[DECK] Nightmare Effect

[Pinguster]

Just typed this out and clicked post and then had to login and then said I should go back where it removed the entire card choices and matchup analysis section. Oh joy, you're getting a shorter matchup section now (having to rewrite out 2 lines for every deck in the format from counterslivers to zoo takes a while)

What is Nightmare Effect?

Nightmare effect is a black control deck which specializes in having a strong matchup versus aggro decks through the card Tortured Existence. The deck has gone through a large amount of development by people other than me (props goes to Poppeleseed over at MTGS) and I have been developing since the changes to the extended format.

How does it work?

The deck gains control by returning creatures like shriekmaw to your hand repeatedly using tortured existence and generate card advantage by pitching Krovikan horror which then returns end of turn. And by the use of 2 for 1 effects like gatekeeper of malakir

Why play this deck?

It beats just about every deck using creatures stone cold and then takes their lunch money, if they side in grave hate it normally just gets better as they lose their decks own internal synergy to try and deal with ours. If that happens we can just win with 2 for 1 effects like hymn and gatekeeper. Also since survival just got banned tortured existence stops looking like a crappy survival so it's definitely a choice I'd recommend for bant survival players.

Why play it over The Gate (or other mono black decks)

Firstly versus the gate we have a good matchup through stinkweed imp and tortured existence which allow us to repeat gatekeepers and slow down their aggro considerably which generally wins us the game, whereas the gates limited card advantage through Bob, which we run anway. In fairness preboard they can get the upper hand as we run 4 shriekaw but post sideboard we can bring in smothers and the matchup is plain unfair.
Against other decks we have the advantage of being able to turn any creature into the most relevant creature in your graveyard, and allows for a constant stream of threats in the same way survival allowed in bant survival.

Enough of that. Onto some decklists:

Decklists


// Lands
20 Swamp
2 Mishra's Factory

// Creatures
4 Shriekmaw
3 Krovikan Horror
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Dark Confidant
2 Stinkweed Imp
2 Vampire Hexmage

// Spells
4 Tortured Existence
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Umezawa's Jitte

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 4 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 3 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Cranial Extraction
SB: 1 Smother


Card choices

Tortured existence

4 of best card in the deck, enables so many ridiculous plays. The decks heart and soul. Seriously don't knock it till you try it.

Krovikan horror

The card advantage, and what card advantage it is. At first it looks like a measly 2/2 for 4, but then you realize with 2 you get ENDLESS 2/2s for 4 (well 1 a turn) that might not sound too brilliant but then you read it PINGS STUFF FOR 1. HOW AMAZING IS THAT. Seriously though, this guy gets you out of tough spots like a champ.
Only run 3 though, he IS a 2/2 for 4...

Shriekmaw and gatekeeper

Kill. I run the full 8, you could probably skimp on 1 or the other depending on meta, I wouldn't recommend it though, they are required for absolute domination of aggro matchups.

Nighthawk

a flying killspell that beats, carries jitte like a champ, slows down aggro beefiest card in the deck (no 6/6 flying tramplers for 4, it isn't the gate). Run 4 copies.

Stinkweed imp

The imps are amazing, they slow aggro down massively, they recur, they're a killspell, they ensure you topdeck a creature to pitch to buried alive, they dig for krovikan horrors with dredge (you can order your dredged cards) and other creatures you can return with tortured existence. Sadly they don't beat in very well so nighthawk is preferred.

Bob

Every creature up until now is a killspell, this one isn't but he's good enough to be 4 copies even WITH the horrible curve.

Hexmage

Solely for killing walkers needles were here before. No I am not going to run dark depths.

Jitte

Mainly here for killing other jittes but speeds up the clock niely. I wont patronize you with what this card does.

Discard
4 hymn to tourach, I wont patronize you with how good this card is either, so I'll just discuss which of the 4 arts I like the best, I like the one with the wolf because it's a fucking wolf, also all the others suck. You also want 4 of your favourite discard. I like duress because bob can get pretty steep and you can play it late game to check their hand and lose nothing if their hand is lands.

Mishra's factory
Stops problack, uncounterable, extra blocker. The only nonbasic I have found worth running (wasteland might get a proper test some time).

"Wow Pingu, what a totally awesome and not at all janky list" I hear you cry "What about a matchup analysis with no writing about how to win the matchups because you're too lazy"

Ok.

