I like the idea of the deck

Thank you I saw Abandoned Sarcophagus and brewed up a deck for it.

Nice idea for a deck! If it would be my deck I would up the Archfiend to 3 or even 4. :)

Daafs128 I may end up doing that, I have to do some more playtesting with the sarcophagus because it changes the way cycling is played, but it may end up being more feasible for me to put more of him in, especially since his effect is so good.

New Perspectives might be worth playing as a 1-2 of. It gives some card advantage as well as sometimes free cycling. It probably isn't worth it but it allows Hollow One to be completely free.

I would also suggest playing Countervailing Winds to double up on the Censor even though it isn't quite as good. Finally, I would suggest undoing the latest revision. I would reinstate Vile Manifestation in place of Cunning Survivor. It has higher toughness, normally higher power, and it can be cycled. The only downside is the inability to be unblockable.

jparker-sartori21 I had considered putting New Perspectives into the deck previously, but even if it draws me 3 cards I find it very unlikely that at the time I will be able to cast it that I will have 7 cards in hand, and if I do, it will only be for a short time, so I don't know if it will be worth it. I have to do more playtesting, but I might end up putting it in. I do understand that it allows Hollow One to be completely free, but there are other ways that I can do that by only paying like 3 or 4 and helping buff my creatures in the process, so I don't know if playing it will really help. I changed from Vile Manifestation to Cunning Survivor because evasion is pretty important and also Vile Manifestation is really bad against graveyard hate. You do bring up a good point that it can be cycled unlike the survivor and I have been going back and forth on this, but again I will playtest and see. Countervailing Winds also has the issue that it does nothing against graveyard hate, but I might see myself taking out the Essence Scatters I have and replacing them with Countervailing Winds. Again playtesting is needed. I will be able to figure out the nuances soon and I may end up putting these cards in. Thank you for your input though I really appreciate it!

I did some untap gameplay with this deck and if you are careful you can often counter the graveyard hate. I think the cycling is a huge advantage because it allows Abandoned Sarcophagus to recast it and it means that if your hand is empty you can get something that doesn't rely on cards.

Clever stuff. Well done. I can see you getting a few people quite upset with this.

jparker-sartori21 - You are right and make a very good point. I guess I will implement the changes you suggested minus New Perspectives for now, but I may even include that one later. Thank you for the help!

TMBRLZ - Thank you. Sometimes that's the side effect of a deck ;)

"I ACTIVATE MY SECRET ABILITY!!! SALT!!!"

Hi Zooby9!I love playing cycling and I think that the idea of the deck us great. I want to build a deck similar to this so I want to ask u few questions:

Would u add Key to the city? Discard works well with the deck and it gives u card draw and unblockable for one of ur huge creatures.

Don't u think running 4 sarcphagus is too much? Maybe playing 2 is better as u want to play it only in late game, when ur graveyard is already full.

What are ur thoughts on Claim // Fame? Could work well with Shadowstorm Vizier and Vile Manifestation as they are wincons.

Would u add the third color to be able to play that and maybe a Chandra, Flamecaller or Cathartic Reunion?

Thank you :)

Hello Kittus. I might consider adding Key to the City because you're right unblockable really does help. On the other hand I don't think it's super efficient to have to pay the 2 mana to be able to draw a card as that mana should be used to cycle or play something, so I am kind of iffy on it. On the other hand, discarding something still triggers all the effects of my creatures so I think I would consider it.

When I first saw Abandoned Sarcophagus I thought it was something I would definitely to play turn 3 every game, but the more I playtest I do see that it would be something that could be used better late game, so I would consider getting rid of one or two of them. The thing is I just don't know what I would replace it with maybe some keys.

I think Claim // Fame is a cool card, but I don't think it would work too well in this deck. Claim can only hit 6 things in this deck, so I really don't think it would be worth it. If I had more cards with cmc 2 or less than I definitely would have included it.

I don't think I would add another color as the best cycling cards are in BU and I know discarding still activates most of my creatures, but I think it's strongest if the vast majority of cards have cycling in them so they can be brought back by the sarcophagus. Cycling is really strong because it lets you get rid of cards that aren't useful to you at the time and lets you draw another one to try and find something that is better in the current situation. If there were enough red cards that had cycling that helped me discard, I would definitely consider putting them in, but I don't feel like there are enough, so I personally would stick to BU.

If you have any more questions please ask away!

Okay Zooby9, thank you for your answers!Gonna have to playtest to see how it works.Looking forward to getting my hands on the cards this friday :p

Kittus, let me know what you figure out!

Zooby9 the problem with key to the city is with abandoned sarcophagus it'll just exile the cycle card.

Yeah Antwaan33 I would not use it now that I think about it because cycling is much more efficient mana wise too.

Yep exactly

Hi Zooby9! I have been playtesting a bit and the deck feels good :)

Playing vs midrangy creature based decks it has performed well for me, early blocking with some drakes to finish with the creatures in the graveyard. However I have found myself several times without cards in hand and praying to draw a card with cycling to keep fueling the game. I have cut Drake Haven down to 3 so I can play the 4th copy of Censor and also played with 2 Abandoned Sarcophagus to play 4 Fatal Pushes as I was playing vs a lot of creatures. What do you think about that?

Playing vs aggro (RB Hazoret/Madness) has been tougher. Losing too much life in early game (vs things as Scrapheap Scrounger or Bloodrage Brawler) and losing the game to some unblockable creature when I was starting to control the situation... I was thinking about taking in 2 more Vile Manifestation for the Archfiend of Ifnir in these matchups in order to have more early blocker, maybe some more removal would help.. I dunno. What would you do in these situations?

Thanks!

Kittus: I think playing an extra Censor and/or Fatal Push wouldn't be a bad thing. I have been playtesting myself and I will update the deck soon, but I also might consider including Yahenni's Expertises in order to wipe the board and be able to cast something for free.

I think putting in more Vile Manifestation might not be a bad idea. I don't know if I would necessarily take out the Archfiend of Ifnir since they are our best cycling payoff but maybe one of them and one Curator of Mysteries or something like that. You could probably put them in the sideboard instead of maybe the Scarab Feasts.

Okay Zooby9, Yahenni's Expertise sounds good, I will try the changes when you update the deck.

I also forgot to mention that I played with some Desert of the Mindful and Desert of the Glorified, and considered adding Hostile Desert as most of the times I was cycling them. Do you think it's a good idea or maybe the mana base becomes too slow?

Kittus, I am very conflicted about them because I do feel like I cycle into a lot of lands that I can't do anything with, but also a land coming in tapped is a disadvantage. I am going to do some testing with them but I think running two of each would be reasonable.

Yep Zooby9, gonna have to playtest more to get to the perfect mana base. Btw you added Desert of the Indomitable instead of Desert of the Glorified :p

Thanks Kittus I totally didn't realize that.

Any alternatives for Sunken Hollow? Or just add another swamp and island or Choked Estuary and Fetid Pool?