A good deck for Faithless Looting this is not... I expect at least some Madness cards if you're going to play that, or at least more graveyard interaction. It seems like an almost dead card to me almost, as there's no combo you're trying to draw into, and no cards you're decidedly trying to get into the graveyard (save for the one-in-thirty games where you're going to discard two Bloodghasts and draw a land that you can play right away).
I'd start at getting rid of those (or at least 2 of them), maybe (and nly maybe) mainboarding a Blood Moon (only because it seems to benefit the style of your deck, even though it hurts the mana base severely), and otherwise get either more creatures or more protection/destruction into the deck.
Like some others, I don't really like Geralf's Messenger - it might have it's appliances, and since you're not trying to be aggro, it may just be playable, but I think you'd be better off with Gravecrawlers, Bloodsoaked Champions, or Nether Traitors.
I might be wrong, as you probably played it more than I have - but as I said before, I'd get rid of Faithless Looting in favor of all of the above any day.
I personally don't see the card you're vary of when choosing Terminate over Dreadbore, but that's a change I'd make. And since we're talking Rakdos now, I can see about 2 Rakdos's Return in your deck making big waves into a favorable direction - not replacing removal as it stands right now, but better than Faithless Looting!
As for the Bad Moon question - I like it because it protects the Obliterator from Dismember (which is a real threat), but with your creature base, don't expect it to do much more. Especially the Lighting Bolt comparison for Bloodghast is off, as neither reliability, cost effectiveness, or application (as someone said, non-burn decks play Bolt not just for damage to the face, but to deal with creatures or planeswalkers primarily) can get any close.
If you're just looking to protect the Obliterator, consider Mutagenic Growth (which is more of a personal favorite than a staple, though unlike Bad Moon, it will actually make your opponent play Dismember rather than just holding onto it, as well as giving you more power for your finishing blow whenever that will come up. It's also virtually free to cast!
@YamishiTheWickedOne: You would be correct in that Vampiric Link's ability and Lifelink are different, however only in that one is a triggered ability (and will go to the stack after damage is dealt) and the other one is not. Lifelink will also affect non-combat damage, such as damage from Eidolon of the Great Revel.
March 21, 2016 2:51 p.m.
The curve here is pretty high for running 23 lands. Trying to cast 4 and 5-mana spells on curve is difficult, since without Bloodghast in your hand you're often discarding lands. From my few test hands it seems like Blackcleave Cliffs is a must, since whenever your opening hand has Faithless Looting in it, you're forced to fetch for a Blood Crypt to cast it and still be able to play your Geralf's Messenger or Phyrexian Obliterator on time. Blackcleave Cliffs lets you cast your red spells early and easily. Alternatively, if you want to be fetching Mountains, Graven Cairns can help, but those can get awkward sometimes. As for other lands, I'd say this deck needs 25, since you have Faithless Looting to offset flooded hands. Even though it's not a great card, Lavaclaw Reaches might still be worth it as flood protection, and since it could potentially get pretty huge with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, although if you're getting a lot of mana out of that card you're probably ahead anyway. More lands, though, for sure, since your deck has a high curve and a lot of ways to use extra mana.
I also like the idea of going up to four copies of Geralf's Messenger and adding Gravecrawlers, which would make Faithless Looting more reliably good. The new Shadows card Relentless Dead might be good, too, if you go that direction, being recursive and costing for early devotion.
Anyway nice deck, have fun with it!
March 22, 2016 11:51 p.m.
DerpGamerPJIanH says... #4
Try and make room for Master of cruels, it is a complete game winner as well as a good defender agenst almost everything, but do not try and buff up its power, buff its toughness
Nioxic says... #1
Jsmith94 thing is..with Phyrexian Obliterator no one has ever attacked into it or blocked it unless they know for sure they have lethal, or to prevent lethal on themself so Mortician Beetle probably wouldnt get a ton of value
March 20, 2016 6:57 p.m. Edited.