BGW Heartless Defense

[Ppa0]

Let me know if you guys think something like this would be feasible in competitive play. I have been trying to put together Defense of the Heart deck forever but it just doesn't seem good in anything I try to put it in, so this is my most likely last attempt at it. Please feel free to suggest cards that be good in the deck like Form of the Dragon, etc.

Land (22)
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
3 Scrubland
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats

Enchantment (12)
1 Hunting Grounds
4 Defense of the Heart
3 Ghostly Prison
4 Heartless Summoning
1 Moat

Sorcery (11)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Innocent Blood
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Thoughtseize

Creature (9)
2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
3 Academy Rector
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Massacre Wurm

Instant (3)
2 Ghastly Demise
1 Beast Within

Planeswalker (3)
3 Liliana of the Veil



EDIT:

I think that the Heartless Summoning could be dropped and something more stable, more revolved around Defense of the Heart can be made:

Land (21)
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
2 Scrubland
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats

Enchantment (10)
4 Defense of the Heart
3 Living Plane
3 Pernicious Deed


Sorcery (12)
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Maelstrom Pulse


Creature (10)
4 Veteran Explorer
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Massacre Wurm
1 hunted troll

Instant (4)
1 Ghastly Demise
2 Dismember
1 Doom blade

Planeswalker (3)
3 Liliana of the Veil

[Hireax]

I love the idea! Defense of the Heart is one of my favorie cards to be honest. The deck could do with some of the lands that give your opponents tokens.

Forbidden Orchard for example would make this deck a bit more explosive, whilst remaining controlish in the first few turns :)

[Ppa0]

Wow... I can't believe I forgot to include them in the list.... I was wondering why I was able to squeeze in so many duals and basics... T.T. Thanks Hireax, (updated list).

[Viridia]

I'd cut Innocent blood if i were you.
You're giving your opponent random 1/1's, i don't think you'll ever hit the creature you want with them, especially in the mid/late game.
You could run Cabal Therapy alongside your other discard spells, if you want a way to sacrifice your academy rector.

[Ppa0]

You make a valid point about the Innocent blood, I was just looking for a T1 removal, but I can just do StP or PtE. Cabal therapy was also something I was considering as well as something like Gamekeeper which would be nice if I had 2 Summonings on the table because it would be an auto = get a fatty out or a chain to rector.

[Freggle]

If you are really just trying to make a viable Defense of the Heart deck I have been tuning this list here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23437-Developmental-Spreading-Illusions-An-Enchantress-Variant).

It uses a different mechanic to get there, but it is reliable and competitive if you care to help.

[Ppa0]

Freggle, thanks for the post, I was actually looking into your deck for quite some time now and I really like what you have done with it. I just don't know if I want the Enchantress shell around it. As I stated previously I been trying to come up with DotH deck for a while and this is something that I think can have a potential. Because even if they stifle / get rid of DotH, I can still can Wurm/Elesh/Iona in reasonable amount of turns if I have 1-X Summonings on the battlefield.

[Blackmagic]

I've got a casual Defense of the Heart deck which I haven't really tweaked in a while and the heartless summoning idea does tickle my fancy (I play Pattern of Rebirth as a alt-win con)

I'd like to suggest crop rotation, even if it is only as a sideboard option against wasteland. Otherwise it's rather good to fetch you're orchard's with, pair it with flagstones of trokair for some CA. You can also have one boseiju in you're SB with replenish as sideboard tech, and then also have a singleton bojuka bog for graveyard hate.

Sterling grove could also be decent in this deck.

[ESG]

I feel like this deck might do better to drop the Defense of the Heart angle and move toward a ramp + Heartless Summoning approach or possibly a suite of reanimator cards along with the ramp and Heartless Summoning. I definitely like having multiple ways to get out the monsters. Defense of the Heart wants your opponent to be swarming you, but if they're swarming you with anything other than 1/1 tokens, you're probably going to be dead before it can fetch your monsters. The deck has no real acceleration, so your game plan will have to be to slow the opponent down. If you're going for value with Heartless Summoning, Silent Arbiter might be better than Ghostly Prison. HS speeds out Academy Rector, which is good and would play well with Cabal Therapy. You might also look to the Nic Fit thread. It's possible you could move some of these cards into a Nic Fit framework and adapt from there. Veteran Explorer is a good way to ramp. Pattern of Rebirth is another card you might try out, and one that's more flexible than Defense of the Heart.

