LOL NO as I am borrowing them from a friend already :) (stupid $50 pricetag)

you let them fill their yard...and the turn before they are about to go off, you crypt them (usually turn 5, and around 20 cards). it has a cost of 0, you can sac it in response to any of their responses, and it stalls them more than just pinging 1 card and having them worry about more. I would never leave the crypt on the field, thats playing right into their trap....

Why the Ground Seal because sometimes you need to cut off your nose despite your face., it is the time when you pull in the Unflinching Courage from the side board, and use the Angel of Serenity for a control swing

if you are run into a heavy graveyard abuse deck, or a mill deck, blowing out your grave yard or killing all the grave yard interactions and be more that worth the loss of flexibility with your Angel of Serenity .

think about it as though Ground Seal was a black card with green casting cost, yes it has a negative affect on your deck but cripples part of theirs, and you have a back up plan already in place

What is the Deathrite Shaman in the board for? The only real reason I can think you would use him in this deck is as graveyard hate, which other cards do better.

What are you planning to name with Nevermore ? I can't think of a particular match up where that card breaks the other deck's back to the point where it deserves a spot. I would rather just have a Duress if its in place of a Sin Collector , that way you get guaranteed value instead of praying you name the correct card.

I also like Ground Seal over Purify the Grave , because it draws you a card if nothing else.

if you are planning to go against creatures in the yard Crypt Incursion x 2. actually if you run Dryad Militant x 2 as well, that will handle all your graveyard problems.

Dryad Militant is ONLY good at a milled Unburial Rites or against control (which I have other cards to assist there).

@burkek: Deathrite Shaman is GREAT vs reanimator, U/X/X control, etc. Not to mention I can bring it back from my yard with an Orzhov Charm if need be.

In my comments above, Nevermore is only temporarily filling a spot until I get the Sin Collector s, as those + Restoration Angel SHOULD be great against control decks

I have been thinking of Ground Seal as good vs control, but how against reanimator is it better than say, Rest in Peace ? Yes it turns them off for the time being, but all they have to do is hard cast an Acidic Slime or Abrupt Decay and they are back at full strength

@toysm1th

tytytytytytyty finaly have an anser to AEtherling even when i was running Pithing Needle i just couldnt figure out i could stop it with those.

so again tytytytytytytyty

not a problem, it is how most people shut down my AEtherling but it is not my main win condition it is just in the deck to be hated on and if i do get to have fun with it all the better

faced it 5 times lost it 5 times cus i had no idea i could stop AEtherling with the needle.

You can also use Slaughter Games to remove all copies before they hit the field...AND you cannot be countered (if running those colors that is)

Some cards I see in sideboards are extra copies of Underworld Connections , I have also seen Vraska the Unseen and Gaze of Granite as one of's in other brews. I had Angel of Serenity in my build but took her out for a faster mid game and put in more Desecration Demon for more devotion for Gray Merchant of Asphodel and a bigger body. It goes really well when your opponent has low drop creatures and you play the granite for 3 wipe their board of all chump sac's and then force them to sac their good creatures and if they don't, swing in for lethal.

I really like the build and will be coming back to it for ideas. +1 and great job

Post Reanimator feel free to use my deck for ideas to.

I'm actually contemplating taking out the 2 Pack Rat for voice of resurgence or some more removal probably Selesnya Charm for the gods and opposing fatties)

Angel of Serenity is also an answer to them and allows for some late game card advantage/inevitability. It works pretty well with Whip of Erebos too as bringing it back and clearing your opponent's board with haste seems good.

The ONLY reason I am thinking of not using VoR is due to it not working well with Whip of Erebos and I don't have any lol

yeah voice is a good option but I find it much better in the G/W matchup when you have cards like Rootborn Defenses . You also don't have enough early game aggression to make the VoR token a threat after the VoR is dealt with. I agree AoS is a great combo piece with the whip but in my games it was just inconsistent enough to warrant a cut. I like Pack Rat and have been debating removing Lotleth Troll for it. It adds to the devotion makes tokens that can act as beaters and is a mana filter that turns dead draws into value. Lotleth troll gives me ealry game aggression while not needing mana for the effect, can survive boardwipes, and gets through chump blockers but can only discard creatures. It really comes down to personal preference between the two. I run selesnya charm in my sideboard specifically for the gods. In the worse case scenarios I can also use it to get past my opponents chumps and even as a last effort chump blocker myself.

