I like this deck, Steve, but why the Lone Missionary instead of, say, Phyrexian Rager? The lifeloss seems less important when you have Resolute Archangel and Baneslayer Angel, with a lot of ways to get them out, and drawing a card is going to be a lot better to Cloudshift and flash than gaining 4 life. It's also a bigger body to get an Undying counter on.

Almost identical to one of mine...Only difference is I put in 3 more lands and didn't utilize tormented Hero...I'll be changing that. thanks.

Agent is a great card that too many ignore. I've also considered 2 x Undying for this.

Good point - I never actually considered that before. I suppose a drawback is that it costs 3 mana, and I'm a little crowded at that spot, and want a bit more early defence (in terms of a 2 mana creature, and also the lifegain) I also already have card draw with the Walls.

I'll look into playtesting it though and see how I go. It may make the cut!

[1v1] "Leviticus"
A library for the Leviticus deck (Leviticus)
60 Cards. 35 nonlands (16 creatures, 19 spells). 25 Lands (10 6).

Creature
-- 3x Ajani's Pridemate
-- 4x Lone Missionary
-- 3x Vizkopa Guildmage

-- 3x Banisher Priest
-- 2x Rhox Faithmender

-- 1x Baneslayer Angel

Spell
-- 3x Elixir of Immortality
-- 3x Ulcerate

-- 3x Tribute to Hunger
-- 3x Angelic Accord

-- 3x Meditation Puzzle

-- 2x Suffer the Past

Land
-- 4x Orzhov Guildgate
-- 3x Radiant Fountain

EDIT: Changed around some numbers.

**4-1 with this list.
Rather similar to my other control lists. Bunch of Shocks/Dead Weights, and some bombs.
I tried to use Rotfeaster Maggot but I dunno. It doesn't often gain a lot of life. (often just 1 life) And it can't block fliers.

BW "Endbringer" (no premiums)
10 Swamp
9 Plains
4 Orzhov Guildgate
4 Travelers Amulet
-
4 Righteous Blow
4 Divine Verdict
1 Baneslayer Angel
2 Planar Cleansing
-
4 Dead Weight
3 Ulcerate
2 Cruel Sadist
4 Mind Rot
4 Rotfeaster Maggot
2 Indulgent Tormentor
2 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Griselbrand

the game I lost, opponent was running Triplicate Spirits (the best card in 2015 apparently) and Elder of Laurels.

I dunno why pretty much none of my decks run Triplicate. The card is always so good when played against me. When using a deck like this with no Sparkmage or Anger of the Gods, it basically bends over to Triplicate.

Light's Doom

Land
Orzhov Guildgate x4
Radiant Fountain x4
Plain x7
Swamp x7

Spells
Cloudshift x3
Ulcerate x3
Reprisal x3
Arrest x2
Tribute to Hunger x2
Solemn Offering x2
Angelic Accord x2
Sanguine Bond x2
Meditation Puzzle x2

Creatures
Wall of Omens x2
Lone Missionary x4
Vizkopa Guildmage x3
Rhox Faithmender x2
Graveborn Muse x2
Baneslayer Angel x1
Shadowborn Demon x1

Other
Elixir of Immortality x2

This deck has worked really really well. Many players of W/B use too many creatures. Most of my wins I never swing for damage once and can easily win by turn 6 or 7. Meditation Puzzle has been a champ for this deck and it usually my win card. I am considering dropping both Arrests for 2 more.

What I learned last night:

Orzhov is the absolute meanest archetype for 4FFA. Viskopa Guildmage, Rhoxfaithermender, and Meditation Puzzle suddenly swings every single player for 16 damage directly.

Wow.

Lol, I know what you mean. When we play our TNTs and are so use to 1v1 and all of a sudden get a card that says "all opponents" I am like "Oh wow! I didn't realize how much this rocks in 4 player FFAs!" You should join us sometime Over!

