Pet Cemetery

[Ephraim]

Pet Cemetery:  Oversold Cemetery based toolbox control

Oversold Cemetery is one of those cards that has incredible potential. When I first saw it, I knew that I wanted to build a deck around it. I've lost records of the earliest rendition of the deck, but it didn't change much prior to Mirrodin, while it has changed significantly since. The post-Mirrodin deck list then serves as a good point of beginning. (Note: Most of the deck lists here are copied from an older thread about this deck. I've re-posted them here to collect this deck's entire history into one thread.)

The Basis (4)
4 Oversold Cemetery

Creatures (28)
4 Sandbar Merfolk
3 Carrion Feeder
3 Ravenous Rats
4 Abyssal Gatekeeper
3 Mesmeric Fiend
3 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Man-o'-War
3 Raven Familiar
1 Stronghold Assassin
3 Highway Robber
1 Sengir Vampire

Artifacts (5)
2 Jinxed Idol
1 Lightning Coils
2 Skull Catapult

Mana Sources (20)
13 Swamp
7 Island

At this point in time, the deck's identity as a toolbox deck really hadn't developed yet. I didn't really have much of an idea regarding what a toolbox with a good set of tutors could accomplish, so I opted instead for redundant copies of my utility creatures and no tutors.

Sandbar Merfolk and Raven Familiar served as the deck's card-drawing engine. With an Oversold Cemetery in play, I could cycle a Sandbar Merfolk every turn for a single card. It wasn't particularly efficient, since Sandbar Merfolk was pretty useless on its own, but it did the trick at the time. Likewise, for a somewhat higher cost, Raven Familiar could help me dig through the deck pretty quickly. If I had a sacrifice outlet (Carrion Feeder, Skull Catapult, Jinxed Idol), I could also do this every turn.

Abyssal Gatekeeper, Man-o'-War, and Stronghold Assassin served as the deck's board control elements. Since I could always get my creatures back, I didn't pay much attention to Abyssal Gatekeeper's penalty. Stronghold Assassin also took advantage of the immunity to attrition that Oversold Cemetery granted me. Man-o'-War was kind of inefficient, since it was rather costly and didn't actually kill anything, but it provided adequate protection when there were more creatures on the table than I could conveniently kill - since Abyssal Gatekeeper only ever resulted in the death of an opponent's least useful creatures.

Ravenous Rats and Mesmeric Fiend served as hand control, obviously. Because the deck contained five sacrifice outlet, I could engage in nightmare tricks* with it to clear an opponent's most bothersome spells away permanently.

Spiketail Hatchling served as perpentual control. Constant recursion always kept opponents a little bit shy of over extension. It occasionally provided me with flying offense - generally all of the same things that it provides to any deck that uses it, but with the ability to recur it through Oversold Cemetery.

Highway Robber was the deck's initial nod to the need for an alternate win condition. It also served as the deck's only means of life gain. Although I could usually count on a massively-pumped Carrion Feeder to carry me to victory, sometimes my opponent would have some way of stopping it ad-infinitum (a creature with protection from black, a CoP, etc...) In those situations, I could bring about victory by life-loss via Highway Robber. Also, because this deck had a hard time against fast aggro, the life gain was sometimes important. The deck could usually stabilize versus fast aggro, but often too much damage had already been dealt. Without life gain, a Fireblast or a Lightning Bolt could sometimes seal the game.

Sengir Vampire was included more-or-less because it looked cool. The deck didn't really have a flying beater and I had a Sengir Vampire lying around, so I put it in.

Lightning Coils was put in immediately following Mirrodin as an experiment. I knew that I often had a lot of creatures going to the graveyard and I figured I could capitalize on that.

Jinxed Idol was particularly good with Abyssal Gatekeeper. Unless my opponent wanted to be taking two damage each turn, it resulted in a loss of two creatures.

Skull Catapult was the deck's second alternate win condition. It also served as more direct board control and provided additional sacrifice outlets to power along recursion via Oversold Cemetery.

Ultimately, this version of the deck did not prove versatile enough to handle a diverse field, even in casual play. The next major revision to the deck occured after the release of Darksteel. It resulted in some fairly radical changes to the deck.

