could see copied are Kokusho and Gary.
Sea Gate Wreckage - seems to pair nicely with Mindslicer and Overeager Apprentice so it's on my watch list.
As for rest of the changes they are a part of speeding deck up:
Nihil Spellbomb -> Faerie Macabre - Spellbomb usually just cycles and opponents just play around it if they see it. Fearie is suprice factor for them and can be recovered repeatedly with Phyrexian Reclamation.
Phyrexian Arena -> Reanimate - I'm sad to see Arena go but it's too slow. I never tutor for it and it works early game only. Reanimate is cheap so it can go under stax effects and fetch an answer I need.
Nirkana Revenant -> Massacre Wurm, Grave Titan or something else - like Arena I never use it as a tutor target. The lack of evasion doesn't help either and while mana-doubling is great, Crypt Ghast does it faster and Coffers are more resilient. 6-mana creature should be more threatening.
An that's all I need if I'm going to follow it with things like Myojin, Mindslicer, Contamination or Mindslaver.
If they tap mana it stays in mana pool and you can use it to play this spell. It says nothing about having to tap lands to pay for it but only that you CAN do it and play that spell if ABLE. I'm pretty sure it works this way otherwise it would not be worth 150$ (black border).
Sorin Markov -> Wretched Confluence - Sorin is great for crippling most dangerous opponent but it does nothing against that player's board position and other players still need to break through defences to finish the job. Confluence turned out to be quite useful in games I played with it.
Praetor's Grasp -> Corpse Augur - this guy is fantastic. He draws minimum of 3 cards usually and can be brought back to draw more with easy condition to meet. Grasp is useful but more often than not I like to play MY deck than others'.
Since my meta is all about speed lately (to race combo and stax locks) I'm trying to make it faster, more resilient and even more oppresive. Next cards on my chopping block are:
Underworld Connections - it's unique and foil but I use it less and less often. I may try Necropetence in its place but since Mindslavering is a thing I'm hesitant to do that.
Havoc Demon - I'm not sold on it after all. I'd prefer something more oppresive in it's place, in the same or lower CMC slot preferably.
Yawgmoth's Will - with the amount of blue Spirals in my meta I rarely have anything to play from graveyard which I couldn't reanimate with Sheoldred's ability. I need such tricks at instant speed most of the time anyway.
Any suggestions?
Banshee of the Dread Choir - simple beater without evasion and mediocre stats. NO.
Corpse Augur - now that's interesting. It fits 4CC toolbox and can draw a lot depending on situation. Better than many rares there. Definitely YES.
Daxos's Torment - will trigger once or twice during a whole game and only beats face. Definitely NOT.
Deadly Tempest - too costly for a wrath and life loss will be irrelevant unless killing Avenger of Zendikar and its plants. NO.
Dread Summons - could be of some use if tokens didn't ETB tapped. NO.
Scourge of Nel Toth - one of the cards I like to acquire but NOT for Sheoldred. Good card for token decks.
Thief of Blood - no one plays Æther Snap and this one doesn't make much difference. NO.
Wretched Confluence - I'm on the verge of decision with this one. If it had -3/-3 for a second mode it would be auto-pick (kills Prophet and Derevi among the others) but I'm afraid it will be "draw 3 cards lose 3 life" instant most of the time. It's not that bad but I don't see it replacing Moonlight Bargain which seems the only spot to consider. MAYBE.
Blade of Selves - not many ETB creatures here but making clones of Solemn, Gary or Clique looks good on paper. Good card for most decks. MAYBE.
Sandstone Oracle - its cost is steep but can be a hell of draw engine if used correctly. It also flies and that encourages to trying it at least. MAYBE.
Scytheclaw - errr... NO.
Seal of the Guildpact - NOT this deck.
Thought Vessel - Mind Stone seems better and cleanup step discard can sometimes help. NO.
Command Beacon - with 7CC commander this one can really help to go around commander tax in time of need. YES I suppose and it makes me reconsider including Crucible of Worlds again.
