i forgot about that part just thought it was 4 cards and have you considered Gaze of Granite

shadow63: That's a pretty awesome card, but I think that slot is currently taken up by Engineered Explosives . While it is a bit more limited, (capping out at CMC 4) it can get progressively nastier with Academy Ruins in play.

side bord action?

shadow63: I'll def. consider that =)

GlistenerAgent: I chatted up a couple of guys who were big into Gifts, and they really stressed the importance of having a 3rd Wrath. I may -1 Path to Exile for 1 Day of Judgment. I really hope that Wiz reprints Damnation in the rumored upcoming MM2 set.

its alota mana but with the way this deck is i think Merciless Eviction could do work

shadow63: That's a great card, although the mana cost is a little high for my liking. I'm beginning to realize that it's pretty crucial in this deck to be able to get a boardwipe out on T4; which is why I'm going to probably make a tweak towards that potential.

i see i but id deff put a 3rd board wipe in here

shadow63: Oh I totally agree with you. The deck really needs to have Damnation , but that's such an expensive card... sigh.

yeah thatd fit right in here you could try Cyclonic Rift or Whelming Wave

Looks pretty cool =) I like Elesh Norn as the primary reanimation target. What was your thought process behind Grave Titan as opposed to some other powerful creatures like Iona? Is it just the hard-cast-ability?

corythackston: Pretty much. Iona is great, but not as reliable as a creature with 6CMC. I usually sideboard her in against mono-colored decks (burn; rdw) and sideboard Wurmcoil Engine , among other things, against heavy aggro decks.

That being said, it all depends on your local meta. If there are a lot of rdw/burn decks out there, I would suggest mainboarding Iona. I wind up facing more control/midrange decks though, where she is less useful.

One popular creature which I have chosen not to mainboard nor sideboard is Griselbrand . Wurmcoil Engine has taken his place in the deck, backed by Academy Ruins .

He has problems similar to Iona, and although I love him, I tend to try to stick with creatures that are at least moderately hard castable.

Deck looks great, but why Damnation and Wrath of God ? Mana flexibility? Other than that, I'd maybe try to make space for at least one counter spell (although you already have Negate in the side). Something like Remand could work well since you get the draw and can always reuse it.

bigguy99: Hey man, thanks for stopping by =)

The reason I run Damnation , Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict instead of 3x Damnation is due to the interactivity with Gifts Ungiven . The wording of Gifts Ungiven explicitly states that the cards you search for must have different names. My goal in including 3 boardwipes is to ensure that even when my opponent chooses to dump 2 of my cards in the graveyard, I will always have a functional boardwipe, since I can choose something like Damnation , Wrath of God , Supreme Verdict and Snapcaster Mage (or other value card) as a "Gifts package."

A large portion of the deck is built around different-named cards due to this interactivity. For example, if I want an opponent's creature dead, I could search for Path to Exile , Slaughter Pact and Dismember and Maelstrom Pulse . If I didn't have the interactivity with Gifts Ungiven , I would have just put in 4 Path to Exile , as it is objectively the most efficient of the removal spells.

beyond that, though, there exists multiple "Gifts Packages" within the deck, including "Life from the Loam + Ghost Quarter + other utility land of choice + Value card (Snapcaster Mage or Eternal Witness are usually good extra value, and are non-threatening enough for your opponent to let you have them.)

It looks like you have a good mainboard, but I am in no way a Gifts/Modern adept... Noxious Revival could be good for another recursor. Some people run Baneslayer Angel as a reanimation target, but Sphinx of the Steel Wind looks pretty fun to me.

Spellskite is a classic sideboard card, and for good reason- it hurts Twin and burn. Tormod's Crypt or other graveyard hate can hurt Living End/Dredge/other reanimator decks. There are also options like Rule of Law or Torpor Orb , but those would probably hurt you just as much.

I was going to say something about 25 lands and 3 Sylvan Caryatid , but I noticed that seven of the lands were fetches and you had Life from the Loam + Raven's Crime .

Even so, more mana is good when you want to cast four mana spells consistently.

williamgp99: Those are all really good suggestions.

I do love the idea of Noxious Revival . My only issue with it is that I really don't know what I could possibly want to take out for it. It fills the same slot as Eternal Witness , which I prefer (although they do admittedly each have their own pros and cons.)

I don't really feel the need for Spellskite (awesome though it is) here, as the only creatures I have that I would care about protecting are either hexproof, or end the game. It's an awesome card to be sure, I'm just not sure it fits here.

That being said, my sideboard is still taking shape. Depending on the meta I face, Tormod's Crypt , Torpor Orb (whether it hurts me depends, really. I can always mainboard Wurmcoil Engine and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite if I want to allow my fatties to dodge Torpor Orb .) and Rule of Law could def. find place in my sideboard. Thanks for the suggestions!

Oh, on the subject of Sphinx of the Steel Wind : It's a good card, but it's mana cost is really prohibitive. If I were to run a creature with 8-9 cmc, I'd rather run Griselbrand or Iona, Shield of Emeria .

Hero of Bladehold

xzypher: That's a good card, but I'm not sure what your suggestion is, exactly.

Sorry wrong deck...ha was recommending that for a soul sisters build that didn't play any token generation... Oops!!

GlistenerAgent: Hey man, I made a few changes to the deck recently, I'd love your take on them.

they are:

-1 Creeping Tar Pit -1 Wurmcoil Engine (side)

for

+1 Batterskull +1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Creeping Tar pit wasn't really doing much for me, and having 3 lands enter tapped was a bit too much. I really wanted to find a way to mainboard Batterskull so that seemed like a good way to get him into the fold. With him there, there isn't much need for Wurmcoil Engine , as they fill a similar role. I replaced him with Linvala, Keeper of Silence as she's very castable, and brings a ton of hate to your opponent.

25.5 lands seems like too little. You are trying to cast Gifts Ungiven and probably Grave Titan .

Linvala is not a worthy one-of, because she's really weak to removal and doesn't actually do that much against Twin except for their combo.

The Tar Pit is very, very good IMO. Unblockable is underrated. Three lands tapped is completely fine, other control and midrange decks are playing 4+

GlistenerAgent:My issue with it is that it dies to lightning bolt and whatnot. Do you have any ideas for getting Batterskull into the mainboard, other than nixing that land?

Also, Linvala, Keeper of Silence dies to removal, but she screws with Pod decks, tron decks, and a lot of others as well.

Linvala does nothing against Tron, unless I'm forgetting something. She's pretty underwhelming if you're trying to use her as a gamebreaker.

If you want to main Batterskull , cut Grave Titan .

I never liked having more than just a singleton Creeping Tar Pit and singleton Celestial Colonnade in Gifts Ungiven myself. The deck (particularly your version) already has so many win conditions.

You only need them for when your opponent has something obnoxious, like sorcery-speed boardwipes, and can't keep a creature on the table. In which case, you Gifts Ungiven for Celestial Colonnade , Creeping Tar Pit , and Life from the Loam .

Derp, I messed up there. She doesn't do anything vs. tron. She wouldn't necessarily be a game-breaker, but a good way of gumming up the opponent's side of the field.

My issue with Batterskull is that I can't cast Unburial rites on him. If possible, I'd like to have both him and Grave Titan onboard... but I do see your point.

If given the choice between 2x Colonnade and 1x Tar pit, or 1 of each, which would you guys prefer?