Community

Hey guys, I'm a first time poster, and I just wanted to share my thoughts on this deck, which I believe to be the overall strongest pick for 1v1. I'm currently a top 150 player on steam (I was actually already top 100 on steam before I got the bug that wiped all my progress . . . ), and I've had a great deal of success with this deck, and I believe I have played it enough to have come up with a build which is optimal for the style I play. 

First, here's what I run:

"kAzE's SS"

61 Cards. 24 Lands (10 10; 4 other).

A library for Sepulchral Strength (Golgari)

Library code: ((((((((~~B72yFn~~kAzE's SS~~2AYbc44~~2?DouB4~~2BEoJ0C~~2=mlgno~~3AX76cu~~2=efQW=~~4=9R92S~~2AF9Z=s~~2AsJCuI~~4?JDdWS~~2?LeSi2~~2=OP1bK~~4AriHbV~~2=RvKxl~~2BJjDHQ~~1=qtApp~~1=NNVWi~~1Az8nYT~~1A2XD3A~~))))))))

cost
Spell	■■■■	Evolving Wilds
cost
Spell	■■	Rancor
cost
Creature	■■	Blood Artist	0/1
	■■	Viridian Emissary	2/1
Spell	■■	Diabolic Edict
	■■■■	Go for the Throat
cost
Creature	■■■	Troll Ascetic	3/2
	■■■■	Yavimaya Elder	2/1
Spell	■■	Maelstrom Pulse
	■■	Pernicious Deed
cost
Creature	■■	Master of the Wild Hunt	3/3
	■■	Sewer Nemesis	*/*
Spell	■	Consuming Vapors
	■	Damnation
	■■	Greater Good
cost
Creature	■	Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief	4/4
	■■	Lord of Extinction	*/*
	■■	Spiritmonger	6/6
cost
Creature	■	Pelakka Wurm	7/7

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Strategy: You're pretty vulnerable early on, you want to try to get 2 forests and 1 swamp asap so you can get your elders/trolls out.

If you get greater good, drop it before your bigger creatures if you can. Once you have greater good out and a decent sized creature, it's pretty much GG (see what I did there? :P) if they can't get rid of it. Wait until they try to use removal on your creature, then sac it. I would even do it against a Repulse so they don't get the extra card. If you have 7+ land and greater good on the board, you may want to consider not playing any more land. This way, you can discard your extra land instead of cards that might help you.

Blood artist combos incredibly well with a number of cards in this deck to do massive damage, especially master of the wild hunt, bloodchief, pernicious deed, and damnation. Prett much any removal + blood artist is awesome. I usually try to take out blood artists with pretty decently high priority in the mirror matchup. 

Rancor + Troll is obviously a winning combo that causes a lot of problems for most decks. 

Target yourself for sewer nemesis against DP and watch them scramble to do something about it before you swing in for a 1 hit KO.

So, here's a few explanations for some of the better cards I left out:

Mortivore: There's already a bunch of regenerating creatures in this build, including 3 trolls and 2 spiritmongers. In 1v1, I find that often, mortivore isn't even that big, and as a 4 drop, it will often be 2/2 or less. With a 2BB cost, there's much better 4 drops out there. Master of the Wild Hunt is the clear winner at the 4 spot, Sewer nemesis is strictly better and more versatile, and even creakwood liege is a bit more threatening.

Creakwood Liege:  I used to run both copies of it, but it's only 2/2, and is usually a high priority target for removal. Even if you get a couple of worms out, they are just 1/1s after the liege is dead. Master of the wild hunt is just a better card for so many reasons, so I took these out.

Asceticism(sp.?): This card can win you the game, and it's awesome, but I left it out because I'd rather just use greater good to foil my opponents' attempts at removal, which is something they can't do if all of your creatures have hexproof. As a 5 drop, you are probably using your entire turn on this card, so I'd rather just run 2 greater goods and not have any other global enchantments. Still, I wouldn't argue against including this, as it pretty much will win you the game if you have enough creatures out, and it's amazing in 2HG.

Mind Rot: It's a dead card if you get it later in the game, and discard as a mechanic is general isn't as good as removal. With such a light creature balance already, I needed to take some spells out, and this just didn't make the cut.

Defense of the Heart: Way too situational, but a game changer against the right matchup. I just didn't feel like it was a strong enough card against some of the more dangerous decks out there, and against the faster aggro decks, you're not going to have time to spend a whole turn playing this card.

Grave Pact: Really really really good card. I cut it for basically the same reason as Asceticism though, just can't have too many of these 5 drop enchantments in a deck that's only 50% creatures. The 2BBB cost is pretty bad if you get it in your opening hand, too.

Vulturous Zombie: It's good, actually a lot better than many 5 drops in a lot of other decks, but this deck just has better 5 drop creatures. If they kill it right when you drop it, it's only a 3/3, so it's not even a worthy sacrifice for greater good. Flying is nice, but not really necessary. 

Mitotic Slime: Probably the toughest cut for me. It's just soo good. But its annoying as hell if your opponent can gain control of it, especially DP, who can basically mind control one of these and stall you into oblivion. JUST didn't make the cut.

Oracle: Almost all of the bombs in this deck are 5 drops, there's no real reason to need ramp in my opinion. The elders will take care of your land balance/deck thinning for you, and a 2/2 body isn't enough to justify a 4 drop when theres so many better options for that cost. I'm also not a fan letting your opponent see what you have coming up.

