NOTE: Feedback is more than welcome! This is closer to a theme deck than anything built on, strictly, the most efficient options, so I'm mostly interested in suggestions that support the theme while maintaining some degree of mechanical efficiency. The other restriction is that only cards from the Innistrad block can make it in, this deck being a marriage of some Innistrad block drafts and sculpting into Constructed.
The Innistrad block is an incredible example of top-down game design, immediately capturing one's imagination and supporting its thematic concepts with mechanics that provide a great deal of interaction and consideration. Usually, in Innistrad, the humans are unambiguously the good guys -- but what happens when human frailty wins over human strength, and people begin taking more desperate measures to safeguard their survival?
This deck is about people honestly trying their best and falling into evil ways nonetheless. Depending on the hand, there are a few different ways to play this:
An early Champion of the Parish allows for a quick buildup, and with four in the deck, it's definitely possible to play aggressively. Spells such as Gather the Townsfolk and
Increasing Devotion
provide the Champion with quick, efficient means of gaining power. During the middle and latter parts of a game, those tokens can then be sacrificed for whichever purpose I require.
A slower hand, especially without Champion of the Parish, can change the value of some cards drastically. The Champion itself, rather than building into a clock in its own right, now has the option to be currency for sacrifices, especially since Champion of Lambholt is a mid-game alternative to Champion of the Parish with the added perk of removing blockers as it gains power.
Disciple of Griselbrand,
Deranged Outcast
and
Skirsdag Flayer
are all cards that pull double duty; each one can be sacrifice currency, a source of sacrifice abilities or both. All of these creatures are highly adaptable in this deck and appropriate for a wide variety of hands and playstates, depending on what I need at the time. If I require bigger creatures,
Deranged Outcast
can stay on the board and sacrifice tokens and other human creatures;
Skirsdag Flayer
provides (expensive) removal that can contribute to the graveyard; Disciple of Griselbrand is excellent at recycling bombs that aren't needed for the purposes of lifegain while contributing to my graveyard.
With those core elements considered, let's look at the role of some of the other cards in the deck:
Splinterfright
is the biggest potential bomb in this deck, as its power and toughness can be multiplied by
Wreath of Geists
. If an opponent kills it, that's fine -- it's more graveyard fodder for the next one or
Wreath of Geists
.
Falkenrath Torturer
is a fantastic source of free sacrifices, and since most of my creatures are human, it can become quite large and provides temporary evasion. With its free sacrifice costing, it can also activate Morbid at will or remove my blockers or attackers from combat while buffing itself.
Mentor of the Meek
is, obviously, a fantastic source of card advantage for decks that thrive on cheap creatures of power 2 or less. A good source of library filtering, and if my hands gets too large, I can always discard creatures so they can empower the graveyard.
Hunger of the Howlpack
is there because I activate Morbid easily, and who doesn't want three +1/+1 counters in a deck that builds weenies into clocks?
Deadly Allure has Flashback, making it a one-drop with double value -- especially in this deck, since it contains both colours. Put it one a token or another weak creature at the opportune moment, trade for something good, and profit. Pretty simple.
Increasing Ambition and
Increasing Devotion
both have Flashback, meaning that if I'm forced to discard them, or if I mill myself of them, then their loss has less meaning. And these are certainly very powerful cards. Increasing Ambition is costed in such a way that using it often means giving up casting other spells in order to find that card(s) that I want, but being able to potentially find three other cards in my library using a single card is wonderful card advantage, especially in tandem with
Mentor of the Meek
. In this deck, of course,
Increasing Devotion
is absolutely golden.
Sideboard time:
Blood Artist is gunna art. And gain me life. Delicious, delectable life. For two mana!
Heartless Summoning
, because it can speed up the deck while providing me with automatic death on weaker creatures. Not always a good call, though -- a considerable amount of the time, I don't want to lose my weak creatures instantly, preferring to intentionally sacrifice them to activate abilities at the right time. All the same, it can be a beneficial card under the correct circumstances.
Ray of Revelation
is there to tandem with
Heartless Summoning
, and by "tandem", I mean "destroy". Since the Summoning can be such a risky card, having some measure in the deck to remove it is only sensible.
Riders of Gavony
are in the sideboard to provide me with additional control over the general state of death on the battlefield. If my creatures have protection from another kind of creature, I gain additional control over combat phases and can pick the state of decay in play. A 3/3 vigilance body isn't bad, either.
Thraben Doomsayer is a tad pricey for the speed at which he works, but a consistent source of tokens to sacrifice and empowered creatures when things get hectic are welcome advantages. That said, his tokens don't provide graveyard presence, and this deck already has plenty of human token access, so he can be kept for matchups where having a large graveyard may not actually be to my advantage.
Village Cannibals are a potential alternative to
Unruly Mob
, especially in slower games with more players. Both function similarly and can be discard fodder, sacrifice fodder, or potential build-up bombs in the absence of Champion of the Parish or Champion of Lambholt.
Once again, I certainly welcome feedback. Just remember that this is definitely a deck themed around Innistrad, so my hands are tied concerning other blocks. Most of all, though, this deck is supposed to be interesting and fun to play, playing actively and sculpting the state of the battlefield. It's certainly not the fastest deck out there, but it's very much invested in a proactive playstyle.
