Tombstill

[bruizar]

Okay here it is. Fire away!




//Cantrip n Draw Package 7
4 Brainstorm
3 Standstill

//Removal Package 8
1 The Abyss
2 Snuff Out
2 Innocent Blood
3 Pernicious Deed

//PW Package 7
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Jace the Mindsculptor

//Counter Package 11
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Mental Misstep

//Graveyard Package 6
4 Entomb
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
1 Squee Goblin Nabob / 1 Deep Analysis
1 Life from the Loam / 1 Dark Blast

// Lands
//Fetch + Duals + 3 Basics
1 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Wasteland



I´m pretty much in love with Liliana and Pharaoh. This deck puts them both to great use. This deck is geared towards both aggro and control. Liliana and countermagic are your ways to defeat combo game 1, after which you side in hate. It´s very easy to make a transformational sideboard with this deck, since all you need to add is 1 entomb, 4 reanimate and a target, although I don´t think that is really the best route to take.


Entomb+Standstill
Turn 1: Entomb for Vengeful Pharaoh
Turn 2: Standstill
Don't mind his turn 1 creatures, Vengeful Pharaoh will kill them off. If he drops Mishra´s Factory, just draw, discard, go or use Wasteland.

If you keep dropping lands you will play Creeping Tar Pit and win through defending Mishra's Factory's. Your opponent will have to crack Standstill against a turn 1 Entomb.

Entomb + Liliana of the Veil
Entomb for either Squee, Goblin Nabob or Life from the Loam. I am not sure which one to use yet. Squee is better with Standstill and doesn´t require mana, whereas Life from the Loam synergizes better with my Wasteland´s and recurs my Creeping Tar Pit´s .

The idea should be clear, use Entomb to set up card advantage through Liliana of the Veil.

Entomb by itself
Acts as an instant removal spell when it grabs Vengeful Pharaoh, pseudo Swords to Plowshares.

Solves opposing land destruction through Life from the Loam.

Entomb over Intuition
You want to set up a turn 2 Standstill, and have easy access to creature removal in the form of Vengeful Pharaoh. Intuition costs too much mana and you don't need your entire toolbox all the time.

Duskmantle, House of Shadow
Helps you put Vengeful Pharaoh in the graveyard from your library, which is good because you won't have the drawback it costs you. It also helps clear away Brainstorm and Jace fodder. (Put Squee, Goblin Nabob on top of your library and put it in your graveyard)


Creeping Tar Pit
You don´t want too many colorless lands, and these will always connect.

Snuff Out
You want to keep the board as clear as possible, spending the least amount of mana on it as possible. Innocent Blood is very good, but you want to be able to have targeted spot removal as well. Dismember costs too much, and all the other options are even more expensive. Snuff Out allows you to kill a creature on turn 2, so you can follow it up with a Standstill the same turn. It also works great alongside Liliana of the Veil, because it helps you clear the board so that your planeswalker survives and takes over.


Innocent Blood
Killing creatures for the low price of 1 black mana. Great removal, completely one-sided

The Abyss
I'm in love with the card, but I realize he may not be needed. There is already so much creature removal in the deck. This is my version for Moat or Ensnaring Bridge.


Vengeful Pharaoh
This guy makes the deck work. With Entomb he sets up Standstill. With Liliana of the Veil he makes the +1 work similar as the -2. Once we're in topdeck mode or I deplete my opponent's gas, I can simply hardcast it and kill my opponent with it.

Pernicious Deed
Reset button that kills everything, besides planeswalkers and Creeping Tar Pit´s

Liliana of the Veil
Liliana in topdeck mode invalidates cantrips, permission and creature removal. That only leaves lands and creatures as potential top-decks. Aside of manlands, lands really don't matter. Once you have Vengeful Pharaoh, not even manlands matter. Regular creatures get removed with ease. She can take over the game against both control and aggro strategies. Liliana clearly synergizes well with Squee, Goblin Nabob, Life from the Loam and Vengeful Pharaoh.

