Liliana Eats Your Brain (Creaturless T4 Win Combo)

Modern Tethys

SCORE: 87 | 65 COMMENTS | 9602 VIEWS | IN 53 FOLDERS


Badzookeeper says... #1

Simian Spirit Guide would be good to get a kick start on your enchantments. Maybe even make turn 3 win possible.

December 9, 2016 2:31 a.m.

NomadicSixGod says... #2

December 20, 2016 1:16 p.m.

Ajuntoson says... #3

This may be a little overlooked by most, but I'd recommend running Dreadbore in place of Terminate as it can deal with more than just creatures. This is a fun and unique deck, and I love it.

December 20, 2016 10:59 p.m.

Badzookeeper says... #4

I personally love dreadbore but tge only reason its not really played is because its sorcery speed :/

December 21, 2016 1:17 a.m.

Xavier2184 says... #5

i know you seem to want to go creaturless, but i found Ravenous Rats, Black Cat, and Liliana's Specter tend to fill a certain void. not only do they act as throw away blockers, but they still offer the discard that you don't want to trade for bodies in these kinds of decks, also the flying on specter can really come in handy.

December 26, 2016 2:58 p.m.

Tethys says... #6

Running creatureless carries the advantage that the opponent's removal spells are basically dead weight, giving me de facto virtual card advantage. The three creatures you mentioned all have converted mana costs equal or greater than Wrench Mind, for instance, while possessing weaker discard effects. And I do like creatureless decks conceptually too.

Ajuntoson -- Added two Dreadbore to the Sideboard. IMO, the fact that it is sorcery speed is enough of a disadvantage to make Terminate the preferred mainboard card between the two though.

December 26, 2016 3:35 p.m.

Xavier2184 says... #7

i respect that, now if only Hymn to Tourach was legal, although i would suggest Funeral Charm, and Raven's Crime then. charm is a one for one trade that you can activate at instant speed (as soon as they draw, you drop it; if they can't play at instant speed it's gone), and crime turns all those useless late game lands into more discard.

December 27, 2016 7:16 p.m.

Xavier2184 says... #8

also i can see that your going for more of a discard punishment, but The Rack and Shrieking Affliction are both very solid cards for discard decks

December 27, 2016 7:20 p.m.

lexleningrad says... #9

Built this deck, really enjoy it. Added two Everlasting Torment and a Duress to the sideboard for my meta.

January 24, 2017 11:17 p.m.

Tethys says... #10

lexleningrad -- Very glad to hear that you are enjoying the deck! I had actually never seen Everlasting Torment before you suggested it. It's a great sideboard choice. I'll probably pick up a couple copies myself.

The deck is about to get a notable mainboard upgrade too: Fatal Push. I'd recommend you pick up a few copies if you haven't already. It's pretty outstanding in my experience using it so far. Good luck and have fun with the deck! :-)

January 25, 2017 12:34 a.m.

Hamster2558 says... #11

Do you think you could make a budget version of this? (My budget is below 100 dollars but idk what your preference is) It seems like a reallt fun idea for a deck.

January 25, 2017 12:37 p.m.

Tethys says... #12

Hamster2558 -- Running cheap lands and cutting Liliana of the Veil shaves ~$400 off the price tag. The problem is that this deck has extremely demanding mana requirements, so I'm not sure that a cheap land base is actually viable.

January 25, 2017 1:09 p.m.

Hamster2558 says... #13

That's fine, I'll see what I can do cause I would really like to make a deck like this.

January 25, 2017 2:11 p.m.

Tethys says... #14

You could go for four Khans rakdos fetches (which are surprisingly cheap), two rakdos shocks, and four rakdos checks. It wouldn't be ideal, but it could work.

January 25, 2017 10:01 p.m.

lexleningrad says... #15

Hah I was just testing Fatal Push yesterday in place of the Flame Slash and it is definitely the right choice.

What do you think of putting two Rakdos Charm in place of the Relic of Progenitus? Might give a better versatility against some artifact decks, tokens, while still having some graveyard hate.

January 26, 2017 12:32 a.m.

