This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick

This is the pivot from Golden Blunders. It's largely based off the Modern deck using Glimpse of Tomorrow, but I trimmed a color for consistency's sake and so I wouldn't have to bother with the Omnath, Locus of Creation nonsense. 

Instead, it's an Omnath, Locus of Rage nonsense deck that I'm going to call This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick. 

For those who do not know the combo: Play permanents and generate token artifacts, then launch off a Cascade spell. Play Glimpse of Tomorrow for free, shuffle all your permanents and then floop as many awesome things into play as you can. 

Another restriction I had to deal with was that my Chancellor of the Forges are in my giants deck. I won't lie to you; that one hurts. The opportunity to have something out on turn one is relevant and the alternative win condition of hasty goblins is a way to pull wins from losses-that I now don't have. Finally, Seasoned Pyromancer is a $40 card and I just wasn't going to do that to myself. 

But could I interest you in a Whirlpool Warrior? 

That's right: the only card that really breaks this deck out of Modern legality is Whirlpool Warrior but when was the last time you saw that card in any deck? I almost need to keep it out of spite. 

My solution to not having a Chancellor of the Forge was to lean into the Elemental aspect, and my delight at finding Scampering Scorcher meant that this deck miiiiiight just have legs! Most of my creatures are Elementals, and OLoR makes elemental tokens. Plus, the Scorcher makes tokens of its own, which means if I can play Glimpse again, I have more permanents to floop.

Finally, there's the possibility that I'll get an End-Raze Forerunners and hit for 7+. That's cool too.

Now the nice thing about this deck is that all the work I did to get the mana base to function for Golden Blunders means that This Bad Check Is Gonna Stick will (mostly) function. It also means there's a non-bo with Abundant Growth and the Cascade spells. In goldfishing, this interaction has been mitigated by Abundant Growth's cantrip effect and being a permanent that most decks don't have interaction with. More permanents for the floop!

So here we go:

3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
2 Foundation Breaker
4 Shardless Agent
3 Wavesifter
2 End-Raze Forerunners
2 Fury
4 Tireless Provisioner
3 Scampering Scorcher
1 Whirlpool Warrior
2 Omnath, Locus of Rage

3 Abundant Growth

4 Violent Outburst

7 Forest
3 Island
7 Mountain
2 Khalni Garden
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Aether Hub

4 Glimpse of Tomorrow

Sideboard
3 Zendikar's Roil

The reason I'm calling this deck This Bad Check... is because it's clearly a hail mary glass cannon deck. A counterspell at the right time makes things pretty bad and the combo isn't accelerated, so the soonest something can happen is turn three. If someone gets rid of an early Tireless Provisioner, that puts a spanner in the works and as with many creature-centric decks, cards like Humility or Torpor Orb can shut the whole deck down. 

When it goes off, though, it's pretty funny. 

The Retired: Golden Blunders

 As much as I wanted this to work, it just didn't. 

1 Apocalypse Hydra
4 Vigean Hydropon
2 Simic Guildmage
4 Animar, Soul of Elements
4 Fertilid
2 Protean Hydra
4 Primordial Hydra
3 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur

4 Abundant Growth

1 Evolution Charm
4 Cytoshape
4 Manamorphose

11 Forest
7 Island
5 Mountain

I did a writeup on this deck back in 2012 (whoa!) but looking at it now, I just have to admit: no. I never wanted to play this deck. If I don't ever want to play a deck that means something about it is unfun and since I have so many choices, there's no reason to keep a deck going that isn't entertaining.

To put it succinctly: the payoffs really didn't do what I would hope. By getting multiple counters on Animar, my payoff cards didn't fundamentally shift the game, excepting for Jin-Gitaxias. Couple that with removal spells that were reliant on me having a Vigean Hydropon in play to work and you've got a recipe for a deck that just isn't very engaging. It wanted to do cool idea things but...the cool things it did weren't cool enough.

I did all this work to get the mana to happen and...it feels a little bad. However, there's a phrase for continuing to do something even when it isn't working, and I am trying to get better about letting things go. 

That said: I have a plan (to be revealed Thursday)...

That Promised Completion

I like giant dinosaurs. That's really what it comes down to. It's a weakness. I just can't cut all of the Regisaurs. 

Plus, in games against Matt & Caitlin without the big lugs, I had trouble closing things out. To my credit, I did win through close to 9 board sweeping spells thanks to a lot of patience. The glories of multiplayer is that I can have nothing on the board and my opponent can require the Akroma's Vengeance. 

