Topic: Tuning up for GP Vancouver
So I'm in Vancouver for the year and, well, isn't it my luck that the last standard constructed GP before Born of the Gods is released is in my backyard...
I could easily sleeve up mono-black or go net-deck half a dozen other things. I have G/R devotion sleeved up already just for fun, but I wanted to bring something different to the table in the hopes of catching people off guard.
As such, I present to you my Junk Build:
http://deckbox.org/sets/578853
So, the deck in a nutshell... Combine Advent of the Wurm + Reaper of the Wilds + Obzedat, Ghost Council + Whip of Erebos with some of the best removal in the format... shake, win.
More seriously, this deck has played REALLY well for me as of late, being able to take down any home-brew, Orzhov aggro humans, G/R devotion, R/W devotion, U/W control, and Esper Control... but it has struggled against mono-black and mono-blue (go figure, the two biggest decks in the standard metagame). I've recently adjusted the counts to include 2x Blood Baron of Vizkopa, 2x Hero's Downfall, 3x Underworld Connections, 3x Pack Rat in the SB, and an additional 2x Golgari Charm in the SB to boost these match-ups.
How do these help?
Blood Baron is a total beast against mono-black (pending I have some other creature on the field). Realistically, he won't be alone on my field and can just be the nasty beat-stick I need to pull ahead. That in mind, he's mostly for mono-black, but he's also quite the problem for most decks to deal with (he's sitting at $17 for a reason, right?).
Hero's Downfall - given the fact I was running 2x Putrefy and a 3rd Obzedat before, I found that I'd have to attack into too many PWs when I'd rather be doing damage and the mono-colored kill option helps against Soldier of the Pantheon given that almost all of my creatures are multicolored. But more to the point, taking out Jace, AOT will prove quite useful as will the added removal more generally.
Underworld Connections - who doesn't like card advantage? Between Blood Baron, Obzedat and Whip of Erebos I'm not exactly scared of a little life loss to keep up the draws. More amusingly, post sideboard I can name Swamp with Pithing Needle to turn off the mono-black opponent's connections while mine are on one of my other colored lands.
Pack Rat - I really don't like having to do this, but against mono-black I found myself often just losing straight up to the fact I couldn't wipe out more than one rat easily.... so if you can't beat them, why not join em? Toss in the advantage it gives me in aggro matchups AND the fact that it'll help me with flooding, why not?
Golgari Charm - Want to just mess up your average aggro player? Have you noticed how many x/1 creatures they tend to run? This is the closest thing I have to a board wipe (man would Bile Blight or Drown in Sorrow be welcome about now). The added versatility against control (regen and enchantment removal) is just gravy.
Other relevant decisions:
I'm sure at least one of you out there is going to go "but you don't have Thoughtseize in there!" While you are completely correct, I originally had 2x in the SB, but I found that it would only stall things in most instances. If there's a problem card in their deck, they're running more than one... meaning that me making them discard it probably doesn't get me as far as I'd like. Combine that with the fact that, while life totals really don't worry me much, paying ANOTHER two life for one spell when I'm sitting on 12 shocks and UC already is a bit sketchy... I needn't kill myself for them, right?
Dark Betrayal, Pithing Needle, Mistcutter Hydra, Skylasher, and Sin Collector in the board - these are match-up specific and I feel they should serve me well, but if someone can think of a better piece to slide in here, I'm all ears... Pithing Needle is arguably one of the BEST SB cards available at the moment... being able to name Elspeth or Elixir of Immortality can actually single-handedly win against U/W control (or at least require them to use a Detention Sphere on that rather than a threat - for which I have answers).
Ready // Willing I'm sure someone will likely look at this one, scratch their head and go "why run this?" It's actually a solid card given my setup. I've NEVER had issues with the colors to cast it and, more to the point, it gives me a very powerful trick. In almost every scenario where I've played this, it's a blowout in my favor. Attack the opponent because they have fatal on the board if they can get through... they think it's their lucky day. But note that Ready not only makes your guys indestructible (relevant against control), but it UNTAPS them. So now those 3 attackers I had are indestructible blockers. If I have the six to fuse it, well, Vault of the Archangel was pretty good... now attach it to indestructibility while giving your guys vigilance on their attack... yeah... it's solid. And, in match-ups where it isn't, it's nice to have a card you KNOW to SB out.
So I feel like I've written a book here and I'm sure just about everyone won't read all of this, but I'm looking to see if anyone has any last minute suggestions. I'm not 100% set on this list, but am very close.
Ideas?