Creatures:
Dark Confidant is a creature. That already is a huge, almost insurmountable advantage that he has over
Phyrexian Arena. He can attack and block, and if black needs to it can remove it.
Dark Confidant is a 2 drop, and a 2 drop that only has 1 colored mana in its mana cost. That's 1 more turn you get to draw an extra card than Phyrexian Arena, AND it makes it infinitely more splashable. Those, too, are enormous advantages.. And always remember that if you flip a land card it cost you nothing.
For 1R Olivia can do 1 damage to another creature and turn that creature into a vampire. Awesome flavor and a useful ability, she can one shot mana dorks, chump blockers, wizards who delve into secrets but have yet to find any, souls that linger, and many other currently playable creatures. For 3BB you can gain control of another Vampire as long as Olivia is around to keep them in line.
Compensates for
Dark Confidant life loss and aswell getting +1/+1 counters.
Every deck runs fetchlands such as Polluted Delta to fetch out dual lands like Underground Sea. This automatically gives Tarmogoyf +1/+1. Many decks run
Thoughseize
or Remand or Path to Exile.As you can see, there are a lot of 1 or 2 mana instant or sorceries that are commonly played. And creatures die as a result of combat or Bolt easily. So Goyf is normally a 3/4 or 4/5 for 1G, or if you are lucky, a 5/6, 6/7, or 7/8... maybe even an 8/9.
The Hellkite's stats are definitely befitting that of a Dragon-- a 5/5 flyer with haste for a mere five makes for an incredible power play. The enters-the-battlefield ability pushes it from "efficient flying beater" to "backbreaking play". Not only will it ping off any X/1's that your opponents have, it taps them to guarantee that your opponent will have no blockers to stop your 5/5's first assault. (Well, okay, reach creatures or creatures with flash still could.) This is clearly a card for attacking with, and it'll have no trouble putting a major dent in your opponent's army in short order.
Sorcery
Turn 1 Inquisition does a number of things that will help better sculpt the game for you. You'll have additional information regarding what sword to search out on turn 2. This is a pretty big bonus in my book because after playing with the deck I found out that there isn't necessarily a particular sword that you want in each matchup. It's all dependent on what they have and what you have. When you know both sides of the equation it makes sculpting the game in your favor a whole lot easier.
1W Don't have much too say, a 1/1 flyiers and can beat up opponents pretty much, aswell with the 1B Flashback.
Maelstorm Pulse is a catch all answer, but mostly of the time it is either a bad
Abrupt Decay or a bad
Terminate.
Same as
Inquisition of Kozilek but lets you take any nonland card you want, but costs 2 life.
Planeswalker:
+1 - Target permanent doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
-2 -
Lightning Helix Very straightforward. Creature removal or that final burn to their face.
-7 - Destroy all lands target player control; quite straightforward. Doesn't need much building around to be very effective. BUT, it's so good, and so potentially game ending, that you want it to go off.
+1: Both players discard.
This ability is best against decks that want to hold value in hand. This could mean countermagic or combos.
Against aggressive strategies or other decks that dump their hand, the +1 is merely a way of building loyalty. If you have gas in hand and the opponent is hellbent, it's frequently correct not to activate the +1, which is counterintuitive to a lot of players. After all, they want to use their sweet planeswalker.
-2: Edict someone.
The edict effect balances the +1 nicely. If the opponent runs out a threat, you edict it. If he doesn't, you'll +1 it out of his hand anyway.
The combination of these two abilities ensures you'll win the topdeck war. Your threats live while your opponent's don't. If your opponent draws removal it's binned, but if you draw removal you can sit there and let your opponent hit land drops for a while.
I most often see the edict effect messed up when the board is cluttered. If the opponent has a spare mana dork or the like, it's generally better to tick up or do nothing than waste loyalty.-6: Fact or Fiction away your opponent's stuff.
Part of the reason Liliana works is because, even though she's undercosted with two great abilities, her ultimate isn't necessarily a win. In fact, if a player mistimes an ultimate, it can often be worse than an edict or doing nothing at all, as losing an active planeswalker is a big deal. That said, the ultimate is still powerful, and wins its fair share of games.
One of the biggest mistakes I see regarding the ultimate is firing it off too early. If your opponent's board is a pile of lands and a creature or a artifact, what exactly are you ultimating them for? The longer you hold Liliana at 6+ counters the longer you'll prevent them from running out Keranos, God of Storms and taking over the game. Once again, the threat of a thing is greater than its realization.
When figuring out an ultimate, don't forget the basics of splitting up land types or the simple all lands/all other permanents split. Cards like Detention Sphere or Vedalken Shackles effects can complicate your piles in the most delightful way.
Instants:
Can destroy must of all permanents in modern format, not much to say.
R for 3 damage, you can clean planeswalkers, creatures and finish some players.
"It can't be regenerated", that's why.
Sideboard:
Jund can not play
Tectonic Edge, so you are VERY soft to Tron,
Scapeshift and random celestial colonnades,
Sowing Salt
is a card that just beats Scapeshift and Tron, but the versatility of the mages make them a must play in the sideboard.
No more reanimator or
Snapcaster Mage.
Can destroy W/U creatures.
To destroy affinity, why
Torpor Orb? Goodbye early
Arcbound Ravager.
Match-ups
Ajani Jund Sidedecked for UWr's UW's BUG's Ajani Jund Sidedecked for Affinity
