Sadistic Suicide (The most fun I've had in Vintage in ages)

[TwOnEight_Magic]

    I agree with you Stormanimagus, about the DD combo. Probble overall gofys are the consistent and possibly best big creature for this deck. But Storm, don't forget that Hexmage is not useless by itself. it can kill a Tezz as it comes into play, and its first strike abiblity is very good versus the aggro match. 

It only kills Tezz as it CiP if your opponent is a moron and passes priority to you.

[the_lord_shaper]

    I agree with you Stormanimagus, about the DD combo. Probble overall gofys are the consistent and possibly best big creature for this deck. But Storm, don't forget that Hexmage is not useless by itself. it can kill a Tezz as it comes into play, and its first strike abiblity is very good versus the aggro match. 

It only kills Tezz as it CiP if your opponent is a moron and passes priority to you.

   I know I mentioned that hexmage works on Tezz as it comes into play. And there are quite a few morons that play magic out there..lol

[nineisnoone]

   Here's an updated deck list after I played last weekend. I won that tourney by the way. I had no problem with any deck, with one expection, a R/W aggro deck with plainswalkers in it. I had to update the sideboard for Stax.

Creatures
4 Dark Confidants
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Vampire Hexmage

Sorcery and Instants
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Vamp. tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Night's Whisper
2 Cabal Rituals

Artifacts
3 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal

Lands
3 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Bayou
3 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawmoth
2 Dark Depths

Sideboard:
2 Jailer
2 Ravenous trap
2 Jette
3 Tarmogofy
3 Korsan Grips
3 Oxidize

Is there some reason why you aren't doing a light Blue splash for Ancestral and Time Walk?  At least those two over Night's Whisper.

How have the Cabal Rituals worked out for you?  I don't really think they fit here.  You don't even run full Moxen to get them turn one.  Turn 2 just for a temporary +1 seems too little and the threshold effect just seems like it'd be too late.

Urborg + Wasteland seems to be a negative synergy since they don't have to thin their deck out to get a mana source anymore and gives than an option to color fix.  I wouldn't run it just to make Dark Depths better (if that's why you are running it). 

I would think that Imperial Seal would be better than the 2nd Dark Depths.

[the_lord_shaper]

Is there some reason why you aren't doing a light Blue splash for Ancestral and Time Walk?  At least those two over Night's Whisper.

How have the Cabal Rituals worked out for you?  I don't really think they fit here.  You don't even run full Moxen to get them turn one.  Turn 2 just for a temporary +1 seems too little and the threshold effect just seems like it'd be too late.

Urborg + Wasteland seems to be a negative synergy since they don't have to thin their deck out to get a mana source anymore and gives than an option to color fix.  I wouldn't run it just to make Dark Depths better (if that's why you are running it). 

I would think that Imperial Seal would be better than the 2nd Dark Depths.

     You could splash blue if you want, but I didn't just to keep the deck consistent. There aren't any cards that aren't black in the main deck. The bayous are just for sideboard options. The point of wastelands in this build are there not to deny my opponent colors, but to slow them down, so that I can cast a sacrament without the fear of it being drained. Imperial seal proved to be a dead card most times I had it. I have been much happier with the whispers. And one last note, you need the urborg, they will allow depths to be somewhat useful without hexmages.

[TwOnEight_Magic]

The list I'm running:

Creatures (12)
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir

Other Spells (20)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Artifacts (7)
4 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet

Land (21)
10 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
2 Dark Depths
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Thoughts? Looking to improve it before GP Minne

[RecklessEmbermage]

The list I'm running:

Creatures (12)
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir

Other Spells (20)
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Artifacts (7)
4 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet

Land (21)
10 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
2 Dark Depths
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Thoughts? Looking to improve it before GP Minne

How did you come up with the numbers of dark depths and urborg?

