[SCD] Necrodominance

[rufus]

One of the Modern Horizons 3 cards is Necrodominance, a "fixed" version of Necropotence:


Necrodominance BBB
Legendary Enchantment

Skip your draw step.

At the beginning of your end step, you may pay any amount of life. If you do, draw that many cards.

Your maximum hand size is five.

If a card or token would be put into your graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.


This is weaker than Necropotence in some important ways, the most significant of which is probably that Necrodominance does no allow its controller to pay life in response to removal. Necrodominance also limits its controllers hand size, but that's probably not as big of a deal as people might think at first glance.

Another notable difference between Necropotence and Necrodominance is that Necrodominance actually draws cards. So Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is an obvious synergy ( and draw hate is more of a liability).

My understanding is that the were basically two flavors of Necropotence decks: combo decks that would use the massive card draw that Necropotence provides to find combo pieces, and more tempo oriented decks that would combine the massive card advantage that Necropotence provides with efficient threats.

Regardless, Necrodominance provides potential for massive card advantage at a relatively modest life cost which is a fundamentally potent thing that can fit into a variety of game plans.

For example, it should be quite potent in combination with effects like Smallpox or Collective Brutality that rob both players of resources, and cards like Chrome Mox or Dark Ritual that convert card advantage to speed. In many ways it should readily slot into a smallpox deck.

Another option might be some kind of black/white scam deck. Ephemerate and Cloudshift will work with evoke creatures even if necrodominance is in play, and Solitude with flash and lifelink fits with the necrodominance pretty well.

Madness has some decent synergy with Necrodominance since it partially works around the graveyard to exile replacement effect, overdrawing is a natural discard outlet, and necrodominance is a pretty solid top-deck when hellbent. The interactions with from-the-graveyard stuff like Vengevine and Ox of Agonas aren't ideal, but it still seems like Necrodominance can offer a lot of stuff that a Hollowvine/Madness deck might want.

I'm trying to compose possible deck lists, but it's a little tricky to come up with card engines to complement the Necrodominance. This is an attempt at a smallpox kind of thing:


18 Swamp

4 Chrome Mox
2 Dark Ritual

4 Throughseize
4 Nethergoyf

4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Smallpox
4 Dark Confidant
4 Hymn to Tourach

4 Necrodominance
2 Liliana of the Veil

4 Beseech the Mirror
2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

[Purple Blood]

Necro can slot nicely into Pox but your list is not great. Start by cutting Nethergoyf, Confidant, Hymn, and Beeseech. Go to 4 Dark Ritual, which is your best opening card.

You should be playing Grief/Unmask effects to convert the cards into velocity even if Grief is a nobo with the exile effect of Necro it still lets you strip a card for "free". When you're drawing so many cards this is where you want to be. You should be playing Wasteland in Pox and probably Saga.

That said, the strongest Necro build is going to try and win in the end step after drawing the maximum number of cards. Such a deck is likely to be combined with Black and Red Rituals. There could be a cheeky Borne Upon a Wind version. Much testing is needed.

[PirateKing]

Keeping Beseech and adding 4 Leyline of the Void and 1-2 Helm of Obedience is also possible, since you can draw up and then next turn bargain the Necrodominance to Helm them.
Even with the exile effect causing conflict, scam play patterns are resource heavy. Opening the game with Grief-Reanimate-Grief and then next turn Dark Ritual into Necrodominance (or same turn with a Chrome Mox) is going to be a challenge for anybody to contend with.

But any excuse to play Smallpox has my interest.

[rufus]

...
That said, the strongest Necro build is going to try and win in the end step after drawing the maximum number of cards. Such a deck is likely to be combined with Black and Red Rituals. There could be a cheeky Borne Upon a Wind version. Much testing is needed.

I like the idea, but I couldn't see how to make a same turn combo finish work, though that may well be because I lack imagination.

[PirateKing]

I like the idea, but I couldn't see how to make a same turn combo finish work, though that may well be because I lack imagination.

What's a ritual that makes colorless? Float 6 and discard Emrakul, the World Anew to hand size.

[FTW]

Nethergoyf has anti-synergy with the graveyard exile clause.

I like this idea of Necro in a fair monoblack deck, like the old Necropotence control decks with Hymn and Hypnotic Spectre.

With easy access to cards, life and mana will be the resources limiting velocity. Because of that, maybe Smallpox isn't the best approach. Smallpox constrains your own mana and life, limiting your velocity. Maybe it's better to just dump your hand faster?

Sheoldred lifegain looks strong. Dark Ritual, Mox and Grief should help with mana velocity. Maybe the black Flare too. Can it sacrifice an Evoked Grief or a Bowmaster about to die?

Partial fair monoblack strategy


//Enchantments: 4
4 Necrodominance

//Fast Mana: 8
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual

//Creatures: 12
4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Grief
2 Opposition Agent
2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

//Spells: 10
2 Cling to Dust
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Flare of Malice
2 Beseech the Mirror

//Planeswalkers: 4
4 Liliana of the Veil

//Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Plague Engineer
2 Powder Keg


Is Consuming Corruption playable lifegain or too slow?

Nighthawk Scavenger is tempting but probably too slow and has the Goyf problem.

[Purple Blood]

@FTW

I'd venture to guess March of Wretched Sorrow is superior to Consuming Corruption because its yet another card that lets you convert excess cards into velocity while accomplishing the same things that Corruption does for half the mana.

Does the deck want Lotus Petal? I really wish there was a black spirit guide so you could generate the first mana in the end step. I can't find any cards to replicate that in black unfortunately. Still, Petal is another way to generate fast mana and could prove worthy. I could honestly see going with the full suite of Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, Lotus Petal and lean into artifacts - maybe even Lion's Eye Diamond since dumping your hand is not really that big of a deal. You can crack LED in response to Necro and then use that mana on whatever you draw - which leads me to my final question...

Does the deck want the Karn package? There are some very cuttable cards in your list to make room.

[Zoid]

Nethergoyf has anti-synergy with the graveyard exile clause.

I like this idea of Necro in a fair monoblack deck, like the old Necropotence control decks with Hymn and Hypnotic Spectre.

With easy access to cards, life and mana will be the resources limiting velocity. Because of that, maybe Smallpox isn't the best approach. Smallpox constrains your own mana and life, limiting your velocity. Maybe it's better to just dump your hand faster?

