With all due respect to the previous Ichorid primer thread, I would like to start this new thread due to the evolutions to the Ichorid archetype itself and the surrounding metagame. The biggest new toy Ichorid has received is Bloodghast, which increases the deck’s speed, resiliency, and power way beyond what it was before this card was printed. This card vastly changes how pilots of the deck can manage and play games two and three, the most important for an Ichorid deck. Gone are the days where after an attack with Ichorid it gets left in the graveyard to be thwarted by (Insert target hate card here), to be left with nothing more to apply pressure to our opponents in games two and three.
Bloodghast can now hold down the fort while its brother sits in the yard (and comes back) or even exile. Usually given the opportunity to dredge once or twice while facing (Insert target hate card here), multiple Bloodghasts on board keeps the pilot very much in the game now. With this said I believe Bloodghast is one of the most important cards in the deck when heading to games two and three. Now I want to look at the two different types of Ichorid (Mana and Manaless) and how they have both have utilized Bloodghast. I want to note here that the Mana version of Ichorid refers to having Careful Study and Breakthrough and does not rely as heavily on Bazaar as the Manaless version; which contains Serum Powder to insure Bazaar in the opener and Fatestitchers to power it.
I am going to look at Manaless Ichorid first while focusing on the maindeck and sideboard with the emphasis being on games two and three. Here is a build originally suggested by Meadbert which top 8ed the Philly Open with Sam Berse as the pilot.
Maindeck:
4x Bloodghast
4x Narcomoeba
4x Golgari Thug
4x Golgari-Grave Troll
4x Stinkweed Imp
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Bridge from Below
4x Serum Powder
4x Fatestitcher
3x Dread Return
3x Sharuum, the Hegemon
1x Altar of Dementia
1x Possessed Portal
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
4x Undiscovered Paradise
4x Cephalid Coliseum
1x Black Lotus
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1x Seat of the Synod
Sideboard:
4 Unmask
4 Force of Will
3 Echoing Truth
4 Chain of Vapor
The engine of this deck (like the mana version) forgoes having the traditional disruption elements Ichorid decks use to pack such as Leyline, Unmask, and Chalice in the main deck for raw power. An analysis of the Sharuum engine is here for reference....
Regarding Sharuum Engine vs More Disruption:
This is an excellent question! I was long a fan of more disruption, but not always. When I choose a Dread Return package I do not choose that which fits my play style. Instead I choose that which gives me the best chance to win. Before Bridge from Below and Narcomoeba were printed I ran Dragon Breath and Sutured Ghoul because I wanted the win now effect against Combo and Gifts. I am and always have been a fan of "win now" in type 1 because decks are so powerful. Once Bridge was printed I saw that Bridge was a fast clock on its own and I figured that clogging up the deck with a large Dread Return package was win more since it allowed a turn 3 win when Bridges would win by turn 4 anyway and sometimes turn 3. Going for the occasional turn 2 win with Zealot was not worth sacrificing the disruption. What I most wanted out of my Dread Return package was more disruption thus I ran Sundering Titan and Ancestor's Chosen. Now that Bloodghast has drastically sped up Dredge I think this has changed. Being able to win ~75% of the time on turn 2 versus waiting till turn 3 is enough reason to drop 2 pieces of disruption to add the Altar of Dementias. Also, Altar is good in some surprising scenarios. It is common to get hit with Wasteland on turn 1. Then you might bring out 3 creatures on turn 2 anyway thanks to Fatestitchers, Bloodghasts and Narcomoebas. Dread Return Sharuum to get Altar you can now mill about 15 cards off the top of your library. Hit another Dread return and Sharuum and you just win. I get a lot of turn 2 and turn 3 wins after having Bazaar wasted on turn 1 because of Altar that I never would have had without that engine. Hypnotist could still disrupt like crazy in that spot so it would not be bad, but it does not feed and replace the Bazaar/Dredge engine like Altar. Iona would be pretty weak in that spot.
The reason I say you are dropping 2 pieces of disruption is that if I were to run Hypnotists I would still run 3 Dread Returns and 3 Targets. I would also run LED and probably put maybe not Lotus. Even if I would not run Lotus I would certainly not say it hurts the deck in any significant way. The only 2 "win more" cards are the 2 Altars of Dementia. (Note that I run 2 Altars, but a 1-1 split between Altar and Portal is strong to dodge Platinum Angel.)
I usually board out Sharuum, but when I keep him it is nice that he pitches to both Force of Will and Unmask.