Creatures (23)
2 Druid Lyrist
2 Scavenger Folk
2 Spore Frog
2 Veteran Explorer
4 Carrion Feeder
2 Abyssal Gatekeeper
2 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Raven Familiar
1 Dross Harvester
1 Stronghold Assassin
2 Highway Robber
1 Duplicant

Artifacts (7)
2 Skullclamp
2 Jinxed Idol
1 Lightning Coils
2 Skull Catapult

Spells (10)
3 Worldly Tutor
4 Oversold Cemetery
3 Buried Alive

Land (20)
9 Swamp
7 Forest
4 Island

The most obvious change from the last revision to this one is the addition of green to the deck. Veteran Explorer would provide the deck with critical colour-fixing and would help accelerate the deck to a point where it could effectively recur more than one creature each turn. Green also provided access to Scavenger Folk and Druid Lyrist, which gave the deck essential tools in dealing with artifacts in enchantments, which it couldn't previously do. Spore Frog also turned out to be very helpful in dealing with fast, creature-based aggro, providing critical turns in which I could stabilize. Worldly Tutor also proved to be a useful addition to the deck, helping me to acquire the tool I needed when it was required.

Dross Harvester has replaced Sengir Vampire as the deck's beater. It had better synergy with the deck's tendency to kill a lot of creatures, so it could actually be used as a life-gain mechanism from time to time.

Duplicant also makes an appearance here, reflecting the deck's need for targetted creature removal.

Skullclamp was a big addition to this deck. At the time, it was present alongside Raven Familiar (although note the complete absence of Sandbar Merfolk). That yielded a great deal of card advantage. One of the things that became apparent to me was that between Oversold Cemetery and the card-drawers, I often had to discard some of the creatures I recalled from the graveyard each turn. Clearly, I either was drawing too many cards or I didn't have enough mana. (I discovered that both were actually true.)

The deck also acquired several copies of Buried Alive. Although it isn't a tutor per se, in the presence of Oversold Cemetery, it can be even better - digging up three creatures and helping to fill the graveyard to help the Cemetery get active sooner.

This version of the deck definitely operated more like a toolbox. However, it was at this point that I began to understand the way toolbox decks work in general. I was still including too many redundant copies of utility creatures, which left me with too few answers to a multitude of problems.

Non-Utility Creatures (13)
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Carrion Feeder
3 Raven Familiar
2 Juggernaut

Utility Creatures (9)
1 Spore Frog
1 Druid Lyrist
1 Scavenger Folk
1 Abyssal Gatekeeper
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
1 Highway Robber
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Cackling Fiend

Artifacts (6)
2 Skullclamp
2 Genesis Chamber
2 Skull Catapult

Spells (10)
2 Worldly Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Oversold Cemetery
3 Buried Alive

Land (22)
2 Plains
4 Island
7 Forest
9 Swamp

This is a definitive build in this deck's history. It marks the first time that I actively recognized the difference between the creatures I was including for utility and those I had to drive the deck. As shown, the utility creatures were then almost entirely one-of's.

Note that the number of Carrion Feeders and Veteran Explorers had increased to 4. Both creatures were of great importance in the deck's early development. In fact a first turn Carrion Feeder followed by a second turn Veteran Explorer was one of this deck's best plays (surprassed only by first turn Veteran Explorer, second turn Skullclamp.)

By this time, Lightning Coils was out. The experiment hadn't really succeeded. For the most part, by the time I could start swinging with lethal elemental tokens, I already had the game under my thumb, making it a win-more card. I did, however, have two Genesis Chambers to give me additional creatures to sacrifice to my Abyssal Gatekeepers. I assumed (wrongly, as we shall see) that I could generate far more tokens with the Chambers than my opponents.

There were a few other small changes to the deck. Because I like nightmare tricks* a great deal, I replaced Duplicant with Faceless Butcher. I felt that the lower mana cost was worth the disadvantages associated with Faceless Butcher being black and requiring a sacrifice outlet to be most effective. Cackling Fiend was a brief inclusion as a gesture toward multiplayer games. Demonic Tutor replaced one copy of Worldly Tutor. Hanna, Ship's Navigator, was included (and the mana base contorted to do so!) to reflect the deck's pathetic weakness against anything capable of destroying the Oversold Cemeteries. Juggernaut was the latest incarnation in this deck's choice of heavy beater.

This build was the last before what I consider to be the "modern" era of this deck. Although I haven't spotted anything in Champions of Kamigawa to really give this deck a boost, Fifth Dawn was a great boon for the deck in the form of Eternal Witness, which allowed me to cut Hanna.