Sure thing! I've sent you an invite on Steam. Just hit me up sometime!

Essence Theft
Premium Deck


Land (24)
9 x Plains
9 x Swamp
4 x Orzhov Guildgate
2 x Radiant Fountain

White Cards (21)
3 x Wall of Omens
3 x Reprisal
4 x Lone Missionary
2 x Solemn Offering
2 x Rhox Faithmender
3 x Angelic Accord
1 x Baneslayer Angel
3 x Meditation Puzzle

Black Cards (11)
3 x Ulcerate
3 x Suffer the Past
2 x Indulgent Tormentor
2 x Sanguine Bond
1 x Griselbrand

Colorless Cards (1)
1 x Elixir of Immortality

Multicolor Cards (3)
3 x Vizkopa Guildmage

---

Information
Having a quick read through this thread before posting this deck list and I noticed it is pretty similar to what ManaFd is running. It runs in pretty much the same way too. I see most people running cards like Ajani's Pridemate and Ordeal of Heliod in their life pain decks. But for me, in testing, the aggro version wasn't aggro enough to keep up with the other aggro decks in the meta, so I went control. Like ManaFd, I find myself very rarely attacking with this deck, unless it's in the air with Angel tokens. Mostly win with Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage triggers.

Non-Premium Version
Without premiums you can replace Wall of Omens with another Elixir of Immortality and a couple of Giant Scorpions. The Scorpions will help you stall and the Elixir will add another life gain trigger and pseudo land thinning.
-3 Wall of Omens
+1 Elixir of Immortality
+2 Giant Scorpion

Edits
Edit 1: Added non-premium version.

If you pretend luck does not exist, you will forever be bad at this game. Magic is all about luck. The best players are those who know how to mitigate it.

You're both saying the same thing. Hakeem is probably saying that it isn't "luck", it's statistical variance, and GoldenVoid's "luck mitigation" is the exact same thing.

BW "Enter the Battlefield" deck. Not the usual Life/Death build but a build focusing on B/W creatures that have a cantrip effect when they enter play, and a bunch of ways to flash them into play repeatedly. Apologies if this has already been posted, the build is rather obvious and I didn't have time to read the entire thread.

NOTE: Deck was slightly modified after some feedback below

EtB Creatures

3 Lone Missionary (probably the weakest card here, replace with Gravedigger maybe?)
4 Liliana's Specter
4 Phyrexian Rager
3 Wall of Omens
3 Banisher Priest
2 Agent of the Fates
2 Rune-scarred Demon
1 Shadowborn Demon
22

Spells that "flash" our creatures to save them, boost them, and repeat their EtB effect

4 Cloudshift
4 Undying Evil
3 Rescue from the Underworld (will flash 2 creatures, so pretty good)
11

Too good not to run (but expendable if you dislike them)

2 Indulgent Tormentor
1 Baneslayer Angel
3

4 Orzhov Guildgate
11 Swamp
9 Plains
24

Mana Curve:
1cc: 8
2cc: 6
3cc: 13
4cc: 0 (NOTE: 0 cards at 4cc is actually a strength, as a powerful play is often to drop a 3cc creature with Cloudshift or Undying Evil in reserve)
5cc: 7
6+cc: 2

Note: I am aware that flashing Banisher Priest as he enters play (and while his ability is on the stack) does not deliver a double-whammy removal the way Fiend Hunter would, but he is still a great flash target. He's typically a high value target for the opponent to remove, and when you flash him you can sometimes nail a better target anyway. At the very least you mitigate the biggest drawback this card has: that the opponent can 2-for-1 you with a Shock as a combat trick when you're attacking.


TRICKS and COMBOS: sneaky things about the deck that might not be immediately obvious

1) Basic flash: Rather obviously, the deck's simplest trick is "flashing" one of the EtB creatures. All 11 of the flash cards are instant, so ideally you do this to save you creature from dying (e.g. block a big attacker with your Rager then cast Cloudshift on it, or cast Undying Evil on your Rager in response to an enemy Shock), but obviously you can do it any time if you are desperate. The flashed creature's "Enter the Battle" effect will go off a second time.

