Big Game Hunter vs. Nightshade Assasin?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 10, 2014, 6:50 p.m. by aFriendlyAlly
I'm working on improving my madness/self discard deck and I'm wondering which one is better. Nightshade Assassin or Big Game Hunter . I know they don't do the same thing, however which one would be more useful in most cases? For reference for Nightshade, the deck is about 50% black.
Gidgetimer says... #3
For the original question It depends on what type of decks you are running it against. Figuring 6 cards in hand after playing the Nightshade Assassin
and 20 lands in a 60 card deck you can expect 2 lands, 2 black cards and 2 of your other half color. This means that at most I would count on Nightshade Assassin
for is -2/-2. Would it be more helpful to kill things with power 4 or greater or toughness 2 or less? My instinct is Big Game Hunter
is the better choice.
As for your second question, it is hard to say but I would figure the Putrid Imp
since he is cheaper and his ability makes hm more useful as opposed to less.
January 10, 2014 7:05 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #4
Yeah I see how Big Game is probably more useful for killing. However at the same time, Assassin is still a 2/1 first strike. As for putrid, I don't really care for the -2/0 effect due to the fact that I'll be using it to flash in creatures with madness on the opponents turn. Pretty much I'm just asking if the extra 1 mana worth +2/0 and permanent flying.
January 10, 2014 7:15 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
It is hard to say without seeing the entire deck. There are questions like What is the MAIN purpose of the Hunter / Assassin removal or beater? Are the imp and fairy ever going to be in combat or will there be enough stuff around there is no need? Will you ever have cause to use the discard abilities on your turn? How fast is the deck as a whole? What is the major goal of the deck? and so on.
January 10, 2014 7:24 p.m.
3x Big Game Hunter
1-2x Nightshade Assassin
Compromise, similar goes for the second question but I do feel Putrid Imp
is the more consistent of the 2, but Prowler does offer more power. For your opponent to lose some of their hand power, with the other side of that coin being that their dead draws aren't as dead now.
January 10, 2014 7:27 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #7
Well the deck is really in the testing phase as I've been working on it a lot lately. I started the deck in Ravnica with hellbent (worst mechanic ever) and then bought the Madness one in Planar Chaos and kind of merged them. So I don't actually have many of the cards I'm planning on adding since I haven't used the deck in a while. I don't expect the deck to be amazing as I play casually. As for the current speed: dreadfully slow. I'm really trying to make it work since it was the first deck I bought, and it's extremely fun to play. but the card choices are just too limited if I use black/red instead of blue/green.
The deck right now seems to play out with trying to get out creatures for lower costs like Reckless Wurm being the main creature along with using madness kill spells such as Fiery Temper and Lightning Axe . However I'm really limited in choices because I'm trying to keep the theme of the deck and sadly Return to Ravnica added almost nothing useful except Sire Of Insanity . The imp/fairy would act as one of my 0 cost discard outlets along with attacking, making fairy more appealing.
So most of this will really just be decided through playtesting, however I'm just trying to get some initial opinions on the card choices.
January 10, 2014 7:37 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #8
Heres my current list, however it's nowhere near what I'm planning on building when it's finished. Removal may be a bit high.
January 10, 2014 7:46 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #9
Ok if the discard outlet is ever going to swing I would suggest the fairy. I would encourage you to consider Lightning Bolt
instead of Fiery Temper
since you don't need a discard outlet to play Lightning Bolt
for 1. But I understand if you want to make the deck weaker to stick with the theme sometimes how the deck is built is more the focus than how the deck operates.
I like the Big Game Hunter
even more now that you said your deck is slow so his ability is even more relevant. Past about turn 3 or 4 both of the bodies are just going to be chump blockers or extra damage for value and not really an integral part of the wincon. If your deck is "dreadfully slow" I can only imagine turn 10 or later wins so 2/3 of your time is going to be spent past turn 3.
January 10, 2014 7:50 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #10
Fiery temper actually is usually going to be better than the normal lightning bolt in most cases later in the game. And usually I will have at least one discard outlet (once I decide on Imp or Fairy). With Zombie Infestation and Lightning Axe , you usually are able to actually benefit from discarding it instead.
Well the longer the game goes with the deck usually, the harder it becomes to win. I want to make it faster, however I don't think it's possible. So my best bet is probably running a large amount of removal and then throw down creatures to win. It really still depends opposing deck, but both did end up as chump blockers with the deck.
The deck can definitely get a huge power spike from green, using Wild Mongrel and Lotleth Troll , but then I would have to remove a color or drop over 50$ for the lands to make it tri colored.
January 10, 2014 7:59 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #11
Ok never mind what I said about Lightning Bolt . I forgot that Pack Rat was a thing I would go for about 12-16 low madness cost things (1-2 cmc madnesses) and just use Pack Rat as the main win con and discard engine.
January 10, 2014 8:02 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #12
I might try that, however that route will really just be relying on pack rat alone, and 10 trash and maybe 4 decent madness cards. It will probably much more consistent, although I'll lose the real madness part of creatures (since theres really only big game hunter at 1 CMC and many of the 2 CMC ones aren't worth running), and the ability to just flash in a 4/4 when they attack.
I have 2 pack rats at the moment in the deck as more of an alternate win condition to discard cards even if I can't afford their madness, and get them back with Grave Scrabbler .
Pack Rat would just make it a pack rat deck with 10 removal spells, and I don't think thats where I'm aiming towards right now, however I probably will make one in the future utilizing cards like Bloodghast . Thanks for the suggestion.
aFriendlyAlly says... #2
Also, any opinions on Putrid Imp vs. Oona's Prowler as a discard source is appreciated.
January 10, 2014 6:54 p.m.