Puschkin

Abyss DOES target the creature! Current card text:
"At the beginning of each player's upkeep, destroy target nonartifact creature that player controls of his or her choice. It can't be regenerated."

But it's a destroy effect without regeneration (former "bury"). So, protection from black, hexproof, shroud and artifact creautres survive because you can't target them (but you still have to pick somethinge else if you have) while indestructible creatures can be targetted and survive (then you don't have to pick something else.

As I said I have a deck that abuses this, I just didn't drop the link, here its is:
http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/cant-touch-this/

Hey, I like this a lot! A few things you could work in:

- Greed
- Gemstone Mine (it's in the deck but missing in the RPG)
- Faithless Looting
- Scorched Earth (for the village burned to the ground part)
- Treasure Cruise
- Downfall
- Eiganjo Castle (could be the home of Macar)
- Sins of the Past
- Villainous Wealth

Ramirez DePietro is the captain. Drogskol Captain is a good suggestion, however, Ramirez is actually the reason why I made this deck. Here, from a discussion in the City of Solitude deck:

"Yeah, I wish there would be more pirates to add but somehow they all suck. The ones I use here also suck if it wasn't for City of Solitude.

Ramirez de Pietro was my first legend (card type), first card from the Legends expansion and first golden card. In fact it was the first golden card my playgroup has ever seen. Which is why he still has a special place in my heart, no matter how outdated he is meanwhile. He is still the captain of the pirate deck of my dreams."
"You made me walk down Memory Lane in Nostalgia Park ... I made a theme deck back then to honour Ramirez."

And this deck is the result :)

Well, why don't you use deck search? You could search for the tag "theme" for example ... that's what tags actually are for. A quick search yielded this gem here:
http://www.mtgvault.com/lucasenra/decks/deranged-mardu-hospital/
(it's not from me)

I also made two other decks that might interest you:
http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/library-assholes/
It has a theme and RPG and this time the deck itself also has a theme, mechanic wise.

http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/occ-selfawareness-trip/
This one just has an RPG that I added retrospectively to advertise the deck. It's more on the lol side of things, though :)
EDIT: The RPG can be found in the first comment, not the description!

It depends a lot on the deck, actually. For example my Chains deck uses Chains of Mephistopheles and Anvil of Bogardan to get the Knight into the grave. But that's hard to compare which is "better" because my entire deck is basing on the Chains/Anvil combo.

Generally put, the two cards BasilicaNero mentioned are the best direct ways to get Haakon into the grave. However, there are other methods like discarding and milling yourself and, depending on your deck, these methods might provide additional value. For example, if you use Avatar of Discord, you will also get a fatty at the same time. This might or might not be "better" than Entomb and Buried Alive - the former get you more value but are typically slower. In the end it all depends on what you want to achieve with Haakon and what fits best to that strategy.

Against another highly aggressive deck you'd still better be off with offensive equipments because they help winning the damage race. Lifegain could also win the damage race, of course, the difference here is that Sylvok Staff grants you a one-time life boost per creature that dies while Axe/Splitter deal more damage with every attack. If the Axe helps you to trade for a bigger creature, then the damage you won't receive from that creatrue in future turns could also be considered lifegain, however, creatures that aren't checked will do damage every turn. I wouldn't have said anythin if it was an equipment that grants lifelink because that's life every turn without losing resources. But Loxodon Warhammer doesn't fit the curve and Basilisk Collar is not budget.

On the matter of overkill:
Of course that's an issue and with Crucible of Fire you named a good example. However, running Darksteel Axe in an aggressive deck isn't overkill. It adds stability and value to a deck that would otherwise risk running out of steam if the game ever leaves early game and the opponent still stands. Casting the umpteenth 2/2 dork won't do much if the opponent has a bunch of 4/4 blockers ready. But, as you said, that equipment allows you to make favourable trades again and again.

Evolutionary Leap and Pyroclasm: That works for 2/3 of your creatures but if you sac the Wolf or Mashal to Leap then the tokens respectively reborn wolf will die in the Pyroclasm.

HANDS OFF of Pandemonium!!!
Evolutionary Leap can't help you avoiding Pandemonium procs because the opponent will apply that damage directly to your face! Pandemonium only ever works in decks with burst damage and that basically means it will be a combo deck. So, adding Pandemonium will be a slippery slope into the realm of combo and before you'll notice all the cards this deck based on are gone and instead you'll have a Pandeburst deck. However, talking of Saproling Burst, it would fit your deck nicely ... it's just not Modern legal. Instead, this deck would work well with Guttr Grime. However, 5 mana is just too much I guess.

That's giving me more credit than due since I didn't come up with the story, I just build a deck around a legend/myth that is quite commonly known over here in europe, especially in my country (germany) which happens to be neighbours of dutchland, where the historical figure comes from.

I don't have any problem with people not following my advice, especially if they have their reasons like you do. The discussion is valueable in and by itself!

About wanting to diversify the deck: I understand you completely, I am just astonished to hear that because you wanted to make a deck around bloodthirst, which asks for aggressive play and more or less a single minded approach!

