Who Can It Be Now (Redux)

So, after a few years (wow, 2014) I have come across Who Can It Be Now again. "Hey," I thought, "let's give this a whirl!"

Let's take another look at the deck. 

3 Defense Grid

3 Penumbra Wurm
2 Nicol Bolas
3 Pathrazer of Ulamog
2 Pelakka Wurm
1 Worldspine Wurm
3 Dragon Tyrant

4 Sneak Attack

4 Seething Song
4 Lotus Petal
2 Pyroclasm

1 Dwarven Ruins
2 Sandstone Needle
3 Forgotten Cave
2 Smoldering Crater
14 Mountain

3 Gamble
3 Reforge the Soul

Well then. I think we can say it's time for a little refresher. 

First; there are too many lands that ETB. Forgotten Cave can be cycled for one mana, but Smoldering Crater? That can just be a Mountain.

Most of the creatures I like! But it's probably time to take a look at creatures that have been printed since 2014...

Oh my.

However, I don't know that creatures are what Who Can It Be Now really needs. It needs card draw, something Red didn't have much of in 2014. It's 2022 though and cards like Thrill of Possibility exist. 

Also, the threats like Dragon Tyrant are 100% glory of cool things. Let's try this:

3 Defense Grid

3 Penumbra Wurm
2 Nicol Bolas
3 Pathrazer of Ulamog
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Atraxa, Grand Unifier 

4 Sneak Attack

4 Seething Song
4 Thrill of Possibility
2 Cathartic Pyre

1 Dwarven Ruins
2 Sandstone Needle
3 Forgotten Cave
16 Mountain

3 Gamble
3 Into the Fire
4 Strike It Rich

The new goal is to both increase my mana production via Strike It Rich-freeing up Lotus Petal for another deck that might be more appropriate, a Storm or artifact based one-and cycle through my cards a lot faster with Thrill of Possibility and Cathartic Pyre. 

I also took out Reforge the Soul for Into the Fire. This requires me to be a little savvy about how I play my cards out; saving lands in hand for more draws with Into the Fire is a line of play I need to be aware of. But Into the Fire removes an effect that could help my opponent as much as me, while also giving me the option to cast a Pyroclasm on turn three, if I haven't been able to get my pieces together. 

Finally, I have made room for one Atraxa, Grand Unifier. If she's great in Reanimator builds, maybe she can help close the gap in Sneak Attack builds. 

At least, that's the hope. Red as a color has changed so much in the past eight years that it would be foolish to ignore what's opened up. 

Re-Revisiting

In some ways, I can't believe I have to look at this deck again. It was so fun: Temples + fetchlands + Sensei's Divining Top to make sure I didn't get Omniscience in hand....

Buuuuuuut.

So, now what?

First, my opinion is that the wrong card was banned. Top served as a huge boon for non-Blue decks and allowed for a lot more variety as a result.

What should've gone? A lot of people who are far more versed in the format say Terminus. I'm inclined to agree here, because of the a) instant speed, b) mana cost and c) unique interaction. C) is relevant because Terminus shuts off graveyard interactions and in Legacy, that's a big deal.

However, the bitter old man in me wanted Counterbalance, because fuck your free countermagic.

Either way, opinions that the splash damage was overmuch from Top being banned are, I believe, correct. My hope is that something is coming up in Hour of Devastation or Ixalan that would've made SDT oppressive will arrive, justifying this ban.

For me, though the question is, what do I do with Die, Die My Darling?

The Black and White scry cards are pretty underwhelming, aside from Read the Bones. The Artifacts aren't as awesome as I would like, either. Darksteel Pendant seems like a decent fit and being indestructible means that I don't have to worry about removal effects.

However, the Pendant doesn't do as much for me as Top does, given the shuffling interactions I have. In this case, Scroll Rack might be the droid I'm looking for.

I'm not going to make a series out of this-I've already done it twice-but it's definitely weird to have to make an adjustment like this, in order to keep a deck in tact that I rather enjoy playing.

So Maybe Chromanticore Comes Back?

After multiple matchups, some against Sascha and some against Noah, I feel like Die Die My Darling is coming to a good place to end this re-reboot.

Night of Souls' Betrayal has done precisely what I wanted it to do; slow or outright stop the weenie hordes of red, green and white.

Persecute has done exactly what I expected it to do: suck against control because a 4 mana discard spell won't actually ever resolve in a meaningful way against a deck that has Brainstorm. (This is the short version of what happened in my games against Noah's blue deck:
Me: Persecute naming blue.
Him: Brainstorm in response.
Everything resolves.
I look at a hand that has 3 Islands and a Ponder.
Him: Really glad I had that Brainstorm because my next three cards were Islands!
Me: seeeeeeeeethe).

I love Persecute and it's absolutely backbreaking if it resolves against a nonblue monocolor deck. I'm keeping it for now but should I take this to a tournament of any sort, it needs to be a much cheaper card, Hymn being the obvious choice but even Addle or Gerrard's Verdict could work.

Oooor. Pulling Teeth. Whoa. It works with the Top and could even act like a Temple of Silence. I think I may have to try that.

I'm getting off track. What I've really concluded is that Debtors' Knell is the Glory of Cool Things and not And Now I Win. It's just a card I don't see myself trying to find or hoping for in this deck. I've been trying to come up with a proper replacement for it and the best I can think of right now is Decree of Silence. Unfortunately, that card feels like a "win more" card as well.

