[SCD] Gatekeeper of Malakir

[Tacosnape]

Gatekeeper of Malakir
:b::b:
Creature - Vampire Warrior
Kicker :b: (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
When Gatekeeper of Malakir enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, target player sacrifices a creature.
2/2

Does this give decks like Suicide Black, Red Death, BW Confidant, etc. a step towards being more competitive? Or is the triple black too restrictive and thereby a drawback by being difficult to include in a deck with Wasteland?

Similarly, is this a weapon for Mono Black Control to exploit, giving them both an Edict and blocker/win condition?

Discuss.

[socialite]

Gatekeeper of Malakir
:b::b:
Creature - Vampire Warrior
Kicker :b: (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
When Gatekeeper of Malakir enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, target player sacrifices a creature.
2/2

Does this give decks like Suicide Black, Red Death, BW Confidant, etc. a step towards being more competitive? Or is the triple black too restrictive and thereby a drawback by being difficult to include in a deck with Wasteland?

Similarly, is this a weapon for Mono Black Control to exploit, giving them both an Edict and blocker/win condition?

Discuss.

I think so.

Something to dump Dark Ritual into.

Some people also run Tomb of Yawgmoth? Maybe I am unsure, it has been a while.

[BreathWeapon]

Really solid for Suicide, I'm a sad, sad panda it wasn't printed as a Zombie.

[Goaswerfraiejen]

Really solid for Suicide, I'm a sad, sad panda it wasn't printed as a Zombie.

What, Fleshbag Marauder? It's not really much worse.

[Barook]

What, Fleshbag Marauder? It's not really much worse.

How is +0 CA not much worse than +1 CA? :eyebrow:

And isn't one of the main problems that the 3cc spot of Zombies is crowded?
And maybe this one, along with the Landfall vampire and the vampire lord from M10, may be playable together.

[DragoFireheart]

Gatekeeper of Malakir
:b::b:
Creature - Vampire Warrior
Kicker :b: (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
When Gatekeeper of Malakir enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, target player sacrifices a creature.
2/2




That's a really, really nice card. A 2/2 beater with an edict? Yes please!

[Tacosnape]

Tribality aside, this guy's way better than Fleshbag Marauder if you can support triple black. (Regrettably, I'll still be running a Marauder in Survival.)

Suicide Black will run this guy to no end. I can see a Sui build running on the 12 1-drop 2/2 guys with the new Vampire being involved too. Something budgetly-delicious like (And this is just off the top of my head):

17 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual

4 Carnophage
4 Sarcomancy
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Dark Confidant
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir

4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Umezawa's Jitte

SB:
4 Engineered Plague
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Doom Blade
3 Pithing Needle

Alternately, I could see this guy in a Deadguy Ale-style build with Confidant and Shade, which allows flexibility for pretty much any splash you'd want to make: Green for Goyf and some combination of Leech/Pulse/Whatever, White for STP/Vindicate, Red for Lavamancer/Burn/Terminate, Blue for...probably something.

[Manhattan]

Tarmogoyf is going to be a giant wall against this deck.

[Tacosnape]

Tarmogoyf is going to be a giant wall against this deck.

Which is why you don't really ever see this sort of deck played much anymore. The point is that Gatekeeper of Malakir makes the situation a little better. I'm not saying this deck's going to go "Oh looks a Tamrogofy I wins anyway!" or anything, but situations will occur where a Gatekeeper at the right time steals a few games Sui Black would have had no business winning otherwise.

Me personally? I'll splash Red. I like the idea of picking up Lavamancer, Bolt, and Chain to complement Gatekeeper.

[Aggro_zombies]

Which is why you don't really ever see this sort of deck played much anymore. The point is that Gatekeeper of Malakir makes the situation a little better. I'm not saying this deck's going to go "Oh looks a Tamrogofy I wins anyway!" or anything, but situations will occur where a Gatekeeper at the right time steals a few games Sui Black would have had no business winning otherwise.

Me personally? I'll splash Red. I like the idea of picking up Lavamancer, Bolt, and Chain to complement Gatekeeper.
It's still worse than Zoo. :(

Does this guy have any applications outside of that deck, though? Could a :b::g: Survival deck exist that uses this guy?

[AngryTroll]

For BBB? Shriekmaw and Fleshbag Marauder are both better in Survival. GGG is no problem. BB is...hard(er). BBB would require 3 of the 7 things that tap for black to be in play (4 Birds, 3 Bayou. Although I guess there'll be a Swamp in there now too, with the enemy fetches). So 3 of the 8 black sources.

