A couple months ago I decided that I wanted to get into standard, so I started brewing this list here. The main goal is to stick a Parallel Lives and go crazy with vampires and zombies and wolves, oh my!
Bloodline Keeper: One of the best cards in the deck, Bloodline Keeper inspired me to make this deck. If you stick him and a Parallel Lives, you win. Even without the enchantment he's still a serious threat that your opponent will have to deal with.
Grave Titan: More of a finisher than anything. A resolved Grave Titan will turn the game around for you (or just flat out win it) with or without Parallel Lives.
Garruk Relentless: The only problem I have with this guy is that he's a four drop (of which we have lots). I'm going to have to try to get my hands on some of the m12 garruk for testing.
Mayor of Avabruck: Our early beater. Mayor can put the pressure on early, or carry a sword and win all by himself.
Moan of the Unhallowed: This may seem like the weakest link here, and indeed, I only ran them at first because there were no other good token makers in our colors. But after testing, it turns out that these guys actually help the deck a lot when stabilizing against aggro, and they're great after your opponent wipes the board while you've got a Parallel Lives out. I've been flashing them back more often than I expected.
ManaDorks: Obvious inclusion. Getting our 4-drops out a turn early is crucial. Plus Birds with Swords are just hilarious. I only run 3 elves because I was having some problems with mana-flood early on.
Beast Within: This is an amazing card in this deck. Aside from the versatility in removal, after you drop a Parallel Lives it doubles as a token maker.
Garruk, Primal Hunter: In the short while I've had him, he's tested great. The card draw is amazing and the triple green generally isn't an issue with all the mana dorks. Altar's Reap: Really great for when you need to hit gas in the late game, plus leaving two open for this can psych with your opponent as they play around Go for the Throat and Doom Blade.
TheSwords: No real synergy with the deck, but they're simply too good not to run. I tried Sword of Body and Mind for a bit and it was nice, but these swords are simply better. They also provide and alternate win-con on occasion when I stick them on a Mayor or a mana dork.
My meta is heavy with Mono-Black infect, thus the Melira, Sylvok Outcast . The rest of the sideboard (aside from the Surgical Extraction) is for aggro decks that kill me before I can get going. Dead Weight is fantastic against Tempered Steel, Infect and Delver. Black Sun's Zenith seems bad here, but it reality in helps a ton with the Tokens matchup, as this deck recovers surprisingly well from boardwipes thanks to Parallel Lives and Moan of the Unhallowed.
The deck has been doing decently in FNMs, some matchups will be up later.
Black Sun's Zenith is a bit mana intensive. You may want to try Wall of Tanglecord or even Cathedral Membrane instead. Plus, after they are no longer needed, you can sac them to Altar's Reap.
I agree that Altar's Reap is one of the worst cards in the deck, but it has its niche here and I've definitely been able to get a good use out of it. Honestly I've never run into a Mirran Crusader, but I can imagine he'd cause me some problems. How would you propose I deal with it? The only thing I can think of is to get more BSZ in the sideboard, which wouldn't be that bad. I'll see how my meta evolves.
I like geth's verdict. I'll try cutting two Dead Weight for two Geth's Verdict in the side
Thanks!
EDIT: Did some testing. Geth's Verdict or Tribute to Hunger are both nice in the board against Mirran Crusader. I tried going with 4 BSZ, but I ended up losing my mana dorks and getting set back.
I've been working on a B/ token themed deck that also focuses on mortapod, mimic vat, and deathtouch creatures.
This build is definitely for my fun (mainly FNM's) and is not really super competitive. That being said it looks like:
So, the goal is to stick a deathtouch onto a mortapod, fling it to kill one of their creatures, and then mimic vat one or both as they go to the grave. Deathtouch can kill any creature that is not indestructible or has pro-B. Shroud is an issue, butBlack sun's zenith and/or tribute to hunger will get these creatures. Acidic slime in particular is back breaking with a vat and pod in play, as each turn you kill a creature and eat a land (or artifact/enchantment). Bloodline Keeper / Grave Titan are next best under a vat as you just activate the vat at their end step and then bloodline can tap for a creature before you untap, and grave will add 2 zombies to the board before you start your turn. Sad Robot gets a land every time, and if you fling it then you have card draw.
What gets really fun is if you have a parallel lives in play. Then when you activate mimic vat you get multiple copies of the creature token for shear shenanigans.
Obvious the deck is a bit top-heavy (lots of cmc 4,5,6), but if you get to even 1 sad robot the deck really smooths out. With mimic vat and Garuuk, your deck is pretty wrath/kill proof, and Glissa can return the vats/pods if killed or countered. ratchet bomb (SB) + Glissa is backbreaking.
