After 16 years of playing casual MTG, this is my first attempt at making an original competitive deck in any format. If this isn't "original" feel free to correct me and post links to all the similar deck threads. After getting the idea of this deck last night, I hopped on MTGO, and I threw it together. I played 10 or so solitaire matches, made some tweeks, then played 8 or so matches in the Tournament Practice room, then immediately joined the next available ISD Block Constructed tournament. Results? Story and screenshots after the deck description...
Blasphemous Tokens WBR **Note: The following has some tweeks that were made after the tournament completed. I have a screenshot of the original deck in the story.
**Deck has been modified since original posting. Replaced Liliana with Mausoleum Guards. Some comments below still reference Liliana. 11-8-2011 edit: Replaced Ghost Quarter with Stensia Bloodhall to finish off weakened opponents, especially for Burning Vengeance decks. 11-22-2011 edit: Got rid of Curse of Stalked Prey, upped Intangible Virtue to x4 and added Rally the Peasants x2.
The Idea
The idea was pretty simple: Make a lot of token creatures, cover them with some creature removal, and pump them up with enchantments. After scanning this forum, I've seen BW decks that are similar to this, but I think the most important addition in this deck are 4 copies of Blasphemous Act.
It seems a little counter-intuitive to put Blasphamous Act in such as aggresive, creature heavy deck, but that's what makes it so great. It's not uncommon for me to cast the spell for 3 or less mana. And in this deck, compared to some of the other decks I've played against, is that this deck has built in staying power after the board is wiped clean.
Doomed Necromancer and Moan of the Unhallowed in particular keep the deck going for it to catch its 2nd and 3rd winds. Midnight Haunting and Mikaeus put on the initial pressure (to get your opponent to empty his hand of his creatures). And the Giest-Honored Monk is just good at any point in the game. Another addition in this deck is the inclusion of a total of 6 buffing enchantments. After (a little) testing, I think 3 Intangible Virtue and 3 Curse of Stalked Prey is the right amount. The virtue needs no explanation, but I think the curse kind of puts it over the top.
With Curse of Stalked Prey, it makes your 1st turn Doomed Travelers an instant threat. And the same goes for the rest of your non-token creatures. The same can't be said for the tokens. But what makes it most beautiful is with a single Spirit Token, backed up by a virtue and curse, it becomes an instant threat to win the game -- and a single spirit can be the lone survivor after Blasphemous Act is played.
Skirsdag High Priest is kind of amazing... if they don't remove him right away (which is why there are only 2 copies in the deck). In this deck in particular, with Doomed Travler, Midnight Haunting, and Moan of the Unhallowed, there are plenty of opportunities to both activate Morbid and instantly get 2 fresh bodies to help pay for its activation cost. Throw in the virtues and all of your token creatures can attack freely and still tap if needed to activate the priest.
Now for the very last addition to the deck: Falkenrath Noble
Make a lot of creatures and get a lot of life, right? Not so fast. Imagine between yourself and your opponent, there are 8-10 creatures on the battlefield. Now cast a Blasphemous Act for 1 red mana. Guess what? You just drained your opponent for 8-10 life and probably just won the game. If not, there still might be that pesky Spirit Token in play or that Moan of the Unhallowed in your graveyard ready to be flashbacked.
As for the sideboard, I actually know very little about side-boarding. Like I said, I'm not a competitive player and I don't use side boards. I know even less about the current crop of popular Innistrad decks out there right now. This side board consists of cards that I just threw together.
My First ISD Constructed Tournament (Daily)
Like I said, I'm a casual player, and I've never played in any constructed tournament ever. I've drafted a handful of times with friends, but I've never gone to a live event. I'm 29 years old now and I just have other things that need doing. That said, I was looking forward to testing this deck out.
First, the original decklist:
(Note the differences between this and the deck posted above. Make special note of aweful sideboard I'm using. Half of those cards were just random cards I threw in to meet the 15 card requirement needed to start a game while I played solitaire matches. After that, I made a semi-proper sideboard, and then MTGO crashed. I logged back on and entered the tournament before checking the deck. Because of the crash, it reverted to an earlier save.)
Round 1, Game 1
In my first round I was matched against a really nasty RU Burning Vengeance deck (with some GW splashed in). In the 8 or so games I played against other people, I bumped into a similar deck twice and lost both times.
From what I can tell, this is my worst match-up.
(This is the reason for all the Urgent Exorcism and Nevermore in the sideboard. All of the direct damage and ever the Blasphemous Acts aren't needed. I plan on swapping them for all the anti-Burning Vengeance cards in the future.)
