With the current iteration of this deck, I went 1/2/1 for the night. I replaced Flame-Wreathed Phoenix with Mogis, God of Slaughter. The primary reason for this change is because a lot of our local meta is focused on quick and low drop aggro decks, so I wanted something that would force them to make choices more than what Flame-Wreathed Phoenix could do. Unfortunately, this does mean that I have a very small chance of ever seeing him be a creature, but it's more for his enchantment effect. It worked well in the rounds I played. I just either made some bad plays or played against some decks that I haven't really had time playtesting against (and didn't even know could exist!)
Round 1: Played against a good friend named Brandon who had built a Sliver deck from the new slivers in M14. I had actually played against the deck a lot the night before at a friend's house, and it was a gnarly deck to play against. Our matches were tight and close. Luckily, I knew that the first rule of the deck was to kill the Manaweft Sliver as soon as it hit the board. This caused him some mana problems overall. The last match saw him drop a Megantic Sliver and swing for a whopping 15 of my 17 life. I had a Stormbreath Dragon with no monstrous and a one counter Scavenging Ooze on the board against his 8 hit points. Luckily, I had a Xenagos, the Reveler in my hand that spawned a 2/2 satyr for the win. He was angry with himself, but the deck played great against me.
Round 2: Played against an old friend named Brently who started coming back up for FNM. He was running a beastly Junk deck. Our first match was quick because I got mana-screwed hard. Our second match saw me holding my own against him with a turn 2 Pithing Needle to stop his Elspeth. However, he pulled a Putrefy soon after and killed it off. The token multiplication started, and it was over fairly fast from there. Had I not wasted a Hero's Downfall on a Courser of Kruphix earlier, I would've won the match.
Round 3: Played against a very interesting deck where the guy ran Pyxis of Pandemonium with Clone, Ashen Rider, Progenitor Mimic, Angel of Serenity and a lot of other crazy cards. It was a very cool deck to see, one of those moments when you don't know what to expect at any turn. Our first game went very long, and the second round was taking just as long. He hadn't played against a Jund deck in a long time, and I had never seen a deck like his. We couldn't finish the second round out, getting us both a draw for the night.
Round 4: Played against my friend Ethan and his mono-blue devotion deck. The last time he played this deck against me (when I was running green devo), my Mistcutter Hydra army cut him down a fair amount. However, this time around, Mistcutter wasn't enough. He had the right control at the right times, and he got it in 2.
Beyond that, I like the way the deck runs and the things it can do. I feel like the removal package can be a little bit stronger, and I generally think that there are two options:
-
Ratchet Bomb - This would give me the ability to remove whatever the hell I want from the board whenever the hell I want. It could also cost me dearly against my own creatures. It's an iffy choice, but one I've considered quite a bit (especially since it was so successful for my own Dimir Control deck).
-
Haunted Plate Mail - I find that the four-drop slot that is currently filled by Mogis and previously held by Flame-Wreathed is a bit of a mess. Haunted Plate Mail could be the answer I'm looking for. If I don't have other creatures showing up, I can use it as a creature if need be. If I have creatures showing up, it can be equipped to do some very heavy damage. It's about options in aggro, and I think I like the idea. I'm going to playtest it a little bit to see how effective it can be in the overall strategy. Throwing it onto a Reaper of the Wilds could prove to be a little more for my opponent to chew than they would like.
