[Deck] Blight Moon (Br AggroControl)

[eq.firemind]

This deck was born out my experiments with old black-based aggro's general gameplan of disrupt - more disrupt - drop some beaters and win before opponent recovers.
Today's state of Legacy is not good for yer old Dark Ritual into Hypnotic Specter, so I dropped Ritual and the deck moved closer and closer to Confidant-based aggro-control type. Then I realized that Grim Lavamancer is awesome in this kind of decks. Br list was very light on red and usually required only 1 red source, so Magus of the Moon jumped into disruption package and it felt right.
So here is the decklist:

Mana (22)
4 Badlands
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Marsh Flats
12 Swamp

Creatures (20)
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Dark Confidant
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Braids, Cabal Minion

Spells (18)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Terminate
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Liliana of the Veil

Sideboard
3 Duress
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 free slots

I had limited testing in MWS (not good, but better than nothing).
The deck is
- good versus tribal (Bolt, Mancer, Jitte),
- not bad versus U-based combo (11 discard and 3 REB after boarding),
- good versus greedy manabases (obv Magus, also Hymn hitting lands and Mancer/Revoker shutting down manadorks and moxes).
The main problem is the big dude slot. Obliterator is good, but quad makes it inconsistent. I had no problems with three under Magus, but four are a little bit too much.
Since opponent will have no problems with red mana, finisher should be bolt-proof (thus Bloodline Keeper and Olivia Voldaren are out).
Abyssal Persecutor needs more ways to get rid of.
Phyrexian Crusader is counterproductive with bolts and mancer.
I am now testing Demigod of Revenge in that slot, but there should be something better.
Other than that, the deck feels more or less finished and capable of winning different matchups.

That's all for now and I will be glad to hear any advice!

[Nonex]

Perhaps a planeswalker could do the trick? I can only think of Koth and Sarkhan the Mad, but they look okay. Despite Confidant, good ol' Tombstalker could be fine too.

[eq.firemind]

There is another requierment for finisher: it should be castable with one red source. So Koth of the Hammer is out.
I checked the list of black and red planeswalkers and they all are not for finisher slot.
Liliana Vess and Sorin Markov are too slow and don't beat face.
Chandra, the Firebrand does very little damage for her cost.
Liliana of the Veil is not finisher at all. I'll try -1 Gatekeeper, -1 Terminate, +2 Liliana of the Veil for wider control/disrupt, but it doesn't solve finisher problem.
Sarkhan the Mad is very bad at beating face. For 5 mana Demigod of Revenge is far better 'cause it jumpes out of your hand and kills Jace/deals 5 to head without delay.
Tombstalker's problem is not only a huge pain from Bob's flip. This deck doesn't fill its grave fast enough and already has Grim Lavamancer which is an absolute beast.
There's one goodness in Obliterator that's really hard to replace: it prevents a single huge Tarmo or KotR from attacking you.

I think I'll try an idea from 4eak's budget monoblack aggro-control: a single Batterskull. It is easy to cast, reusable and brings enough power onto battlefield.

[Koby]

Is this a deck that could utilize Bitterblossom? What about Cabal Therapy in place of a few Inquisition? This deck could very well become Red Gate and still achieve the desired goals.

[jlagrav]

I actually have been playing a very similar list to this with decent results. My version is more control (- gatekeeper, Magus, jitte, + diabolic edict, top, isochron secpter)

I actually play with 2 basic mountains and have had no problem casting obliterator, he doesn't always come down turn 4 but I have enough removal to keep the board clear until I can can play him, usually by turn 6.

I have the same feelings as you as far as obiterator vs demigod, obiterator is such a great blocker. However, I was thinking of adding lilliana of the veil over diabolic and with her ability to discard your own stuff you can put a demigod or two in your graveyard before you play one getting an almost instant kill.

[4eak]

Wow, this is almost identical to one of my Red Death builds for Modern (I was just about to post it in that forum).