Sheoldred lifegain looks strong. Dark Ritual, Mox and Grief should help with mana velocity. Maybe the black Flare too. Can it sacrifice an Evoked Grief or a Bowmaster about to die?

Partial fair monoblack strategy


//Enchantments: 4
4 Necrodominance

//Fast Mana: 8
4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual

//Creatures: 12
4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Grief
2 Opposition Agent
2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

//Spells: 10
2 Cling to Dust
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Flare of Malice
2 Beseech the Mirror

//Planeswalkers: 4
4 Liliana of the Veil

//Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Plague Engineer
2 Powder Keg


Is Consuming Corruption playable lifegain or too slow?

Nighthawk Scavenger is tempting but probably too slow and has the Goyf problem.

Nighthawk looks at your opponents GY only so it actually synergizes with your discard package.

You should consider running answers to Bowmaster.

[Purple Blood]

Here is a more unfair list that will probably be interesting (building off Beseech Storm):

/fast mana

4 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Opal

/disruption

3 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
4 Grief
4 Orcish Bowmasters

/engines

4 Beseech the Mirror
4 Necrodominance
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Song of Creation
1 Tendrils of Agony

/lands

5 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Urza's Saga
4 Vault of Whispers

/sideboard

4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Feed the Swarm
2 Surge Node
1 Haywire Mite
2 March of Wretched Sorrow
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Flare of Malice


Song plays nice with Necro. Beseech grabs whatever missing pieces you have. You can also build it with a sideboard that transforms into a semi-fair plan for sideboard games.

[FTW]

It looks strong in Black Saga storm. Do you just run the 1 Gaea's Will at that point?

For the fair strategy, Nighthawk and March both look promising. There's the lifegain to keep the deck going like old Necro Drain control.


//Enchantments: 4
4 Necrodominance

//Creatures: 13
4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Exsanguinator Cavalry
4 Grief
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

//Spells: 14
4 Thoughtseize
3 Hymn to Tourach
3 Beseech the Mirror
2 Flare of Malice
2 March of Wretched Sorrow

//Artifacts: 2
2 The One Ring

//Fast Mana: 12
4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual

//Lands: 15
2 Fell the Profane
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Castle Locthwain
8 Swamp

//Sideboard: 15
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Plague Engineer
2 Opposition Agent
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Duress


The One Ring may be a nice complementary life-for-card control draw engine. Both pitch to Beseech when you don't want them anymore.

Enemy Bowmasters is killed by Bowmasters, March, and all the removal.

Edit: Cut Liliana for Thoughtseize. Exsanguinator Cavalry is the better lifelink creature too.

[Purple Blood]

Feels wrong to not play Thoughtseize. That list is basically just auto lose to combo unless you have Grief.

Feels like there's way too many expensive cards. Need to trim some of the fun stuff for 1 mana discards. Scavanger is probably too cute.

Still thing Saga would be excellent in the fair list also. You can put Shadowspear as a fetch target for more life gain.

[Gunseng]

Necro seems quite strong in a combo deck with Borne Upon a Wind and Valakut Awakening. You play Necro, move into your end step, draw 19 kinds, play Borne and combo off. Valakut is used to trade unwanted cards for (hopefully) better ones. You can see the deck in action here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EmZgJYde_U

[FTW]

That's just busted.

5-0 10-1. Almost all turn 1 wins protected. The 1 loss was winnable with a different decision path on the mull to 3.

Tony's had a lot of brews that can turn 1 sometimes if you win the Force check, but this is just on another level. Necro successfully broken on day 1 of MH3.

"Quite strong" is understating. This deck is a trophy-printing machine converting 30 minute blocks of time into prize. Underworld Breach was never that explosively consistent in any of our development, and that got banned in 1 month. This is more like Hulk-Flash levels of turn 1s.

[FTW]

Tony's decklist if you don't want to watch the vid


//Initial Mana: 24
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Gemstone Mine
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Summoner's Pact
4 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox

//Rituals: 13
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Manamorphose
1 Wild Cantor

//Necro: 8
4 Necrodominance
4 Beseech the Mirror

//Enablers: 6
3 Borne Upon A Wind
3 Valakut Awakening

//Wincon: 1
1 Tendrils of Agony

//Protection: 8
4 Pact of Negation
4 Chancellor of the Annex

//Sideboard: 15
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Veil of Summer
3 Nature's Claim
1 Foundation Breaker
1 Valakut Awakening
3 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Opal


SB may need some work. It has 0 answers to a resolved hatebear. But this deck has such a high turn 1 rate and so much turn 0 interaction that opponent even resolving a hatebear may never happen.

The format's going to have to really up the turn 0 answers to even compete. Scaminator should put up a decent fight with 4 Force 4 Grief 4 Daze, but losing the die roll cancels most of those so they need FoN or Mindbreak in the board too.

[Purple Blood]

That said, the strongest Necro build is going to try and win in the end step after drawing the maximum number of cards. Such a deck is likely to be combined with Black and Red Rituals. There could be a cheeky Borne Upon a Wind version. Much testing is needed.

Glad this came true...I still don't think its going to end up being a real deck but who knows.

[Purple Blood]

On a slightly off topic note I've been playing the following in Timeless. It plays like fair Necro control and reminds me of the Drain Life version from decades ago:

4 Dark Ritual

4 Thoughtseize
4 Grief
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Orcish Bowmaster

4 March of Wretched Sorrow
3 Fatal Push
4 Consuming Corruption

1 Demonic Tutor
3 Necrodominance
3 Necropotence
3 Sheoldred

11 Swamp
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta

Sideboard:

2 Cling to Dust
1 Fatal Push
1 Deathrite Shaman
2 Sheoldred's Edict
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 Weather the Storm

I think something like this can easily be ported to Legacy but I'm not sure the meta is going to be as kind to it since its somewhat slow and this deck preys on creature-based aggro the most, which you can farm by slow rolling Necro and using all your removal to deplete resources. Its basically impossible for aggro to win when you trade cards 1-1 until everyone is out of resources and then you play Necro and draw a new hand, especially considering most of the deck's removal gains life. It's very common to gain 15-20 life per game without even counting the retarded stuff that happens with Necrodominance and Sheoldred in play (e.g. draw 10 cards gain 10 life pitch cards to March gain another 8 life).