Matchups

Good matchups
Merfolk
Zoo
Goblins
New horizons
Bant aggro (gets harder if they get prog)
Affinity
The gate and all monoblack decks
UW tempo
Dragon stompy
NO/aggro elves (prog can be a problem)
Reanimator
Show and tell/emrakul decks (sneak attack can be a problem (show and tell: opponent flips emrakul, I flip shriekmaw))
Counterslivers

Average matchups
Deadguy/rock
Stax
Dreadstill
Burn
Canadian thresh
Aggro loam
D&T

Bad matchups
Countertop thopter/jace (not aggro wincon)
Storm decks
Belcher
Elves combo
Lands
Enchantress
Jace

Sorry about the matchup analysis, I'll redo it some time. If anyone wants an in depth analysis or has any questions just ask and I'll happily say.

12/1/11 EDIT: new sideboard

[rufus]

I recall someone played a rat deck designed to take advantage of 'enters the battlefield' triggers creatures and then finished with Balthor the Defiled and cards like Ravenous Rats and Corrupt Court Official.

[Tinefol]

If it had as many "good" match ups, it should've been DTB for sure.

[Pinguster]

If it had as many "good" match ups, it should've been DTB for sure.

The deck is "new" you know, considering no one has posted the list for this archetype here, so I think it should fit in new and developmental don't you?

Well if you put the ones with prog in average I suppose they are the "worst good" matchups (D&T should be in average that was a personal mistake) even then the prog matchups aren't bad unless they get natural order. Even then you can deal with prog if you get gatekeeper.

The problem is a lot of it's bad matchups are decks which are very prevalent, the deck can be competitive I just need to iron out those matchups. I expect most of the decks in DTB have much fewer bad matchups. Jace is the main problem the deck has.

[JCLe]

The deck is "new" you know, considering no one has posted the list for this archetype here, so I think it should fit in new and developmental don't you?

Well if you put the ones with prog in average I suppose they are the "worst good" matchups (D&T should be in average that was a personal mistake) even then the prog matchups aren't bad unless they get natural order. Even then you can deal with prog if you get gatekeeper.

The problem is a lot of it's bad matchups are decks which are very prevalent, the deck can be competitive I just need to iron out those matchups. I expect most of the decks in DTB have much fewer bad matchups. Jace is the main problem the deck has.

Might want to try more Hexmages or Ratchet Bomb's (might be more useful in other matchups) from the board cause you have a few cards you want to board out against Jace decks : Gatekeeper and Shriekmaw are quite bad in those matchups for the most part.

[Pinguster]

Yeah I probably will. That sideboard was incredibly warped by the existence of vengevine survival in the meta. However I probably would prefer needles over bombs or hexmages because they can hit thopter sword combo as well.

[ooollliii]

Hey Mindlash Sliver looks good here, as it's like recuring discard

Also, is Liliana too expensive or is she worth a look?

[(nameless one)]

Hey Pinguster,

Do you have a tourney report from the recent MTGSalvation tournament?

[Pinguster]

Hey Pinguster,

Do you have a tourney report from the recent MTGSalvation tournament?

Indeed I do, here's the list I used:
Lands 22

20 swamp
2 mishra's factory

Dudes 21

4 shriekmaw
4 gatekeeper of malakir
4 dark confidant
4 vampire nighthawk
3 krovikan horror
2 stinkweed imp

Spells 17

4 hymn to tourach
4 duress
4 tortured existence
2 pithing needle
3 Umezawa's jitte

Sideboard

2 Pithing needle
2 smother
4 Mindbreak trap
4 leyline of the void
3 extirpate


I originally posted this on MTGS so here's a straight copy paste job:



Match 1 vs. Darchow with Dredge
Game 1
I lost, horribly. In all fairness it lasted longer than I was expecting

Game 2 sided in extirpates and leylines
Mulled a hand with 1 land and a leyline, in hindsight it was a bad idea but god damn I hate the MWS shuffler. Got much more agreeable hand with extirpate and lands, he went turn 1 putrid imp then discarded grave troll, I then extirpated it thinking I was clever. I wasn't, he discarded golgari thug after it resolved.
Touché

Match 2 vs. Some guy with (he was a nice guy actually, one of the friendliest I played) Dark Horizons (can't really remember this, just know I won 2-1)
Game 1
I died to big creatures, I think bob was the culprit

Game 2
Sided in smothers for needles(?)
Killed stuff

Game 3
Killed stuff

That's all I can remember

Match 3 vs. some jank with survival and fecundity
Game 1
Lots of discard and some beats, he dies shortly

Game 2
More discard and more beats. I think I brought in the other needles, not really sure. What I DO remember is that he played fecundity and then as he had no dudes I just cycled shriekmaws with fecundity's effect. Not sure whether this was game 1 or game 2.

Match 4
Didn't have to actually play because that was the round lots of people got dropped for no one getting their match done. People who posted in the thread stayed. I posted in the thread. Go me.

