GB Morbid Deck - Standard

[niedude]

As you would have known if you talked to me about it, I really, really like the Morbid mechanic. Being personally White-centric myself I tried a lot of WB morbid decks, but those just paled in comparison with GB Morbid decks.

Let me list my first deck: the budget version of GB Morbid, and elaborate on all else later.

Green/Black Morbid:

Creatures: 23

Young Wolf x4
Strangleroot Gheist x4
Reaper from the Abyss x1
Vorapede x3
Dawntreader Elk x3
Demonic Taskmaster x2
Demonlord of Ashmouth x2
Desecration Demon x2
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord x2

Instants: 7

Altar's Reap x2
Tragic Slip x3
Hunger of the Howlpack x2

Sorceries: 6
Bone Splinters x3
Fungal Sprouting x3

Lands: 24

Forest x12
Swamp x10
Grim Backwoods x2


My Non budget deck will come later, as it still needs a lot of testing. But pretty much add Abrupt Decay and Garruk Relentless (his veil cursed form in particular loves this deck)


This deck pretty much runs on one thing: getting out cheap but useful creatures early on, establish some minimal field presence, then get ready to summon better creatures later on and sacrifice the earlier ones who just come back stronger and thus kicking off my Morbid Spells.

Hunger of the Howlpack is to boost desecration Demon (in particular) to astronomical levels so I can sneak in a surprise Jarad and hit my opponent with a sacrificed 9+/9+ Desecration Demon.

Dawntreader Elk might be an odd choice, but he's saved my life by killing two birds with one stone: he got me my third swamp/forest I needed for my Reaper from the Abyss or my Vorapede and kicked off my Morbid spells. He's very handy in the right situation.

Obvious contenders for MB are Disciple of Bolas and Geraf's Messenger, but this deck still needs a little bit of testing and stabilizing before I change my formula by adding too much Black.

 

[Kamotz]

Disciple of Bolas and Thragtusk are very good in this sort of deck, since the Disciple can hit any of your big creatures for a huge lifeswing and card advantage. I'd take those over Demonlord of Ashmouth and Demonic Taskmaster. They can quickly become a liability instead of an asset. If you're going to be playing BG, you should also be playing Dreg Mangler, since it's an efficient hastey, 3/3 beater with a relevant Scavenge cost.

Some other cards to consider are Wolfir Silverheart (which combos well with something like Disciple of Bolas), and Ulvenwald Tracker (which takes advantage of Silverheart's power-boost). I'd go down to 2x Vorapede. Since the 2GGG mana cost is rather restrictive. And you can play Bloodgift Demon in its place (it's a better card-draw engine). Or, instead of the Bloodgift Demon, you can play Underworld Connections - both draw you cards at the cost of 1 life. You seem to be missing the two different dual lands (Overgrown Tomb and Woodland Cemetary). If you're looking for strong creatures, Lotleth Troll might also be something to consider.

But going back to the mechanic, I feel that you'd want something like Blood Artist and Killing Wave. Both of which activate the Morbid mechanic. The issue is that once someone brings in a Rest in Peace, or something along those lines, Morbid doesn't work anymore. RiP is becoming a sideboard must-have in decks that can and need to run it. It protects against Rites, UW Flash, and several other decks that utilize the graveyard. Because Morbid depends on creatures dying (ie. being put into the graveyard), the presence of RiP prevents that (it sends them into exile INSTEAD). That's why the most effective Rites decks are also Midrange decks.

 

[niedude]

I'm gonna be honest and admit I wasn't aware that the being exiled upon death makes it not count as "dying". Seems obvious, now that I think about it though.

Derp.

THe reason I chose these creatures over the golgari scavenge stuff, including the trols, is that I wanted the comeback ability of Young wolf and Strangleroot. I didn't want to risk sacrificing my creatures early on and lose too much advantage, and the Undying ability takes care of that.

The Blood Painter + Killing Wave combo doesn't really sinergise with this deck. THis deck likes to sacrifice a controlled number of creatures each turn so that it keeps some control over its own board. Killing wave wipes my board clean, pretty much. And though I could easily find enough room for Killing Wave, which I might just test out, I don't really have much room for Blood Painter, nor does blood painter sinergise with the rest of my deck (its ability would kick in only once or twice per turn, not really that impressive)

Bloodgift demon and Tracker are nice additions though. Might try testing those out.

