Worked All Week Long

So there have been a few developments. 

First, I have discovered that Jetmir's Garden does not, in fact, produce Black mana. Sooooo that's kind of embarrassing. However, it did make the decision to cut that land much easier! 

Infernal Grasp has come in as the spot removal of choice, and I was leaving Dark Banishing in as my extra copies of removal until last night when I was just being overwhelmed by tiny-but-growing creatures, all of whom were Black. 

I've had Crippling Fear in my sideboard: but why? This does what I want it to do with no drawbacks to my deck! There isn't a plague of shaman decks running around Magic and there never has been. 

Similarly, Hit/Run should come out. Before the deck's tune up giving all my creatures +1 on attack or making my opponent sacrifice a permanent was useful. But now it's just an expensive card that is fighting for space against having a fourth copy of Harmonic Prodigy, a card that has been an absolute banger, or maybe even some card draw. 

There's No One That Can Stop Her

Out: Ashling the Pilgrim, Dark Banishing, Fulminator Mage, and Sapling of Colfenor

In: 4 Ignoble Hierarch, 3 Harmonic Prodigy, 2 Judith, the Scourge Diva.

On the block: Titania's Boon.

Cut Boon, added Banishings, 

Cutting Caludron Haze (it's win more) and adding removal, in this case Bogslither's Embrace.

It took all of one match against Noah to find the problems: it's the lands.

With 8 lands that enter tapped and 4 that bounce a land when they come into play, that is a debilitating blow to the pace of this deck. For a deck that generally tops out at the 3 spot, I need to re-evaluate how many lands I have that stunt my mana. 

The other issue was the removal: Bogslither's Embrace is a Christmasland card. I just assumed that I'd have have plenty of creatures with +1 counters on them to negate the Embrace's drawback.

I do not. 

So a little more work to do here. 

But I'm glad I swung big on those first changes: seeing that Ignoble Hierarch was a Shaman is a HUGE boost for this deck.

Thrash Unreal

I took  this from an Against Me! song. And what we have here is a shamans deck.

2 Sapling of Colfenor
3 Ashling the Pilgrim
2 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Taurean Mauler
4 Wolf-Skull Shaman
4 Rage Forger
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Vexing Shusher
3 Deathgreeter

4 Hit // Run
3 Cauldron Haze
2 Dark Banishing

6 Mountain
1 Jund Panorama
4 Savage Lands
2 Swamp
2 Forest
4 Darigaaz's Caldera
4 Jetmir's Garden

2 Titania's Boon

Let's put some +1/+1 counters on things and swing, right? Make extra wolves, and see what can be done!

Well. Quite a lot, really. So let's have at it.

The Zeta Set

This is pretty dang cool. 

I can't afford it, apparently you can't draft it and sealed would be bullshit. 

That is; no, I won't buy it, nobody should and this product is a distortion of what Magic needs to be about: form (the art) follows function (the game). 

But it's still a pretty cool art project.

Break

Just going to take a couple weeks break: I'm feeling kinda burnt out, so a short vacation will be nice. 

See y'all back in a couple!

Sandstorm Complete

So let's catch up since I failed to update the readers on Sandstorm!

4 Shuko

4 Heartfire Hero
3 Manifold Mouse
3 Stirring Hopesinger
3 Valley Questcaller
3 Emberheart Challenger
3 Flowerfoot Swordmaster
3 Seedglaive Mentor

4 Erode
4 Monstrous Rage
1 Loran's Escape
3 Legion Leadership
2 Shelter

2 Glittering Massif
7 Plains
7 Mountain
4 Elegant Parlor

There've been two real changes: first, Stirring Hopesinger. An evasive creature that can gain life and give me a boost every time I cast a non-creature spell? This seems pretty good. The card draws a lot of attention when I play it, so clearly I'm doing something right. 

The other change has been to remove Restless Bivouac for Glittering Massif. My reasoning here is that if Massif shows up in the first two turns, great I can use the color fixing. 

If it shows up anytime after I have 3 or more lands, I can cycle it away for another card. 

The spell suite might be a bit more challenging. I've been looking at Adventures, Omens and Prepared spells in hopes of finding something that might add to the spell count while keeping a threat base high but very little fits. Because I would like something that either offers me some removal redundancy. Erode has been a solid card and it wouldn't suck having another. It's possible I should look at replacing a card like Shelter for something more aggressive but I'm not sure at the moment. 

Still; it's a solid deck and for now it's doing well!

Vibro-Sword

After some time revamping more, this is the list I settled on.

1 Deep Forest Hermit  

1 Emeritus of Woe

2 Eldrazi Repurposer
1 Grim Haruspex
1 Massacre Girl
1 Murderous Rider // Swift End
3 Ohran Viper
4 Misery's Shadow
1 Springheart Nantuko
1 Vein Ripper
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Fume Spitter

4 Fecundity
3 Mortuary

6 Swamp
2 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Llanowar Wastes
7 Forest
4 Blooming Marsh

4 Final Vengeance
4 Malevolent Rumble

Sideboard
SB: 2 Fulminator Mage
SB: 1 Murderous Rider // Swift End

It pained me to cut a Mortuary but the chance to utilize Emeritus of Woe in order to get some of the silver bullets in the deck seemed strong. I'm also experimenting on a few things: Ohran Viper over Wall of Blossoms to increase the creature control element. If my opponent isn't attacking me because of the Viper, that's more time. If my opponent isn't doing anything else, I can draw cards. 

How will it do? I'm not sure. But I like the configuration.