M11 spoilers currently leaking out have confirmed we just received a way better Megrim !! It's called Liliana's Caress, and it's 1B to cast for the same thing :D

This means those of us playing discard will have no trouble getting that out and playing our good 3 drops, hell yes!

Holy crap! Megrim 's major problem was being a mite slow, this looks like it might fix that speed problem!

That specter looks like a maybe. I'm still waiting for the news on Hypnotic Specter . =/

Agreed, same here.

On a different note, I went to a small tourney tonight and played well, but went 1-2. Lost to a green overrun ramp deck and a Jund deck, but beat Aohan's Devastating Red.

Against Jund, my first game draw was poor, and he took me out quickly. Second game I side boarded in Pyroclasm, but had another poor draw and was mana screwed until late game when it was too little, too late.

Against the green Overrun ramp, I did well the first game and was a turn away from winning when he top decked a Vengevine and swung with it and a Kozilek Predator. I had a 7/7 Nyxathid out and just 2 life. Second game I only had 2 mana the whole game.

Was an odd night...in the dozens of games I've played prior, I had never been mana screwed...chalking it up to just being really unlucky. Bloodchief was absolutely useless for me in every game.

Oh well, need more play time.

Starting to think that until all the quick removal in Alara phases out, Abyssal Persecutor actually is a good idea, would replace the Hypnotic Specters, go down to 3 of Duress/Kozilek, and toss in 2 Mind Sludge .

Bought a couple RoE boosters, pulled a Gideon, traded for 4 Abyssal Persecutors...should be interesting.

Not to mention that the Persecutor has a nice synergy with Consuming Vapors when you need to get rid of it or when you need a little life when you're getting burned. Instead of Pyroclasm, might I suggest Earthquake ? You sacrifice 1 damage, but if it becomes too little too late against G/W ramp, Overrun ramp, maybe that saves you. Even better, if you think you'll have the red, what about Chain Reaction ?

Haven't used Chain Reaction in a long time :P

Would probably prefer Earthquake just for the ease of it being 1 red mana, but if I get Dragonskull Summits...

I use Earthquake right now in my RDbW deck, tempted to move it over. I just don't like taking damage since I get pounded a lot early game...dunno.

Was playing a lot of Overrun ramp this weekend actually, didn't have much trouble with it when I used Pyroclasm . Duress kept him from casting it, generally.

Nice to see the four persecutors. He's a crazy beater. Should do some good work.

Yeah, will use him today. Really glad I pulled that Gideon after the tourney. Tapped Out said the cost of my deck went up 100% after I added him XD

If you're trying to keep your opponents hand empty try sticking in a couple of The Rack . I love playing it in my discard deck as tends to mean my opponent will keep cards in their hand instead of just throwing them away meaning that you get a bit more damage from your Blightning /Megrim .

Personally I would get rid of consuming-vapours and chuck in a couple Lightning Bolt instead as it's a hell of a lot cheaper to cast and gives you the option of which creature to zap. Plus they are really useful for charging up your Bloodchief Ascension if you can't get 2 damage in a turn.

@Rapture The Rack is amazing, but this deck is in standard. Also Staggershock is the card to use if you're trying to keep bloodchief up, given that the single card guarantees an activation. Consuming Vapors is a hell of a card though. Murders creatures, heals, and can sometimes function as a mini-timewalk, because nobody's going to play a creature they will have to sacrifice in a few seconds.

Well, I'm going to be dumping Bloodchief Ascension entirely for now, as the earliest I will do damage is on turn 4 and it's not guaranteed. I may sideboard it and play it against slower decks.

Also, as Saith said, The Rack can't be played in standard. No go for me there.

As far as Consuming Vapors , I play against a lot of U/W control, so I come up against Sphinx of Jwar Isle frequently, which is annoying. The life gain is really nice as I usually get pounded pretty early until I can block and take control of the game.

Took out Burning Inquiry...good card, but since Megrim is somewhat ineffective (M11 can't come any sooner), there's little point in me running it.

Now I've got more control, more damage, and more life gain. Should help against the tougher meta.

Made a few more changes...removed Megrim. Put back in Hypnotic Specters and upped my Nihil Stones. Trying to go for more discard control and a bit of extra creature destruction. Made my mana ramp a bit smoother.

I'd be careful with those persecutors... even with 2 liliana, you only have 6 ways to kill it once they're dead. i'd suggest -1 persecutor +1 removal of some sort (vapors?)

Try a few Earthquake man, they do wonders with your only ground creature being Nyxathid .

Wow! I was about to recommend Earthquake I was surprised to read your comment saith17. You could replace Pyroclasm with it since you might be encountering white weenies or pumped up goblins.

yeah... Earthquake > Pyroclasm most of the time...earthquake for 1 on turn 2 or 3 can wipe out mythic or bant, earthquake for 4 will kill those annoying Calcite Snapper s, etc. rarely will pyroclasm be better.

Killing your hippies with Pyroclasm can really hurt, it's well worth the (at least) 1 extra mana to keep them. =/

Ok, switched out all Pyroclasms for Earthquakes, but I'm side boarding all 4. I was only finding the Pyroclasms useful for Overrun and Bant, but I didn't play a lot of them.

Moved back up to 4x Hippies and now running 4x Quest of Nihil. Ever since the last changes, the card has been doing much better, so the more on the field the merrier.

Played well at the FNM, but my deck just constantly screwed me over out the blue. See my tournament description for more details.

Thinking, for M11, that what I'll do is drop my 2 x Smother from MD, as well as 2 x [[Quest for the Nihil Stone], an Abyssal Persecutor , a Duress , and an Inquisition of Kozilek .

Gives me 7 freed up slots, would put in 3 Liliana's Caress and 4 Burning Inquiry.

Will finally give me my non creature damage engine back, plus the Burning Inquiry is amazing at disrupting enemy hands or just bombing crap out of your hand if the draws get bad enough.

Smother was nice, but didn't mix with the Persecutor at all. I can always side board it if need be, since I still need work in that area.

I'd keep one of the quests, because I've always looked at burning-inquiry as a late-game-quest-activation. But that's just me. I'd vote pulling another Duress , just since it's the same cmc slot. =/

Looks like we're losing Hippie, Nyxathid, and Burning Inquiry.

I think that's going to make it really hard to play a competitive discard deck after Alara rotates...at least the way we are used to playing the deck.

We're also going to get completely stomped by the new white leyline, gives the player half-shroud. Can't Mind Rot , Can't Duress , can't Lightning Bolt , the only way to make them discard now is by global effect, card:Liliana's Specter, Hypnotic Specter , Slavering Nulls or similar creatures I can't think of right now. I'm devastated, I plan on shelving my discard or making it some sort of vintage monster; my only hope is that the next set that pushes alara out is going to have some sort of black cards that can support discard better.