The problem is I do not know what to take out for Gray Merchant of Asphodel . The one thing I have been toying with though is maybe dropping Desecration Demon to put in more removal. Maybe if I got rid of them, and added 1 or 2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel and a removal spell. What do you think?

Working on a similar deck, fishing for advice, any thoughts? The Degabah System (Help Please)

I have a very similar deck that I play with, although I play with 2 Rakdos Keyrune for mana-fixing or a 3/1 first strike. I dont have every shock land yet, but I am close. Do you ever run into mana-fixing problems? Would you recommend that I drop the keyrunes? I love the idea of the Stormbreath Dragon though, never thought of that. +1

@TheOnlyGrubski. Sometimes I do run into great hands that just pan out due to that. Its all just a gamble to mulligan and hope for a more stable hand or not. I run a lot of Black and Red spells. I try to aim for an opening hand contain at least 2 Black Lands and 1 Red Land. I can see where the Rakdos Keyrune can help greatly. I am not sure if I would suggest dropping them. It really all depends on what your meta is like. If there is not a lot of artifact removal then it would be a nice little edge you know? I play against a lot of decks that are artifact/enchantment hate. So I would run maybe 1 tops.

@Viral_Assassin Thanks for the advice. Not many people in my meta run artifact removal so I think what you said is important. I think I'll keep them for now because they help me ramp to a turn 4 Obzedat, Ghost Council or Blood Baron of Vizkopa , and a turn 5 Aurelia, the Warleader or Elspeth, Sun's Champion . I might end up swapping them out later if they don't work out. Thanks

No problem fine sir! Good luck and kick some but :)!

Just got 1st with the version I'm running, tweeked it a bunch and paid off. Sin Collector and Lifebane Zombie in mainboard really pays off in game 1 and apparently Sin Collector is amazing vs mono-red aggro decks by grabbing their burn and demanding another to kill it or used as a blocker.

Very nice! I will check your list out again to refresh my memory ;).

Interesting change over to the Gray Merchant of Asphodel , I've mulled him over but seem to never have enough devotion to make a big impact. Not to mention 10 5drops is really steep without any ramp like Rakdos Keyrune , which I've personally moved back over to. Keeps aggro in check as well as spitting out a Blood Baron of Vizkopa on T4 vs the mono-black decks or Obzedat, Ghost Council /Stormbreath Dragon vs the Esper and U/W control builds. I also moved over to Dreadbore over Magma Jet , only thing it doesn't hit is Soldier of the Pantheon and Blood Baron of Vizkopa . Chained to the Rocks has actually surprised me when I played around with it last FNM. It's a mainboard answer to Master of Waves and of course T1-2 answer to aggro. I was able to scoop up a Polukranos, World Eater as well when he tapped out for it on t3. I REALLY liked Aurelia, the Warleader when I ran the Boros Reckoner s and Desecration Demon s but once I cut them the double combat triggers didn't work as well and she was usually killed the following turn or didn't get an attack in at all with oposing Desecration Demon s on the board. Only other thing is the Lifebane Zombie ... I know you got rid of yours but since G/R Monsters started being a thing again as well as the W/B, Mono-white, and W/B Midrange decks picking more stuff out of their hands won some serious games.

All observations I've been having with playing FNM and playtesting vs decks between rounds or at home, no pressure just want to get see kind of decks effective as possible. Let me know as well how things pan out for you!

This deck really wants Boros Reckoner to stop aggro from stomping on your face. Plus it still trades favorably when you Anger of the Gods as you can redirect 3 at your opponents face.

I'd also drop Assemble the Legion in favor of Lifebane Zombie in the sideboard, no questions asked, the card is too good against all the green matchups and against esper/mirror match/orzhov midrange (It hits obzedat and blood baron).