[Barook]

Me personally? I'll splash Red. I like the idea of picking up Lavamancer, Bolt, and Chain to complement Gatekeeper.
I don't know, Attrition probably doesn't look that bad with Bitterblossom and the new Landfall vampire, although it needs testing.

[ScatmanX]

You could also use Flashbag Marauders WITH Gatekeepr of Malakir.
Then you´d have
2-3 Flashbag
4 - Malakir
4 - Seize
4 - Hymn
To deal with goyfs. (and 3 Jittes, and 4 sided Doomblades)
Splashing red, moving to Red Death more, would help in what MU´s?
I don´t think it is worth it.

[Tacosnape]

Splashing red, moving to Red Death more, would help in what MU´s?
I don´t think it is worth it.

Every matchup that runs a creature with toughness 3 or less and every matchup that runs a life total, is my immediate thought.

I'm not talking about Red Death though, per se. I'm talking about what would essentially run like a Black-Red Deadguy Ale. The difference is whether you're suicide with a burn splash or Black/Red Aggro-Control. This would be somewhere near my starting point for a list:

4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Obsidian Flats
4 Badlands
1 Scrubland
5 Swamp

4 Dark Ritual

4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Dark Confidant
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Engineered Explosives
2 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach

SB:
4 Engineered Plague
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Dystopia
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Duress

This list does not roll over to Tarmogoyf. It doesn't make Tarmogoyf harmless, per se, but let's see: Lavamancer shrinks it, Gatekeeper kills it, Explosives kills it and the Counterbalance it rode in on (Plus I've always LOVED EE with Dark Confidant), and Relic and Dystopia help. Lavamancer and Burn give this deck fight against Merfolk and Goblins (With Plague helping). Discard and Confidant give it game against Control decks, and ten maindeck Discard is better than nothing against Combo. Against things like Ichorid you have the maindeck EE's, plus Plague and Relic in board. Too little mana is helped by Confidant and Ritual. Too much gets funneled into Shade and Gatekeeper kickers. Etc.

[ScatmanX]

I liked the MonoB better.
you Have 12 1mana 2/2 guys. That is very good agains´t many agroo decks.
Jitte can help take care of bigger dudes.
I guess I just like swarms better...
Like, 1st turn, mana, ritual, Carnophage, Sarcomancy and Vampire Lacerator.
Thats what I dig.

[Anusien]

This allows decks like ITF to double up on slots because some of the Swords to Plowshares now recur with Volrath's Stronghold (and Shriekmaw is less necessary).

[Goaswerfraiejen]

How is +0 CA not much worse than +1 CA? :eyebrow:

And isn't one of the main problems that the 3cc spot of Zombies is crowded?
And maybe this one, along with the Landfall vampire and the vampire lord from M10, may be playable together.

Because the BBB requirement is more significant that 2B. I'm happy enough with Marauder in Zombies: it's not perfect, and it's not as good as this, but it's good enough. Essentially, it's a recurrable (Unholy Grotto!) piece of removal that dodges Counterbalance and can be made to stay on the board by sacrificing something of lesser value, such as Festering Goblin.

Also... this vampire doesn't really un-clog the 3cc slot in Zombies--not if you want to use it as removal. But yes, you're bang on: the 3cc slot in Zombies is way too overcrowded, and at least the vampire has the ability to be cast for two if need be.



This allows decks like ITF to double up on slots because some of the Swords to Plowshares now recur with Volrath's Stronghold (and Shriekmaw is less necessary).

I seriously doubt that ITF's manabase can handle BBB, especially if it keeps white for StP. Marauder or Shriekmaw are already options that it disdains, although I can't for the life of me see why. I've argued myself hoarse on these points, but some people just don't like to listen.

[Tacosnape]

I liked the MonoB better.
you Have 12 1mana 2/2 guys. That is very good agains´t many agroo decks.
Jitte can help take care of bigger dudes.
I guess I just like swarms better...
Like, 1st turn, mana, ritual, Carnophage, Sarcomancy and Vampire Lacerator.
Thats what I dig.

It's sexy, to be sure. I lost a match in a tournament while piloting Landstill to a Sui Black deck a couple years back that led turn one, Ritual, Carnophage, Sarcomancy, Sarcomancy on both games 1 and 3. The prospect of these chances increasing is somewhat intoxicating.

