Parasite Suicide

[Random Noob]

Hey, just in a good mood, sun is shining, and who gives a fuck what I do with my time.

I posted some time ago in the Darker Times Thread my updated thoughts, including the Combo of Hex Parasite and Death's Shadow, you know x=0.

The top of the Iceberg, still in development, is the randomized use of Horobi, Death's Wail, hellfiring with him and Parasite, the entire creature state of the opponent. board. He is not targetable by Abrupt Decay, which has seen common play lately. Liliana 2.0 was a clear fit, but still after many testing going with 1 Lilliy, splitting with 2 more Diabloic Edict is the right way. More Lillianas can be in the SB. It took sometime to realize that Null Rod isn't the Powerhouse it was, and boarding out Parasite/Shadow combo weakens more that it strenghtens.

Thanks to Wizards they updated the Legendary rule, which unleashes the pain of the entire deck. I am going with 4 Urborgs, and 4 Depths till the day, so this makes it way more comfortable. Not enough, we got the new Combo between Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths.. which makes the Goldfish even more straight combo, than it already was. Through Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth the color screwing of your opponent wasn't that easy, and even against Mud you want your Landdrops producing Mana, not shooting Shops, so i see no downside cutting Wasties.

I played as a meta choice with 4 MD Grafdigger's Cage, that is a shift which you can do if your meta gives that. But as there is now the Stage/Depths combo, I guess you can try to be the Combo Deck straight in the face.

4 Hex Parasite
4 Death's Shadow
1 Horobi, Death's Wail
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage

4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Depths
3 Thespian's Stage
4 Bloodstained Mire
5 Swamp
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
4 Dark Ritual

4 Mental Misstep
4 Thoughtseize

1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Diabolic Edict

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation

1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will

SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Liliana of the Veil
SB: 1 Horobi, Death's Wail
SB: 4 Snuff Out

This is a playable and budget shapeable Deck.. Maindecking, Sidedecking and stuff can be made wherever you play, dependent on your meta.

... well,

Happy suicide 

[Random Noob]

Necroing a Suicide Thread, funny .

Well I shifted the half last year onto Mud and spent time playing Mmorpg's. Then I took up the List and the idea to put some Moxen in. Basically to support Read the Bones. I had the feeling, that when you are not bound on a Budget, and have acces to fast Mana, that Confidants are to slow. You want to have the flip the table moments. While playing against other combo decks, Bob just draws 1-2 Cards, Read the Bones diggs 4 deep, which is just better, when you are going to find a combo part. Another upside is, that you can easily play Horobi, and have more often the Parasite Death's Shadow combo drop on Turn 1.

Most time did it take to figure out the Manabase. At last Ritauls and Moxen are in, which means I had to kickout Missteps for Mind Twist. A hand with mana boost and a Twist is a keeper, while Misstep just sucks. The Misstep war is also not winnable against other Decks, just because they have more counter, and access to Snapcasters, which just win the Misstep Battle.

4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Depths
1 Thespian's Stage
5 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Strip Mine

1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
4 Dark Ritual

4 Thoughtseize
3 Mind Twist

3 Read the Bones
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence

4 Hex Parasite
4 Death's Shadow
3 Horobi, Death's Wail
4 Vampire Hexmage

SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 3 Toxic Deluge
SB: 3 Mental Misstep
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 1 Helm of Obedience

Sideboarding for the Obeyline Combo, to have something more against Glascannons, and decks like Burning Oath. I would love to have space for Snuff Outs, but I guess Toxic Deluge is a need against Affinity and Merfolk. Deluge plays also nicely together with Death's Shadow.

Unfortunatley the German Tournament Scene is in a freeze, so I have not that much Tournament data. I would be happy to get some questions, or suggestions, just to keep it brewing, and get a better list in the end.

Have a nice time!

[Justin]

I've been toying with something similar to the OP list. Dismember works pretty well with what you're going for. Good luck!

[Random Noob]

Thanks

Dismember seems pretty good, and I guess its better than Snuff Out in this Deck. I have still the up hill battle against Mud in mind from playing the Budget version. With Moxen, I guess there is no need to play Snuff Out over Dismember. The case is that Toxic Deluge is so huge against some Decks, while Dismember has its upside against Mud, that its hard to decide. Merfolk, Affinity and Bug Fish are also really strong, but I am not expecting, that trading 1 on 1 wins the Match. Just from playing 4 more Moxen und Mana Crypt Maindeck, the Mud matchup feels way more comfortable. Dont know if Deluge is that supportable vs Mud, but with so many Manascources (30), its possible to reslove a Deluge, even against Mud.

