All I mean to say is, you have absolutely no draw power. Once you start topdecking midgame, you can't get out of that position.

Why did you choose to make the choice to not throw in anything to negate that purpose?

Well, there are a few options and each of them approaches the problem differently:

Sire Of Insanity effectively "evens the playing field" and indirectly solve card advantage problem by eliminating your opponent's.

Underworld Connections is an option I can consider and have been for a while. It worked in the old version of my Junk midrange deck and I may include them in this list.

Sign in Blood runs a bit better in a control list but could also be an option since life total usually isn't a problem.

It's just that these are relatively weak picks (at least for the mainboard) compared to other cards. This deck basically gains "card advantage" and "draw power" by minimizing the opponent's. The deck wins not through card advantage but through superior draw quality and high-impact, hard-to-remove creatures.

TheFrozenFox, Assemble the Legion is one of the cards that's been winning games for me in tests (and actual games) against control and I prefer not to cut them unless it is for a different anti-control card (like Underworld Connections ). It really helps me keep up the pressure as they run out of answers or as they use them on my other creatures. Also, running 61 cards in a deck means things went wrong somewhere in the process. You should never run more than 60 cards. Ever.

I'll be playing around with the list for a while. I still got a few days to figure out the best fit for the list. Thank you all for the comments!

Maybe Silverblade Paladin is better than Ogre Battledriver , it can also be quite the gamebreaker bonded with BBoZ or Hellkite. Also, a bit of a newb question for I am quite new and do not fully comprehend rotations, will Thundermaw Hellkite , who is in M13, rotate out in the next block?

Thundermaw Hellkite (along with M13 and Innistrad block) will indeed rotate out as soon as the first set of Theros block releases, yes.

I also am considering paladin. I got all of the potential picks in the maybeboard. I am trying to see if it will be more fun to lower the curve and lean harder on the aggro side of midrange and still be competitive at least at FNM level. Needless to say, this deck has a lot of good cards from INN and M13 so it will probably be gone or significantly changed when rotation hits. The meta is always hectic during the "two-core" period before the new set releases.

I have fixes for what I am looking to cut for 60, I'm also leaning more towards the Assemble the Legion even though I feel g1 control is still a fair matchup, obviously with g2 it can get easier. Most my testing is towards Naya Aggro/Blitz, Slivers, Bant Control and Midrange, and American Control. I have yet to play Jund though.

Assemble the Legion is your friend against Jund. As long as you don't get multi--miracle Bonfire of the Damned with no Boros Reckoner on board, this deck should be ok, especially post-board when you can Slaughter Games naming Thragtusk , Olivia Voldaren and the likes.

How do you like the Lingering Souls + Sorin package? It seemed like a big change for a deck that was running well, but it does seem like our 5 drop was overburdened and I think moving up to Angel of Serenity was the right call. Especially without Olivia, who destroys any midrange match. Also, what do we fear in Jund siding in Slaughter Games ? Do they do that? I feel our threats are diverse enough that we can just win on another threat.

TheFrozenFox, the Sorin-Souls package has been working great. Having a planeswalker lets me diversify my threats and it gives them something else to try to swing at. His presence also makes Jace, Architect of Thought that much less of a blowout. Also, I found that Ogre Battledriver runs MUCH better in a midrange deck than aggro deck since he has much better things coming in behind him instead of weenies. Curving him turn 4 into Lingering Souls plus flashback on turn 5 is 15 damage with 12 of it in the air. I could say that's the same level of surprise factor as a Thundermaw Hellkite . He also makes Assemble the Legion that much more of a threat. Obviously, any player in their right mind won't let him stay on the field if they had anything to say about it, but he's high impact enough that if he does, it's almost always game.

Don't get me wrong, I like Olivia Voldaren as much as the other guy, but with the meta I'm playing in, she ends up dying before she can do anything useful. I'll still keep her in mind, but as of now there just are better picks for the slot.

To be honest, I think Jund will have a hard time getting anything out of Slaughter Games since they don't really know what to name against this deck. They will likely name Olivia Voldaren if they know this is BWR midrange and not Aristocrats, but then the spell whiffs. Of course, getting to look through your library and hand may give them enough information to win the game outright.

Of course, now that I run Lingering Souls , I can go a bit lighter on removals, or creatures. I'll be playing around with the list for a while.

I think the list runs good in both directions; got to play some Jund, they weren't too horrible, what I saw was side-in Slaughter Games , rakdos return, Olivia Voldaren and side out Garruk, Primal Hunter Dreadbore not saying that what will always happen, but the games seemed easy enough, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad beats Abrupt Decay and I happened to win off of t5 Obzedat, Ghost Council to his tapout for rakdos return allowing me to play Aurelia, the Warleader for gg lethal on t6. Felt like a coin-flip matchup though. And I still run without the Sorin+Souls package for the moment, I'm going to try and expand on that to see where it goes. I do enjoy Underworld Connections as it gives us more 3 drops since our removal is mostly 2/4 T3 plays are good. Vampire Nighthawk I feel you only cut due to Lingering Souls , was going to ask if that would be a good cut in the older list.