Pet Cemetery, 05 November, 2004)

Creatures (24)
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Veteran Explorer

1 Anger
1 Wonder

2 Nantuko Vigilante
2 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Faceless Butcher
1 Gravegouger
1 Petravark
1 Spore Frog
1 Venomous Dragonfly
1 Eternal Witness
1 Highway Robber
1 Crypt Rats
1 Triskelion

Artifacts (4)
2 Skullclamp
2 Skull Catapult

Spells (10)
4 Oversold Cemetery
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
3 Buried Alive

Land (22)
1 Island
3 Mountain
8 Swamp
10 Forest

Note that both Wonder and Anger are present in this build. They contort the mana base slightly, but it's typically not difficult to get at least an Island or a Mountain into play and not much harder to get both. Veteran Explorer is very good that way.

This final version also plays up the importance of nightmare tricks* a lot more than previous builds. I've realized that they're a really fantastic way to control using creatures and build up a massive Carrion Feeder in the meanwhile. Petravark doesn't serve as mana denial (it'd be at odds with Veteran Explorer, if that were the case.) It's purpose is more to deal with particularly troublesome non-basic lands. Gravegouger isn't strictly necessary, but it's nice to fill out the compliment of black nightmares and this deck is itself proof that it's sometimes useful to have a way of hosing somebody's graveyard.

I also concluded that the deck doesn't really need a creature dedicated solely to beating an opponent. Carrion Feeders get big fast enough and Triskelion, which can also serve other purposes, is sufficiently big to work as a beater when necessary.

The deck has also abandoned cheaper forms of artifact and enchantment removal in favour of Nantuko Vigilante. Not only is the Vigilante a little harder to kill than the other available options, he also doesn't require a sacrifice to be effective. This is particularly important against Planar Void, which is this deck's archnemesis (and which people in my local area began playing in response to this deck's presence.)

Crypt Rats reflects the deck's inability to deal with large numbers of small creatures. I can afford to lose my board position if it hoses the guy playing elves, goblins, or white weenie, though. I can't beat them otherwise.

Venomous Dragonfly really only serves one purpose, and that's killing Akroma, Angel of Wrath. Anything else, for the most part, I can take out with Faceless Butcher. I could probably replace the Dragonfly with any number of other utility creatures, but I still find it useful from time to time and the space isn't urgently needed.

I removed the Genesis Chambers because it turned out that giving my opponents any extra creatures at all helped them to stabilize far too much. Even when I did generate more creatures than they did, the additional creatures typically helped my opponents much more than they helped me.

*Nightmare Tricks
Nightmare tricks refer to a sneaky trick that can be performed with the red and black Nightmare-type creatures from Torment. Each of these creatures has an ability that removes something (a card in hand, an opponent's life, a permanent on the table) from the game when it comes into play and then returns that something to play when the Nightmare leaves play. However, the removals and returns are based on triggered abilities, which means that they can be abused with clever use of the stack, if one has a way of sacrificing the creature. I'll demonstrate with Mesmeric Fiend (assume I have a Carrion Feeder in play.)

Play Mesmeric Fiend (Mesmeric Fiend on stack)
Mesmeric Fiend resolves; Mesmeric Fiend comes into play (Mesmeric Fiend comes-into play [CIP] ability on stack)
Sacrifice Mesmeric Fiend to Carrion Feeder (Carrion Feeder +1/+1 counter abity on stack; Mesmeric Fiend leaves-play [LP] ability on stack)
Mesmeric Fiend LP ability resolves. The card that was removed from the opponent's hand is returned - nothing has been removed at this point, so nothing happens.
Carrion Feeder +1/+1 counter ability resolves. Carrion Feeder gets a +1/+1 counter.
Mesmeric Fiend CIP ability resolves. A card in the opponent's hand is removed from the game.

Note that in the above example the LP ability is caused to resolve before the CIP trigger resolves. As a result, the card that gets removed when the CIP trigger resolves is removed permanently. Even if the Mesmeric Fiend is returned to play later, it has no memory of ever having removed any previous cards, so it can't return them to the opponent's hand. The LP ability refers only to the card removed by the CIP ability of the same instance of Mesmeric Fiend. Different instances of Mesmeric Fiend do not recall anything done by previous instances.

