This deck is designed to force the opponent to start dealing with threats very early on. Ash Zealot,
Thrill-Kill Assassin
, and
Chandra's Phoenix
all provide me with an initial aggro rush, giving the opponent no time to settle.
Whilst my opponent is worrying about dealing with my early game threats, I'm playing turn four Desecration Demon and removing anything they can put out with Dreadbore, Lightning Strike, Turn / Burn, and
Pharika's Cure
. By turn six they are most often overrun with board threats and without enough permanents to do anything about it thanks to my removal.
I run AEtherling, Divination, and Negate in the mainboard because they are always relevant, and especially so against the longer control match-ups.
Crypt Incursion is a card that is useful against so many decks that it is a must in the mainboard. Against aggro, I have ample opportunity to burn their creatures away into their graveyard and then use Crypt Incursion to bring my life total back up to a point where their aggressive style will have petered out. With a fair amount of mid-range decks benefiting from graveyard tricks, this card really messes up their game plan. At the very least, this card always gains me a lot of life and has got me out of many desperate situations allowing me to pull the game back.
Master of Cruelties is an awesome card, and was initially the focal point of this deck. Whilst no longer my primary win-con, he is a first strike + deathtouch with an incredibly threatening ability. Will block and kill anything that isn't flying or indestructible, and forces the opponent to leave a blocker back. Also, with the large amount of removal in my deck, one blocker often isn't enough for my opponent to leave back and suddenly they're on 1 life, two mana away from death via a Lightning Strike or a
Burn
.
I'd really like any suggestions or comments, especially concerning how M15 might affect this deck, and what I should look out for. I went unbeaten with this deck last FNM over the course of 4 matches. FOR GRIXIS!