Against unfair decks I usually just aggressively mull to some type of broken hand, which is incredibly common. Against control, discard them until the coast is clear to land a Necro and then they will run out of resources. Against Scam, which is infesting the Timeless Meta at the moment, just hope to be on the play and ritual out a Necro but most people are just playing substandard copy-paste lists from the Modern deck that was banned so its favorable.

I have found its best to have at least 1 mana up when going to end step so you can pitch cards to March you would otherwise discard to hand-size and regain all the life you spent. That resource trick alone makes it very difficult for fair decks to have a real chance.

Funnily enough the sideboard so far has been almost pointless. Most common boarding patterns is -4 Thoughtseize +1 Deathrite/Cling/Push/Edict against aggro; -3 Push +1 Cling/Lily/Deathrite against non-creature decks. It's also kind of amusing to me when the opponent uses a Flute/Needle on one Necro and you just play the other one. I put in Ashiok to try to cheese certain decks but so far that hasn't come up.

Any thoughts on what a Legacy version might look like? Obviously starts with cutting the banned cards (i.e. Deathrite, Demonic, old Necro). Does it make sense to go UB to have access to pitch permission?

[FTW]

That sort of Necro-Drain "fair" control is what I had in mind above too. That strategy looks more viable in Timeless.

I agree with you that it would need at least 4 Grief 4 Thoughtseize to have game against combo. For Legacy maybe Duress or Unmask in the SB too.

March & Corruption seem very good at the Drain Life role, getting more life for cards. Corruption might be too slow for Legacy. March should be good. You can always end step it for B and pitch extra cards you don't want for +2 life (lets you dig more greedily).

Exsanguinator Cavalry seems like a good lifelink creature/finisher. The Blood tokens can rummage extra lands into cards when you don't have a draw step. They're also artifact token fodder for Beseech.

Flare of Malice also seems good. It's another free spell. It's instant, so you can sacrifice an Evoked Grief or any dying black creature to free-Edict them. It's like any other "sacrifice dying creature for value" card, except it's free so you can do it tapped out at any time.

Since Legacy doesn't have both Necros or Demonic Tutor, you'd need Beseech the Mirror or a backup draw engine. The One Ring isn't terrible. It also trades life for cards and costs 4. Otherwise you can build around Beseech, using Beseech to reduce expensive cards to 1-ofs.


//Creatures: 13
4 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Exsanguinator Cavalry
4 Grief
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

//Enchantments: 4
4 Necrodominance

//Spells: 16
4 Thoughtseize
3 March of Wretched Sorrow
2 Fatal Push
2 Duress
2 Flare of Malice
3 Beseech the Mirror

//Planeswalkers: 1
1 Karn, the Great Creator

//Mana: 26
4 Dark Ritual
4 Chrome Mox
2 Lotus Petal
2 Fell the Profane
4 Vault of Whispers
1 Castle Locthwain
9 Swamp


Maybe with enough fast mana, turn 1 discard, and pitch spells it can compete in Legacy.

Another possibility would be to play BU control with Energy Field (lol can't die with Necro). Then you can run Force, Grief, Thoughtseize to protect your enchantments and grind out a win behind a pillow fort.

[Purple Blood]

That's a good starting list and I agree probably less of a viable strategy in Legacy. IMO, the best card Legacy has that Timeless doesn't for this archetype is Saga so I'd want to test with that.

As a starting point , I would probably go:

-4 Calvary (I just don't believe in this card)
-2 Fell the Prophane (not interested in life loss effects as that basically reads draw 3 less cards or play tapped)
-1 Castle (too slow and again life loss)
-1 Karn (I wanna test a Karn version but not as a 1 of)

+1 Shelly (card is too good and wins on its own if not answered)
+4 Saga (excellent plan b)
+1 Shadowspear (lifegain)
+2 Urborg (needed if Saga is in deck)

If not going with the Saga plan I would go:

+4 Cabal Ritual (more chances for busted turn 1s)
+2 Duress (the primary play pattern of this deck is to destroy their hand and then refill yours with Necro)
+2 Karn (the other plan b test option)

Going back to Tony's list, I take what I said back. I watched his video and the deck is completely bonkers and will result in banning Necro. Summoner's Pact and Valakut were cards I did not consider but that's what puts it over the top in terms of consistency. That deck really fits the old joke that the early game is the mulligan and the late game is your first turn.

I feel like the list I've been playing in Timeless is also going to get restricted as well. It's just way too good at playing a fair and unfair game at the same time and nothing else can even remotely keep up on either speed or resources. A deck should not be able to simultaneously go faster, be more disruptive, and have more access to resources than the remainder of the field.

[Purple Blood]

Another possibility would be to play BU control with Energy Field (lol can't die with Necro). Then you can run Force, Grief, Thoughtseize to protect your enchantments and grind out a win behind a pillow fort.

That sounds fun. I've also been wanting to try the new Frog.

[FTW]

Going back to Tony's list, I take what I said back. I watched his video and the deck is completely bonkers and will result in banning Necro. Summoner's Pact and Valakut were cards I did not consider but that's what puts it over the top in terms of consistency. That deck really fits the old joke that the early game is the mulligan and the late game is your first turn.

Yeah. People may take a while to realize how broken that deck is, but then it should take off. Wizards did not expect "draw 30 in end step, flash Tendrils".

As someone who tested Underworld Breach extensively in early development, Tony's Necro deck is more broken. I ran the %s on T1s vs T2s vs T3s on many iterations of that deck. There were fundamental limits assembling a 3-card combo and protecting it, so there had to be a tradeoff between speed and protection, which gave other decks a fighting chance to interact. Necro doesn't have to do that. It just needs to put Necro in play. Tony's reported T1 rates blow that out of the water. This combo is faster and harder to disrupt than a combo that got banned in 1 month.

It's beatable with enough hate. But the rate of T1 kills & protected T1 kills is obscene. This is Hulk-Flash tier, where a big chunk of relevant decisions happen before the 2nd player's turn 1.

[Purple Blood]

This is Hulk-Flash tier, where a big chunk of relevant decisions happen before the 2nd player's turn 1.