The way I would go about it is 4 of each, 4 wasteland and smallpox instead of gatekeepers (tension between your legendarys and colorless sources is inevitable, but you can simultaneously reduce it while strengthening manadenial) then goldfish and playtest like a motherfucker. If I found that even 3 dark depths and urborg created too much tension (which I doubt), I'd go back to playing 2 depths, 2 urborg, 2-3 wastes and gatekeepers, like you do.

[reaperbong]

hey guys, i'm trying to make this deck work with 4x Bitterblossom + Skullclamps and Tombstalkers for the kill (- 4x Dark Confidant + 4x Night Whisper) any helpful criticism would be greatly appreciated. i'm terrible at honing a perfect manabase so take a look at that in particular if you can. i'll consider anything, just rip it up if possible. Currently i'm trying to figure a blue splash for AR + TW.

4 Dark Ritual
4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
4 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Night's Whisper

x20

4 Bitterblossom
3 Tombstalker
3 Skullclamp
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

x22

10 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal

x18

Sideboard:

4x Null Rod
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Leyline of the Void
2x Extirpate
1x Gatekeeper of Malakir

[RecklessEmbermage]

hey guys, i'm trying to make this deck work with 4x Bitterblossom + Skullclamps and Tombstalkers for the kill (- 4x Dark Confidant + 4x Night Whisper) any helpful criticism would be greatly appreciated. i'm terrible at honing a perfect manabase so take a look at that in particular if you can. i'll consider anything, just rip it up if possible. Currently i'm trying to figure a blue splash for AR + TW.

4 Dark Ritual
4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
4 Sadistic Sacrament
4 Night's Whisper

x20

4 Bitterblossom
3 Tombstalker
3 Skullclamp
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

x22

10 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal

x18

Sideboard:

4x Null Rod
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Leyline of the Void
2x Extirpate
1x Gatekeeper of Malakir

Does a particularly hostile metagame prevent you from playing confidant over whisper? It doesn't look like you are running enough creatures to support clamp if you forego confidant (though gatekeepers help).

With 3-4 more fetchlands, splashing blue should be easy enough.

4 rod and 4 chalice in the board looks a bit strange. Are you bringing all of that in against tezzeret or other powered, blue decks? If so, consider whether some or all of the chalices rely belong in the main. But the deck looks like it should be strong against blue control or combo anyway..  What are the chalices for?

[reaperbong]

Do you think it's too much of a risk to play Confidants with 3 Tombstalkers in the deck?

I like Night's Whisper because they're fast and support casting Tombstalker early, but also can't find room for both so have to make a choice. Considering the lack of creatures I commonly keep the 4th Gatekeeper in the main, usually cutting a Skullcamp I can't seem to settle on 2 or 3.

The Chalices are just thrown in there because i have them, my meta is kinda infested with Oath and Fish decks playing Null Rod so i figured Chalice @ 2 would be a good drop even though it blocks my Bitterblossom, if i can stop Oath of Druids early I can probably cast a Tombstalker eventually. Some of the other cards I'd like in this 4x slot are Yixlid Jailer, Street Wraith, Tendrils, Bloodghast or was even thinking Vampire Lacerator and tested 4 of them for a bit.

Tombstalker was a nice surprise when I first started testing this deck, it can hit the table by turn 3 or 4 fairly easily after two turns of good disruption and ideally a Sadistic Sacrament. My other favorite card, Demonic Consultation is used well here, all the 4 of's, and 3 Stalkers in the deck make it practically better then Demonic Tutor..

I agree more Fetchlands will help overall, that's a good suggestion.



edited for grammar

[RecklessEmbermage]

Do you think it's too much of a risk to play Confidants with 3 Tombstalkers in the deck?

I like Night's Whisper because they're fast and support casting Tombstalker early, but also can't find room for both so have to make a choice. Considering the lack of creatures I commonly keep the 4th Gatekeeper in the main, usually cutting a Skullcamp I can't seem to settle on 2 or 3.