Hypnotist is good and in my opinion better than Iona, but both suffer from the same problem which is what happens if your opponent already Vamp/Imp Sealed for the Vault Key combo? Hypnotist can empty a hand, but opponents open with turn 1 Mox, Land, Key, Imp for Vault reasonably frequently. I can empty their hand, but they still win turn 3. If they had a second Mox or if their Mox was Mana Crypt they win turn 2 (or lose to Mana Crypt)
Regarding Duress and Thoughtseize: I see no benefit to adding these. My guess is your idea was to forgo the turn 2 win and instead replace that with an extra Duress or Thoughtseize on turn 2 if you were lucky enough to have one in hand? The other possibility is to forgo your turn 1 Bazaar drop to open with Duress and slow down the whole engine a turn to then win on turn 4. This is worse than winning on turn 2.
Regarding the Relevance of Coliseum when winning turn 2: Coliseum first becomes relevant when it triggers landfall and brings Bloodghasts into play. Next it becomes relevant as it taps and retaps to bring all of your Fatestitchers into play. Next it becomes relevant when it untaps Bazaar with a Fatestitcher. Finally if you had Lotus or LED or if you Dread Return Sharuum without Altar to get Lotus or LED then you can actually activate the draw function for Coliseum on turn 2. Note that this only covers the turn 2 applications. Turn 3 Colliseum gets better. Is Coliseum way better than say Island when comboing out turn 2? Probably not. But it is certainly no worse and it is nice if Bazaar is Wasted. Consider this:
Turn 1 Bazaar is wasted. You Dredge Grave-Troll turn 2 and drop Coliseum. You then bring out a Fatestitcher or two untapping Colliseum. Now you have 3 Creatures so you Dread Return Sharuum and get back Lotus/LED which you sac for
to activate Colliseum. Now you win turn 2 through Wasteland! Definitely Coliseum is good!
In testing this deck seemed like it could never lose game one at all (Unless I mulled to oblivion, Wasteland turn 1, ect.), just the pure power and speed at which is given to this deck from the Fatestitchers, however that is usually how game one for Ichorid plays regardless of its build. I want to insert what Meadbert had to say here because I fully believe given this build of Manaless Ichorid, it seems as if the correct choices were made given to maindeck.
That is what I would run today. Here are my reasonings:
Fatestitcher is broken. It is better than a flashback Careful Study. Once one decides to run Fatestitcher, a Serum Powder version of Dredge makes more sense, since Fatestitcher is only broken with Bazaar out to untap. Also, with Fatestitchers eating up free
mana it makes it tougher to play Careful Study or Breakthrough.
The next card to consider is Bloodghast. One tidbit I noticed a while ago is that Narcomoeba is almost a better combo enabler than Bridge from Below for Dread Returning on turn 2. Bloodghast is potentially better than Narcomoeba because any that start in hand or are drawn off Bazaar on turn 1 can be returned. This makes them at least 50% better. The "downside" to Bloodghast is that you need to hit that land drop, which you want to hit anyway to pay for Fatestitcher. The result is that your deck is now weak if you miss your second land drop. Running lands is important. Here there are plenty off possibilities:
1: Dakmoor Salvage - Might have a place in a different deck that wants to do stuff on turn 3 and play it slow. Dredging for only 2 sucks. Not producing
sucks and coming into play sucks. Dredgeing this guy on turn 2 to then return Ashen Ghoul on turn 3 seems like a solid use, but that is totally different deck.
2: Mox Diamond - Dissynergy with Bloodghast
3: Gemstone Caverns - Dissynergy with Bloodghast if on draw and dissynergy with Fatestitcher on play.
4: Undiscovered Paradise - Broken. Uber synergy with Bloodghast. Synergy with Fatestitcher. Can hardcast Therapy.
5: Cephalid Colliseum - Broken since you can potentially use this on turn 3 if you need to dodge needle. Synergy with Fatestitcher and Bloodghast. Cannot hardcast Therapy.
6: Oboro Palace in the Clouds - Good. Has synergy with Fatestitcher and Uber Synergy with Bloodghast.
7: Petrified Field - Gets back Bazaar if Wasted. Hits 2 land drops for Blood ghast. Just too slow right now.
10 Lands seemed to be about the right number to run. I dropped all disruption other than Therapy to go for the turn 2 win.
This left 8 Dread Return slots.
Here there were several directions to go in. I considered running guys that are good independently like Yosei, the Morning Star and Sadistic Hypnotist. Those also basically win you the game if you get them together. That seemed good. I also tried various drawing creatures and Zealot. That seemed pretty good.
