dknight27

12 tapped lands and half the deck being two-drops makes me think this will be pretty slow and will essentially be playing down 2 tempo on games when you're on the draw. My gut is telling me that dropping the curve a bit is probably a good idea so you can have an opening that's not playing from behind every game, even if you've got the lifegain to keep you alive an extra turn or two. I know you want to have more life than opponent so you can go full draino on Pestilence, but it won't matter if opponent has full control of the board and a running clock that decapitates you before you can get what you need to start the drain.

Maybe look at subbing in [[Grim Bauble]] over Cram Session, as you're going to have to spend a lot of mana to get your Lesson activated, and the deck is already hurting for mana/tempo?

Just an idea.

Man oh man, have there been some powerful dinos printed since I last gave them a proper look.

I assume this is going for budget modern, which should be just fine with how the deck is looking. That being said, I can see a few things that might be able to help optimize the gameplan.

You really, really, really want a turn 1 play that gets you a turn 2 three-drop dino, or a turn 3 four-drop dino, so I'd advise maxing out the three-drop beaters with a few four-drop titans on top. For that reason, I'd advise running [[Ripjaw Raptor]] and/or [[Shifting Ceratops]] over Carnage Tyrant. I'd generally advise dropping the Tyrant to 2 copies, so you're less likely to have it in the opening hand or draw into it quickly, as you'd much rather have a beater fielded turn 2 or 3 and going to work than to have to wait around to field the Tyrant, even if it's a big baddie. I'd also recommend the above two over Regisseur Alpha for the same reasons.

The Lorekeeper is a good idea, as you really want the 8 one-drop mana dorks, but I'd rather use [[Ignoble Hierarch]], as you don't get a bonus for humans or druids, the Hierarch gives you the Exalted bonus that kicks in immediately, and you can use it to cast noncritter spells as well. This actually gives you a fun synergy where you go: turn 1- forest, Hierarch. turn 2- Hierarch casts Utopia Sprawl, play second land, tap out forest for GG and cast your 3 drop with 4 mana ready to go on turn 3.

Savage Stomp is a good idea to deal with troublesome critters and keep the field clear for your beaters, but it's a bad topdeck, is conditional, and can't do anything but damage critters. I'd rather run good ol [[Lightning Bolt]], which can be used to finish close games/speed up the clock as well as being a critter hate card that's basically always good. Alternatively, you could think about running [[Domri, Anarch of Bolas]], as you can use it for spot removal or mana ramp, and it buffs all your critters for free.

Just some thoughts, not trying to hate on the build.

I'm so out of it these days, I missed the Synod/Saga whiff entirely. Whoops.

I'm not active in pro play anymore, and haven't been for a long time at this point. I'm just a theory-enthusiast, and like trying to work outside a meta to see if it's still possible to compete without piggybacking on the bullshit nuclear strategies that overwhelm everything these days.

In regards to Tide, Jace, and Campfire, here was my reasoning:
-Tide has the easy miracle setup, works as a blue nuke (which is probably needed as this deck has very little direct interaction), kills tokens outright, combos with Day's Undoing extremely well, is more affordable with Ancient Tomb if necessary, isn't widely used in the meta, and can be bypassed/shuffled away extremely easily with all the topdecking/shuffling/setup
-Jace is the 'wincon' that's not actually meant to win on his own, he's just a way to actually finish out the game once you pull off the Day's Undoing hand nuke that's a one-of along with Murktide so it's harder to extract/discard/etc. Really, the deck wins once you land the Undoing, I just wanted to make sure it had a way to actually close out the game if opponent didn't scoop on the spot, and since you'll have all the time in the world to field/protect him, that shouldn't be an issue. And again, if you don't need him, all the topdecking/shuffling/setup can hopefully get rid of him for later. I was also hesitant to run more Murktides over just the one, as Undoing gobbles up your grave, so it's not an immediate Undoing then Murktide for the quick clock
-Campfire is my hedged bet against slower matchups and a way to capitalize on all the unused mana that control decks tend to accumulate once the game either reaches the 'draw go' middle game, or when you're bleeding out badly against decks that want you to bleed and Campfire helps mitigate that and still lets you use your Ancient Tombs for actual mana. Plus, since it's fetchable, you can just run the one copy and snag it if needed and otherwise forget about it in 95% of games

That's my rational with those decisions, I'm not sure if they're solid ideas or not.