Match 5 vs. Cabal_chan
We both draw for top 8

Top 8
landstill
Game 1
he gets control down I die horribly because jace is plain ridiculous

Game 2
I side out all of the shriekmaws and a stinkweed imp for 2 pithing needles and 3 extirpate
He gets stuck on 1 land and top for the first 3/4 turns, I get down some beats and he can't recover in time. Lesson: Top doesn't always give you lands, even if you want them.

Game 3
He stats and I think I turn 2 hymn or bob? I think it was bob? He removes it and then drops standstill standstill. NORMALLY I'd have to crack the standstill at this point, but I deliberately chose not to play out my SECRET WEAPON: Mishra's factory. Turn 3 I play Mishra's factory and pass the turn making sure I sent a message in the chat comprising of ":3". He doesn't have any outs to this and I knock him down to 8, he then finds his own mishra's factory. I am crapping myself because I'm like god damn I'll have to crack that. I draw Mishra's factory. I swung in with mishra's factory, we then trade because he can't block tap this turn. I then play my mishra's factory. He has to crack his own standstill, I draw a bunch of cards and then I hymn him twice. The first gets spell snared, the second resolves and he discards a force and a jace. I then extirpate jace. He says GG.

Cabal_Chan with Vengevine Survival
Cabal_Chan chose not to play, probably works out for the better. Even WITH 4 pithing needles 3 extirpates I was still not happy with this matchup.

Finals vs. Dyzzy/Cirno
He's playing merfolk. FINALLY, A GOOD MATCHUP IN TOP 8.

Game 1
I get down some beats and kill his lords, I get the krovikan horror/shriekmaw/tortured existence loop going and win by saccing my entire board to krovikan horror to deal that last 3 life, I only did this because I had his list up from the top 8 thread and new he didn't have stifle. Don't copy me unless you know their list.

Game 2
I side out the pithing needles for 2 smothers
He plays standstill, I crack it and play a jitte which resolves surprisingly.
Next turn I play bob he does some junk.
Turn after I flip shriekmaw from bob. Oh well, could be worse, I am getting card advantage and a blocker and just drew a removal spell, still looking OK.
He does some more junk, I think he had double mutavault and a vial.
I then flip shriekmaw AGAIN off bob. 10 damage, nice. He beats me down with mutavaults from there

Game 3
Closest of the 3, there was a funny part where he went coralhelm commander, I went shriekmaw. He went coralhelm commander, I went smother. He went coralhelm commander, I went shriekmaw. After the game he told me he had a force there but forgot and it would have had to have pitched another lord anyway, which made no difference in the long run as I had my other smother.
I win on 20 life (really it was a lot closer than the life totals would suggest) with jitte and tortured existence on board with gatekeeper and krovikan horror looping. He had pithing needle on the jitte and a vial. My hand was double jitte as well as the jitte in play.

YEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.

[Pastorofmuppets]

There's already a thread for this here.
It just doesn't get posted in because people who post in threads like this are looking for a "budget" deck and wouldn't buy the Jittes to play this deck properly.
Also, the MU's are way off. This deck is still too slow to be fully competitive.
Granted, it's a great deck to bring to smaller tournaments. It beats a lot of the jankier tier 2 decks, as well as having 3 Jittes, therefore doing good against Merfolk.
I don't see this doing well in a really serious tournament, though. Too much of the deck is build for beating creatures. While that's a fair portion of the field, you're still mono-black, and you're still going to run into Storm eventually.
Also, with the recursion engine and all, would you consider Cabal Therapy?

[Hanni]

Entomb seems like a great way to get Krovikan in your graveyard, and then tutor for any creature you want after that.

[dahcmai]

I love any deck with Krovokian Horror. That card won me so much money it's not even funny. I still have my nice signed ones from back in the day. Kudos to making a deck that uses them.

[Pinguster]

There's already a thread for this here.

Ok. It's probably incredibly outdated and verging on a different deck.


It just doesn't get posted in because people who post in threads like this are looking for a "budget" deck and wouldn't buy the Jittes to play this deck properly.

It's not a budget deck, it just happens the best card choices make the deck cost $100. I will give wastes a good test some time but this is the most recent list I am happy with.


Also, the MU's are way off. This deck is still too slow to be fully competitive.

Really? Because I've played against every deck in my matchup analysis and I'd say it's pretty accurate and in even conservative on some matchups. Particularly D&T.


Granted, it's a great deck to bring to smaller tournaments. It beats a lot of the jankier tier 2 decks, as well as having 3 Jittes, therefore doing good against Merfolk.

