Bitterblossom seems good in this deck?

Thanks for the feedback mojo1766!

Bitterblossom is often played in this deck, along with Auriok Champion and Timely Reinforcements to offset the life loss. The main reason I'm not playing it is that I don't have the money for them right now.

That said, I would still consider Raise the Alarm over it even if I did have the choice, at least for now. Raise the Alarm can create instant speed blockers, it doesn't have life loss, and it also allows for much more aggressive starts than Bitterblossom. These traits make it preferable in aggro matchups, which may soon fill the power vacuum Splinter Twin will be leaving behind in the wake of its ban.

What budget do you have for improving this? And tokens have always been cool :p

Lol I agree. Budget is somewhat limited right now, probably about $50, just a bit of cash and some in store credit. The first change I want to make is to start acquiring Marsh Flats, but it'll probably end up being another possible Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or some sideboard cards first since my store has no Zendikar fetches in stock.

What is the meta you anticipate using this in?

Looking to fine tune this for GP Detroit. As far as my local meta is concerned it's plenty competitive as is.

As far as what I speculate that meta to be, we still don't have the final pro tour results, but looks like aggro decks are the main threats, as well as colorless eldrazi tribal, Scapeshift as the main combo threat, and Tron weaker than anticipated.

I'd expect a lot of aggro. That seems to be what the general meta seems to be going towards. Mainboard 2 Timely Reinforcements to make those matchups easier. Devouring Light is both conditional in its use and hard to cast; get rid of it.

I'd consider dropping Devouring Light, especially if I acquire fetches to make Murderous Cut reliable, but especially in an aggro meta I've found it to be quite underrated. Can happen t3 with Spectral Procession, t4 alongside Raise the Alarm, or Intangible Virtue with any guys already out, and otherwise it's only 1 mana above the other options, and white is no issue. The only things I really dislike about it are not being castable t2 and not being able to hit creatures that don't want to attack, like Viscera Seer or Dark Confidant. But at the moment I'm reluctant to run Go for the Throat in any mainboard number or a second Doom Blade because of the aforementioned cards. I may run a Dismember, but the life loss feels problematic in an aggro meta.

As for Timely Reinforcements, I've been thinking about testing it for a while. I'll probably try it out over Secure the Wastes.

The conditions under which devouring light can be cast are both far too expensive and far too limiting, unless you can freely cast it through convoke, which you can't always rely on.

What do you mean by that? Also, what do you advocate using instead?

Devouring light can only be cast when someone is attacking or defending. This means that if they have an important creature they don't want to attack with, devouring light is useless. Also, if you were capable of swinging for lethal, but they had a creature capable of blocking, you would be thwarted because they would still be blocked, even if you used devouring light on them, preventing the damage from that creature. As a Raise the Alarm list, you are much more focused on ground damage than a blossom list is, so this scenario is more likely in your list. In addition, it has a heavy mana cost of 3, and you can't always count on convoke. For budget replacements either Doom Blade or Murderous Cut would be better. Since you have a Raise the Alarm list, you will be able to fuel the graveyard effectively, so I would recommend cut.

The problem is Murderous Cut is inconsistent without fetches, are you sure I'd reliably be able to cast it for two mana early game?

As for Doom Blade, I'm not going to run more than one mainboard. A lot of the creatures that hang back and don't attack, that you referred to, are black, such as Dark Confidant and Viscera Seer. It would also be problematic if I came against a Grixis delve deck or Death's Shadow.

Regardless, thank you for the input and explanation!

I was only recommending one for the main anyways haha. Cut should never be more than a one of because of its reliance on the delve mechanic. And you are correct on Doom Blade. I listed it because it is usually better than devouring light, but cut is definitely the better choice. Running an extra removal as a 1 of means that you typically don't intend on drawing it early game - it is a 1 of after all. Count cut as your late game removal spell. And no problem!