[MMogg]

Images make the threads prettier :wink: :

http://wizards.com/mtg/images/tcg/products/zendikar/glf2hjr9x2_EN.jpg

Just to add to what has already been said, his best function is in packing removal that is not wasted in creature light matchups. Many is the time I have topdecked removal when I had wished for a threat and this guy reasonably acts as both.

But, on the cons side, who the hell thinks non-targeted removal in Legacy's environment is good? Does anyone even play Diabolic Edict anymore?

[ScatmanX]

Goblins does.
With the name Warren Weirdings.

[MMogg]

Goblins does.
With the name Warren Weirdings.

That's because it's tribal. Were there another card with an equal cost to WW but had the function of Smother, I'm not sure they would choose WW. The point is, regarding the Gatekeeper, it's cool that he's a creature and acts as removal, but I'm just not sure he is a good choice in the place of other removal slots as opposed to in addition since his removal is not optimal considering other Legacy black removal options.

[Barook]

That's because it's tribal. Were there another card with an equal cost to WW but had the function of Smother, I'm not sure they would choose WW. The point is, regarding the Gatekeeper, it's cool that he's a creature and acts as removal, but I'm just not sure he is a good choice in the place of other removal slots as opposed to in addition since his removal is not optimal considering other Legacy black removal options.
Shouldn't he be rather used as a supplement to normal removal because of its double function as creature? The more removal you play, the better his ability becomes against multiple creatures.

[MMogg]

Shouldn't he be rather used as a supplement to normal removal because of its double function as creature? The more removal you play, the better his ability becomes against multiple creatures.


I'm just not sure he is a good choice in the place of other removal slots as opposed to in addition

That's what I just said. :smile: He's not so good replacing removal, but in addition to, he'd be ok.

[Tacosnape]

But, on the cons side, who the hell thinks non-targeted removal in Legacy's environment is good?

Me. And anyone who's ever faced down a Progenitus.

Diabolic Edict is a fantastic removal spell if your opponent only has one creature, multiple copies of one creature, or two creatures that are roughly equally threatening. It also supplements other removal quite well. It also has the beauty of being able to kill every single fucking creature in Legacy except a couple of very rare exceptions, like True Believer. For Black, this is a huge deal. Black's removal doesn't come without drawbacks. Ever.

This guy's even better. He's Diabolic Edict on a stick. What's more, who cares if this guy gets the worst deal of an Edict situation? He's still three black for card advantage and an improved board position.

And besides, I'm running him with Bolt/Chain/Lavamancer.

[Hanni]

You're missing Snuff Out in your Sui list.

[Tacosnape]

You're missing Snuff Out in your Sui list.

Probably. I threw that list together off the top of my head. I don't know that Confidant and Snuff belong together though. You could cut Confidant in the 12 1-drop build, add some other threat, and go with the Snuffs.

[MattH]

Perhaps I am just dizzy, but I am picturing this in some kind of GWB rock/survival build: Knight of the Reliquary into Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth fixes this mana issue...?

EDIT: lol Demigods lol! hot to Survival away!

[GreenOne]

It's probably a good tool for monoblack control.

I'm currently playing a similar deck in casual. A more competitive one could be something like:

20 Swamp (3)
1 [SH] Volrath's Stronghold
3 [TO] Cabal Coffers
2 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 [LRW] Shriekmaw
4 [SHM] Dusk Urchins
4 [SHM] Demigod of Revenge
[I] 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 [SHM] Oona, Queen of the Fae
2 [OD] Haunting Echoes
3 [FD] Staff of Domination
3 [PLC] Damnation
4 [MR] Oblivion Stone
+ X free slots (4?)

Basically, a monoblack control deck that still have a decent clock and a good numberof finishers.
Could also be turned in something more toward aggrocontrol with, say, -3 coffers, -3 staff, +creatures/discard.

[Cidolfus]

Out of all the new cards, this one is by far the most exciting for me. Rock, Dead guy ale, Red Death, Suicide Black, Mono-Black Control + others have this ManEdict to consider now.

[Gui]

Doesn't it seems like if this card was 3cc without the kicker, it would be better? I mean, 3cc to evade cb, chalice and snare... just useless wondering though...

This card seems to be better than edicts in many decks... MBC, MBAggro and Deadguy, mostly. But also, even pox could use it...

[heroicraptor]

Probably. I threw that list together off the top of my head. I don't know that Confidant and Snuff belong together though. You could cut Confidant in the 12 1-drop build, add some other threat, and go with the Snuffs.

Guul Draz Vampire maybe? Or is that too much win-more?