My objective is to construct a reasonably competitive standard deck. I wanted to use black, for sure, and ended up with a bit of green and a lot of blue, which is fine. Green gives me a little extra mana and some utility while blue gives me counters, drawing, and evasion. Black comes with its removal and discards, and a bit more versatility.
Certain things Id be trying to accomplish in a match:
1.) Get Siren of the Silent Song onto the battlefield and attach Aqueous Form to it.
2.) Get some cards into my graveyard for an inevitable Empty the Pits.
- I wrecked last week during FNM with that card. Won several games with it. :3
3.) Smash them in the face with Fleetfeather (because that thing is relatively scary as a 3/3 flying with deathtouch and potential 6/6.
In the end, the deck is PRIMARILY focused on forcing the opponent to discard and give me an overwhelming card advantage. Its secondary focus is to mill on the side and use the nice delve cards to win or get an even larger advantage.
I tried to keep a solid balance of CMC to keep at least a playable curve.
A list of cards I selected to build this deck from:
**Creature (16)**
Agent of the Fates
Bloodsoaked Champion
Clever Impersonator
Elvish Mystic
Embodiment of Spring
Fleetfeather Cockatrice
Grim Haruspex
Gurmag Swiftwing
Hornet Nest
Prophet of Kruphix
Quickling
Rakshasa Vizier
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Sylvan Caryatid
Wall of Frost
**Enchantment (9)**
Aqueous Form
Crippling Blight
Debilitating Injury
Dictate of Erebos
Dictate of Karametra
Eternal Thirst
Singing Bell Strike
Sultai Ascendancy
Waste Not
**Enchantment Creature (5)**
Archetype of Imagination
Brain Maggot
Courser of Kruphix
Erebos, God of the Dead1
Nyx Weaver
**Instant (10)**
Artisan's Sorrow
Cancel
Countermand
Dig Through Time
Dissolve
Empty the Pits
Hero's Downfall
Stubborn Denial
Sultai Charm
Weave Fate
**Sorcery (11)**
Bitter Revelation
Commune with the Gods
Despise
Divination
Dutiful Return
Interpret the Signs
March of the Returned
Mind Rot
Read the Bones
Savage Punch
Thoughtseize
Updates:
- At Gothy's urging, I removed one Dictate of Karametra (a card I felt I could do with one less of) and added one more Empty the Pits.
- Shifted some cards around. Added Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver.
Okay, so... The deck looks a bit janky, even to me... But here is what I'd do/hope for.
I'd be hoping for a forest on turn one, because dumping an elvish mystic would be /huge/.
This would allow for a turn two sylvan caryatid and a land card of my choice. Preferably an island, or if I am feeling unthreatened at the time, maybe an opulent palace if I have one to cover my bases. It'd allow for the option of some removal and counters via Sylvan.
Preferably get a toughseize or some such down ASAP to peek at their cards to see if I want to begin forcing discards or work on more creatures.
Cards:
- Bloodsoaked Champion: At 2/1 he is a good one-drop for black, and his raid (which is not overly difficult to activate) is particularly useful for returning him to the battlefield to continually harass the opponent. Maybe not the greatest card around, but he will work, especially combo'd with some of my other cards that have enter the graveyard effects.
- Elvish Mystic: One drop for extra green mana. Never hurts. Already a popular card so using him is not really that crazy.
- Fleetfeather Cockatrice: Not overly expensive, but evasive card with deathtouch makes it particularly tempting. It's monstrous ability could make it a nice card for poking since as long as there is mana available, it can't really be blocked by anything less than a */6 due to deathtouch for fear of the monstrosity. Basically, once it is down, play everything on second mainphase. Gets even more dangerous if there is a Prophet of Kruphix down.
- Grim Hauruspex: A card that is not particularly powerful or even that useful in most cases. However, I put one in there because if I have the bloodsoaked champion down and continually throw him at the enemy then there is really nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Hauruspex gives me a draw everytime he dies and then he just comes back later.
- Prophet of Kruphix: Prophet of Kruphix untaps everything on their turn. There is really no more need to explain than that - oh, yeeeaah... All creatures have flash. All of a sudden Fleefeather Cockatrice in their face when they weren't expecting it! Or... something else. Never know.
