edit: darn

Sorry for the long answer: tl;dr you're probably right on the money.

Here's the deal. Last weekend CGB hit me up for some games, and the goal was pretty simple: he's testing the META decks, I'm throwing a variety of solid ideas at him, and then we're discussing the results. This, like every other deck (except Mardu Allies) I posted after that day, was one of the successful decks against him (I think I brought about 10 new decks against him on Sunday, and this was one of them, maybe 6/7 made the cut). So I didn't put a whole lot of thought into this deck, but rather into the engine, and how to make sure the engine was as consistent as possible (hence the redundant copies of Vampiric Rites). It went 2-0 against CGB, I believe, and then I'm sad to admit, I haven't played it since - this is primarily because he and I both agree that the best version of this concept is either in Dimir or in Jund.

This means that you probably know it better than I do, and as such, I'm sure your ideas are good ones.

Regarding Bone Splinters - it absolutely belongs in the deck. I'm not sure what the cut is, but it made it into the Dimir version, and the Dimir version is basically made up of the best of what this deck should have been. In other words, there's definitely a way to fit it in here, because it fit in a version that added another color, lol. My only gripe against Bone Splinters - it doesn't hit any of the worst threats we currently face, and that's a serious downside. That said, we have sac creatures in here, so a well timed bone splinters means fleshbag can hit the big boys.

I was going for an ingest sub theme though, so if you cut some of that out to fit in Bone splinters you may want to think about removing blight herder as well. Basically, you either start cutting pieces of the engine, or you start removing things that act like lubricant in this deck, and I'm not sure where the breaking point will be (I should clarify what I mean here - you would know better than I on this subject).

On the subject of cutting Vampiric rites, I'm less certain. It's really important to the deck to see one. Two is too many, BUT you don't care, because that (most of the time) means the engine is running, and therefore you can draw half your deck, and no longer care about a dead draw or two. I'd keep all three in, and be willing to cut many other things before I'd consider dropping any copies of that card.

All of that said, I am 100% certain that you have more experience with this build than I do, so I'd be really interested in your take on the subject. I know the deck is good, but I am not aware of any of its subtleties, or flaws. So your insight is not only welcome, but greatly appreciated. Especially, if you can identify problems within the build. I will definitely take it for a spin again one day, so I'd love the extra leg up. :-)

Also, glad you like it man! Thanks

Now THAT is a late reply Sorry, DJ, kinda was on a long vacation! Now, finally got back to testing the deck.

Man, removing something for Splinters is a tough choice. This deck is like well-built and oiled mechanism with lots of gears – you can’t remove anything without harming or breaking it. Far too many times I wished I had Splinters in my hand but you really can’t take out anything for it! And I take back my words regarding the Vampiric Rites – despite running 3 copies I actually had more games without it in hand than with it, can you believe it? Next thing I wanted to try cutting were some drones or a Blight Herder but then I had 3 wins in a row with additional mana from scions, pumped Crawler or Husk. Sooo, as far as I’m concerned this build stays untouched till the next expansion, it’s too damn good as it is

Regarding the difficulties and problems – initially I expected to have more problems with aggro decks but was proved wrong – deck can overdamage them most of the time but has problems with sultai mill and GB/UB control decks. Some defeats were due to my own mistakes and misplays, but there were times when I felt that none of cards could help in this or that situation. Also, this deck is a champion of tight wins for me – I believe I had like a dozen of wins with 1 or 2 life left or situations where I’d be dead next turn if I fail at the present one. But this makes it even more fun to play for me, I love getting adrenaline from matches Also, this is not an easy deck to learn to play – you gotta make a lot of decisions regarding whom to sac and when. Do I keep this 1/1 to sac to Husk later or do I pump it now? Sac a creature now to flip a Lily or wait for a more stable situation? One mistake could ruin it all, so you really have to think over your decisions, that’s not some gruul monsters or boros auras.

Lastly, a few words regarding the choice of lands and mulliganing. I love your choice of non-basic lands: Rogue Passages allow one-turn kills with Husks, Foundries provide fuel for Abomination and Vampiric Rites and – most unexpected MVP of this deck for me - Mortuary Mire saves the day by returning Husks, Herders and Lily back to the battlefield next turn after their death. Now, while testing this deck I got the feeling that it doesn’t required an aggressive mulliganing like some other decks do – you can actually win with lots of different starting hands, varying from removal-heavy hands to low-cmc hands with drones or “Husk + fuel for it” hands. Only thing I would totally suggest keeping all the time is Vampiric Rites because it resulted in the most wins for me.

Oh, and I switched Winnower with the Priest right from the beginning because of two bodies and a flier which saved my ass lots and lots of times. Winnower is decent but I doubt it could be as valuable here.

So, thanks again for a great deck! Loving it

Lexxx, could it be that the Priest is a large part of your habit of going down to 2-3 hp before winning? It's an aggressive evasive beater but the lifeloss is too much for me.

Man lexx, this makes me happy face. ;-)

MBSac ftw!

I realized that some of the new void cards, like Dominator Drone, Wasteland Strangler, Herder etc become pretty awesome with Flameshadow Conjuring...I have been having some fun with the concept, I chosed Radkos for it, no fancy 3 color decks for this...

Gonna post there

Nah, that's not it, Doner. When Priest comes into play there's usually some outlet available to sac him the next turn or when the lifeloss would be critical. He was a problem for me in other mono-b decks though (as well as Kothoped) but with all the Rites, Husks and Abominations this is not the case.

I usually lose a lot of life early game when decide not to chump block with cheap creatures (to use them as fuel later) or due to flyers or some other creatures with evasion.

Oh, I see. Thanks for the explanation Lexxx. Btw, have you seen the new mini sweeper from the new set?

Yep, preeetty excited for this one Hope we'll get it...

Sorry for the double post, but I've just bumped into this card from OGW: http://mythicspoiler.com/ogw/cards/sifterofskulls.html

What a cool addition to this deck it would be! Really hope we'll get it.

Oh man. I think that's a great card for aristocrats in general. I'd love to get my hands on it. Turns every creature + a sac outlet into ramp or an additional sac outlet. It might be better in Dimir than MB though. We shall see, we shall see.... ... ...

Turns saccing a Thrall to Husk (+2/+2) even more profitable making 2 tokens instead of 1 (and making Husk +4/+4) and with a Abomination on a table this combo is almost too good

The fact that it's a 4/3 for 4 doesn't hurt either btw. That's a very reasonably costed creature for that P/T and extra bonus.

Yep very good card, I can def see token sac decks being the most powerful in OGW, especially with that 6 drop that turns all creatures into the one on top of your library, broken combo with the Mire land.

I doubt we'll receive it though, it's too powerful for our meta

it's basically abzan ascendancy without the +1/+1 counters

only better cause it can ramp you

good card +1

http://mythicspoiler.com/ogw/cards/graspofdarkness.html

Yay or nay? Not bad, in my opinion.

Unconditional sorcery exile for 4: http://mythicspoiler.com/ogw/cards/oblivionstrike.html

It's effing sweet, there's a reason the cost is .

Yup, for all us mono-b lovers

Will share my latest MBC brew on Monday, it actually shows decent results.

idk... I like gideon's reproach more but I guess it validates reave soul/complete disregard