A BWR midrange deck that focuses on hand disruption to make sure its threats make it on the battlefield and stay there. Deck is built around a core of high-value creature supported by removals and other hand disruption spells that keep your opponent on defense.
My local meta contains a good amount of good players who uses top-tier decks (or decks that can perform well against one), along with other janky brews, so this deck is designed to do well in a competitive environment while having diverse enough threats and answers to deal with any possible randomness that it will always run into.
Pro's:
This color combination offers a lot in terms of removal, virtually able to remove anything played in standard.
Access to Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Stormbreath Dragon , both of which are very good against a lot of decks (more importantly, control decks)
Devastating hand disruption out of the mainboard and even more so post-board, with the help of Slaughter Games .
Provides tons of priceless information about your opponent's deck thanks to the many hand-revealing spells which allows better setups for the rest of the games and allows you to plan your threats and answers around theirs.
Tuned to have minimal game-one disadvantages against UW-based control decks
Anti-control sideboard turns deck into super-disruptive aggro deck that tears unprepared hands apart, allowing you to resolve hard-to-remove threats and keep your opponent on the defense.
Stabilizes well out of the brink thanks to large amounts of lifegain in the mid-late game.
Con's
Opening hands can be awkward more often than not. Takes practice to know what hands to keep and what hands not to keep
This deck harshly punishes misplays of your own since I have opted out of a card draw engine in favor of more threat density. Play it right, and you win. Play it wrong, and you end up with no hand.
This deck aggressively uses life total as additional resources to gain card advantage and thus can dip relatively low, which leaves it prone to multiple burn spells or surprise haste creatures (smart use of this life total is the key to eliminating this drawback)
Brave the Elements is a very efficient answer against most of our removals.
A decent-sized Sphinx's Revelation still poops on this deck, as it does every other deck (especially when we have limited ways to gain card advantage)
Creature Spells
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Our lead vocal of the lifegain duet! Still relatively well-protected beater that puts a clock on your opponent. Very hard to remove against Azorius control decks and is one of our primary win-cons in that matchup.
Blood Baron of Vizkopa - Next, we introduce our backup vocal of the lifegain duet! Very well-protected creature in my meta filled with decks that run black- or white- based removals and creatures. Lifelink either gets you further ahead or gets you back in the game. His answers are few and far between. Back-breaking against white weenies and monored aggro.
Stormbreath Dragon - Our security team! Headache to deal with as a control deck (they hate haste, if you don't already know) that punishes Sphinx's Revelation in the late game with monstrous trigger.
Lifebane Zombie - Next, our concert usher! With the prevalence of Gxx and Wxx decks, this guy does hard work, acting as a removal against those creatures (with no possibility of reanimation or getting eaten by Scavenging Ooze ) and is one of our answers to Blood Baron of Vizkopa . Intimidate means he just walks right pass most blockers with no fear of retaliation. Not even Mutavault has a chance!
Sin Collector - Backup vocals! Extremely potent against control, black devotion decks, and burn decks. Comes in to advance the board state while removing a possible answer or threats from your opponent's hand to set up for your win-cons.
Desecration Demon - Drummer! 6/6 flyer for 4 mana with a very manageable drawback thanks to our removals. Extremely fast clock that comes out nice and early.
Mogis, God of Slaughter - Last, but certainly not least, our lead guitarist! This guy does real work by coming out nice and early to either start dealing damage or to force your opponents to slowly lose creatures THEN eventually start dealing damage anyway. Devotion is also relatively easy to hit with Boros Reckoner , but he will more often than not just a noncreature, which is also perfectly fine thanks to his ability.
Noncreature Spells
Anger of the Gods - My answer to my meta. This is a blowout against green if they overextend with dorks, and other creatures while Boros Reckoner on the field. Also great against aggro as this is right on curve before they hit the 4-drop finisher like Fanatic of Mogis . Also makes sure they don't get reanimated or oozed.
Whip of Erebos - A great weapon with a very nifty effect of reanimating dead creatures, with the bonus of returning Obzedat, Ghost Council permanently due to his ability. The biggest draw of this card, though, is the lifelink. It has brought me back from the brink many times and it gives Boros Reckoner a huge upgrade, turning it into a life-gaining machine.
Dreadbore - Still a great efficient removal as it was before. Two-mana unconditional removals are hard to come by.
Hero's Downfall - Instant-speed Dreadbore make this card a great kill spell in general with the upside of being able to stay in against control decks that rely on planeswalker. No restriction on what it can kill other than its double black cost.
Mizzium Mortars - Still a good removal with a great overload to curve into. Our only one-spell, on-field answer to Blood Baron of Vizkopa .
Rakdos's Return - Very devastating card when cast right before they hit their finisher spot on the curve. Also acts as a finisher if needed. Suddenly putting your opponent into topdeck mode usually wins you the game, with the bonus ability to redirect to a planeswalker.
Chained to the Rocks - Extremely efficient answer to a lot of threats in standard. Super potent against RG monsters (pre-board).
Thoughtseize - This eternal staple across formats makes a return as one of the best hand disruption spells ever printed. Casting this at the right time can seriously disrupt your opponent's curve and allow you to remove any possible answers to your already-hard-to-kill threats before you begin attempting to resolve them.
Sideboard
Revoke Existence - The prodigal artifact/enchantment hate returns from the Scars days. Clean and efficient ways to deal with Gods, Detention Sphere , Underworld Connections , God weapons, bestow creatures, you name it!
Slaughter Games - Huge hit against control when you grab Sphinx's Revelation or any other threats. Playing Thoughtseize into this card is really devastating. Use it late game to eliminate any answers to your on-board threats and allow them to finish the game.
Assemble the Legion - This card is almost impossible for monoblack devotion decks to beat if they are not too far ahead already. Also great against control, coming in as another hard to remove win-con.
Doom Blade - Comes in as an extra removal against nonblack aggro and GR devotion/monsters decks and monoblue.
Underworld Connections - This comes in against monoblack and control decks mostly to help keep up or stay ahead in card draws.
Whip of Erebos - Comes in against aggro, control, and other removal-heavy decks. Gives you a better chance at drawing it and thus reanimating and gaining life.
Drown in Sorrow - This is our other half of what used to be a full set of Anger of the Gods . The thing about Anger of the Gods is that it gets shut down by Brave the Elements . Guess what? This card ignores that AND lets you scry 1. This is the answer against white weenies that I need.
Sin Collecter - Fourth comes in against decks like control and burn and monoblack.
Lifebane Zombie - Comes in against GR monsters and white weenies and any deck you suspect to play or side in Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Mizzium Mortars - Comes in against aggro and Blood Baron of Vizkopa