If you'd read my tournament report you'd know that I didn't need a jitte to win any of my games against merfolk. In fact I wont with a pithing needle on jitte with a jitte in play and 2 in hand, so I'm not quite sure what you are talking about here. It also beats zoo and goblins as well as a good matchup with just about every deck which wins by aggro.


I don't see this doing well in a really serious tournament, though.

I just came first in a recent MTGS tournament.


Too much of the deck is build for beating creatures. While that's a fair portion of the field, you're still mono-black, and you're still going to run into Storm eventually.

Post sideboard I have 15 cards to disrupt storm, though I could probably get away with a few more if you don't think that's enough.


I love any deck with Krovokian Horror. That card won me so much money it's not even funny. I still have my nice signed ones from back in the day. Kudos to making a deck that uses them.
I love krovikan horror as well, it's just plain unfair in this deck.


Entomb seems like a great way to get Krovikan in your graveyard, and then tutor for any creature you want after that.
Buried alive is probably a better idea as the krovikan horrors can go back to your hand whether a creature dies or not by stacking imp, horror, horror and it used to be in the deck, however after a lot of testing I cut buried alive because it is far too slow for the format and sucks without Tortured Existence.

[Pastorofmuppets]

MTGS tournament.


Unfortunately, I wouldn't consider that to be the best of testing grounds.
I was actually thinking of borrowing some Jittes and taking my old list to Providence in May.
I love the deck, don't get me wrong. Anything that forces my opponent to stare at me while I take 5 minutes to take my turn is great. A few ideas to toss around though:
On MTGS (I'm fearmeordie on there, by the way), you claimed that 4 Shriekmaw is all the deck needs to win (or something along those lines). Would you say that still holds true?
Nihilith: He's usually out and swinging by turn 4 or 5, especially with more than one Shriekmaw or Stinkweed Imp. The only issue would be its interaction with Confidant.
Cranial Extraction over Sadistic Sacrament? One less mana is crucial, especially since you only really need to take out a Tendrils and 2 Burning Wish to cripple Storm as long as you Duressed or Hymned before it.
Mindbreak Trap is a joke. Most skilled players go right around it.
Perhaps using the basic engine and bringing back in Buried Alive coupled with Venvevine? I made up a list that's somewhere on here.
Also, you're pretty far from the original deck Poppelle made.
Oh, and don't list UW Tempo as a good MU. Calling it a deck is a flamefest waiting to happen.

[Pinguster]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't consider that to be the best of testing grounds.

Oh no, I totally agree, however living in the UK there aren't many big legacy tournaments. Although I believe that the community on MTGS has a worse reputation than it probably deserves.


I was actually thinking of borrowing some Jittes and taking my old list to Providence in May.

I'm not aware of what that list is. I would suggest give my list a go but if you want any suggestions for your own list I will happily give you some suggestions.


I love the deck, don't get me wrong. Anything that forces my opponent to stare at me while I take 5 minutes to take my turn is great. A few ideas to toss around though:
On MTGS (I'm fearmeordie on there, by the way)

OH. Sorry about that, I assumed you were just a source user who saw something new and assumed I knew nothing about what I was talking about


you claimed that 4 Shriekmaw is all the deck needs to win (or something along those lines). Would you say that still holds true?

I think that's a bit of exaggeration (at least this is the point I hope I didn't actually say that because if I did I was exaggerating myself) I believe what I said was that it did not need the ooze combo win when we can win by beating in with shriekmaw and nighthawk. I generally win by attacking with nighthawks.


Nihilith: He's usually out and swinging by turn 4 or 5, especially with more than one Shriekmaw or Stinkweed Imp. The only issue would be its interaction with Confidant.

The idea of the most recent list is that every creature except bob (which is there because the card is far too good) and hexmage (which is there to kill jace) is a killspell


Cranial Extraction over Sadistic Sacrament? One less mana is crucial, especially since you only really need to take out a Tendrils and 2 Burning Wish to cripple Storm as long as you Duressed or Hymned before it.

It's mainly there for lands, aggro loam, stax and landstill. Decks where the game can turn totally in their favour if they do manage to get to that last copy left


Mindbreak Trap is a joke. Most skilled players go right around it.

Hmm. I'll give that a thought. To me it seemed like the best storm combo hate we had bar hymn to tourach which can be too slow to deal with turn 1 combos.


Perhaps using the basic engine and bringing back in Buried Alive coupled with Venvevine? I made up a list that's somewhere on here.

Buried alive was removed because it only worked well with brownscale, it was fine when you had brownscale but brownscale was bad because it was a dead card in hand and the entire idea of the streamlined list was to create no dead topdecks. Adding 3 vengevines mean you have 3 cards in your deck you wont be able to cast, that's fine if you have tortured existence but then you are tortured existence reliant and that was the other thing I was trying to more the deck away from. With just what black has buried alive is too slow and only any good with tortured existence.


