Whippoorwill
04-06-2012, 08:44 PM
I had been wanting to find something I could play Hide//Seek and Catalyst Stone in (not necessarily the same deck though) due to the potential the cards have. I ended up coming up with this:
The deck list:
4x Scrubland
3x Badlands
3x Plateau
2x Plains
1x Swamp
3x Marsh Flats
3x Bloodstained Mire
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
4x Faithless Looting
4x Entomb
3x Swords to Plowshares
2x Burning Oil
2x Lightning Helix
3x Hide // Seek
4x Lingering Souls
2x Rally the Peasants
3x Vindicate
2x Unburial Rites
1x Army of the Damned
3x Bitterblossom
2x Intangible Virtue
3x Catalyst Stone
Sideboard:
4x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Extirpate
4x Village Bell-Ringer
3x Splinter Twin
Some explanations for why I included certain things:
Vault of the Archangel - Included for lifegain since I was worried about dying to Thoughtseize & Bitterblossom.
Faithless Looting - Card draw/filtering. With Catalyst Stone it flashes back for the same cost
Entomb - This was originally Thoughtseize but I decided to change it at the last minute. It was definitely an addition for the better since I have so many flashback options. The typical play was Turn 1 Entomb for Lingering Souls to flashback on turn 2.
Burning Oil - This was another random card I wanted to try out since it seemed to have good potential due to the low toughness most creatures have right now (Delver, Snapcaster, quite a bit of Maverick creatures, etc).
Lightning Helix - Added for more removal but also for the Lifegain since I still had Thoughtseize in at the time.
Hide//Seek - Included due to the versatility it offers. I can remove equipment (or other Artifacts/Enchantments) from play or I can remove them for good if not in play yet.
Lingering Souls - My main win condition really.
Rally the Peasants - Another experimental card that performed as I had hoped. With all the tokens I can get this can be a game ender since I can cast it and flash it back for 2WR.
Unburial Rites - Added to give me a faster win condition with the Legends.
Army of the Damned - Random addition. I'm guilty of having an obsession with random cards.
Bitterblossom - Expanding on the tokens win condition.
Intangible Virtue - Just there to speed up my main win condition
Catalyst Stone - Makes my spells cheaper and works well against Snapcaster and Dredge.
The Sideboard didn't really have much thought put into it.
Leyline - Combo and Discard
Extirpate - I just love the card and 99% of the time auto-include it in any deck with black.
Temple-Twin Combo - Added so I can transition into something different if I expect my opponent to bring in mass grave hate or if I expect them to board out targeted removal due to the amount of tokens I make.
Report from about 2 weeks ago:
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 vs. Junk Blade
Game 1 - I start off with turn 1 Entomb for Lingering Souls to start the early beatdown. We both draw removal for each other and it becomes a race to see who can keep their stuff on board. I eventually get out Elesh Norn and Iona. He mentions after the round that he made a mistake with Knight and should have got Karakas (didn't realize it til after he got a land).
I expect graveyard hate so I board into the Twin combo.
Game 2 - Another removal contest but I eventually get the combo off to win.
2-0; 2-0
Round 3 vs. UW Stoneblade
Game 1 - I manage to keep him under control early on but then he gets Jitte active which sucks since my creatures are 1/1s. I managed to recover though and get Iona on White out after using 2x Entomb for Unburial Rites with him countering the first. He mises the Jace though for the bounce + win.
Game 2 - He Extracts my Vindicates early on but Catalyst Stone stops him from Flashing it back with Snapcaster a turn or so later. Burning Oil managed to kill off 2 of his creatures with the first cast and the flashback. He ended up getting the Jitte active again before I could remove it. I ended up dying but not before I was able to hardcast Army of the Damned.
So I lost the round, but overall I was quite happy since he had to work for it. Burning Oil performed as I had hoped and I got to resolve Army of the Damned in a sanctioned Legacy match.
2-1; 2-2
Round 4 vs. LED Dredge
Game 1 - She mulligans down to 5 and keeps a slow hand I get a fast token start with Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue.
Game 2 - She gets me with Ichorids after I run out of tokens to block with despite getting rid of her Bridges early on with Extirpate.
Game 3 - I manage to slow her down with Catalyst Stone but I'm stuck on 3 lands with the Splinter Twin combo in my hand. I play out the Bell-Ringers to block Ichorid and buy me time and manage to get my 4th land (and 2nd red source) on my last possible turn before she would have killed me.
3-1; 4-3
Overall I'm happy with the general idea of the deck, I just need to fine tune it more. The main changes will be to make the sideboard have more of a purpose and to adjust the win conditions of the main deck. Army will likely be the first cut but I may try out Increased Devotion. I also thought about Stoneforge when building it but decided against it. That may be the best path to take though.
