Master of Cruelties "finishers"
Standard forum
Posted on July 15, 2013, 9:39 a.m. by harrydemon117
Obviously burn spells are the first thing that pops in people's heads when they think of him, but I am curious to see where other people have gone with it...
An idea I've had was using Dimir Keyrune but I don't know if it would be wise to replace my Rakdos Keyrune in my Grixis Control build or not.
What other ways have people tested and succeeded with using Master of Cruelties ?
actiontech says... #3
I use Staff of Nin in mine because I also run Sire Of Insanity so the card advantage + finisher ping combo nicely.
July 15, 2013 9:48 a.m.
Any form of extort would seem to work with it as well.
In a sealed event, someone tried to combo Master of Cruelties with Havoc Festival against me. It didn't work against my deck, but I guess it did against others since we were both 2-0 at the time.
July 15, 2013 9:53 a.m.
Rix Maadi Guildmage , because setting a life total technically means gaining/losing the amount of life necessary to put you there.
July 15, 2013 9:55 a.m.
You could even just use Stensia Bloodhall and be done with it. No need to devote nonland card slots.
July 15, 2013 11:15 a.m.
Smith_and_Tonic says... #8
Bump in the Night . 1 mana, target player loses the game.
July 15, 2013 11:25 a.m.
i use the above mentioned Staff of Nin and maybe the new chandra when its released but not sure bout that yet.
July 15, 2013 11:54 a.m.
harrydemon117 says... #10
@ Sagi007 & actiontech I have tried the Staff of Nin thing and it just seemed too much mana if I didn't have a Master of Cruelties in play. Against the really aggressive decks it was hard to justify leaving it in. Have you guys tested your builds vs Naya Blitz or even Bant Auras? I usually ended up sideboarding it out. In fact, I updated my list to replace it with a Rakdos Keyrune but I'm thinking Dimir Keyrune would be better due to unblockable.
@Krayhaft I have one in my Grixis Control build :) Even if I don't have Master of Cruelties out I can use it EOT (opponent's) paired with Vampire Nighthawk to bring them down.
I see people are suggesting things that COULD work with it...have you all TESTED these at an FNM or similar tournament structure?
July 16, 2013 8:15 a.m.
he is more of a control tipe of deck. where you can deal direct damage. i like to make him unblockable and hit the head for 2 with pillars or whatever you have in hand. snapcaster works good for that
July 16, 2013 9:15 a.m.
actiontech says... #12
I have tested Staff of Nin and it does work, more than one time I have attacked with the master, get through and drop him to 1 life (I run Rogue's Passage ), THEN played the staff and tap ftw, sometimes on the same turn sometimes the following turn. You're always going to have a tough time against naya blitz though, that's just a fact. I'd look at things like Mutilate for that matchup, along side Dreadbore , Human Frailty , Ultimate Price , and Victim of Night . Sometimes the other guy draws the nuts and you'll be hosed no matter what though. There's a reason naya aggro decks are so popular; they win a lot.
July 16, 2013 9:31 a.m.
11 mana available to use passage and cast the staff seems a bit unrealistic; you could go grixis and run things like Bump in the Night , that could work. You could also run Jund with Zhur-Taa Druid and all the kill/burn spells in the world
July 16, 2013 9:36 a.m.
actiontech says... #14
I run Crypt Ghast so it's possible, but more often I've played enough kill spells that his board is clear and I can attack freely, then cast the staff.
July 16, 2013 9:39 a.m.
harrydemon117 says... #15
Let me clarify a few things to make things simpler:
1) I run Grixis Control and he is ONE of my win cons (as a 2 of)...i have other win cons as well.
2) I run some burn spells as removal (Pillar of Flame , Annihilating Fire ) so these are already "good" ways to finish things off...i also have Snapcaster Mage to flash them back if need be. In a way, Rakdos's Return can be used for the last damage as well, but it's mostly for midrange decks
3) Here is my list so you guys can see what I'm referring to: Grixis Bolas
4) As you can see from the decklist, I run R/B/U (Grixis colors) so anything that uses Green/White is out
Goody says... #2
Zhur-Taa Druid and Lobber Crew come to mind, though there is also Blood Artist and a lot more stuff
July 15, 2013 9:46 a.m.