How is Thundermaw Hellkite working out for you? I am running a deck very very similar to this (BRW Control) and am planning to take that deck to a PTQ in the coming weeks and really want to fine tune it. If you have time would you mind taking a look at my deck and leaving suggetions

Sorry i gave you the wrong deck, this is the correct one I Reckon That's Olivia, The Ghost Baron

dhoard1320, Thundermaw Hellkite wins games. A surprise 5 damage to the face usually either puts your opponent in the red zone or cause them to panic enough for everything else to get there. He's also resistant to Azorius Charm and other bounce spells so that limits the control's answers against him.

ok, I will definitely have to try him out, also what turn do you usually play Olivia Voldaren on, i am new to playing her and want to make sure i am maximizing her effectiveness.

Olivia Voldaren is best played with 6 open mana so that she can dodge Searing Spear . You should already have quite a few options to play before then.

At earliest I usually play Olivia Voldaren Turn 6 (5 if i have Rakdos Keyrune ) and if there is an open target to ping making her a 4/4 and surviving through a Searing Spear . But you are saying I should play her when I have 6 open mana and she can start as a 6/6 the next time I untap?

I meant as in play her when you have 6 mana so yes, turn 6 or 5 with keyrune. That way you become 4/4 at the end of their turn (or in response to their Searing Spear , but any player with half a brain know not to use it when you got two mana open anyway) and take the creature next turn (if you do not have a better play).

gotcha ok thanks, I watch alot of Jund players curve from Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip into Thragtusk and then into Olivia Voldaren so I just wanted to make sure that was still appropriate for this type of build. Which actually plays alot like Jund.

Yes. Generally it is better to curve that way so that in the event of Olivia Voldaren eating a kill spell, you can play Aurelia, the Warleader the next turn and possibly get some strikes going. She's especially ridiculous with Thundermaw Hellkite or Vampire Nighthawk on the field, which turns into 16 damage or 10 damage and 4 life, respectively. Not a lot of decks can come out of that.

alright thanks.

I want this deck

I would remove 2 5 drops (prob the 5 drops) and sorin back in.

I would not take the above suggestion... Sorin, Lord of Innistrad isn't a huge threat the turn it comes down and doesn't really pull it's wait against the deck you are having a hard time against.

Against control, he just makes your guys a bit bigger, but they can still simply wrath. Of course, it does great against Jace, Architect of Thought , but that isn't enough for the inclusion.

And against aggro, he's simply too slow.

However, if you are having trouble against Sphinx's Revelation , I would simply suggest throwing in Slaughter Games to the side. Also, more Rakdos's Return is a literal counter to their card, and though they might find the counter, if you simply slam a Sire Of Insanity the following turn, having forced them to waste a counter the turn prior... you're in pretty good shape. It's also possible you might want to add a miser's Cavern of Souls into the main, as you seem to have pretty good mana.

Finally, if you were to cut something for a second Rakdos's Return , I would definitely cut an Assemble the Legion . You have 12 big win conditions, so I think you can afford one of them. Of course, Assemble might not be the card to cut, but I haven't tested enough to know which one you should. It's just my suggestion... preference is yours.

I've been playing a similar version of the deck that's more spell heavy and also does pretty well. So that's my credentials I suppose. :)

Good luck for future testing, and I hope you take my suggestions into mind.

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad plus Lingering Souls is actually very good against control. It's just not very good against a lot of other things like their replacements are.

Also, I already have Slaughter Games in the sideboard, and Sire Of Insanity is still an iffy pick for this deck simply due to the fact that I can't ramp up to him like Jund can. I also am already running Cavern of Souls in the main.

Assemble the Legion is there in the mainboard almost exclusively to help even up the playing field in game 1 against control decks. Subbing it for Rakdos's Return would not improve the deck too much, since it makes drawing into Assemble the Legion that much less consistent. Control decks have a very hard time dealing with the enchantment and they run into the "rock and a hard place" situation where they have to hold removals back for bigger creatures but they also have to deal with the enchantment and the token it produces.

