dknight27

I'm not the biggest fan of drana in here. You don't really need the attack boost or the devotion. Perhaps think about swapping it out for faithless looting, as it goes perfectly with bloodghast, combos well with bloodsoaked champion, and fixes mid/late game dead draws.

Also, worth thinking about bloodbraid elf, boggart ram gang, vexing devil, and atarka's command

The best advice I can give this off the top is to trim the curve down as low as possible. You want to have a turn 1, 2, and 3 drop every game, preferably with haste to start the clock as fast as you can. Goblin guide, kessig prowler, zurgo bellstriker, tattermung maniac come to mind.

I also highly recommend a playset of lightning bolt. Removes blockers to keep the clock running, and finishes out games if they have no blockers. Plus it brings the curve down.

Also, 25 lands is high, especially if you trim the curve down. I would drop it to 21 with 8ish fetch lands if possible.

Just my initial thoughts

I'm not sure how much I can help as things are. The problem is sort of systemic with what you're trying to do, as blue and white don't really have any cheap critters you want to flicker. All the good ones are 3-drops, so it will take several turns to functionally flicker them, and the deck wont' hit its stride until much later in the game. This gives opponent all the time in the world to dismantle what you are trying to do and to get his plan in gear. In every build in modern you're going to see path to exile, fatal push, lightning bolt, or the like sniping out what you need before you have time to flicker them to safety.

I understand you want to go for an all-critter build, but in modern with WU on a budget I just don't see it happening.

Is there some reason you're opposed to augmenting this build with some instants or sorceries? 4 path to exiles and 4 opt/sleight of hand would go a long, long way to getting done what this deck needs to get done, and you would still have a primarily critter-based flicker.


If you do end up wanting to press on with the critter-only build, I would say cut spine, mulldrifter, and metamorph completely and work on the build that uses displacer and thought-knot seer and primarily 2-drop and 3-drop flicker targets. Also, spellstutter sprite is an excellent card but it needs to be in a deck that focuses on faeries to really hit its stride.

Even with 24 lands, this deck seems too top heavy to me. There are plenty of 1 and 2 drop instants and sorceries that help speed things up and up the control factor, both of which would go a long way. And, assuming the budget isn't an issue, then you can use snapcaster and/or torrential gearhulk, the kings of blink effects.

Another thing to consider is to make an eldrazi displacer build, or meld it into a green, blue, white so you can take advantage of the fantastic green etb boys.

Just my thoughts

This curve seems mighty low for 22 lands, even with the delicious raven's crime. You're also light on removal, so if they manage to field anything its gunna hurt. Collective brutality fixes both these problems and ups the flexibility. Fatal push and barren moor would be good considerations too.

Just my thoughts

Theres a tradition in magic to name decks after food. This is because of the deck nicknamed raisin bran which caused "two scoops". This deck plays around with cycling (leftovers) specifically an artifact which lets you re-use cycled cards, just like tupperware lets you re-use leftovers.

Temple of enlightenment over colonnade doesn't seem to fit

Any chance the budget could stand having some collective brutality?

Nope, never seen one played. I can definitely see the synergy, but the loss in tempo as the build is just seems to be untenable to me. It's pretty much a solved issue at this point that being fast is the most important part of magic in pretty much every format. Standard is the slowest of the regular formats, but even keeping that in mind ALWAYS being a turn behind due to all your lands entering tapped and a top heavy mana curve means at best you will react to what opponent is doing rather than getting anything done yourself.

This build looks like it eats a few mulligans due to color problems, as 5 of your lands are colorless in a quad-color build (15 color lands) and the only tactical cards are the 4 sages. The curve is low and sleek, and I'm sure you can get by on 1 or 2 lands for quite a while, but the quad color just seems to eat into this deck's consistency to me. Have you run into this problem?

This deck is going to be beyond slow as is. You're top heavy on the curve, and every land you have comes in tapped, so you are playing a turn behind. As is, you won't be able to drop anything till turn 3 most of the time, and you'll be dropping only 1 card per turn after that for the next several turns. Even in the best case, when you hit a 1 drop and 2 drop in the opening hand, you won't play them till turn's 2 and 3, giving opponent all the time in the world to do whatever he wants. If you're playing against a control deck, you won't field anything cause he will have everything set up. If you're playing against an agro deck, he will have the board pounding away at you turn 1 or 2 so you will be down life with a running clock.

The only solution I see is to thin out the gates (keep the search) with SOME faster lands (splash enough in to give yourself a chance at a turn 1 or 2 play), then saturate this deck with as many 1 and 2 drops as you can so that you can survive the early loss of tempo then counter attack with the advantage from the gate-themed cards.

I'm surprised to see only 30 lands in here, even with the artifacts, as you want to hit your search fast and ramp to 4 for salvagers with enough open to protect everything.

Right now im seeing a pretty high concentration of critter-fodder (14), which is much higher than normal in a reanimator build as your goal is to ensure that 1 hits the board as fast as possible rather than to consistently hit more than 1. 14 cards is 25% of the deck, so you are likely to get 2 in the opening, and when you add in the entomb it cranks the chances to close to 1/3. I would personally run more disruption/tactical hand rearrangement.

Also, lotus petal will help augment the dark rituals even more and will up the chances of the turn 1 iona or Jin-Gitaxias you want so badly.

Just my thoughts

I would recommend going with some collective brutality. Give the deck either hand disruption, removal, or draino and is easy and cheap to escalate, as this deck can get by on minimal lands, and you can ditch lingering souls then flash it back. I would also consider maxing out bitterblossom, as it works best when dropped early. Perhaps also consider a copy of sorin, lord of inistrad over the double up of solemn visitor.

Just my thoughts

This build looks a tad too top heavy, I would consider cutting some 3 and 4 drops and upping the 1 and 2 drops

I think he means a "by the book" burn deck

I'm not a huge fan of running 12 critters in here. It cuts down on the accuracy of delver (12 critters + 20 lands is more than half the deck), and the lightning angles slow the deck down (4 drops are tough in a deck with 20 lands with 8 fetches). I would consider swapping them out for electrolyze, which does precisely what this deck wants to do, is affordable, and ups the instant count.

I'm also not a fan of psyonic blast, as you have access to red and can use any of its much better burn options. I would consider 3 copies of risk factor, which also helps with redundant lands/bad top decks.

Just my thoughts.

You're missing some staples of tribal builds and some red/black staples in general that might help boost the build.

Kindred dominance
Adaptive automaton
Coat of arms
Ever after
Decree of pain
Grave pact
Gratuitous violence
Nihil spellbomb
Skullclamp
Night's whisper
Bloodghast
Gilded lotus
Thran dynamo
Flameshadow conjuring

Are you looking to modernize this?