That's the part that struck me. The only real decisions he was making was whether to mull and what to put back on Valakut lines. Considering it wins that fast usually with at least one piece of protection makes it the most broken of the broken decks we've seen in a long time.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

No joke that Borne Upon a Wind list is maybe the worst Magic decklist I have ever seen in my life and I am embarrassed to be looking at it. I am actively cringing on behalf of anyone that thinks this is a good idea. The fact that it's not even running the 4th Borne is just like, the chef kiss little touch of shit icing.

[dte]

No joke that Borne Upon a Wind list is maybe the worst Magic decklist I have ever seen in my life and I am embarrassed to be looking at it. I am actively cringing on behalf of anyone that thinks this is a good idea. The fact that it's not even running the 4th Borne is just like, the chef kiss little touch of shit icing.

You need to find any of 6 cards (3 borne & 3 awakening) among 60, after drawing over 20.

Hypergeometric distribution:
20 cards, P>92%.
25 cards (more realistic), P c. 97%.

If that's the reason you believe it's the wost decklist you've ever seen, you haven't seen many.

[rufus]

You need to find any of 6 cards (3 borne & 3 awakening) among 60, after drawing over 20.

Hypergeometric distribution:
20 cards, P>92%.
25 cards (more realistic), P c. 97%.

If that's the reason you believe it's the wost decklist you've ever seen, you haven't seen many.

I'm not sure that this is looking at the right place for the bottleneck, or that "25 cards" really makes sense as a basis for calculations.

When I was trying to estimate how reliable born upon a wind was likely to be as a way to combo, I was thinking in terms of being able to hit enough spirit guides and a manamorphose to cast it. I imagine that most of the fizzles for that list happen when going all in only yields 2 spirit guides and no manamorphose. I guess the biggest thing that I overlooked in my estimates is that Summoner's Pact can act as ESG 5-8 and that awakening was an instant speed red way to turn cards over.

I do tend to think that Necrodominance is fundamentally busted and that it will probably find a ban in formats without ESG (so that this approach can't really work) as well.

[dte]

I'm not sure that this is looking at the right place for the bottleneck, or that "25 cards" really makes sense as a basis for calculations.

When I was trying to estimate how reliable born upon a wind was likely to be as a way to combo, I was thinking in terms of being able to hit enough spirit guides and a manamorphose to cast it.

It is not to evaluate the combo, but whether it was that moronic to not play the 4th borne, and clearly it is not. The 4th awakening might be a better idea, or to just keep the 3-3 split. I was only answering the rant I quoted, about borne being the bottleneck.

[FTW]

It is not to evaluate the combo, but whether it was that moronic to not play the 4th borne, and clearly it is not. The 4th awakening might be a better idea, or to just keep the 3-3 split. I was only answering the rant I quoted, about borne being the bottleneck.

Yes. There are also builds with 4 Valakut Awakening 3 Borne putting up good numbers.

Valakut is the glue, functioning as either backup initial mana or a way to filter mana into cards. You need Valakut first more than Borne. Draw 30+ is much more likely to give lethal resources. With 15-19 cards, you could hit Borne but not have enough resources to go off (not enough mana or storm or no wincon) or not have Manamorphose (filter RG into UB to cast Borne), so the fizzle rate is much higher. With Valakut you get more resources to produce mana and find Borne in the top 30 cards (out of 52-55 in library).


No joke that Borne Upon a Wind list is maybe the worst Magic decklist I have ever seen in my life and I am embarrassed to be looking at it. I am actively cringing on behalf of anyone that thinks this is a good idea. The fact that it's not even running the 4th Borne is just like, the chef kiss little touch of shit icing.

This Necro-Borne deck already put up multiple MTGO League 5-0s Friday, Saturday and Sunday so far.

Saturday Challenge #1:
Maxtortion Top 8 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6451135#paper)
fivebrane got 34th place but 0-0, did not play the event?

Saturday Challenge #2:
L4rss0n went 3-3, 17/45. No one else played it.

Sunday Challenge #1:
MartinMedMitten 23rd 4-3 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6455285#paper)
UrzaEnjoyer 2-5
Nammersquats 2-3 drop
TonyScapone 62nd 1-4 drop

Sunday Challenge #2:
UrzaEnjoyer Top 8 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6453837#paper)
Jeserfon 3-3
sandydogmtg 1-3 drop


1 Challenge Top 8 per day is decent, but not broken. I would have chalked this up to pilot error but Tony also did badly in the Sunday 64 Challenge.

Necro-Borne may keep doing well in Leagues, but it looks like UB Reanimator/Scaminator has enough free interaction to be a bad matchup, and that's 20-30% of the Challenge meta.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Yes. There are also builds with 4 Valakut Awakening 3 Borne putting up good numbers.

Valakut is the glue, functioning as either backup initial mana or a way to filter mana into cards. You need Valakut first more than Borne. Draw 30+ is much more likely to give lethal resources. With 15-19 cards, you could hit Borne but not have enough resources to go off (not enough mana or storm or no wincon) or not have Manamorphose (filter RG into UB to cast Borne), so the fizzle rate is much higher. With Valakut you get more resources to produce mana and find Borne in the top 30 cards (out of 52-55 in library).



This Necro-Borne deck already put up multiple MTGO League 5-0s Friday, Saturday and Sunday so far.

Saturday Challenge #1:
Maxtortion Top 8 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6451135#paper)
fivebrane got 34th place but 0-0, did not play the event?

Saturday Challenge #2:
L4rss0n went 3-3, 17/45. No one else played it.

Sunday Challenge #1:
MartinMedMitten 23rd 4-3 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6455285#paper)
UrzaEnjoyer 2-5
Nammersquats 2-3 drop
TonyScapone 62nd 1-4 drop

Sunday Challenge #2:
UrzaEnjoyer Top 8 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6453837#paper)
Jeserfon 3-3
sandydogmtg 1-3 drop


1 Challenge Top 8 per day is decent, but not broken. I would have chalked this up to pilot error but Tony also did badly in the Sunday 64 Challenge.

Necro-Borne may keep doing well in Leagues, but it looks like UB Reanimator/Scaminator has enough free interaction to be a bad matchup, and that's 20-30% of the Challenge meta.

The level of reinventing the wheel here. What does this add to CRET Belcher or Oops All Spells? We already have all in turn 1 combo lists that are very consistent in the face of a goldfish, the problem is that Legacy isn't full of goldfish and you don't always win the dice roll.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

You need to find any of 6 cards (3 borne & 3 awakening) among 60, after drawing over 20.