Though you know how I feel about Thragtusk xO

 

[Kamotz]

A single Blood Artist doesn't do very much on its own. It's when you have multiples, and things start dying that they become devastating to deal with. Your Undying creatures become that much more dangerous. Geralf's Messenger is a boss when Blood Artist is out. 2 Damage when it comes in X (amount of blood Artists) damage when it dies, 2 Damage when it Undies, and X damage when it dies again.

The issue with a strictly-Morbid deck is that it's easily disrupted. Your spells rely on creatures dying. Kill Spells, draw spells, and pump spells. They should instead be able to do what they do without having to worry about that.

For example: Ultimate Price is strictly better than Bone Splinters. Sign in Blood is strictly better than Altar's Reap. Tragic Slip is the one exception because the cost-reward is skewed highly in its favor. There will be times when you just can't afford to sacrifice your creatures. Then most of those cards are just dead in your hand.

Fungal Sprouting also is pretty unreliable. If all you've got out is a Strangleroot Geist and a Young Wolf, you're getting 3 1/1's at most. Which just die to a single Golgari Charm or hard-casted Bonfire...which wouldn't be so bad if you were running Blood Artists.

The problem I see is that BG is a very cost-effective, aggressive color combination right now. You really kinda want them dead by the time you're hitting 6 mana (like for Reaper from the Abyss). You don't have a strong enough late-game against the late-game control/midrange builds, and your early game isn't enough to deal with the aggro decks in the format that can be swinging for lethal by turn 5.

If you're going to run on the Morbid mechanic, you need to maximize the number of creatures that die on your OPPONENT'S side of the board. Spells like Barter in Blood, Killing Wave, and Tribute to Hunger work well for this. Actually, Liliana of the Veil would be a solid addition to this deck. Vraska, too...maybe.

I think you want to look at this deck as something of a B/G Control deck. Your desire is to control the board state by killing lots of things. I think that's a better way of looking at what this deck wants to do. It's not Aggro, it's not Midrange, it's Control. If you start looking at it that way, you'll open up a whole crapload of strategies and cards to consider.

Also, I know you don't like Thragtusk. But you need to either learn to play it, or learn to play against/around it. It's a very powerful creature for a reason.

 

[niedude]

I see your point. In truth, this deck could probably find a better playground if it let off the morbid mechanic a bit... Which is kidan disappointing for me as a simbolic player, but well, that's the game we play...

Fungal sprouting was a test card I never got to use, honestly. I saw its use theoretically, but I doubted its use practically, so I had to try to use in a game. I havent used it so far, so it will most likely be abandoned. Tribute to Hunger will probably take up this cards spot in my next test runs.

I'll add a Liliana since I pulled one in a booster, even though this is a budget deck. I'll also try to make room for around 3 Blood Artists and Killing waves. Not sure if I can find room for Barter in Blood, though =S

Thragtusk... What could a deck running this strategy do to kill it? I can only imagine using something like ulvenwald tracker... But tracker isn't the most secure thing to count on, you know?

Ideas?

 

[Kamotz]

That's the problem with using a single mechanic. If they shut it down they shut down your whole deck. Tribute and Liliana both take care of the problem with Hexproof Creatures (except sigarda). Barter does that on a larger scale. Killing wave goes even bigger.

Thragtusk is a 2 for 1. They gain life, a beefy attacker, and it leaves an attacker/blocker behind. It's just straight card advantage. You spend a card killing it and then have to kill the beast it leaves behind. It's filthy good. The best way is to kill the player instead.

 

[niedude]

But a Control deck tends to kill the player only after they've stabilized the board in their favour, meaning most Control would sooner try to get rid of thragtusk before attacking to win, right?

Hmm, I see the advantage. Tribute does look mighty interesting...

 

[Kamotz]

Control decks tend to demolish every attempt you make at setting up an offense. You run out of threats or ways to stop them and then they can take you down without a problem. Thragtusk doesn't mean much to a Control deck that has...control of the field. They're happy to keep you on the defensive or force you to block one of their little threats with a Thragtusk while their angels or dragons fly overhead.

Tribute and Liliana are good so long as your opponent has only the 1 creature to sacrifice for it. Once there's more, they can defend their better threat by sacrificing something less significant. And forget it if they have Sigarda. Once they do that, they don't care about you trying to force them to Sacrifice anything. They just laugh and point to Sigarda's ability.