[Ppa0]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Currently I have been running Nic Fit with DOTH and I got to say that giving my opponents tokens and sac'ing DOTH for Massacre wurm has flat out won me the game so I was just thinking of a concept where I could really utilize Massacre Wurm. ESG; I like the idea of Silent Arbiter and ramp and will have to try a version of that as well. I just don't know what is the optimal way for me to ramp in this specific deck and if I should play other fatties as win con. Currently in my Nic Fit version I run 2 Primeval Titans which get me 2 cabal coffers, next turn eye of ugin + urborg, next turn -> Emrakul. It might seem slow but I have actually cast Emrakul reasonably fast if I got P Titan out on turns 3-5. Anyways, I was also thinking about doing something like Enduring Renewal + Perilous Myr + Solemn Simulacrum which would go nicely with the HS for instant win.

[Freggle]

I haven't had time to really dig into it, but I'm thinking a full play set of Heartless Summoning is in order as well. Free Myr Superions are just cool.

If you want to play Defense of the Heart I agree Academy Rector is good here. (with Double Summoning it's amazing.) A Myr should clog the path to you pretty well.

...there are likely other good enchantments to fetch into then. Eldrazi Consription?

You could also possibly play Galvanoth + Avacyn's Primal Surge to flip your deck onto the board.

[ESG]

Ppa0, maybe proxy this up and try it out. It doesn't have Defense of the Heart, but it does focus on Heartless Summoning. Titans work well with the card, as does Fierce Empath. Wall of Roots works under HS, and HS provides another way for you to kill your Veteran Explorer. I think Veteran Explorer is going to be hard to beat as ramp. Lotus Cobra, Locus lands, Bubbling Muck, Sol lands and Grim Monolith, elves and Gaea's Cradle, Exploration, Explore -- there are a lot of ways to ramp in this format. However, your stuff has to work under a Heartless Summoning, so Veteran Explorer seems ideal. In most cases, you can probably race their guys. All you really need to do is resolve a titan, and the game swings in your favor, so there are a few pieces of removal for Delvers but not much else. Test it out; see what you think.

2 Thoughtseize
2 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Wall of Roots
1 Culling the Weak
4 Heartless Summoning
2 Fierce Empath
2 Primeval Titan
1 Eternal Witness
3 Grave Titan
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ghastly Demise
2 Vendetta

1 Dryad Arbor
2 Cabal Coffers
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmouth
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Phyrexian Tower
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 other fetchlands
4 Bayou
3 Forest
4 Swamp

[Ppa0]

I appreciate the deck list, however it just doesn't flow that well together. I tested it on Tappedout.net, and HS is not really that great with Grave Titan because you lose 3 power on the battlefield and then if you draw another HS it's dead in your hand. Veteran Explorer is good for acceleration with HS but he is way better suited to take swords to plowshares to his face instead of your fatties or to be used for cabal therapy for much card advantage. I just don't like HS in Nic Fit or at least not in this build. The problem I have with my DOTH Nic Fit deck is that since I run quite a few lands that are not optimal i get mana screwed even though I run 24 lands, but I'd still prefer DOTH over HS anytime in Nic Fit type deck because it single-handedly won me games vs affinity and RUG. If anything I would love to figure out a version where Forbidden Orchards + Massacre Wurm could be abused as much as possible rather then try to figure out something with HS and DOTH.

EDIT : posted a new version of the deck at the top ^

[Mr. Safety]

Wouldn't any of the Hunted creatures be borderline broken with Defense of the Heart?

Hunted Troll
Hunted Horror
Hunted Phantasm
Hunted Dragon

[Freggle]

Wouldn't any of the Hunted creatures be borderline broken with Defense of the Heart?

Hunted Troll
Hunted Horror
Hunted Phantasm
Hunted Dragon


Yes Hunted Troll especially. I played a deck with that "combo", and when it works it works well. The rest of them are too good of a clock against you.

Hunted Troll races their free guys quite well.

[Ppa0]

Its funny because I have updated the list at the top almost 2 hours before Mr. Safety mentioned the Hunted critters, but its nice that other people have thought about them too. I think with the new list 1 Troll sounds good just because there are nice interactions with DOTH. Getting 1 Troll and 1 Massacre Wurm = minimum of 8 damage and if Living Plane is on the battlefield its game.