Hypergeometric distribution:
20 cards, P>92%.
25 cards (more realistic), P c. 97%.

If that's the reason you believe it's the wost decklist you've ever seen, you haven't seen many.

No, you need to draw the cards that get you turn 1 Necro, and then you need your next 19 cards to have the right combinations of ESGs/SSGs + Manamorphose to even start doing anything else and then you need that anything else to like, y'know, actually be enough to win you the game, keeping in mind that spirit guides are not fueling storm and you have a lot of dead draws and still need to find your 1x Tendrils and have no actual spell multipliers like Song of Creation or Will or Past in Flames etc., all while drawing dead slots like Necro and Chancellor

And all of this isn't to say you can't get turn 1 wins, but there's already glass cannon decks that do that very reliably; what they can't do is deal with actual disruption effectively which is why they're low tier. So you're going to what, hope to do all of this while also hoping to draw the right number of Pacts and hoping your opponent can't stick anything like a Leyline or Veil, setting aside of course counters, discard, vexing bauble etc..?

[FTW]

The level of reinventing the wheel here. What does this add to CRET Belcher or Oops All Spells? We already have all in turn 1 combo lists that are very consistent in the face of a goldfish, the problem is that Legacy isn't full of goldfish and you don't always win the dice roll.

What's different? It's not a turn 1 glass cannon like Belcher or Oops. 8 MD protection. Vulnerable to much less hate than Oops. The rate of turn 1 protected kills is higher than combo's been able to do.

Not invulnerable to disruption, but harder to disrupt than typical turn 1 decks.

If you look at the Challenge decks that beat it, they're extremely hostile to combo. 20-30% Scaminator with 6 Force 4 Daze 4 Grief for free interaction. Green Eldrazi with Chalice main + 8 storm hate in the board.

[Gunseng]

Neither Chancellor nor Force of Negation are great on the the draw. Something simple like a turn one grief taking your necro will be hard to come back from and this cannot be prevented by any of your protection spells. I guess the most important thing when playing this list is to win the die roll.

[Purple Blood]

No, you need to draw the cards that get you turn 1 Necro, and then you need your next 19 cards to have the right combinations of ESGs/SSGs + Manamorphose to even start doing anything else and then you need that anything else to like, y'know, actually be enough to win you the game, keeping in mind that spirit guides are not fueling storm and you have a lot of dead draws and still need to find your 1x Tendrils and have no actual spell multipliers like Song of Creation or Will or Past in Flames etc., all while drawing dead slots like Necro and Chancellor

And all of this isn't to say you can't get turn 1 wins, but there's already glass cannon decks that do that very reliably; what they can't do is deal with actual disruption effectively which is why they're low tier. So you're going to what, hope to do all of this while also hoping to draw the right number of Pacts and hoping your opponent can't stick anything like a Leyline or Veil, setting aside of course counters, discard, vexing bauble etc..?

Storm count is not an issue at all. The main issue is finding a turn 1 necro, which was why I mentioned initially upon seeing the list that it may not be completely broken.

Also keep in mind these lists are not optimized at all. They will improve as time goes on.

Obviously no deck is unbeatable but this seems like a real deck to me and is far from a simple glass cannon because of all of the main deck protection. This deck is playing a lot more protection than Oops. There are ways to beat permanent hate (bounce) and veil (pact) that can and will get added to the list as time goes on.

If it starts to see more play its gonna warp the whole meta. Non blue decks really do not have great options (needle and flute is about it). The deck does not care about graveyard hate, dress down effects, etc.. Blue decks are going to be side-boarding into 8 Forces.

[Purple Blood]

An interesting 4th place finish list from one of the challenges posted earlier in the thread:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6451126#paper

This is another obvious way to abuse Necro. If all players are depleted on resources, a resolved Necro effectively ends the game.

[FTW]

Neither Chancellor nor Force of Negation are great on the the draw. Something simple like a turn one grief taking your necro will be hard to come back from and this cannot be prevented by any of your protection spells. I guess the most important thing when playing this list is to win the die roll.

AllSpells is weak to Leyline of the Void and Surgical Extraction and Endurance, while Necro ignores them.

Chancellor's great against normal spells like Thoughtseize, Vexing Bauble or Spheres. It's just bad against free spells. If they go land + Grief or hold up Daze/Force without cantripping, that gets through Chancellor. That makes Scaminator a bad match if they win the roll.

But most decks don't have 14 0-mana interaction.

The SB is far from optimized. Leyline of Sanctity could protect against discard. ESG + Veil does too, but that's less reliable. Grief could answer Mindbreak Trap or Force of Vigor, but Pact may be better. The deck could also pivot to Leyline of Anticipation or Gemstone Caverns to do more on the draw.

[rufus]

The level of reinventing the wheel here. What does this add to CRET Belcher or Oops All Spells? We already have all in turn 1 combo lists that are very consistent in the face of a goldfish, the problem is that Legacy isn't full of goldfish and you don't always win the dice roll.

Belcher and Oops generally don't have 8 protection slots.

[Zoid]

Can't wait for people to start playing 4 Gut Shot main in everything to punish Necro-ing to 1.

[rufus]

Can't wait for people to start playing 4 Gut Shot main in everything to punish Necro-ing to 1.

I was wondering about gut shot as a way to respond to orcish bowmasters, but I don't think it's going to be very effective against someone who's probably just drawn a couple of free counters.

[Zoid]

I was wondering about gut shot as a way to respond to orcish bowmasters, but I don't think it's going to be very effective against someone who's probably just drawn a couple of free counters.

I thought that "if you do" usually creates a 2nd trigger which you can respond to.
Would make Stifle also pretty neat but I'm probably wrong.

[FTW]

I thought that "if you do" usually creates a 2nd trigger which you can respond to.
Would make Stifle also pretty neat but I'm probably wrong.

"When you do" does, but the card doesn't have a 2nd trigger. Can't be Stifled or Bowmastered after the life is paid.

[FTW]

No, you need to draw the cards that get you turn 1 Necro, and then you need your next 19 cards to have the right combinations of ESGs/SSGs + Manamorphose to even start doing anything else and then you need that anything else to like, y'know, actually be enough to win you the game, keeping in mind that spirit guides are not fueling storm and you have a lot of dead draws and still need to find your 1x Tendrils

The consistency is higher than it looks.