Round 1, Game 2
A lot of the same happens. I didn't draw a single Ugent Exorcism, the Burning Vengeances stayed in play for too long, and it was all down hill.
vs. RU Burning Vengeance
0-2
Round 2, Game 1
Not a good start. There are 4 rounds in this tournament and you have to win at least 3 of 4 to stave off elimination and make it into the money. The 11 booster prize is now out of the question. At this point, if I win the next 3 matches, I'll still be able to walk away with 6 boosters. (Win or go home!)
Round 2 matched me up against a GR Werewolf Deck and it wasn't even close, I destroyed him. But I can't take all the credit for this one. My opponent was severely mana screwed and even had to Ghost Quarter his own Mountain to grab a Forest because he had 2 Caravan Vigils in his hand that he couldn't cast.
Round 2, Game 2
Sometimes I don't even need Blasphemous Act against the wolves. It just doesn't have an answer against fliers with vigilance. I can hit him, he can't hit me, and I can block if needed. Doomed Traveler serves as a chump blocker, the spirits come out and the enchantments make them huge. If there get to be too many, cast a really cheap Blasphemous Act and only I can recover, he can't. Either way, easy, fast win and it would be a while until the next round started because this one was over so quickly.
vs. GR Werewolves
2-0
Round 3, Game 1
This game was a little tricky, mostly because this was the first time I had ever seen this deck before -- but apparenly, it's pretty popular because there's a thread about it on this very forum.
Round 3 matched me up against a UG Dredge deck (with some BW flashback splashed in). He starts off strong, but make a mistake and attacks into a Doomed Traveler when I had a High Priest in play and Midnight Haunting in hand. His Splinterfright gets pretty big, but I simply out race him.
Round 3, Game 2
This game was a much different story. In the end, I cast 2 of my Blasphemous Acts to fend off his army, but with graveyard recurrssion, and endless drawing power, he overwhelms me. I could never get going. None of my enchantments ever hit the battlefield and he crushes.
Round 3, Game 3
This one was over real quick. On the 2nd turn he leaves 2 mana open and passes. From the first game (from his massive graveyard), I could see he was playing Ambush Vipers. I attack with my traveler, leave my high priest untapped, and he makes the same mistake twice. The traveler dies and I end up with a Skirsdag High Priest, 3x Spirit Tokens, and 1 Demon Token. Disgusted with himself, he instantly scoops and hands me the win.
vs. UG Dredge
2-1
Round 4, Game 1
Will I be able to pull off the come back and make it into the money? It all comes down to this! At this point I'm praying that I don't run into another RU Burning Vengeance deck. My sideboard just can't handle it and there are changes I already want to make to the deck.
Round 4 matches me with a WG Human deck. Ah, I know these well.
Tangent:
At this point I should say that 2 Saturdays ago, me and some ooooold friends I used to play magic with got together and we drafted Innistrad for the first time. We were all new to the cards. To put this in perspective, the last set we drafted together was Onslaught. It's been a while. We had a lot of fun and last Saturday we did it again. Flash forward to the past 2-3 days and I've basically been chain drafting and playing 6 booster Innistrad non-stop. Over the past 2-3 days I spent about 14 tickets and I just kept on winning. I kept using my prize packs to enter the next event and so far I've opened nearly 50 boosters... from 14 tickets.
The point is, this might be my first constructed tournament ever, but I feel like I know the Innistrad set very well. And for anyone who drafts, you all know that WG Humans is very popular.
Back to the story:
With no answer for Garruk (fliers or Brimstone Volley), he eventually overwhelms me and I'm in an 0-1 hole. My boosters are slipping through my fingers.
Round 4, Game 2
This game stalled early and it eventually became a race to see who could amass air superiority.
Obviously, I win that fight any day of the week and tie up the series 1-1.
Round 4, Game 3
At this point, I draw a very interesting opening hand:
No 1 or 2 drops in sight... but Blasphemous Act and the mana to cast it are both available. I decide to keep it.
At this point in the match, despite how long our games have been, I haven't cast a single Blasphemous Act. He doesn't know I have them. Everything falls into place. He dumps his entire army onto the battlefield. And after a well timed Blasphemous Act, it was all over.
vs. WG Humans
2-1
The only thing left for me to do was to claim what was rightfully mine:
Anyway, this was my deck and I'm open to suggestions. I especially want to hear suggestions about the sideboard. From what little testing I've done, this deck works remarkably well against any deck that doesn't mass flashback (like RU Burning Vengeance and UG Dredge). Threats from counter magic or enhantment removal are slim to none... although this may change.