- Quickling: Quickling is a card I've always enjoyed. It's got nice art, isn't overly expensive in terms of CMC, has a lovely little bounce effect to save another card, has flying, and is a 2/2 for 2. Hard to go wrong with that.
- Sidisi, Brood Tyrant: Fun with mill. Zombies start popping up the more creatures that go into the graveyard from my library. I don't expect it to be an overwhelming number of zombies. But some is more than none, and the more I have the better. 2/2 isn't anything to necessarily scoff at, especially since there are some enter the graveyard effects from other cards.
- Siren of the Silent Song: A relatively cheap creature at 3 CMC with 2/1 (not exceptional) but makes up for its low defense and attack with a relatively debilitating inspired ability. Hitting someone and forcing a discard and single card Mill is pretty harsh, so throwing something like Aqueous Form on this beast is a guaranteed way to frustrate an opponent.
- Sylvan Caryatid: Really no way to go wrong with Sylvan Caryatid. Mana of any color for tapping it. Defender with hexproof. GG.
- Aqueous Form: Aqueous Form is a nice little card. Cheap to cast and makes the enchanted creature unlockable. This is rather frustrating as someone then has to waste a valuable burn card on a particularly pesky little creature where it might have been useful elsewhere. If they dont have a way to remove it... well, scry 1 every turn is not bad... but on other cards, like Siren of the Silent Song, it can be reaaally nice. Scry 1, 2 damage, Discard 1, Mill 1 for each attack? Wooo!
- Dictate of Karametra: Lots of mana. Only problem is it works for the opponent, too. That's not really a problem, though. They should be discarding so often that they could have all the mana they want and nothing to cast! :3
- Sultai Ascendancy: Millscry 2 every turn? Sure.
- Waste Not: Considering how many ways I have to make an opponent discard, Waste Not is a handy little bugger. It's not overly amazing, though, so I only put one in. It's just one of those things that if its there, good, if not, oh well. Zombies, mana, draw... all good.
- Courser of Kruphix: Everyone likes him. Know your top card. Play it if its a land. Saves some time. Moves things along. Little bit of lifegain to pad the dice. Nothing to lose, there. But also not overly important to this particular deck. Just a... lets say... fun little bonus!
- Countermand: A beefier version of dissolve, and one mana more expensive. Forces them to mill four and counters a spell. No real downside there.
- Dig Through Time: Dig Through Time is a bit spendy to cast, but the chance to cycle through seven cards, keep two, and dump them back into your library is fairly nice. In those seven cards, you're bound to find something you want. The delving really helps with this cast and thus should not be an issue for this deck as there should be plenty floating in the graveyard.
- Dissolve: Dissolve... Cancels big brother. Same cost, same basic function, but added scry. Why not use it?
- Empty the Pits: Empty the Pits is easy to underestimate. Annnd... I admit, its not /really/ good. It's... okay. In theory it is ammaaaazingly cool, but practice, not so much. Its got a huge cost on it, but that's okay because it also has delve. Considering I have a fairly reasonable self-mill, I should have enough cards in my graveyard and mana available to put anywhere between 10-15 2/2 zombies down by the time this shows up and becomes relevant. Just an auxiliary win condition. And it is also just one of those things where people just sort of drop their hand and let out a sigh of defeat. Makes me giggle with glee! >:D
- Hero's Downfall: Probably better creature removal out there, but this one removes planeswalkers, too. That's good enough for me!
- Interpret the Signs: A rather nifty little card. Basically helps you refill your hand and give you nice card advantage. Its a bit spendy, so I only put in one.
- March of the Returned: Returns cards from the graveyard. Creature cards, that is. Nothing wrong with that. Its easy enough to mill your useful cards into the graveyard annnd if you can get them back out, that's always a plus.
- Thought seize: I've heard a black deck without thought seize is doing something wrong. It's a good card. 1 black mana to see their hand and get rid of a non-land card? Hmm... Even with a loss of 2 life on there that is hard to pass up!