I am not convinced you need a finisher in this deck.


peace,
4eak

[lyracian]

Wow, this is almost identical to one of my Red Death builds for Modern (I was just about to post it in that forum).

As soon as I saw it I thought Red Death too.

I prefer Phyrexian Obliterator to Demigod of Revenge.
The flying is nice; I just think the trample, sacrifice and cheaper cost is better than the likelyhood of getting a second Demigod into of play from the bin.

[Qweerios]

You might want to check out the Red Gate thread for ideas. I tinkered with the idea of Magus in a MBA deck but I didn't find red as appealing as say white or green.

[Lemnear]

Lil' Lilly would love some spots here. Rhakdos Pit Dragon would be a nice finisher too

[Lord_Cyrus]

Lil' Lilly would love some spots here. Rhakdos Pit Dragon would be a nice finisher too

Absolutely agree, Liliana of the Veil. 4x. Because she's probably the 2nd or 3rd best planeswalker yet printed (only Jace TMS and possibly are Elspeth better). If you can lock out your opponent with Moon effects and then crush their hand with Liliana ticking up to her ultimate, you will win every time. I can guarantee it. Even if they deal with one piece, they haven't dealt with the other; and with their mana/cards so limited, they won't be able to survive long.

[eq.firemind]

Lil' Lilly would love some spots here.

Absolutely agree, Liliana of the Veil. 4x.

I have 2 right now and it feels good. Will test 3 and 4 later. Good thing about her is that she doesn't need synergy Madness/Flashback/Hellbent/whatever cards to be good.

Rakdos Pit Dragon would be a nice finisher too

Double red is not good in this deck.

I am not convinced you need a finisher in this deck.

That's how I'm starting to feel. It will take the deck in another direction (less and less aggro, more and more resource control/attrition), but the result will be better, why not? Still, there should be something more or less bomby. It seems Liliana of the Veil could be bomby enought to fill the role (I underestimted her earlier).

Edited opening post with slight updates...

Oh, and could someone please link me to Red Gate thread? I somehow failed to find it via search...

[Qweerios]

I think Percy deserves a shot with Gatekeepers/Terminate/Lilliana.

I wouldn't play MD jitte in a deck with burn and black removal, it's overkill against aggro.

[jlagrav]

So, I have been having problems with choosing a finisher for this deck, I have been using oblterator but with Magus of the Moon he gets really hard to cast.

So in playing around I turned it into a pseudo-vampire deck that has actually been doing pretty well in testing. Here's my list.



Lands (20)
8 fetches
4 Badlands
2 Mountain
6 Swamp

Creatures (21)
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Dark Confidant
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Falkenrath Marauders
2 Bloodline Keeper
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir

Spells (19)
3 Lilliana of the Veil
4 lightning bolt
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Sensei's Diving Top
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach

Sideboard
Duress
Pithing Needle
Shattering Spree
Extirpate
Pyroblast



The vampires are there for Blood line Keeper. Stormkirk turn 1 is a pretty serious threat and can get big pretty fast espically with the amount of removal this deck has.

What do you guys think?

[zabuza]

I´m developing a RB deck for modern using vampires and so and it is a powerhouse. Still I´m trying to find a way for playing triskelion easily (don´t laught it is serious) for the combo finish becase six mana is a lot :( .

RB has lot of removal and it´s easy to make our nobles grow.

I´ll think to try to help you more but your list seems good.

[Malchar]

How come no mention of bloodghast? (It's even a vampire for your bloodline keeper.) This card poses a serious threat for any control deck because it's very hard to deal with permanently. It's exactly what any aggro deck wants. It also works great with liliana's discard ability. Also, with so many other weenie attackers and lightning bolts, the bloodghasts will often have haste.

You could also try snuff out. Since you already have lightning bolts and gatekeeper/liliana, you can probably deal with all the black creatures already. Snuff out is great because it essentially costs and gives you amazing tempo. You can kill their blocker and cast a creature, which is exactly what an aggro deck wants.

