Discussion Forum

from the looks of it it looks like its extended legal but if I were you I would stick to casual for a while longer before playing tournaments. Sideboards are usually something you make for tournament play and not for a casual deck. tournament play has a meta that is easier to sideboard against then the unlimited veriaty of casual play.

the deck is vulnerable because it's slow and doesn't have the means to protect itself very well. Try mixing in red for lightning bolt, terminate and blightning. Drop Lilliana Vess and hidious end.

Concider Vampire Nighthawk as a good creature for this deck. A good draw engine in black is phyrexian arena. The best discard in the game is still Hymn to tourach, it's a common from the old days and it's still played in most tournament decks that run black.

To expand on Seth's comments, make sure you know what you're building for. Is it just one on one, is it multiplayer, would you like to make it decent in both? For example, Hymn to Tourach is stellar in 1v1...and not great in multiplayer because the effect only hits one person. Syphon Mind is much better in that sort of respect. So that's the question I guess, how are you playing magic?

Thanks for the responses guys. I mostly play one on one, but I think this deck is flexible enough to handle both situations.

I've played this deck 9 times now and won 7 of them. Vess was very helpful in those games, mostly for her +1 but in my last game I used her -2 to get my Mindcrank out (Ascension was activated). In both games I lost, the Ascension was late coming or didn't come at all and really the whole deck hinges on it because as Seth pointed out, it is slow. The Hideous End is nice because I can destroy a potentially threatening creature AND cause another 2 damage to help pump up the Ascension.
I tried using the jinxed idol in one game but it backfired on me because I didn't have enough creatures to sac after it got passed back to me. I also tried contaminated bond which did help me in the one game I had them.

I guess a couple of things I am looking for are: can I speed up the ascension? Can I protect the Ascension enchantment? (if it gets destroyed I am screwed until I draw the next one and then have to build it up again)

In addition to this deck, I play a Vamp deck, a Zombie deck, a Goblin deck that sucks but is fun as hell to play, and I've been working on an artifact deck that needs a lot of work. My Vamp deck has a good record but could be better - I think I'll post that one next.

try this (just a quick build, don't expect it to be perfect)

4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Demigod of Revenge (bit of an investment this one)
4 Liliana's Specter

4 Bloodchief Ascension
2 Lilliana's caress

4 Lightning bolt
4 Terminate
4 Sign in Blood
4 Blightning

4 Craven Cairns
4 Dragonskull Sumit
4 Akoum Refuge
5 Swamp
5 Mountain

The Demigods of Revenge can be replaced by other good beaters but the idea is to have a good finisher. The new Phyrexian Obliterator would be a worthy replacement for instance. if you have one or more swap out demigods for obliterators. An Alternative would be 4 hypnotic specters. Not great as a finisher but good to disrupt your opponent if he can't deal with them. If you go for specters drop 1 sign in blood and 1 mountain for 2 additional Lilliana's Caress.