Also, I hoped you enjoyed my little story. I'm very happy how the deck performed.
I'm probably going to repost this in my blog in a new section titled "Ninja_Bob's Misadventures in MTGO" or something. If anyone's interested, I'll try to enter more tournaments and continue to take screenshots. If enough people are interested, they can follow along with how this deck (and future decks?) end up doing. It's just an idea.
(You can also always find a link to my blog in my signature.)
edit: Whenever the next expansion comes out, I can easily see dropped the number of Geist-Honored Monks from 3 to 2 and also dropping Mikaeus from 2 to 1. There's plenty of room for improvement with this deck the way it is now. Also, the more I play with it, the more I hate the double black that Liliana brings. I need to find something else to take her place.
edit2: Hm... just played 5 matches in the tournament practice room. Didn't win a single one. I'm thinking of main decking a pair of Witchbane Orbs, Nevermores, or Urgent Exorcisms (In place of the Liliana slot). There are some serious holes in this deck.
Great read! I've also made my own deck for Innistrad block constructed. It is fun to think of all the different pieces and put it together. I havn't entered a tournament yet though. Just lots of practice.
Great write up. This looks like a great deck. I really like the trick with skirsdag high priest and midnight haunting. Can you explain some of your card choices? Any reason you went with Falkenrath Noble over Olivia or Bloodline keeper? Both seem like they would be stronger 4 drops. How has Ghost quarter been? Do you use it to fix mana or kill lands more often? Is it better than Shimmering Grotto? Are there any other cards you tried and found they didn't work?
Also, I gotta say, for your -10th- post, this is excellently formatted, and you played at a pretty high level for not playing for years. Kudos.
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
Great write up. This looks like a great deck. I really like the trick with skirsdag high priest and midnight haunting. Can you explain some of your card choices? Any reason you went with Falkenrath Noble over Olivia or Bloodline keeper? Both seem like they would be stronger 4 drops. How has Ghost quarter been? Do you use it to fix mana or kill lands more often? Is it better than Shimmering Grotto? Are there any other cards you tried and found they didn't work?
Hello,
Honestly, Falkenwrath Noble is probably the not-so-obvious MVP of the deck. Bloodline Keeper is pretty good, but I think he's just really slow. There's also the double black mana that I want to stay away from. But you have to test out the deck for yourself and play around with the Noble to see how good he is.
Like I said in the OP, with Blasphemous Act, he can act as a late game finisher with direct damage. If you get into a situation where both you and your opponent are massing armies, you can hold him back in your hand. And when their life dips below 10 or so life, pay 4 mana for the Noble, then 1 mana for the Blasphemous Act and you win.
Because of all the creatures you're puttin on the field, it's good by itself. But with Blasphemous Act, it enables the deck to have an alternate win condition. This is something the Bloodline Keeper doesn't do at all. He makes a lot of tokens if he's untouched, but the deck already makes a lot of tokens. In the end, he just does more of the same.
edit: I'm thinking of reducing the Ghost Quarters down to 1. With 3 colors, it's kind of rough drawing both of them at the same time. With 8 duals and given the deck is mainly white, I don't run into mana problems too often. When I do, it's usually searching for that 2nd black mana to cast a Moan of the Unhallowed that kills me.
edit again: I just swapped out the Ghost Quarter for a Stensia Bloodhall and it's working out great. Once Burning Vengeance gets going, there's really nothing you can do... except zap them for 2 life a turn. Sometime's that's enough.
I have a similar deck I have been tinkering with but splashed green instead of red, purely for mana pull. I like this decklist though it uses the eject button I love so very much just in case the crap hits the fan. You mentioned not liking Bloodline Keeper for the two black mana, mind if I ask why you prefer Moan of the Unhallowed over it, I can see the flashback but it is a little steep, and Bloodline give his tokens a +2/+2 in addition to the curses and the virtues.
I've been a little underwhelmed with the deck the past 2 days. My win percentage is definitely under 50%. Maybe 40%, but I don't have hard data. It's close to being good... but I think this deck may need an expansion.
With Moan of the Unhallowed vs. Bloodline Keeper, I figure the moan is just faster (especially with a Intangible Virtue in play). 2 tokens created instantly versus 2 tokens created over the next 2 turns. Also, this isn't a vampire deck so I'm not too sure how often it would ever transform. In general, I think it's better, but it might be worth thinking about sideboarding if there are specific matchups that the keeper is better.
