cervelo19 wrote:I've been wanting to brew up a U/B deck that uses the abilities of Siren's Call and/or Maddening Imp (or variant) for a while for kitchen table shenanigans.
That's awesome! This is very much like a deck I've been working on, except I didn't know about Maddening Imp and never thought of splashing black.
cervelo19 wrote:Problem I've encountered through some goldfishing is that I don't have a win condition - I can tap and destroy creatures all day long, but can't reduce the "opponent"'s life total fast enough to maintain card advantage.
Looks like you do to me! You have 9 creatures worth attacking with (this assumes you wouldn't want to attack with your Spellkeeper Weirds before sac'ing them), and the Riddlemaster Sphinx is actually a pretty heavy hitter. That said, see below for some ideas.
And if you'd like a sudden jump in card advantage mid- to late-game, try out Theft of Dreams!
cervelo19 wrote:Can I get rid of the Imps and just use 4x Siren's Call to open spots for some bigger power creatures?
Some sort of Etrata the Silencer and/or Szadek, Lord of Secrets combo to hit cards or mill out?
I would personally prefer Siren's Call over the Imps, simply because the Imps don't have haste and your opponent will see it coming. That said, do you tend to play more multiplayer or one-on-one? Because in multiplayer, having multiple and repeatable Imp-bodied Siren effects may actually be better. A lot of suggestions will depend on whether or not you play multiplayer or not.
One card I would ditch is Arcum's Whistle -- it only affects a single creature rather than their whole board, and at a much higher cost than the Imp, too.
As to the mill wincon, my gut reaction is no. Not because I don't love a good mill deck, but because mill takes full-deck commitment -- you're having to deal 60 "mill damage" rather than just 20, so you can't just have a couple slots in your deck for a mill "finisher" like you can with regular damage.
cervelo19 wrote:I've pondered a few things, but would like to open it up to the community
My suggestion? Ditch black in favor of white. You only have two different black cards, and although the Imp is great, you could stick with 4x Siren's (and maybe even Mystical Tutor to ensure you draw it). And Murder doesn't really synergize with the deck at all.
Instead, you get some great finishers in white with Sunblast Angel (another reason you can forego the Imps) and Gideon's Avenger. And there's also Feeling of Dread -- gotta love Flashback! Feel free to check out my W/U version of the deck on TappedOut. I recently went through ALL of the options for tapping creatures and have been in the process of narrowing it down to the best cards. I by no means consider the currently posted decklist finished -- it's been a while since I've updated the actual decklist. Mostly I've just been adding stuff to the Maybeboard.
If you really still wanna keep black, consider making the deck an Esper version with a white splash. But also, consider replacing Murder with Murderous Compulsion -- 1 mana cheaper and synergizes. Or if you do splash white, then maybe Swift Reckoning instead, since you're very likely to achieve Spell Mastery. Another possibility is going for tempo with Select for Inspection.
Cards to cut:
Wall of Runes -- I don't see the point of him in this deck. Tapping things down is your defense, not 0/4 defenders. The Scry 1 is nice, but not worth the card, IMO.
Teferi's Time Twist -- I can see why it's in here, but with a white splash, you could instead use Cloudshift (1 mana cheaper and the creature comes back instantly).
Clear the Mind -- I don't see the purpose, unless you commonly face mill decks.
Misstep -- You don't have enough spells in here that also tap down creatures. Basically, just Gigadrowse and Mind Over Matter. You also have Tempest Caller, but since it's not instant-speed, you have to have 6 mana to cast both the Caller and Misstep in the same turn for Misstep to matter. Speaking of...
Tempest Caller -- I have this in my Maybeboard, too, but I've been discovering that it isn't actually that great unless you're on the offensive or can play something else with it. Otherwise, you play it on your turn, and then they untap all those same creatures on their turn -- nothing accomplished, and no ability to cast Siren's Call now. If the Caller had Flash, I'd like it way more.
So including Arcum's Whistle, that's a good 13 cards I recommend cutting in favor of more tapping synergy and finishers. Try out Ensnare -- the ability to tap everything for free will definitely catch your opponent(s) by surprise!
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