Also, you're pretty far from the original deck Poppelle made.

Indeed it is, however he has given his support own support for removal of "cute interactions" and that my list is where the deck is currently at. The post is in the MTGS thread if you want to read it.


Oh, and don't list UW Tempo as a good MU. Calling it a deck is a flamefest waiting to happen.
Hah, I'll take that as a joke on the source. I am just trying to make the primer as comprehensive as possible.

[Pastorofmuppets]

here's the list I'm going to be fiddling with:

20 Swamp
2 utility lands (Factory, Blinkmoth Nexus, Wasteland, etc)

4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Stinkweed Imp
2 Nihilith
3 Krovikan Horror
4 Shriekmaw

4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Tortured Existence
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
3 Umezawa's Jitte


I know Top isn't that great here, but there's a lot of aggressive decks out there and losing 5 life from Bob is unacceptable.
What I really miss from Poppelle's version was Viscera Seer with Mesmeric Fiend. It was a great mid to late-game strategy.

[Pinguster]

here's the list I'm going to be fiddling with:

20 Swamp
2 utility lands (Factory, Blinkmoth Nexus, Wasteland, etc)

4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Stinkweed Imp
2 Nihilith
3 Krovikan Horror
4 Shriekmaw

4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Tortured Existence
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
3 Umezawa's Jitte


I know Top isn't that great here, but there's a lot of aggressive decks out there and losing 5 life from Bob is unacceptable.
What I really miss from Poppelle's version was Viscera Seer with Mesmeric Fiend. It was a great mid to late-game strategy.

That seems pretty solid.

If you missed the mesmeric fiend/viscera seer lock I would recommend looking at chittering rats and mimic vat as similar alternate lock. Unlike the mesmeric fiend lock the peices do good things without the other and chittering rats is stronger because the opponent will only be able to draw the card on top of their library, also mimic vat works really well with shriekmaw.

The question is where to fit it in, maybe -1 stinkweed imp -2 nihilith -2 top +3 chittering rats +2 mimic vat?

[Nakytje]

So, how does this tortured existence work exactly? Do I need to have a target in the graveyard?

[Pinguster]

So, how does this tortured existence work exactly? Do I need to have a target in the graveyard?

It works by using creatures with strong enters the battlefield abilities. The main interaction is that by returning a shriekmaw to your hand with tortured existence whilst pitching krovikan horror, this then allows you to evoke the shriekmaw, causing the krovikan horror's ability to trigger at the beginning of the next end step allowing you to pitch it to tortured existence and repeat, generating a terror every turn. It also allows you to recur the best threat in your graveyard (vampire nighthawk) and then beat them down.

[Pastorofmuppets]

Also, you haven't made a single mention of Faerie Macabre.
It hoses decks like Ichorid AND it can fly with a Jitte. I would never underestimate what 4 of this guy can do.

[Pinguster]

Also, you haven't made a single mention of Faerie Macabre.
It hoses decks like Ichorid AND it can fly with a Jitte. I would never underestimate what 4 of this guy can do.

I tested it mainboard for a while, it kinda sucked. But I suppose as sideboard gravehate it could be used instead of leyline, the problem is all of the decks which I have problems with that are grave based are aggro loam, lands and ichorid (and reanimator if they go iona) and the best way to nuke their entire graveyard is leyline, I mean, you might get a rid of a few ichorids against dredge but they still have their dread returns and their bridges.

I DO have a playset of faerie macabre however, so I could test them some time. It's just for me, for what I want, leyline seems the best option. We have no problem hitting 4 mana every game with our manabase.

[Pastorofmuppets]

but another 4 cards that cost more than 3 seems like bad news bears with Bob, doesn't it?

[Pinguster]

True, very true. However in those matchups it's either a case of nuke their yard and win or don't and lose, I'll definitely give macabre a test as I have some.

Beseiged goodies:

No 4cmc black walker. Damn. When we get one I will be so happy, if it can win through moat I'll be so happy, if it can win through elephant grass and solitary confinement I will be even happier. But anyway, at least we got one thing in the form of phyrexian revoker, whilst he isn't as good against walkers as hexmage he's a lot better against other decks in the format, at worst he's a chump blocker and a creature to pitch to tortured existence, at best he can shut down a problem permanent for a few turns and stop LED against storm combo. The guy seems solid, with 2 copies of this guy, 4 duress, 4 hymn, 3 thoughtseize and 4 mindbreak traps I am actually liking the matchup vs. combo a lot more than the matchup vs. landstill.

[Xargoth]

Ok here goes, my first tournament report.

