Hey PrinceOfNeurosis, thanks for the +1! I've had a lot of people say that the land is on the low side for a control deck... but the low mana cost + the stall + the Crypt Ghast does mean i can run it at at 22 and it remains very consistent deck... its consistenly in the top 2 when i play it at FNM so something must be going right with it :)

I'll go look at your deck now, i was running a selesnya deck myself but just broke it apart for the moment to work on a sliver and an izzet deck.

Have you considered Liliana of the Dark Realms ? great for a distraction target and ramping lovely swamps for your Crypt Ghast , not to mention extra removal if you happened to need it

Yeah i have Pyroshade, if i had a copy i would definitely put it in to add a bit more ramp but unfortunately i dont... also i'm looking into the m14 cards i'm going to be using to supplement this deck so liliana isnt my top priority but if i come across one i may well have her in here :) thanks for the suggestion :)

another card i just found, thought it could be usefull was Cryptborn Horror , with some late game extorting (can extort in response to playing him, making him bigger), or with Sanguine Bond he could easily get ridiculous, i think his best use would be in multiplayer/ two-headed giant, but could still be a card worth thinking about?

Never really considered Cryptborn Horror i was considering moving over to playing Sanguine Bond in this deck though so thats a definite maybe for the future :) thanks again i like to have ideas thrown at me :) good to get a fresh perspective

love the changes. is the lack of card draw hurting you though with Sign in Blood being gone? i mean i suppose Strionic Resonator 's doubling effect essentially makes up for it to an extent by enabling your cards to act twice (or so). i am also a little hesitant for Archangel of Thune albeit we have many lifegain procs, Vampire Nighthawk and Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Archangel of Thune are really the only creatures that benefit from this. Obzedat, Ghost Council will when he comes in, but loses counters to flicker (but his etb will restore 1), then again you only have him as a 1 of, and he boosts every body else so thats nice. i was also throwing around the idea of replacing Vizkopa Guildmage , maybe as a sideboard card. after game one, you can swap out the Sanguine Bond for him, and they will most likely sideboard in enchantment removal, or even Slaughter Games for that card as it is so devastating. i guess time will tell. let me know how this deck does on friday. i will be stuck at work but ill try to catch something this weekend.

So far i've not really missed Sign in Blood too much, the stall i get means i'm never really top decking, though i could easily drop two Blood Baron of Vizkopa or lower Riot Control to get it back in. So far when i playtested it against my friends boros aggro, evolve aggro, izzet control and a mono blue mill and tbh it was fine.

Strionic Resonator is an absolute gem tbh. It earns back its weight in gold every time i played it. Also i found Archangel of Thune to be a great card, i was finding that when it hit the field i usually could activate its effect at least twice that turn and all of a sudden a 3/3 High Priest of Penance is a massive concern as well as thune becoming a flying terror. Its nice because from the moment it hits the field it lets you go on the offensive with cards that would usually just sit back. You'd be amazed how quick it can ramp you up as each extort is a seperate life gain. For 5 mana its a bargin. And yeah i was thinking of bringing back in Vizkopa Guildmage to the side board but i fear i may still have the same problem as before and wish he was something else. Just have to play and see.

Ok i put back in the Sign in Blood s as the draw is useful and with the amount of lifegain nwgates the negatives. Sideboarded Sanguine Blood as i prefer to play it the second game omce i know what i'm up against and if i need the faster play or the long game that card gives me but i can see it flitting in and out depending who i play. This deck is dominating though, so much control and plenty of abusive cards all round :p

I noticed you've done a LOT of tinkering with this deck since I last came to comment! Could I ask you to explain why you're not running Sorin, Lord of Innistrad at present? (The +1 is right up your street giving you a horde of lifelink chumps which combo with Thune like some kind of animal, and the rest of his abilities are a bonus)

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was in this deck a long time but i always found him a little slow and was never quite the card i wanted when he showed up. I agree i think his effect is good for this deck but i only have one copy and tbh turn four i'd rather be playing Crypt Ghast or another creature that slows my opponent down. Thats just from personal experience as he was in this deck for a very long time but he never quite made the impact i had hoped for.

I'm willing to bet money you've already thought about Fiendslayer Paladin in this deck, but I am curious about why you would have left it out? I would have a hard time running a deck with so many cards with CMC of 4+, but if it works it works!

