I'd appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or hell, outright criticism that you guys have to offer.
Figured I should have my decklist up here, and 2nd post seemed a good time to do so.
Been running this for a little while and it's proved pretty successful in my playgroup, but living in Japan and being deployed (Navy) frequently makes it hard to evaluate how it would perform in tournaments.
The Japanese meta seems to be a bit more control-centric than US, with cards like [card]Spellskite
[/card] going for appx 2000 yen (nearly $25). Haven't seen Caw-Blade as much in Yokohama or Akihabara when playing in Japan, though I haven't been out enough to say definitively.
Living in Japan also makes picking up new cards pretty difficult/expensive, given that prices here tend to be about 20-50% higher than stateside for most things (boosters tend to go for 350-440 yen, or $4.25 or so - nearly $6.00 per pack), and ordering stateside, while cheaper, results in pretty high shipping costs that almost equal out.
But that's all irrelevent.
The deck revolves around using cheap/repeatable pump/protection spells to fuel poison from Livewire Lash on a cheap infect creature, occasionally giving it the evasion it needs to swing for a kill (or using the lash to wipe out blockers and swinging for pumped up damage).
I've noticed some weakness to Mono-Black Control due to Doom Blade and various discards, but for the most part it seems to hold up, provided I can get the Lash out and equipped in time. Noxious Revival mitigates this partially, but the end result is still both players being down 1 card.
As for explanations:
The creatures should be pretty obvious choices, excepting maybe the numbers. Considered Necropede but it's a bit expensive for what it does for the deck.
Prey's Vengeance: Rebounds gives 2 shots through the Lash, possible 8 poison counters total at max.
Mutagenic Growth: Possible 0 cost pump. 2 life for up to 4 poison counters.
Giant Growth: Efficient pump, possible 5 poison counters.
Vines of Vastwood: Double-duty protection and pump, possible 6 poison counters plus hexproof.
Spider Umbra: 1-shot regenerate, extra damage, flier protection, improves creature survivability vs RDW. Possible 3 extra poison counters.
Apostle's Blessing: Protection/evasion, more poison through Lash. Possible 2 poison counters, 4 if used to protect against another targeted spell. Also protects the Lash, which occasionally matters vs Shatter or Naturalize.
Unnatural Predation: Pump, evasion, and poison through Lash. Possible 3 poison counters.
Buried Ruin: Can bring back Plague Myr or Livewire Lash in a pinch or if I'm mana-flooded.
Problems I've encountered:
Having to mulligan when starting hand doesn't have a Lash (anything else can be reliably drawn, but haven't found an efficient way to tutor the Lash - too expensive for Trinket Mage, too cheap for Treasure Mage).
Mana Flooding: Deck needs 2-3 mana to run. Getting mana-flooded is annoying as hell. I've cut the mana-base down a bit but it still happens sometimes.
Mono-Black Control: Creature kill independent of P/T, discard spells can be problematic.
I'd appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or hell, outright criticism that you guys have to offer.
I would say you need to run more creatures. possibly tezzeret's gambit for card draw/prolif
Tezzeret's Gambit slows the deck way down - I don't need a card that doesn't target anything (max of +1 poison) and requires 3 mana (everything else is 2 or less). I have room to add in more Blight Mambas and another Plague Myr, though, I may do that instead of GSZ.
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Currently Playing:
EDH - Thraximundar
ZEN-NPH Standard - Monogreen Lash
SOM-ISD Standard - U/R Curse of Stalked Prey, U/G Self-Mill Aggro
Casual Legacy: Developing - Entomb Filth
I respectfully disagree on the Necropede, if it's dying then the -1/-1 counter usually isn't going to improve your situation much in this particular deck. Sideboard at best. But Ichorclaw does have its advantages. May sub in Ichor instead of Plague Myr. Though Plague Myr is in there to provide an alternate way to T3 equip a Lash onto something (primary being T1 Elf, T2 Lash, T3 equip).
Inkmoth Nexus seems like a good consideration. Evasive infect creature for those times when you can't take the more combo-y approach with lash.
Good point - I'll try them in place of the Buried Ruins and see how that goes. Noxious Revival covers the Lash when necessary, and the moth can still be pumped for some pretty big damage.
Figured I should have my decklist up here, and 2nd post seemed a good time to do so.
Been running this for a little while and it's proved pretty successful in my playgroup, but living in Japan and being deployed (Navy) frequently makes it hard to evaluate how it would perform in tournaments.
The Japanese meta seems to be a bit more control-centric than US, with cards like [card]Spellskite
[/card] going for appx 2000 yen (nearly $25). Haven't seen Caw-Blade as much in Yokohama or Akihabara when playing in Japan, though I haven't been out enough to say definitively.
