Thanks! I'm trying to make it as consistent as I can, but I don't think it's at that sweet spot yet. The sideboard is a total wip.
March 9, 2016 3:56 p.m.
@darkmatter32x: not sure yet. Still looking for sideboard tools, but one strategy is to knock out their hand before laying down Painful Quandary or switch it out entirely for Remorseless Punishment
March 12, 2016 3:27 p.m.
nice deck,always happy to see Necroplasm played, such an underrated card.
I use Slitherhead to improve his effictiveness,also might want to try Deadly Allure.
on sideboard you need more Ratchet Bomb cause black got no ecnhantment,artifact removal.Also Contaminated Ground is a budget way to shutdown land shenaningans.
+1.
March 12, 2016 7:38 p.m.
@Gakros:
I was considering Slitherhead to make him keep growing, but I don't use enough creatures here and I'm using him more as a recurring sweeper. I generally don't have trouble killing with him and speed isn't a concern once I've got the lock. Deadly Allure is another card in the same boat. I thought about that one too, but ultimately decided it's basically a more situational removal spell.
Yeah, I agree with you about Ratchet Bomb. I will see about making room for more.
Good suggestion with Contaminated Ground though! Definitely a contender for the sideboard, but not sure how many and for what though. I'll fiddle with it. Thank you!
March 12, 2016 8:03 p.m.
You know what would be funny in this deck? Dash Hopes it fits with your whole mono black control theme.
March 12, 2016 10 p.m.
March 12, 2016 10:25 p.m.
Squirrel_of_War says... #10
I would play Hissing Miasma over Circle of Affliction.
March 13, 2016 2:22 p.m.
I see what you're saying, but Hissing Miasma won't keep me alive as effectively. Thanks though!
March 13, 2016 2:57 p.m.
Squirrel_of_War says... #12
But the circle will only do 1 damage per source if you have 1 mana for each source. The best example i can think of is splinter twin, they attack you with a billion pestermites, if you have 4 mana open they lose 4 you gain 4 and you lose. With Miasma they attack with a billion creatures you win. That's why i think it's better.
March 13, 2016 4:35 p.m.
Yes I see your point. In that situation I would hopefully have a kill spell in hand before the combo went off.
But for argument's sake...
Pro:
The more interesting thing to me is the stack order. Hissing Miasma resolves before damage is done to me but Circle of Affliction resolves after. So even if I had infinite mana in that situation the miasma would kill my opponent before he kills me.
I like that.
It's also more versatile when going up against multi color decks. It works better with Spawning Pool as I block taking no damage while they lose 1, whereas I would have to let them through to get Circle of Affliction to activate.Also I wouldn't have to worry about tapping out so much if they had a creature left on the board.
Con:
Circle of Affliction handles burn decks better. Though the argument can be made that burn spells are much more efficient than the circle can handle. 1 bolt takes 2 mana to push it in my favor if I am lucky and get 2/3 on the board. And izzet burn can be a problem if they have the card draw to escape Painful Quandary. But with miasma I would have to side it out for discard anyway in that scenario.
Let's think of a much more common scenario:
- an opponent has three 2/1 creatures on the field and attacks with all three.
I tap a swamp for each, and the result is my opponent loses 3 life and I lose 3 life. Even.
I have open mana to kill at least 1 and at most all 3 or block 1 with Spawning Pool. My opponent loses 3 life and I lose between 0 and 6 life, depending on my hand (early game good, late game bad).
The miasma would put more responsibility on my other cards to mitigate damage from creatures and this deck doesn't win very quickly, so it would become increasingly important as their creatures got more powerful that I would have the card to answer them on each draw.
Circle would save me the trouble of having to spend cards to answer creatures with power less than the number of circles on the field.
Tough call.
I'll try it out and get back to you.
March 13, 2016 5:43 p.m.
Squirrel_of_War says... #14
I love these kind of discussions. One thing you said in the above comment that is incorrect '1 bolt takes 2 mana to push it in my favor' 1 bolt is only 1 source so you can only pay circles cost 1 time. Everything else I agree with, well said.
March 13, 2016 6:59 p.m.
Me too.
Yeah I was saying that if I had 2 Circle of Affliction out the ability would trigger 2x for the 1 bolt, but that is only if I'm lucky and draw that many.
Tempo is another concern I have. Both of these spells aren't the best plays on T2 or T3 for this deck if your goal is to keep the board clear. Which pushes them out to T4 or T5. Almost wondering if I should look for more kill spells to fill the 3 slots.
March 13, 2016 7:30 p.m.
Squirrel_of_War says... #17
Check this deck out, you might find some good cards. I feel like your deck has some similarities.
Choose Your Own Horrible Adventure! (Budget)
Modern
SCORE: 69 | 31 COMMENTS | 7760 VIEWS | IN 69 FOLDERS
March 13, 2016 7:56 p.m.
I like that deck.
I see the similarities in flavor.
Nothing is jumping out at me though. :/
March 14, 2016 1:30 a.m.
Thygageywagey says... #19
Waste Not ? With your ways of discarding it would help you gain some control and make them not want to discard.. +1 though
March 17, 2016 10:18 a.m.
Thanks. I had one in the sideboard before, but was mostly a dead draw until quandary hit.
March 17, 2016 3:44 p.m.
limpNuZZle says... #21
The addition of Smallpox in some number seems legit here. discarding Raven's Crime, not sacrificing a creature, and losing one land seems real good against an aggro opponent that kept a one land hand because of their Monastery Swiftspear and Lightning Bolt. However, this is a controls deck and if losing the land is that important to you, I can see both sides of its inclusion. Either way, +1 from me haha looks fun.
March 20, 2016 8:53 a.m.
If I ended up with a Dakmor Salvage in my opening hand and was forced to play it to advance then I would definitely see the utility of sacrificing it to get it in the graveyard once I drew into more land and got Painful Quandary out. So Smallpox could work for me as a possible 1-2, probably taking some of the Geth's Verdict slots.
After play testing I found that this deck can do everything it wants to do with 8-9 lands on the board, saving the rest for retracing. There definitely could be a version where Smallpox works. Thanks for the thought!
March 20, 2016 10:54 a.m.
Squirrel_of_War says... #23
Just so you are aware if you have Painful Quandary on the battlefield and on your opponents tien they draw a card they can play the card and choose the option of 'discard a card' even though they have 0 cards in hand at that point and not take 5 damage. I would recommend reducing the number of Painful Quandary because it's a 5 drop that can easily end up doing nothing.
April 16, 2016 1:38 p.m.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/magic-rulings-archives/295719-painful-quandary
canterlotguardian says... #1
And now I can't see this deck without thinking of Gaige from Borderlands 2. Great.
March 9, 2016 11:50 a.m.