Dead Ringer Ale (Wb taxes/deadguy)

[Weapon X]

Yet again not really sure to post this as it was kind of a mix of death and taxes with deadguy ale so I’ll start it here to at least keep my thoughts together. And also as an aside, it was a toss up between ring tempt vs staff of the storyteller as the engine. That may highlight some choices. Anyway, this is what I top 4’d this last weekends tournament with:

1 Kaldra compleat
1 batterskull
3 stoneforge mystic
2 samewise the stouthearted
1 Sanctifier en-vec
4 swords to plowshares
3 ephemerate
3 giver of runes
4 recruiter of the guard
1 solitude
1 lion sash
1 kataki, war’s wage
1 loran of the third path
1 Thalia, guardian of thraben
1 charming prince
2 tidehollow sculler
1 opposition agent
1 plague engineer
1 call of the ring
4 orcish bowmasters
4 grief
2 karakas
3 plains
1 swamp
4 scrubland
2 prismatic vista
4 marsh flats
3 wasteland

Sideboard
2 surgical extraction
1 faerie macabre
1 passageway seer
1 mangara of corondor
1 battle of bywater
3 deafening silence
2 fragmentize
1 solitude
1 sanctifier en-vec
1 stony silence
1 umezawa’s jitte



Main complaint was that I wish I had 1 more land main as well as a few more black cards main. Games where I missed land drops were rough and a lot of times it felt like a free grief was all it would take to recover effectively.

[FTW]

Congrats on the top 4!

That looks a lot like WB Scam, which is a tier deck

4 Grief
4 Solitude
4 Bowmasters
X Ephemerate
X Reanimate
4 StP
4 Stoneforge
1 Kaldra
1 Batterskull
1 Lion Sash
X Tidehollow Sculler
X Recruiter
2 Samwise
2 Charming Prince
1-ofs

Staff of the Storyteller leads to a different build direction (discussed in BW thread).

This is a distinct build. The Ephemerate scam plan is quite strong.

[FTW]

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=49429&d=564557&f=LE

This one looks a lot like yours.

[Weapon X]

Good to know. Started with trying to build something for modern and led me to the karakas worm hole. What makes WB scam distinct? I wanted to be white with a splash for example. And after playing it I was a little let down by Kaldra.

[FTW]

Your deck/WB scam seems distinct enough from Deadguy & D&T.

Deadguy is based around Bob or some other card draw engine and is more controlling.

D&T has Vial & mana denial.

WB scam is based around the Grief/Solitude + Ephemerate interaction, backed by other ETB and flicker effects like Bowmasters, Samwise + Karakas, Charming Prince, etc. It has more explosive turn 1s than Deadguy or D&T. I think there's already a separate thread here for WB scam that someone else created a while back.

[Weapon X]

Sounds like if I went the staff route this would be a very different discussion. Even putting it together I was looking at bob and thoughtseize.

[Frilyin56]

Phyrexian Revoker could be another valuable sideboard option against creature-based decks and planeswalkers.