Hey Deckbox;

I'm a new-ish player. I'm trying out different deckstyles and getting into deck building. Here's a deck I'm building around a cheap version a Grimgrin-esq combo.

http://deckbox.org/sets/153347

Thoughts behind this deck;

-Win with a combo of Devouring Swarm pumped Inf +1/+1 by Gravecrawler and Rooftop Storm
-Stall my opponent with Distress, Geth's Verdict, Tragic Slip and Black Cat
-Get Rooftop Stormout a bit qucker with Silver Myr, Palladium Myr and Warden of the Wall
-Find the combo with Diabolic Tutor
-Preserve the combo elements with Swiftfoot Boots and Undying Evil
-Gain some card advantage during a stall with Altar's Reap

What do you think? Please poke holes in my thinking, I'm trying to learn and don't have a solid grasp on tempo. Will something like this "Get There"?

Is there a better (standard) way to get Rooftop Storm out quicker?

Thanks!
-wkvd

PS: My work in progress for a U/B Grimgrin combo; http://deckbox.org/sets/153375

I'm not that experienced to tell you whether this is going to work or not, but if you want to achieve the combo, you need 4 of the combo elements. 4x gravecrawler, 4x Swarm and minimum 2x rooftop storm. One big flaw I see is that if an opponent casts a Grafdigger's Cage, or has graveyard hate (eg. Nihil Spellbomb, Surgical Extraction)the combo is gone. Other than that, I'll leave more experienced players to reply with advice.

Cheers!

Haha, I LOVE Grimgrin, Corpse-Born + Rooftop Storm! I have an EDH deck built with that and it is so much fun to play.

There are two things that stand out to me as an issue with this build.

1. The artifact ramp (e.g. Silver Myr, Palladium Myr and Warden of the Wall) and the cards to protect the combo (e.g. swiftfoot boots and undying evil) would be better replaced by more control cards like Go for the Throat, Black Sun's Zenith and Mana Leak.

2. You should probably run more copies of the combo pieces (i.e. Devouring Swarm, Gravecrawler, Rooftop Storm). I think you would also benefit from 2 Grimgrin, Corpse-Borns in the deck as they are really, really good in this setup.

You can probably see that the deck that is shaping up is more of an aggro/control list with a combo backup in case the aggro needs a little push. The reason for this is that Rooftop Storm is funny and all but it is slow and fragile.

To that end, you may want to look at Diregraf Captain to double-up the damage dealt by sacrificing Gravecrawler to Devouring Swarm or Grimgrin, Corpse-Born.

To answer your question, "will a deck like this get there", the answer is yes but you need to keep pressure on your opponent or they will just kill you before you get to combo out. That pressure is kept with either absurd amounts of control (available in standard but expensive, monetarily) or with an aggro setup that rides along with the combo. The latter of these two approaches detracts from the original combo goal but will ultimately end up with more wins and more consistent games.

I hope that helps and isn't too far removed from what you had in mind. If it is and you really want to work on a pure combo strategy regardless of how often it wins (hey, it's fun and we've all done it) I would be happy to provide different advice.

Thanks for the replies! Helpful, affirming and thought provoking. :)

Tawnos; do you have a decklist for your EDH deck?

The deck in my post-script is the "expensive" version of the deck which adds much more blue/control. (http://deckbox.org/sets/153375). It runs Diregraf Captain and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born.

What I'm shooting for with the deck you guys commented on was to do a similar effect with cheaper (money and mana) cards and a more stable manabase (mono-black with a blue splash for Rooftop Storm), as well as using cards I have in hand while I wait for my Grimgrin, Corpse-Born's to arrive. :)

The idea of going with Distress and Black Cat (as the pivot zombie) was to try to slow the opponent by elimiating thier hand with the hopes of being able to pluck big threats (Nihil Spellbomb, etc) out of thier hand - the more I think on it, it seems a risky combo in and of itself.

I'm surprised Undying Evil isn't more popular and I want to use it in a deck because I haven't as of yet. Undying is good, right? I look at this card as a control card really - removal on my Black Cat? I counter it by adding a +1/+1 counter, discard a card please.

Any thoughts as to why Undying Evil isn't showing up in more decklists?

As for running more copies of Rooftop Storm, et al - I believe you both - my thought here was I won't need Rooftop Storm till late, it may be in my hand or first few draws and I would be able to Diabolic Tutor for it if not. That, and I currently only have one copy :D (more on the way... of course).

Is Diabolic Tutor for a single card generally dissapointing?
Would you say run full sets of the combo elements + a full set of Diabolic Tutor OR just drop the tutor altogether?

Assuming I want to make this deck as emabarrasing to loose to as possible, thoughts on Falkenrath Noble be a good cheap alternative to Diregraf Captian?

Last thing - neither of you broached the topic of a Standard card that might help cast Rooftop Storm quicker. I'm assuming this is because there isn't anything like a distant cousin to Academy Rector. I can't seem to define proper search criteria.

Thanks again!
-wkvd