The Chalices are just thrown in there because i have them, my meta is kinda infested with Oath and Fish decks playing Null Rod so i figured Chalice @ 2 would be a good drop even though it blocks my Bitterblossom, if i can stop Oath of Druids early I can probably cast a Tombstalker eventually. Some of the other cards I'd like in this 4x slot are Yixlid Jailer, Street Wraith, Tendrils, Bloodghast or was even thinking Vampire Lacerator and tested 4 of them for a bit.

Tombstalker was a nice surprise when I first started testing this deck, it can hit the table by turn 3 or 4 fairly easily after two turns of good disruption and ideally a Sadistic Sacrament. My other favorite card, Demonic Consultation is used well here, all the 4 of's, and 3 Stalkers in the deck make it practically better then Demonic Tutor..

I agree more Fetchlands will help overall, that's a good suggestion.



edited for grammar

Dieing to confidant is a concern, but with only 3 high casting cost cards in the deck it shouldn't happen too frequently.

There is the somewhat obvious option of cutting clamps for null rods too, but I guess there's a good reason for you to run them in the side. Is aggro a problem, to the extent that you feel maindecking rods would leave you too exposed?

If that is the case, and if you prefer a source of card advantage that is not a creature (confidant) and if oath is giving you problems, try Pox:


5 wastes
3-4 urborg
4 delta
8-9 swamps (lands plus mana-artifacts should be 24-26)
lotus
jet
petal

4 tombstalkers

4 dark ritual
4 duress
3-4 thoughtseize
4 pox
4 smallpox
1 demonic tutor
1 demonic consultation
2 sacrament (2 more in the board if you want to, but Pox-effects and wastelands should handle most threats and consistency is better than silver bullets in this kind of build.)

3-4 crucible of worlds
3-4 null rod

Hymn to tourach and sinkhole frequently pop up in these lists too, but I think selective discard is better than hymn and sinkhole is virtually unplayable.

I haven't played the deck yet, but I've been beaten by it and seen it beating good decks. It handles aggro very well (obviously) and has a very high density of cards that are good against oath (except Iona oath, sadly. If Iona is common in your meta, you're gonna need a different approah, I guess. Possibly splashing green for crop rotation, fastbond and karakas). Null rods are probably necessary in the main for facing blue decks, to ensure you can consistently hurt manabases. Against fish, you could replace them with bitterblossom.

It has no draw, but card advantage in crucible and supports the demon very well. All the discard effects make it unproblematic to run 4 demons.

For some reason, the deck is played in legacy, but not much in vintage. Better players/deckbuilders than me could probably explain why.

[islanderboi10]

I'm not sure if you all have talked about tendrils in the list at all, but IMO, if you are running tutors + 6-8 rituals+ Yawg Will, a 1 or 2 of tendrils could not be bad.  It is also a second win conditions.

Here is a list I have thought up.

Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir

Other Spells
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendril's of Agony


Artifacts
4 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet

Land
10 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
2 Dark Depths
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

I understand the whole Gatekeeper, but is four too much? Also, I have found out that Needle is really hard to deal with, so why not run the tendrils?

Another thought that just came to mind is why not run some green?
Crop Rotation would be huge in finding Dark Depths and Strip Mine.  Plus you can run a Life from the Loam or too, just to add to the disruption. And you could possibly get Goyf.  And more sideboard hate for cards like Needle and such.

EDIT: Sorry the issue has already been addressed.  I still think that green could be a great splash.

[mmmetaphor]

Do you feel it's really worth splashing the green in this deck?  It seems you play only Tarmogoyf and Krosan Grip.  Obviously Goyf is great but couldn't his spot simply be Tombstalker?  Sure there's a risk running him next to Dark Confidant but hey, this is Suicide Black afterall!  Also, what do you side in the grips for and what do you take out for them?  I've been testing:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Gatekeeper

4 Duress
4 Thoughseize
4 Sadistic Sacrement
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consaultation
1 Yawgamoths will

4 Null Rod

4 Dark Ritual
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus

4 Dark Depths
3 Urborg
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4Verdant Catacombs
6 Swamps

SB
3 Tombstalker
1 Dark blast
3 Diabolic Edict
2 Gatekeeper
2 Shriekmaw
4 Leyline of the Void

This list relys on the hexmage/depths combo more heavily than your build but I think you'll find the rest of the deck very similar.  I'm not convinced my fish matchup is great or my matchup vs aggro g/w...any SB advice on suring up those matchups?

