I Like Casting Boon Of Erebos On An Agent Of The Fates

That is all

Tribal Centaurs

Gonna tool around with a mono centaur deck. Between my brother and I, we opened three of the lords in the pre release. It will be a really cheap deck to put together and looks like it might have some power. Call Of The Conclave can become a 4/4 with vigilance and trample for just WG? Craziness. And it might have some play against WU control. Rootborn Defence does negate Supreme Verdict pretty well. Against black you can side in some Sundering Growth's to take out whips or Underworld Connection.

Journey First Impressions

I won my pre release. And it was a fun one. Picked black, had green as a secondary and splashed white. I built it accidentally, but a deck full of constellation creatures does business. A few times I was able to give all opponent creatures -2/-2 in a turn by just playing out permanents. The random bits of damage and life gain I kept eeking out through normal play really showed how powerful the BW deck can be in the new limited. I will try to brew up a standard BW enchantment deck and see if constellation and Ajani's Chosen together  can compete with the top tier decks.

Of all the new stuff, Dawnbringer Charioteers was the single most powerful card I saw all night. It just might have the oomph to be a constructed staple. In every game it was allowed to stick around, it just won on its own. Backed up with Gods Willing or Ajani's Presence, it is an unstoppable force. The only other card that caused me any issues was Godsend. It looks absurdly powerful, but actually doesn't do a whole lot on offence. You can still chump block all day. Where it shines is on defence, the ability to flat out exile your best threat makes combat math miserable. It is a fun draft card, but just that. It's mana costs are too much for standard. 

Herald Of Torment

I can't ever see myself playing less than three of him in any black standard deck I make for the next year. Herald is just so damn good. As a three drop he is a more than competent creature that can beat in the air early and hard, but where this card truly comes alive is being bestowed. Yes five mana is a lot, but if he doesn't stick you still have a 3/3 in the air. When he does get attached uncontested, he just makes your life easy. Against any monster based strategy he can put a useless bear in the air to close out a game against their blockers on the ground. His current home for me is in my B/W extort deck. A Tithe Drinker or Alms Beast becomes an incredibly deadly finisher once in the air.

Extort

Built a new version of my old extort deck and tried it against my brother. First impressions were promising. Hot tip, Alms Beast works stupidly good with Erebos.

Pre Release

Next Friday I am going to my first pre release. I have never made one due to the wife and kids, but I will bite the bullet and do the midnight one. I'm excited. I just need to decide on which colour. I am leaning towards black. 

Thoughtseize On A Stick

Brain Maggot will be a very fun card in limited. A 1/1 with built in thoughtseize will turn out to be pretty powerful for standard too. I want to throw four into my budget mono black deck.

Getting Excited For Journey

Master If The Feast looks really good. I hope it starts out cheap. That fat bastard may end up being the new Desecration Demon. One way howling mine is a powerful ability, but boy howdy is 5/5 in the air a beater. I'll be perfectly happy dropping a ten spot on a playset.

Orzhov God

Wizards does love me. The Orzhov god will work perfectly in my BW aggro humans deck. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and fork out for at least two of then. I hate paying for cards, but I'll make an exception for something that good.

Investment Creatures

When RTR rotates out, black will need to replace Pack Rat and Desecration Demon. There are no perfect analogues but I am pretty sure that Agent Of The Fates and Herald Of Torment will see a lot of play in their place. Both are hella cheap right now. A playset of both is less than $10.

Fun Police

I enjoy fun police decks, but supreme verdict just seems excessive. Wrath effects should be able to be countered. Board clearing should take a little bit of forethought or effort.

My Current Deck

Black White Humans. It all started with one man Xanthrid Necromancer. He is just business. He dies, other things die, and zombies. Lots of zombies. The best part thing is that the deck wins easily without him, but all the removal flies at him. The secret hero is Precinct Captain. He wears a gift so well, and him with a spear or Ajani in play is just a clock.
I would put in a Mutavault or two if I had them (they are humans after all), but I am on a budget and god god are they expensive.
The one Sin Collector is main deck because I have one of the spiffy foil promo ones. I can't bear to pull it out. It just looks too cool.

4 x Soldier Of The Pantheon
3 x Tormented Hero
4 x Precinct Captain
4 x Daring Skyjek
3 x Thrill Kill Assassin
1 x Sin Collector
2 x Banisher Priest
3 x Xathrid Necromancer
3 x Herald Of Torment

3 x Bile Blight
1 x Hero's Downfall
2 x Spear of Heliod
2 x Gift Orzhova
1 x Ajani Caller Of The Pride

4 x Godless Shrine
4 x Temple of Silence
9 x Plains
7 x Swamp

Draftin' Born

I finally have a grasp on Born Of The Gods. I really have no idea why this format was causing me as much trouble as it did. Theros I had figured out pretty quick, and I don't think I finished less than 2-1 the whole run. I'd like to think that I am good enough that a small block shouldn't stump me like Born did. If I was to pass any blame, it would be to the terrible red creatures in it. Red was my thing in Theros. I loved its creature base and tricks. I know I am not the norm in that, but a deck full of minotaur always made me happy, lords or no. In Born I lost that. Red creature are just bad, and there is always a Boros drafter gobbling up the sweet removal. I could no longer push people off by taking all the unloved creatures and being rewarded later. Red for all intents and purposes is now off limits at least as far as my store is concerned. I only started finding success by moving on to my least loved colour. Green. I don't hate green, I did play it 20 odd years ago exclusively. It just doesn't fit with what I want to do now that I am old and crafty. But green in Born seems to always be open and surprisingly deep. It also has my new favourite trick. Mortal's Resolve. I ran two main deck this past week and it did nothing but work for me. The combination of a power increase and indestructible is just bonkers. It ate three Divine Verdicts, multiple bolts and one sip over the course of one 8-4. Game 2-3 of all matches if I had a Nessian Asp back and two mana up, people would flat out refuse to attack. Ive never felt that much power from one trick. It stops hard removal like a Giant Growth never could. I can't wait to get back and try it again before Journey comes out.