UB Land Destructor

[gvbarroso]

Hey guys! Reading the ideas shared in the other LD topic I created, I decided to change the splash color of the deck. I believe this version has resolved the problems against combo, though it is still pretty vulnerable to popular aggro decks like Zoo and Merfolk (specially the last one because of the lack of SB options). Still, if the meta is not full of fish, could this list have any chances?

39 spells

4 Stifle
4 Sinkhole
4 Icequake
4 Dark Ritual
4 Dark Confidant
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Shadow of Doubt
4 Daze
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Shadowmage Infiltrator (now 2 Tombstalkers)

21 lands

4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wasteland
6 Swamp
1 Island


Sideboard:

3 Engineered Explosives
4 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Perish
4 Leyline of the Void


Since there are 2 colors, I decided not to play Rishadan Ports and this way I believe I can run only 21 lands (including the fact that I play Dark Rituals).

Sinkhole and Icequake are the LD sensu strictu of the deck. Sinkhole is the main reason I chose to play black, as it is the best LD spell in the game.

Dark Ritual is the best mana accelerator in legacy, if you play black enough:wink: This list can abuse it in a pretty hot way

Dark Confidant and Finkel are the draw sources, as well as being able to deal some damage points, which is important in a deck that run little kill conditions

Hymn to Tourach is awesome, and can help in the whole LD thing if it hits a land. Really good against problematic combo decks also.

Stifle and Shadow of Doubt are powerful as both denying fetchlands and disrupting combo (Shadow of Doubt is specially good against NO)

Daze is a very good counterspell in a LD deck:cool:

Vampire Nighthawk and Gatekeeper of Malakir fit the role of being ''removal'' and kill conditions at the same time.


The cards in the sideboard are (I believe) very easy to understand.


So...what do you guys think?

[Scrabble]

You can count Nighthawk as removal sure, but it's not offensive removal. It's not gonna clear the path for your very underwhelming creature base of 2/1's and 2/2's. Some spot removal is necessary, or some bigger beaters like Tombstalker to punch through.

..or a different type of finisher if you're not going the man route.

[gvbarroso]

I'm counting the Gatekeepers as ''spot'' removal. Would you prefer 4 Gatekeepers and 3 Vampires?
The probem, of course, if finding room for removal spells. This is why I like the creatures above.

[Scrabble]

You're right, LD decks just don't have the space. So I think the best way to approach it would be through quick big beats to capitalize when they are unstable rather than the slow controlled route.

LD is made for tempo, not as a constant. If you try and make it a constant like you have, the spaces evaporate quickly, and you soon find yourself cutting out creature removal, and as of now, a finisher.

I guess my suggestion based on this would be to cut the Infiltrators for Tombstalkers. I'm not sure about your proposed switch though, The Vapires are almost too good not to run the 4 if you're going this route. I also see them as being your avenue to victory as the deck stands.

[gvbarroso]

Yeah, I was thinking of including Tombstalkers, but I was unsure about what to cut for them. Now that you mentioned it, the Infiltrators seem the obvious option as the deck already have Bobs as the draw engine. Anything else?

[Bourgeoise]

It would seem to me that hypnotic specter over the vampire would fit the deck better as far as a dude to ritual into on turn 1. Turn 1 hippie backed up by ld tends to just win games.

Also, drawing an island seems exceptionally bad in this deck. I would probably swap out the islands for more fetches or the Ravnica U/B duals.

[gvbarroso]

Sure, I've just cut one island and one swamp for 2 black fetches, but I want to keep the single island as I don't think it can ruin the game.
Hypnotic Specter is great on the 1st turn, but it sucks against aggro, which is why the Vampire is so amazing here.