That is a concern. When the deck fires the way it's supposed to, Desolation Angel is the perfect kill card. However, and again when it's working as intended, my opponent is working with so few creatures, or creatures that he refuses to block with. This in turn allows me to ramp up 2-6 damage per turn (more as the game continues) while I hide behind Rain of Blades, Crossbow Infantry's tap ability, Wing Shards, and Swords to Plowshares. Exalted Angel used to be in the deck, but she became a target very easily with Terror, Doom Blade, and Throat. Desolation at least gives me some protection to swing for 5 per turn once it hits the board kicked so my opponent has no lands to address it. Thanks for your continued support!
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The X factor gets fueled by the Cabal Coffers which get ramped with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. The life gain that I get through Exsanguinate and Syphon Soul is so ridiculous that I usually end games with upwards of 60+ health. Adding creatures would go against the ideas of playing Innocent Blood and Barter in Blood, however, I can entwine Promise of Power for a huge creature out of nowhere.
I've actually run into this problem before. That is why I have 2 copies of Reminisce in my sideboard. Worst case scenario, I shuffle the graveyard into my library and continue the chain. While it is dependent on mana, perhaps Feldon's Cane would be a better alternative to Reminisce. Thanks for your continued support. I will definitely look into Guile, though the casting cost concerns me. It's hard enough to get Mind Over Matter onto the board with such little acceleration as it is.
The problem with playing draw/discard is that you effectively play against yourself. What's the point of discarding if you're giving them more cards with Howling Mine, why let them draw if you're just going to take them anyway, and the most important question, what happens when you are letting them draw and can't take anything from them? You could probably make two effective decks splitting the idea and then tweaking them each. For discard, you have the basics, but bump the Liliana's Caress count to 4, consider Thoughtseize, and Hypnotic Specter. For draw, add in Teferi's Puzzle Box, splash blue for Wheel and Deal other draw mechanics that you can twist into a negative for your opponent, Jace Beleren for an alternate Howling Mine, while increasing the mine count to 4. Lots of options with both. You are effectively counteracting yourself playing both ideas, and you're right, with the card count, you can never ensure that what you get will be what you need at any given time. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance.
Coat of Arms works, but you have so many cards already buffing the elves that I would probably avoid it also. There's nothing wrong with playing it, it really comes down to personal preference. Seriously consider Loxodon Warhammer, though.
Strip Mine taps for colorless mana, and while the City is a pinger, it does get me whichever I need. But to be frank, I rarely need the City, it's just awesome early on, and flexible.
"One-of's" are always a great place to start when replacing cards. Nourish, Plummet, and Cultivate could all go. Wellwishers would be giving you life gain, tap for mana elves should be giving you the mana you need to avoid Cultivate, and one creature control card will never be there when you need it. Keep Ezuri, though. He's a wonderful kill condition (I'm using his 'father' card in my Wirewood Aura deck). As far as what else to remove, you need to look at each card individually and determine what is 'crucial' and situational. The more situational cards you have in the build, the more sporadic your success will be. Personally, I'm a 'live and die by' sort of player. I sell my soul to one concept and then go all out to make it happen. If overpowering is what you want, look for speed and strength in the size of 3 CC or less (including equipments and the equip costs). Thanks for any assistance you can offer.
In regards to more speed, I would strongly consider adding in Necropede and Ichorclaw Myr into the deck. Granted they are only 1/1 infectors but they can be put into play turn 2. That is HUGE! The faster you can get an infector into play, the sooner you can add poison counters, which means the sooner you can win the game. With that said, if you have 12 2 CC infectors in the game (Necropede, Ichorclaw Myr, and Plague Stinger), always mulligan down until you have a hand that has one of them there (it's crucial that you get a turn 2 infector). From there, go nuts with the pump. This is why I suggested Prey's Vengeance and the Spires and Peaks. From there, as you play test the build, you could consider dropping a color based on your playstyle. B/G and G/R both offer excellent alternatives to make Infect work. Green offers pump (and Blight Mamba and Cystbearer), black offers a little pump, and red offers Assault Strobe and control through burn to clear the board. Personally, I prefer G/R. Thanks for your continued support with my decks.
For some protection, consider Moment's Peace over Fog. It costs a little more, but can be Flashbacked in times of need. With elves, I would strongly consider Wellwisher just for fun. There's nothing wrong with a little lifegain. Fyndhorn Elves are the same things as Llanowar Elves should you want a little more acceleration. If you like the equipment route, you could consider Accorder's Shield to turn one of your elves into a wall (effectively) and Loxodon Warhammer to give you some Trample to compliment Timberwatch Elf (which is explained below). Lastly, I would strongly suggest Timberwatch Elves to assist as a kill condition. There's nothing like turning a 1/1 elf into a 14/14 and then smiliing when you say, "your turn." I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance.
