I noticed in your sideboard breakdown you always side in Lilly, why not just mainboard her?

As someone who has played Selesnya for a good majority of the time Wake the Reflections is subpar especially in a deck list like this where this biggest things to populate are 1/1 soldiers or 1/1 spirit tokens with flying. Wake the Reflections works better in decks where there are large Advent of the Wurm or Grove of the Guardian tokens running around but even then there are better ways to populate tokens at instant speed.

Jp3ngu1nb0y, I only have one of her so I've been hesitant to mainboard her...but now that you mentioned it...I'll move Obzedat, Ghost Council to the side for her and see how it goes. Thanks!

It was a lot of fun just playtesting it.. +1

I like this! Ogre battledriver is such a good card.

Why would you say Barter in Blood is a better edict effect than say Celestial Flare and im not saying you are wrong, i am just trying to build the sideboard for my deck and Celestial Flare is a one sided instant speed edict that pretty much puts their solo attacker on ice or allows you to push through damage at instant speed. It also gives you the option of keeping mana up for a predicted Thundermaw Hellkite as a lone attacker as it usually is in American Midrange lists. So once again not saying Barter in Blood is wrong just do you mind making a case for it so i can see why it is superior to Celestial Flare

Celestial Flare is in my sideboard too,with Barter in Blood mainboard. However, my version is much more controlly than his. That being said, it depends on the deck. However, the problem with Celestial Flare is when there are multiple attackers, meaning it is bad late game. But, if you made it to late game against Hexproof you're doing good anyhow.Even further into this, Barter in Blood is also better v.s aggro. So it's all preference.

dhoard1320, your argument of Celestial Flare being able to hit Thundermaw Hellkite is valid. However, we have more than plenty of removals against their few creatures. On top of that, we have the advantage of being able to outrace them with Assemble the Legion , Obzedat, Ghost Council , and Blood Baron of Vizkopa , all of which are difficult to remove. You have to take into account the possibility of the card being able to be used against other decks as well, since you very likely won't be running into just American midrange. Barter in Blood is in there for me to help deal with aggro decks as a pseudo-verdict. I have thought about using Celestial Flare , but I needed more mass-removals since I already run plenty of spot removals. It's mostly personal preference and what your mainboard is lacking in certain matchups. Also, your argument of using Celestial Flare to "allow you to push through damage at instant speed" is false, since the creature that the spell can legally remove has already declared block, which means that the damage will still be blocked, unless your attacker has trample, which is unlikely in this color combination. Another thing to keep in mind is that Celestial Flare is, relative to Barter in Blood , harder to cast consistently, due to double white cost. The list as it stands right now requires excess of black mana to help smooth out the early removals (like being more likely to draw a black source to play T1 Tragic Slip on their mana dork when you're on the draw) and running Barter in Blood is just easier on the mana base since this deck is red-black heavy. I always want to play my red sources first to make sure Mizzium Mortars is online by turn 6. Also, notice that all of the white-heavy cards I play are either CMC 6 or 7 (save the Obzedat in the sideboard at 5) and all of those are helped by Cavern of Souls .

TL;DR Barter in Blood is easier for me to cast and works against more decks and better addresses my weakness. It all comes down to personal preference and local meta.

I never thought that while going through this sight i would run into someone i played at fnm, i was the guy with the br zombies on aug 2nd, it was a really fun match and i enjoyed this deck you build alot.

team40mracing, the feeling is mutual. It's always pleasant to run into a player who is competitive yet is humble enough to ask/explain why different plays/decisions were made. I just wish I had put up more of a fight :)

I am taking my list that is similar to this one to a PTQ in Georgia this weekend and was making last moment tweaks, Boros Charm is a card that coming up as a relative sideboard addition because of the reac, protection and ability to put through lots of extra damage especially when put on a suited up Olivia Voldaren or Blood Baron of Vizkopa to gain you lots of life. Have you tested it yet?

Also if you dont mind, I really want to put up somewhat of a fight at this PTQ so could you take a look at the decklist i am taking, I Reckon That's Olivia, The Ghost Baron

Thanks awesome deck, crazy transformation from where it started. +1 from me

Trust me, I have considered running Boros Charm somewhere in the 75 due to its power. Thing is, all of the cards in my sideboard are so incredibly powerful for their matchups that I can't afford to make room for it, as sad as it sounds. My version of the deck also has good post-wipe recovery thanks to Lingering Souls , Sorin, Lord of Innistrad , Ogre Battledriver , and Assemble the Legion .

How good has Ogre Battledriver actually been? He seems really cool, and I was thinking about including him in my Post-Rotation BWR Midrange deck My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but I feel like without Lingering Souls he can't really shine. What's your absolute best argument for him?