[Scyther]

To be honest I dont know why to play 4 Sacrements in this deck MAIN.
its good against what?

tezz, tps, oath... and?.. yeah thats it.. against everything else its just worthless and u wish they were extirpates..
not saying one should swap the sacrements with extirpates though...
fish is the most played deck in the moment, at leat in my area, so why add more cards that are dead in certain MU's? Null Rod alone is dead more times it should be..

please tell me what u are doing with the sacs against these deck.

greez

[pierce]

for those working with the tombstalker shell, please add dark confidants back in. the risk is minimal to play the best card draw engine available. I've flipped inkwell many times and only lost half those games. you can often take one large hit, and you guys average mana cost is low. its not like you'll hit a huge one and have to worry about dying to flipping force of wills too.

i had the pleasure of playing in US 06 nationals, and de rosa/fabiano's R/B deck was sick--i'm glad I dodged it (still didnt cash though). they ran 4 greater gargadon and 4 dark confidant, and sometimes they would randomly take ten, shrug, and still win the game.

if you're drawing a 5/5 flier against an opponent you've screwed with via hand disruption, library stripping, and general other demoralizing effects you'll probably win before you lose enough life from confidant

[reaperbong]

In this shell i don't get how Confidant is better then Night's Whisper though. you have to wait 3 turns to get the same effect you get instantly from Whisper, and the extra card in the yard supports Tombstalker and Goyf. Also Whisper has been better with getting Storm count for Tendrils for me. Suicide Black is slow enough, i'd think it really needs a boost on speed instead of risking 2 more turns against a meta where almost every other deck is much faster, and Confidant can easily get killed before delivering those two cards.

Can someone explain the rationale of Confidant over Night's Whisper? Even in more general terms, I fail to see why Confidant is always played while Night's Whisper rarely sees play. Maybe it's my luck but I tend to die to Confidant in my Tez build and so have started playing 1 Top and even 1 Skullclamp sometimes (in a more aggro build) to help save myself from lethal Confidant damage.

edited for grammar

[Ten-Ten]

...Instead of goin 4 of  Rod, DD, and SadSac, I cut down to three of each and added three Night's whisper. Completely speeds it up! I found that you can find any crucial card in multiples quite easily with Demonic consultation anyway.

[Scyther]

well, i dont know.

how many ".. u lose XY life.."-spells u really can play in this deck?
the mana curve in general is pretty low for the bob's life loss, but adding 4 thoghtseize seems really be enough loss one can take, if you have many many games in mind and u dont want to lose mainly because of your own life los. so adding necro or even 3-4 nights whispers, although really great cards, could never ever be the way to go IMO.

[tito del monte]

A few thoughts that occurred to me last night when I was thinking about this deck, which I admit may well be completely janky, but inspired by Max Brown's brilliant list from the Blue Bell:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=39581.0

His approach, particularly in not relying on Null Rod and playing one ofs with all the tutors seems really liberating and got me thinking about what Zendikar actually does for black: essentially it has doubled the number of combo-like finishes available to black, in so much as instead of Helm + leyline and Tendrils, black now also has Hexmage + Dark Depths and, against certain decks Sadistic Sacrament.

Max argues in the above thread that people's attempts thus far to fit the Hexmage combo into decks have relied to heavily on that combo and he's probably right - why not play a deck that can access the full variety of black combo finishes?

