Clerical Error

[Xod]

Saw the thread in the budget form about a cleric deck and I started thinkering, I came this far:

4 Dark Supplicant
4 Mother of Runes
3 Shepherd of Rot
3 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
3 Skirsdag High Priest
4 Rotlung Reanimator
4 Cabal Archon
1 Doubtless One
2 Scion of Darkness

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Vindicate
4 Thoughtseize

4 Aether Vial

4 Mutavault
1 Plain
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
3 Scrubland
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flat

Was first going on the route of 1 mana drop clerics, but then you go to far on the Scion of Darkness gameplan. And very weak to CotV. Then you could better play mono black with DR and Priest of Gix.

I opted for Aether Vial over Edgewalker, since it can help you do more shenanigans and help with being uncounterable.

2 Flooded Strand --> 2 swamps, because the curve goes to 3 quite nicely, so you need the mana. Plus for Cabal Archon you need more swamps.

Deck has 62 cards, might cut on those 3 drops, -1 archon and -1 Rotlung or on the STP/Thoughtseize.

Mutavault helps with Dark supplicant, is a cleric for Rotlung and Doubtless One, a zombie for shepherd, a creature for Skirsday. Sure, it doesn't provide colored mana, but it has so many synergy's with your cards.

In the board, Orzhov Pontiff, Containment Priest, Thalia, Kambal, ... and stuff will find it's place.

I'm aware that this deck is far from competitive, but maybe, just maybe, we can turn this into something real :-)

(and I'm not willing to put shaman en-kor and that shenanigans in, that's a different deck. there are some damage preventing clerics, but with MoM I think we included the most important one)

[Echelon]

I'm not sure if this deck can be a thing.

Regardless, Starlit Sanctum might be interesting.

[Kaono]

A local player brought this one week and I think it's the most promising, but still probably not very good.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Cleric-Tribal

I think the Shaman en-kor, Daru Spiritualist, Ayli/Sanctum combo is necessary. Chalice too probably, or some number of combo-hate cards.

[ReAnimator]

As an Onslaught era Cleric enthusiast, i know what all these cards do, but i don't think most people would. Card Tags are your friend.

4 Dark Supplicant
4 Mother of Runes
3 Shepherd of Rot
3 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
3 Skirsdag high priest
4 Rotlung Reanimator
4 Cabal Archon
1 Doubtless One
2 Scion of Darkness

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Vindicate
4 Thoughtseize

4 Aether Vial

4 Mutavault
1 Plain
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
3 Scrubland
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flat

[tescrin]

Drop Dark Supplicant and Scion of Darkness. It's just bad.
I'd also drop Shepard of Rot, Cabal Archon, and Doubtless One.

You have to have Order of Whiteclay if you want it to be any good. Children of Kor will dramatically improve your Storm game. I used Field Surgeon and Springleaf Drum as additional Tap-outlets for Whitelcay


That said, there's not a lot in these synergies that can't be gotten from somewhere else easier. I'd look to just try and maximize Rotlung and Skirsdag. Lightning Greaves in this deck will make SHP a lot better, and you can do really goofy stuff if you include Cabal Therapy.

F.E.
Mother of Runes and Rotlung and Lightning Greaves on Board. Drop Skirsdag. Declare attach to Skirsdag. Mom protects you from removal here. Give protection to someone and sac mom to Cabal Therapy. Gain a Zombie. Tap all three for a demon. Greaves attach to Demon. Swing for 5.

Greaves also makes mid-game Moms and stuff a lot better.

[Fox]

Need to make an incredibly strong case for why you'd run Springleaf Drum over Holdout Settlement and Survivors' Encampment @tescrin.

As far as the original list goes, most of these creatures seem underpowered. Mother of Runes is fine, but Shepherd of Rot seems to be the really key card you're trying to enable. It's certainly easier on the mana than Goblin Bombardment, but it seems like this deck trying to find a more expensive way to do what Zombardment already does. I'd probably start the list with DRS x4, Bloodghast x4, Gravecrawler x4, Cabal Therapy x4, and Shepherd of Rot x4 then see where that leads you. This same effect can also be half-hidden in the manabase with Stern Judge + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. There's probably enough low cost/free creatures to forgo Vial in such a build.

If you're more looking to durdle with Vial, and a card like Order of Whiteclay as @tescrin suggested, I'd be looking at clerics like Custodi Lich, Edgewalker, Liliana, Heretical Healer, Pulsemage Advocate, perhaps even Academy Rector in the payoff/build-around department. Many of the hatebears in legacy are clerics as well. As far as other colors go blue has Geist, green has Ramunap.

Plenty of ways to go, but I'd start with a list that mimics something that is known to work [particularly if you're running Vial] so either DnT made B/W for clerics or B/W stompy featuring clerics.

[FourDogsinaHorseSuit]

This deck, but it's mono black and just Dark Supplicant and Shadowborn Apostle.

[Eldariel]

I used to run Academy Rector package in something similar since it's conveniently a Cleric, on curve, and you're running a full sacrifice suite anyways (Conspiracy allows for infinite sacs with Rotlung for one but that's probably too cute and you could go for some power enchantments instead - I went on that combo with Ashnod's/Phyrexian Altar to boot combined with Artificial Mutation which can be nice but loses its fair share to nonsense). I'm not sure Cabal Archon is really strong enough and Shepherd of Rot feels definitely below the curve; they were good in Onslaught block but full-on Legacy might leave something to be desired. Teysa, Orzhov Scion is interesting as an extra tokenmaker though clearly worse than Rotlung and a bit inefficient by today's standards. Phyrexian Tower is also interesting as a land in the sac heavy setup and High Market isn't entirely worthless either. There's even the full Weathered Wayfarer suite complete with Wastelands and stuff available. There's always Edgewalker but without Yawgmoth's Bargain that's not really that useful.

[Admiral_Arzar]

I made the original thread and have played this deck locally a handful of times. My last list looked like this:

4 Mother of Runes
4 Dark Supplicant
4 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
3 Containment Priest
4 Rotling Reanimator
4 Orzhov Pontiff
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Sanctum Prelate
1 Scion of Darkness

4 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void

2 Ancient Tomb
3 Karakas
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scrubland
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Cavern of Souls

Sideboard

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Banishing Light
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Leonin Relic-Warder

I would make pretty significant changes if I played it again though. Probably something like -4 Supplicant, -1 Scion, -1 Mox Diamond, -4 Fiend Hunter, +4 SFM, +1 Batterskull, +1 Jitte, +1 SOFI, +3 Auriok Champion.