Your curve is way to high, any decent aggro deck will crush this easily. I also think its funny that you think sorin is slower than assemble the legion, which is completely wrong. Assemble the legion is only good against control decks or if you are running a deck with enough time (with board wipes, something preventing attack and/or lifegain). This does not have enough time to play assemble the legion. Sorin and assemble the legion would accomplish the same goals (main board answer to control) but sorin can help against other decks (like aggro) that assemble the legion would be a dead card against

theonyc, your first statement is incorrect. This deck has played and tested against aggro and runs just fine against them, if not thoroughly crush them (save maybe those god hands with the turn-two-hand-dumping blitz). This deck's answer against aggro in game 1 is all those cheap removals and resilient 3-drop creatures that make them think twice about going into combat. These include Dreadbore , Mizzium Mortars , Doom Blade , Pillar of Flame , Vampire Nighthawk , Boros Reckoner . Not to mention that Warleader's Helix is a blowout against them in most cases, resetting 1-2 turn's worth of combat, which is usually way too much for them as they're running out of steam by the time I cast this. I even have Blasphemous Act to use in extreme cases (but otherwise this acts as a mid-late wipe and/or secondary win route). With all those cards, I can easily survive their first wave until I stabilize at around turns 4-5, which is the same time they start going into topdeck mode.

Before we move on, let me clarify the changes I made regarding Sorin, Lord of Innistrad :

I had 2x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and 3x Lingering Souls before I took them out and instead put in 3x Vampire Nighthawk and 2x Thundermaw Hellkite , which are much better and more well-rounded options in terms of utility.

I also hope that you're not referring to me when you said you think that I think Sorin, Lord of Innistrad is slower than Assemble the Legion . Sorin, Lord of Innistrad is great (I have run him in my first deck to great success), but he requires running 3-4 Lingering Souls to maximize his potential. Sure, this package is great against control (which this deck has a weak game 1 against), but it's not nearly as good against aggro as the above cards I mentioned. Yes, Assemble the Legion is not very good against aggro, but they're only 2 out of 8 5-drops I'll be drawing into, not to mention that in the event I don't run into one, I should have a removal or two to use the mana on.

You also said that this deck does not have enough time to play Assemble the Legion . Wrong again! You said it yourself that it is good if I am running a deck with enough time, even going through mentioning board wipes or something preventing attack and/or lifegain. Please look at my list and see if any of these elements are missing from your list. I have 10 cards that grant me life out of the mainboard. Blasphemous Act is indeed a board wipe (and a win con). And all those removals and creatures do in fact stop me from taking damage or stop them from attacking.

That's enough from me. Next time, please look through a list's updates and justifications for each card before you criticize it.

With that aside, I really do appreciate the comment! It gets me thinking about the cards I run and why I run them and I am not trying to offend you in anyway. I am simply trying to defend my position.

Also, to add to that, I would have to cut a total of 4-5 cards to even consider putting Sorin, Lord of Innistrad back in. Let me know what you would cut and then I can tell you why I wouldn't cut them.

Oh, thought this deck was another one, same colors and had huge problem with aggro. It still seems to me that this deck would have problems with aggro, but if testing shows it doesn't, then thats fine. If you have problems with control you should play Pithing Needle , shuts down AEtherling and drownyard, and makes it so you basically cant lose (unless you get killed by snapcaster)

Or Kessig Wolf Run .

However, you might just want to run a 1 of Ghost Quarter for those things instead.

Though I do agree with the Pithing Needle suggestions. Very handy.

I would remove 1 RIP and 1 rolling tumbler for 2 Pithing Needle (pro's mostly only run 2)

Very cool deck. +1

interesting new brew, but I think Ogre Battledriver is too aggro for your deck. i still like voldaren and obz in its place.

You don't have any draw power for the deck... why make that choice?

Armenius, you're going to have to elaborate on that comment.

JeSuisUnPlaneswalker, he's there just for testing purpose. He could be game-breaking or he could be a complete flop. I just want to see how well he works. If he turns out to be poop, then sure I will consider putting Olivia Voldaren or Obzedat, Ghost Council back. I know for a fact that those two are good cards. They just feel slow for me since pretty much every single standard decks I've brewed run GBx so I was used to ramping and having 1 or two more mana than I would without. I'm still learning how to play the color combination. Of course, if you got any advices on how to play this effectively, I am always all ears.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

I've been play testing the non-Lingering Souls packaged version with a few tweaks. Namely running 61 cards and these changes: -1 Vampire Nighthawk and -2 Assemble the Legion for +2 Underworld Connections and 2 Angel of Serenity . I feel with the Underworld Connections the control g1 is easy. It's been really successful. The only problem I've had is Junk Rites, but it was a mana/no Rest in Peace problem, but it still felt difficult.