MusicMaster says... #16

I think Surgical Extraction would work really well in this deck, given the multitude of targets it would have, especially for long grindy matches, when taking out their key value cards would go a long way.

Also, maybe Dismember > Fatal Push? You don't have permanents leaving the battlefield very often in this deck to take advantage of the Revolt ability. Not to mention, most CMC 4 or less creatures don't have toughness > 5, making Dismember just as suitable a replacement as far as effect is concerned. It would also be able to take care of indestructible, whereas Fatal Push cannot.

January 26, 2017 1:15 a.m.

Tethys says... #17

MusicMaster -- You raise a reasonable point regarding Fatal Push, but I think the optimal solution is adding in some Arid Mesa and Polluted Delta rather than ditching such a great card for Dismember. And it's good to keep in mind that the substantial majority of creatures in the competitive modern meta can be removed without even activating Revolt.

Surgical Extraction is indeed great here, but I would run them sideboard because the mainboard is so tightly knit already. In fact, I'm going to find a place for two of them in the sideboard.

lexleningrad -- Rakdos Charm is a reasonable choice and I do like its versatility, but Relic is more efficient, has a significantly less intense mana requirement. Also, those slots are basically reserved specifically for dredge hate because the mainboard creature removal already works just as well against Affinity as it does against any other creature-heavy deck. It's a good thought though. If you want to try it out, let me know how it works!


Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions, and special thanks to everyone who has built this deck. 50 upvotes and counting! Keep it coming :D

January 26, 2017 3:52 a.m. Edited.

lagotripha says... #18

Raven's Crime for those grindier matches? Looks pretty fun honestly, Anything running blightning realistically is ok in my books.

January 26, 2017 3:24 p.m.

Tethys says... #19

With so much removal and disruption on top of Waste Not, this deck can already play a really grindy game when it needs to. With that in mind, I think that Raven's Crime, while not a bad option, is not really necessary in this build. I appreciate the suggestion though!

MusicMaster -- 2x Surgical Extraction added to the sideboard. Thanks again for your contribution! Also, I swapped in one Arid Mesa and one Polluted Delta in my paper version for testing to see how well 10 fetches play with the three Fatal Push.

January 26, 2017 5:12 p.m.

lexleningrad says... #20

If anyone is looking for a card to throw in a budget build for a slower, less competitive meta I came across a Pyromancer's Goggles in an EDH game and instantly thought of this deck.

January 27, 2017 2:15 a.m.

Esperbitch says... #21

24 lands seems awfully high for a deck with an average cmc of 2. Also, Infernal Tutor might be good since you seem to need 2 copies of many cards to combo off.I do think it's interesting how Burning Inquiry digs you much deeper to find your other Burning Inquiries.

February 10, 2017 1:33 p.m.

CricketYT says... #22

Controlled discard (Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize) and Delirium Skeins could help your plan immensely.

February 10, 2017 1:38 p.m.

MusicMaster says... #23

I did some testing with your deck against other powerful matchups and I found that I was easily overpowered due to the lack of Controlled Discard. Especially when I verse other decks running cards like Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thought-Knot Seer, and Surgical Extraction, it was very easy for others to get rid of my Liliana's Caress and Megrim, to make cards like Burning Inquiry useless. The Reverberate came into my hand way too often and I found that most of the time it was a dead card. Other cards like Blightning, most of the time, were used as more expensive lightning bolts.

Also, the deck was very inconsistent in it's draws. Even with limited interaction with the opponent, I found that I had dead cards in hand (Would need more testing to see if this is common or if it is a "fluke" during my limited playthrough)

I agree that the addition of Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek would help out a lot. Taking out Reverberate, for something more consistent would help as well. A way to Psuedo-Tutor and/or Draw/Cycle through your deck would help a bunch too. Another card to consider, if you plan on emptying your hand quickly is Infernal Tutor. If you dump your hand quickly, you can get the other cards you need, otherwise, you can double up on your powerful cards when applicable.

February 10, 2017 3:42 p.m.

Pandaka says... #24

Cool deck. +1 from me.

February 10, 2017 11:02 p.m.

Pandaka says... #25

Whats Wooded Foothills for?

February 10, 2017 11:04 p.m.

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