Anyway - this is a very roundabout way of saying: has anyone thought about using Deathwish in this deck? With 3xLeyline/1xHelm main (one of each in sideboard), 3 hex mage + 2 Dark Depths main (one of each in sideboard), plus copies of Sacrament and Tendrils in the sideboard too?

Might be terrible idea but I'll give it a try. If you think I'm mental, let me know.

[mmmetaphor]

A few thoughts that occurred to me last night when I was thinking about this deck, which I admit may well be completely janky, but inspired by Max Brown's brilliant list from the Blue Bell:

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=39581.0

His approach, particularly in not relying on Null Rod and playing one ofs with all the tutors seems really liberating and got me thinking about what Zendikar actually does for black: essentially it has doubled the number of combo-like finishes available to black, in so much as instead of Helm + leyline and Tendrils, black now also has Hexmage + Dark Depths and, against certain decks Sadistic Sacrament.

Max argues in the above thread that people's attempts thus far to fit the Hexmage combo into decks have relied to heavily on that combo and he's probably right - why not play a deck that can access the full variety of black combo finishes?

Anyway - this is a very roundabout way of saying: has anyone thought about using Deathwish in this deck? With 3xLeyline/1xHelm main (one of each in sideboard), 3 hex mage + 2 Dark Depths main (one of each in sideboard), plus copies of Sacrament and Tendrils in the sideboard too?

Might be terrible idea but I'll give it a try. If you think I'm mental, let me know.

As a matter of fact I had a Death Wish in my first version of this deck.  I played 3 of each Vampire Hexmage and DD with a 4th copy of each in the SB to wish for ... but I found the life loss combined with the sorcery speed of death wish just too much.  It's almost good enough... if it were only an instant, sigh.  It was very hard for me to cut it because I reeeeally wanted it to work but oh well..

[Scyther]

i love the fact that max win shows that 4 sacrements is not the way to go main.
seriousl its only good against like 50% of the metagame. and just read how often he boarded it out...

though i would question the edicts over gatekeeper and needle over rod, but its fine as u then have the helm as another wincondition.

further more i will test the green splash more, as it offers more options to practically every matchup. especially against stax and aggro.


btw.: has everyone saw the possible new creatur fom worldwake?

Death's Shadow
B
Creature - Avatar    Rare
Death's Shadow gets -X/-X where X is your life total.
13/13

[TheShop]

i love the fact that max win shows that 4 sacrements is not the way to go main.
seriousl its only good against like 50% of the metagame. and just read how often he boarded it out...

though i would question the edicts over gatekeeper and needle over rod, but its fine as u then have the helm as another wincondition.

further more i will test the green splash more, as it offers more options to practically every matchup. especially against stax and aggro.


btw.: has everyone saw the possible new creatur fom worldwake?

Death's Shadow
B
Creature - Avatar    Rare
Death's Shadow gets -X/-X where X is your life total.
13/13

If this had been a CiP trigger, he would have been a great target for stifle as he could still be played if your life was low enough. 

[Scyther]

low enough??

u realized he gets better the less life u have?

[overseer1234]

Here's what I'm curently runing:

1x     Black Lotus     (Proxy)
1x    Lotus Petal    
1x    Mox Jet    (Proxy)

3x    Null Rod    

4x    Dark Confidant    
4x    Gatekeeper of Malakir    
4x    Vampire Hexmage

1x    Necropotence    
4x    Dark Ritual

1x    Demonic Consultation    
1x    Vampiric Tutor

2x    Dark Depths    
1x    Strip Mine    
1x     Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
13x    Swamp
4x    Wasteland    

3x    Cabal Therapy    
1x    Demonic Tutor
4x    Duress    
1x    Imperial Seal   (Proxy)
3x    Sadistic Sacrament    
1x    Tendrils of Agony    
1x    Yawgmoth’s Will    

Sideboard
2x    Crucible of Worlds
4x    Bitterblossom       
2x    Umezawa’s Jitte    
3x    Phyrexian Negator    
2x    Yixlid Jailer
2x    Ravenous Trap