Darksteel Axe/Staff/Bonesplitter:
In a deck like this you don't win much by extending the game a bit through lifegain, mostly because your mana curve ends at 2! As I said, what you need is card draw but Skull Clamp is banned. So is Umezawa's Jitte, which would be perfect for you because it can gain life, kill creatures OR pump - the total package.
About Bonesplitter/Axe, I prefer the Axe because it's indestructible but that's probably down to the meta again, you probably play against people that don't pack artifact/enchantment removal (at least not maindeck).

Duals:
I didn't know Karplusan Forest went up like that but Rootbound Crag is listed as a 2 dollar card on average in the states. Karplusan Forest is just 3 Euro over here and Crag about 1.5€

Evolutionary Leap:
Of course it has it's uses but still, the effect isn't exactly blinder here either, especially since you also run the Barrage and each creature can only be sacrificed once! I would not have said anyhing when combat damage would still use the stack but alas, that's not the case anymore, so most of the tricks don't work. It IS, however, some kind of card drawing power if you sac Young Wolf/War Marshal tokens. It just seems slow and tedious building an army like that (and unintuitive as well considering you run Pyroclasm!).

Swiftspear Replacements:
Why not replace one each of the other 1-drops? So that you have 3 Arsonists, Wolfs, Vipers and Swiftspears.

This deck wasn't made to make friends or to establish world peace ... it wants to see flowers burning, babies crying and guardian angels in dispair.

Okay, I overlooked the interaction between Mimeomancer and the Javelineer. Makes more sense now. However, while it might be an efficient attacker, it has a toughness of just one and therefore dies if the opponent looks funny at it. And since this isn't an aggressive deck, I was under the impression that the creatures I suggested would fit better. With the Javelineer in mind I am so sure anymore.

My Disenchant of choice in blue/white decks usually is Dismantling Blow or Return to Dust, but this comes from the multiplayer perspective where you need extra cards and where the enemies use recursion engines.

This is also pretty tight already, not much I can do to improve while keeping the theme up. Consider this:

* I do not see the use in Aven Mimeomancer. This should either be a fat wall to by you more time
- Wall of Denial : One of the best walls out there and nasty with your Captain, however, Shroud means you can't bounce it
- Wall of Shards : This one can be bounced which conveniently resets the age counter of the cumulative upkeep!
OR with something that abuses bounce/come into play effects. For 3 mana we could get:
- AEther Adept which bounces, too, but can be used on opponent's creatures as well
- Aven Riftwatcher, which would give you massive amounts of life since it also triggers when it leaves play
- Blade Splicer
- Mentor of the Meek
- Reflektor Mage
OR a card that does both^^:
- Wall of Resurgence

* As much as I enjoy seeing people playing with oldschool cards like Ication Javelineer, I think he is outdated. Try Topplegeist instead.

* A Wakestone Gargoyle or two would allow you to attack with any defenders that you pumped via Crusade

* Is the sideboard a colletion of cards you consider adding or a true sideboard? If it is the latter, it should contain artifact and enchantment removal.

This is already quite tight. What I will suggest are small improvements and in some cases I am not even so sure it would work out better (also because this always depends on the meta etc.). I am focussing on what you want to be a the core (the bloodlust Berserker and the sacrifice subtheme) and I assume this will never be played in multiplayer. And I try to keep this both budget and Modern legal ... wow, this is actually alot to think about:) Okay, here we go:

* Seal of Fire is a very potent card that I'd like to see here! It's basically a Lightning Bolt which you can delay. So, if you have it in your opening hand you can play it and use it on turn 2 to damage the opponent in order to enable bloodlust. This is a welcome addition because right now you rely on a 1-mana-creature to to the damage but if it gets killed or blocked you won't get bloodlust and might spiral downward into a losing position. I'll make my mind up about what to cut later.

* Sylvok Lifestaff - I don't know why you would want lifegain in a deck like this. What you really, really want in this slot is Skullclamp but that is banned in Modern ... the next best thing would be Darksteel Axe which fits your theme much better than the Lifestaff. Another alternative would be Rancor, which is painfully missing here (probably due to budget reasons?.

* Ghor-Clan Rampager could replace those Giant Growths. Giant Growth is a great card that proved itself time and again. I just think this deck would benefit more from the flexibility that the Rampager grants you. See, we don't have carddraw (and it's hard to find something decent in Modern) and I imagine this deck running out of steam/cards quickly. The Rampager can either be a pump spell (that grants trample!) or bei a critter himself which would perfectly smooth out the mana curve of this deck for any game that goes beyond a couple of turns.

* This deck really, really wants to run Monastery Swiftspear! Please note that Prowess would resolve before the spell you cast, which means it will survive Pyroclasm! It's not exactly budget but should go down in price soon when it rotates out of Standard, so keep an eye on that one.

* The Barrages are excellent here, they enable bloodlust, they squeeze one extra damage out of everything that would die anyway and they allow you to deal the final damage in the case the opponent put out enough blockers. However, I don't see the use of the other sacrifice outlet, Evolutionary Leap. What does it do? In the best case it exchanges one small creature for a slightly bigger one. What you would need instead is card draw but I can't come up with anything decent. Browbeat being the closest call, but I guess the Leaps are finally the card we want to cut to make room for my other suggestions.