The deck list:
4x Scrubland
3x Badlands
3x Plateau
2x Plains
1x Swamp
3x Marsh Flats
3x Bloodstained Mire
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
4x Faithless Looting
4x Entomb
3x Swords to Plowshares
2x Burning Oil
2x Lightning Helix
3x Hide // Seek
4x Lingering Souls
2x Rally the Peasants
3x Vindicate
2x Unburial Rites
1x Army of the Damned
3x Bitterblossom
2x Intangible Virtue
3x Catalyst Stone
Sideboard:
4x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Extirpate
4x Village Bell-Ringer
3x Splinter Twin
Some explanations for why I included certain things:
Vault of the Archangel - Included for lifegain since I was worried about dying to Thoughtseize & Bitterblossom.
Faithless Looting - Card draw/filtering. With Catalyst Stone it flashes back for the same cost
Entomb - This was originally Thoughtseize but I decided to change it at the last minute. It was definitely an addition for the better since I have so many flashback options. The typical play was Turn 1 Entomb for Lingering Souls to flashback on turn 2.
Burning Oil - This was another random card I wanted to try out since it seemed to have good potential due to the low toughness most creatures have right now (Delver, Snapcaster, quite a bit of Maverick creatures, etc).
Lightning Helix - Added for more removal but also for the Lifegain since I still had Thoughtseize in at the time.
Hide//Seek - Included due to the versatility it offers. I can remove equipment (or other Artifacts/Enchantments) from play or I can remove them for good if not in play yet.
Lingering Souls - My main win condition really.
Rally the Peasants - Another experimental card that performed as I had hoped. With all the tokens I can get this can be a game ender since I can cast it and flash it back for 2WR.
Unburial Rites - Added to give me a faster win condition with the Legends.
Army of the Damned - Random addition. I'm guilty of having an obsession with random cards.
Bitterblossom - Expanding on the tokens win condition.
Intangible Virtue - Just there to speed up my main win condition
Catalyst Stone - Makes my spells cheaper and works well against Snapcaster and Dredge.
The Sideboard didn't really have much thought put into it.
Leyline - Combo and Discard
Extirpate - I just love the card and 99% of the time auto-include it in any deck with black.
Temple-Twin Combo - Added so I can transition into something different if I expect my opponent to bring in mass grave hate or if I expect them to board out targeted removal due to the amount of tokens I make.
Report from about 2 weeks ago:
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 vs. Junk Blade
Game 1 - I start off with turn 1 Entomb for Lingering Souls to start the early beatdown. We both draw removal for each other and it becomes a race to see who can keep their stuff on board. I eventually get out Elesh Norn and Iona. He mentions after the round that he made a mistake with Knight and should have got Karakas (didn't realize it til after he got a land).
I expect graveyard hate so I board into the Twin combo.
Game 2 - Another removal contest but I eventually get the combo off to win.
2-0; 2-0
Round 3 vs. UW Stoneblade
Game 1 - I manage to keep him under control early on but then he gets Jitte active which sucks since my creatures are 1/1s. I managed to recover though and get Iona on White out after using 2x Entomb for Unburial Rites with him countering the first. He mises the Jace though for the bounce + win.
Game 2 - He Extracts my Vindicates early on but Catalyst Stone stops him from Flashing it back with Snapcaster a turn or so later. Burning Oil managed to kill off 2 of his creatures with the first cast and the flashback. He ended up getting the Jitte active again before I could remove it. I ended up dying but not before I was able to hardcast Army of the Damned.
So I lost the round, but overall I was quite happy since he had to work for it. Burning Oil performed as I had hoped and I got to resolve Army of the Damned in a sanctioned Legacy match.
2-1; 2-2
Round 4 vs. LED Dredge
Game 1 - She mulligans down to 5 and keeps a slow hand I get a fast token start with Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue.
Game 2 - She gets me with Ichorids after I run out of tokens to block with despite getting rid of her Bridges early on with Extirpate.
Game 3 - I manage to slow her down with Catalyst Stone but I'm stuck on 3 lands with the Splinter Twin combo in my hand. I play out the Bell-Ringers to block Ichorid and buy me time and manage to get my 4th land (and 2nd red source) on my last possible turn before she would have killed me.
3-1; 4-3
Overall I'm happy with the general idea of the deck, I just need to fine tune it more. The main changes will be to make the sideboard have more of a purpose and to adjust the win conditions of the main deck. Army will likely be the first cut but I may try out Increased Devotion. I also thought about Stoneforge when building it but decided against it. That may be the best path to take though.