Liliana of the Veil with Jace, the Mind Sculptor
The SWAT team that can edict and bounce most creatures that come into play. They don´t really handle flash bangs well, and manlands aren´t really their cup of tea either. If you see a lot of Flash, play Darkblast. Wasteland should take care of the manlands. If that doesn't work, Vengeful Pharaoh has a nice planeswalker clause that lets you kill Vendilion Clique and Mishra's Factory when they attempt to kill a planeswalker.

List of Fatalities
Bounce and Discard
Discard and Brainstorm
Edict and Bounce
Discard and Fateseal

[Scordata]

I'm glad someone else recognizes how powerful this interaction is. I like tombstalkers in the board.

[GGoober]

My deck loses to this deck. I highly approve. I think you don't need Squee, Loam is enoughn and sustains Liliana better, and also Entomable, even better, it recurs Tarpit/Wasteland in various scenarios).

Also, you mention Squee is better when you have Liliana AND Standstill out, which IMO is a highly win-more position, so Squee is further giving you the win-more. You can easily break even under Liliana's symmetric discard under Standstill without Squee, since they have to crack the Standstill, you will be +3 cards to their zero cards.

[bruizar]

Thanks for the kind words. There is are a couple of things I haven't mentioned about the comparison of Squee, Goblin Nabob versus Life from the Loam.

Life from the Loam not only costs mana and is counterable, it also costs you a draw. Squee, Goblin Nabob allows me to sculpt a winning hand with Liliana of the Veil. Life from the Loam does the same, but only after I dredge it(skip a draw), cast it (dodge counters) and take my lands out of my graveyard.

Squee can also serve as a really bad fog when I cast it, chump, and get it back and it can go aggro. (Tar Pit + Squee = 5 turn clock, Tar Pit without Squee = 7 turn clock). It becomes sort of a Nether Spirit.

I am not sure if I have the luxury to play with both, or if I have to replace one of them. I do know that I want at least 3 silver bullets for my Entomb.

Ancient Grudge seems like a good card to play because it can blow up Batterskull, which can screw with my edicts. It can also blow up Aether Vials which counter my Standstills. And it can blow up Engineered Explosives before it can be activated sometimes (to preserve my walkers).

Other cards I am considering are:

Ancient Grudge - Already discussed
Darkblast - I like it because it dredges, but you don't really want to Entomb for this.
Punishing Fires/Grove of the Burnwillows - Grove isnt fetchable and it produces only my splash colors.
Deep Analysis - If I draw into it naturally, it helps me draw a ton of cards. I wouldn´t use my first Entomb for it though. This doesn´t provide the utility I want, but at least I can go Turn 1 Entomb into Turn 2 Deep Analysis so I get cards without Standstill. That said, I´m not sure if this is what the deck needs.

Roar of the Wurm - This is a nice late game finisher.

[catmint]

I was also brewing around with liliana/pharao/entomb in deedstill.
Very good stuff! My thoughts:

The squee is interesting. Did not consider such a mechanic. However without testing it I am in favour of Life from the Loam. I think it is much more important that you don' thave "dead" cards and LFTL is a value card.

I am not sold on the removal package. More early removal is still important I think. The entomb beeing instant creature removal is correct somehow. However if you dont have liliana, you screw up your next draw. Also if Liliana is out there you have to let the creature make damage to liliana, before you can destroy it with pharao. If that leads to situations where liliana dies and you draw pharao next turn: Not really good. I played with dismember over snuff out in TA and was very happy with it. Also effecient the damage can be controllend and it killls tombstalker, dark confidant and magus of the moon!
Did you test this removal package already versus creature heavy decks?

Why did you choose spell pierce over spell snare? Again my concern about creatures. There are many good 2 drop creatures out there.