I went back and forth with Shadowspear, and decided against it mainly because of the 3 rather than 4 Sagas and it's general uselessness (in here) without the Saga gaming token strategy (which this deck CAN do, but doesn't really want to have to). It would certainly help mitigate the lifeloss and would be a much easier equip with Ancient Tombs, so I might be way off base with that line of reasoning.

For Spell Pierce, I probably do need to switch some of it to some free counters, especially while running Stock Up, which I'd very much like to drop turn 2 and still have the shields up for that turn cycle. I'm always warry of running too many Dazes mainboarded cause they eat so much tempo, so I'd probably opt for swapping one Pierce for Force of Negation. That's my initial thought anyway.

I was afraid of Counterspell because of the UU in a deck that wants to play colorless lands, but I could see a copy or two being good topdecks in the middle game. I'll have to Ponder (ha) that one.

Stern Scolding is in there to hopefully shut down the nuisance Delver critters as well as [[Orcish Bowmasters]], [[Glaring Fleshraker]], [[Solitude]], and all the stupid little combo critters that are run in popular decks that all happen to be weenie enough to get scolded.

I probably do need to cut an Undercity Sewers. One copy to fetch into for the Surveil is probably good enough, and that would let me run something that cuts down on mulligans due to slow starts.

Thanks for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated. I'm always trying to find some innovation to squeeze out of overlooked cards and/or combos, and that unfortunately goes hand in hand with overstepping, so it's always nice to have more eyes on an idea.

I'm not surprised they did a ruling on Overburden because of how powerful an effect token bouncing would be in EDH, but it's also a shame, cause it would actually be a fun mechanic to play around with if there weren't such ridiculous token generators to combo into. Ah well, them's the breaks I suppose.

I've been noodling this in the back of my mind a bit, and another angle you could do is go for a blue/green semi-prison build that takes advantage of some green cards to speed up your win condition while also adding to the prison effect of mana denial.

Running [[Root Maze]] along with the Overburden package would grind opponent to a god damn halt, especially against a deck that ran fetch lands. It'll only slow you down a little bit in comparison, and you don't care anyway, as this deck is ok with taking it's time as long as opponent has to also take lots of time. This would also let you run Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath as another wincon, which combos perfectly with Overburden, as it dumps a land back into play, and is replayable from the grave, etc.

Alternatively, since Overburden doesn't trigger from tokens, you could turn it into a token build, where you take advantage of the loophole by running agro tokens for the faster beatdown while opponent is getting land bounced and is generally slower.

Are you going for budget casual here?

No shame in that, anyone who can afford to play vintage is either a lucky as hell 40 year old that started the game in alpha, a serious pro, or someone with WAAAAAY too much cash to burn that's ok with games that are won or lost on turn 1 (which I find quite boring).

Unfortunately, Overburden doesn't trigger off of tokens. If it could, you could just win the game instantly with [[Hunted Phantasm]] or put opponent in a perpetual landlock with [[Forbidden Orchard]], etc. So your Pongify/Curse of the Swine mechanic doesn't really have a place in here. You can still technically bounce the tokens to effectively exile the creature entirely, but that would be a 2 for 1 for opponent, so you're down material in a deck that loses material in order to stall for time unless you've got your full lock in place.

I do see some potentially easy/cheap rearrangements that could be made to help this build along. You really, really, really want to get to Overburden as quickly as possible, as the deck loses material without it until you just run out of steam. To that end, you'd want to run something like [[Muddle the Mixture]] which can search out your lock piece, as well as Isochron, targets for Isochron, or can be put on Isochron itself against control builds.

[[Propaganda]] would be this deck's best friend. It keeps opponent from attacking because of the land denial, and slows opponent down even if you don't have your lock in place.

Unwinding Clock doesn't really have enough targets to justify its spot, as it's basically a dead draw if you don't have Scepter up and working. It combos with a couple artifacts here and there, but nothing with enough synergy or stability to justify it over running something that either gets you to your combo faster or protects you. Same thing with Panharmonicon. Brain in a Jar is a slow way to grind out tactical advantage, but you'd honestly be better off just running [[Preordain]] and getting the cantrip that lets you see up to 3 cards (2 at the min) which gets you closer to what you need and speeds the deck up.