Wow, another big change, I would like to see some explanations.

Update has been posted. Some of the explanations are in there :)

Also, if you have not noticed, TappedOut's playtest program doesn't do a very good job at shuffling and drawing sample hands or any type of randomizing in general. The list runs noticeably better on actual paper card (or MTGO). I'm not sure what's wrong with the shuffling on that thing but it's wonky. Many of my friends do agree with this theory.

Thanks a ton! I am still missing the presence of Thundermaw Hellkite , as you said, curving it into Aurelia, the Warleader is a boom. As for the playtester, the shuffling is fine for me, I do not see where is the problem.

I've been juggling back and forth on the Hellkite. He's proven his worth in play but I need to cut a couple of other spells to make room for him.

YEEHAAAA THE RETURN OF HELLKITE!!!!but ... shouldn't it be incompatible with ogre battledriver?

scrap that, it is compatible until the rotation.

How is the deck fairing without the full playset of Boros Reckoner ? He always acts as such a good wall and even better to follow up with Warleader's Helix and then Blasphemous Act to reset the board and then drop a bomb like Blood Baron of Vizkopa or specifically Olivia Voldaren againt aggro.

Also how do you sideboard against the basic matchups i think i have a pretty good idea but am still curious against the various control matchups.

Thanks in advanced

Personal preference here, but I feel as though it might be better to run 1 less Slaughter Games for 1 more Sire Of Insanity . Just my thoughts.

Hey guys, sorry about the late reply. I haven't had working internet since last night.

dhoard1320, Boros Reckoner , though still very good, is a lot less effective now that Doom Blade is in again. American control decks also run Turn / Burn which also makes him useless. I took one of him out because of the exclusion of Blasphemous Act . As I said in the update, I can't benefit off of the spell nearly as much as Aristocrats can, especially now that I use Lingering Souls and no Blood Artist to help the wipe become more of an offensive spell than defensive. That being said, he didn't come out so that some crap spell could go in. I think Ogre Battledriver went in his place? I don't remember. But either way, this change seems to be for the better.

Armenius, Slaughter Games has been winning games for me against control and I would rather keep the 3 with the 1 Sire Of Insanity . It is much, much easier to resolve much earlier, which let me hit those cards before they can cast it (at worst, they will have to cast Sphinx's Revelation for 1 or 2 in response and tap out). Sire Of Insanity is there to hopefully keep them down while they're down. He's great and all but I'd rather have the Slaughter Games . Having 3 have always played a part in me drawing into one or having one or two by turn 4, which helps a lot.

I'll post some rough sideboard guide with a more detailed one later I guess.

Control (UWR, Esper, Bant): -3 Pillar of Flame , -2 Mizzium Mortars , -2 Tragic Slip , -1 Olivia Voldaren , -1 Ogre Battledriver , +3 Slaughter Games , +2 Rakdos's Return , +2 Sin Collector , +1 Sire Of Insanity , +1 Liliana of the Veil

I usually don't remember too much about my sideboarding but the general idea is to side out all your burns (save the helix) for the anti-control cards and also side in Rest in Peace if you know or suspect them using Snapcaster Mage . Sometimes I even side out both Olivia Voldaren for more cards.

Aggro (Naya Blitz, Jund Aggro, etc.): -2 Assemble the Legion , -1 Aurelia, the Warleader , -1 Angel of Serenity , -1 Obzedat, Ghost Council , +1 Liliana of the Veil , +2 Barter in Blood , +2 Rolling Temblor .

Jund midrange: -3 Pillar of Flame , -3 Lingering Souls , -1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad , +2 Slaughter Games , +2 Sin Collector , +2 Rakdos's Return , +1 Liliana of the Veil

That's all I can think of for now. I will post a more detailed guide some time later :)

In the Jund Midrange matchups don't you want to keep in the Pillar of Flame to shoot the bird to slow them down on their acceleration or is that only important in Bant Control and Bant Aura matchups.

Oh I guess you have Tragic Slip to still do that, and I guess keeping them off of 4 or 5 mana is the important thing.

Yes, you still got Dreadbore and Tragic Slip to choke that mana dork. They aren't as important in Jund, though.

If you have Assemble the Legion You NEED Growing Ranks .

Why? Spending 4 more mana to get only one more token every turn? Why not just spend that 4 mana to cast Ogre Battledriver and make each token worth 3 instead? or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and make them worth 2? Populate doesn't double your tokens, it just adds one to whatever you've made.

The one token, can be a game changer. If you dislike the cost Wake the Reflections

I'd rather have my tokens turn into 3/1 or 2/1 than have one more of them but staying 1/1s. Not to mention that everything else I play also benefit from it, and not just the tokens. This isn't a token deck so populating doesn't have nearly as much of an impact as a more dedicated token deck. Every single token I generate come in as a 1/1. Nobody would flinch at populating a 1/1, not to mention that there are way better things to cast with 4 mana. Even if I curve it into Assemble the Legion , I'd have to wait 2 full turns before seeing any effects (same goes with curving Lingering Souls into it). That is inefficient.