I've been looking at cards with the "Constellation" keyword and Doomwake Giant is the only thing that really stands out. Everything else, aside from Underworld Coinsmith, perhaps, is really for  limited (which means that it just sucks).

But maybe that's the card to use. With Night of Souls' Betrayal, Doomwake Giant could be especially crippling.

Still. I kinda want Chromanticore....

I Really Wanted Chromanticore

Now that Omniscience is in Die Die My Darling, it's all about the little tweaks. Unfortunately, all I've been able to do is goldfish for the past two weeks.

Sigh. What can I tell you? Adulthood means having to really carve out your free time in ways that you didn't before. Still, I've been able to goldfish quite a bit and do some research so I don't make a fool of myself.

Temple of Silence? That card is stone cold awesome here. The interactions with Sensei's Divining Top have been quite helpful.

I've also put in Scoured Barrens alongside my Orzhov Basilicas and those cards aren't bad but they do slow the deck down quite a bit. A note to make should I decide to bring this to a tournament, since tempo is always a big deal. This is also true of Persecute, of course but until I decide to play this in the Big Leagues, Persecute is a lot of fun to cast and when it hits big, it's awesome.

The challenge with goldfishing is that you just never know what card your toolbox should dish up but one advantage was, I came across a situation where I thought; Hey, I could dial up Chromanticore and put it on my Phrexian Ghoul...or can I?

Turns out, I can't:

9/15/2013

If a permanent with bestow enters the battlefield by any method other than being cast, it will be an enchantment creature. You can’t choose to pay the bestow cost and have it become an Aura.

So now the card is a whole lot less useful to me. That's a bummer because Chromanticore is awesome! I wanted a 4/4 flying trampling life linking crazy beast.

However, this works out! I've been pondering what else I need to do for this deck and it's got a pretty serious aggro problem. Night of Souls' Betrayal goes a long way towards fixing that problem without significantly impacting what I'm doing. Attacking for 13 instead of 14 has things still working out for me.

I'm also thinking that an Oblivion Ring should replace one of the Seals of Doom. O-Ring can target a Planeswalker and while it's true that a 14/14 trampling dude can also take out a planeswalker, this is a superior option.

I've also been thinking about removing the second Confiscate: what for I'm not sure but...wait. Chromanticore still exists...

Revisiting: DDMD, Let's Do This

I brought out Die Die My Darling during every game of Magic I could. The interesting news: Omniscience is good but it isn't brilliant. It wasn't a win more effect though, as playing spells for free was very useful when I didn't have the mana.

Die, Die has a few issues. One is trying to get the combo set up quickly enough. Another is making sure the combo lasts long enough to win. On a couple of occasions, Path to Exile was a problem for me (although I started naming that card with Cabal Therapy as soon as I understood it was there to take).

There were multiple games where I got stuck with a Sensei's Divining Top out and my top two cards were Confiscate and Omniscience and I couldn't find a card to shuffle them away. I was also a little frustrated with my mana base and then, boom, it hit me.

Temple of Silence. Here's a way to let the Top work better!

Next up, was finding a replacement for Nightmare Void.

With Path being an issue, and Theros...well, existing, I have a chance to think outside the box. After pawing through every card in the binder, I have come to a conclusion:

Theros really didn't develop enchantments in an interesting or meaningful way.

That doesn't mean that there isn't anything at all, though. First, we have Archetype of Endurance, which is a pretty flashy way to solve that Path to Exile solution my opponents could run. Next, Chromanticore is an option I'm testing. Partly because, who doesn't want to try Chromanticore? But also because of the lifelink. If my combo takes too long to get going, lifelink could extend the game long enough for me to win.

Finally, I went for the obvious card: Starfield of Nyx. While I don't expect the living enchantment aspect of Starfield to ever trigger, getting back a binned Eldrazi Conscription or reusing Seal of Doom seems like a good idea.

I just need to acquire a Starfield in non-Cockatrice formats and I can test it in real life. For now I'll sub in a Primeval Bounty, just for the hell of it.

Revisiting: Die Die My Darling

You may remember this, if you've been reading for a long time. Thanks for that! If not, well I had an idea so I'd like to take a brief visit to an old deck.

Let me give you the updated decklist for good measure:

2 Confiscate
3 Persecute
2 Nantuko Husk
3 Conjurer's Ban
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Academy Rector
4 Phyrexian Ghoul
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Faith's Fetters
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura of Silence
2 Nightmare Void
8 Plains
1 Salt Flats
2 Orzhov Basilica
8 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Seal of Doom
2 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Debtors' Knell

Since then, there has been one enormous change to the Magic landscape: Omniscience. I haven't paid much attention to that card since it rapidly found its way into the Omni-Tell combo deck. It's a solved problem and it's an expensive friggin' card.

The gears turn slowly though and after seeing this deck in multiple articles I thought; why is everyone insisting on using Show and Tell as the default way to get Omniscience into play? Isn't there any other way to get this card into play cheaply?

Yes. Yes there is.

Now, will Omniscience help me? I don't know. But casting my spells for free sounds pretty good, so I think I'm going to give it a shot. Plus, with Theros available to provide some raw enchantment support a touch up might make this deck really interesting.

I am only purchasing one Omniscience: that card breaks the "my money" rule like Bruce Lee going against balsa wood. For now, the decklist will have the following change:

-1 Nightmare Void
+1 Omniscience

and I'll start the testing today!