After 16 years of playing casual MTG, this is my first attempt at making an original competitive deck in any format. If this isn't "original" feel free to correct me and post links to all the similar deck threads. After getting the idea of this deck last night, I hopped on MTGO, and I threw it together. I played 10 or so solitaire matches, made some tweeks, then played 8 or so matches in the Tournament Practice room, then immediately joined the next available ISD Block Constructed tournament. Results? Story and screenshots after the deck description...
**Note: The following has some tweeks that were made after the tournament completed. I have a screenshot of the original deck in the story.
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Skirsdag High Priest
2 Mausoleum Guard
2 Falkenrath Noble
3 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
More Creatures (7)
4 Midnight Haunting
3 Moan of the Unhallowed
Buff (6)
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Rally the Peasants
4 Blasphemous Act
2 Geistflame
2 Brimstone Volley
Land (24)
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Clifftop Retreat
7 Plains
4 Swamp
4 Mountain
1 Stensia Bloodhall
4 Urgent Exorcism
3 Nevermore
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Brimstone Volley
3 Witchbane Orb
1 Plains
**Deck has been modified since original posting. Replaced Liliana with Mausoleum Guards. Some comments below still reference Liliana.
11-8-2011 edit: Replaced Ghost Quarter with Stensia Bloodhall to finish off weakened opponents, especially for Burning Vengeance decks.
11-22-2011 edit: Got rid of Curse of Stalked Prey, upped Intangible Virtue to x4 and added Rally the Peasants x2.
The Idea
The idea was pretty simple: Make a lot of token creatures, cover them with some creature removal, and pump them up with enchantments. After scanning this forum, I've seen BW decks that are similar to this, but I think the most important addition in this deck are 4 copies of Blasphemous Act.
It seems a little counter-intuitive to put Blasphamous Act in such as aggresive, creature heavy deck, but that's what makes it so great. It's not uncommon for me to cast the spell for 3 or less mana. And in this deck, compared to some of the other decks I've played against, is that this deck has built in staying power after the board is wiped clean.
Doomed Necromancer and Moan of the Unhallowed in particular keep the deck going for it to catch its 2nd and 3rd winds. Midnight Haunting and Mikaeus put on the initial pressure (to get your opponent to empty his hand of his creatures). And the Giest-Honored Monk is just good at any point in the game. Another addition in this deck is the inclusion of a total of 6 buffing enchantments. After (a little) testing, I think 3 Intangible Virtue and 3 Curse of Stalked Prey is the right amount. The virtue needs no explanation, but I think the curse kind of puts it over the top.
With Curse of Stalked Prey, it makes your 1st turn Doomed Travelers an instant threat. And the same goes for the rest of your non-token creatures. The same can't be said for the tokens. But what makes it most beautiful is with a single Spirit Token, backed up by a virtue and curse, it becomes an instant threat to win the game -- and a single spirit can be the lone survivor after Blasphemous Act is played.
Skirsdag High Priest is kind of amazing... if they don't remove him right away (which is why there are only 2 copies in the deck). In this deck in particular, with Doomed Travler, Midnight Haunting, and Moan of the Unhallowed, there are plenty of opportunities to both activate Morbid and instantly get 2 fresh bodies to help pay for its activation cost. Throw in the virtues and all of your token creatures can attack freely and still tap if needed to activate the priest.
Now for the very last addition to the deck: Falkenrath Noble
Make a lot of creatures and get a lot of life, right? Not so fast. Imagine between yourself and your opponent, there are 8-10 creatures on the battlefield. Now cast a Blasphemous Act for 1 red mana. Guess what? You just drained your opponent for 8-10 life and probably just won the game. If not, there still might be that pesky Spirit Token in play or that Moan of the Unhallowed in your graveyard ready to be flashbacked.
As for the sideboard, I actually know very little about side-boarding. Like I said, I'm not a competitive player and I don't use side boards. I know even less about the current crop of popular Innistrad decks out there right now. This side board consists of cards that I just threw together.
Like I said, I'm a casual player, and I've never played in any constructed tournament ever. I've drafted a handful of times with friends, but I've never gone to a live event. I'm 29 years old now and I just have other things that need doing. That said, I was looking forward to testing this deck out.
