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BMoor's Magic The
Gathering
Deck Garage
L
Guida
wrote:
Well, Taylor, the deck looks like a solid idea, but there are a few ways it can be improved. First of all, you mentioned that your biggest problem was surviving long enough to get out the Death Pits. To that end, I'd like to increase your defense capabilities and speed up the deck. Second, it is clear that this deck was built before Dissension came out, so we'll update the decklist using the new B/R cards available. And finally, I really don't like First Strike in this deck. It's a clever way to abuse the Death Pits, but it's not executed well here. No worries, I have a plan for you.
We'll start with speeding up the deck and slowing down the opponent. Black and red don't play defense well, but black can gain life fairly easily. Replace Lava Spike with Douse in Gloom-- yes it costs more mana than the Spike, but it's also much more effective. Lava Spike barely does anything to affect your opponent until you have him within alpha strike range, while Douse in Gloom can kill quite a few early creatures (and almost any creature with Death Pits) plus two life points for you. Next, replace Ronin Cliffrider with a less expensive creature that serves a similar purpose-- Rakdos Ickspitter. Granted, the Ickspitter can't hit every creature in play at once, but it does have a lot more use before a Death Pit hits play, and is much more likely to be playable before the Death Pit. It also doesn't have to attack to kill creatures, so things like Reverence or Pillory of the Sleepless won't stop it.
Now, for the whole First Strike issue. First of all, the possibility of bestowing First Strike onto a Legendary creature is not a good reason to run more than one Shinka. One Shinka is an improved Mountain; the second one becomes a land you can't play. Your Legendary creatures consist of one Kumano and two Ishi-ishi. Kumano gets the job done without ever attacking, and Ishi-ishi is a sideboard card at best. Remove two copies of Shinka in favor of two Rakdos Carnarium, and remove Ishi-ishi for two of a much better Legendary, Lyzolda the Blood Witch. Lyzolda's ability will not only give you an additional way to damage creatures, but it also gives you a way to draw cards and potentially get that Death Pit out sooner. Plus, Lyzolda's 3/1 body is much more appreciative of Shinka's First Strike.
The other First Srtike creature you've got is Boros Recruit.
 The Recruit is fine, but I'd recommend replacing one or two with Crypt Champion. The Champion has DOUBLE strike, and it's Zombify ability will bring back almost any creature in this deck for you.
Finally, I have an issue with Hunted Horror. Now that you have the Ickspitter, Lyzolda, and Douse in Gloom, a good percentage of your creature removal is at least partially Black, and that means that barely any of it can touch the Centaur tokens the Horror gives to your opponent. All you have to deal with those Centaurs is Shock, Boros Recruit, and Kumano. And Shock doesn't even deal enough damage, unless you blocked with a Recruit. So, I'd bet heavily that even before my changes, those Centaurs are one of the main reasons you can't win with this deck. Hunted Horror has to come out. In its place I recommend Rakdos Guildmage-- it's mana cost is the same, except it can also take Red mana, it can make Goblins at instant speed to swing or block or scrifice to Lyzolda, and it can kill creatures with -2/-2, which won't actually trigger Death Pits but works nicely anyway.
Hopefully that should do it. In the interest of speed, I've reduced the costs of many of your creatures, but also their size as well. I'm a bit concerned that I may have left you without a finisher, or that against another burn deck you won't be able to keep creatures on the table. If you find youself with those problems, you may want to consider a copy or two of a suitably large creature, such as Rakdos the Defiler or Mortivore. A good piece of Equipment, such as Loxodon Warhammer, might also help immensely- especially wielded by a Crypt Champion. Other good cards, such as Twinstrike and Wrecking Ball, I didn't include because I wanted to maintain a suitable curve and I couldn't find anything to remove for them. All in all, you should be able to win on the back of your copious amounts of removal while Flames of the Blood Hand and Ickspitter life loss soften up the opponent for the waves of Guildmage, Goblin, and Lyzolda beats. Enjoy the massacre!
~BMoor
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