Some other cards to check out:

[[Aether Barrier]] (HUGE tax effect when combined with your lock), [[Contempt]] (reusable bounce mechanic that costs opponent tempo and lets you grind out your advantage until you get your lock, [[Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft]] (alternate win condition/clock enhancer that also bounces a critter and is pitch perfect for a build like this. It even lets you bounce a Mystic Sanctuary to reuse).

Ideally you'd also want to run a few fetch lands to work with Mystic Sanctuary, since you can fetch it, but they're all expensive so I imagine that's probably not on the table.

Just some ideas, for what they're worth.

Is this for single or multiplayer?

Is this budget vintage (based on the single Sol Ring), or casual budget? (my comments change based on the format/budget)

Let me know how it handles.

The two Harbingers in the side also seem a bit precarious on 18, especially since it's a UU 3-drop, so you've only got 13 lands that can cast it. Have they been working out as good sides against all the lovely 'I need lots of colors' decks games 2 and 3?

I absolutely love the pivot synergy going on here. Fantastic way to take advantage of the inherent life loss, and it draws out any removal from opponent while still giving you card advantage. Plus, opponent can't side out all the small removal options and just go after the big removal. Very cool.

Only potential problem I see is the 4 Wastelands in 18 land build, as it cuts down on your turn 1 Thoushtseize, turn 2 Entomb/Reanimate bread and butter combo.

This deck would very, very much like to play [[Champion of the Parish]], both because it's a turn 1 play and because it's a win condition in a build like this. I'd advise cutting Captain of the Watch entirely for 4 copies of Champion. Captain is just too expensive, even with the combo with Preeminent Captain (which is unreliable).

Destroy Evil can be swapped out for [[Exorcise]], which is more versatile and permanent.

[[Coppercoat Vanguard]] would also go a very long way in here. I'd personally run it over Preeminent Captain, as you're more likely to get value out of a 2-drop lord than a slow accelerant, but that's my opinion.

Just some thoughts.

The exalted cascade effect is a fun one with which to play around. There's a couple things you can tweak here that will help your plan, as you want to go as quickly as possible, playing a creature every turn from 1-3 so that your attacker is a real threat, after which you can drop creatures as needed while fixing threats.

Builder's Blessing is a good idea, as you'll have lots of blockers available, but you really don't care what opponent's doing attacker wise, as you'll (hopefully) be winning the damage race and always have emergency blockers available, so really it will just slow you down.

Swift Justice is good for a little lifegain, but this deck doesn't need it (you have no significant source of loss of life and will try to win the damage race), and you don't need the first strike because your critter will almost certainly be bigger than the available blockers, so it's not giving you the bang for your buck you need in that slot.

Nefarox is WAAAAAY too slow for a build like this, as if you've got 6 mana available, you've either probably already lost or are in a spot where a big baddie won't help you. Same argument for Battlegrace Angel.

Sign in Blood is a good idea for the refill, but it's a worse version of Night's Whisper due to the double black mana cost. Blood can technically hit an opponent for the last 2 damage to close out a game, but you'd much rather not have to worry about the mana, especially since this deck only runs 8 black sources.

Murder is nice/straightforward, but costs kind of a lot for what it does (especially with the double black), and only kills critters, so it can't deal with recursion/noncritters, etc. [[Legions to Ashes]] handles everything but lands, and exiles it to boot. It's not an instant, but the increased utility and playability (colors) more than makes up for that.

Angelic Benediction is another exalted to stack and helps with blocker problems, but it's a 4-drop and you can get its effect in better ways, so I'd consider replacing it. Ideally you'd run [[Authority of the Consuls]], as it's cheap as hell (another turn 1 drop that will win you the game) and slows opponent's blockers to a crawl, but it's 6 bucks a pop, so I'm not sure if that's in the budget. If it is, you very, very much would like to run it.

I wonder if you could/would want to squeeze in Stormchaser's Talent? Early tempo token that profits from almost every spell in your deck, and with enough stalled time becomes both a refill of material and a win condition. Just an idea

Keeping in mind that all my knowledge of pauper is from talking to you, but doesn't this seem a bit 2-drop heavy, especially with 6 tapped lands? Seeing only 1 Ponder was also a bit of a surprise, as I'd imagine you'd want to max that puppy out.