Love the Duskmantle idea, however as you said in your decicion for creeping tar pit you don't want too many colorless lands. I think the mishra is a very important defensive card. And I am sure there are also many situations where you want a untapped colorless mana over a tapped color mana.

Love to hear your comments and experiences from testing.
I'll try to get my list together and get some testing done as well.

[catmint]

I was also brewing around with liliana/pharao/entomb in deedstill.
Very good stuff! My thoughts:

The squee is interesting. Did not consider such a mechanic. However without testing it I am in favour of Life from the Loam. I think it is much more important that you don' thave "dead" cards and LFTL is a value card.

I am not sold on the removal package. More early removal is still important I think. The entomb beeing instant creature removal is correct somehow. However if you dont have liliana, you screw up your next draw. Also if Liliana is out there you have to let the creature make damage to liliana, before you can destroy it with pharao. If that leads to situations where liliana dies and you draw pharao next turn: Not really good. I played with dismember over snuff out in TA and was very happy with it. Also effecient the damage can be controllend and it killls tombstalker, dark confidant and magus of the moon!
Did you test this removal package already versus creature heavy decks?

Why did you choose spell pierce over spell snare? Again my concern about creatures. There are many good 2 drop creatures out there.

Love the Duskmantle idea, however as you said in your decicion for creeping tar pit you don't want too many colorless lands. I think the mishra is a very important defensive card. And I am sure there are also many situations where you want a untapped colorless mana over a tapped color mana.

Looking forward to hear your comments and experiences from testing.
I'll try to get my list together and get some testing done as well.

[bruizar]

@Catmint: Thanks for the pointers. I am replacing the Creeping Tar Pits for 2 Mishra's Factories and the Snuff Outs for Dismembers. The reason is that Dismember can be cast from a colorless land, so you can go turn 1 Factory -> dismember, turn 2 Standstill. You really don't want the Tar Pit among your first lands.

Also, if I have a Liliana, I can attack into their Factories and edict them after combat.

Squee thusfar has proved a real MVP. Liliana + Squee is super unfair because you make no investment at all.

I have 1 slot free because I am cutting The Abyss. It's cute, but too slow.

[bruizar]

@Catmint: Thanks for the pointers. I am replacing the Creeping Tar Pits for 2 Mishra's Factories and the Snuff Outs for Dismembers. The reason is that Dismember can be cast from a colorless land, so you can go turn 1 Factory -> dismember, turn 2 Standstill. You really don't want the Tar Pit among your first lands.

Also, if I have a Liliana, I can attack into their Factories and edict them after combat.

Squee thusfar has proved a real MVP. Liliana + Squee is super unfair because you make no investment at all.

I have 1 slot free because I am cutting The Abyss. It's cute, but too slow.

[bruizar]

After playing with the deck I have decided to make some changes.

My silver bullet package contains Darkblast, Life from the Loam and Vengeful Pharaoh. The reason for this is because Dredge synergizes very well with Vengeful Pharaoh,. Squee is a great card, but I feel like I can play with out it. Dredge allows me to cut Duskmantle, even though the land is awesome.


My current list looks like this:

4 Misty Rainforest (Have 4, should be 3)
3 Polluted Delta (Have 3, should be 4)

2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Volcanic Island
1 Swamp
1 Island
3 Wasteland
3 Mishras Factory

