I'd certainly recommend using Spell Pierce or Inquisition of Kozilek in your main board. It reduces the all-in approach and increases your chances of whiffing while trying to cycle with a Grim Haruspex, but it also stops cards like Thoughtseize or Rest in Peace that can totally shut down the deck.

Also Spell Pierce is superior in my option since it shores up our Affinity, Infect, Burn, and control matchups. Spell Pierce hits threats that are too fast for you, like stopping a Groundswell or Lightning Bolt. It might not seem like much, but that one extra turn can be enough to find a win. People will also play around it a little after you show them game 1 that it is in your deck. Sometimes I'll bluff people by just always leaving up a single blue mana, just to have them play slower until we can combo off.

Also Quail, I've been looking into using Sidisi, Undead Vizier as a sideboard card. It's a tutor to find our hate cards or Heartless Summoning, kills itself or a Myr for value, and can also profitably block just about every creature (including Siege Rhino) if necessary. Thoughts?

@beys2303

Back when I had the list it was before the deck had a lot of tools like the Haruspexs and it didn't even have the Altars (the win con was Falkenrath Noble or Laboratory Maniac mainboarded.

Back then it just used a playset of Remands and Mana Leaks.

I'm thinking you can drop the leaks and run 2-3 Thoughtseizes, 2-4 Spell Pierces, 0-4 Remands, and maybe like 2 Muddles. It's a tough build in my opinion and I'm not sure if the deck has enough tempo to still go off while dropping so much mana/turns into control when the combos require 4 pieces.

@acarmelo1

Thanks for the feedback. It makes sense that RDW and Infect would be able to outspeed the deck. I'm pretty surprised that it was able to beat Rock though. I feel like discard and Abrupt Decay would just demolish the deck to the point of no return. Some more info on that would be cool.

@lemmingllama

Whenever a new set is spoiled the first thing I do is look for cards that can work in this deck. When I saw Sidisi I was ecstatic. She's probably my favorite card of the set and Exploit is easily one of my favorite mechanics. I think she can totally have a place in the deck, but definitely not in a high speed version. It would probably best fit in a midrange version of the deck with more beatdown elements and control. In the sideboard I can see her working a little bit, but she doesn't provide anything too unique for certain matchups. I want more than anything to find a way for her to work in the deck, so if you can develop something that would be awesome. There's definitely some potential there.

Well, the guy with the rock played poorly. He played thoutsize and took Havengul Lich instead of the Heartless Summoning. Also he had an ooze, but he exiled it itslef with path to exile to get another land cuz he had mana screw. When the ooze automaticaly kills this deck.

Lol oh

Updates.

Played against Podless pod, Re-animator and zoo today.

Podless is another annoying one. As usual Scavenging Ooze is plain annoying but he only runs 1 so thanks to Perilous Myr I managed to win the first game. The next 2 were absolute disasters. He has a playset of Memoricide in his sideboard. DO YOU KNOW HOW CRUEL IT IS? 2nd game he managed to get it out turn 3, with birds and called heartless summoning. I just forfeit that game. 3rd game, my hand has heartless summoning (bless the draw gods). So the moment I played it, guess what he called? yup .. Myr Retriever. Next turn he had one more Memoricide, calls out havengul lich. Yup game over.

Re-animator is the same as above so I'm not touching on it. I lost though. He had Thoughtseize in every start hand.

ZooZoo was pretty fun. Along with the fact that my draws were pretty bad past 2 games, I was blessed by the draw gods and got off pretty fast combos this game. Only problem I had was Scavenging Ooze though, which is actually suppose to break the deck but thanks to god draws, I won! I have a very strong feeling though, that this match-up is suppose to be alot hard than I expected.

On a side note, a great thing I like about this deck is that removals for creatures are pretty much useless against us. Its quite fun to see enemies keep a hand of 3 lightning bolts, and ultimately still die with 3 lightning bolts. Although I wonder if it is actually possible to Path to Exile the retriever while im combo-ing off. Haven't had anyone try that on me yet. Any idea?

Awesome feedback man, thanks a ton.

Against decks running memoricide I think your best option would be to side in the Aggro elements of the deck. If you manage to get off Heartless Summoning then you can drop a bunch of Superions and a Wurmcoil Engine to protect yourself and just beat face.

And yeah creature removal is pretty much useless against everything in the mainboard except the Haruspex. As for the Path on the Retrievers, creatures die as a state based action with HS, meaning that no player can respond to the death and can't stop it after the creature resolves.

@Quail Hello! are you sure about this? "As for the Path on the Retrievers, creatures die as a state based action with HS, meaning that no player can respond to the death and can't stop it after the creature resolves." if yes, I might have "falsely" lost to pod yesterday. I'll ask my more experienced friends tomorrow too but it'd be nice if you could quote the rules that state this.