The Unexpected Fangs/big baddy combo also seems a bit neutered if there's only 2 Anglers, but I suppose you could stick it on a flyer and get chipshot life to keep you alive and up on the clock, so perhaps that's mitigated.

This build screams [[Six]] to me, especially since you really don't have much use for the lands you're going to pull back with Life From the Loam. Stitcher's Supplier also seems like a natural fit, especially as a sac target for Grist.

I'm a huge fan of the naming idea for Raisin Bran, and have tried to keep the same ethos going as it keeps it simple and on theme. I almost made a pun about garlic being a thing which kills vampires and how this deck messes around with pulling stuff back from the grave (a vampire characteristic) but restrained myself.

And I too miss the days when goblins was a blue/black control deck.

I'm right there with you, it makes no god damn sense why the card got made. Why on earth would you give the 'color' that pumps out mana better than any other color a utility card that maximizes that mana output better than any other card I've ever seen. Sometimes I think they don't look at their own game when they make cards. Why would they not have a program in place to run potential cards through that would identify obvious synergy so they can mitigate it/avoid OP obvious combos. Oh well.

My thoughts on only running 2 are that you need Ancient Tomb to do it (unlikely to get the other colorless lands stacked early), and that with all the card selection and cantripping, you're going to see one of the two copies relatively quickly anyway. I went back and forth for a while on the lands, as it would be lovely to not have to rely on Ancient Tomb to get the work done, but the life loss from some of the other options left me hesitant. One obvious fix would be to run [[Mystic Sanctuary]] so you can reuse one of the copies, which I could run over one of the Undercity Sewers (sorry Dismember). Putting in some [[Wasteland]] makes perfect sense, but I didn't know where to fit it (same problem as above) other than to cut a Saga and/or Sink into Stupor (which I don't really like in here anyway because of the bleeding and it's UU that doesn't take advantage of Ancient Tomb). I also thought about [[Academy Ruins]] so the Spellbomb loop of doom can happen, and maybe running [[Expedition Map]] to abuse with it, which combos perfectly with Saga and Ancient Tomb as well as fixing mana problems with Command.

Lots of work yet to do, without even looking at a sideboard (which I detest doing since I don't actively play in tournaments anymore), but I think the idea retains some merit, even if it has problems. There's so much synergy going on, something has to shake loose at some point.

It also just dawned on me that Ancient Tomb synergizes PERFECTLY with [[Intuition]], which could potentially be worked in here somehow, and would set up the Spellbomb grave loop, Command and Mystic Sanctuary recycling, or some other shenanigans. That might be worth working into a deck of its own (maybe simic Uro?). Food for thought I suppose.

Oldschool Myr goodness.

First thing's first, you are basically required to run [[Sol Ring]] (as many copies as you can given what format you want), as you can play it turn 1 then play a Myr turn 1. This speeds you up 2 whole turns and gives you access to 4 mana turn 2 which will shoot this deck into the stratosphere. I'd run that over Welding Jar (and as many copies as you can unless you are going for vintage).

You also want to use some artifact lands, which ups the artifact count for all your cards that count artifacts. [[Seat of the Synod]] over island, and [[Ancient Den]] over Welding Jar (if you don't go for Sol Ring).

[[Distant Melody]] would also go a really, really long way in this deck, as you up it's draw factor and cut its mana curve with each Myr you've got fielded. Excellent way to draw into whatever you need, and another way to cash in on your potential infinite mana loop of the double Galvinizer.

I feel like trying to squeeze in an [[Inspiring Vantage]] or [[Sunbillow Verge]] so you can pop the High Noons for your Lava Axe effect to end the game or turn the clock forward/use multiple copies of Noon. I'd think a single copy would work, as you want the games to drag, and it's not strictly necessary, but will help more than it hurts.

Just checking the parameters, as it changes my feedback based on the format and budget.

Off the bat, you want to cut it down to 60 if you can for consistency reasons. This also feeds into the other advice, so I'll let it ride below.

The main advice I can give is to cut down the curve to speed the deck up as much as you can. Right now, you've got literally nothing you can do turn 1, which means you're behind in almost every game, especially on the draw. That's sort of the opposite of what decks like this want. You ideally want to field a critter turn 1 and start the damage clock every game, then be playing a critter every turn after that and quickly overwhelm opponent with numbers, lord effects, and tempo. If you can drop a critter turns 1 and 2 then drop a lord turn 3, you've basically got the game in the bag assuming there's no nuke headed your way. That's the ideal setup, but even without the lord ready and waiting in hand, you'd rather have speed than power in a build like this.

