Which card should I use? (std. Grixis control)
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 7, 2013, 4:29 a.m. by Beetall
Hey guys, I have a couple cards I'm struggling on deciding for, and I'd like some opinions.
First off, here's my deck
I Am Control, No Way You Can Chain Me
Currently, I'm running 3x Pack Rat , 3x Hero's Downfall , but I am very uncertain about them.
With pack rat, he can be an aggressive all-out finisher, but he will often be blown out by removal and then out-paced by large creatures. For hero's downfall, it is a 3-drop answer anything, but it costs double black in a 3-color deck.
The alternatives that come to mind for each are as follows...
For the 2-drop spot, the options are ---
Omenspeaker = Card-fixing, similar wall to frostburn
Frostburn Weird = Omenspeaker without scry but has a lot more power to make up for it. (can trade with 2/2's and can be a threat on its own)
Pack Rat = An all-in win condition that relies heavily on opponents not running board-wipes. (currently I plan on running him as a 1-2 of in the sideboard...)
SO the current plan is to mainboard 3x frostburn and side in 1-2 pack rats after boardwipes (e.g. verdict/anger) are sided out against me and then to overwhelm them, but I'm not sold on that plan... Your thoughts on the approach, and do you have any other ideas I could try?
For the removal slot, I currently main 3x Hero's Downfall , but the prospect of missing that 2nd black source is always frightening. The obvious 2nd pick would be Dreadbore which is easier to cast, but it messes up our instants on opponent's turn strategy... My final choice would be Doom Blade which gives us the instant-speed kill a threat card without double black, but it leaves the obvious weakness of 'can't hit obzedat or planeswalkers'...
I like the downfall, but I can't decide if I should run dreadbore first, since Obzedat, Ghost Council is such a threat right now and immune to sorcery removal.
Nigeltastic says... #2
Without looking at your deck (yet), my initial feeling is thus: Pack Rat gives you the option to race someone down early game if they're a slower deck (midrange or control), and can be a very scary threat to deal with when you pitch a few cards and suddenly they're 4/4 packrats swinging at you. The key to Pack Rat is knowing when to use them to rush and when to just apply some pressure with 2-3 of them. If you don't throw away too many cards, they become a great thing in that your opponent just trashed a Supreme Verdict on a 2 drop rat and a few tokens, leaving your bigger threats with that much more probability to survive. I personally think they represent a better threat than Omenspeaker or Frostburn Weird , although they take more decision making than either.
As for removal, Hero's Downfall is arguably the best removal in the format currently, and I would say paying the extra black for it is worth it. I would vote for Dreadbore second simply because personally I am terrified of sitting down to play a match and any of the various big black creatures coming out (Desecration Demon ,Obzedat, Ghost Council , etc) and stomping my face as Doom Blade sits in my hand useless. I guess it depends on where you're playing, but I feel like black is a strong enough color currently that enough people will be playing threats with black in them, making Doom Blade less good than it could be. My vote would definitely be for Hero's Downfall as it deals with fatties like Obzedat, Ghost Council and turn 4 Desecration Demon who would otherwise stomp you to a pulp.
November 7, 2013 9:54 a.m.