Advice on lifegain + sanguine bond deck?
Deck Help forum
Posted on July 30, 2013, 7:21 p.m. by actiontech
Okay, so I already figure Obzedat, Ghost Council would be nice in here but I don't currently own any. So I'm just looking for any other ideas about how to make this deck better for this coming FNM. I'm hoping to surprise some people. My meta is about 75% gruul/rakdos agro and the other 25% a mish-mash of reanimator or USA control.
My deck: Gain 'n Drain 2.0
Looking forward to constructive input - thanks!
Slycne Unburial Rites really wouldn't work in that deck as it doesn't have dig spells.
July 30, 2013 8:30 p.m.
Demarge I disagree. Reanimator digs because it tries to take advantage of powerful interactions like Unburial Rites a Angel of Serenity on Turn 4, while still pulling in enough lands to potentially hard cast it as well.
Right now, there is virtually no deck in standard that can lock up a board without removing creatures. You're either going to trade them off with aggro, or get them killed against mid-range and control. You're going to have targets in the graveyard regardless.
Heck, playing them game 1 to only side them out for more relevant cards sounds like a great sneaky plan for tricking folks into bringing in dead graveyard hate cards against you.
July 30, 2013 8:46 p.m.
So you're wanting to use a card that's more likely going to be dead in your hand than usual in a format where the card will already be hurting due to Scavenging Ooze ?
July 30, 2013 8:50 p.m.
Over Sanguine Bond , yes.
The upsides in the match-ups where Unburial Rites would be most valuable to the deck, grindy mid-range and control fights, is worth a small amount of risk. Plenty of decks are forced to run dead cards in order to shore up their % against specific match-ups. This deck has an awesome game 1 against aggro, I don't think it needs anything to improve that, but other than some resilient creatures it's not mainboarding a lot of cards that are great in against mid-range and control decks.
We're not talking about an obscure card that only works as a combo piece under certain conditions, creatures die. And Scavenging Ooze is being mainboarded in maybe 20-30% of the field, probably even less so at FNM level events.
Though I will concede that a repeatable source of advantage like a planeswalker is likely the safer option. The OP mentioned he/she didn't have Obzedat, Ghost Council so I took that as meaning buying was tight at the moment and went for a cheaper but similar effect.
July 30, 2013 9:18 p.m.
actiontech says... #7
Nah, I can afford the cards just don't want to spend more right now as I just opened 4 boxes of M14.
Slycne says... #2
Honestly, I would just run 3 Unburial Rites for value over the Sanguine Bond . I know that's the central premise for the deck, but hear me out for a second. Your otherwise Junk Midrange deck should be pretty strong against most aggro decks, once you've gotten bigger than them or gained enough life the game is basically over. Comboing out with Sanguine Bond isn't needed and that card will only hurt you in those match-ups when you need another blocker.
Also it will be the other control and midrange decks that you need to be prepared for. Those are typically attrition wars, as both decks play a lot of removal, so not a lot of your pieces will be on the board. Tapping out to land Sanguine Bond just gives them breathing room, where as say playing Thragtusk a 3rd time with Unburial Rites is a lot of pressure for them to deal with.
July 30, 2013 7:40 p.m.