This deck started as a Sealed Deck, later a Block-Construted and now I want to see what can be done with full acces to Casual-Multiplayer"Format" I play at my local store. The Theme is -1/-1 counters which was heavily strengthened in Amonkhet. The deck is still fresh and needs improvment in my opinion.
The key cards are Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Nest of Scarabs which means I want as many -1/-1 counters to trigger both an then go nuts with the tokens.
Cards, which place -1/-1 counters on my own creatures:
Cards which place -1/-1 counters on my opponents creatures:
- Festering Mummy is the best 1-drop I found till now.
- Stinging Shot caught my attention mainly because it is an instant possility to get Scarabs. Ok, my defense agaings flyers might have been in the back of my mind too.
- Skinrender is a great card on its own but in this deck its even better
-
Obelisk Spider
tries to deal a little with my air-raid problem and is perfectly in theme (why doesnt the link for spider work???)
- Counters on all creatures with Black Sun's Zenith works great in this deck. A mass-removal and massive token generator with Nest of Scarabs and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons.
Infect:
It deals damage to creatures in form of -1/-1 counters. The poison damage to players is maybe a problem, because I play just a few Infect-Creatures. Wither would be nicer, but the Infect-Creatures are much newer and therefore better. Of the many possibilies out there I chose:
- Necropede since I need some discouraging blockers till I get to cast my Nest of Scarabs
- Phyrexian Hydra for a lot -1/-1 counters on both itself and opponents creatures. It is also a big thread if unanswered.
Wither:
- Necroskitter is very good for its potential to gain control of opponents creatures and thus generate massive card advantage
Proliferate:
This works great with Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons because it gives you a snake for each creature proliferate.
- Contagion Clasp because of mana curve
- Contagion Engine is a greate card for this kind of Deck, but its cost is very high. Maybe in multiplayer I can still get it running, but it only affects one opponent with its "Enters-the-battlefield"-Trigger.
- I also thought about Viral Drake instead of Clasp but due to curve issues for the moment i left it out
Many -1/-1 counters on the opponents creatures can be very good on their own, but lets see how I can use those to my advantage even more:
- Kulrath Knight disables the combat ablity of enemy creature. And as I see only now it has Wither as well: Perfect. Note that I can keep putting -1/-1 counters on the disabled creatures for my further advantage.
- The Scorpion God gives me card advantage and is a solid creature and even if it is costly it can create -1/-1 counters if I have no better way to do that. This is the card good enough to splash red in my opinion. Maybe I try a Jund version later (I love Soul-Scar Mage) but for now I start with this version of the deck
Other cards
- Young Wolf is a 1-drop that take -1/-1 counters that I have to put on my own creatures for two (or in rare cases more) times. Recently I thought about Soul-Scar Mage. It is a very good card, but to use it properly I would need a lot Lands that create to be able to cast it turn one. And in that case my Lands would get a LOT more expensive or the Deck slower and slower... I am not ready to do that step yet.
- Hex Parasite can remove unwanted -1/-1 counters from my creatures and can kill enemy Planeswalkers
- Vraska the Unseen works with Proliferate (as every Planeswalker) and is a good card. It does not fit the theme very well. If you have a better idea please let me know.
- Cryptolith Rite has a lot of potential in this deck. I need to further explore how I can acces it better. It helps fix and ramp and can generate great amounts of mana later in the game which till now I can not use in many ways Black Sun's Zenith. It works well with Khalni Garden, the Scarabs and the Snakes.
Lands that fit the Deck
- Westvale Abbey
should be very good because it makes good use of the Tokens
- Grim Backwoods for card advantage out of Tokens, though slow and costly it is a Land and does not really take a card slot as long as my fixing is ok.
If you have an idea how to further improve my use of the many tokens or sustainability of the deck (I fear Ratchet Bomb and Orbs of Warding and Golgari Charmand the like..) please let me know.
Greetings
Gottsplitter