Turn 1 Necro: 8 copies (Necro, Beseech/Serum Powder)

Draw 19 needs to find Valakut or Borne (6-7 copies).

Mana includes 12 Spirit Guides (SSG, ESG, green Pact) + Rituals off unused Black (Petal, Mox from main phase)

Borne is sometimes harder to cast (need Manamorphose to convert RG into UB), so 3-4 Valakut digs deep when the resources don't come together.

4-of Beseech puts Tendrils on the stack or Valakuts can dig

After draw 30+ & Borne, the fast mana are enough storm for Tendrils without a multiplier. 2nd Valakut can also be a multiplier.

Other builds have shifted to Serum Powder and Brain Freeze, maybe with higher consistency.

Simulations show the deck is quite consistent. Beating disruption is the hard part. Deck arguably handles disruption better than other turn 1 decks, but it's still beatable.

[Purple Blood]

Here is an example of a Breach list before it was banned: https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=24612&d=372162&f=LE

If you compared it to the Necro lists:

Consistency: assembling the combo is about the same when considering E-Tutor and Beseech. However, Breach does get cantrips which obviously improves consistency and makes it so you're not forced into mulling into oblivion. Breach could also Freeze itself to keep going to prevent fizzles. Without hate, Breach fizzle rate is basically zero. Advantage Breach?

Speed: considering Rituals, Necro is significantly faster. Advantage Necro.

Resilience: Main deck protection is about the same but Force is obviously better than stuff like Pact and Chancellor. Necro is immune to graveyard hate and probably marginally better against Chalice and that improves further with things like Boseiju. Toss up?

Misc: Breach has a legitimate plan-b with Mentor. Is there any type of plan b that Necro can legitimately incorporate? TBD.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Belcher and Oops generally don't have 8 protection slots.

Oops usually runs *more*, including the 4 pact, and its other protection spells are generally *better*, Thoughtseize and Veil etc being better protection than Chancellor as they actually do something on the draw.

Belcher otoh, has the benefit of *not immediately losing* if the opponent does, y'know, *anything*

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Oops usually runs *more*, including the 4 pact, and its other protection spells are generally *better*, Thoughtseize and Veil etc being better protection than Chancellor as they actually do something on the draw.

Belcher otoh, has the benefit of *not immediately losing* if the opponent does, y'know, *anything*

It's worth noting that we're largely in a Grief meta and none of this list's protection spells actually deal with Grief.

[FTW]

Oops usually runs *more*, including the 4 pact, and its other protection spells are generally *better*, Thoughtseize and Veil etc being better protection than Chancellor as they actually do something on the draw.

Belcher otoh, has the benefit of *not immediately losing* if the opponent does, y'know, *anything*

Oops loses to more hate so it's pressured to interact more. Necro ignores Leyline of the Void, Surgical, Endurance, Soul-Guide Lantern, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, Doorkeeper Thrull, Dress Down, Stifle. Necro more easily plays around Daze and can sometimes win around Mindbreak Trap, Chalice, Vexing Bauble, Null Rod.

Most disruption gets Necro before you pay the 19 life, so you're still at full life and don't lose to *anything*.

Chancellor on the draw is still good against proactive disruption: Thoughtseize, spheres, Moons. It's just bad against land + free interaction (Force, Grief). Some builds have Leyline of Sanctity for Grief.

1 weekend of "TurboNecro" is already larger meta share than 2 weeks of Oops & Belcher & Ruby Storm combined:
https://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=LE&meta=34&a=

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

Oops loses to more hate so it's pressured to interact more. Necro ignores Leyline of the Void, Surgical, Endurance, Soul-Guide Lantern, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, Doorkeeper Thrull, Dress Down, Stifle. Necro more easily plays around Daze and can sometimes win around Mindbreak Trap, Chalice, Vexing Bauble, Null Rod.

Most disruption gets Necro before you pay the 19 life, so you're still at full life and don't lose to *anything*.

Chancellor on the draw is still good against proactive disruption: Thoughtseize, spheres, Moons. It's just bad against land + free interaction (Force, Grief). Some builds have Leyline of Sanctity for Grief.

1 weekend of "TurboNecro" is already larger meta share than 2 weeks of Oops & Belcher & Ruby Storm combined:
https://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=LE&meta=34&a=

Boseiju, Force of Vigor, Orcish Bowmaster, Opposition Agent, Leyline of Sanctity, Veil, the white Flare. Orin’s Chant and Silence. Way more vulnerable to Thalia and weaker against Sphere. Also any burn spell.

Seeing a bit more play now while it’s being hyped doesn’t change the fundamental shape of the deck which has all the same strengths and weaknesses as decks that we already know aren’t strong contenders. A slight lateral change in which hate cards wreck you isn’t enough to be a meaningful upgrade.

Someone mentioned Hulk Flash before but the comparison is laughable, Hulk Flash was good because the combo was very compact and left lots of slots for filtering and disruption/protection, you could run your own Forces, Dazes, and Duresses, and slots left over for Brainstorms and other cantrips and maybe even a couple bounce spells. The deck didn’t even need to try to win on turn 1 and often didn’t.

Necrodominance is a dumb card but I suspect it’s going to wind up being more like Skullclamp than Flash, and indeed more like Necropotence; best in an aggro or combo-control shell that can win without it but can use it to run away with games and out-resource opponents when it does hit the board.

[FTW]

Leyline of Sanctity

SB Nature's Claim, just need to find 1 before casting Tendrils.


Boseiju, Force of Vigor, Orcish Bowmaster, Way more vulnerable to Thalia and weaker against Sphere.

These are problems, like discard. But you haven't paid life so you can try to regroup.


Veil, the white Flare. Orin’s Chant and Silence. Also any burn spell.

If cast after draw 19, Pact of Negation or Valakut into Pact. Remember draw 19-40 gets you more Pacts than Oops or Belcher, so you're protected once you've paid life & drawn cards. You're mainly vulnerable before the draw.

If cast before the draw trigger resolves, it's hard to stop. So just don't pay life. Wait a turn. Necrodominance timing rules help a lot.


Opposition Agent

Same. If they try to ambush your Beseech, counter with Pact. If they play Agent proactively before draw 19, play around it. Find Tendrils with Valakuts instead of Beseech.