1. State-Based Actions

704.1. State-based actions are game actions that happen automatically whenever certain conditions (listed below) are met. State-based actions don't use the stack.

704.5. The state-based actions are as follows:

704.5f If a creature has toughness 0 or less, it's put into its owner's graveyard. Regeneration can't replace this event.

Heyos. Some updates on my progress this week. Didn't get to play much though, exams are nearing.

But anyway, the new match-ups were combo elves. Nothing much actually, this deck is a lot faster as long as it has a good starting hand.

As you said, the biggest fault for this deck currently is consistency. As I play this deck more, especially after people around you starts knowing how it works, the power to win early starts decreasing. The element of surprise actually plays a very big part in the beginning success of the deck.

I find myself bringing in Myr Superion on a much more regular basis against decks such as splinter twin and burn, just because it seems to come out alot faster (you only need 1 copy of superion to beat the crap out of them but you need 2 copies of retriever along with Altar of the Brood).

Especially when Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite will die when blocking Myr Superion even with the -1/-1 of Heartless Summoning. Additionally, the most dangerous cards of burn such as Lightning Bolt & in our case Eidolon of the Great Revel stand no chance against Myr Superion. I've also looked at lemmingllama's version of the deck (cheers mate, upvoted you too!) and found his Spell Pierce mainboard quite interesting. I've adapted my deck to be similar to his for the time being, but replacing 2 Spell Pierce for 2 Muddle the Mixture. Haven't actually tested it extensively because of exams but will test it as soon as I get some time.

oh, just in case you are wondering, I usually side out 2 copies of Grim Haruspex & 2 copies of Perilous Myr for the 4 Myr Superion.

Additionally, with regards to the sideboard, don't you think Wurmcoil Engine is kinda expensive even with heartless on the field? Sure, deathtouch and lifelink with the additional 2 free creatures after it dies is great but you'd actually aim to beat him to death alot earlier than turn 5 right? I've used it once or twice. Wasn't really impressed. Care to share your opinion?

In the sideboard, perhaps drop the 2 Trinket Mage & 2 Wurmcoil Engine for possibly 2 Spell Pierce (against counters and enchantment hate) & 2 Echoing Truth (against tokens and annoying creatures).

I understand all these additions are most likely to slow the deck down significantly, but I feel its a necessary evil against the current counter-heavy meta where decks like splinter twin and burn reign champions.

@beys2303 Are you sure that siding out Grim Haruspex and Perilous Myr are your best decisions? Normally I will cut one Altar of the Brood and a Havengul Lich, then take the rest of the slots from Mulldrifter or Court Hussar. Grim Haruspex is the MVP of the deck since him and an active Heartless Summoning will always find your combo when left uncontested.

Also Quail, I find the Wurmcoil Engine, Trinket Mage, and Laboratory Maniac from your sideboard to be weaker cards. I used to run both Trinket Mage and Laboratory Maniac, but I cut the mage due to his lack of impact, normally a Mulldrifter was superior. As for Lab Maniac, I find Surgical Extraction to be much more impactful when getting rid of Eldrazi and such. Surgical Extraction also can mess with the new Abzan Company decks by exiling away their persist creatures.

Just reading through the comments, and you didn't invent this archetype. It's been around for the last three years, whereas this deck is two years old. Anyhow, nice deck in any case :)

@lemmingllama the sideboarding part usually it depends on the matchup. Against infect and small creatures I'd definitely keep Perilous Myr in. But usually I only side in Myr Superion against controllish matchups like splinter twin and UW control decks. I keep Altar of the Brood in because it's still quite annoying to have make them lose cards (hopefully their essential cards) whenever I play a permanent and to keep the chance of combo-ing off as high as possible. I understand 4 copies might be a little much in the case when I use Myr Superion for beatdown but since our version of the deck doesn't run Trinket Mage and Altar of the Brood cannot be tutor-ed for by Muddle the Mixture, I feel like it should stay at 4 copies. But I think you might be right about Havengul Lich. Make sense to reduce the card with the highest mana cost and keep Perilous Myr in. I'd try that and get back to you on it. :)

I normally prefer to combo off with a Grim Haruspex out rather than an Altar of the Brood out, since I can go and draw my deck and cast all the Altar of the Broods for free with Spell Pierce protection. Also people will frequently mill their Lingering Souls or cards they can delve for an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang. I normally prefer to not mill them until they are dying of deck loss.

Also Myr Superion I find to be weaker due to the fact you need a Heartless Summoning to cast him. Control matchups will often counter your Heartless Summoning, and then he is stranded. That's why I have so many Inquisition of Kozilek and Spell Pierces, they help us grind the control decks out of removal. After that, we simply topdeck better than them, because one resolved Heartless Summoning wins the game.