Jp3ngu1nb0y, Ogre Battledriver has won me many games. It's not the only Lingering Souls that makes him powerful (though it still is pretty stupid). He makes absolutely everything after him pretty much turn into copies of Thundermaw Hellkite . He also is an absolute must-answer threat so he pretty much gives your opponent the "kill me or you lose" order. You can easily use this as a removal bait then follow up with another creature. If he gets removed (usually in response to playing the second creature), then cool, you just played a creature that is usually better than he is and that's one less removal to deal with it. If they don't kill him, they're taking 3 damage plus 2 plus whatever just came in this turn to the face. He's super powerful and is much much better utilized in a midrange deck where he is lower on the curve and you can more easily curve out of him.

Welp, isn't this awkward. I did some playtesting earlier tonight right after I posted the above argument and the test resulted in Ogre Battledriver being cut from the team to make room for better picks. More details in the update!

I guess you'll need a new name, haha

Yep. Literally trying to come up with a new one right now while I redo the profile and start on update :)

RedZebra, I have tested him in the sideboard. He's too slow for me since I can't accelerate up to him like Jund can so he's less likely to stay on the board for long (since I only run one Cavern of Souls , I can't rely on using it for him since my other creatures are also very color intensive and I can't afford having too many colorless sources on the field). It's the reason I also cut Angel of Serenity . Furthermore, I don't have external draw engine like Garruk, Primal Hunter (also in Jund) to help me generate card advantage and continue pumping out threats in the event he does get removed. :)

I would consider mainboarding Boros Charm if I were you. It is a powerful finisher and provides a bit of protection from Wrath spells such as Supreme Verdict , which I assume a midrange strategy such as this would struggle with. Double Strike or 4 damage to the face is hard to ignore as well.

Have you considered Ogre Battledriver ? He curves beautifully into Blood Baron of Vizkopa , making him a 6/4 Haste, Lifelink. That's a 12 life swing on turn 5. The Ogre also has disgusting synergy with Obzedat, Ghost Council . It basically gives him a permanent 2 point power boost as he keeps re-entering the battlefield, so you get quite a bit of extra damage on top of the 2 life you steal from your opponent.

On top of that, he makes most creatures a good topdeck in the later game and allows you to deal a lot of extra damage.

TitansFTW, my previous version ran Ogre Battledriver along with Lingering Souls and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and ran along the less control and more aggro route, but it didn't work very well for me. He is an extremely must-answer threat and 90% of the time he ends up getting removed after he comes in or right before any other creatures hit the board to trigger his ability. He also suffers from the fact that he is not protected by Brave the Elements , which is the card I intend to choose my creatures around. Also, 9 out of 16 creatures I run come in before he does. He runs much, much better in a deck that can support him being the bottom of the curve aka a deck that also runs green to accelerate and resolve him by turn 3.

TL;DR Yes he is awesome and I even based this deck on just him in the past, but he doesn't fit very well in the current meta since he is so easily removed.

@mrbloo1848

First off, allow me to say that I love this deck. American Control has really been a pain in the neck for me lately and this deck may finally answer that, I do have a few questions though.

1. What would you replace Liliana of the Veil with, as I simply do not have the means to acquire that card.

2. Is Vault of the Archangel merely a mana sink for late game? If so, why not swap it for a second Cavern of Souls ?

I wonder how this would deal with my American Soldiers to Dragons

CanadianSamurai, thank you for the compliment!

1. Liliana of the Veil should be relatively easy to replace. You can instead run a single Rakdos's Return , a fourth Blood Baron of Vizkopa , a fourth Brave the Elements , or a fourth Warleader's Helix , or even cut her and one other card to run 2 Doom Blade mainboard. I traded the rest of my lilly set away a long time ago (while she was at her peak) that's why I only run one of her. She's mostly there to help your game 1 against control and to give you threat diversity. Of course, nothing is stopping you from running Chandra, Pyromaster either! She has not been tested in this deck but she might just work ok.

2. Vault of the Archangel is more powerful than you may think. It turns your low-power weenies like Sin Collector or Assemble the Legion tokens into deadly blockers in the late game if you are on the defense (not to mention that Rakdos Keyrune is by far the best example for this). It's not "merely" a mana sink. Using it lategame where you are likely to have a lot of mana and nothing to use it on other than this can help you gain the life that you may need to wait out the storm or just to stay ahead (not to mention to activate Blood Baron of Vizkopa if your opponent happens to be that low). It also gives your opponent another variable to think about when he's attacking or blocking since you can use it to bluff an attack and when he decides not to block, just let it go through and cast something else with the mana in the second main phase. This card has saved my butt more times than I can count, across multiple decks. Additionally, having this gives me the occasional option of activating the infinite life combo with Boros Reckoner and Boros Charm .

I took out my second Cavern of Souls because my creature types are all different and they are all quite color-intensive so I can't bank on naming one type only to cast one of them and not have the color mana to cast a different card.

Prevailed, your deck has good theme and decent synergy, but I think I may be able to outrace your tokens before you have enough tokens to overwhelm me. You also might want to run probably 2-3 more lands for more consistent draws.

Sorry, by Doom Blade I meant some other kill spell since I already run 2. Oops.