(Note the differences between this and the deck posted above. Make special note of aweful sideboard I'm using. Half of those cards were just random cards I threw in to meet the 15 card requirement needed to start a game while I played solitaire matches. After that, I made a semi-proper sideboard, and then MTGO crashed. I logged back on and entered the tournament before checking the deck. Because of the crash, it reverted to an earlier save.)
Round 1, Game 1
In my first round I was matched against a really nasty RU Burning Vengeance deck (with some GW splashed in). In the 8 or so games I played against other people, I bumped into a similar deck twice and lost both times.
From what I can tell, this is my worst match-up.
(This is the reason for all the Urgent Exorcism and Nevermore in the sideboard. All of the direct damage and ever the Blasphemous Acts aren't needed. I plan on swapping them for all the anti-Burning Vengeance cards in the future.)
Round 1, Game 2
A lot of the same happens. I didn't draw a single Ugent Exorcism, the Burning Vengeances stayed in play for too long, and it was all down hill.
vs. RU Burning Vengeance
0-2
Round 2, Game 1
Not a good start. There are 4 rounds in this tournament and you have to win at least 3 of 4 to stave off elimination and make it into the money. The 11 booster prize is now out of the question. At this point, if I win the next 3 matches, I'll still be able to walk away with 6 boosters. (Win or go home!)
Round 2 matched me up against a GR Werewolf Deck and it wasn't even close, I destroyed him. But I can't take all the credit for this one. My opponent was severely mana screwed and even had to Ghost Quarter his own Mountain to grab a Forest because he had 2 Caravan Vigils in his hand that he couldn't cast.
Round 2, Game 2
Sometimes I don't even need Blasphemous Act against the wolves. It just doesn't have an answer against fliers with vigilance. I can hit him, he can't hit me, and I can block if needed. Doomed Traveler serves as a chump blocker, the spirits come out and the enchantments make them huge. If there get to be too many, cast a really cheap Blasphemous Act and only I can recover, he can't. Either way, easy, fast win and it would be a while until the next round started because this one was over so quickly.
vs. GR Werewolves
2-0
Round 3, Game 1
This game was a little tricky, mostly because this was the first time I had ever seen this deck before -- but apparenly, it's pretty popular because there's a thread about it on this very forum.
Round 3 matched me up against a UG Dredge deck (with some BW flashback splashed in). He starts off strong, but make a mistake and attacks into a Doomed Traveler when I had a High Priest in play and Midnight Haunting in hand. His Splinterfright gets pretty big, but I simply out race him.
Round 3, Game 2
This game was a much different story. In the end, I cast 2 of my Blasphemous Acts to fend off his army, but with graveyard recurrssion, and endless drawing power, he overwhelms me. I could never get going. None of my enchantments ever hit the battlefield and he crushes.
Round 3, Game 3
This one was over real quick. On the 2nd turn he leaves 2 mana open and passes. From the first game (from his massive graveyard), I could see he was playing Ambush Vipers. I attack with my traveler, leave my high priest untapped, and he makes the same mistake twice. The traveler dies and I end up with a Skirsdag High Priest, 3x Spirit Tokens, and 1 Demon Token. Disgusted with himself, he instantly scoops and hands me the win.
vs. UG Dredge
2-1
Round 4, Game 1
Will I be able to pull off the come back and make it into the money? It all comes down to this! At this point I'm praying that I don't run into another RU Burning Vengeance deck. My sideboard just can't handle it and there are changes I already want to make to the deck.
Round 4 matches me with a WG Human deck. Ah, I know these well.
Tangent:
At this point I should say that 2 Saturdays ago, me and some ooooold friends I used to play magic with got together and we drafted Innistrad for the first time. We were all new to the cards. To put this in perspective, the last set we drafted together was Onslaught. It's been a while. We had a lot of fun and last Saturday we did it again. Flash forward to the past 2-3 days and I've basically been chain drafting and playing 6 booster Innistrad non-stop. Over the past 2-3 days I spent about 14 tickets and I just kept on winning. I kept using my prize packs to enter the next event and so far I've opened nearly 50 boosters... from 14 tickets.
The point is, this might be my first constructed tournament ever, but I feel like I know the Innistrad set very well. And for anyone who drafts, you all know that WG Humans is very popular.
Back to the story:
With no answer for Garruk (fliers or Brimstone Volley), he eventually overwhelms me and I'm in an 0-1 hole. My boosters are slipping through my fingers.
Round 4, Game 2
This game stalled early and it eventually became a race to see who could amass air superiority.
Obviously, I win that fight any day of the week and tie up the series 1-1.
