Thursday, May 16, 2013

Adding Flashback (D&T v1.2)

Current state of Death & Taxes. Dropped the Duskdale Seer (a little too clumsy and didn't work with too much) and the Deputy of Acquittals (boomeranging was a little too cute and the whole point is to NEVER have untapped mana so it was useless against board clearers and defense. Restocked with Last Thoughts (which if it works would be a delight but it still might be too clumsy), Blind Obedience, and an additional Denizen.


One Drop (12)
4 Thrull Parasite
4 Faerie Imposter
4 Shadow Alley Denizen

Two Drop (26)
4 Tithe Drinker
4 Basilica Screecher
3 Azorius Arrester
3 Blind Obedience
4 Hidden Strings
4 Hands of Binding
4 Blood Scrivener

Four Drop (2)

Land (20)
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Godless Shrine

(I also need some SERIOUS help with my sideboard, but that's a post for another day)

After some more playtesting against Pete last night, I decided to dig into some flashback cards. Here's our contenders for B/W/U after tossing out obviously irrelevant ones (Sorry Alter Reality, nothing personal)

Artful Dodge Bump in the Night Feeling of Dread Lingering Souls Saving Grasp Think Twice Silent Departure

Artful Dodge: Well the price sure is right! Easy to extort and good synergies with landing my ciphers.
Bump in the Night: An extorted Bump is just cruel but I'm not wild about the flashback cost truthfully. Splashing a fourth color I suppose isn't impossible to picture but man. MAN.
Feeling of Dread: Looks absolutely hilarious against aggro decks. Sideboard?
Lingering Souls: I'd be a lot more excited about this if they were white/black spirits (triggering the denizen)
Saving Grasp: Useful against board clearing I suppose. Bring the boomerang back? Just cheaper and at instant speed?
Think Twice: Probably the most vanilla choice. Who doesn't love drawing cards? But vanilla might also be "correct"
Silent Departure: love the initial cost, not as wild about the sorcery part and high flashback.

What can be tweaked out of the deck easily:
Shadow Alley Denizen. It's not that it's bad, it's just that I don't summon creatures before my combat phase due to extorting.
Azorius Arrester: Great card (and it's fan-tastic fodder for the Faerie Imposter) but it does feel a little more clumsy sometimes.
Last Thoughts: I kinda like have 10 cipher cards but 4 might just be too high for the extort mana curve.

Love to hear some feedback. The deck definitely kills with extort but sneaking a few hits through is always nice. Toss in 3 apiece of the Artful Dodge, Saving Grasp, and Last Thoughts? Too few creatures. Drop the shadow and last thoughts and put in some Think Twices and Artful Dodges?

My biggest concern about the Think Twice- the seeming no-brainer- is that this deck does very little 'leaving mana untapped to keep surprises up one's sleeves'  Ideally I tap out with extorts on EVERY turn. Think Twice might as well be a sorcery for all I care and I think that removes a lot of utility.

Thoughts?


1 comment:

  1. side board time:

    what happened to the sin collectors?
    maybe AEtherize in the board for aggro?

    i would look into Essence Scatter, everyone plays creatures. Redirect is hillarious. Void Stalker is interesting.

    Duress is good, Murder, Tormented Soul


    oh and against aggro, rock some Vampire Knighthawks. Oblivion Ring is a classic. Safe Passage against aggro

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