Please be sure to upvote the deck if you enjoy, I'll keep updating as I test and play! Thanks!
Updated: 2/26/17
If anyone out there has been (or would like to start) playing, testing, or messing with this deck, please let me know how it's been working for you and your thoughts!
The original foundation of this deck is these five 3-drop Eldrazi:
1) Herald of Kozilek - Focal point of the deck, constantly surprising how quick the colorless discount engine gets going when you drop this turn 3. 4-toughness makes it difficult to remove, and I can always count on opponents not realizing they should be removing it asap game 1.
2)
Eldrazi Skyspawner
- Great value, sneaks damage as flier. The Scion regularly allows for casting an additional 3- or 4-drop creature on turns 4 and 5 when Herald is on the battlefield (i.e., Skyspawner and Thought-Knot Seer can both drop turn 4 with discount+scion)
3)
Eldrazi Obligator
- Has facilitated some of my most devastating wins. Have stolen a creature and swung 20 on turn 5 multiple times. Usually keep in hand despite being able to play turns 3-6 until solid opportunity for steal, ideally following a tap-out by Elder Deep-Fiend.
4)
Ruination Guide
- Dropping with 4-5 creatures already on the battlefield by turn 5 can set up swings of 15+ relatively often.
5) Matter Reshaper - Nice value, death often leads to flipping another core Eldrazi straight onto the battlefield. Very nice with Elder Deep-Fiend, of course.
4-2 over the last two FNM's. Lost in 3 to Copycat (both games opponent had 6 or less life before hitting combo) -_- and BG Counters that curved out perfect. Both losses against Golgari my opponent was able to
Grasp of Darkness
my Herald of Kozilek immediately (two of them, one game), and both games I was still one turn away from tapping him out with Deep-Fiend and swinging lethal, but just didn't get there. In another match, I did get to swing (with a stolen creature) at a tapped out board for 32 on turn 7.
The various combinations of the core 3-drops, Metallic Mimic,
Dimensional Infiltrator
, Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher, and Elder Deep-Fiend compliment each other well. Even if opponent has some control/removal or board presence it can get overwhelming pretty quickly. I'm sure you can imagine the various way the creatures listed above could drop in different combos and be very tough. Been contemplating the right mix (or what to cut) between Mimic, Infiltrator, Ruination Guide, and Reshaper, and probably always will be.
After playing probably a couple hundred games with this deck, the consistent win-cons (along with the 2- and 3-drops swinging) are
Eldrazi Obligator
, Elder Deep-Fiend, and Reality Smasher. Many, many games have ended with flashing Deep-Fiend before opponent's combat step to tap them out, followed by Obligator stealing or Smasher smashing, where I've swung 12-18 regularly and easily. I quite often swing 16-24, with my personal best being a swing of 31 on turn 6 against a tapped out opponent. Reality Smasher catching an opponent off-guard on turn 4 (following Herald of Kozilek) has set up a turn 6 often where I only need to swing 8-12, which happens more often than not.
In the current meta pretty much the only semi-consistent obstacle is losing my Herald of Kozilek to a
Grasp of Darkness
right away. Hoping over time Metallic Mimic remedies that a bit. Fatal Push needs revolt to do much, and burns on any of the smaller creatures is generally irrelevant. The 4-toughness on Herald of Kozilek makes this deck possible for sure.
Slip Through Space could be considering a fundamental card for the deck, for sneaking damage when you get surprisingly wide swings, and always for keeping card draw coming.
The Elder Deep-Fiend naturally lend themselves to dropping turn 4 with all the 3-drop creatures for emerge, though I find I'm usually going wide with all the smaller creatures and getting board presence before the Fiend comes in as a death knell. Like I mentioned, discount Fiend on opponents turn followed by Obligator or Smasher with a handful of Eldrazi already out has just demolished at times.
I pulled Fevered Visions and
Burn from Within
for
Horribly Awry
and
Spell Shrivel
. Just have to disrupt the curve on some of these creature-heavy/aggro decks. Also get discounts later in the game from Herald.
1-of Saheeli Rai has proven to be a nice wrinkle. I've used her (-2) for Reality Smasher,
Drowner of Hope
, even Thought-Knot Seer to get rid of a 2nd Saheeli Rai in opponent's hand.
I run a single Wastes in case I'm not drawing colorless mana but I draw an Evolving Wilds. Mana has worked very well, though it's being tweaked with the rotation,
Corrupted Crossroads
finally has its context to be very useful. I caved and added Aether Hubs too, it's kind of a toss-up between those two, both work just fine. Overall, the mana is pretty spot-on for what I need.
This thing has been competitive, have to hit just right against some of these mega-netdecks like Constrictor.
Let me know if you have suggestions or opinions! Thanks for checking it out!