Round 4, Game 3
At this point, I draw a very interesting opening hand:
No 1 or 2 drops in sight... but Blasphemous Act and the mana to cast it are both available. I decide to keep it.
At this point in the match, despite how long our games have been, I haven't cast a single Blasphemous Act. He doesn't know I have them. Everything falls into place. He dumps his entire army onto the battlefield. And after a well timed Blasphemous Act, it was all over.
vs. WG Humans
2-1
The only thing left for me to do was to claim what was rightfully mine:
(Hooray!)
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/2981679
Anyway, this was my deck and I'm open to suggestions. I especially want to hear suggestions about the sideboard. From what little testing I've done, this deck works remarkably well against any deck that doesn't mass flashback (like RU Burning Vengeance and UG Dredge). Threats from counter magic or enhantment removal are slim to none... although this may change.
Also, I hoped you enjoyed my little story. I'm very happy how the deck performed.
I'm probably going to repost this in my blog in a new section titled "Ninja_Bob's Misadventures in MTGO" or something. If anyone's interested, I'll try to enter more tournaments and continue to take screenshots. If enough people are interested, they can follow along with how this deck (and future decks?) end up doing. It's just an idea.
(You can also always find a link to my blog in my signature.)
edit: Whenever the next expansion comes out, I can easily see dropped the number of Geist-Honored Monks from 3 to 2 and also dropping Mikaeus from 2 to 1. There's plenty of room for improvement with this deck the way it is now. Also, the more I play with it, the more I hate the double black that Liliana brings. I need to find something else to take her place.
edit2: Hm... just played 5 matches in the tournament practice room. Didn't win a single one. I'm thinking of main decking a pair of Witchbane Orbs, Nevermores, or Urgent Exorcisms (In place of the Liliana slot). There are some serious holes in this deck.
Thread | Draft
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Skirsdag High Priest
2 Mausoleum Guard
2 Falkenrath Noble
3 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
4 Midnight Haunting
3 Moan of the Unhallowed
3 Curse of Stalked Prey
2 Geistflame
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Clifftop Retreat
7 Plains
4 Swamp
3 Mountain
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Urgent Exorcism
4 Nevermore
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Brimstone Volley
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Great write up. This looks like a great deck. I really like the trick with skirsdag high priest and midnight haunting. Can you explain some of your card choices? Any reason you went with Falkenrath Noble over Olivia or Bloodline keeper? Both seem like they would be stronger 4 drops. How has Ghost quarter been? Do you use it to fix mana or kill lands more often? Is it better than Shimmering Grotto? Are there any other cards you tried and found they didn't work?
Also, I gotta say, for your -10th- post, this is excellently formatted, and you played at a pretty high level for not playing for years. Kudos.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
Hello,
Honestly, Falkenwrath Noble is probably the not-so-obvious MVP of the deck. Bloodline Keeper is pretty good, but I think he's just really slow. There's also the double black mana that I want to stay away from. But you have to test out the deck for yourself and play around with the Noble to see how good he is.
Like I said in the OP, with Blasphemous Act, he can act as a late game finisher with direct damage. If you get into a situation where both you and your opponent are massing armies, you can hold him back in your hand. And when their life dips below 10 or so life, pay 4 mana for the Noble, then 1 mana for the Blasphemous Act and you win.
Because of all the creatures you're puttin on the field, it's good by itself. But with Blasphemous Act, it enables the deck to have an alternate win condition. This is something the Bloodline Keeper doesn't do at all. He makes a lot of tokens if he's untouched, but the deck already makes a lot of tokens. In the end, he just does more of the same.
edit: I'm thinking of reducing the Ghost Quarters down to 1. With 3 colors, it's kind of rough drawing both of them at the same time. With 8 duals and given the deck is mainly white, I don't run into mana problems too often. When I do, it's usually searching for that 2nd black mana to cast a Moan of the Unhallowed that kills me.
edit again: I just swapped out the Ghost Quarter for a Stensia Bloodhall and it's working out great. Once Burning Vengeance gets going, there's really nothing you can do... except zap them for 2 life a turn. Sometime's that's enough.
Thread | Draft
With Moan of the Unhallowed vs. Bloodline Keeper, I figure the moan is just faster (especially with a Intangible Virtue in play). 2 tokens created instantly versus 2 tokens created over the next 2 turns. Also, this isn't a vampire deck so I'm not too sure how often it would ever transform. In general, I think it's better, but it might be worth thinking about sideboarding if there are specific matchups that the keeper is better.
Thread | Draft