Mind and Musings of a Ferret A2/S1

Features

OutspokenFerret

16 March 2014

1072 views

Welcome back everyone! I’m excited to say that a clear (ish) decision has been made. Gary is going to have a love affair with a religious Minotaur. So yah, Pack Rat is bonkers. I don’t mean a little, I mean like ridiculously oppressive. Felhide Spiritbinder loves making new Rats in whatever way suits him best at the moment. Having the rat means he usually is never a dead card. Now let’s make some decisions.

The Choices

First of all, we must decide the cards Mono-Black would look to incorporate if given the chance to run red.

Dreadbore - Dreadbore has been getting a lot of hype recently, notably in Jund Monsters and in Rakdos Jund. The natural comparison is to Hero's Downfall, a huge card in the format. Bore cost’s less, but Downfall is an instant, it’s like giving Pikachu an Iron Ball, counter intuitive. Other than its sluggishness, it is an exceptional card -- adept at dealing with Jace’s, Elspeth’s, Kiora’s, and Domri’s alike. It allows us to hit hard to answer threats as well as allow us to hold up more answers, or be proactive. Personally, I would recommend a 3-3 split.

Rakdos's Return - The first time I saw Rakdos Jund live, I damn near cried. The deck was just beautiful; it does all of the degenerate, oppressive things that Jund should do. If your opponent is playing off the top, they are going to average less ability to keep up with you constant 2 cards a turn (via Underworld Connections). The problem here is that it is anti-synergistic with our high spirited amigo, but I think we can look a little past that if it straight up wins the game. Definitely a card I would consider.

Mizzium Mortars - Now we have a better answer to the pesky Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Devour Flesh usually got the job done, but more times than one would like, they would have a little dude to chuck, and with Mortar’s we can say “F* the world”, and kill ‘em all, or just hit the Baron and move on to more barren board states, not to mention swatting the fly that is the supposed “Cat King” (Brimaz, King of Oreskos) He’s a bigger let down than Aurelia's Fury.

Underworld Cerberus - When I look at this card, I see potential. When I play this card, I see tears (My Own). I wanted to mention him as a possible one of. He would only prove useful against Control, where to deal with him, it would mean us getting everything back, while they don’t get their answers back. That is also why the card is bad against anything with more creatures than us, we can’t afford to lose card advantage. He would be fun with Felhide though.

Okay, time to discuss other choices. I feel it unnecessary to delve into some of the more obvious choices such as Underworld Connections and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. So we can discuss cards that we may want to cut from the list, and new card we may add that aren't red.

Nightveil Specter - I feel his cost is a bit too wishful since we have gone up to 2 colors, we could possibly go down to 1 maybe 2.

Pharika's Cure - Same case as Specter. We can cut these for the Mortars, and feel good about it.

Bile Blight - This card is just way too powerful to drop completely. Maybe going down to 2 is what we want to see, but one could be convinced to run 3.

Alright, so that is one interpretation of R/B Devotion. Another interpretation means putting a brick on the gas pedal, and riding till we explode or theirs nothing left in our path. I am speaking of R/B Devotion based Aggro. This deck has a bit more synergy with Felhide Spiritbinder which I really enjoy.

More Choices

Rakdos Cackler - A 2/2 for 1 Anti-Wall that provides a Devotion for both Black and Red, can I please have moar?

Rakdos Shred-Freak - A two drop Paper Thin, hasty, devotion upper? Sure, double devotion to both of our colors is fine with me.

Tymaret, the Murder King - May I take your order? Yes, Fling with a side of sadistic recursion please. Coming right up (WoTC Drivethru). Such beauty can be found nowhere else but in Black Red. When it was spoiled, I traveled into another dimension, kicked Charley Sheen off his throne and appointed this card the Winner. Unfortunately, it wasn't until now that I found him a fitting home. Here he finishes, recurs, provides devotion, and is just generally fun to use. Plus you can sac the Spiritbinder token post combat to create value.

Spiteful Returned - An instant 2 life loss on attack is already pretty powerful, but being able to double that effect every turn is pretty good in aggro. The only time we would need the Bestow though is for favorable attacking.

Firefist Striker - I discussed his usefulness last article, that has not changed. He is sooo good.

Mogis's Marauder - Holy Intimidate, Batman! This card is bonkers in an aggro deck that copies stuff each turn. Haste and unblockable every turn with Spiritbinder, it also helps Spiteful Returned get through.

Hellhole Flailer A 4/3 Anti-Wall for 3 that is devoted to both colors? Plus you can fling him or his copy ;) at their face. How wonderful.

Fanatic of Mogis - One of the Three big finishers in this deck. He is often lethal, and almost always packs a punch. And If he doesn't kill them, the Spiritbinder steps in to end it.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel - Now we hit the top with our other finisher of the 3. Merchant can finish, stabilize, or set up lethal, truly a card that holds power.

Underworld Cerberus - Now here, this card is what we want. With little to no removal, being able to get everything else is really good, not to mention its synergy with the Spiritbinder/a sac outlet. Usually we will get way more out of this than the opponent.

I keep running through this deck in my head and smiling at just how much synergy there is. There are very few cards that don't have a positive effect on the other cards in the deck. Spiritbinder is a beast in this list.

Conclusion

Now before I close and we get started with the sideboard, and working towards a final list, I would like to add a bit more structure comments. Although this is not in any way critical of the comments of the previous article, I just need a way to easily tally up the votes for certain ideas/cards. Therefore I would appreciate if you would post the cards/ideas you will discuss below, above your explanation so I don't have to sift around to find your suggestion. Please also reference whether your speaking of the main or sideboard. (Just for this article please post which deck you would Like to see, Regular BR or BR Aggro.) Finally, don't forget to post a deck you want to see the community deck played against! And be sure to tune in later this week for the decklist, where we will also choose a name!

Let's get back to work... and BREW!!!!!!!!!!!