My name's Nich and this is the first time I've ran an even remotely notable deck, as I always play rogue decks. I consider this deck to be rather rogue as well.

This past weekend I went to the monthly Legacy tournament at Mythic Games in Elmira, NY and decided to run The Nightmare Effect. I have been wanting to play this deck for a while now, but the fact that it is mono black held me back as my sideboard options aren't exactly spectacular in mono black. I've done pretty well here in the past with my previous deck, which is still flying under the radar (no sense in unveiling it now.) The only reason I decided to switch is because stoneblade is running so rampant right now, and the last Legacy tournament I went to I played against 4 UW stoneblade decks (which is basically the deck's nightmare match.)

I made it to top 4, which we split for $160 each in store credit (not bad for a $25 30-something man tournament) and decided not to play the last 2 rounds which were irrelevant at that point.


Here's my list:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Stinkweed Imp
3 Krovikan Horror
3 Shriekmaw

2 Darkblast
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Inquisition of Kozilek

4 Tortured Existence
1 Sylvan Library

2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Liliana of the Veil

4 Bayou
5 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Wasteland
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard:

4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Duress
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Extirpate
1 Surgical Extraction


And now for the actual report... I apologize in advance for vagueness and inconsistencies, as I am doing this entirely from memory and I haven't bothered getting into the habit of taking notes.

Round 1: Junk, Josh Warren

Game 1: I'm on the play. I keep a hand of Verdant Catacombs, Bayou, Inquisition, Cabal therapy, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Krovikan Horror, Vampire Nighthawk. Turn 1 fetch swamp inquisition see: wasteland, fetch, thoughtseize, KOTR, STP, Liliana, Aven Mindcensor. I hit Mindcensor. He fetches a scrubland and plays thoughtseize hits nighthawk. Turn 2 Bayou Bob. He wastes my bayou and swords bob. Turn 3 draw Darkblast play therapy hit Liliana. He plays fetch land sensei's top. Turn 4 draw existence play existence, he fetches and tops EOT. He misses a land drop and plays bob. Turn 5 draw swamp darkblast bob. He tops on his upkeep plays bayou and passes. Turn 6 Draw horror play gatekeeper flashback therapy hit KOTR. He plays Liliana makes us discard I discard horror. Takes me a few turns to draw another land, I draw a shriekmaw just in time to deal with a KOTR while chaining horrors to deal with Liliana's discard, and a gatekeeper to keep her from ultimate. In the end he dies to his Bitterblossom since I had the game locked up at that point. Win

-1 Darkblast, -1 stinkweed imp, +2 Maelstrom Pulse


Game 2: I keep 3 land, darkblast, therapy, horror, gatekeeper. Turn 1 He plays land thoughtseize hits gatekeeper. I draw shriekmaw then Therapy naming Stoneforge Mystic for a miss and see Bitterblossom, land, KOTR, STP, Surgical extraction. Turn 2 he plays Bitterblossom. I draw land play bob. Turn 3 KOTR. I draw therapy evoke shriekmaw to kill KOTR then play therapy, he double extracts my gatekeepers and Verdant catacombs choosing not find the catacombs in response so I name STP. Turn 4 He plays a land and passes. I draw pulse for Bitterblossom and the game is over since bob is still alive and found me a tortured existence. Win

Win 2-0
1-0


Round 2: RUG Delver, Bryant Cook

Game 1: I play turn 2 Sylvan Library, draw all gas and it's too much for him to keep up with so I win. And honestly, I don't remember any of this game other than I didn't see horror or existence. Win

-1 darkblast, -1 Sylvan Library, -1 Cabal Therapy, -1 Stinkweed Imp, +2 Chalice of the void


Game 2: I keep a hand of 2 land, inquisition, chalice, other stuff. Turn 1 He plays Delver. I play swamp inquisition, he counters. Turn 2 flip delver play land go. I go for chalice on 1, it gets through. He flashes in Snapcaster EOT to try and aggro me to death. Turn 3 He swings. I play gatekeeper kicked he sacs snapcaster. Turn 4 he swings. I play Jitte, equip, swing, kill delver, scoop phase. Win

Win 2-0
2-0


Round 3: Geist of ST. Bant, Nick Derico

This round is a bit fuzzy.

Game 1: I'm on the Draw. He plays turn 1 dryad arbor which gets darkblasted. Turn 3 goyf, which gets killed by shriekmaw, Turn 4 Geist which dies to gatekeeper, turn 5 knight met by tortured existence shriekmaw. Turn 6 SFM fetching batterskull only to be answered with therapy. Win

-1 Sylvan Library, -2 Stinkweed Imp, -1 Therapy, -2 Inquisition, +4 Pulse, +2 Deed.