So, the Rotting Regisaurs are back in but! Only as a twofer. In the place of other cards, however...Dauthi Voidwalker. It's got stats appropriate to this aggressive build, it's very hard to block, and it has a sometimes-relevant ability. 

I did get to test this out and it seemed decent. Difficult things to block are difficult and the boost from Bad Moon is pretty awesome for the Voidwalker. 

Drana easily met the Hexdrinker rule and I wasn't unhappy to have copies in hand while one was on the table. One card I was surprised at was Bladebrand, which  helped turn what my opponent thought were good blocks for them to better blocks for me. In controlling matchups, I would side it out but as a compliment to what Infernal Touch does, not bad!

4 Hand of Cruelty
4 Dread Wanderer
3 Skulking Ghost
4 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4 Gurmag Swiftwing
4 Banehound
2 Rotting Regisaur
2 Dauthi Voidwalker

4 Bad Moon

3 Bladebrand
4 Infernal Grasp

1 Polluted Mire
16 Swamp
2 Piranha Marsh

3 Unearth

Sideboard

3 Tsabo's Web
4 Dunerider Outlaw
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Hymn to Tourach

The sideboard is probably a little 'oh sure' and a little 'wait, what?' Dunerider Outlaw was part of the initial deck and I've added it to help against some of the green creature decks I confront. That's a flex slot for certain and I can see more removal for things like Planeswalkers or maybe a card like Rotten Reunion for more graveyard-specific matchups. 

Tsabo's Web however, is a card that I think isn't getting the attention it deserves. In a field full of Urza's Sagas, Thespian's Stage, and Maze of Ith (a card I am having to deal with a lot, lately), Tsabo's Web shuts these things off. Since the Web is also a cantrip, it can keep the momentum of Fatalist going instead of feeling like you're taking a turn off to slow your opponent and do little else. Tsabo's Web might not shut a deck out but it might slow them down enough to get in the last few points of damage.

My Long List of Crimes

Everything was fine (sorta). Really! Sure, Fatalist was having trouble if games went long and playing against Noah's G/B deck that generated tokens was a problem for cards like Bad Moon, but that was all expected. 

The games weren't going badly and then I showed Noah my whole list and he said:

"I think Rotting Regisaur is working in opposition to what you want to do with cards like Bad Moon." Namely, until I've got zero cards in hand, Regisaur wants to say in my hand, and unless I get enough mana to play everything out-and Fatalist is working on tight margins-it's just not so helpful.

Well....crap. 

So, what now? The suggestion of Oathsworn Knight was a very interesting one, as it has some synergies with Drana. It's also pretty aggressive, which isn't a bad thing either. Knight of the Ebon Legion was also added in a 3-1 split, so that I'd have more one drops. We had a game to test it but neither card showed up. 

Remembering it now, what Noah also said was that four copies of Regisaur is a lot. Maybe if I only ran two or three, that would let me keep the big dino in. Because the creature is pretty nasty when he lands. That said, I get that having two copies in hand-a scenario fairly likely- means that I can only use one. 

The other thing is that Fatalist is crowded at the two mana slot-three and one are where I have openings but selections get a bit more challenging. The three slot doesn't have a standout that fits the aggressive nature of the deck and the one slot has similar challenges. 

On the upside, I feel like Fatalist has gotten to the point where I'm talking about shaving a card, not revamping a deck. That's a good place to get to.

Late To The Party: Battle Chasers: Nightwar

This game is a challenging one to review. Battle Chasers is cheap now-I've seen it for sale for $5 and for five bucks, my expectations for a game lower considerably. 

It wasn't buggy and didn't crash my PS4, so the basic requirement for five dollars has been met, as far as I'm concerned. 

However, I bought it for a little more-I think $17?-so does it meet the seventeen dollar standard???

I'd say it did. Battle Chasers has some flaws; a cliched story that wraps up too quickly, with cliched characters that you've seen before. A leveling system that requires you to grind by playing through dungeons you've cleared, which means there are no new surprises. The necessity of having access to the internet to figure out where certain items fit into unlocking places in the story, and at least one instance for me where I used an item for a character that was also required for a story sub boss, and I couldn't get that item ever again. 

Also, I generally hate crafting systems and this was no different. If I have money, why do I have to build anything, ever? That's why you pay blacksmiths!