Go for the Throat and Murderous Cut are better than Doom Blade

Murderous Cut is reasonable. As I've said I'm only being hesitant because I lack fetches, perhaps overly so.

Go for the Throat, however, is not good right now. Being literally dead vs. Affinity is a massive liability, as the deck is hugely popular right now. On the other hand, there is no deck that plays 100% black creatures; so, even against the decks where Doom Blade is less than optimal, it will still have enough valid targets. In no matchup that uses creatures at all is it just a dead card.

You should toss in some Windswept Heaths in there, or Flooded Strand or even Marsh Flats if you can afford them instead of Caves of Koilos and probably 1 or 2 of the shambling vents. It will thin out your deck for less land draws and will be easier in the long run on your life total.

I am aware of fetch lands. More importantly, they let me play around Blood Moon, land turn 1 discard more often, and delve for Murderous Cut. Marsh Flats is financially out of reach at the moment, but I will be borrowing some Windswept Heath and/or Flooded Strand from a friend in the near future. Most likely, I'll cut 4x Caves of Koilos, 2-3x Plains, and 1x Isolated Chapel for a total of 7-8 mainboard white fetches. I don't really like cutting Shambling Vent here though, it's here for the utility much more than it is the mana fixing. It ensures I can pretty much always put a threat on the board even if I get wrecked by counters/discard/bad draws, and it's particularly nice against burn. If I cut any, it'll be to put Windbrisk Heights back in.

That is all fair reasoning. I feel you on the Marsh Flats too, hopefully the zendikar fetches get a reprint soon lol. I figured if you were going to a GP it would be good to make sure your mana base is good. I like the deck a lot too man well done!

I agree on all counts. I might just rent some Marsh Flats from Sparedeck to be honest lol. I'm just a bit anxious because I've never used something like that. Thanks a lot though! It's still got potentially a lot of tuning to go over the next couple weeks, but I'm confident it'll end up in a viable place.

I have a friend running a B/W tokens deck and it is really cool and will definitely not be something people are expecting as much! Good luck!

If you've got a lot of tokens, Bone Splinters might be worth considering.

Thanks for the feedback! I do see the appeal. There are really three issues with Bone Splinters, though. First, I won't always have a lot of tokens. Sometimes your only token producer gets snatched by Thoughtseize or Thought-Knot Seer and you have to stall til you topdeck more. Second, even if I do, sacrificing one turns 1-for-1 removal into more like 1.3-for-1. The tempo advantage of costing one mana is nice, but rarely worth it, since I won't cast it til after I have tokens anyway, at which point I can probably afford Doom Blade, Murderous Cut, a full price Dismember, or something else. The last problem is the fact that it's sorcery speed, so I can't cast it in response to a Thought-Knot Seer trigger, or to break up a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Restoration Angel combo on my opponent's turn, or something similar. Overall, I can see the appeal to Bone Splinters, but the card really isn't worth it unless it's in a deck that already wants ways to sacrifice things.

great deck! Just a few suggestions, in the current meta you should probably put the Thoughtseizes in the board and have Appetite for Brains in the main deck. One other idea that I have been trying is putting Polymorph and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in the deck, however this is slower than the normal tokens strategy so might have to wait until Eldrazi get banned.

Appetite for Brains is good against Eldrazi (though not perfect, since it can't hit cards like Eldrazi Displacer or Kozilek's Return that give us fits), but worse against every other deck except maybe Grishoalbrand. It is not worth marginally bettering the deck against 25% of the paper meta only to have 4 terrible cards against the other 75%. I do think Appetite for Brains is a fine sideboard card, though, or perhaps as a singleton in the main in addition to the full set of Thoughtseize, though any copies in the main at all is a bit risky. As for Polymorph, it looks fun, but I haven't tried it myself. I've heard it's rather inconsistent because any removal spell can make it fizzle, but it could be fine. I would certainly give it some testing, at least, if I had access to the cards.