Not bad. I've always liked the Pestilence/Death Pits combination. I'm concerned though how you manage to maintain Pestilences presence on the field with Eldrazi Monument. Granted White Knight won't succomb to Pestilence damage, but the Monument would make you sacrifice the Knight the next turn and therefore you'd lose Pest. With that said, I'd most definitely remove the Monument. As it stands, Death Pits is a pain to get onto the field as it is. Acceleration and search have been something I had been hard pressed to work in (mainly because with the First Strike strategy, there are so many great cards that work with it). Dark Ritual is much better than Cabal, Demonic and Enlightened Tutor will help you get to a Pits or Pest, and the Basilisk Collar becomes relatively unnecessary once Pits hits the table. Just some thoughts. I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
Permalink
Timberwatch Elf, a mainstay of elf builds, is missing here. Tag team him with Taunting Elf and you can get some ridiculous damage to connect in one turn (using Timberwatch's ability on something other Taunting, of course). I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
Liliana would be a good addition as it would give you a tutor multiple turns to get what you need. However, you'll want a way to get to her so you have her early. Demonic, Vampiric, or Diabolic Tutor will all work to assist you, and not just for searching for her. Again, the size concerns me here. If you can shave it down to 60 you'll be much more inclined to draw what you need when you it. I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
Consider dropping the Fogs and adding in some more pump, Prey's Vengeance for example. This will allow you to hit harder faster. A Fog in the opening hand that could have been a +2/+2 might be the difference between 8 poison counters on turn three and 10. I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
I've seen a lot of dragon decks get annihilated by weenie decks. Big numbers mean big casting costs. Playing withe Dragonspeaker Shaman, Urza's Incubators, and Ruby Medallions will help your dragons immensely, sure, but then you become dependent on drawing those accelerators. To help this cause, however, consider tossing in Saprazzan Skerry. Even though it comes into play tapped, it's a great land to help churn out something a little faster. Great source for Counterspell mana, too. I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
"Its easy.. get a LOT of lives..." Dude, we're Magic players, we don't have lives let alone a LOT of them. But seriously.... I think that if you are hinging your win condition on Test of Endurance that you might want to consider upping the count of them to at least 2, three would probably be ideal; I mean, what do you do it Test gets countered? Otherwise, Enlightened Tutor is essential here considering, again, you're win con is an enchantment. I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
I believe the actual ruling is that the damage that is dealt/received will be the color in which deals it. As Death Pits isn't a source that deals damage, it's ability will resolve regardless of protection. White Knight's Prot: Black protects it from black, damage dealing sources and therefore can't be killed by black spells that would have triggered Death Pits. But the knight's damage still can trigger Death Pits as the trigger is not targeting the knight itself.
Consider Groundswell over one of the other pumps you have. It's usually a +4 on turn 3 for 1. Really can't go wrong with that. I'm also a little concerned with your land count. Even though eveything is low CC, I'd be concerned that you might be land screwed on an opening draw more than a few times. Just a thought. I welcome any comments and criticism you can offer any of the decks I have posted here on the site (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance!
I don't think speed will really be an issue considering the curve, it really comes down to deck consistency. If you're trying to keep this standard it's hard for me to help (my collection consists of cards that are Fifth Dawn or older). If you're just trying to make it work, it looks like you'll need some sort of stall to help prolong a game so you can lock it in place. Really what the deck is missing is manipulation, tutors, scry, draw mechanics, Divining Top, something that will give you card quality. Sorry I can't be of anymore help, and thank you for your continued support with my Death Knights deck. Geth's Verdict looks like it will be finding a home in my Black Hole deck, if I can stomach dropping Chainer's Edict. Thanks again!
Just found 4 Koilos' on eBay for $8, so those will be here once they arrive. I'm really becoming to hate Terramorphic. They're great to pop at the EOT, but, you're right, you basically lose out on a land drop when you have them in hand. It would almost be better to stay with basic land, to be honest. Around my area, I'm not too concerned about he potential backfire on Enlightened Tutor. Either way, though, I always use it at my opponent's EOT so the likelihood if the card gets milled or extracted is lower than normal. Thank you for the concern, though. But for placement, I'm actually considering now to replace the Lose Hopes for the Tutors. They were added recently more for their Scry ability (which is handy) but the Tutors would be accomplishing the same thing as Scry and be much better at it. Shaving creatures concerns me, and Wing Shards has become so pivotal in some games because of the time I need to get up and online. Regardless, great suggestions, you made me pull the trigger on the Caves (which will help immensely); gonna stick with the Terramorphics for the time being to see if they will become more forgiving with some duals in. Might even toss in City of Brass, we'll see. Thanks for the continued support!