If you decide to put in VoR then I would keep the Rat as well. The token theme fits nicely in with the rest of the cards and I would also consider Trostani, Selesnya's Voice as a one of. Also 2-3 Rootborn Defenses would go well with all the tokens you have. If you did this it would turn more into a token midrange build but you would need to get a playset of VoR to do this.

Without Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Ooze to manipulate your graveyard id take out Deadbridge Chant for Fade into Antiquity

Might I inquire as to why notamardybum?

I am thinking of putting in Deathrite Shaman in the side, but it's hard to find room. What would you remove for them?

Deathrite Shaman is a beast. I'd put them in for Sin Collector and you could sideboard accordingly game 2? Theres a good amount of instants in your deck, that could become that extra bit of damage to win you the game, as well as burn out creatures for extra life from your opponents deck.

So you're thinking of Deathrite Shaman main and Sin Collector in the side?

I will have to see how my local metagame at this Friday's FNM to make that call I guess. The last couple of weeks Esper control has become more and more common so I wanted something to thwart it.

I guess Deathrite Shaman is good vs them also, but I think of Sin Collector as taking away an advantage and also allows me to see what my opponent's possible moves are game one.

Hmmm guess I have some more thinking to do on this

I like Sin Collector mainboard, it's another Duress in your deck (albeit temporarily), drs I think is not a great standard card. Scavenging Ooze being better than drs is for what drs does in standard.

ignore the temporarily.

No the temporary is good. I'd prefer to have Thoughtseize but I'm not spending $20+ per card right now and no one in my area is coming off of them

Final list is done! Going to play this tonight at FNM. HOPEFULLY my testing against Esper Control pays off as that has been winning the last few weeks.

play tested this vs my deck (one I posted in your thread)

made for some long games, (13-15 turns each)

I won game 1, u won game 2, I won game 3. ...all 3 games kinda played out the same, ur deck took the early game (U usually get me down to single digits quick, but can't secure the kill) but looses steam over time.

...a few things I noticed in play tests. Drop Gray Merchant, that card does nothing for your deck at all. Easily the most useless card in the entire deck. In all 3 games combined he did a total of 2 damage.

2nd, drop Reaper of the Wilds card is ass. On the board it doesn't really do anything except scry 1 or trade if deathtouched added. Desecration Demon should fill it's slot. I would trade those 2 if u insist on not dropping it. 1 Reaper/3 Demon.

Angel of Serenity kicks ass, totally a 1 sided board wipe.

Advent of the Wurm those wurm tokens add up quick and are ferocious early game.

I'll add that my deck feeds off graveyards with Scavenging Ooze and Deathrite Shaman so Whip of Erebos was also pretty useless.

Hmmm can't wait to playtest from my end! It's always interesting to see how they go.

I agree about the Desecration Demon and I would go to 4 if I had them. alas, I don't so Reaper of the Wilds has those slots until I get them.

As far as Gray Merchant of Asphodel goes, he is BOSS at taking over from board stalls, AND the deck is mostly black creatures (even more so when the demons replace the reapers). I will also replace a Read the Bones with another Underworld Connections once I obtain that as well.

Gray Merchant helps against the aggro decks, as it gains me life while taking them down. It's also a great blocker being a 2/4.

Not to mention a great Whip of Erebos target for an easy 4. I'll let you know how my playtest goes and I will send you a full report. Thanks for the +1

(oh, and I KNEW Angel of Serenity was BA from last season before she was used in junk Rites. She won me several games at Spring States this last year :) Even better when Whip brings her back to wipe my opponent's board and I get it with my whole team ;)

How many Underworld Connections are you planning on having in this deck? It's just such a good card that I really enjoy playing. I think I would want at least 3?

Hmm