For example, you'd rather play a 1-drop turn 1 than have to wait till turn 3 to drop an Uninvited Geist. Geist is stronger, 'harder' to block, and can buff itself, but dies just as easily to spot removal as a 1-drop and eats a much more important turn if it does, while the 1-drop gets some damage and tempo and goes 1 for 1 without costing you anything. Imagine it's your turn 3, you play your third land and tap out for the Geist, then opponent taps a land and Bolts it, then gets to untap into whatever he's planning to do. This speed-centric idea is extremely pleasant in spirit builds, as all your 1-drop options for critters come with great advantages, and combo with other parts of the deck perfectly.

And more good news, there are some killer spirits that are cheap, so you can get this done pretty easily and stick to a very reasonable budget. Check out [[Mausoleum Wanderer]], [[Rattlechains]], and [[Usher of the Fallen]], all of which should be considered for this deck, and each of which costs less than a quarter.

For similar reasons, I'm going to argue against Door of Destinies (as well as the fact that it's a next to worthless topdeck and slows everything to a crawl if you get it in the opening hand) in favor of [[Rally the Ranks]], as it's much faster, much more reliable, and basically can't miss. It also double buffs Katilda, which is nice.

Not Forgotten is an ok idea, as it either lets you recycle something good, get rid of something bad, or force opponent to topdeck something useless, all with the spirit kicker, but it's probably not worth 4 spots, as it's maximum effect would be as a topdeck rather than in the opening hand or early in the game when there's nothing you need it to do and you'd much rather have a critter to play. So I'd consider cutting it down to 2 spots.

Curiosity is in a bit of a weird spot in the build, as its material math is sort of all over the place. For example, you play it on a critter and attack, opponent Bolts the critter, and you're down 2 for 1 with even tempo. If you manage to land an attack with the critter (which this build is designed to do with all the flying), the card becomes a +0 (justifying itself), but nets you no benefit, as you could have achieved a better result with a [[Preordain]], for example. You actually need to land 2 hits with the critter for it to really be of any value, as Curiosity itself doesn't do anything else. This idea is somewhat mitigated by [[Curious Obsession]], which buffs the critter a bit, suddenly adding a better damage clock on top and being a little more justifiable as a card draw engine, but again, it's got the same material problems. You'd really only want to run it in a deck full of small/fast critters with flying that are essentially guaranteed to get around blocks quickly, which is what I'm advocating for tweak-wise, so you can take that or leave it.

Essence Flux is a good anti-removal card to hold up that you can also use for blocking tricks, but you've already got protection with Drogskol Captain and instant protection if you add [[Rattlechains]] (which you absolutely should), so you could consider cutting it entirely. It works on spot removal, but won't protect the critter from a nuke, which will be coming games 2 and 3 if any are available, and you'd do better with a mass protection card sideboarded anyway.

As for the sideboard, you can build a pretty solid one relatively cheaply. Check out [[Deafening Silence]] against control and storm, [[Damping Matrix]] against artifacts, combo, and creature based combo, [[Pithing Needle]] against specific threats like planeswalkers, lands, critters, etc (can usually be used to shut down a win condition), [[Rest in Peace]] against everything grave, and [[Make a Stand]] as an anti-nuke you can play games 2 and 3 that doubles as a little extra damage as well as a turn free of damage if you need it.

So, overall, I'd say cut 4 Hanged Executioner, 2 Uninvited Geist, 2 Not Forgotten, 2 Door of Destinies, 4 Dreamshackle Geist, 1 Temple of Enlightenment, and 4 Curiosity (leaving 15 spots) and add in 4 [[Mausoleum Wanderer]], 4 [[Usher of the Fallen]], 4 [[Rally the Ranks]], and 3 [[Rattlechains]].

For the sideboard, go with 2 [[Deafening Silence]], 2 [[Damping Matrix]], 2 [[Pithing Needle]], 2 [[Rest in Peace]], 3 [[Make a Stand]], and 4 [[Sheltered by Ghosts]].

You should be able to get all that for 10 bucks at any online retailer, so hopefully that fits in with the budget.

Just some thoughts, not trying to throw hate at the deck.