This is definitely an interesting concept. My only concern is the mana curve. With most of the deck costing 3 CC or more, I would definitely try to find a way to add some acceleration to the deck. This can come in many different ways: Dual lands like Underground River, Underground Sea, B/U fetch lands (which help thin the deck out as well), Sol Ring, and/or other artifact tappers. Aside from that, Dark Ritual is a MUST for this build. Rits would spell a first turn Underworld Dreams, Megrim, or Nighthawk. To make the deck go off faster, do not hesitate adding 4 Dark rituals. I'll be honest, I'm really curious how this works. I just imagine that it takes a little bit of time to get online. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance.
The first thing I would do is shave the deck down to 60 cards. It will help drastically in card quality, you'd be amazed how much faster a deck plays when you lose even just 1 or 2 cards. I understand why you have Painful Quandary and Liliana Vess here, however, they are the only two cards that are above a 3 CC. Because of that, I would seriously consider their relevence in the deck as, with only two Dark Rituals, they become dead cards in an opening draw. In place of Soul Reap, I'd consider the addition of Chainer's Edict to compliment Diabolic Edict. The Chainer's is reusable (once, but at a cost), and it's not biased like the Soul Reap is. With all the discard, few creatures will be hitting the board (ideally), so Edicts will have a lasting effect. Consider bumping the Hypnotic Specters to 4 in place of the two Ritualists, thought that's a personal preference. Lastly, Liliana's Caress is CRUCIAL for you. I would find a way to work a play set of them into the build ASAP. That one card will create a huge difference in the speed of your deck. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance.
I agree. Toss in a playset of Vault of Whispers to help fuel the Lich. You could also consider adding in a pair of Whispersilk Cloaks to protect the Lich and speed up the game. Also, being mono-black, you can probably get away from 24 lands. +4 Vault of Whispers, -6 Swamp, +2 Whispersilk Cloak. Thanks for any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck like). Thanks in advance!
For some more strength, you can toss in a set of Crusade to add more +1/+1 (thought Crusade is for ALL white and not YOUR white). 24 land is a little much for white weenie, imo. Nothing costs more than 4 CC, so I'd shave down to 21 (maybe even 20) and let it roll from there. Those 4 open spots would make room for Crusade, or perhaps Swords to Plowshares to help clear the road. Reviving Dose could also get phased out for either option, as well. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer me on any of the decks that I have posted here (just click on my name to see the deck list). Thanks in advance!
Entomb needs to find a place in here just for the possibility of a first turn: Land, Dark Ritual, Entomb, Exhume Toss in Akroma for flavor, and you rock out a 6/6 flying, haster turn 1. I'm also a HUGE fan of running green in Reanimate for Defense of the Heart. It's just insult to injury if you're running behind, or even if they decide to get confident. Avatar of Woe and/or Visara the Dreadful are great choices to run with Reanimate, as well. Assuming you're willing to step out of Razorwing roll, that is.
I'll be honest, the biggest issue with the deck is the dependence on Death Pits. That is why Wing Shards, Swords to Plowshares, and Lose Hope all found places in the build (Lose Hope for weenies and the Scry which is oh so nice). Thanks for helping!
+2 Pillage -2 Shatterstorm -4 Shatter +4 Smash to Smithereens (for burn) +2 Slith Firewalker -4 Seething Song (now that I see the mana base, it's going to be wasted more times than not) +4 Scalding Tarn +2 Mountain See how that works. You're going to be playing catch up without accel, but after three land drops, the Seethings would be a dead card for the most part. They would have situational use at best, though, I could be wrong.
Sorry for the late reply, I've only been able to get back to comments of comments just recently.... Tectonic Edge looks situational here at best. That could get bounced out for the Spires or the Peaks, whichever you think will help you best. Also, consider Copperline Gorge as an alternate land for G/R. As much as I like Inkmoth Nexus, it too becomes a liability, imo. If you get it early, so what, you're likely using it for mana. So you could toy with swapping that out for the other land you skipped and see how it plays out with your base and speed. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance!
Interesting build. I would strongly suggest adding in Darksteel Citadel to give your Phylactery Lich an indestructible target for his counter. For color efficiency, consider Chromatic Sphere; it will help you get a Lich out sooner rather than having to wait on the right combination of mana. With all these artifacts, you might want to seriously consider splashing in Myr Enforcer and/or Frogmite. for some speed blockers. Otherwise, Thoughtcast is a must here so that you don't get slighted as the game progresses. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance!
26 Swamps is pretty steep. As this is mono-black, I'd consider dropping the count to 23 and adding in mana accelerators like Sol Ring and Dark Ritual. Keep in mind that Demonic Tutor is restricted, too. An alternative way to get Scion into play is to add in a set of Dark Supplicants. There tap ability gets him onto the table for free. I appreciate any comments or criticism you can offer on any of the decks I have posted here (just click on my name to see my deck list). Thanks in advance!
I think they only thing I would question now is the effectiveness of the Painful Quandry. It's the only card that doesn't cost 3 or less, and with no acceleration, it's not coming out any sooner than turn 5. With that said, is a third copy of Megrim worth playing over this quandry? Or perhaps another Rack? Keeping everything 3 CC or less pretty much ensures you're always online and ready to go. The Quandry would be a dead card in an opening hand.
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