Thursday, March 31, 2011

Black/Red Card Advantage Control Magic the Gathering Deck w/ Sarkhan, the Mad

Recently I have been considering the viability of a red/black control or midrange deck that focuses on card advantage. There are a lot of two for one type cards in these colors and perhaps putting together the right mix of them could be an effective strategy. I start my analysis of this potential archetype by considering which cards in these colors in the current standard format would be good for this deck at different casting costs.

1 Mana: The main things available here are hand disruption
2 Mana:
  • Vampire Hexmage - The main purpose of this card would be to kill planeswalkers, but it is also pretty effective against aggro decks as it can kill most early threats without dying itself. This card can also be good against proliferate effects as you can remove all the counters from tumble magnet so they cannot proliferate anymore.
  • Sign in Blood - This is a fairly efficient card drawing card, that is even better than usual if you end up playing against any infect decks. It can even be used as a finisher if needed.
  • Arc Trail - Like forked bolt, this can be an effect two for one against many decks, but has the same sorcery downside. Specifically Arc Trail can take out a Stoneforge Mystic and a squadron hawk in one go (assuming neither one is equipped).
  • Necropede/Perilous Myr - These cards are fairly similar in function during early combat. They can trade in combat and usually kill another creature, making attacking unprofitable for your aggressive opponent. Also if they are burned away to make you open for attack, you still get to kill one of their creatures. The colorless aspect is good due to protection from black or from red which are somewhat prevalent with Kor Firewalker, Sword of Feast and Famine, Phyrexian Crusader, and Mirran Crusader.
  • Mortarpod - I keep thinking this card looks terrible every time I read it but whenever I see it played it seems pretty sweet. It can serve as a chump blocker that can then kill another of their creatures. It can also be used as a sacrifice outlet for your Abyssal Persecutor.
  • Marsh Casualties - Most times I have played this card it has been a blowout, but it is more of a sideboard card because against a lot of decks it will be worthless.
  • Go for the Throat/Doom Blade - It is kind of hard to say which of these is better because they are practically the same and are both solid spot removal spells. In this deck Go for the Throat is going to be better as it will kill your Abyssal Persecutor if you need it to.
  • Pyroclasm - This kills more stuff than an unkicked marsh casualties but it will kill all of your three drops. A second term pyroclasm will be good against some aggro decks.
3 Mana: The three mana spot is where most of your card advantage cards come in.
  • Gatekeeper of Malakir - While technically a two-drop, this is gonna be a three in pretty much every situation. If your opponent plays any creatures, this card is going to a sweet two for one.  It also has the advantage of being able to kill creatures with protection from black as the sacrifice effect targets the player and not the creature.
  • Phyrexian Rager - Basically an Elvish Visionary with a bigger body and a higher casting cost. This makes him decent in combat as well as replacing himself which makes him pretty good in terms of card advantage.
  • Liliana's Specter - Kind of like the Phyrexian Rager. I can't decide whether drawing a card is better or worse than having your opponent discard a card. The flying is relevant as it can trade with squadron hawk and inkmoth nexus, although the spectrer is easier to kill than the rager as it only has one toughness. Also the specter doesn't cost you a life. It is kind of a toss-up between these two.
  • Mind Rot - Blightning was a huge card in standard during Alara block, mostly because you could cascade into it with a Bloodbraid Elf. Mind rot is pretty much a Blightning with an easier casting cost and no damage. It is a two for oe still and will be pretty good against a lot of decks.
  • Manic Vandal - I am not too sure about this card. It is certainly not worth maindecking. It is good for taking out your opponents Sword of Feast and Famine, but other than that it has a pretty limited use. It might be good against tumble magnet.
  • Staggershock - Another card along the lines of forked bolt and arc trail, although perhaps a little better considering the instant speed. The casting cost is a little high.
  • Mimic Vat - I have never played with or against this card so I don't really know whether or not it is good. In connection with rager/spectre it can be pretty good. 
  • Sadistic Sacrament -  I am not a huge fan of this card as it does nothing to advance your board presence but it can be good against certain decks that have few answers to your deck.
4 Mana:
  • Abyssal Persecutor - This card is a beating but with a major downside that you can't win the game while it is in play. I think we can have enough ways to kill it in our deck that it shouldn't be too much of a liability.
  • Bonehoard -  This card can be a pretty sweet creature if your opponent is playing enough creatures, and you draw enough removal. I don't think this deck will play enough creatures to make this good even if your opponents aren't playing a creature based strategy.
  • Memoricide - See Sadistic Sacrament
  • Dark Tutelage - The extra card draw could be pretty sweet out of the board against infect.
5 Mana:
  • Sarkhan, the Mad - This planeswalker has some great synergy with other elements of our deck. All of our three drops are basically Gray Ogres after they resolve so it is not much of a loss to sacrifice them for a dragon. Sarkhan also offers us another way to kill our persecutor. The card drawing might be good in this deck as well.
  • Hoarding Dragon - This card is a possibility but probably doesn't fit in this deck. It can grab an artifact 6 drop and it is a dragon so it offers a bit of synergy with Sarkhan.
  • Precursor Golem - A lot of power for 5 mana. Good Synergy with Sarkhan.
6 Mana: 
  • Wurmcoil Engine - 6/6 Lifelink/Deathtouch is sweet. Replacing itself with two more creatures when it dies is sweet. This card has some good card advantage potential.
  • Steel Hellkite - Steel Hellkite doesn't see any play in standard but I think it could be pretty good. A one sided ratchet bomb every time it hits is pretty legit.
  • Grave Titan - This guy can make lots of little dudes to sacrifice to Mortarpod or Sarkhan
  • Inferno Titan - This guy can kill lots of little dudes every turn. 
Lands: It doesn't look like we are playing very much red so aside from dual lands we probably want all swamps
That is all the cards I can think of at the moment for this archetype. Here is a tentative list. I will post an update once I have a chance to do some testing.

4 - Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 - Liliana's Specter
3 - Abyssal Persecutor
2 - Steel Hellkite

3 - Sarkhan, the Mad

4 - Mind Rot
4 - Inquisition of Kozilek
4 - Go for the Throat
4 - Lightning Bolt
4 - Sign in Blood

4 - Blackcleave Cliffs
4 - Dragonskull Summit
4 - Lavaclaw Reaches
12 - Swamp

Sideboard:
4 - Phyrexian Rager
4 - Pyroclasm
2 - Wurmcoil Engine

3 - Duress
2 - Memoricide

This deck certainly needs some testing and tweaking. Comment if you have any suggestions, thanks.
      Posted by Owen Johnston at 6:59 AM 0 comments
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