2 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
1 Smother

3 Pernicious Deed
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Standstill

4 Entomb
1 Darkblast
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
1 Life from the Loam

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
3 Spell Pierce


Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void - Reanimator, Loam, Dredge, Manaless Dredge
1 Coffin Purge - Reanimator, Loam, Dredge, Academy Ruins/Goblin Welder/Life from the Loam recursion
2 Ancient Grudge - Batterskull, Sword of X and Y, Aether Vial, Engineered Explosives, Mishra's Factory Vedalken Shackles, Affinity, Moxen, random
1 Null Rod - Aether Vial, Engineered Explosives, Artifact Land and Moxen, Vedalken Shackles, Tormod´s Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Sword of X and Y
2 Thoughtseize - Hive Mind, Spring Tide, Tendrils-based storm, Reanimator, other combo
2 Hymn to Tourach - Hive Mind, Spring Tide, Tendrils-based storm, other combo
1 or 2 Misdirection - Ancestral Vision, Hymn to Tourach, Thoughtseize, Swords to Plowshares, Surgical Extraction, Vindicate, Maelstrom Pulse, Counterspells
2 Ensnaring Bridge - Progenitus, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Fast aggro, tribal decks (Goblins, Merfolk). Helps Planeswalkers take over.
/////
Maybe
1 Constant Mist or 1 Moment´s Peace to help Planeswalkers. Constant Mists with Life from the Loam is infinite fog, planeswalker don't get damage anymore.


I still need to test Spell Snare vs Spell Pierce. Spell Pierce helps me resolve Deeds and Walkers whereas SPell Snare hits more threats like Stoneforge Mystic, Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, and other trouble cards. I also need to test a singleton Predict.

[Roman]

Is the 1 Volcanic worth it over a basic forest? I mean the only red card is Grudge and it will mostly cast off flashback or do you draw it alot? The basic Forest could also help you cast loam (or even deed) against land destruction...

[bruizar]

I have 1 bayou and 2 tropical islands, that's quiet a lot of green sources think. I would rather have an extra basic island so that I can cast Jace under a magus of the moon. or an extra swamp so I can cast liliana under either a blood moon. The ultimate of liliana can get rid of the blood moon (or the rest of his board) while jace can immediately bounce a magus of the moon.

I think that Batterskull, Swords and Aether Vials are so common that playing a volcanic island is warranted. Once you cast Ancient Grudge from your hand, instead of through Entomb, you will get so much value out. The fact that it flashes back for Entomb is a bonus, since it helps you up your artifact hate count to 7 (instead of 2 Ancient Grudge, 1 Null Rod). Perhaps I'm not correct on this issue but it feels saver to me to play with a Volcanic and have a sideboard with a good share of artifact hate.


I'm also considering a sideboard Howling Gale to combat Spellstutter Sprite, Inkmoth Nexus and Vendilion Clique.

[catmint]

I don't know about the ancient grudge idea. I mean having a entomb toolbox is a nice idea. However, I think we should use it mostly for card advantage (liliana/LFTL/Pharao). Putting the ancient grudge in the GY to get it countered is not good and Batterskull can still be bounced in response. Therefore I think 2-3 Krosan grip in the sideboard do a better job! It also eases up the manabase which is a challenge anyway for every 3 color standstill deck with manlands and wastelands.

That brings me to another point. I am not that set aynmore about the standstill plan. I mean in a standstill deck you want to be sure to be able to cast it turn 2 to get an advantage. I just see that other standstill decks gain a better advantage and even all of this decks do not perform very well at the moment (Visions perform better than standstill according to the SCG data collected by the hatfield brothers). The big card advantage engine in this deck is liliana, so I am inclined to devote the standstill spots to more control in the early game until liliana resolves or to put in 1-2 sylvan library which is a very powerful 2 drop in such a deck, because filtering is important and not drawing the pharao if we dont want to is also good.

Another thing is the deed. I love this card and in BUG control a logical 4 of. You redued it correctly to 3 I think, because we have now other ways to control the board. I will keep an eye on the possibility of reducing it to 2 in case we are able to control the board with liliana often enough!

I was also thinking about snapcaster mage:
UW will have 6+ flash creatures, which we cannot handle with Innocent blood or planeswalker abilities -> instant removal is important!!! Snapcaster Mage & Stoenforge mystic also define Spell Snare over Spell Pierce for me.

Are 4 entomb necessarYß I mean with LFTL, Vengeful and Squee there are 3 cards we are very happy to discard. Having another 4 entomb might lead to "clunky" situations. Have you tried 3?