I know what you mean about the high cmc, but it does just seem to work, Crypt Ghast boosts my mana base substantially, i do keep swapping in and out some high cmc cards depending how fast i want the deck to run but there is a substantial ammount of control that lets me slow the game so i have time to get the land i need, once i hit 4 or 5 i'm fine :)

As for Fiendslayer Paladin i have definitely thought about him, tbh while Vampire Nighthawk is in standard i'd just rather run him... post rotation fiendslayer will definitely be in this deck :) what would you recommend i could swap out for fiendslayer at the moment?

If it were my deck I would swap out 2xBlood Baron of Vizkopa for 2xFiendslayer Paladin, BUT like I said that is because of my fear of heavy mana costs. It's like they say "if it ain't broke don't fix it." Cheers! :)

Well thanks for the input Wargoat47 i may well do that, would balance out the mana for the moment at leasr... only issue is getting hold of the Fiendslayer Paladin :p

Blood Baron of Vizkopa is much better than Fiendslayer Paladin tbh. yes Fiendslayer Paladin is cheaper, but with Crypt Ghast hes too easy to play, and you don't need Fiendslayer Paladin competing with Vampire Nighthawk at the 3 slot.

Do you think the full playset of Blood Baron of Vizkopa is pushing it in this deck? I really want to run 4 but it may be tipping my mana curve over the edge... he is so good though!

I agree with DjinnjerVitis as well about Fiendslayer Paladin in that i want my Vampire Nighthawk out more than i want him... if fiendslayer actually had protection from the colours then thay may be a different matter... atm Vampire Nighthawk is just better... but come theroa fiendslayer will stand in nicely unless something better appears

I really enjoyed looking at the deck and I think it is very well built. Might I suggest running a few Vizkopa Guildmage . The effects from the guild Mage could really help your life linking and speeding things up. I made an Orzhov control deck and maybe some cards from there might help your deck. It's a slow a grindy deck but there are some aggressive cards in there.

Vizkopa Guildmage has been in and out of this deck a hell of a lot as its adapted and changed, i'm actually thinking of putting it into the side board for the moment for when people sideboard in some enchantment destruction to get rid of Sanguine Bond and then all of a sudden they have wasted cards and i have the guildmage doing the same thing for me... he does have massive potential... but i need to play test with him and see how he does! I think if i have both Vizkopa Guildmage and Sanguine Bond in my main deck i have too many cards trying to do the same thing.

Thanks for the feedback Samurai1, glad you enjoyed looking at the deck and i'll be sure to go have a look at yours

I agree maybe u can put 2 Vizkopa Guildmage in the side board because if you do have problems with Sanguine Blood you can use the guildmage. If you wanted to make the deck legal you could even use the guild Mage as a replacement for Sanguine Blood since its a 2010 card. Let me know what you think of my orzhov because I have been running into some problems beating a few aggro decks like rakdos, Boros and gruul.

The deck is actually legal, its just tapped out hasn't updated for the m14 release yet for some reason.

As for your deck i have had a look and commented, i can see why you would struggle against aggro, especially if its well refined and fast from turn one.. if you want some more advice just let me know... i dont like to tell people what to do if you have a certain way you want to run it then thats what i want you to keep... this deck is actually the bane of aggros because of a few cards... anyway as i said if you want more help just ask, i've spent a long time on orzhov and have madw mistakes and fixed them along the way

Then your deck is almost prefect orzhov. I always appreciate the help because I've only been running orzhov for a little less than a year so I'm just keeping the deck basi because I haven't had alot of experimenting time with it and I'm not 100% what cards work against aggro and what doesn't.

Btw Samurai1 you've somehow blocked me so i can't see or comment on your decks anymore :s

It should work now. I clicked on your name to see what other decks you had put up and it blocked you by accident sorry about that btw nice decks you must be a pretty good deck builder.

Haha thanks, tbh i'm not that great but i have built up experience playing against some very good players and talking with some good people on this site, myself and DjinnjerVitis have been bouncing ideas about this deck around for the past few months...

I could always use the help on my decks because I'm a beginner at this I try to stick to the basic theme of what the deck or guild is suppose to be. Sometimes it works and a lot of times is doesn't.