Shed a tear that Rally and reliable 4-colour mana-bases are rotating? Well look no further!
The idea is simple. Either gradually build-up your forces, or Collected Company into lots of different sac outlets/recurring threats.
Creatures:
Blisterpod: A severely underpowered card, but massively useful nonetheless. Hell, if Eldrazi Skyspawner can see Standard play, so can this. It's an early chump blocker, and a late-game nightmate for a flipped Liliana to recur onto the battlefield for only -1. Late-game, this is generally a 'no-mana-drain-and-gain-2-life' card. A mini (free) Siege Rhino, you could say.
Catacomb Sifter
: The 2/3 body is very relevant, as most know by now, and the Scion is another sac target and/or mana helper. The best thing about this is the Scry ability though. Sac a Scion with Company in-hand, increase your percentages by a great deal. It's also really useful at finding outs in the late-game when you inevitably don't have cards in-hand.
Deathmist Raptor
+
Den Protector
: The reliable megamorph package is here, and it's as beautiful as ever. Den Protector triggers the recursion of Deathmist to the battlefield, and gets Collected Companies from the graveyard, too.
Hangarback Walker: Hangarback is a massive swing in our favour here when we have Husk and Cutthroat on the battlefield, but feels incredibly slow without them, and as such is only a 2-of. However, he's still a huge win-con, especially with aerial threats via the Thopters; which inevitably get sac'd afterwards for double-damage +1 (the best kind of damage).
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet: This bad-boy is a huge player for us, and is often our win-con. When the opponent blocks our Husk and we sac things to it to keep it alive/drain them, Kalitas gives us a Zombie to stabilise with in the meantime. This is also a rare deck that really allows Kalitas to use the ability to put counters on, which really gets out of hand fast.
Liliana, Heretical Healer
: My bae. She's just so incredible, it's scary. How she's gone so under the radar so far is beyond me. Still, that makes it easier for me to pick these up and test it thoroughly!
Lili does everything you want her to. She sits-back, waits for you to sac a creature, creates a 2/2 Zombie, flips, and then you can cause havoc with her planeswalker side. The discard is strong, as you very often don't have (m)any cards in-hand, but the main one is the -X, which is simply incredible.
Relentless Dead: The only Shadows Over Innistrad addition so far, but he's a beauty. Relentless Dead is the walking definition of this deck. He gets in for 2 damage, or gets eaten-up, taking-out two blockers. You then either spend to put him back in your hand, or to get Nantuno Husk into play.
Alternatively, in the late-game, spend to sac him to Kalitas for 2 counters, and return him to hand to do it all over again the next turn until you find your CoCos etc.
Nantuko Husk
+
Zulaport Cutthroat
: The combo. As everyone who has played Standard recently knows, these two are a nightmare to deal with, and I'm looking to play into their hands once more, even with Rally the Ancestors rotating-out.
Spells:
Collected Company: Allows us to fill the board quickly and reliably, with the threats of our choosing (most of the time). Hangarback and Kalitas are whiffs, but beyond that, everything gets hit by it, and can massively swing the game in our favour.
Evolutionary Leap: Another sac outlet at our disposal, and often the preferred route of sacrificing creatures as it often leads to even further recursion through finding more cheap creatures. Obviously, the Husk is free and can lead to threatening some big damage, but when your board state looks weak, Evo Leap often comes up trumps.
Mana:
This is something I'll admit to not looking at in great detail. Once I've played the cards in real life rather than online, I've have a better feel for what will work. However, any tips you may have for this will be greatly appreciated. So far, my 'back of my mind' considerations are
Blighted Fen
, Mortuary Mire and Sea Gate Wreckage for extra versatility, with
Foul Orchard
being the obvious weak spot as a tapped source with no upside.
Sideboard
This is something I've not spent a massive amount of time on, as it will adjust a considerable amount to the meta post-rotation. However, once again, any input will be received well.