Best Matchups: OD, PI, CL, AS, ED, AoW, MS, SaS, BF
Can be good or bad depending on your/their draw:  DP, CM, GM, GP, BR, AW, CW, Mirror
Worst Matchups: GG, PK

Thanks for reading, and I hope you like my build.

Dec 12, 2012 -- 2:41AM, Rjunosuke wrote:

Welcome to the forums. My build is practically the same, except for:

-1x Troll Ascetic
-2x Lord of Extinction
+2x Mitotic Slime

Always happy to see people running Ascetics. Like you said, put a rancor on one, and it destroys most decks. However, I think running three is a bit too much (seven GG1 creatures in total can really screw you over if you're having trouble getting that second forest).
I cut the Lord because all it does is be huge. Too easy too remove/incapacitate, and overall not that big of a threat without Rancor. I definitely prefer Mitotic Slime, even at the risk of being stolen by the opponent.

Mitotic Slime is a monster in this deck. I used to run the Troll Ascetic s, but I but them and don't miss them at all (see above for my most recent build).

The deck works well without Ascetics. My problem with it is that it's a rather aggressive card which excels at staying alive. This is kinda against the deck's theme: The rest of the deck consists of ramp, powerful mid-game beaters and removal. Sacrificing creatures is a theme that's completely against the nature of Troll Ascetic. He doesn't wanna be sacced and he doesn't wanna trade with 2 power weenies, so he's a horrible blocker without 2 mana open. However, do you always wanna keep 2 mana open for most of the game? I suppose not, as that's a major speed bump, setting you back 2 turns. So, although he looks like a good defensive creature, he's actually more of an early attacker. He swings while you have mana open and if he goes unblocked, you can use the mana in your second main phase. He doesn't synergize too well with the deck's themes, but if you wanna put on some early pressure, he can provide it, especially with Rancor. However, throwing these 2 cards in to imitate Azorius "strategies" feels kinda random to me.

Dec 12, 2012 -- 8:07AM, Gegliosch wrote:

The deck works well without Ascetics. My problem with it is that it's a rather aggressive card which excels at staying alive. This is kinda against the deck's theme: The rest of the deck consists of ramp, powerful mid-game beaters and removal. Sacrificing creatures is a theme that's completely against the nature of Troll Ascetic. He doesn't wanna be sacced and he doesn't wanna trade with 2 power weenies, so he's a horrible blocker without 2 mana open. However, do you always wanna keep 2 mana open for most of the game? I suppose not, as that's a major speed bump, setting you back 2 turns. So, although he looks like a good defensive creature, he's actually more of an early attacker. He swings while you have mana open and if he goes unblocked, you can use the mana in your second main phase. He doesn't synergize too well with the deck's themes, but if you wanna put on some early pressure, he can provide it, especially with Rancor. However, throwing these 2 cards in to imitate Azorius "strategies" feels kinda random to me.

I used to run them simply because I saw everyone else do the same. Once I cut them, I didn't miss them at all. Oracle Of Mul Daya is much better in this deck.

Dec 12, 2012 -- 8:17AM, gardenweasel wrote:

Here's a challenge.. can someone make a decklist for this deck that *doesn't* win most of its games when played to win?  It seems as long as you keep a mana curve, the power you have to choose from is pretty strong across the board.  Definitely my pick for strongest deck library.

"Okay, I have my lands out...now what?"

60 Cards. 22 Lands (9 11; 2 other).

A library for Sepulchral Strength (Golgari)

Library code: ((((((((~~B72yFn~~Okay, I have my lands out...now what?~~2AYbc44~~2?0bKoO~~2Al3zwi~~2?DouB4~~1AiWbvi~~2=amrRR~~1=HJ3Oq~~1Ahiya8~~2BEoJ0C~~4=9R92S~~2?37?kF~~2AsJCuI~~2?JDdWS~~2=OP1bK~~4AriHbV~~2?qwIl9~~2=RvKxl~~1BirVSK~~1=9OWga~~1?m5O8J~~1Az8nYT~~1A2XD3A~~))))))))

Creature
cost	■	Spore Frog	1/1
cost	■■	Abyssal Gatekeeper	1/1
	■■	Viridian Emissary	2/1
cost	■■	Bloodflow Connoisseur	1/1
	■	Yavimaya Dryad	2/1
	■■■■	Yavimaya Elder	2/1
cost	■■	Oracle of Mul Daya	2/2
Spell
cost	■■	Evolving Wilds
cost	■■	Rancor
cost	■	Dark Heart of the Wood
	■■	Diabolic Edict
	■■■■	Go for the Throat
cost	■■	Consume Strength
	■■	Maelstrom Pulse
	■■	Mind Rot
	■■	Pernicious Deed
cost	■	Consuming Vapors
	■	Damnation
	■	Defense of the Heart
	■	Grave Pact
	■■	Greater Good
cost	■	Asceticism

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Here you go. The theme is ramp and land fetch, then saccing half of it to gain the life you will be losing along the way. The curve is actually pretty decent, albiet only consisting of 1 drops, 2 drops and 3 drops. Maybe a couple of 4 drops. 90% of your games with this, and I will name you the master of all DotP. Video proof with timestamps required.