x3! Infinite Combos $18

I was thinking the same thing - I almost put in dash hopes to counter counters :P but then I thought that when it really mattered they would just take the 5life hit. It's always nice to hear your view on budgets :)

And as always, feel free to wrokshop it, if you like

5 life is still a quarter of their health, though. Maybe get you close enough to finish it off without comboing off, yeah? Probably not, though. Not sure what you would take out, either. :/

Suppose you do have room in the sideboard, though.

Blood artist would die from Heartless Summoning...
Also.. just complaining for the sake of having nothing to do... Infinite is spelled with an 'i' not an 'a'
But anyways, good deck!
I suggest switching out Exsanguinate for Consume Spirit.
Cathodion and Myr Moonvessel also combos with Decaying Soil.

I love me a good Blood Artist, but it's true :(
He's also a pricey date

@suitangi

Thank you for the spelling note (I don't mind at all)!
I chose Consume Spirit to minimize the initial cost, but Exsanguinate is obviously better (and gives a multiplayer boost)! Cathodion is sideboarded, but Myr Moonvessel works very well (>bloodpet I think)!

Instead of blood artist you could use Falkenrath Noble instead as an alternate win condition, same ability but it won't die to Heartless Summoning

very nice! thanks for the advice.

Yours is very nice! And thanks for reminding me, I adjusted the description.

Obviously one would not cast Decaying Soil and leave it in play "for a few turns" before letting off a combo.

Why drop Tendrils for ritual? Why not drop Consume Spirit? Tendrils is an easier combo to satisfy, so I'm curious why you want to remove it from the deck for mana ramping.

Noted above:
"I chose Consume Spirit to minimize the initial cost, but Exsanguinate is obviously better"
"If you play Exsanguinate instead of Consume Spirit, Myr Moonvessel can be used"

It is on the sideboard, already.

The tendrils is actually the harder combo to satisfy, it costs an additional mana, which unless your ramping gives your opponent that extra turn for an answer over Decaying soil, and Decaying Soil as I said will have more Threshold fuel off of the rituals and the Sign in Bloods, also as much as it will be harder to pull off by putting out Decaying Soil early, it gives your opponent less chances to respond, and less time to get hit by a Hymn or Thoughtseize.

Assuming you have an ideal (or near ideal) hand, you are right. If not, Tendrils can play off 16 creatures instead of 4, and if you have x2 Myr Retriever, you do not need Decaying Soil at all. In my experience (with budget combos), adding a turn via increased mana costs isn't as detrimental as suffering from higher pressure from less card options - it's a personal preference, I suppose. I would rather win turn 4 2/5 games than turn 3 1/5 games, for example. You are correct, I'm simply asking about the lesser of evils, in terms of card economy.

Personal Note: when I craft <$20 decks, I generally don't have a concern for cards like Thoughtseize (Hymn is a good point). If someone plays a card that cost as much as my whole deck, I was probably not going to win anyway. This deck could be completely rebuilt to deal with those kind of threats (most decks of this build are $200-500). I am personally most threatened by disenchant and Counterspell.

Thank you kindly, Rickell, for your thoughts. Without quality debates, decks wouldn't improve as much - mine especially ;)

Why, thank you. My goal was to reduce the cost; most of "these" decks tend to be pricey; however, being consistent is also nice.

yeah, that is true. price is a pretty big deal.

Heartless summoning, havengul litch, pawn of ulamog, perilous myr.

Very true! I added Insidious Dreams as an alternate (or in addition to) Sign in Blood (currently on sideboard to keep the cost under $20), but I think if someone looks here and wants to build or alter this deck, they will likely choose to use it. Thanks for the tips!

Moonvessel Myr nets you zero mana with the Decaying Soil combo (and Heartless Summoning), however it counts as an additional spell towards your Tendrils of Agony every time you cast it, generating infinite Storm copies. Same with 2 Myr Retrievers: play one for 0, it dies, play the second for 0, it dies, it's death trigger grabs the other from your graveyard, repeat. The Myr Retriever combo even has the added benefit of not needing Decaying Soil for it to work (just Heartless Summoning), it will still generate infinite Storm. And as you noticed, the other combos generate infinite black mana (and infinite Storm) so they can be used for either Consume Spirit or Tendrils of Agony. Hope this answered your question.

w190487 has deleted this comment.

You are right, w190487. That's my mistake (something that slipped through during the changes of the deck).

Oh, sorry. My mistake.

For argument's sake, we will figure we draw nine cards - starting hand + 2 draws - because we would ideally play Heartless Summoning on turn 2. The short answer (not as accurate, its just an idea), in terms of stats, is this:

The odds of drawing Heartless Summoning from our first nine cards is about 60% (assuming no mulligan). [~4/60 chance x 9 cards]
Second, we would assume we draw Heartless Summoning, leaving us in need of x2 Myr Retriever (18.5%) OR x1 Decaying Soil (53%) from the remaining eight cards.
Finally there are a handful of options to finish off "a combo". This is all assuming you don't play Sign in Blood.

Somebody did homework i see. I think you are correct but i am not sure. Can you do Some math om my deck too?
http://www.mtgvault.com/kingholldder/decks/burning-choice/

It's only rough math, but it is a general idea. The exact math is a lot more to put up here.

All I am saying is that you should maybe drop one combo component (and reduce the viable combos to 4 or 3) and add tutors/library manipulation instead.

Read the cards again. Retriever immediatedly dies because the Heartless Summoning gives it -1/-1. And it reduces the casting cost by 2. So, Myr Retrievers cost 0, die as soon as they hit play and every time this happens, one returns the other one from the grave to your hand.

w190487 has deleted this comment.

Ah, got it. Coolwip just confused me with his "you would have to pay one mana you want a creature back" part. Myr Retriever only works on artifacts, so I automatically assumed 3 and 5 are the ones with the dual Retrievers :)

I fixed it. I assumed people would assume a "x2" (as Puschkin did), but you are right. For clarity, I removed it from the description from 3/5. Thanks for the feedback!

Great deck, looks like fun , just made this deck http://www.mtgvault.com/dragon77/decks/shuffle-why-not/

I think the tokens created from Pawn would die due to the -1/-1 effect from Heartless Summoning before you have the chance to sacrifice them for mana (if that was what you were going for).

Crap...it looked like it wold combo with this deck.