yeah i was definitely considering that, however with the fetches, this build is already more expensive than i would like it to be, but i guess that is just the price you gotta pay if you want to compete. thanks for the criticism, i'll work those lands into the build once i figure out how i'd like to balance them.
May 6, 2015 12:16 a.m.
mtgplayer100 says... #3
Just a masterpiece! I Can remember Playing Splinterfright in standard, and that was one og the most funny standard decks i've ever played. Now i can see that it also could be something i should check out.
I would suggest that you play Life from the Loam + Raven's Crime in the main deck, to help you against combo and control. Maybe even a singleton Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge to have more game against slower decks. Also Bloodghast is great with Life from the Loam.
I would play an Island just to make shure that Blood Moon dosen't become a nightmare.
Awesome deck, love it! +1 for shure!
May 9, 2015 5:29 p.m.
mtgplayer100, You're absolutely right about the concern for Blood Moon, I didn't think about that, and i'll be adding that Island. this is exactly the kind of criticism i'm looking for.
I don't know too much about meta-gaming, i've just been a casual player for the longest time, but i really think this build has a shot at being a fairly competitive contender. to that end, i think (though i could be wrong) this deck's best chance at being competitive would lie in making it perform as quickly and consistently as possible toward its designed goals. each creature in the build is included to serve multiple contextual purposes in and out of play, and i feel this build works best when they are all included as densely as possible. its because of this that i only have the few non-creature-non-land slots that i have occupied by the main combo Screams from Within + Strength from the Fallen and Gnaw to the Bone to recover from my own lands' life loss and some damage from opponents (if not more). I think i'm going to leave the main deck roughly as it is, and gear the sideboard to cover considerations for control heavy opponents, utilizing Life from the Loam + Raven's Crime (which now that you mentioned it seems superior to Dakmor Salvage + Raven's Crime ) in conjunction with Ghost Quarter which i could crack against my own nonbasic lands in response to someone dropping a Blood Moon.
Again, i really appreciate the feedback. thanks so much, it's really a big help.
May 12, 2015 2:47 a.m.
Player3.14 says... #5
This is the most creative and interesting I've come accross in a while! +1!
There's only a couple things I would change. First, your Strength of the Fallen combo works well, but regardless of how many times it's triggered, an opponent can simply chump block (with the exception of Splinterfright). As a solution, I'd add in Rancor. This powerful aura prevents card disadvantage and provides the trample you'd need to get around chump blocking. As an added bonus, it's an enchantment itself, so it would provide another Strength of the Fallen trigger!
Also, I noticed that you have blue in the deck for only a single playset of cards in the maindeck, and none in the sideboard. In order to decrease mana base complexity, removing Quickling could allow you to have a mana base that's easier on your life total and more resistant to the dreaded Blood Moon.
If you're going to play this competitavely, you may want to update your sideboard. Besides Spellskite, your deck has no resistance to decks like Exarch-Twin (these use the Pestermite + Splinter Twin combo), and you're highly vulnerable to graveyard hate like Rest in Peace. Abrupt Decay would be a very good playset-of sideboard card.
Good going with the deck!
May 16, 2015 3:01 p.m.
Player3.14, you bring up a lot of good points!
I like the idea of adding Rancor to the build, its been one of my favorite cards ever since I learned how to play way back when. My only problem with it is that this deck is really self-mill heavy (when I have Splinterfright and Nyx Weaver out) and it might too often just wind up in the graveyard doing nothing for me. I think it would be best as a 4-of so I have a good chance of getting it as an early draw where I think it would really shine. I'll play around with it though, I'm sure there are some creatures in here I don't necessarily need as 4-ofs.
As for your concern with me including Blue for Quickling, it just has too many benefits in itself for me to let it go. its a solid 2/2-for-2 flyer that's my favorite target for Nighthowler (and now Rancor) and its ability to flash-bounce my own creatures offers good protection and allows me to re-trigger ETB effects. Besides all that, having a 3-color mana base is a benefit on its own. It allows me to run up to 12 fetch-lands instead of just 4 with 2-color, this allows me to pull my basic lands out as early as possible to help against Blood Moon and they also mill lands out of my deck so I am more likely to draw/mill into creatures and other non-land cards.
And you're just spot-on with Abrupt Decay. Now that you guys got me thinking about the meta-game, Abrupt Decay would seem to be able to deal with most threats since everything is about being fast fast fast.
Thanks for the +1 and thanks a ton for the criticism! I really appreciate it!
May 16, 2015 6:40 p.m.
Well it was a good thought but after some play testing, adding Rancor just slows the deck down too considerably. It seems to only give a significant edge if its used in conjunction with Strength from the Fallen in which case I would normally target the boost to Splinterfright anyways. I have plenty of other enchantments that I can use to trigger constellation that can serve the secondary purpose of being a creature in the graveyard, which really does matter so much in the early game when I'm sitting with a Splinterfright in my hand and I find myself wishing the Rancor I milled into the grave on turn 2 with Satyr Wayfinder was a creature instead. I feel like it might work better in practice against real decks though, so I'll keep it in the maybe board until I do some more testing, but I'm not giving up on it.
May 16, 2015 8:04 p.m.
Hey thanks a lot! I really appreciate it! I hope it gave you some fun ideas :D
June 9, 2015 2:30 p.m.
Yeah, I'm having trouble figuring out what to do with it, and compared to the other cards i have in here, i just feel i have other, better alternatives.
it is out-done by Satyr Wayfinder and Street Wraith in terms of land fetching (larger depth) and draw-power (mana investment) and those other cards have the secondary utility of feeding the graveyard.
