Rogue Builders

[Charlesovery]

Hello everyone! I have recently been bombarded on mtgo about what I have been doing with magic and new builds. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to really give out much information. This is mainly because I feel like I have to be extremely secreative with what I am doing. Thanks to several long and horrible lessons I don't post anything anywhere without really knowing what it is I will be posting about and that includes results on playtesting.

Here is what I have built lately for the standard format.

TuskanAngel By: Charles Overy

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Blade Splicer
4 Blood Artist
3 Disciple of Bolas
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Restoration Angel
2 Roaring Primadox
4 Thragtusk

2 Conjurer's Closet
1 Mimic Vat
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Unburial Rites

2 Gavony Township
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Forest
2 Plains
1 Swamp

I really like this deck a lot as it has a lot tricks in it. It has generally beaten both the zombie types, u/b and b/r, because board stability is key. Blood Artist is amazing against removal obviously, but it is equally superior against agro strategies. Therefore, it really isn't a problem once you hit five mana and can effectively drop Thragtusk for more life. Bounce him to make more guys and gain more life is amzing! He is amazing and will be for a while I think. With the rotation of the titans I believe the new five drop will become the focal point in deck strategies.

Delver is still an issue if you can't land enough board presence. However, after rotation I believe the match up will get better for this. One thing that does bother me after rotation is the loss of Blade Splicer. Will there be an adequate filler in that slot or will Wolfir Avenger or Vampire Nighthawk fill it? Both are ok per se but have different presences on the board. Obviously, Wolfir Avenger would be great if Return to Ravinca reveals titan class threats that requirement effective blocking. However, that would depend on the mana available and the curve alloted for those threats for Wolfir Avenger to keep up. Vampire Nighthawk can kill anything and has flying which allows it to become a better threat itself. The problem here is that Vampire Nighthawk will be a one and done against said threats even though it can possibly kill them too. Effectively losing that threat can cause your board presence to become flat once again. Either way these two creatures lack a "comes into play" ability which means that you lose synergy of what the deck is designed to do. I guess we shall see.

The SOM lands will rotate as well which may allow room for Borderland Ranger in the Blade Splicer spot. At least some other mana fixer plus the Ravnica lands that return.

Please feel free to post comments and post your deck ideas!

Charles

[Charlesovery]

So, Delver and nono Naya POD decks are my worst match ups with this deck. Naya Pod decks I can get around easier than the bant colored variants. However, Naya Pod still isn't an easy match up and honestly it taught me that the TuskanAngel deck can be extremely complicated to play. It comes down to timing of dropping spells. Just rushing out with a horde isn't gonna work unless you can contain the Birthing Pod early. Only in the sideboard do I have answers to the pod and that has to change. I have to make it more competitive in the first game to set a better for me match. Even though pod is rotating out in a month and a half, I don't want to face the two decks that my deck is the worse against the entire time. A maindeck change is necessary!

There are a few answers to pod that can be maindecked. Stony Silence is one and it also helps stop the Delver decks that still run the Runechanter's Pike and Swords. However, Stony Silence is still to specific for a maindeck choice. I don't wanna draw dead cards. I am not sure that Day of Judgement would be good here either because it would most likely only be a two of. Also, Day of Judgement isn't very good against Delver decks. I could go up to four Oblivion Rings as they are pretty good against anything and more stable, but then again do I need to worry about that possible counter from Delver? Acidic Slime is only good right on time and I am not about to play more than one or two at the most. Besides he is another card that is horrible against Delver. I know two things that I need to be able to win against these decks. It has shown that if I can control the Pod and the Pike I have a better chance at winning or at least be able to sustain myself in the first game.

What I think I need is a two drop or a three drop creature that comes into play and destroys target artifacts and or enchanments.

[Psyren]

Viridian Corrupter takes out artifact

War Priest of Thune takes out enchantment

[Charlesovery]

yes it does and I now use him along with other dgoodies thx for the idea!