However, if you've never played a turn-based RPG and would like to give this a try, it's not bad. The artwork is stylized so it doesn't feel generic, there is legitimate strategy in picking your team and choosing their abilities-abilities the game lets you respec at will. That's pretty cool. 

Once you've leveled up enough, battles with lower level enemies become optional, and the fishing game doesn't suck-it's light distraction at best but it doesn't suck!

All in all I didn't hate playing this game but it's definitely on the lighter side. I don't think there's anything seriously inappropriate for a kid either, and it's at that level of complexity. Decent but not great!

Secret Double Lives

One thing that Midnight Hunt brought us was Infernal Grasp. I'd be foolish not to use the card over Eliminate-the loss of two life for a monocolored aggro deck shouldn't be a problem at all.

Also, the three drop that Dross Harvester was cut for: Rotting Regisaur. Because of course it is: at three mana it's the biggest thing I can be doing. 

Haste creatures have been a delightful add to the deck. It's shifted my play patterns, I've noticed: I'll withhold spells for a turn to develop my manabase, so I can play two spells in a single turn and still forward my win condition. If there's one good thing about having and trying to play so many decks, it is that the puzzle I'm trying to solve changes and creates changes in how I approach play. 

It's been doing well against the decks I've been playing-some aggro, some control, but I haven't played against too much permission and I don't expect things will go quite so well. 

This does present options for the sideboard, though: Duress and Hymn to Tourach are available, cheap and while they do eat into the aggressive plan-well, what doesn't? Leyline of the Void as a staple of sideboards, and it might even be worth considering Shambling Ghast against other aggressive decks. 

I've Looked Through All The Windows

While there aren't a lot of Black cards with haste, there are a few. Why is that relevant?

It's relevant because if I have to take my turn 2 off to play a Bad Moon, it would be helpful to start my turn 3 with a card that can take advantage of the Moon's effect immediately.

Similarly, if I take turn 3 to cast Drana, Liberator of Malakir (a card I want to test because whoa!) then taking advantage of Drana's boost on turn 4 with haste creatures seems pretty great!

That said, my options are limited. Most of the creatures are overcosted, and the spells tend to reflect graveyard strategies, which isn't where Fatalist is at at all. Nether Shadow doesn't really make me happy as it's a 1/1, Nether Traitor is effectively unblockable but I have to keep mana up to do it, and I want to use my mana up every turn. 

As a one or maybe two of, Mogis's Marauder seems interesting. I don't know that this is awesome but at least it's interesting. Similarly, Vengeful Reaper falls into that category.

For how, however, the bad cards are gone, the better ones are in and so far, so good? I had a very challenging game against Fuz using a Bant Walls deck-turns out that if you just care about pure defense, you can play creatures on as cheap a curve as any aggro deck.

However, the pro-white quality of Hand of Cruelty along with some timely Eliminates were key. One thing I liked, though, was how Banehound and Drana forced Fuz to make decisions. The lifegain from Banehound wasn't much but it did mean that I didn't have to worry about a massive 20 point crack back when I was tapped out. Drana was a creature that always had to be blocked, lest her ability take over the game. 

So Fatalist is coming along. 

It's Too Late

I'll admit to being drawn to a little bit of weakness here. 

I want to keep the Ghost Hounds. They're unique in Black's card history and cutting them would be a bit too close to cutting the soul of the deck. But I have to. 

Aside from that, however: Hymn to Tourach seems out of place for an aggro deck, and Dread Wanderer looks like a much better fit. Hymn might be a reasonable sideboard option against combo decks but for now I want to focus on the initial plan.

I'm going to add Eliminate as well to rid the game of early permanents and while I want to keep the Smolder Initiates because the chip damage might still be a thing...that is just the wrong mentality to have. Again, I am drawn to the weaker elements in this deck. 

The spice in the deck, of course, is Dross Harvester...but the card is 18 years old and there are better three drops for black, now. 

The other thing I'm considering is dropping Dark Ritual. There are two ways to go with Stompy decks: be faster than them, or be bigger in less time. That is: haste creatures are useful or oversized creatures for cheap are good-but Dark Ritual doesn't play into either plan very well.  

That is: my resources are thin enough already and it is better to make opponents answer my creatures than to draw a Dark Ritual on turn three when my hand is burnt out anyway. 

There's a lot of changes to consider! More than I'd thought about. On the other hand, sharpening this into something that actually does what I intend is a good thing.