Game 2: the only thing I remember is drawing 3 pulses at some point which hit Batterskull, Elspeth, and Sword of feast and Famine. Win

Win 2-0
3-0

Did not see horror either game.


Round 4: Death And Taxes, JC Wilbur

Game 1: Don't remember how, but I won. I know it wasn't with existence+horror though, they seem to have lost their way. Win

-1 Stinkweed Imp, -1 Therapy, +2 Deed


Game 2: He gets me locked with Serra Avenger with Sword of Light and Shadow and Ensnaring Bridge, while I dredge Darkblast probably 8-10 times looking for the horror to go with my existence, but he's nowhere to be seen. I eventually die to angel with a sword. Lose

- 1 Library, -1 Jitte, + 2 Maelstrom Pulse


Game 3: Turn 1 I play existence. He plays port vial. Turn 2 I play Mishra's factory. He plays wasteland vial. Turn 3 I waste his port and he EOT vials in mom. He wastes my factory on his turn leaving him with no lands. Turn 4 I miss a land drop he EOT vials in Phyrexian Revoker on Liliana. He draws and passes. Turn 5 I draw a land and have the choice of Deed or pulse... I make the wrong decision by playing deed, which he responds to by vialing in flickerwisp and revoker to name deed. I spent the rest of the game trying to kill the revoker and ignored the vials while he drew only 2-3 cost dudes. Lose

Lose 1-2
3-1


Round 5: TES, Si Ning Li

Game 1: I didn't know what he decided to play so I kept a hand that wins against NLT and lost. Lose

-2 Darkblast, -3 Shriekmaw, -2 Stinkweed Imp, -1 Jitte, -3 Horror, -4 Existence, + My whole Sideboard.


Game 2: I keep a hand of inquisition chalice, then I derp. I inquisition see a hand of 2 Ponder, Brainstorm, land, inquisition, 2 Rite of flame. This is where I derp... I think "oh man, all 1 drops! lets get the brainstorm so he can't fix his hand and get out of this." Needless to say he inquisitioned me on his turn and I lost. Lose

Lose 0-2
3-2


Round 6: Reanimator, Chris Seager

Game 1: He plays first and gets turn 2 Jin and it's gg. Lose

-2 Stinkweed Imp, -1 Sylvan Library, -2 Jitte, -2 darkblast, +2 Extirpate, +2 Faerie, +1 Surgical Extraction, +2 Maelstrom Pulse.


Game 2: I extirpate Jin in response to a reanimate spell turn 2 then he fails to find any gas while I kill him. Win


Game 3: I mull and keep a really good opening hand of Verdant Catacombs, Extirpate, Inquisition, Faerie Macabre, Gatekeeper, and shriekmaw. He inquisitions me turn 1 and hits gatekeeper. I inquisition and hit show and tell. He punts pretty hard and thinks shriekmaw can kill Sphinx of the Steel wind so he doesn't cast show and tell. I eventually draw into tortured existence while still stuck on 1 land, then extirpate his Show and Tells and it's gg. Win

Win 2-1
4-2


I barely squeak into top 8 with breakers.


Top 8: UW Stoneblade, Adam Van Fleet

Hmmm... how fitting.


Game 1: I keep an opening hand with existence, horror, land, other things. This game goes on for a while. Eventually he casts mainphase brainstorm to hit his 4th land drop. I then blind therapy for batterskull and hit. See Jace, play Bob Rip Jace out of his hand. draw straight lands for the rest of the game and lose. Lose

-1 Stinkweed Imp, -1 Sylvan Library, -1 Inquisition, -1 darkblast, +4 Maelstrom Pulse


Game 2: I keep another hand with the engine and some lands. I look at his hand turn 1 and see I need to play around Surgical Extraction again. I eventually force him to waste it, and the Existence/Horror engine takes over the game as well as some well placed pulses. Win

Game 3: Very similar to game 2. Keep opening hand with the engine (third game in a row) I find out he also boarded in disenchant when he disenchanted my factory, I had a pulse for batterskull and Elspeth and eventually the engine took over the game again. Win

Win 2-1
5-2


Split top 4


Overall the deck performed really well, if I had played better I think I would have beaten D&T, but I'm pretty sure the storm matchup was unsalvageable regardless of my mistakes. The deck is incredibly solid after turn 3-4, but is open to early aggro and burn. I would like to fiddle with the deck to try and make it less susceptible to getting outpaced by these types of decks.

