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BeJoSe's Deck Garage
Quietus Spike
April 21, 2009

Deck Garage - Quietus Spike
 
I've been playing around with Wound Reflection for a while, and was wondering what you thought of this casual deck.  I basically have unblockable creatures that I attach the Quietus Spike.  If I have Wound Reflection out, that's great; if not, then they still lose half their life.  I've thought about Ebonblade Reapers, but they're awfully expensive to unmorph. The walls and regeneratable creatures are in there to stall until the spike. What do you think?

Creatures 18
1x Leaden Myr
2x Will-O-The-Wisp
4x Prickly Boggart
1x Smolder Initiate
3x Drudge Skeletons
1x Spined Fluke
2x Sanguine Guard
4x Wall of Souls

Instants 8
3x Unmake
4x Dark Ritual
1x Hatred

Sorceries 6
4x Diabolic Tutor
2x Pox

Artifacts 6
4x Quietus Spike
2x Whispersilk Cloak

Enchantments 4
4x Wound Reflection

Land 20
18x Swamp
2x Ebon Stronghold

 
Interesting deck idea, 3 card kill. There are 2 problems I see with it, first being that it relies on a 6 mana enchantment and having a creature actually connect with your opponent, the second, related to this, is that your opponent will see it coming from a long way off and play accordingly. I do however really like pairing the Spike with regenerating/unblockable creatures. For those who don't know you can stack combat damge and then regenerate your creature. This means that damage will still be dealt and deathtouch will trigger and their creature will die while yours lives.
 
So what will help out?

• Profane Command is a stellar card here. It can kill opposing blockers, get back a creature to equip the spike to, finish off a weakened opponent or allow for an alpha strike, not bad at all.
• Volrath's Stronghold will help you recoup an creatures you may have lost to early trading.
• Hatred could probably become a 3-of, it can literally end games on the spot especially with the spike.
• Shriekmaw, a terror in the early game and an evasion beater that still terrors in the late game.
• Inkfathom Infiltrator is a nice early creature that can easily end the game with a spike if not quickly dealt with.
• Since hatred and shriekmaw both cost 5 and the command is at its best when you have more mana you might want to consider something like mindstone in the place of dark ritual to give you a permenant mana boost, and it always cycles in the late game.
• Nether Traitor, with shadow it is nearly always unblockable, it can suprise an opponent with haste and it recurs itself as you play more creatures, what more could you want?

 
I like the tutor in this deck allowing you to either find a spike or creature to equip it to depending on the situation.
There are a few cards that stand out however and you could probably do without.

• Wall of Souls, you really want to be attacking with this deck rather than sitting on the defensive
• Pox, while it does remove opposing blockers it will also get rid of valuable attackers that you'll need to equip the spike to

 
Your right that the Ebonblade is fairly expensive to unmorph, plus it has a pretty harsh drawback while its unmorphed. Secondly your opponent will see it coming every time if its the only morph creature in your deck.
Secondly, the combo is nice but you can probably end the game before you even play it. However if you want to focus on the combo then you'll need to include more mana sources (preferably lands) to help you get to 6 mana. Also try not to play the reflection till you already have a creature equiped with the spike as this will make for a nice suprise for your opponent.
 
Hope to hear from you guys soon!