There could be Space, if the Obeyline Combo would been cut, but its not only great vs Dredge, it is a good combo against Combo. So I guess it is a need.

[Random Noob]

Lets Necro my little Pet.

The above List worked fine, I played it on the Bazaar of Moxen last May, and it went especially in the ~120 Player Trial pretty good. After a 3-0 start and 2-0 in Round each, I managed after winning Game 1 against Dredge to face my awful anti Zombie Plan:

What ever you do, never play Leyline and Cage. Cage and Jailer is fine, so is Jailer and Leyline. But Leyline and Cage just don't interact together, and don't stop them from anything. Last Match against Mud, I didn't play tight enough, and threw me out, so just place 30 and no Bye.

Mainevent was into 2-3 drop((

At last when I build on the List, I wanted a Blue Feeling, like you had with Painter or something like that. But Black has just not enough Instant Speed interactions. You need Infos you need to push your clock through, so it came that far, that I build a list with 19 pretty blue cards.

Gitaxian Probe is very nice in that kind of List, since it gives you the information you need, if there is a window suiciding into Shadow with Parasite, and thins the Deck. Mental Misstep is also a very good card, which can handle critical situations by itself. Anc and Walk give you the feeling of beeing able to skill with the deck, but I guess its just their roar power. Force includes itself, and Mysical Tutor is also a solid fit. I decide to not play Brainstorm and Ponder, because as a TMD reader Mystic Remora came to my mind, which was mentioned latley. It is pretty never ending drawing card, since Parasite can remove the Counters and pump himself a bit, so Remora wont die that fast. Tinker/BSC works also good, its the 1-click-win-button, the Deck can life with dead cards, if BSC lands in the hand since it can build up much pressure in just 1 top deck.

Decklist:

4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Dark Depths
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus

4 Death's Shadow
4 Hex Parasite
1 Horobi, Death's Wail
4 Vampire Hexmage

4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Thoughtseize

1 Tinker
1 Blightsteel Colossus

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

3 Mystic Remora

SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 4 Snuff Out
SB: 3 Toxic Deluge
SB: 2 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 3 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Strip Mine


The tight Manabase could have a struggle against Mud, and maybe another Land has to be added to the SB, but that far the List was fun to play.

I would be happy if someone has thoughts or opinions to the above list,

have a nice day))

[xouman]

I have toyed with similar lists, but never took any to a tournament. But I have some questions

Tinker + BSC better than Leyline + Helm? With remoras, leyline + help gets quite expensive, but leyline feels more synergistic.

Don't you often need a way to get CA or at least filter cards? It has the flavour of Fish decks, when you can often suffer some bad draws and then get out of the match.

How do you win the games? Is dark depths the main win condition, or pure beating is equally important? How may matches does tinker win for you?

And finally, which pairings are the best, and which are the worst?


Thanks!

[Random Noob]

Honestly the blue Version isn't tested out, I came to the list last Friday and hook up saturday with some friends for playtesting, but it was pretty fine. Your Ywill is most times drawing 3 cards through the Gitaxian Probes, and 1-3 Cards will come from Remora. Compared with the mono B List you have and Ancestral if you need to get back in the Game. The Mainreson were this has upsides to a Black Version are Time Walking with a Token on the Table, this is what suits your plan very well. If you are not Walking, with possible Token combo on table, you have Force and Missteps to survive, till you can finally swing.

The Plan B is the Shadow and Parasite Beatdown, while you can steer the Shadows power with Parasite using him for x=0 and paying 2 life. Through Dark Depths and the Moxen a Parasite also swings often for 5. The Tinker Plan is sometimes a possibility, when you see through Probe if there is a Window, and you may have FoW Back up.

This List with just 15 Lands and no Rits, lifes from its low Mana Curve, not having a Leyline in the opener, makes it difficult to cast it. But Obeyline is always and option, since its good against Combo, Oath and ofcorse Dredge.

