JaceTheMindsculptor

I know :( A game with hellrider out is basically a game won with this deck. Hadn't thought of Rubblebelt. It could work. I'm really liking savageborn hydra right now--definitely something most people aren't expecting (especially when you bloodrush ghor-clan onto it). Who knows, maybe theros will give us some epic red aggro creature? Thanks for the comment!

Oh, and M14 Red Mythic = DISAPPOINTMENT.

I've got immortal servitude sided, but you're right about the fact that it's probably more useful than maw. Thanks for the comment!

It also has varolz. Do you think it needs more?

I had only thought of jace's ingenuity for 5 mana card draw, which mind spring equals in strength. Tidings would give me more cards for 5 mana, and the same cards for 1 less mana, but I kind of like the versatility of the X in mind spring. Thanks for the comment!

Yeah, this deck looks awesome now. There are just a few minor modifications I might add, and these are purely for precision.

I would say -2 dawntreader elks and +2 arbor elfs. Just because the more one drops the better and you already have gatecreeper and zhur-taa that you can cast on turn 2, so there's no use piling the curve so high on 2 mana.

Armed and dangerous is a seriously underrated card. I hadn't even heard of it. That card is seriously crazy. The only thing I wouldn't see it working with is savageborn hydra, just 'cause it already has double-strike but the odds are pretty slim that you would get both anyway. I also like that the two cards are both incredibly good on their own. 4 Mana Prized Unicorn is great, and 2 Mana Assault Strobe is also great... but fusing the two? That's a pretty epic game-ender. Just to point out, if you give giant adephage double strike, you get two copies...

I would drop seek the horizon for farseek. Once again, it's just about piling the curve. You already have a 4 mana land grab spell, and it would suck to get screwed at 3 mana and not have the ability to cast that spell. Farseek is cheap and nets you an easy land advantage. That being said, it's best to include a few stomping grounds so that you can get dual lands into play with it, despite the price.

My only real concern about this deck is that you have a lot of big creatures... that might be fine, but it'd be terrible to draw a hand of only borborygmos, adephage, savageborn and a few lands. Only playtesting will tell.

Also, do take a look at gruul war chant. Great card.

Lol someone actually had suggested it earlier and I mainboarded it, then decided to go with far//away instead. Away has same mana cost but without the life gain and also gives me the bounce option. Thanks for the comment!

My vote is for silent departure :D

Embrace your inner hipster.

Oh dear god. Legacy rats. Lord save us.

This has a lot of really interesting ideas lol. I like that it's not just 36 x Relentless Rats and 24 x Swamps. This has a lot going for it. I think that you have a lot of really cool ways to synergize with the rats, but some of them might contradict. For example, you have so many ways to cheat the rats into play with cards like cryptic gateway and thrumming stone (which I'll talk more about later), I don't think that Alluren will do you as much good. To be honest, you might just kick it and add 3 more rats. It'll add to the thrumming stone consistency.

Speaking of thrumming stone, I don't know if you're aware, but that card is basically an infinite loop. You play a relentless rat. Look at the top 4 cards. If one of them is a rat, you play it. Then, because of the wording on the card, that would trigger the card AGAIN, and you could repeat the process over and over again until you've either drawn a hand with no rats or literally vomited every single relentless rat from your deck onto the field on turn 5. That's just awesome.

I like altar of dementia as an alternate win condition. You really seem to like milling :P

Purely to save you money, I might suggest woodland cemetery over overgrown tomb. You don't have any one drops, so the rare cases where the dual would come into play tapped on turn 1 wouldn't set you back at all. It may actually hurt you more running the shock if you need to shock yourself to play a turn 3 rat :/

Also want to point out (although I'm sure you already know), semblance wont' get full value since rats only cost 1 colorless. Just thought I'd point it out. Your call whether to keep it or not.

Overall, this looks really cool. There are some cards in standard you might want to take a look at just to help with the rat synergy.

Ogre Slumlord
Blood Scrivener (not for synergy, but super useful in fast black)
Pack Rat
Immortal Servitude - planning on making a deck around this one ;)

Good luck Kev!

Hey... I just noticed how good of a counter dimir charm is against selesnya. 2nd Ability takes out voice of resurgence. 1st ability takes out call of the conclave. 3rd ability manascrews them. Pretty legit.

Dimir Charm it is. Thanks a bunch!

I was just looking at an old attempt at esper control of mine and I included both dimir and orzhov. I might consider adding them. Which of the two do you think is better? Orzhov is removal, but dimir is counterspell... not sure which I need more of. Probably dimir...?

Lol I'm glad you like the deck! Even if you do hate hipsters...

Discussion question: If you were running it, what would you change?

Nightveil I see as being much like shimian specter in the sense that it's a fantastic library manipulation card and an immense target at the same time. It does operate a bit differently though. Instead of the control flavor that shimian has, it's got a much more aggro feel and applies a lot of early pressure. I'm not really sure which of the two is better. The nightveil has one more toughness and one less mana cost, but because of the solid BU mana I might not even be able to cast it until turn 4 anyway.

My answer is I'm not sure. I'll check both out and see how they play.

Starting to wonder... Prophetic Prism? Same mana as a think twice and really helps with mana fixing. Whaddyall think?

Magic is full of them lol. If you ran a deck with 60 lands they'd find a way to complain.

I hadn't seen stesnia blodhall lol. To be honest, I have no idea which is faster of the two lands. I guess it depends on the game.

Breaking/Entering seems okay. I think it really depends what you're going for. I don't think entering is so great if you're going for damage win, but i think breaking is a pretty good mill card. It's basically three turns of nephalia for less mana. I would try to consolidate to which of the two lands you're going to use if you add cards like this... although, theoretically, you could add it in and just go for whichever is better in the matchup. It has ups and downs lol

Okay, just drew some sample hands. It's official - I need shock lands :(

Preach it man. Control is one of my faves.

Well, second to GR Aggro, which is my current standard. I lost a lot of friends with that one too.

Already did. Hope my comment helps! And I'll think about it... I don't know if I want to give up one of the last ounces of hipster this deck has... as stupid as that may sound lol. I'll do some playtests and figure out what needs to go. I may very well have too many bosses in this deck and some may need to go. Thanks for the comment!