Isn't that the way with almost all combo decks though? Every deck sacrifices some luxury... for combo decks its (usually) the ability to build your deck around your opponents cards

Yup that's exactly it, I'm just making it a point. It's the same reason I'm not mainboarding Spellskite. I can't worry about my opponent, I just have to worry about myself. It's like the rock, paper, scissors of Magic with deck archetypes. Combo beats Aggro, Aggro beats Control, and Control beats Combo (in a general sense). Chances are if I'm up against a Control deck I'll lose fairly easily unless I can combo extremely fast, and for that reason I can't sacrifice speed for protection/control.

Huh... I understand the rock, paper, scissors analogy, but if that is the case I appear to have made some horrible mistake. Every combo deck I have ever crafted moves in the opposite order that you have described. They tend to be weaker against aggro than they are vs control.

Aggro is too quick and plays too many threats for control to deal with.

Control is able to disrupt and stop combo.

Combo doesn't care about its life total since it wins before it ever goes into lethal range against aggro, and aggro has no inherent way to stop combo.

No I completely agree with the analogy. I was more commenting on the versatility of magic as a game, where even with this stereotypical Rock Paper Scissors setup, you can still craft decks meant to deal specifically with their natural counters.

Oh yeah nothing is set in stone regarding that. It's just in a general sense.

Hi, really nice Deck! +1

I would consider to run 2 or 3 Beseech the Queen to find ur combo cards if needed and perhaps some Counterspells to make it easier to protect your Heartless Summoning .

Tutors aren't worth the slot because despite being consistent, are far too slow to work. Spending mana to find something doesn't get anything done by itself.

Might side in either Remand or Mana Leak should I be up against a matchup that can get rid of HS, haven't decided yet.

how can you go infinite with Myr Retriever when it says return ANOTHER target artifact, so it can't target itself...??

Needs two Myr Retriever . Meanwhile, use Perilous Myr to give pain, or Myr Moonvessel to give some extra mana to put one Altar of the Brood and complete the combo.+1 for the deck. I really like it, and ill test it in a trial (sorry for my english).

im pretty sure for Havengul Lich you pay 1 plus the casting cost of the creature you are trying to cast because im fairly certain the wording is 1: you may cast target creature card this turn. When you cast that card this turn, Havengul Lich gains all activated abilities of that card until end of turn.

I cast my creatures for free with Heartless Summoning.

o yea some how i missed that my bad looks brutal tho i like the infinite mill combo you have

you are aware that none of your creatures have activated abilities for Havengul Lich right?

if you are looking for more free cards, Street Wraith and Gut Shot should do you good.

How about Myr Superion as a backup plan and/or blocker?

GoofyFoot

Havengul Lich is in the deck for the Reanimation effect, not the activated ability effect.

Street Wraith is cool, but I don't think it has too much of an impact (I'm probably replacing Gitaxian Probe for Sleight of Hand as well). Gut Shot just doesn't provide me with any advantage really.

OpenFire

Myr Superion is in the Sideboard. It doesn't provide me with anything that directly helps with the deck's main combo strategy. It was in the original mainboard but I removed it for cards that help accelerate the deck. It'll be sided in for when I'm up against very anti-combo decks or some type of Zoo matchup.

Are you sure you can evoke a dead Mulldrifter with Havengul Lich?

Evoke is "you may cast" for an alternative cost. Havengul Lich lets you CAST cards from your graveyard.

In what match ups would you normally side in the Myr Superions and Wurmcoil Engines. Similarly, what match ups are Solemn Simulacrum added to? They seem very situational, and I personally use a more reactive sideboard for my Heartless Summoning deck.

I've yet to test the deck against many matchups, so the sideboard is mainly just speculation at this point. I generally think I would side most of those cards against either Zoo decks or decks that can easily disrupt my combo.

I was also thinking of adding Trinket Mages to the SB for things like Nihil Spellbomb and Aether Spellbomb. Also it can fetch my Altars. So that's somethigg to think about. Not quite sure yet.

Ah ok. I can't see many matchups where Solemn Simulacrum is a good addition.

For my sideboard, I added in Bitter Ordeal as an alternate wincon, Pithing Needle for the Splinter Twin matches, Trinket Mage as an extra copy of Nihil Spellbomb, Pithing Needle, or Altar of the Brood, and Torpor Orb. Its just that there are few matchups where I would want to try and beat them down, so I tried for more ways to shut down their strategies.

Simulacrums are definitely up for change. I only have them there because they're GOOD and just become easier to play in my deck. They don't win me the game for sure but they do provide me with tempo and provide me with a valuable chump blocker.

Superions though do pose a serious threat. It's hilarious dropping 4 of them turn 2, which I've actually done before in previous builds. They can be pretty hard to beat early on in a game and can definitely distract an opponent for a little bit. Sadly they don't accelerate my strategy though.

Wurmcoils seem like they could be really good. Getting them out as early as I can just seems downright oppressive. And could probably at least give me a significant life advantage against things other than combo or infect.

Bitter Ordeal was a candidate for a win con in previous builds for the deck. I cut it though because of its mana cost though. It is unique in the fact that it doesn't rely on a permanent to finish off the opponent, so it has a slight advantage against Abrupt Decay, but at the same time they could just Abrupt Decay my Heartless Summoning. It might have a place in the sideboard, but I'm not quite sure.

Trinket Mage is REALLY appealing to me because it has such a cool effect with the deck. I actually wanted to mainboard it, but there's not really enough of a place for it that I can see. I could probably get rid of the Simulacrums and a Shriekmaw for a playset of them. Given I have 4 different targets for them, one being a win-con it seems worth it. The only problem is deciding what to side out for that many cards.

I would add Pact of Negation and Summoner's Pact because pact of negation makes it so you can counter spells that would stop your combo and summoners pact makes any of the combos easier to get.