MtG Deck Critique Thread

[Mooncrow]

So, getting ready to start playing competitively again, and since I'm usually a UW player, I'm giving the Haunted Humans deck a try.  Right now my decklist is:

4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Gideon's Lawkeeper
3 Grand Abolisher
4 Hero of Bladehold
2 Leonin Relic Warder
4 Mirran Crusader
1 Spellskite
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

4 Honor of the Pure
3 Mana Leak
2 Oblivion Ring

4 Glacial Fortress
1 Island
3 Moorland Haunt
11 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard:
3 Celestial Purge
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Fiend Hunter
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Leonin Relic Warder
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
1 Mana Leak
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Idk, I'm really torn between running this or running the Geist/Angelic Destiny version.  This version has done pretty well so far, though I'm leaning towards swapping out the Lawkeepers for a couple more Spellskites - that is a card that just straight up wins games, especially against the mirror match and delver.  Whereas Lawkeeprs have been clutch in a couple games, but most of the time they only serve as an extra body for Honor of the Pure. 

Any suggestions?

[Sinfire Titan]

Lawkeepers for more Spellskites is a good idea. You may also want to bump the Shrines to maindeck and the Relic-Warders to board. And any Blue deck can use Snapcaster Mages, although their price tag may be an issue for you. And you really could use a few copies of Timely Reinforcements. It combos nicely with Spellskite.

You may wish to review your mana base. With only 4 total blue spells (Spellskite notwithstanding), I'd question if you really need that one Island instead of a fourth Moorland Haunt. While the Haunt does not provide colored mana, you have virtually no late-game plays. The extra Haunt can mean the difference between having a chance at finishing someone off or failure. Another option is to include two copies of Sun Titan; while he isn't a Human, he gets them back and can recur other effects (and most opponents won't expect it from a tribal deck like yours).

Aside from this, the biggest issue I can see is your curve. You are heavily focused on the 2-drops, but you also make a nice amount of tokens. Ratchet Bomb is your absolute bane with the latter, while the former means your turn 1 plays are often going to be "Land, go" and you won't have much to back it up. I recommend either Elite Vanguards or Delver of Secrets to help with these problems (and I reiterate the earlier statement about Sun Titan).

Finally, previewed in the AVR spoilers is Cavern of Souls, an invaluable asset to any tribal deck. It will be expensive, but picking up 4 will make your deck that much better.

[Mooncrow]

Yeah, agreed on the shrine to mainboard and more Spellskites for Game 1, at least if I keep running this deck.  The one drop slot seemed pretty good to me, though if I swap out the lawkeepers I suppose that might change.  But I think there was only one game tonight where I didn't have a Champion or Traveler to drop on T1.  Thankfully, at a friend's suggestion, I ran Stony Silence x2 in my sideboard, and swapped them in every Game 2 & 3 - which not only stopped Ratchet Bomb cold, but killed the equipment-based decks as well.  Sun Titan and Snapcaster are both great cards, and I run them in other decks, but they don't work very well with this one - I'm looking to empty my graveyard of creatures with Moorland Haunt, and there just aren't enough spells that the Snapcaster can use.  (Though, Sun Titan -> O-ring is one of my favorite plays, I admit^^)   Agree 100% on Timely Reinforcements though - there were a couple games against other aggro decks that it would have turned the game around. 

But, after tonight's FNM, I'm pretty tempted to shift over to B/W tokens.  I ended up pulling the win out, but the token deck gave me fits in the last match.  The only reason I won Game 3 is that he dropped a turn 4 Sorin instead of an actual threat, and my turn 4 Hero managed to squeak the win out.  But I think overall, the token deck is stronger than the human deck - it basically does what the human deck does, but better.  (Plus, I only need to buy one more card to build it )

Re: Cavern of Souls - My reaction when I read it this morning: "oh, that's kind of neat, mana fixing for tribal decks; I can see how that could be - HOLY FUCK, 'can't be countered'?!??!!?!?!". So yes, I'll be picking up a set^^ (on one hand, I feel a little bad for players that like control decks; on the other hand, I hate playing against them, so...)

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated =)  I'll be keeping it in mind when I'm doing my building for next week. 

[Amechra]

Just a quick question; I've been thinking of designing a deck designed to hand-out (i.e., remove all the cards in my opponent's HAND) my opponents, using cards like Liability (any card that hits anyone's graveyard makes them lose 1 life) and Falkenrath Noble (for when Creatures actually manage to hit the field).

I'll be precision targetting with stuff like Duress and Ostracize, with Ravenous Rats, Chilling Apparations, and Black Cats bringing up the creature front, with a light side of Nezumi Graverobbers to pick up some of the choicer creatures from their grave. I'll probably also throw some Horrifying Revalations, Mind Rots, and Psychic Miasmas in there for lols.

Mire's Toll, Suffer the Past, and Desecrated Earth will be nice ways to screw with people, I would think.

Is this idea even worth looking into?

[Sinfire Titan]

Just a quick question; I've been thinking of designing a deck designed to hand-out (i.e., remove all the cards in my opponent's HAND) my opponents, using cards like Liability (any card that hits anyone's graveyard makes them lose 1 life) and Falkenrath Noble (for when Creatures actually manage to hit the field).

I'll be precision targetting with stuff like Duress and Ostracize, with Ravenous Rats, Chilling Apparations, and Black Cats bringing up the creature front, with a light side of Nezumi Graverobbers to pick up some of the choicer creatures from their grave. I'll probably also throw some Horrifying Revalations, Mind Rots, and Psychic Miasmas in there for lols.

Mire's Toll, Suffer the Past, and Desecrated Earth will be nice ways to screw with people, I would think.

Is this idea even worth looking into?

Discard-focused decks have issues similar to pure-Counterspell decks: Once they get a threat, you are going to be in trouble. Discard is best used as a support mechanic using effects like Honden of Night's Reach, or as an anti-control card in the form of Myojin of Night's Reach or Cabal Conditioning. Almost every player who has ever had an intrest in Black has tried making a discard-focused deck, and most of them find out that it just causes their opponents to either top playing against it or to build things like Dredge or Reanimator.

I can't say I recommend it for the casual player, and I most certainly can't recommend it for the competitive player. A couple of good discard effects (Inquisition of Kozilek, the new version of it, Thoughtsieze) work marvelously as anti-combo spells, and each of those works best with Extirpate and Surgical Extraction (nothing is more satisfying than turn 1'ing an Inquisition of Kozilek+Surgical Extraction in Modern, as it wrecks a ton of decks in the format).

That said, Needle Specter, Silent Specter, and Mask of Riddles are decent cards for a casual player. Including a couple of them would help any Black deck you build.