Eventually I decided that I liked returning Lotus and LED to go nuts with extra Fatestitchers. That made Witness and Sharuum good. Sharuum has the nice infinite loop advantage and then can just win with Altar or Portal.
Altar is basically better since it is so good when you get it alone. It is not that uncommon to have only a little gas and then Dread Return Sharuum for Altar. Then you have like 20 power worth of creatures out so you mill 20 cards and go nuts from there. Even if you have very little in terms of creatures you can at a minimum mess up top deck Tutors. It is tempting to be greedy and run 2 Altar and that is the more broken strategy. I have given into the greed. A better player might fear various permanents like Platinum Angel that could keep them from winning and run a token Portal. By the way thanks to Harlequin for these ideas. He suggested both in a Hermid Druid deck.
Lotus and LED are broken for getting back with Sharuum. By the way a very tough decision is whether to crack LED on turn 1. Basically you have a solid shot at a turn 1 win if you do, but if it does not work out you have no land drops which leaves your deck weak. Sometimes you are better off holding LED till after hitting turn 2 land drop.
An advantage of the new mana base is that with more lands you actually have a reasonable shot of casting a 2cc spell. The bad news is that with only 4 Rainbow lands you are limited to free or blue spells.
The board has the bounce spells for Leyline or Jailer or whatever and then Force and Unmask to stop everything else.
Sideboarding, as well as games two and three are the meat of what I want to try to bring light here, not just for this build, but for Mana Ichorid as well. Looking at our base sideboard for the Manaless Ichorid deck we have 11 cards that seem to be used and four that in testing and as seen from tournament play are just out of place. Unmask is the obvious one that looks to be out of place and the one we will be looking at replacing first in this sideboard.
Sideboard:
4 Unmask
4 Force of Will
3 Echoing Truth
4 Chain of Vapor
The general sideboard plan for this deck is put the whole thing in and take out the Sharuum engine. When you are game two on the draw (since you most likely won game one) is a satisfactory base plan. The idea is to slow your deck down game two to make sure you have protection from your opponents hate cards while still being able to apply some pressure. I would say this is achieved fairly significantly except for the fact that I feel given you are up a game you should try to make your deck flow fast while having that protection. This is why I would propose this sideboard for the Manaless version of Ichorid:
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Angel of Despair/ Woodfall Primus
2 Dakmor Salvage
4 Force of Will
3 Echoing Truth
4 Chain of Vapor
As stated earlier I believe that Bloodghast is the most important card in the deck games 2 and 3, bringing in two Dakmor Salvage with help insure Bloodghast can come online for you. My game 2 board plans would be:
Side plan Game 2:
Side out
3x Sharuum, the Hegemon
1x Altar of Dementia
1x Possessed Portal
1x Black Lotus
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
2x Fatestitcher
2x Golgari Thug
2x Dread Return
Side in
2 Dakmor Salvage
4 Force of Will
4 Chain of Vapor
3 Echoing Truth
Playing the deck through tournaments and testing I feel you only need two thugs anyway, and especially so since there is no Ichorid to eat them, and no need to worry about the dredge count because Dakmor comes in. Also, Dakmor dredges for two and Ravenous Trap needs three to trigger; Dakmor allows an other benefit it make sure you can get consistent land drops for your Bloodghast. You generally want to slow the deck down anyway and with all the bounce and counter magic “wait” (slow dredge) for the hate to come to you then pounce when you deal with it. Game three, if we get there, will have its own board plans as well.
Side plan Game 3:
Side out
3 Echoing Truth
1 Force of Will
Side in
2x Dread Return
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Angel of Despair/ Woodfall Primus
Now this is what I believe to be crucial here, you are on the play and you need to have a bazaar in hand for any chance to get this game; you are not usually going to be able to sit there with a Force in your opener anyway. You want to have the protection but not so much where it will slow down your deck and since you will get one/two shots with your Bazaar in you should make the most what will come into your yard. Iona will allow you to just shut off most of if not all of your opponents hate cards or at worse make for a beater that will be very hard to deal with. Angel of Despair/ Woodfall Primus can help give you tempo and allow for a big body on board as well. Also, Angel of Despair/ Woodfall Primus can come in game two for the mirror match to help shut down enemy Bazaars and game three it can help stop opposing Dark Confidants if you go with Angel.
I am not saying this is the absolute perfect sideboard strategy, however, given the build and use of resources I believe it to be very efficient. In closing for the sideboard strategy and discussion of this build, I would consider making the 3 Echoing Truth into 3 Ichorid. I would want to test around more with this idea before I endorse it. Now I want to shift focus to the other build, Mana Ichorid. Here is a build originally suggested by myself which I won the Philly Open with.
