[SCD] Song of Blood

[Grollub]

Song of Blood, ah an old favorite of mine. Could this card pull an almost entirely creatures only hyper aggressive deck into the spotlight? A turn 3 Song of Blood makes a game victory very possible should the opponent be unable to halt your creatures at bay or at the least put him well within the reach of creatures like Grim Lavamancer.

Considering the restrictions enforced (if you want to use Song of Blood to great effect), it would appear like fetchlands and a maximum of 4 other non-creatures would be preferred. Luckily there has lately been a host of cards that not only plays well with the self-milling and fetchlands: threshold, unearth and evoke, so this might just not be all that bad.

To get the discussion started, here's a thought-experiment:

Song of 2010:
experimental
Creatures -- 31
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Guul Draz Vampire
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Shriekmaw
1 Necratog

Spells -- 8
4 Song of Blood
4 Thorn of Amethyst

Lands -- 21
4 Wasteland
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Taiga
2 Bayou
2 Badlands
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Mountain

Odd choices:
Thorn of Amethyst/Wastelands should play well with the aggressive nature and an almost all-creature list.
Necratog can finish the job after a Song of Blood powered attack.
Guul Draz Vampire is there for the evasion, which will be handy should the opponent stabilize, Pulse Tracker might be better due to being more aggressive.
Tarmogoyf are there to counter opposing Tarmogoyfs sadly, more Shriekmaws might be better instead.

Song of Blood, yay or nay?

[Phoenix Ignition]

scourge devil
hell's thunder
shambling remains
bloodghast Might be suited for this deck... Not Scourge Devil unless you have a discard outlet though.

[Aggro_zombies]

The most common argument against pump is, "it's just bad burn." Even if this deck is strictly worse than Zoo and Sligh (which I think it is), what makes Song of Blood better than Lightning Bolt in the same slot? Song costs twice as much and its effectiveness depends heavily both on lots of creatures to be in play and at least 2 or 3 to be on top of your library. The opportunity cost of running Song over a burn suite also more or less guarantees you punt the combo matchup unless you lucksack into 2 thorns and will have a lot of difficulty against better aggro (pretty much everything) once they stabilize.
Alternately, what makes this better than the cascade pump spell from Conflux? For one mana more you can flip into a (free!) burn spell and you don't have such restrictive deck requirements.

For the above list, I'm surprised there's no Bloodbraid Elf. A creature with haste that finds another creature or a Song seems pretty good.

[thickasabrick]

The most common argument against pump is, "it's just bad burn." Even if this deck is strictly worse than Zoo and Sligh (which I think it is), what makes Song of Blood better than Lightning Bolt in the same slot? Song costs twice as much and its effectiveness depends heavily both on lots of creatures to be in play and at least 2 or 3 to be on top of your library. The opportunity cost of running Song over a burn suite also more or less guarantees you punt the combo matchup unless you lucksack into 2 thorns and will have a lot of difficulty against better aggro (pretty much everything) once they stabilize.

I'd agree completely with this post, it's really very difficult to argue for the inclusion of Song of Blood over something like Lightning Bolt. For what it's worth, in a deck of roughly 50% creatures (and no filtering) - here are the approximate odds of the different potential Song of Blood pump effects:

+0/+0 = 6.25%
+1/+0 = 25%
+2/+0 = 37.5%
+3/+0 = 25%
+4/+0 = 6.25%

That means that there's a 30+% chance that you're getting something totally lame whenever you cast Song of Blood (you're better off with Scare Tactics) - even assuming that you have enough creatures to make the effect worthwhile. Sure you may be able to weigh this percentage in your favor a bit with fetchlands, but not by a huge amount.

[Grollub]

The most common argument against pump is, "it's just bad burn." Even if this deck is strictly worse than Zoo and Sligh (which I think it is), what makes Song of Blood better than Lightning Bolt in the same slot? Song costs twice as much and its effectiveness depends heavily both on lots of creatures to be in play and at least 2 or 3 to be on top of your library. The opportunity cost of running Song over a burn suite also more or less guarantees you punt the combo matchup unless you lucksack into 2 thorns and will have a lot of difficulty against better aggro (pretty much everything) once they stabilize.
It's a valid point, however the sheer power of a somewhat lucky Song of Blood is worth considering. Giving your side +3 to 4 for a mere price of 2 mana, is brutal in a deck loaded with fast efficient creatures. The loss of burns removal/reach in creature oriented match-ups could be made up for with a full suite of Granger Guildmages, Lavamancers and Shriekmaws.


That means that there's a 30+% chance that you're getting something totally lame whenever you cast Song of Blood (you're better off with Scare Tactics)
This also means there's 70% to get something atleast useful and 30% something powerful. :)


Blood Ghast
Ah! How could I forget about ze Ghast, it would seem like a natural fit.


Alternately, what makes this better than the cascade pump spell from Conflux? For one mana more you can flip into a (free!) burn spell and you don't have such restrictive deck requirements.
Good question. Which is why I decided to set out and explore the card.


For the above list, I'm surprised there's no Bloodbraid Elf. A creature with haste that finds another creature or a Song seems pretty good.
With only 17 lands (not counting Wasteland) I don't think Bloodbraid Elf, despite it's power, will do anything to alter the game's outcome should you end in a situation with access to 4 mana.

[rufus]

That means that there's a 30+% chance that you're getting something totally lame whenever you cast Song of Blood (you're better off with Scare Tactics) - even assuming that you have enough creatures to make the effect worthwhile. Sure you may be able to weigh this percentage in your favor a bit with fetchlands, but not by a huge amount.

Rites of Initiation seems like a better card too.

[GenioDeArena]

Ive also looked for a way to abuse this card in the past, never made anything with it, but I took the Dread Return path to use the self milling aspect of the Song.

[SpikeyMikey]

The only way this works as a concept is if you win turn 2 or turn 3 at the latest, otherwise you might as well be playing zoo. I tried, about 2 years ago, to create the fastest fishing aggro I could and it sucked badly. It was horribly inconsistent at best and fished turn less than 1% of the time.

The problem is that songs gets better the more creatures you have. Even with 2 critters on the board, it's a tossup as to SoB or Bloodlust. But you just can't drop that many creatures on turn 1 or even on 1 and 2 and still have mana for Songs. Turn 3 is more common but who makes it to turn 3 without having counters, a blocker, or comboing your face off?

If you do want to monkey with the concept, there's no reason not to run Street Wraith. It means you shuffle up with 56 and he pumps Songs.