Also consider Darksteel Citadel as, which will fit in pretty well since you can afford a few more lands. Whispersilk Cloak might help you a bunch, too, to get your Lich in every swing. Otherwise, perhaps Cabal Coffers to fuel massive Exsanguinates. I welcome any comments and criticism you can offer any of the decks I have posted here on the site (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance!
You've got the nuts and bolts here already. I'd consider upping the Zombie Master count to at least 2, same with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth; giving all your zombies swampwalk is huge, so the sooner you can accomplish it the better. Aside from that, consider upping the Dark Ritual count to 4 and perhaps add in a Demonic or Vampiric Tutor. They can come in handy when you need a Gempalm to finish off your opponent. Lastly, your land count concerns me. At 21, 4 don't produce black mana which means you could run into some difficulty early on in the game. Aim to add at least 4 more swamps and remove 1 Grotto. I welcome any comments and criticism you can offer any of the decks I have posted here on the site (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance!
Consider Cystbearer instead of Putrefax for speed purposes. Drawing Putrefax in an opening hand is generally bad because you want the game to be over in 5 turns or less. There's a 1/1 with infect for G coming out in the new set, that'd be a great add. I welcome any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks I have posted on the site (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
Sorry, that's me totally dismissing the word 'standard' in the title....
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. This deck is a blast to play when it fires off, so acceleration and consistency is something that I need. I intend to implement a Demonic and Enlightened Tutor, I'm just having a really hard time deciding what to remove since everything has such great synergy now as it is. As always, I welcome comments on anything. Thanks again for making this my first trip to the 'big board.'
Yes, Marrow Shards will be an excellent addition in place of Blades, and will be incredibly easy to obtain. Gideon concerns me. All to often I see people throw in planeswalkers just for the sake of throwing them in. I do like how I can thing out an army with his first loyalty ability. However, the biggest issue I have with the deck right now is consistency with mana. If I still had my Scrublands, Caves of Koilos, and fetches this deck would be infinitely better consistency wise. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to steer away from Gideon for now since his 5 CC cost could slow the deck until I can reobtain duals. I love the comments so far, though, keep them coming!
Agreed, drop some of the Traumatizes, double the Jace's Erasure (if not make it an even 4, which is really what you should do), and consider Brain Freeze for the Storm effect.
You might actually be a tad heavy on the Rituals, not sure you need 16. Consider removing black all together. The deck would play much better if you focused on red. You could replace Vampiric with Rorix Bladewing. If you prefer to have black splashed, then you should consider Bladewing the Risen. It's just that with how your mana occurrence sits right now, I can imagine there are times where you're sitting on black mana and nothing to spend it on (besides treating it as colorless). Mono-red is really the way to go here with the Ruby Medallions, the red rituals, and an Urza's Incubator (or 2). Also, consider some smaller dragons so that you have some early defense/offense. Dragons like Furnace Whelp and Dragon Whelp are great for that. I welcome any comments or criticism that you can offer on any of the decks I have posted on the site (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
Yeah, you're the second person that has suggested Strobe for this deck. My biggest concern with it, however, is that it would be dependent on the Sliths. With where the deck has gone, the spot that the Strobe takes would otherwise have gone to burn for creature control or LD for stall. I've considered putting Strobe in in place of Shock Spray, but I'll have to admit that the Cycling that Spray has has come in handy more than once. I'll test it out in it's place, but it's dependence on the Sliths makes it a tough sell to main board it exclusively. Thanks for your suggestion, it definitely gives me something to think about.
Right off the bat I found Lux Cannon and Ratchet Bomb. I think Ratchet Bomb would be your best option here, as it gives you some wonderful utility while getting things online. I'm much more familiar with older cards, so I'm gonna dig some more into the new stuff.
381-400 of 566 items