Maindeck:
4 Bloodghast
4 Narcomoeba
4 Golgari-Grave Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Bridge from Below
4 Careful Study
4 Breakthrough
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Ichorid
3 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Cephalid Coliseum
3 City of Brass
3 Dread Return
2 Golgari Thug
1 Angel of Despair
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Dakmar Salvage
1 Life from the Loam
Sideboard:
2 Contagion
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Force of Will
4 Unmask
1 Wispmare
In testing and tournament play this build is obviously slower; however, given the metagame in my area I felt I had more control of the game with this build. Shop decks seem to be the second most played deck in the area where I play behind Tezz, given this fact I didn’t not want to play a build where I would have to mulligan to a Bazaar only to have it get wasted away. Also, I felt that not having to mulligan as aggressively to a Bazaar in games two and three would give me more options and flexibility in those games.
Looking at the maindeck I really tried to set up my maindeck to support what I wanted to happen in games two and three. I felt no matter the options for game one I could usually win, so it came down to what I wanted to be able to do in games two and three. As such I am going to discuss my board plans for games two and three; also I will discuss how the cards in the maindeck related to my decisions for those games. I want to note that the four Unmask (as with the Manaless build) proved to be irrelevant on testing and tournament play thus ignored for now. I was most prepared for shops and I will start with my Sideboarding strategy for that archetype first.
Side out
1 Ichorid
1 Angel of Despair
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Breakthrough
2 Dread Return
1 Golgari Thug
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Mox Sapphire
Side in
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Force of Will
1 Wispmare
First, Dakmor Salvage and Life from the Loam become very valuable in this matchup and one of the reasons I did not run two Dakmor and cut the Loam. I found that despite sphere effects I was able to cast Life from the Loam enough to warrant its inclusion. My plan is to beat down with Ichorids, Bloodghasts, and Narcos while being able to protect against their hate cards. Most of the time their only relevant hate card is Leyline, Bloodghast really lets you play around their targeted graveyard like Crypt. Game three I want to be more aggressive trying to apply as much pressure as I can so I will reside like this:
Side out
2 Force of Will
1 Wispmare
Side in
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Dread Return
1 Angel of Despair
Obviously on the play in game three I will execute this strategy often in hopes of getting one of my dredge chances gets there. Any big body game three will put the pressure back into the shop player’s court and that’s what I want to do, however, if I fear Ravenous Trap albeit slower. Against Vault/Key decks (including TPS and of the like in this general lumping) the Sideboarding becomes almost cat and mouse, and way harder if you lose game one. Confident in the speed of the deck and usually having just won game one, I will play it aggressive still on game two. A recurring theme is once again the card I most fear here is turn zero Leyline, anything else I feel I can blow through.
Side out
1 Ichorid
1 Angel of Despair
1 Breakthrough
1 Dread Return
1 Golgari Thug
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Careful Study
Side in
4 Chain of Vapor
2 Force of Will
1 Wispmare
Even on the draw against a deck which is generally slower in playing out its hate I still try to keep the pressure on. I feel that being able to slow dredge with Dakmor or just one solid dredge will put me in the game with Bloodghasts. I do fear Ravenous Trap here but if I can get some Bloodghasts early I feel it can be dodged, because I mean they do have to draw Ravenous Trap still. Dread Return on Iona or Flame-Kin usually will spell GG for them here. Iona also will let me shut off their hate cards or what they have in hand thanks to a well placed Cabal Therapy. I will reside here if we go to game three as well but for me I feel it becomes more complex and on feel what I can do verse the build/archetype I am going against.
Looking at other archetypes, Fish I feel has the best odds to knock off Ichorid which is why I have the Contagions in the board. Most Fish builds have the tools to really disrupt Ichorid at any point in the game and take over, especially in games two and three. As such, I continually test against the various build and I am not confident myself I have a set board plan for them. I also feel this way with Oath; there are a lot of different ways to go and I don’t feel I have fully explored this match up to its potential yet either. Oath also as evolved much in the way Ichorid as so I will continue to test against them and post my findings.
In closing, I do not think I am the best Ichorid pilot at all, but I merely wanted to post what I have done successfully so far and begin to get more input from people about the deck, its post board games, as well as its strategies and options for them games. I feel Mana Ichorid builds can give you more leeway to dodge the hate and play around it, which is why I play it. I have also top 8ed with Manaless Ichorid and feel it has its pros and cons as well. I wanted to start this new thread to really engage and spark debate about our new options moving forward, and I believe it begins with Bloodghast.