SB is pretty controlling and hopefully shores up the aggro builds. MD acidic slimes and beast within + SB naturalize will help with pesky artifacts/enchantments.
Overall I would not mind more ramp/card draw, but again this is a deck built more for fun. Also flashing in ambush vipers may be worthwhile.
the thread that was linked is in the Archives................so i'mma post here.
I've found the best alternative to Moan of the Unhallowed is wakedancer. It does the same thing. Only one card isn't a token. But its still 2 2/2 bodies with one card.
Only it costs 3 mana instead of 4. There are several cases where this doesn't work since you will specifically need a "zombie" but in the deck that you have made it doesn't really qualify. So Wakedancer is just a faster Moan of the Unhallowed.
So this is my revised version of the Parallel Lives deck I built last month. I did get a 3rd bird so he's in there now along with a 3rd Bloodline Keeper. Along with the Beast Within which this deck so needed.
Im pretty happy with it thus far it can do some really crazy things like a turn 2 Garruk which can then tutor up any creature I need it to like Bloodline or Essence. My only concern is whether to drop the two Jade Mages and add back in one Strangleroot Giest and one Llanowar Elf or to keep it the way it is.
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9 Forest
10 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Bloodline Keeper
2 Grave Titan
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Mayor of Avabruck
Spells
3 Altar's Reap
3 Beast Within
2 Doom Blade
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Go for the Throat
3 Moan of the Unhallowed
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Parallel Lives
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Beast Within
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Geth's Verdict
2 Dead Weight
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Surgical Extraction
Bloodline Keeper: One of the best cards in the deck, Bloodline Keeper inspired me to make this deck. If you stick him and a Parallel Lives, you win. Even without the enchantment he's still a serious threat that your opponent will have to deal with.
Grave Titan: More of a finisher than anything. A resolved Grave Titan will turn the game around for you (or just flat out win it) with or without Parallel Lives.
Garruk Relentless: The only problem I have with this guy is that he's a four drop (of which we have lots). I'm going to have to try to get my hands on some of the m12 garruk for testing.
Mayor of Avabruck: Our early beater. Mayor can put the pressure on early, or carry a sword and win all by himself.
Moan of the Unhallowed: This may seem like the weakest link here, and indeed, I only ran them at first because there were no other good token makers in our colors. But after testing, it turns out that these guys actually help the deck a lot when stabilizing against aggro, and they're great after your opponent wipes the board while you've got a Parallel Lives out. I've been flashing them back more often than I expected.
Mana Dorks: Obvious inclusion. Getting our 4-drops out a turn early is crucial. Plus Birds with Swords are just hilarious. I only run 3 elves because I was having some problems with mana-flood early on.
Beast Within: This is an amazing card in this deck. Aside from the versatility in removal, after you drop a Parallel Lives it doubles as a token maker.
Garruk, Primal Hunter: In the short while I've had him, he's tested great. The card draw is amazing and the triple green generally isn't an issue with all the mana dorks.
Altar's Reap: Really great for when you need to hit gas in the late game, plus leaving two open for this can psych with your opponent as they play around Go for the Throat and Doom Blade.
The Swords: No real synergy with the deck, but they're simply too good not to run. I tried Sword of Body and Mind for a bit and it was nice, but these swords are simply better. They also provide and alternate win-con on occasion when I stick them on a Mayor or a mana dork.
My meta is heavy with Mono-Black infect, thus the Melira, Sylvok Outcast . The rest of the sideboard (aside from the Surgical Extraction) is for aggro decks that kill me before I can get going. Dead Weight is fantastic against Tempered Steel, Infect and Delver. Black Sun's Zenith seems bad here, but it reality in helps a ton with the Tokens matchup, as this deck recovers surprisingly well from boardwipes thanks to Parallel Lives and Moan of the Unhallowed.
The deck has been doing decently in FNMs, some matchups will be up later.
Junk Tokens WBG
Hope that helps.
Junk Tokens WBG
With the draws/counters
Griest of Saint Traft
[card]Batterskull[/card
[card]Sword of Feast & Femine[/card
and then came a Sword of War & Peace.