The Hulk-Flash comparison was most of the game happens before the first turn: mulligans, "before the game starts" effects, free disruption. It forces all decks to have answers on Turn 0/Turn 1, otherwise they autolose. If you plan to beat it, it's quite beatable. But that changes the shape of the format. Legacy was doing T1 fetch into tapped Surveil dual and Leyline of the Guildpact Triome cheese, but that's actively bad when opponent could be on Necro. Instead every deck needs Turn 0 & Turn 1 answers, untapped lands, and die luck.

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and White Plume Adventurer got banned for how unfair they are when you win the die roll. Surely T1 Necro is worse.

You make a good point that the T1 All-in build is fragile. TonyScapone loves jamming turn 1 combo brews but that may not be the best build. A slower turn 2 build might be a lot more resilient to a hostile meta. There's untouched design space. Enlightened Tutor makes Necro very consistent. Slowing down a turn lets you play 1-mana discards. White also has Orim's Chant, Angel's Grace, or maybe even Children of Korlis.

Otherwise, we were already discussing controlling Necro builds above. Mono B or UB look viable.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

You don’t need to just draw a Nature’s Claim, you need to draw Nature’s Claim and mana to cast it and mana to cast all your other junk and Borne Upon a Wind and Tendrils etc etc, all in one turn. 19 cards is a lot but it’s not infinite. You’re not going to draw infinite Pacts. You might not even draw one. You might now draw a Manamorphose. You might not draw a Borne. You might not draw a way to Tendrils.

I’m sure this deck will feel powerful to play because when it works it wins on turn 1, which always feels nice, but tournaments aren’t decided by who wins on the earliest turns in the face of goldfish, they’re decided by who wins the most games overall in the face of opposition.

[FTW]

You missed the point. Disruption that can be answered after draw 19 is much easier to fight. Opponent doesn't have infinite disruption either. But 19-40 cards is many times more resources than Oops or Belcher has in hand (or opponent has). It's easier to fight because you drew a TON of cards.

Oops has to answer Leyline of the Void before going off. Necro can Valakut through the whole deck before needing just an extra ESG & Claim to beat Leyline of Sanctity. It's not even comparable. 7 cards vs 40-50.

Storm rarely loses after resolving Peer for the same reason. There's some small probability you draw junk or opponent has too many answers, but on average you have a stupid amount of resources.

The deck's mainly vulnerable before the draw trigger. But then you're also not at 1 life. For Veil/Silence: pass the turn and Necro-draw next turn. If Necro's killed/discarded: look for another Necro or backup fair threat (Grief?). That's the weakest part of the current plan, not what you're going on about. Changing the deck configuration may help with that.

[Hanni]

You don’t need to just draw a Nature’s Claim, you need to draw Nature’s Claim and mana to cast it and mana to cast all your other junk and Borne Upon a Wind and Tendrils etc etc, all in one turn. 19 cards is a lot but it’s not infinite. You’re not going to draw infinite Pacts. You might not even draw one. You might now draw a Manamorphose. You might not draw a Borne. You might not draw a way to Tendrils.

I’m sure this deck will feel powerful to play because when it works it wins on turn 1, which always feels nice, but tournaments aren’t decided by who wins on the earliest turns in the face of goldfish, they’re decided by who wins the most games overall in the face of opposition.

It's more than 19 cards though. The initial hand + 19, and then an extra 15~ from the first Valakut. Leyline of Sanctity in multiples seems rough, but I doubt a single copy is going to reliably stop them from going off if they board in removal/bounce.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

It's more than 19 cards though. The initial hand + 19, and then an extra 15~ from the first Valakut. Leyline of Sanctity in multiples seems rough, but I doubt a single copy is going to reliably stop them from going off if they board in removal/bounce.

You likely mulled to oblivion to find turn 1 Necro and now you’ve used up three of your eight spirit guides on Valakut so gj I guess

The impressive thing about this list is just how much it squanders resources on the assumption that 19 cards is infinite

[Hanni]

You likely mulled to oblivion to find turn 1 Necro and now you’ve used up three of your eight spirit guides on Valakut so gj I guess

The impressive thing about this list is just how much it squanders resources on the assumption that 19 cards is infinite

I wasn't putting my 2 cents into anything else about the list, simply that I don't think a single Lelyine of Sanctity is going to do much.

The gameplan is almost always to cast Valakat post Necro unless you don't draw into one, so I'm not sure what your other point was about.

The deck is an Oops All Spells kinds deck, all in on one card/effect, very linear, but very fast. Definitely gets wrecked if the opponent has the correct type and amount of disruption, same as Oops. But the fizzle rate post Necro is very low, and most likely has the resources to fight hate post Necro like Leyline of Sanctity, which makes that kind of hate not very good against this deck.

[FTW]

You likely mulled to oblivion to find turn 1 Necro and now you’ve used up three of your eight spirit guides on Valakut so gj I guess

The impressive thing about this list is just how much it squanders resources on the assumption that 19 cards is infinite

Necro has 8 copies, Oops has 8 Balustrade Spy. Costs 3-4. Why is Necro mulling more?

Oops has 3-7 card hand to interact. Necro has hand + 18-19 cards + 15ish from Valakut. How hard is it to see Necro can interact more if you let it draw?

The deck's posting many 5-0s and Top 8s. It's more consistent than you make it sound.

[TheInfamousBearAssassin]

I mean I'm the one who initiated the comparison to Oops when other people were trying to compare it to Hulk-Flash. It's interesting that this is now being presented as a defense; "Well how is that worse than Oops?"

I mean, it's not. I'm not here to argue that this deck is worse than Oops. But being on the same power level as Oops isn't really busted and isn't really doing anything new except, again, having a slight lateral shift in which sideboard cards you lose to.

[FTW]

I mean I'm the one who initiated the comparison to Oops when other people were trying to compare it to Hulk-Flash. It's interesting that this is now being presented as a defense; "Well how is that worse than Oops?"

I mean, it's not. I'm not here to argue that this deck is worse than Oops. But being on the same power level as Oops isn't really busted and isn't really doing anything new except, again, having a slight lateral shift in which sideboard cards you lose to.

My argument was that it was an improvement on current turn 1 decks.