3 sacrament feels like the right number since it's dead weight in the fish mirror, and the shop matchup, same goes for null rod, and you run 4 tutor's to get them pretty reliably

the tendrils kill has been very helpful to get those last points of damage in when going weeny (therapy+creature's make free storm, which is a plus)

The sideboard is geared for the fish mirror (bring in more creauure's+jitte) and shop matchup (crucible, bitterblossom, and anything to replace dead cards, and is a permanent)

Ichorid is still iffy, but maybe I'll cut the GY hate cards for leyline+helm combo (need to cut something to fit in the helm)

Obviously if I'm playing in a non proxy event the seal becomes a 4th null rod and the power pieces become plain old basic swamps, the deck'll still work good enough (just doesn't go broken on turn 1 without ritual)

[Scyther]

cabal therapy is a good adition. but at maximum as discard effect #9-11. IMO there is no way not to play 4 duress + 4 thoughtseize. u always wanna disrupt AND know whats going on in your oppenents hand...

[TheShop]

low enough??

u realized he gets better the less life u have?

Yes, low enough...

If he had a CiP trigger he would be fantastic with stifle.  However, he would still be playable if you never found a stifle and your life was low enough.  +He is not an artifact, so he would be decidedly better than Naught IMO (less removal in addition to still playable without stifle).

[overseer1234]

cabal therapy is a good adition. but at maximum as discard effect #9-11. IMO there is no way not to play 4 duress + 4 thoughtseize. u always wanna disrupt AND know whats going on in your oppenents hand...

This depends on how often you plan to use tendrills as a finisher, since pithing needle on hexmage is something you can't to much about. So It make's the tendrill kill easier...

If you don't play tendrills then by any means go for the 4 thoughtseize, cause then you realy want to get rid of their removal/bounce, since the only thing you need to worry about by going tendrills is essentialy stifle, FoW and mana drain  (since it's mid late game you usualy have enough mane to play arond daze, and spell pierce)

[Scyther]

well, i think your forsee that the 8 duress effects is the best u can do in a recent suicid build!!

tendrils is a nice alternate win condition than can easily be blown off via  few rituals and will.
this has nothing to with th power of thoughtseize over therapy....

[overseer1234]

well, i think your forsee that the 8 duress effects is the best u can do in a recent suicid build!!

tendrils is a nice alternate win condition than can easily be blown off via  few rituals and will.
this has nothing to with th power of thoughtseize over therapy....

Except like... not needing will (or mana for that matter) to flashback cabal therapy so you can up the storm count (for free).

So this does have something to doe with the tendrils plan.

[Scyther]

yeah as said.....
its ALTERNATE win condition.... its not that u want to find and resolve a lethal tendrils ASAP and at all costs. it just happens sometimes...

wheras u need the dures effects to actually STAY IN THE GAME against most decks.
i.e. there are essential for the decks success.

dont know if the letter is less important to u... oO'

[unixtreme]

I really think that Bitter Ordeal is way superior than Sadistic Sacrament in these builds, doing a 3x Bitter is way easy with strip effects + fetch / lotus and it cannot be countered, if you play it safely Sadistic might be more attractive but the   cost of Bitter makes it easier to play with those Wasteland and doesn't deppend that much on Rituals. If you haven't tested it already do it before judging, I did it myself and a crappy 2x Bitter on turn 1 usually leads to a win and Gravestorm allows it to avoid counters easilly.

//20 Lands
8 Swamp
4 Verdant
2 Bloodstained
3 Waste
1 Strip
2 Dark Dephts

//13 Creatures
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Dark Confidant
2 Tombstalker
3 Phyrexian Negator

//27 Spells
2 Bitter Ordeal
4 Ritual
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Vampiric
1 Demonic
1 Lotus
1 Jet
1 Lotus Petal
1 Imp. Seal
3 Null Rod
2/1 Sudden Spoiling
2/1 Extirpate

That's what i'd run so far.