2) Moving on from the above, Rescue from the Underworld will "flash" TWO creatures: the one you sac and the one you rez. Remember they don't come back until your next upkeep, so you want to do this in your opponent's turn. Like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expects this. And since there is a high chance your rez target will be juicy (such as your Shadowborn Demon which you sacced to itself earlier), this play is extremely powerful.

3) Cast Cloudshift or Undying Evil on Agent of the Fates to make the opponent sac a creature at instant speed. Cloudshift on a tapped Agent when the opponent is making what he thinks is a safe attack will take out two enemy creatures.

4) Cast Undying Evil on the Shadowborn Demon at the start of your upkeep while his sacrifice effect is on the stack, then sac him to himself to kill 2 enemy creatures in total and keep your 5/6 flier in play an additional turn.

5) Shadowborn in play and Rune-scarred in the graveyard (or vice versa) is a surprisingly common situation for this deck. From here, casting Rescue from the Underworld on the Rune-scarred and saccing the Shadowborn will bring both back into play on your next upkeep, and you will not need to sac anything to the Shadowborn since the window for his sac trigger has passed by this time - and you will kill an additional enemy creature! The tutor effect from the Rune-scarred can then be used to fetch another Rescue. This means on your next upkeep you can sac whichever demon you like and repeat the process till you run out of Rescues.

6) Play Banisher Priests earlier than you might normally. If a better target to exile appears later in the game, or a creature gets a powerful enchantment put on it or whatever, you can simply flash the Banisher and exile the better target.

I was thinking the exact same thing Barney, lol.

If you don't believe in luck, you can't mitigate against it.

Call it luck or call it statistical variance. Even the most consistent decks get mana ****ed. I doubt anyone here thinks that there is some mystical being that gets in a bad mood and randomly mana screws people. It just happens.

@Goldenvoid:

Nice deck. With all those self target spells.. I would think Agent of the Fates would be a monster in your deck.. especially considering you have no removal except Banisher Priest (and Undying Evil, which is quasi removal).

Definitely going to try that, great idea. I think the Muses or Tormentors are the best cards to drop for it as they do not fit the deck's theme, and it already draws a ton of cards. btw deck just went 8-1 and the loss was to mana screw.

For the record, this suggestion has turned out pure gold. In play it gives the deck 13 removal spells, and Cloudshift on a tapped Agent when the opponent thinks he has a safe attack is just OP. So:

-2 Graveborn Muse
+2 Agent of the Fates

Just to get good old Orzhov back on the front page....Finally got round to building a Life/Death deck. Looking for advice on those that might now have been playing this decktype for some time and can see glaring ommisions:

4 Lone Missionary
3 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Wall of Omens
3 Vizkopa Guildmage
3 Phyrexian Rager
2 Graveborn Muse
2 Indulgent Tormentor
2 Rhox Faithmender
1 Shadowborn Demon
1 Baneslayer Angel
24

3 Ulcerate
3 Angelic Accord
3 Reprisal
2 Suffer the Past
1 Sanguine Bond
12

9 x Plains
9 x Swamp
4 x Orzhov Guildgate
2 x Radiant Fountain
24

The deck is aggro/combo as we all probably know so I added quite a bit of card draw (3 Walls, 3 Ragers, 2 Muses, 2 Tormentors). I like the removal package of 3 Ulcerates and 3 Reprisals. They are both pretty cheap, and whatever creatures the one spell cannot hit, the other covers. Not too sold on the Shadowborn Demon yet, but Tribute to Hunger was honestly useless. 2 Suffers in there as I have been meeting quite a bit of graveyard recursion decks/spiders, and they also kill the flashback cards used by Red/Blue Kiln Fiend decks.