This time, I decided to try a (mostly) mono black setup, since that would almost guarantee my ability to get Heartless Summoning on the board at will. I wanted some big bad creatures, and of course right now the biggest, baddest of the black is Griselbrand. I may eventually include him, but I just didn't feel like shelling out the $10 each that it would take to get some, and I felt sure that there were some cool underplayed cards I could use.
I started with the idea of getting something together with Xathrid Gorgon, since by some odd happenstance I have 4 of them. I didn't wind up going that route, but I have her in mind for a future deck, as a combo with Hellkite Tyrant.
Instead, I happened upon two guys that form the cornerstone of this deck: Harvester of Souls and Reaper from the Abyss. Reaper's morbid trigger is mandatory, meaning he could kill my own dudes if I'm not careful. So I started looking for demon creatures that weren't too hard on the downside. Desecration Demon was an obvious choice, and my top end turned into Lord of the Void.
Now this is a serious card. Mill decks just want to throw your library into your graveyard. Lord of the Void removes your library from the game, 7 cards at a time. Oh, and I get one of your dudes if I happen to like him.
That's where I wanted to go, now how do I live long enough to get there?
My first task was discouraging early attacks. I originally looked for cards that could survive the -1/-1 penalty on Heartless Summoning. Vampire Nighthawk was an easy choice, since he's a black staple in the 3-drop slot. But black creatures at 1 and 2 mana are generally pretty weak. I struggled with it for a time, until I realized that for the right creature, it wouldn't matter. Typhoid Rats has deathtouch, so anything it blocks it also kills. That makes folks think twice about charging in with their Champion of the Parish all loaded up with counters. Then I realized another cool interaction: drawing a Typhoid Rats later in the game wasn't a bad thing. Presumably I'd have a Harvester or Reaper on the field, and that turns the rats into a 1-drop draw a card/kill a creature spell.
For that reason I also added Blood Artist. Early in the game he gets me small life swings, and later he can turn into a draw/removal spell with a little added bonus. And if I draw into a Mutilate board wipe, the life swing can be quite massive against creature-heavy decks.
Speaking of Mutilate, that's where this deck really shines. Few creatures will survive it, and if I've got a Harvester of Souls in play, he'll draw me a card for every non-token creature that ate it. In testing, this worked especially well against Naya humans -- the board is wiped, your hand is empty, I've got a full hand ready to go into next turn. Against other decks, it still tends to produce a nice card advantage.
After adding some spot removal, I made a sideboard that complemented the main deck but dealt with specific threats, like Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere, as well as control decks in general. I showed it to Planeswalker Asylum's Chris Allen and incorporated his suggestions, then this is what I had:
| Creatures: 4 Typhoid Rats 3 Blood Artist 3 Vampire Nighthawk 3 Desecration Demon 4 Harvester of Souls 1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed 3 Reaper from the Abyss 1 Lord of the Void | Spells: 3 Tragic Slip 4 Heartless Summoning 3 Ultimate Price 4 Mutilate | Land: 4 Blood Crypt 2 Kessig Wolf Run 4 Overgrown Tomb 14 Swamp | Sideboard: 2 Cavern of Souls 3 Abrupt Decay 3 Dreadbore 1 Ultimate Price 4 Slaughter Games 1 Reaper from the Abyss 1 Lord of the Void |
The two big guys are there for going against midrange decks, where there's not as much worry about getting blitzed, in which case I'd probably swap them in for a couple of my little dudes.
My first match I basically threw away due to not thinking clearly. I made so many mistakes that I lost track of them. I will say this: Legion Loyalist and Firemane Avenger are not cards you want to allow to live for very long. They will eat you alive.
My second match was a bye, and my third was against... ugh... my head is so foggy that I can't even remember. All I can recall is that my last two matches of the night were won pretty easily, despite a number of stupid derps on my part (mutilating after my dudes had combat damage, but expecting them to live, for example). The deck seems strong, and my opponents were complimentary about it. I hope to give it a better trial at FNM soon, but for some reason I have the jitters about it. Meh, the worst that could happen is I spend an evening playing Magic, right?
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