Also

-1 Underworld Connections +1 Whip of Erebos

Move Underworld Connections to the sideboard, and bring it in with Rakdos's Return against the control matchup, the card is pretty much dead draw against aggro and Whip of Erebos lets you stabilize and is NUTS with Obzedat, Ghost Council .

Like the update!

I like it a lot. I run RWB midrange myself, and it's so much fun. My only suggestion is maybe adding more underworld connections and maybe chained to the rocks as hard removal for the gods. +1 from me.

It is my favourite colours because I think it is a lot of fun too! I used to run 2x Underworld Connections but over the past 3-4 weeks I have been play testing so many cards and I just find that its dead weight early game and if I get it late game there is better options for cards to play usually. I have enough card advantage through Magma Jet , Temple of Silence and Temple of Triumph . In my neck of the woods my meta does not use a lot of the gods. At the moment my hard counter for them is Merciless Eviction in the Sideboard. I will get around to testing them again though. Who knows, with all the changes it could work out really well right :)? Thanks for your suggestions!

Just glad to see another RWB player. I was running RWB months before the Sam Black made the aristocrats, and I'm glad that people have come to play and respect the decks made from this color combination.

Before this rotation. I had a use Either Jund mid-range or a RWB Re-animator :). People hated the Re-animator.

i know it's a simple addition, but i recommend replacing all of your Soldier of the Pantheon with Silence s. having 4 of these bad boys will tremendously hurt any deck.

Read the following because i know it seems weird at first:

Aggro?

Well they basically skip two turns. and when they finally start playing their beginning hand of 1 and 2 drop, you have a Stormbreath Dragon shittin' on their field.

Control?

Cast on your upkeep. Either they counter it and waste a counter (which then tells you they are planning another spell of countering / removal) or they let it resolve and you are then safe for swinging / casting / shenanigans.

TIP: If you see them with several cards in their hand and a lot of open land when they pass the turn, I recommend casting Silence on your upkeep if you plan on casting your PW, baron, or SBD that turn.

Your Soldier of the Pantheon is life buff and a 2/1. it's pretty good. but their are more devotion decks out their now (yes, i know many have plenty of multicolored spells). but Silence ing them is PERFECT to stall your opponent while you get a few turns ahead. Plus, it'll be pretty funny if they end up discarding due to a Silence , lol.

Idk if it sounds really weird to you, but just play test it, i think you will find it very powerful, no matter the matchup. The beauty is that it is never a dead card.

I really like this suggestion and can see why it would be beneficial. What if I just drop to 3x Soldier of the Pantheon , 2x Boros Reckoner , 1x Whip of Erebos and ran 3x Silence . Do you think it would have the same impact?

maybe (you play this deck more than me, obviously), but find a way to run 4 of them. because it's always useful, early and late game.

Thank you for the suggestion. I was able to find a way to have 3 in there and it works very well!!

Thanks Dreno33*

Great deck +1. Can you tell us how it's performed at FNM?

Thanks very much! With my current work schedule I am not able to go to FNM since the beginning of Theros. I do a lot of testing on here with my other decks and other peoples decks. It has play test very well so far but until I actually obtain the rest of the cards I am waiting for and my schedule allows for some real play I am stuck here on the internet testing it xD.

Once I can regularly go to FNM I will be updating this when I play it. I also have a couple other decks made for standard competitive play so I try to keep them all up to date with my scores and matches.

Once again letting you know what I've discovered through playing, Magma Jet has been really letting me down and switched over to Last Breath out of sideboard better, besides not being able to burn them directly Last Breath has been a better creature removal being able to hit early Pack Rat and not letting them Whip of Erebos it back out and also hits Nightveil Specter where Magma Jet can not. Same goes for Gray Merchant of Asphodel , Xathrid Necromancer avoiding their death trigger, Master of Waves and actually being able to target it, and Frostburn Weird when they're tapped out.

That is a very good suggestion. I will play test with it asap! Would you suggest maybe adding more Temples to make up for the lack of scry of Magma Jet ?