Combos:
Dimir Infiltrator + Heartless Summoning
: Transmute to search for Heartless Summoning. Additionally if you already have Heartless Summoning it wont kill Dimir Infiltrator.
Dimir Infiltrator + Dowsing Dagger
: Probably one of the most under rated synergies in modern. If you don't have Dowsing Dagger
you can transmute Dimir Infiltrator to get it, but if you do you can equip it to Dimir Infiltrator to get the free (3 damage) hit and transform it.
Dowsing Dagger + Slither Blade
: Cheaper version of the previous combo without the search and Slither Blade still wont die to Heartless Summoning.
Scuttling Doom Engine + 3x Heartless Summoning: Scuttling Doom Engine can only be blocked by something with at least 3 power but with 3xHeartless Summoning's on the board it is a 3/3 so whatever blocks it will always kill it, dealing the 6 damage. If they just don't block it then its 3 damage a turn.
Overview:
The deck transitions from early-game unblockables to late game threats very fast using the combos above. The opponents creatures are less of a concern to your offensive strategies as all your creatures will find a way to get damage through regardless of blockers. Because of this instead of spot removal I went for redirect cards. You will be trying to play threat after threat which will bait out their spot removal which you can redirect and tern into an advantage (board these out vs control/low creature decks).
Once you transition the play style is as folows:
Ammit Eternal, Scuttling Doom Engine, Killing Wave, Sword-Point Diplomacy, and Indulgent Tormentor all create the same option for your opponent: loose life or get snowballed. Ironically, the more they choose to loose life easier it is to snowball them with cards like Killing Wave.
In terms of effectiveness, Killing Wave and Indulgent Tormentor, balance each other out as in, Indulgent Tormentor is less effective against decks with lots of cheep creatures to sac and Killing Wave is most effective against those same decks. This makes playing Indulgent Tormentor after a successful Killing Wave a great option.
Keep in mind, if you don't already have one you will be choosing between Heartless Summoning and Dowsing Dagger
for your ramp and its important you choose the right one for the situation. For example: Heartless Summoning is much faster but drops your damage output and gives you unblockables 0 power. So if you were planing on using them to push through the last bit of damage then you might want to go Dowsing Dagger
. Fortunately the 0 power unblockables can still activate Dowsing Dagger
because it gives them +2/+1 when equip. It's also important to note whether they run enchantment removal or artifact/land removal as this will effect your decision. Additionally having more than one Heartless Summoning on the battlefield is ill advised because because the -1/-1 auras stack and this only really helps to play Scuttling Doom Engine.
To all the haters out there that are going to say Redirect and Imp's Mischief are bad cards y'all can suck my nuts. The fact is their NOT bad cards, their just control cards that work best in creature heavy decks. Meaning that they don't fit in most decks because you have to leave manna unused at the end of your turn for them to be effective, but must creature heavy decks try to use all the manna during your own turn. Having 2 open manna at the end of each turn, or waiting until you have enough manna to play your biggest creature +2 extra for redirect, is essentially handicapping yourself. However, this deck transitions. In the beginning it functions like a creature heavy deck where you want to get cards like Ammit Eternal and Slither Blade out as fast as you can. But these cards can eat as much removal as your opponent is willing to through at them. In fact Ammit Eternal's sole purpose is to bait out removal spells and Slither Blade cost 1 manna. Then when your ramp comes online you will be playing already low cost creatures at -2, -3 or even -5 manna cost with both. With just one ramp card Ammit Eternal could cost you 1 to 0 manna for a 4/4 to 5/5 creature that deals 3 damage when its blocked. Indulgent Tormentor could cost you 3, 2 or 0 manna. This means that you can play your big creatures and have manna to spare for a 2 cost Redirect. Unfortunately most decks can't go from having 2 manna turn 2 to having 6 manna turn 3 while still remaining under the the umbrella of "aggro" so they remain virtually unused in modern.
TBH idk what category this deck is... I'ma just leave it as Aggro/Ramp/Combo and call it a day.