[catmint]

I don't know about the ancient grudge idea. I mean having a entomb toolbox is a nice idea. However, I think we should use it mostly for card advantage (liliana/LFTL/Pharao). Putting the ancient grudge in the GY to get it countered is not good and Batterskull can still be bounced in response. Therefore I think 2-3 Krosan grip in the sideboard do a better job! It also eases up the manabase which is a challenge anyway for every 3 color standstill deck with manlands and wastelands.

That brings me to another point. I am not that set aynmore about the standstill plan. I mean in a standstill deck you want to be sure to be able to cast it turn 2 to get an advantage. I just see that other standstill decks gain a better advantage and even all of this decks do not perform very well at the moment (Visions perform better than standstill according to the SCG data collected by the hatfield brothers). The big card advantage engine in this deck is liliana, so I am inclined to devote the standstill spots to more control in the early game until liliana resolves or to put in 1-2 sylvan library which is a very powerful 2 drop in such a deck, because filtering is important and not drawing the pharao if we dont want to is also good.

Another thing is the deed. I love this card and in BUG control a logical 4 of. You redued it correctly to 3 I think, because we have now other ways to control the board. I will keep an eye on the possibility of reducing it to 2 in case we are able to control the board with liliana often enough!

I was also thinking about snapcaster mage:
UW will have 6+ flash creatures, which we cannot handle with Innocent blood or planeswalker abilities -> instant removal is important!!! Snapcaster Mage & Stoenforge mystic also define Spell Snare over Spell Pierce for me.

Are 4 entomb necessar?With LFTL, Vengeful and Squee there are 3 cards we are very happy to discard. Having another 4 entomb might lead to "clunky" situations. Have you tried 3?

[Roman]

I see there is a lot of testing that needs to be done, maybe i will proxy the missing cards and try it here.
I am also not set on wether Spell Pierce or Snare is better, i guess it depends on the meta you play in, but i guess as catmint said, the important things to counter are usually CC2...if u face reanimator/hive etc. alot, then pierce would be the correct call!

[Roman]

I see there is a lot of testing that needs to be done, maybe i will proxy the missing cards and try it here.
I am also not set on wether Spell Pierce or Snare is better, i guess it depends on the meta you play in, but i guess as catmint said, the important things to counter are usually CC2...if u face reanimator/hive etc. alot, then pierce would be the correct call!

[bruizar]

I am actually considering moving Spell Pierces to the sideboard. I see a lot of WG (blue zoo, new horizons, maverick, etc) decks. I also expect Snapcaster Mage to be all over the place, and Spell Snare is the perfect answer for it.

[bruizar]

I don't know about the ancient grudge idea. I mean having a entomb toolbox is a nice idea. However, I think we should use it mostly for card advantage (liliana/LFTL/Pharao). Putting the ancient grudge in the GY to get it countered is not good and Batterskull can still be bounced in response. Therefore I think 2-3 Krosan grip in the sideboard do a better job! It also eases up the manabase which is a challenge anyway for every 3 color standstill deck with manlands and wastelands.



Your logic is clear. I actually had some Krosan Grips in my side-sideboard (pile of cards that weren't included in the 75). The reason why I chose Ancient Grudge over Krosan Grip is the fact that you can use it twice (if they counter the first, you still removed a counterspell). Entomb is another important reason of course, since you more than double your access to artifact hate. Lastly, you can dredge into Ancient Grudge with Life from the Loam and Darkblast (which I am currently playing). Still, it's nice to have access to an uncounterable, reliable source of artifact hate, which Krosan Grip provides.



That brings me to another point. I am not that set aynmore about the standstill plan. I mean in a standstill deck you want to be sure to be able to cast it turn 2 to get an advantage. I just see that other standstill decks gain a better advantage and even all of this decks do not perform very well at the moment (Visions perform better than standstill according to the SCG data collected by the hatfield brothers). The big card advantage engine in this deck is liliana, so I am inclined to devote the standstill spots to more control in the early game until liliana resolves or to put in 1-2 sylvan library which is a very powerful 2 drop in such a deck, because filtering is important and not drawing the pharao if we dont want to is also good.