[eq.firemind]

Tested some freaky tech yesterday: Braids, Cabal Minion.
It felt better that anything else I tried before - just the kind of "finisher" this deck wanted from the start.
Between 8 discard effects, 7 burn effects, 10 removal/sac effects and 4 Moon effects there is little to stay on other side of the table. Instead of quick beating through (like real finisher does) Braids reduces that little to absolute nothing and gives you an eternity to win with your 1/1s and 2/*s.
Oh, and don't worry about symmetry - you'll have enough unneeded stuff to support it: (lands, Bobs, other Braids', 3rd Mancer, etc.)

First post is updated.

[Goin Aggro]

I guess the finisher who immediately pops into mind if you're looking for one is Tombstalker. He's a little antisynergetic with Lavamancer, but you should be sending enough stuff to the GY between fetches and spells to fuel both decently.

That, and you usually only run him as a two or three of.

[Greenpoe]

I would add a fetch or two and the 4th Lavamancer. Liliana isn't really neccessary. You've already got plenty of removal, a good amount of discard and you really just need a better finisher, so I'd drop both copies of her for 2 Jittes, which turn all the little guys into serious threats and acts as extra removal. You might want an extra 1cc discard as well. You may want to drop Braids for Countryside Crusher. Crusher is a house (and gets useless lands off the top of your library) for only 3 mana.

[Qweerios]

I think there are better cards than Gatekeeper of Malakir and Phyrexian Revoker for this deck at the moment.

I can't help but feel that this deck screams for Chrome Mox. It enables T1 Hymn and Bob, and T2 Magus and Liliana. It also helps laying down a T3 Braids and it can always be dumped to Liliana's +1 ability. I think Cabal Therapy over IoK is definitely the right call if you play Liliana and Bloodghast. Sinkhole is also something definitely worth looking into if you rely on Moon Effects. There is a dragon stompy player at my local shop that began running Stone Rain as a meta choice and it blows up singleton basic lands like a champ.

Here is the list I have been testing today:


Creatures (17)
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Dark Confidant
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Countryside Crusher
2 Braids, Cabal Minion

Spells (16)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sinkhole

Artifacts (4)
4 Chrome Mox

Planeswalkers (3)
3 Liliana of the Veil

Lands (20)
4 Badlands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Swamp
1 Mountain


I am not sold on Braids just yet. Everytime I have used her, I was already in control of the board with Bob and/or Liliana/Magus, she struck me as a win-more card. Without Bob, she hurts us just as much as she hurts them, and with Magus, they get rid of mountains they don't really need. At this point, I would preffer a couple of Terminates over Braids (KotR and Goyf are troublesome).

Liliana is, without a doubt, a perfect fit for this deck. She empties hands, clears the board of creatures, makes topdecking a nightmare for your opponent, and feeds lavamancer.

As for the Chrome Mox, I wouldn't play this deck without at least 3 copies. Here are a few examples of plays that I pulled off today with a Mox:

T1 Bolt a mana dork + Grim, T2 Magus, T3 Sinkhole + Bob (God Hand)
T1 IoK + Grim, T2 Liliana
T1 Sinkhole, T2 Magus
T1 Hymn, T2 Grim + Bob
T1 Hymn, T2 Liliana
T1 Bob, T2 Liliana/Magus
T1 Bob, T2 Hymn + Grim

And the list goes on and on...

Some of the challenges I encountered were:

-Dealing with big creatures, notably Goyf and KotR. I did not play any Terminate, and didn't test with a sideboard. I feel like this could be easely remedied.

-Reaching double red mana for Countryside Crusher while fetching for basics. Reaching double basic swamp is what my first few fetches go for and Mox usually imprints a black permanent. I only ever cast Crusher when I reach my 4th land drop (usually around T5).

-Dredge is an auto-loss without a SB.

The disruption package is extraordinary, and keeping control of the board is a very comfortable task to accomplish. My only complain is the lack of finisher, I usually end up killing my opponents with Bob, Magus, and/or Grim, which are a bit slow. This deck needs a Goyf.