BMoors's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage



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Pojo's MTG MTG Home Message Board News & Archives Deck Garage BMoor Dolf BeJoSe Columnists Paul's Perspective Jeff Zandi DeQuan Watson Jordon Kronick IQ Aburame Shino Rare Hunter Tim Stoltzfus WiCkEd Judge Bill's Corner Trading Card Game Card of the Day Guide for Newbies Decks to Beat Featured Articles Peasant Magic Fan Tips Tourney Reports Other Color Chart Book Reviews Online Play MTG Links Staff		BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage Hellbent deck June 1, 2007 Today's deck presented a unique challenge for me: he was the first person ever to submit a deck with the infamous One With Nothing. I couldn't decide whether to take it out, or applaud him for finally finding a use for it! Hello Bmoor, I play Magic with a couple of my friends three or four times a week and we have a grand old time. It's enjoyable, however it would be better (for me anyway) if I won just a little bit more. One of my friends has a mono green deck that just drops Darksteel Colossus using Tooth and Nail. Another has an artifact deck that does the same thing except with Tinker and March of the Machines to make himself a Darksteel army. Finally another just made a new deck that uses Jhoira of the Ghitu and (you guessed it) Darksteel Colossus. So to add some creativity to the group I thought I'd make a deck that doesn't involve Darksteel Colossus, mostly because I can't afford them. Creatures: 18 Dread Slag [x4] Jagged Poppet [x4] Gobhobbler Rats [x4] Avatar of Discord [x2] Simian Spirit Guide [x4] Other Spells: 21 Brainspoil [x4] Rite of Flame [x4] Infernal Tutor [x2] Ignorant Bliss [x4] One With Nothing [x2] In the Web of War [x2] Anthem of Rakdos [x2] Moonlight Bargain [x1] Lands: 21 Swamp [x8] Mountain [x8] Cabal Coffers [x2] Molten Slagheap [x2] Urbog, Tomb of Yawgmoth [x1] The main idea behind the deck is to win by making my various cards hellbent then crushing my opponent in one quick and decisive move by using Anthem of Rakdos since it doubles all the my damage. The idea makes sense but the execution doesn't go so well. I use Brainspoil to transmute whatever I need and since it can pull out any of nine different cards with it including the all important Anthem of Rakdos and Dread Slag its perfect. Infernal Tutor also helps with that and Moonlight Bargain does the same and helps to protect me from my own Avatar of Discord and Jagged Poppet just in case they begin to overwhelm me with discarding my hand. Rite of Flame and Simian Spirit Guide provide mana acceleration because the deck takes a little while to get rolling. Urbog works well with Cabal Coffers for more mana and Molten Slagheap can pull out a turn five or six grand finale Anthem/Dread Slag drop if I build it up early. Finally, One With Nothing and Ignorant Bliss can make my cards hellbent fast so that I can pull of the final assault by dropping all my hand. (In the Web of War is just fun to use with Anthem of Rakdos for extra damage and haste.) It works pretty well however it is still pretty slow compared to my friends decks which are hyped up with every single form of mana acceleration known to Magic and when they manage to pull out a Colossus I'm just about always finished. Any help is greatly appreciated and anticipated. Thanks a lot! — Karl Well, Karl, the decklist looks decent, but closer inspection reveals that this deck suffers from a textbook lack of focus. You say you want a Hellbent deck that dumps its hand and wins in one big rush. But then you've got Moonlight Bargain to "defend you" in case all that discarding causes you to have no hand. Whaaa? Wasn't the whole point to have no hand? Having an empty grip in a game of Magic is a risky proposition. Oftentimes it means you're at the mercy of the top of your deck, while your opponent has options aplenty. But a good Hellbent deck does exist, and playing without sanity off the cuff is an all-or-nothing decision. Do you want to hold cards in hand, or do you want to use Hellbent to the fullest and accept the reality of playing without a net? Since you listed Hellbent as your "main idea behind the deck", I have to assume you're wiling to bend hell and abandon sanity to win. Time to hop aboard the rails of the crazy train! All aboard! Muhahaha! First of all, drop Moonlight Bargain. Infernal Tutor, however, can stay. Pick up two mreo if you can, even. If you happen to top deck it, you just missed no matter what the situation. And if you're not Hellbent, it can get you an extra Rite of Flame so you can chain them into a ton of mana. That strategy is usually employed when people are looking for large Storm counts. Since you've already got everything you need to pull it off, why not throw in a few Empty the Warrens? Your next issue is Cabal Coffers, Molten Slagheap, and Urborg. What do you need that much mana for? You don't have Demonfire. And Demonfire is an expensive rare. Unless you're willing to get it, drop all these nonbasic lands for more basics, or duals. But not Rakdos Carnarium; it returns land to your hand and denies you Hellbent. If you want a Hellbent-friendly land, go with Keldon Megaliths. Speaking of mana, why do so many of your cards cost five mana? That's a little pricey for a deck that wants to empty it's hand pronto. I know Dread Slag and the Anthem are important to you, but with Brainspoil and Infernal Tutor, you can play toolbox and run fewer copies of each five-mana spell. A few more Hellbent cards you should look into are Cackling Flames, Rakdos Pit Dragon, and Gibbering Descent. The Descent is especially good in this deck, since your Hellbent enablers can Madness it out. Speaking of which, there's a rich vein of black Madness cards you need to look into as well. A few red ones, too; most notably Fiery Temper. Finally, we need a patch for that Darksteel Colossus fever that seems to be running rampant in your playgroup. What stops the Colossus? Well, there's Enslave and Treacherous Urge. Enslave lets you beat them with their own Colossus. The Urge is a one-shot deal, and may backfire if your opponent isn't holding the Colossus in hand, but it is tutorable with Brainspoil. Then there's Cruel Edict and barter in Blood, but those require that your opponent not have enough other creatures to sacrifice. You could also try Melancholy or Rathi Trapper and tap it down, but I think your best answer is the simplest: Threaten. That's right, the one from 9th. You're probably wondering why this is the silver bullet, since it only works once. Well, you're Hellbent and throwing damage all around, right? You can get an opponent to 11 by the time ol' D.C. makes the scene, right? If not, then the turn you Threaten then al your other attacking creatures can seal the deal, if you're Hellbent, right? Even if not, Threaten works best against decks that focus on one big creature instead of a lot of small ones. Once you Threaten a few of your friends, they'll realize that putting all their eggs in one basket may be a bad idea. Hopefully this will discourage all the Colossus fever and get people to play other decks. Until next time, don't be afraid to get reckless! ~BMoor
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