To say the least He ended the games.
other games:
HeartlessZombies 2-1
RDW 2-1
WWR GRN 2-1
UB 2-1 (couldn't get his BSZ)
4 Skirsdag High Priest
3 Blade Splicer
3 Hero of Bladehold
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Grave Titan
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Parallel Lives
2 Carrion Call
3 Altar's Reap
3 Geth's Verdict
2 Tribute To Hunger
3 Woodland Cemetery
3 Isolated Chapel
5 Forest
6 Plains
6 Swamp
2 Fresh Meat
1 Gruesome Encore
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Unburial Rites
1 Village Bell-Ringer
1 White Sun's Zenith
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Celestial Punge
The deck was fun and Surprising for the Ones that played Me.
I really like the Village Bell-Ringer wish I had more The Fresh Meat came in handy Too.
Junk Tokens WBG
How do you deal with Mirran Crusader? He avoids every single card (minus Black Sun's Zenith) in the deck and he's incredibly common.
FNM: Jund RBG
Tumblr: Scary!
Junk Tokens WBG
You could also try Perilous Myr but you have to have a way to send it to the graveyard.
Hope that helps.
Thanks!
EDIT: Did some testing. Geth's Verdict or Tribute to Hunger are both nice in the board against Mirran Crusader. I tried going with 4 BSZ, but I ended up losing my mana dorks and getting set back.
Junk Tokens WBG
This build is definitely for my fun (mainly FNM's) and is not really super competitive. That being said it looks like:
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Solemn Simulacrum
3x Bloodline Keeper
Deathtouch Creatures /
Generators
3x Garruk Relentless
2x Glissa, the Traitor
3x Acidic Slime
1x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Grave Titan
Articafts
3x Mimic Vat
3x Mortapod
2x Parallel Lives
Other Spells
2x Tribute to Hunger
3x Beast Within
2x Black Sun's Zenith
Land
9x Forest
8x Swamp
4x Woodland Cemetary
3x Ghost Quarter
1x Black Sun's Zenith
3x Virulent Wound
2x Spell Skite
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Naturalize
2x Curse of Death's Hold
So, the goal is to stick a deathtouch onto a mortapod, fling it to kill one of their creatures, and then mimic vat one or both as they go to the grave. Deathtouch can kill any creature that is not indestructible or has pro-B. Shroud is an issue, butBlack sun's zenith and/or tribute to hunger will get these creatures. Acidic slime in particular is back breaking with a vat and pod in play, as each turn you kill a creature and eat a land (or artifact/enchantment). Bloodline Keeper / Grave Titan are next best under a vat as you just activate the vat at their end step and then bloodline can tap for a creature before you untap, and grave will add 2 zombies to the board before you start your turn. Sad Robot gets a land every time, and if you fling it then you have card draw.
What gets really fun is if you have a parallel lives in play. Then when you activate mimic vat you get multiple copies of the creature token for shear shenanigans.
Obvious the deck is a bit top-heavy (lots of cmc 4,5,6), but if you get to even 1 sad robot the deck really smooths out. With mimic vat and Garuuk, your deck is pretty wrath/kill proof, and Glissa can return the vats/pods if killed or countered. ratchet bomb (SB) + Glissa is backbreaking.
SB is pretty controlling and hopefully shores up the aggro builds. MD acidic slimes and beast within + SB naturalize will help with pesky artifacts/enchantments.
Overall I would not mind more ramp/card draw, but again this is a deck built more for fun. Also flashing in ambush vipers may be worthwhile.
EDH:▼
(links to 3D generals)
Playing: Designing:
Retired:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=377957
Parallel Lives Abuse
Zombie tokens in action
Junk Tokens WBG
I've found the best alternative to Moan of the Unhallowed is wakedancer. It does the same thing. Only one card isn't a token. But its still 2 2/2 bodies with one card.
Only it costs 3 mana instead of 4. There are several cases where this doesn't work since you will specifically need a "zombie" but in the deck that you have made it doesn't really qualify. So Wakedancer is just a faster Moan of the Unhallowed.
3x Birds Of Paradise
3x Bloodline Keeper
2x Essence Of The Wild
2x Jade Mage
2x Kessig Cagebreakers
3x Llanowar Elves
3x Strangleroot Geist
2x Viridian Emissary
4x Parallel Lives
Instant
2x Doom Blade
2x Hunter's Insight
2x Beast Within
2x Tragic Slip
Sorcery
2x Bramblecrush
2x Moan Of The Unhallowed
2x Garruk Relentless
Lands
10x Forest
8x Swamp
4x Woodland Cemetery
Im pretty happy with it thus far it can do some really crazy things like a turn 2 Garruk which can then tutor up any creature I need it to like Bloodline or Essence. My only concern is whether to drop the two Jade Mages and add back in one Strangleroot Giest and one Llanowar Elf or to keep it the way it is.