I have 2 Test Videos from the Mono B List I played in BoM, made them because Cockatrice deletes them after a while, and I wanted to analyse my plays. But maybe you like to have a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVR_g7mGoKA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARh5TlkDsBc

greetings)

[the zeeker]

Interesting deck - looks like fun to play. 

Have you considered green as a splash color instead of blue?  Green gives you Sylvan Library (card filtering, card advantate, pumps Death's Shadow), Crop Rotation/Living Wish (finds your combo pieces), Life from the Loam (recovers any wastelanded combo pieces)and Goyf as an alternate beater plus plenty of other cards that I'm sure I'm not thinking of.  This deck with 4x Sylvan Library and a Living Wish board could be very interesting.  You would lose some of the explosiveness of blue, in exchange for more consitency.  Just a thought.

[Random Noob]

Green could be possible, and include Deathrite Shaman. That could make Cavern of Souls happen, since he is like Hexmage a Vampire. Some time back I brewed a pendant to the Bug Fish List into BRG with Shadow and Sylvan Lib, but never took it to a Tournament, since I had the feeling, that its just weeker than Bug.

It looked that way:

-Manabase--
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Swamp
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
--Beatz--
4 Dark Confidant
4 Death's Shadow
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Putrid Leech
--Goodstuff--
3 Sylvan Library
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
--Ctrl--
3 Mental Misstep
3 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Null Rod
--Sideboard--
4 Rakdos Charm
3 Ingot Chewer
3 Snuff Out
2 Null Rod
1 Mountain
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Wasteland

Putrid Leech was a 2nd way to bring Shadow, but I guess its not making it in the current meta.

As it is now, I like Blue more and more, since Marit Lage is not a bad Win Condition in Vintage, and think of going more and more into a Blue heavy Shell. Hexmage is a good card against Chalices and Planeswalker, and enables a 1 Turn Clock, which wouldn't suffer like in a Black Shell of being goldfished away in that one turn, since you can Force/Misstep it through.

Waste Not is stepping in soon, and I guess something like Dark Times is a good home, and especially with a Green Slash (like Deathrite, Decay, Waste Not, Lilly 2.0.). There is plenty of room to brew about Dark Depths, imo one of the best unrestricted Combos. Just about to grab up my Paper Walk, and than try to build up my virtual Card pool, since the Virtual Cards are a good way for real playtesting, but else it not as good as real Paper magic.

[Random Noob]

--Manabase--
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Depths
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus

--Critter--
4 Death's Shadow
4 Hex Parasite
4 Vampire Hexmage
3 Baleful Strix

--Tutor--
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mystical Tutor

--Cantrips--
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder

--Remora--
3 Mystic Remora

--Ctrl--
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Stifle

SB: 2 Snuff Out
SB: 2 Yixlid Jailer
SB: 3 Toxic Deluge
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Steel Sabotage


I tested a bit more, and found that thre was no space for TinkerBot, even if it was a power up for the Tutors in some Situations. Thirst and Academy were possible, but somehow I felt more comfortable, with a maxed number of Dark Depths. 4 Missteps felt kind of overkilling it, so I tweaked space for 2 Stifles, which can protect the Manabase against Wastes, or an Dark Depths on its way becoming Marit Lage. Brainstorm und Ponder are way better than Gitaxian Probes, which were fine, but the Information were most times not that useful, than Cantripping into better Cardquality. Baleful Strix are pretty good, and can be a Blocker when you are going into low Life Zones with Shadows. It gets through most Spheres, and at least it draws a card. It also keeps Delvers away.

After all it makes fun to play, but I can't say, if it has upsides against Remora Storm, with Tinker, and Vault Combo. Maybe the Flesh fixes the Remoras downside.

greetings

[xouman]

is strix better than confidant? Confidant should be your best T1 play, and works wonderful with death's shadow.

Because confidant is better T1 play than remora most of the time, since you will likely have a couple mana open to keep playing, while playing T1 remora means having less mana online...

[Random Noob]

I asked myselof often the same. Strix ups the Blue count, which is very low, so you can't just trade 1-1. Remora AND Confidants would be the way you want it, but then I guess you have to kick out Parasites and Shadows, and do the classic thing. Maybe it would be worth dropping the 8 Slots (Parasites and Shadows), since Hexmage could still stand in, and you would have space for Tinker/Bot, Thirst maybe Vault Combo and Academy and the mighty Bobs.