[Ephraim]

I hadn't played this deck much for a long time. When I rebuilt it recently, it underwent some pretty serious changes from the last  build. At any rate, it's handling much differently than it used to. Most notably, It feels as though Crypt Rats has totally obsoluted Triskelion, giving me a more versatile and powerful means of destroying a large number of small creatures. Also as a result of Crypt Rats potent board-sweeping capacity, I seldom find myself with a reason to play Skull Catapult, since it served primarily as board control. It was useful as a sacrifice outlet and in the past, the 2 damage sometimes proved more useful than a +1/+1 counter on a Carrion Feeder, but for the most part, by the time I could get a Skull Catapult on the table and use it, Carrion Feeder is already a 4/4 of larger. In the past, Krovikan Horror has been suggested as a replacement for Skull Catapult, but I think that even that would be too slow.

It is also important to note that Gravegouger, Venomous Dragonfly, and Eternal Witness all get very little use as well. However, unlike Triskelion and Skull Catapult, I can clearly define the circumstances under which I would want one of them, where no other card in the deck would suffice.

If I remove Skull Catapult and Triskelion, that leaves me with three empty spots. I could possibly replace Triskelion with Duplicant, giving the deck even more options to deal with creatures with protection from black. If I were to do that, Venomous Dragonfly would still remain in the deck, by merit of hitting the table significantly faster than Duplicant.

I have also been considering playing with Ghitu Slinger, particularly with the possibility of removing Skull Catapult. It would serve a similar purpose, but seems somewhat less expensive to use than Skull Catapult. I'm not sure if it's worth the position though. Similar arguments may be made for Flametonge Kavu, although I think I prefer the Slinger for its ability to deal damage to a player as well.

Beyond those two ideas, I'm at an impasse, for the moment. I can't see any real weakness that needs to be shored up, certainly. The deck's been operating just fine since its reconstruction. Triskelion and Skull Catapult typically aren't hurting anything, although they're dead draws. For the most part, I don't dread seeing them any more than I dread seeing one of the silver bullets that isn't necessary that game. If anybody has any suggestions for cards that would well fill those slots, I'd appreciate hearing them.

[Ephraim]

I recently took out the cards I discussed removing in my last post (2x Skull Catapult, Triskelion.) Despite my claims that I would leave it in, I also removed Venomous Dragonfly.

I replaced Triskelion with Duplicant. Duplicant can deal with large creatures more effectively than Faceless Butcher, although the mana cost of will keep it from replacing Faceless Butcher as the deck's creature removal method of choice.

One of the Skull Catapults has been replaced with Gaea's Herald. It's a very specialized card, but I have room for it. Although the recursion means that I can often wear down decks that pack countermagic, occasionally it is necessary to force a spell through right now, which is where the Herald helps me. If nothing else, it's a spell that must be countered, even if it is just offered as bait.

I replaced the other Skull Catapult with Diabolic Intent. I'm trying to maintain Vintage legality (since Skullclamp spoils the deck for any other format), so I don't want to use a second Demonic or Vampiric Tutor. I could have used a second Worldly Tutor. I'm not really sure which of the two better augments the deck. This is one of the hardest areas to test this deck. Since it's an upper-tier casual deck, the field it faces is often varied in both the decks it sees and the power level opposing it. It's difficult to establish relative percentages against different types of decks, so I can't really say beyond a very vague estimate which tutor is more useful.

Venomous Dragonfly was replaced by a second copy of Crypt Rats. The rats have proven really fantastic in dealing with the early-game aggro that can put this deck on a fast clock. With Veteran Explorer, I often have enough mana to both cast and use Crypt Rats by the third turn. Having a second copy helps to ensure that I'm able to get my hands on one of them fast enough to do some good.

[Upinthe]

I know plenty of casual decks that end the game when they hit five or six lands. Are you sure you want to give two free ones to your opponents with Veteran Explorer? You might want to look into Solemn Simulacrum...

[Ephraim]

I know plenty of casual decks that end the game when they hit five or six lands. Are you sure you want to give two free ones to your opponents with Veteran Explorer? You might want to look into Solemn Simulacrum...

Yes, I'm sure that I want to be using Veteran Explorer. Sure, there are casual decks out there that will chew me up because they can make better use of the mana than I can or because I enable an accelerated bomb. I am willing to take that risk, however, because it doesn't happen most of the time. Plus, while this deck falls to combo and blitzkrieg aggro, it holds its own against most variants of slow aggro, aggro-control, and pure control. That describes the majority of my casual metagame, so this deck works very well for me.

Also, while Solemn Simulacrum is a very solid creature, I would only ever consider it as a one-of in this deck. With a mana cost of , it's a little bit pricey to use as one of the main drivers of the deck.