Is Desecration Demon Any Good?
Deck Help forum
Posted on March 31, 2013, 1:45 p.m. by Taytora
Is Desecration Demon
any good? I'm considering putting him in my deck (Dead Life (Orzhov) -Help Get Ready For FNM Please!. Obviously he's great being a 6/6 for 4 cmc, but will the sac a creature thing become an issue?
Thanks for the input!
I'm not a fan of it at all. I've seen too many games lost where any other decently sized creature would have won or stabilized their board. Tokens are not overly popular, but a lot of decks are running mana dorks and Burning-Tree Emissary strategies, so having a few extraneous creatures on hand to manipulate your board is usually not a big issue.
Luckily you have the option of the other 6/6 for 4 with Alms Beast . Them gaining a few life is pretty much ignorable when you're swinging with big threats, and Desecration Demon might as well have not had flying given that anything can effectively block it.
March 31, 2013 2:05 p.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #4
I run Demon in my Exalted deck, and when he hits the board is a pretty big threat. I am the Chosen One is the deck, and I"ve had success with him
March 31, 2013 2:08 p.m.
ShadowLand says... #5
I don't like it simply for the fact that it can be tapped during EACH battle phase, I mean sure it's gaining a +1/+1 every time they sac and tap, but unless you are running something like Captain of the Mists where you could drop a human that has flash to untap it, it could potentially be blocked every turn and just be an unusable giant.
March 31, 2013 2:10 p.m.
So perhaps not the best fit for my deck then?
I have considered Alms Beast
, but without something such a doublestrike (Silverblade Paladin
), I'm not sure he's worth it given my opponent's life gain off of him.
March 31, 2013 2:22 p.m.
ShadowLand says... #7
I would definitely no for the Desecration Demon , as far as Alms Beast goes, I can see both pros and cons to using it, but it doesn't really seem to fit with what you are going for.
March 31, 2013 2:27 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #8
I used him in my sacrifice deck, Blood of the Night, but when I updated it to Blood of the Night v2, he was taken out.
I can tell you where he's good and where he's not.
In a Blood Artist deck you benefit more from them sacrificing. Same in a Thraximundar deck or Kresh the Bloodbraided deck. Whenever you benefit from a creature dying, you might want to consider Desecration Demon . While they're sacrificing to keep him down, you can use removal to get rid of the rest of their creatures so it's hard for them to deal with it. Now you have a 6/6+counters body that you can swing with unblocked. That's when it's decent to good. It's not an amazing card, but it provides a nice creature destruction outlet.
It is litterally an utter piece of shit in Aggro decks that don't have some card that benefits from death, and most other decks.
Hope this helps.
March 31, 2013 2:32 p.m.
In many ways, life is simultaneous the most and least important resource in magic. Already in your board for instance your happy to trade your life total for removal or card draw Sign in Blood and Orzhov Charm . And one of the best pieces of removal ever printed was Swords to Plowshares , heck I'm watching an open series right now and seeing Luminate Primordial being played at the professional level. Likewise, this is why everyone will quickly tell you that running cards like Heroes' Reunion is bad, exchanging a card for life puts you behind in the long run.
Your high-end threats are big enough that any life your opponent gained will be quickly knocked back down.
The big question to answer would be what are you bringing Alms Beast or Desecration Demon in for. You're already pretty decently set against aggro, I would be looking for more threats against other decks. You removed one of them a while ago, but it might be worth taking a second look at a card draw engines like Staff of Nin or Underworld Connections for those grindy control matches.
March 31, 2013 2:41 p.m.
Cobthecobbler: Thanks for the laid out deets!
Slycne: Hmm...I suppose you are correct. It's not the aggro that seems to be an issue right now; it's the control as you mention. Sign in Blood
has been a great card draw addition to my deck (Staff of Nin
, which did use to be there, was just too slow). I normally SB in Nevermore
and Duress
but could still use a leg up on control -an issue has been board clearing. Rather than focus on Alms Beast
vs. Desecration Demon
, it may be better to focus on stopping control like you mention. I don't think Underworld Connections
would be good since I typically use all the mana I have for much of the match (unless flooding occurs of course). -Unless that card is suppose to be played later game when I'm drawing blank, rather than earlier on?
Are their better cards for stopping/combating control? (possibly considering Unburial Rites , Undying Evil , or Gravepurge )
March 31, 2013 3:19 p.m.
I have found that in midrange-long games, Desecration Demon can be a game ender where your opponent isn't running many creatures (9-15 creatures total) swinging for 6+ in the air, however vs. Aggro (RDW, Naya Humans, Jund Zombies etc.) or other creature based decks where they run 20+ more likely than not, they will sac to tap it and still be able to swing for 8+ damage. It is a very conditional card and if it is run mainboard, have a backup plan to side it out against aggro.
March 31, 2013 3:40 p.m.
detentionsphere says... #12
As has been said before, Alms Beast is way better. Demon is decent against midrange/control, but against aggro, by turn four, they will easily be able to sac a guy and alpha strike past you. Also, Junk Rites is currently the "best deck", and they run 4 Lingering Souls . If you are expecting a meta of mostly Jund Midrange and Esper/Bant control, he's fine, but otherwise he sucks.
March 31, 2013 4:16 p.m.
Taytora For the mid-range vs control match-ups some cards are obviously going to be more useful than others, but at the end of the day it's all about density of threats, exchanging resources and card advantage. The control deck wants to run the game long to find their win-con, and the mid-range deck wants to run them out of answers and stick a threat to the board that they have trouble interacting with, Obzedat, Ghost Council , planeswalkers or Angel of Serenity (brings back 3 more if it's removed) for your deck.
So it's less about any single card but more just finding all your good cards against them and running them out of answers, hence why repeatable card draw or planewalkers can be so good against them as they represent more than just a single card of value.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #2
I think he's pretty good in a deck with lots of removal and Exalted. I'm sure you shouldn't worry too much about them continuously sacrificing creatures unless they run tokens.
March 31, 2013 1:50 p.m.