Your World Is Swallowed Up

The list underwent some changes before I even shuffled up.

First, Dark Ritual came out. I really want to use that card again, I just don't know when or how. But Fuz pointed out that I needed more removal and after a search for proper cheap removal, I finally settled on Victim of Night.

Next, taking a cue from Matt Higgs' article, I added in two Haunted Plate Mail, cutting two Chimeric Idols. Finally, I cut two Swamps for two Spawning Pool. I only had two lying around, otherwise I think I'd add four Spawning Pool. That is a card that fits perfectly in this deck and costs me nothing.

Then I got to play three hours worth of Magic with Jason, grinding the deck around. One of this first suggestions: Chimeric Sphere over Idol. His reasoning was that the Idol could gain evasion but he quickly reversed his position after a matchup: Chimeric Idol could activate the turn I played a Homicidal Seclusion or Deadly Wanderings and the boost was well worth it.

Next, I cut the Seal of Doom for three Sign In Blood, cut the Doomwake Giants and added in the full Erebos, God of the Dead. The deck was interesting but it had trouble dealing with other control decks that wanted to create one big threat and win.

The problem I was having could be accounted for in Erebos: I couldn't get devotion consistently enough to produce a threat. I didn't have enough permanents to make it a creature, Acidic Slime was great against me and let's not talk about the time that Shattering Spree destroyed seven of my permanents (Lattice was out). Plus, for some reason my Idols and Plate Mails decided to flip me the bird and disappear. It didn't help that I was playing the Mycoslynth Lattice deck which could easily take devotion from me.

Still: I was drawing plenty of cards but I couldn't get through to what I wanted. Read the Bones and Sign In Blood had practically no drawback, if I could get a creature to swing.

We batted ideas around fruitlessly. I wanted a bit more removal; card draw wasn't my problem. But that removal couldn't be creatures, so that pretty much left enchantments. The problem? Great removal at that type is expensive; the best cards were No Mercy (has me still taking damage), Lethal Vapors (can be destroyed by an opponent at will, denying me devotion), and Spreading Plague (costs 5 and that position in the deck is crowded as it stands).

We stopped bantering at that point because I needed to eat dinner but Jason agreed; There's legs to this deck, if I can unlock it.