Bad Moon Rising

[Maraxus of Keld]

The theme song of this deck

When I mentioned earlier today that this deck had beaten my revised Unspeakable deck twice in a row, I discovered that I had never posted it on this board. So here goes:

Creatures:
Phyrexian Dreadnought x2
Nantuko Shade x4
Hell's Caretaker x1
Dross Golem x3
Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder x3
Nightmare x2
Ascendant Evincar x1
Minion of Leshrac x1
Kuro, Pitlord x1

Artifacts:
Jet Medallion x2
Loxodon Warhammer x2

Enchantments:
Bad Moon x4
Fevered Convulsions x2
Recurring Nightmare x2
Attrition x2
Death Pit Offering x1

Instants/Sorceries:
Terror x3
Drain Life x3
Diabolic Tutor x1
Dregs of Sorrow x2

Land:
Lake of the Dead x1
Cabal Coffers x2
Swamp x18

[Maraxus of Keld]

This deck is pretty straightforward: put down scary black creatures, make them better, beat up opponents. There are a few bells and whistles and some creature kill, but it's not that complicated. I find it a lot of fun to play even though it doesn't win that often. Part of it is because the deck just doesn't function the way it's supposed to when I'm playing it.

The deck can't really do anything on turn 1. I don't have spare Dark Rituals for this deck, and the only one-drops are Dreadnoughts that have to eat other creatures to come into play. I almost always have a Nantuko Shade on turn 2, though.

I realize that there are a few cards in this deck that actively work against each other. For example, not only do the artifact creatures gain no benefit from Bad Moon, they are actively hurt by Ascendant Evincar. Lake of the Dead also weakens both Cabal Coffers and Nightmare, which is why I often hold it back for when I am desperate for a few extra mana.

It's worth noting that I have never once played a Phyrexian Dreadnought. I have drawn it several times, but the circumstances which allow me to sacrifice something to get him into play never seem to happen. So naturally, when someone else played this against me the other day, they got one in, then proceeded to equip it with a Loxodon Warhammer and beat me to death (although I held on for a long time).

[Baron Sengir]

Yeah I like the theme and I like a lot of the cards in the deck, but it seems like you have some stuff int here that will hurt/hinder you more than your opponent depending on the circumstances.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Such as?

[Baron Sengir]

I'm thinking you should drop the Dreadnought, as you mentioned, you haven't played it. Also I'm seeing quite a few creatures and what not where you need to sacrifice creatures to, but you do have the token creating guy so maybe that works out for you, not sure as I've only seen this one played a few times.

I like the theme of the deck, and like you said it looks like it is a solid deck, but do you usually have enough creatures to sacrifice for all the cards that require it? Maybe put in some more token generating stuff like Zombie Infestation, of course Breeding Pit, Kormus Bell, and Grave Titan.

[Maraxus of Keld]

You may have a point on the Dreadnought, but it's one of those cards I've always thought was cool and wanted to use, so I can't bring myself to do it just yet. And I realize that because he's vulnerable to artifact removal spells, he's not really a good investment even if I can get him into play. But... 12/12 trample for 1 mana! :-P

Grave Titan would be awesome. If I had one, it would go straight into this deck. Breeding Pit I think isn't really good enough anymore - it gives a 0/1 creature that not only is good only for sacrificing or emergency blocking, but still counts against the seven Thrulls I can have before Endrek Sahr will die. Also, the Pit ties up two mana every turn.

Kormus Bell doesn't make tokens, it changes my Swamps into 1/1 creatures who would all die with Ascendant Evincar in play.

Zombie Infestation is an interesting one. There are times I wouldn't want to use it, but it also combos deliciously well with Recurring Nightmare or Hell's Caretaker.

Speaking of ol' Satan's Nanny, do you think the Caretaker is worth keeping in this deck anymore? At 4 mana for a 1/1 whose ability can only be used during my upkeep, it's a bit pricey.

Anything else you would cut besides the Dreadnoughts?

[Baron Sengir]

I actually was considering mentioning to cut Satan's Nanny. I'm not sure that it is worth keeping given what you already stated. If you want to bring stuff back from the graveyard we could find better options that you can do anytime in your turn. Beacon of Unrest is more mana but you can target any graveyard and it goes back into your library afterwards. Animate Dead works well too as a replacement if you have any, as do Exhume and Reanimate.

I'm actually hesitant to say this one, but I'm thinking maybe you could cut Ascendant Evincar. This depends more on what your meta is though. If you usually play against people like me than you can bet that Evincar will probably be boosting our creatures too; as I use a lot of Black. However, Alex doesn't use much black so Evincar would be helpful there; I'm not sure what Noj usually plays or other people in his group assuming you play with them regularly. Evincar also hurts those Dross Golems so maybe take that into consideration as a reason to cut Evincar or maybe replace the Dross Golems with something else.

Fevered Convulsions is expensive to use its ability, but it may be just what you need in certain circumstances. I guess if you have Lake of the Dead and/or Cabal Coffers out then that 2 won't be as big of a deal.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Dross Golems are not particularly important creatures, they are there simply because they come out cheap (or free) early in the game, and sometimes are unblockable. They do get weakened by the Evincar, but I'm willing to accept that because they come out a lot more often than he does and usually a lot sooner.

Regarding my meta: other than you, nobody else I ever play with plays nearly as much black as I do. The only person I'd be hesitant to play Ascendant Evincar against is you, and in fact I have held off on playing him a few times when you and I were in the same game.

All the other reanimation spells you named (except the Beacon) I have in my focused reanimator deck. And that's really not the focus of this deck, it's more that Recurring Nightmare lets me play a few tricks

Fevered Convulsions is indeed very inefficient, but it's in here for primarily one purpose: black often has trouble killing other black creatures. There are some exceptions, but on the whole most black creature removal spells either specify "non-black creature" or have the player sacrifice a creature, which takes the choice out of my hands and is therefore not acceptable. Convulsions gets around that, is reusable, and can also work on indestructible creatures if necessary (provided they're not also pro-black). That's the theory, anyway.