@FAMOUSWATERMELON

Without trying to sound rude, I would like some proof to back up the claims that this deck was around before I started using it.

I take a lot of pride in this deck, and people claiming that I didn't create it without anything to back it up is a little annoying.

If I could see another deck list, a primer, or a record of it popping up before mine that's all it would take.

The core strategy to the deck is HS, the myr retriever loop, and a win-con.

I'm highly skeptical that this archetype appeared before my deck because the only real win-con this deck had to use was Falkenrath Noble.

Back when my deck specifically used it, it honestly wasn't very good, probably unplayable outside of a casual setting (not saying it's truly competitive just yet). It wasn't until Khans that this deck actually became somewhat viable with Haruspex and the Altars.

That's the biggest reason I am positive I am the founder of this deck, because there was no reason to play it prior to Khans.

@lemmingllama Hello, I believe the difference between our decks is the fact that I main more counters (6 in total, including 4 Muddle the Mixture) to protect Heartless Summoning and tutors for it, so I'm usually able to protect HS. I haven't tested it out much but right now, I seem to able to win consistently by turn 4-5, with decent amount of protection spells, Which I understand might be way too slow for modern.

For the Myr Superion part, similar to what I said above, because I can tutor for Heartless Summoning and protect it effectively, he's extremely effective.

But you are absolutely right, if they kill my HS, I'll just be a sad sad man. T.T

I guess I'm play more of a control route as compare to you guys, largely due to the fact people in my area are already very familiar with my deck, due to extensive playtesting the past 3 weeks (Singapore is really small). So with the element of surprise gone, I feel its important to transition my version of the deck to a more control and protective version at the cost of some speed. Additionally, the versatility of the deck is so great (other than the fact you almost always need Heartless Summoning), there are many ways we can win with, by using Myr Superion they can either spend a Naturalize or other similar cards destroying my myr, thus reducing the threat to my HS or face the constant pressure of dying to a cute little 4/5 creature.

I'm on a phone right now, so I can't easily look up decklists, but the fact that all the necessary cards were around for an entire year before you made this deck leaves just about no doubt that the combo existed before you made this. You might not have heard of it, so you can take credit that you thought of it yourself, but I'm positive that this combo existed before you posted it. When I get back to my computer, I'll happily look for some proof.

Kid finds one card (Altar of the Brood) that works with heartless retriever and now he's the inventor of a whole new archetype...

Quail, there's no shame in reviving old decks and improving them with new cards. You're deck is still a special snowflake, as unique and as beautiful as any.

Most people here are just suggesting cards that have already been proven in this deck from 4 years of play.

Google's first "heartless retriever" result:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/new-card-discussion/235654-deck-heartless-retriever

@electromancer

Not really sure why you need to be a passive aggressive asshole, but whatever keep being you.

And it's pretty laughable that you use the word "proven" and then link a deck that has only 27 comments on it.

The Heartless and Myr combo has been around pretty much forever, given that the Myrs have been used as a combo piece with Grinding Station forever. It's even referenced on Johnny, Combo Player.

The fact of the matter is that before this specific deck, this archetype wasn't a thing. Sure there might have been some decks that used the vanilla combo, but none of them worked very well.

I believe that I created this archetype because I was the first to actually make it viable. And no, I'm not "just some kid who found altar of the brood". I've been working on this deck for over two years. I've been working on it since it was crap.

I won't split hairs if you disagree with me about me creating it, but you cannot take away the fact that I popularized, greatly improved, and started the developing deck tech on it.

Sorry, the whole taking credit thing kinda got to me. And your right I was kind being a jerk about it. I do disagree with you, but it doesn't matter. I actually looked at your deck because I liked a few aspects about it.

Hey, this is the decklist I am currently using.

Little creatures much fun

There is no description whatsoever, just the deck list for you to check out.

Extensive testing will only begin after 16 June when my exams end.

Cheers

Quail, have you done any testing on alternate versions of Heartless Summoning? Like Krark-Clan Ironworks for example? Perhaps run a few more lands to accommodate it?

I've been really busy with work lately so I haven't been able to put too much time into the deck lately.

Ironworks in the deck is pretty interesting, but I feel like too often it will end up being a dead draw/the same for HS if you already have one on the field.

I'll give it a try when I get some free time.

Do you think a Mono-Black, more Budget-Friendly version of this deck could work? I can't find it on TO. Maybe I sould start working on it.

If it was a completely different deck where the combo was just thrown in as an possible win-con (ala tempo-twin) then sure, but definitely not as it is now, what with all the digging being in blue.

A mono-black version of this deck would honestly be probably pretty bad. You would lose the dig and the only other thing you could really do is substitute it with control. Competitively mono-black control is pretty lackluster in Modern, so I don't think you would really be able to stand up to other decks.