Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:20 pm
So after playing in the 1k yesterday, I have a very strong suspicion that the deck really wants to be playing [card]Runechanter's Pike[/card]. There is literally no creature in the format that can outrace Vampire Nighthawk with a Pike on it, even if the Pike is only giving like +2/+0. The damned card is out of control.
This is what I played, I ended up going 5-0 in swiss and then lost in the semis to a pretty lucky Hexproof player who nut drew both games.
[deck=B/g]
Creatures (16)
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Desecration Demon
3 Disciple of Bolas
3 Thragtusk
2 Bloodgift Demon
Spells (17)
4 Mutilate
4 Sign in Blood
4 Tribute to Hunger
3 Doom Blade
2 Abrupt Decay
Artifact (4)
2 Staff of Nin
2 Runechanter's Pike
Land (23)
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Godless
Shrine
2 Vault of the Archangel
9 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
4 Devour Flesh
3 Golgari Charm
2 Undying Evil
3 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Gloom Surgeon
1 Abrupt Decay
[/deck]
I decided to splash white exclusively for Vault of the Archangel, because it puts the game out of reach for Jund and GR Aggro basically every single time you activate it. I wasn't playing as many green spells as you guys were anyway, so I figured it was fairly safe to do so. I don't think I regret it, as it made some cards (specifically Bloodgift Demons and Desecration Demons) almost unbeatable unless they found removal quickly. It was a little redundant on Nighthawks, but turning all of your dudes into Nighthawks seemed like Valuetown, and I love to visit that little city. I won a few games by simply resolving a black threat, activating Vault every turn and simply racing the shit out of my opponent. I didn't realize it when I
included the card, but a lot of decks are playing Doom Blade right now so if you stick a flying creature that's black, you don't really have to cast another spell after that, you can ride that Vault SO far beyond the finish line.
Things I would change now that I have more of a handle on the deck:
Abrupt Decay was underwhelming for me, it didn't kill the things I wanted to kill nearly enough. I think I probably would have rather had Victim of Night or something instead. Obviously that card misses Olivia, but so does Abrupt Decay...so...
Disciple of Bolas is a very awkward card that eats a lot of counter magic. I didn't think he was going to be good to begin with, but I almost never resolved one against any opponents. They'd either remove the creature I was going to sac with Disciple on the stack, or they'd simply Essence Scatter him. I don't think I like him that much
because of this, and I would almost assuredly rather play a threat. I was thinking Bloodline Keeper or something, because if they don't answer that card he can simply win the game on his own.
UWR is never going to be a particularly favorable matchup. Game one is always going to be easy, but games two and three seem like extremely uphill battles. I couldn't fit enough Planeswalker hate into my sideboard because of the abundance of GR players here, so most of my cards in my board are focused on beating them, but I played one round against UWR where he resolved a Jace, Memory Adept and I almost lost because I couldn't do anything about him. I did eventually win by sneaking in a Nighthawk + Pike past Syncopate, but it was fucking close. Pithing Needle is a lot more necessary than I think I originally realized.
This is what I played, I ended up going 5-0 in swiss and then lost in the semis to a pretty lucky Hexproof player who nut drew both games.
[deck=B/g]
Creatures (16)
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Desecration Demon
3 Disciple of Bolas
3 Thragtusk
2 Bloodgift Demon
Spells (17)
4 Mutilate
4 Sign in Blood
4 Tribute to Hunger
3 Doom Blade
2 Abrupt Decay
Artifact (4)
2 Staff of Nin
2 Runechanter's Pike
Land (23)
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Godless
Shrine
2 Vault of the Archangel
9 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
4 Devour Flesh
3 Golgari Charm
2 Undying Evil
3 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Gloom Surgeon
1 Abrupt Decay
[/deck]
I decided to splash white exclusively for Vault of the Archangel, because it puts the game out of reach for Jund and GR Aggro basically every single time you activate it. I wasn't playing as many green spells as you guys were anyway, so I figured it was fairly safe to do so. I don't think I regret it, as it made some cards (specifically Bloodgift Demons and Desecration Demons) almost unbeatable unless they found removal quickly. It was a little redundant on Nighthawks, but turning all of your dudes into Nighthawks seemed like Valuetown, and I love to visit that little city. I won a few games by simply resolving a black threat, activating Vault every turn and simply racing the shit out of my opponent. I didn't realize it when I
included the card, but a lot of decks are playing Doom Blade right now so if you stick a flying creature that's black, you don't really have to cast another spell after that, you can ride that Vault SO far beyond the finish line.
Things I would change now that I have more of a handle on the deck:
Abrupt Decay was underwhelming for me, it didn't kill the things I wanted to kill nearly enough. I think I probably would have rather had Victim of Night or something instead. Obviously that card misses Olivia, but so does Abrupt Decay...so...
Disciple of Bolas is a very awkward card that eats a lot of counter magic. I didn't think he was going to be good to begin with, but I almost never resolved one against any opponents. They'd either remove the creature I was going to sac with Disciple on the stack, or they'd simply Essence Scatter him. I don't think I like him that much
because of this, and I would almost assuredly rather play a threat. I was thinking Bloodline Keeper or something, because if they don't answer that card he can simply win the game on his own.
UWR is never going to be a particularly favorable matchup. Game one is always going to be easy, but games two and three seem like extremely uphill battles. I couldn't fit enough Planeswalker hate into my sideboard because of the abundance of GR players here, so most of my cards in my board are focused on beating them, but I played one round against UWR where he resolved a Jace, Memory Adept and I almost lost because I couldn't do anything about him. I did eventually win by sneaking in a Nighthawk + Pike past Syncopate, but it was fucking close. Pithing Needle is a lot more necessary than I think I originally realized.