In the early game it would be great to play this guy and have him draw into a land for a second land drop on turn two, but if he whiffs then i still am left with no mana to play anything else and no graveyard to get Splinterfright to survive dropping into play on a following turn, whereas most of my other 2-drops (including Satyr Wayfinder, Fauna Shaman, and even Quickling) can get at least one critter in the graveyard and even Renowned Weaver can get a critter in the grave on turn two and pump out a decent chumper.
In the late game, if the game does go late, i would never choose to search for it with Fauna Shaman, it doesn't trigger constellation, it doesn't feed my graveyard at all and i essentially only get one card closer to drawing something of greater value at the cost of 2 extra CMC to cast it.
With the way this deck has the lands set up, there's just too few in general to really rely on being able to draw into a land with this guy, and we'll be searching lands out with the fetch lands as the game progresses so it only becomes more and more unlikely.
I don't mean to shit all over your suggestion. at a glance it looks great, but at this point i think it just doesn't measure up to what i already have in the build, but maybe i overlooked something.
July 2, 2015 5:36 p.m.
No worries it definitely makes sense. Good luck with the deck :D
July 2, 2015 6 p.m.
nice deck. +1 for seeing the Screams from Within + Strength from the Fallen Synergy.
July 4, 2015 6:26 p.m.
Hey thanks a lot! Yeah Screams from Within pretty much works with anything with constellation, but definitely works best with Strength from the Fallen and Doomwake Giant.
July 4, 2015 7 p.m.
Thephelddagrif says... #17
maybe thoughtsieze in the side against combo decks
July 24, 2015 8:37 p.m.
well Thephelddagrif, Thoughtseize is a great card, but straight up non-creature spells don't do so hot in this deck, and i've always felt that Thoughtseize and the other 1-CMC discard cards only really perform when included in high volume so you get high odds on getting it as an early draw and messing up your opponents' tempo. as foolish as it may sound, i really feel like for what this deck does, i get a larger benefit from playing Brain Maggot for hand disruption, even if i whiff a mill and throw him into the grave, where as i wouldn't get any benefit with thoughtseize. if i were to throw in some control spells i think i would get a greater benefit from adding counterspells as opposed to discards spells because it would protect my board-state and ruin the opponent's turn in the late game where i would most likely draw into it, what do you think?
July 24, 2015 9:26 p.m.
Cool deck! I would drop Nighthowler for Boneyard Wurm. +1 from me!
August 24, 2015 4:23 p.m.
Well azbycx, I do like Boneyard Wurm but i just dont think i can give up either of the Nighthowlers in here. I have howler in here more to pull off finishers, like to drop it in play and double Splinterfright's power (or triple it if i have Strength from the Fallen out) and swing for the win. Also, I have to have two because like half the time I end up milling at least one before I draw into one or get a chance to search it out with Fauna Shaman. Even though it might be susceptible to chumping, i'll play around with the wurm though, it would probably benefit me to have more than just splinterfright to rely on for the heavy hitting, maybe I'll take out a Renowned Weaver or something. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for the +1 :D
August 24, 2015 11:36 p.m.
Well vengevine is a good card no doubt, but he relies on multiple, consistent creature casts, and this deck doesn't really have the card draw to utilize him effectively. As far as board presence goes, I feel like on its own in this deck it just doesn't do anything spectacular aside from being a decently sized body compared to my non-splinterfright-boneyardwurm-nighthowler creatures. It just lacks synergy in this deck I feel.
September 13, 2015 7:40 p.m.
Yep, definitely thought about it, if this were a reanimator deck I'd definitely load up on Vengevine, Bloodghast, and Gravecrawler. At first when i was making this deck and didn't quite pinpoint what was making it work, i had some reanimator stuff in it, but that is actually counterproductive to what it does. taking creatures out of the graveyard just reduces the power of my X/X creatures and puts out a chump blocker essentially (which a lot of reanimating creatures cant even do ie:Bloodsoaked Champion). I find better than that would be to take a card like Renowned Weaver which would instead pump out a chump blocker, boost the creature count in the graveyard, and trigger constellation to double up the power of my X/X creatures.
There is a safe kind of consistency that comes from running reanimator, but this deck relies on just a high ratio of synergizing cards that want the graveyard to be loaded up to stay consistent. in focusing almost entirely on self-mill and +x/+x boosts the deck becomes streamlined and quickly powerful, and doesnt try to multi-task unnecessarily. i like to think this is kinda what makes it unique. when the creatures die i think "good thats what its supposed to do", then i fetch out of the library whatever card i need using Fauna Shaman, or cycle closer to that card with Street Wraith, or pull it out individually from the grave after over-milling using Nyx Weaver or Eternal Witness. the idea is that i want to keep the momentum of my library transitioning to the graveyard as heavy as possible so the turn after i drop Splinterfright or Boneyard Wurm i'm swinging for lethal damage.
September 13, 2015 11:22 p.m.
Decided to remove Boneyard Wurm and Eternal Witness for +1 Fauna Shaman and +1 Nyx Weaver.
Wurm was always just too susceptible to chump blocking and really isn't THAT much faster than Splinterfright or Nighthowler, the Shaman in its place gives me another card slot that gives access to Splinters or any other situational card.
Witness was on its own counterproductive to what this deck needs to do and in its place Nyx Weaver can perform graveyard retrieval in a pinch albeit slower / more expencive, but also self-mills, triggers constelation, and is a nice blocker.
DatJunkPlayer says... #1
The mana base is lacking consistency
You could be using the fetches to grab lands likeOvergrown Tomb, Breeding Pool and Watery Grave
May 6, 2015 12:07 a.m.