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3 months ago ::
Feb 18, 2013 - 7:43AM
#11
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Date Joined:
Oct 27, 2007
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Very nice deck, focused design, and original (at least in today's environment). Some comments: I also disagree with the guildgates, not that it is a big deal, but I just don't see it justified by any mana fixing you would need. The reason it was run in the last iterations of B/R zombies was because of Geralf's Messenger  , no? Since you have exactly two creature types, vampire and human, if mana fixing is an issue, upping to 3x or 4x Cavern of Souls  seems to be a much better choice. I disagree with your comparison with Augur of Bolas  , in that the guildgate always comes in tapped, whereas Augur of Bolas will, at worst, give you a decent defender. Blood Artist  and Bloodthrone Vampire  are both cards I've tried at one point, and they really leave something to be desired when you're trying to curve out and put on as much early pressure as possible. Not to mention there are zero good sacrifice targets in this deck.
I agree, but you still have 1x Blood Artist in your deck list. Is this not the latest list? If Blood Artist is in, it seems like there would be many better choices.
You have three bombs at CMC=4 or higher, Falkenrath Aristocrat  , Olivia Voldaren  , and Zealous Conscripts  that you run as 1x or 2x. It seems consistency would warrant condensing this list to one or two cards. Conversely, one card that could be a nice 1x of is Rakdos's Return  , which is just a nice, nasty surprise for your opponent.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 18, 2013 - 8:16AM
#12
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Date Joined:
Jan 27, 2013
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Very nice deck, focused design, and original (at least in today's environment). Some comments:
I also disagree with the guildgates, not that it is a big deal, but I just don't see it justified by any mana fixing you would need. The reason it was run in the last iterations of B/R zombies was because of Geralf's Messenger , no? Since you have exactly two creature types, vampire and human, if mana fixing is an issue, upping to 3x or 4x Cavern of Souls seems to be a much better choice. I disagree with your comparison with Augur of Bolas , in that the guildgate always comes in tapped, whereas Augur of Bolas will, at worst, give you a decent defender.
That's a good point. The guildgates aren't as necessary here. My justification for them in this deck is basically just to make Stonewright  that much better each time I cast it, but that's maybe not worth it overall.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 18, 2013 - 8:31AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Oct 27, 2007
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I do find Blood Artist to be a powerful card in certain matchups: control with heavy removal (Jund especially) and certain aggro matchups (RDW especially). I just don't think it should be the focus of the deck. I thought about going up to the full four copies of Lightning Mauler  but, as it's not a Vampire, didn't think it wise. The only other real option is Bloodcrazed Neonate  , and I'm not too sold on that card.
If it's useful against certain decks, then that is an argument for putting 2x or 3x in the sideboard. I just don't think it does much at 1x in your deck. I just now looked at your non-creature package, and I think that's where you need to add the replacement card. Flames of the Firebrand  is alright, but I think you have better choices with black in your colors. Dreadbore  is very nice, despite being a sorcery and, if not, Victim of Night  is really good too, since the creature types it doesn't work with are really not played much right now (remember what I said about your deck being original in today's Standard meta). Given the versatility of killing planeswalkers, I give the edge to Dreadbore and would recommend:
-1 Blood Artist
-2 Flames of the Firebrand
+3 Dreadbore
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3 months ago ::
Feb 19, 2013 - 8:49AM
#14
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Date Joined:
Jan 27, 2013
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Flames of the Firebrand is just such a good card right now with all this fast aggro based around having lots of small creatures. It's almost always a two-for-one. You might be right about Dreadbore, though. I suppose at the very least I could sideboard it as part of the anti-control package I'm working on building. On that note, a pair of Liliana of the Veil  would be perfect, but the pricetag is just way too much for a sideboard card for a deck that's only meant to be somewhat competitive. Other cards I'm considering: Duress  , Appetite for Brains  , the aforementioned Rakdos's Return . Slaughter Games  is a maybe for me. I've played with the card before, and maybe I'm just unlucky, but it always seemed to come a turn too late for me. My biggest problem with sideboarding this deck is how all-in the maindeck is. It's not difficult to figure out what to bring in; it's just hard to figure out what to take out. Thoughts on the sideboard for this thing in general? And back to what Hreth was saying, I agree the one Blood Artist is a bit off. To this point it's seemed like the right card and number. It's not the sort of thing I want to be dropping turn two every game, but when it does show up it usually helps to pad my life total and make combat trades just a little sweeter for me. Still, there are probably better options. Knight of Infamy  might have a spot somewhere here. It's not a Vampire, and I'm hesitant to put too many more non-Vampires in, but if I do end up increasing the number of Falkenrath Aristocrat s it could work out. Lots to think about and test.
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3 months ago ::
Feb 19, 2013 - 9:42AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Oct 27, 2007
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