The only changes I plan on making to the current list are -1 Forest, -1 Factory, -1 Stinkweed Imp, +1 Swamp, +1 Wasteland, +1 Faerie Macabre

Stinkweed Imp didn't actually do anything that I can remember... I think it might have held back some creature for 1 turn, and got dredged once to be discarded to get back shriekmaw. He also got boarded out in almost all of my matchups.

This tournament was awesome! 3/4 of the Doolittles that showed up made top 8.

[sco0ter]

Why don't use Phyrexian Reclamation instead of Tortured Existence?
Doesn't make card disadvantage and you could cut the Horrors for something better.

[Asthereal]

Reclamation costs too much life.
This is a very controllish deck, and suicide seams a lousy strategy for it.

Has anyone playing this ever considered Oath of Ghouls? It does need a bit of tuning to get it fitted, since your opponent will also stack his grave with beasts, but it does provide card advantage whewre the Tortured Existence does not.

[Xargoth]

I haven't tried Phyrexian Reclamation, but I would assume the life loss would add up rather quickly. In which case you would most likely have to replace the Horrors with something like Child of night to counteract the life loss, which kinda seems to go against the whole "cut the horrors for something better" thing. Plus Krovikan Horror is much better than people realize. I was hesitant at first because, at first glance, he looks a bit crappy. Having used him, I think he is actually very good, even without Tortured Existence.

Reasons
Ability 1, Recusion:
1: Fights discard quite handily since you will just get him back most likely.
2: Allows for a fairly strong late-game.
3: Horror sometimes eats a removal spell, which is great!
4: Breaks the symmetry on Liliana's +1.
5: Can potentially block a huge attacker multiple times (but theoretically you won't need to.)

Ability 2, Sacrifice/Damage:
1: Stops lifelink abilities, specifically Batterskull's lifelink ability.
2: Kills 1 Toughness guys, especially good when those 1 toughness guys are holding a Jitte
3: Along with #2 stops Bitterblossom tokens, I know first hand that most decks can't actually beat a turn 1-2 Bitterblossom.
4: Puts your guys in the yard rather than exile (STP anyone?)
5: Allows you to get Gatekeeper back.
6: Gets through combat locks such as Ensnaring Bridge.


Oath of ghouls could potentially work, but it really opens you up to graveyard hate (especially since Scavenging Ooze exists.) As it stands though, the deck doesn't really care if your opponent boards in graveyard hate.

[sco0ter]

Well, a friend has been playing a very similar deck as this, but with Reclamation instead. His line of though was, that "if I play 4 Vampire Nighthawks, I get enough life".

That's why I suggested it.

He also recently discovered Lashwrithe, and it was really better than I thought, especially on a Nighthawk.

[Xargoth]

I can definitely see myself trying Phyrexian Reclamation at some point in the future, this was the first time I've tried the deck so I'm sure it will end up changing a lot. The 4 nighthawk theory made sense, my only worry is even with 4 you might not draw one, which would be bad, plus if they could get exiled it would be difficult to protect them.

There are some differences that should be noted between the two cards though.
1: Reclamation is a bit slower, so evoking 2 shriekmaws by turn 3 will actually be impossible.
2: Existence requires a creature to pitch, so it is a dead card if you don't have a creature in hand.
3: The deck is already soft to burn, reclamation isn't going to help that.
4: You don't need Horror for Reclamation to be really good.

[TsumiBand]

How is this approach to recycling creature ETB effects better than, say, using Erratic Portal / Crystal Shard shenanigans? Crystal Shard pushes the deck to use Blue manas(if it wants to be more efficient anyway), but the practical upshot here is that Shard/Portal would also serve to gain you tempo by bouncing their dudes until you hit the point of, like, Shriekmaw/Gatekeeper recursion. Is Krovikan Horror really that amazing?

[Xargoth]

Tortured Existence/Phyrexian Reclamation are better than the portal and shard mostly because it is significantly cheaper to utilize as Erratic portal cost 4 just to cast and crystal shard 3 as opposed to the 1 CMC of Existence and Reclamation. Other reasons are, you don't really care if your dudes are in in play most of the time, such as with shriekmaw. I would rather evoke shriekmaw for 2 mana and get him back next turn to do it again than pay 3 mana to evoke him and return him to my hand the same turn.

Another great thing about the current idea is you never really run out of gas and it makes counterspells terrible. All of your guys can come back from the dead with existence/horror, but with the other two cards if your guy dies he's gone forever.

If your opponent counters one of your guys they actually end up losing ground since you will most likely be able to get them back.

Krovikan Horror is actually much better than he appears, the first time I saw this deck I wanted to cut the Horrors and play something that appeared better. Having played with Krovikan Horror I can honestly say he is one of the best cards in the deck. He does some amazing things even without his counterpart (Tortured Existence.)