I want to try Predict, but first as a one off in conjunction with standstill. It's basically an ancestral recall if you flip a pharaoh, cast a brainstorm, or jace a brainstorm. It can also randomly screw with Enlightened Tutor, though that hardly sees play anymore.



Another thing is the deed. I love this card and in BUG control a logical 4 of. You reduced it correctly to 3 I think, because we have now other ways to control the board. I will keep an eye on the possibility of reducing it to 2 in case we are able to control the board with liliana often enough!

Yes, I agree. Perhaps we can decrease it to 2 later on.



I was also thinking about snapcaster mage:
UW will have 6+ flash creatures, which we cannot handle with Innocent blood or planeswalker abilities -> instant removal is important!!! Snapcaster Mage & Stoenforge mystic also define Spell Snare over Spell Pierce for me.

The biggest reason for me is Snapcaster Mage. If you counter it with Spell Snare, you counter both the Mage and the card it wanted to flashback. If you kill it off, he already got value out of you, so you don't want to let it resolve in the first place.



Are 4 entomb necessary? With LFTL, Vengeful and Squee there are 3 cards we are very happy to discard. Having another 4 entomb might lead to "clunky" situations. Have you tried 3?
I'm not sure, personally, I'd like to up the toolbox to 4 cards, instead of decrease Entomb to 3. Up for discussion but I think it needs some more testing before we get to the truth.

[bruizar]

This card looks interesting to me. It's an alternative to coffin purge. Not very impactful, but perhaps moderately useful utility against decks like dredge, where you can shuffle back ichorids, bridges or dredgers after the first breakthrough/cephalid colliseum activation.

Memory's Journey 1U

Instant
Target player shuffles up to three target cards from his or her graveyard into his or her library.
Flashback G

[bruizar]

So far the initial testing looks promissing. I changed Mental Misstep and 2 Spell Pierce for Counterspell and spell snares and 1 Garruk Relentless.

[bruizar]

I've tested the deck out some more and changed several things. First off, the list definitely needs 4 standstills instead of 3. I also tried Maelstrom Pulse instead of pernicious deed, but I'm still not sure about it. Although pulse is a good card, it's just not the same as vindicate, which could help me gain tempo by destroying lands if there are no other targets. I am currently playing with Inquisition of Kozilek and I love it. It's better than thoughtseize imo.

I am playing with 2 Ghastly Demise, 1 Go for the Throat and 1 Smother. I don't like Smother that much due to reanimator. I also cut The Abyss, but I am thinking of putting it back in the deck because it's like a third planeswalker in this deck. My entomb package is 1 vengeful pharaoh, 1 darkblast, 1 life from the loam.

I cut Duskmantle before but I put it back in the deck. It is really good in this deck, and I have removed Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorms, Reanimates, or the last colored sources of my opponent with it.


I worked on a sideboard,

Engineered Plague
Naming Human, Wizards, Birds, Elves or Goblins is just too good.

Perish/Nature's Ruin
I don't really like this card. Maybe as a 1 off, but right now, Deathmark is taking this slot. Its a bit too slow for my tastes and it competes with Pernicious Deed and Liliana of the Veil.

Deathmark
What I need is 1CC creature kill so I can resolve a standstill on turn 2. Innocent blood is great on turn 1, but becomes worse after a while. Deathmark still picks off Tarmagoyf, Stoneforge Mystic and Knight of the Reliquary, and you should be able to Pernicious Deed the rest later.

Blue Elemental Blast
Against burn, TES, painter, goblins and Zoo.

Coffin Purge/Memory's Journey
Mainly against snapcaster mage and reanimator. Memory's Journey can be found with entomb and used against past in flames, putting back his instants and sorceries. Memory's Journey can also put back bridge from below, ichorid or dredgers.

