I don't recommend a set of that card, because it's too heavy on the mana. That, and to rely on Mirari for maximum effectivity isn't my best line of work in this game. I'd probably settle for 2 or 3 since the mana cost is too steep to utilize effectively.
IMO, you're better off with 4 Shriekmaws.
My FF.net accountWell, I mostly run blue. So, counterspells. Spot removals. They really do need 4 copies. Because I basically need it.
Anyway, I don't know. 5 to cast. That's a bit costly. I would prefer Faceless Butcher. They, at least, get a pump from Chainer.
Oh, and I think you can stand to lose Night of Soul's Betrayal.
edited 23rd Feb '10 9:57:02 PM by catch_the_sun
My troper wall's now my troper page, yay! Come to IJBMI mostly run W/G/R. Anyway, I say take Sadistic Sacraments, Swallowing Plague, and Night of Soul's Betrayal out.
I'm sorry, but I dislike having only one copy of a card in my deck unless it's Legendary.
My FF.net accountIt's too mana heavy, and Night of Soul's Betrayal is too... I dunno, negligible compared to its cost?
I mean, why bother with -1/-1'ing all creatures when you can raep his ass with creatures with Fear? I say you put in cards to pump up your creatures *cough* Bad Moon *cough*
My FF.net accountThe biggest thing you can do to smooth the deck out overall is to commit more heavily one way or the other towards aggro or control. Right now you've got a lot of very expensive creatures and spells that will only be useful if the game runs relatively long, but then you've also got Child of Night and Mesmeric Fiend, which are both at their strongest on turn 2 and then tend to rapidly decline in value. Assuming you want to stick with nightmares and lifegain as subthemes, I'd recommend replacing them with more copies of Faceless Butcher, Tendrils of Corruption, and Consume Spirit (especially if you can find some more Cabal Coffers to power it up.)
It looks like you'll presently end up struggling against decks that don't rely heavily on creatures, so you may also want to consider Duress
or some similar card against other control decks. Mind Sludge
can be also be devastating.
Decklist revised to reflect current changes. Removed both Children of Night, because they rarely end up being worth it. Might replace something with another Shriekmaw in the future.
EDIT: Dropped a Swamp and replaced a Mesmeric Fiend with another Shriekmaw.
edited 23rd Feb '10 11:12:11 PM by Blackmoon
In terms of multiples, Moonie-kun, a common rule of thumb is:
- 4 if you would like to see the card more than once during the game
- 3 if you would like to see the card during the game
- 2 if you would like the card for the endgame
- 1...just don't (see below)
If you're just building a deck with what you have on hand, you often can't use as many as is recommended, but you should never voluntarily go fewer than the appropriate category unless you have some way to fetch up the cards you need.
I personally hate following the guideline since I really like having a lot of variety, but not doing so is bad news against anyone who's a bit more on the competitive side.
I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.Duly noted, again.
Thankfully, in my circle there's only one competetive guy, and nobody likes him. And out of all the people there, maybe two of them run a control deck besides myself, and that's considering this to be a very loose form of control.
I think I should be in the clear with this for the time being.
My ELVES! deck runs on something like this:
- 18 Forests
- 4 Nettle Sentinel
- 4 Imperious Perfect
- 4 Heritage Druid
- 4 Bramblewood Paragon
- 3 Overrun
- 3 Elvish Promenade
- 4 Hunting Triad
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 3 Essence Warden
- 3 Snakeform
- 2 Gaea's Anthem
- 4 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
Total: 60 cards.
Best game I had with this was a turn-3 kill. Most overkill I ever had was 33 5/5 tokens with trample.
edited 24th Feb '10 12:03:04 AM by Mapi
My FF.net accountHm. 'Nother question: this different deck I'm working on is sorta weird. It's red/black, with a focus on Demons, so it's almost 100% creatures. There's only a handful of sorceries and instants, but what I want is to put in some more enchantments to slow everyone else down. All I've got right now is Pyrostatic Pillar
, 2 Glooms
, and a Yawgmoth's Edict
. Now, obviously, this is all well and good versus weenie decks and white decks, but I need some stuff that hates on the other parts of the color pie, too. Especially green. Suggestions?
Well, if you want a card that tends to slow Green down, you can't do much better than Perish
. Still, I wouldn't recommend playing a bunch of different color-hosers as a strategy - against any given opponent, most of them will be useless. Also, I suspect you'll find that Pyrostatic Pillar is not that good at slowing down aggressive decks - they know you're not going to start threatening their life total until the late game, so they'll gladly take 2 damage a bunch of times en route to running you over. At least, a competent opponent will.
If you're in Black/Red and want to slow down the early rush, I'd recommend Pyroclasm
, Massacre
, Pestilence
and similar cards, in addition to targeted removal like Terminate
for the tougher creatures. If your deck is mostly demons, most of your creatures will likely be tough enough to survive small amounts of damage and -X/-X effects.
edited 24th Feb '10 5:34:09 PM by arimnaes
By the way, arim, do you realise half of your links don't quite work?
Or maybe it's just a server thing. Except you can still search for them. Weird.
EDIT: Anyway, how common is regen nowadays? I think artifacts are becoming more and more common (Thank you, Mirrodin.). So that might justify replacing Terror with Doom Blade.
edited 24th Feb '10 4:54:00 PM by catch_the_sun
My troper wall's now my troper page, yay! Come to IJBMWe both lack a new land that does:
"T: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control that came into play this turn."
Forgot its name.
My FF.net accountHere, my Just for Fun Elf deck. Assembled with whatever (cheap) cards I could find in the card store * at the time I decided to whip up such a deck.
13 Forests
2 Swamps
2 Greenseeker
4 Elven Riders
1 Elvish Herder
2 Nullmage Shepherd
3 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Silhana Starfletcher
3 Stonewood Invoker
4 Timberwatch Elf
1 Wellwisher
3 Wirewood Guardian
3 Wirewood Herald
2 Viridian Longbow
2 Broken Fall
4 Elvish Guidance
4 Wear Away
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Fireball
60 cards. 15 lands, 30 creatures, 14 other cards... ... ...hey, that's only 59? What's the missing card and where did it go?
This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

I usually run 4 copies of a card in my deck. Hey, it helps to maximise the odds.
edited 23rd Feb '10 9:50:13 PM by catch_the_sun
My troper wall's now my troper page, yay! Come to IJBM