* You listed Mountains from a special edition that cost money. Exchange that for a different edition to lower the price of this deck - you know that that will give you more views here on budget obsessed MTGVault ... ;)

* Talking of the mana base, Pinecrest Ridge is really bad. Don't you have any other dualland (that doesn't come into play tapped and can be used every turn)? Even a pain-land would be better than this.

So, to sum up, I would modify like this:
- 2 Sylvok Lifestaff
+ 2 Darksteel Axe / Rancor
- 3 Giant Growth
+ 3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
- 3 Evolutionary Leap
+ 3 Seal of Fire
- 2 Pinecreast Ridge
+ 2 Karplusan Forest / Rootbound Crag

And then try to get my hands on Swiftspears.

Hi, rflower. And I like to help decks with proper descriptions, like your decks have - they tell me exactly what you want to achieve, why you picked what, what is the core to work with. This is the perfect setting for me. I'll perpare a coffe, tell my wife I'll do nerd stuff for the next half an hour and check your decks ;)

I think "This is a Standard deck. Standard is the only format I don't know much about. Why does nobody read the description where I state that I am happy to help about any casual deck that is NOT Standard?"
Sorry, but I would have to study the meta and every single card of the latest editions.

You can keep it ...
<hands over doll>
... it's fine! Nobody will keep it away from you :)

That's not the full story. Here the rules about trample:

702.18b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures thats being assigned during the same combat damage step, [b]but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage thats actually dealt[/b]. The attacking creatures controller need not assign lethal damage to all those blocking creatures but in that case cant assign any damage to the player or planeswalker its attacking.

Which is why tramplers trample over Fog Bank, too, for that matter (they assign 2 to it and the rest to your face).

Yeah but you have exactly one copy of each Archetype and Stormtide, so how big are the chances you have both in play? The Archetype can stand on it's own but Leviathan can outright screw you if you don't also have Archetype.

About the Journal: If you use the second ability frequently even though there are no other cards that create clues, then I take from that, that you are playing in a very slow environment where artifact removal is a rare thing. If that's the case - keep it! I like the card. It just wouldn't fly in my meta.

Stuffy Doll is a great deterrent, I give you that, but it's also expensive fro what it does and needs other cards to really shine but your deck isn't focussing on it. The deck tries to make huge creatures unblockable and this is a zero power creature that wants to be blocked, which is why I think there are better options. However, depending on your card pool and what you would have to do in order to get more fitting cards I'd say you could keep it. It's hald decent in most decks and if that's what you've got and want to use it, so be it. Just be aware: Creatures with trample will only need to assign a single damage to Stuffy Doll and in multiplayer it will become a dead card once the opponent it targetted has lost.

I play since late 1994 which means I started playing while Revised was the current main set and Fallen Empires the current Expansion. Good times.

* First thing to add: Whispersilk Cloak! Grants unblockable AND shroud (to fix your main problem) AND is reusable! Budget, too, some versions are half a dollar! Replaces crap like Hot Soup.

* Aqueus Form! Waaaay better than Invisibility!

* Protective Bubble is similar to Whispersilk Cloak. Inferior because not reusable like an equipment, however, it grants hexproof, not shroud, so you can pile more stuff on the creature.

* Traveller's Cloak grants a landwalk of your choice which typically translates into "unblockable" unless the opponent plays exclusively non-basics. The advantage of this card is that you draw a card, so it basically replaces itself.

* Scourge the Fleets isn't a good card to begin with and this deck has only 11 Islands so it's effect won't be big. Cut this.

* Stormtide Leviathan - I might miss something but doesn't this guy prevent most of your other creatures from attacking? Cut it.

* Tamiyo's Jounal: I didn't see any other card with investigate, so it's very inlikely that you ever use the second ability. Interesting card but doesn't really fit here. Cut it.

* Stuffy Doll is a good card but doesn't really fit here. Cut it.

* Archetype of Endurance is way to expensive, mana wise. I would replace it with something cheaper (see below)

* Some suggestions for the now open slots:
- Trygon Predator: Adds artifact/enchantment removal without lowering the creature count.
- Fathom Mage: Evolve + card draw = yummy
- Plaxcaster Frogling: Graft fits nicely and he grants Hexproof which you like so much. (would replace the Archetype)
- Deadbridge Goliath: Very cost effective creature and the scavenge is huge!
- Rhox: Maybe not unblockable but almost^^ Regeneration on top.
- Sphinx of Magosi: Way better fatty in this deck than Scourge or Leviathan!
- Spike Feeder: You have no lifegain yet - Spike Feeder fixes this and fits the theme.


All suggestions should be very budget friendly. Also, most of the cards suggested are cards you can reuse in other decks because they are universally good (most notably Trygon Predator, Aqueus Form and Whispersilk Cloak)

We'll see. There are 15000+ cards out there, we'll find something you can afford.

Link?

Your deck, your RPG ... your work, lol^^