Above: It mulls no more than Oops, but can dig more to answer hate. It also ignores grave hate (4-5 of in every deck).

It's beatable. But those are big upsides. Draw 19 is no joke.

[FTW]

To keep the SCD discussion moving forwards, other possible ways to brew with Necro:

1) No maximum hand size. Library of Leng, Spellbook and Reliquary Tower cheaply give no max hand size. Library protects Necro from Thoughtseize/Grief scam and is tutorable with Saga. Unfortunately time stamp order matters. To keep extra cards, you'd need to play them after Necro but still main phase (can't Necro draw into them).

2) Kill Necro after the draw (Force of Vigor, etc). Any discarded & cast cards go to graveyard, which could be exploited. Or the time stamp on an earlier Library of Leng keeps your 19 card hand.

3) Leyline of Anticipation as a 0cmc uncounterable Borne.

4) Use Enlightened Tutor to boost consistency of finding Necro. 1-mana tutors are also efficient postboard for finding answers.
4 E Tutor
4 Necrodominance
3 Beseech the Mirror
Protect with Duress & Orim's Chant. Go off turn 2 instead. Better tutoring & better protection but slower.

[FTW]

I've been experimenting with a few alternate shells so far. This one seems worth further development.

BR Born Dominance


//Lands: 10
4 Badlands
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Valakut Awakening

//Other Mana: 26
4 Lotus Petal
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Chrome Mox
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Manamorphose

//Engine: 8
4 Necrodominance
4 Borne Upon a Wind

//Tutors: 8
4 Gamble
4 Burning Wish

//Protection: 8
4 Duress
4 Pact of Negation

//Wishboard: 8
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Elemental Eruption
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Peer into the Abyss
1 Echo of Eons
1 Cave-In
1 Meltdown
1 Feed the Swarm

//Maybeboard:
Red Elemental Blast
Inquisition of Kozilek
Chancellor of the Annex
Leyline of Sanctity
Abrade
Slaughter Pact


I've always thought LED and Lotus Petal were the best blue rituals. If the goal is to cast Borne Upon the Wind, rather than dumping a bunch of spirit guides into Manamorphose (very inefficient way to get U), we could just main phase extra mana rocks. Sometimes you can main phase Borne before going to end step. Other times you can keep the mana sources on board before trying to draw into Borne. LED can be cracked for blue in response to the Necro draw trigger, making UUU for End Step.

Perks of this build:
- More U sources & Bornes
- Get to run more "good" storm cards
- Can win without Necro (Wish for Empty/Dragons/Peer). Useful if opponent has Necro hate or you have to rebuild and eat combat damage.
- More consistent protection between Duress & Wishboard tools & Gamble tutor
- Gamble is still the most efficient tutor in the format, if you're willing to suck up some variance
- Gamble is VERY GOOD after drawing 19. R: Demonic Tutor
- Wincons hidden in the SB so they can't be accidentally exiled, don't make opening hands worse, etc.

Drawbacks:
- Less instant speed initial mana (so you have to plan ahead with main phase, no Necro YOLOing with 0 mana & 0 cards)
- Fewer T1 YOLOs, more T2s
- Can't get as greedy with mulligans
- Necro plan blown out by Force of Vigor on Necro + blue mana rock, but the other build is still losing to Force on Necro

There might be potential here.

I also tried something BU with Brainstorm, Cunning Wish, Leyline of Anticipation, Force of Will, but it had a harder time generating mana post-Necro and was fizzling more. Blue mana is too hard to generate, so having too many tools in blue was a problem. This BR version had smoother mana and was playing more consistently.

[Hanni]

I mean I'm the one who initiated the comparison to Oops when other people were trying to compare it to Hulk-Flash. It's interesting that this is now being presented as a defense; "Well how is that worse than Oops?"

I mean, it's not. I'm not here to argue that this deck is worse than Oops. But being on the same power level as Oops isn't really busted and isn't really doing anything new except, again, having a slight lateral shift in which sideboard cards you lose to.

Having multiple viable turn 1 linear combo decks that have different weaknesses does present a problem when metagaming though. Running a versatile answer like Force of Will has always been the best way to handle the wide-open nature of the format, but it does become more difficult for non-blue decks when developing a sideboard plan.

[Purple Blood]

I've been experimenting with a few alternate shells so far. This one seems worth further development.


Have you tested Galvanic Relay and/or Infernal Tutor? Relay seems good in a build that tries to protect with discard spells and then win on the Relay turn. It is also more immune to discard itself.

I believe you're correct in thinking its better to remove a lot of the totally-garbage-when-not-combing cards in place of more generically good cards / cards that improve consistency. Building as a more regular storm deck with Necro as an option seems like a good approach.

[FTW]

I built that list off a storm shell I've tested and played a lot (RBx, Gamble Burning Wish + fast mana + discard). I overlapped the shell with the Necro engine in a way the cards work together. It's slower but more resilient than the popular Turbo build.

I didn't test Galvanic Relay or Infernal Tutor in that deck. I have tested them in that shell though.

Necro's taking the spot Relay had, pushing it to the Wishboard. Maybe adding Relay would help. I think Necro+ Relay would clash. "Pass the turn" is much worse after paying a lot of life, reducing hand size, and skipping draw step. Spirit Guides are good with Necro but bad with Relay.

In general, I'm a big fan of Burning Wish over Infernal Tutor. Hide wincon in the SB. Access answers in game 1. Don't need an empty hand. Some storm players love Infernal Tutor though. I find Infernal Tutor is better when emptying your hand or searching for redundant copies (rituals, discard), but worse when you have a large hand (draw 19) or want cards you don't have (answers, Necro, Borne). IT without LED doesn't find T1 Necro or Borne, or find Burning Wish to grab Tendrils. Gamble can. So IT looks worse than average here. After draw 19, IT gets much worse but Gamble gets much better.

Relay might help. IT looks iffy.

Maybe + 1 Echo as a Gamble target. But Echo also clashes with Necro.

[Purple Blood]

The idea for relay is just to operate as Necro 5-8. If you have a hand with a bunch of fast mana artifacts and Relay you can keep them and try to Relay into Necro. What you say about IT makes sense but I was thinking more about the times where you don't have Necro. Gamble is better after you draw 19 but the majority of the time the deck loses is when it can't draw/resolve Necro not fizzling on the draw 19.