Duress
Good against control mirrors or against storm combo

Flusterstorm
I think flusterstorm is better than spell pierce for this deck. Spell Pierce counters planeswalkers and artifacts and enchantments too, but that's it. Flusterstorm is a hardcounter against storm which is especially important when you drop Standstill because the storm player will try to create a perfect hand and make plenty of landdrops. I'm not sure about this yet.

Nihil Spellbomb
A one-sided relic of progenitus. Replaces itself.

Firemane Angel
I need to test this card, but I think this card is better than I'd first give it credit for. I can entomb it against burn and get a way to recover my life after a Standstill. These kind of games can drag on really long. Turn 1 Entomb for Firemane Angel into turn 2 Standstill is a great play for my deck. It is the best way to take advantage of my entombs in this matchup, since darkblast and life from the loam will not do much. Vengeful Pharaoh can be good for the turn 1 goblin guide, but even then I'd probably want firemane angel over pharaoh. Since I always get paired against burn, I am not leaving home without an angel.

[bruizar]

I've tested the deck out some more and changed several things. First off, the list definitely needs 4 standstills instead of 3. I also tried Maelstrom Pulse instead of pernicious deed, but I'm still not sure about it. Although pulse is a good card, it's just not the same as vindicate, which could help me gain tempo by destroying lands if there are no other targets. I am currently playing with Inquisition of Kozilek and I love it. It's better than thoughtseize imo.

I am playing with 2 Ghastly Demise, 1 Go for the Throat and 1 Smother. I don't like Smother that much due to reanimator. I also cut The Abyss, but I am thinking of putting it back in the deck because it's like a third planeswalker in this deck. My entomb package is 1 vengeful pharaoh, 1 darkblast, 1 life from the loam.

I cut Duskmantle before but I put it back in the deck. It is really good in this deck, and I have removed Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorms, Reanimates, or the last colored sources of my opponent with it.


I worked on a sideboard,

Engineered Plague
Naming Human, Wizards, Birds, Elves or Goblins is just too good.

Perish/Nature's Ruin
I don't really like this card. Maybe as a 1 off, but right now, Deathmark is taking this slot. Its a bit too slow for my tastes and it competes with Pernicious Deed and Liliana of the Veil.

Deathmark
What I need is 1CC creature kill so I can resolve a standstill on turn 2. Innocent blood is great on turn 1, but becomes worse after a while. Deathmark still picks off Tarmagoyf, Stoneforge Mystic and Knight of the Reliquary, and you should be able to Pernicious Deed the rest later.

Blue Elemental Blast
Against burn, TES, painter, goblins and Zoo.

Coffin Purge/Memory's Journey
Mainly against snapcaster mage and reanimator. Memory's Journey can be found with entomb and used against past in flames, putting back his instants and sorceries. Memory's Journey can also put back bridge from below, ichorid or dredgers.

Duress
Good against control mirrors or against storm combo

Flusterstorm
I think flusterstorm is better than spell pierce for this deck. Spell Pierce counters planeswalkers and artifacts and enchantments too, but that's it. Flusterstorm is a hardcounter against storm which is especially important when you drop Standstill because the storm player will try to create a perfect hand and make plenty of landdrops. I'm not sure about this yet.

Nihil Spellbomb
A one-sided relic of progenitus. Replaces itself.

Firemane Angel
I need to test this card, but I think this card is better than I'd first give it credit for. I can entomb it against burn and get a way to recover my life after a Standstill. These kind of games can drag on really long. Turn 1 Entomb for Firemane Angel into turn 2 Standstill is a great play for my deck. It is the best way to take advantage of my entombs in this matchup, since darkblast and life from the loam will not do much. Vengeful Pharaoh can be good for the turn 1 goblin guide, but even then I'd probably want firemane angel over pharaoh. Since I always get paired against burn, I am not leaving home without an angel.