Living in Japan also makes picking up new cards pretty difficult/expensive, given that prices here tend to be about 20-50% higher than stateside for most things (boosters tend to go for 350-440 yen, or $4.25 or so - nearly $6.00 per pack), and ordering stateside, while cheaper, results in pretty high shipping costs that almost equal out.
But that's all irrelevent.
The deck revolves around using cheap/repeatable pump/protection spells to fuel poison from Livewire Lash on a cheap infect creature, occasionally giving it the evasion it needs to swing for a kill (or using the lash to wipe out blockers and swinging for pumped up damage).
I've noticed some weakness to Mono-Black Control due to Doom Blade and various discards, but for the most part it seems to hold up, provided I can get the Lash out and equipped in time. Noxious Revival mitigates this partially, but the end result is still both players being down 1 card.
- Shock
- Incinerate
- Lightning Bolt
are survivable through pump or Vines, though they do take away ammunition for the Lash.Bounce spells are annoying but, given that the deck runs on 2-3 mana, not a huge setback most of the time.
Pacifism isn't a huge problem given that the Lash enables direct damage and Apostle's Blessing declaring white makes it fall off.
4 Livewire Lash
3 Plague Myr
4 Unnatural Predation
4 Apostle's Blessing
4 Noxious Revival
4 Prey's Vengeance
2 Giant Growth
4 Mutagenic Growth
2 Blight Mamba
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Spider Umbra
2 Buried Ruin
15 Forest
As for explanations:
The creatures should be pretty obvious choices, excepting maybe the numbers. Considered Necropede but it's a bit expensive for what it does for the deck.
Prey's Vengeance: Rebounds gives 2 shots through the Lash, possible 8 poison counters total at max.
Mutagenic Growth: Possible 0 cost pump. 2 life for up to 4 poison counters.
Giant Growth: Efficient pump, possible 5 poison counters.
Vines of Vastwood: Double-duty protection and pump, possible 6 poison counters plus hexproof.
Spider Umbra: 1-shot regenerate, extra damage, flier protection, improves creature survivability vs RDW. Possible 3 extra poison counters.
Apostle's Blessing: Protection/evasion, more poison through Lash. Possible 2 poison counters, 4 if used to protect against another targeted spell. Also protects the Lash, which occasionally matters vs Shatter or Naturalize.
Unnatural Predation: Pump, evasion, and poison through Lash. Possible 3 poison counters.
Buried Ruin: Can bring back Plague Myr or Livewire Lash in a pinch or if I'm mana-flooded.
Green Sun's Zenith: Tutors Glistener Elf or Blight Mamba into play.
Problems I've encountered:
Having to mulligan when starting hand doesn't have a Lash (anything else can be reliably drawn, but haven't found an efficient way to tutor the Lash - too expensive for Trinket Mage, too cheap for Treasure Mage).
Mana Flooding: Deck needs 2-3 mana to run. Getting mana-flooded is annoying as hell. I've cut the mana-base down a bit but it still happens sometimes.
Mono-Black Control: Creature kill independent of P/T, discard spells can be problematic.
I'd appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or hell, outright criticism that you guys have to offer.
EDH - Thraximundar
ZEN-NPH Standard - Monogreen Lash
SOM-ISD Standard - U/R Curse of Stalked Prey, U/G Self-Mill Aggro
Casual Legacy: Developing - Entomb Filth
Tezzeret's Gambit slows the deck way down - I don't need a card that doesn't target anything (max of +1 poison) and requires 3 mana (everything else is 2 or less). I have room to add in more Blight Mambas and another Plague Myr, though, I may do that instead of GSZ.
EDH - Thraximundar
ZEN-NPH Standard - Monogreen Lash
SOM-ISD Standard - U/R Curse of Stalked Prey, U/G Self-Mill Aggro
Casual Legacy: Developing - Entomb Filth
I respectfully disagree on the Necropede, if it's dying then the -1/-1 counter usually isn't going to improve your situation much in this particular deck. Sideboard at best. But Ichorclaw does have its advantages. May sub in Ichor instead of Plague Myr. Though Plague Myr is in there to provide an alternate way to T3 equip a Lash onto something (primary being T1 Elf, T2 Lash, T3 equip).
EDH - Thraximundar
ZEN-NPH Standard - Monogreen Lash
SOM-ISD Standard - U/R Curse of Stalked Prey, U/G Self-Mill Aggro
Casual Legacy: Developing - Entomb Filth
Good point - I'll try them in place of the Buried Ruins and see how that goes. Noxious Revival covers the Lash when necessary, and the moth can still be pumped for some pretty big damage.
EDH - Thraximundar
ZEN-NPH Standard - Monogreen Lash
SOM-ISD Standard - U/R Curse of Stalked Prey, U/G Self-Mill Aggro
Casual Legacy: Developing - Entomb Filth