Changes (2014 - Oct 2015):
Dawntreader Elk -> Arbor Elf - it's faster
Sylvan Ranger -> Birds of Paradise - as above
Master Thief -> Reclamation Sage - I prefer to destroy artifacts for good than steal them temporarily
Nevermaker -> Stratus Dancer - I have enough bounce already and one more disruption won't hurt (me)
Oracle of Mul Daya -> Elvish Mystic - faster ramp is better
Sakashima's Student -> Kiora's Follower - I don't need this many clones but I need ramp
Acidic Slime -> Bane of Progress - obvious upgrade
Golgari Grave-Troll -> Joraga Treespeaker - ditched graveyard theme...
Genesis -> Llanowar Elves - ... and replaced it with more ramp
Kessig Cagebreakers -> Temur Sabertooth - this little kitty gives more than a whole pack of wolves
Mulldrifter -> Perplexing Chimera - great control element and I have Zegana to draw cards
Deadwood Treefolk -> Riptide Shapeshifter - I prefer to tutor for a wincon than to wait for someone to kill my stuff
Cloudthresher -> Shaman of Forgotten Ways - both ramp and wincon is better than simple fat
Draining Whelk -> Voidmage Apprentice - cheaper counter is better
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger -> Terastodon - rarely played him and Terry can wreck lands
Oblivion Stone -> Seedborn Muse - I usually don't want to wipe a table and Muse gives me open mana for flashing things in
Perilous Forays -> Garruk Wildspeaker - better ramp as it doesn't kill my creatures and can overrun some dorks into lethal
Changes I'm considering:
Nullstone Gargoyle -> Void Winnower - opponents more often than not have some spells to burn before casting ones that matter and Winnower can block them entirely
Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron -> ??? - thinking about removing this combo entirely as use it less and less often
Pestilence effects are fine if you can manage two things - your life total and a lot of colored mana to burn. In my plays I often hit myself for half of my total life before receiving any damage from my foes so I would kill myself with Pestilence and the like. Sure I could run some more life-gainers but they are dead draws when I don't need to heal myself desperately. The second thing is mantaining a lot of spare mana to use. Cards like Wumpus or Crypt Rats are removal magnets and keeping them in play makes opponents hesitate to play creatures making these cards dead. I would rather play Decree of Pain and/or Night of Souls' Betrayal if I'm concerned about hordes of small creatures.
@Stefouch
Most of the cards you mentioned are probably better in your Balthor than my Sheoldred as you focus more on mass reanimation and less on control/stax (probably). I would not play things like Disciple, Shredder or Bloodghast though - there are far better options if these slots. High Market is a good call as I have only few sac outlets and another one won't hurt although I try to keep my non-basic land count as low as possible to make my Cabal Coffers better. I don't play Strands of Night for the same reason. Liliana is on my watch list but she's also pretty pricy for the moment. I already tried Dark Prophecy and Harvester and they turned out unreliable in meta infested with combo, control and stax. This is also the reason I don't use sorcery-speed point removal.
Liliana probably. Ob's biggest flaw is his ultimate which not only doesn't make you win but rarely kills affected player. He's also one turn slower than Liniana which may be relevant in some metas. If he's cast after board wipe he acts as 5CC Arena. He can definitely become useful in slower meta though.
Final changes I'm going to apply today:
Petrified Field -> Blighted Fen - more removal doesn't hurt.
Massacre Wurm -> Havoc Demon - Wurm's life loss hardly kills anyone in my meta and Demon kills more stuff.
Rune-Scarred Demon -> Praetor's Grasp - giving Grasp a third chance until better tutor emerges. Still getting Birthing Pod or Phyrexian Metamorph can be game-changing move.
Promise of Power -> Yawgmoth's Will - already proved to be strong card.
Thran Dynamo -> Hedron Archive - direct upgrade even if losing 1 mana in a proces.
Trading Post -> Mind Stone - to pair with Hedron and Will; making deck faster is always good.