The Suicide archetype has an impressive record of success in Legacy’s history. Earlier builds like Deadguy Ale (B/W), which were slower but much more disruptive, made an early splash. As the metagame and the card pool changed, so did the design of Suicide decks. There was a brief period where Red Death (B/R), a much more aggressive deck using cards like Phyrexian Negator and Lightning Bolt, performed very well. Even during the brief Flash period, two Suicide decks made Top 8 at Grand Prix: Columbus 2007. These two decks were more geared toward the specific metagame which was largely defined by the existence of Flash. After the Flash period came the printing of Tarmogoyf, and the next evolution of Suicide decks adopted this creature for obvious reasons. This gave way to B/G Suicide decks which came to be known by the name Eva Green. This deck had a Top 4 finish at Grand Prix: Chicago last year, and at the same tournament a BGW variant made Top 8 as well.
While its success has spanned much of Legacy’s history, it is also true that as of late the archetype has struggled to cope with the modern metagame. There have been very few notable Top 8s for the deck in the past year. It has no current and definitive build. The precise reason for a lack of recent accomplishment maybe difficult to ascertain, but there may be many factors that have contributed to problem.
One of the most glaring issues that modern Suicide decks are struggling with is its creatures. The choice of threats that should make it into the deck is a difficult decision. An obvious place to start is Tombstalker, because he provides an incredible 5/5 flyer, usually at the cost of two or three mana. His casting cost is eased by fetchlands, Wasteland, and Dark Ritual. He makes for a great fit for Suicide decks, but he clashes with Dark Confidant. Dark Confidant is a difficult card to evaluate, as he can win games if he stays in play long enough to make a difference, but he is a vulnerable creature that takes multiple turns to really have an impact. Some decks have tried to play a 2/2 split of Dark Confidant/Tombstalker, or a use some type of filtering like Sensei’s Divining Top to fit in more of each card. This lack of synergy between these two cards is only part of the problem that plagues the archetype.
The other most obvious creature to include is Tarmogoyf. There is not too much to say about this, as most decks will want to play fetchlands to fuel Tombstalker, so it’s not too difficult to include Bayous to play Tarmogoyf. The problem is what else to add to the deck’s creature base. Hypnotic Specter has been a strong addition in the past, but he is a little slow against modern combo decks, and is weaker than ever against aggressive decks. Nantuko Shade, while great in the mid to late game, is weak early against aggro decks, not a threat against fast combo decks, and only really a threat to control decks. Putrid Leech has seen some play, but with cards like Thoughtseize, Snuff Out, and fetchlands, it can be a difficult to manage the life loss. Vampire Nighthawk has also seen some play and is an interesting addition, but at three mana it is expensive for a creature that lacks the impact of something like Tombstalker or Tarmogoyf.
The printing of new cards have given other decks a plethora of new creatures. Zoo has received powerful creatures like Steppe Lynx and Wild Nacatl, which often swing for three and four damage for just one mana investment. Knight of the Reliquary is a three-mana creature which can grow larger than virtually every creature in Legacy. New Merfolk creatures were printed to push that deck into the modern deck that it is. The lack of new threats that are easily adoptable by Suicide decks have made for difficult times for the archetype. It is possible that Suicide decks should try to adopt some of these better threats, such as Steppe Lynx or even Knight of the Reliquary, but it remains to be seen if this can be done and still retain the advantages of playing the Suicide archetype.
While the lack of truly outstanding threats is one problem, it is not the only one. Another design issue is the effectiveness of its disruption package. In general, this package is usually comes in the form of hand destruction and discard. While Wasteland is still an excellent way to deny your opponent mana, Sinkhole’s impact on any game can vary from game-breaking to useless. The biggest problem with Sinkhole is that the format as a whole has become much faster. Most decks will shrug off a turn 2 land destruction spell and continue with their gameplan. Aggressive decks like Zoo may welcome a full turn spent destroying a land while they continue to play threats. Merfolk can evade Sinkhole’s effect by playing Aether Vial. Most modern combo decks needs very few lands to operate, and Sinkhole is very close to a dead draw against them. Sinkhole is stronger against control decks, but it is often not enough to prevent the landing of a Counterbalance or a Standstill. It has been a staple of many successful Legacy Suicide decks, but it is not as potent a weapon as it once was.
Discard spells, specifically Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach, are the cornerstones of the discard strategy along with Hypnotic Specter. While they are not as weak as Sinkhole, they again have become less effective over time. Combo decks are fast in Legacy, and a discard spell is often not enough to really knock them off their game. These spells have also become weaker against aggressive decks, as these decks play more of their creatures earlier in the game than they have in the past. The printing of Inquisition of Kozilek adds another potential discard spell that might help the archetype. It does not have the drawback of Thoughtseize against aggressive decks, and should be almost as good against combo and control decks. The inability to hit Force of Will should not be much of an issue, as most Suicide decks would rarely choose to take that card over something else.
The remaining part of most Suicide decks is some type of removal. The removal in Black is conditional, and often comes with a heavy price. Snuff Out is an incredibly powerful spell that can be cast for zero mana, but it also costs four life, which can often be a death sentence against an aggressive deck. Snuff Out also works badly with Dark Confidant if they are played together, as it costs four life for revealing it to Dark Confidant and four life to play it for zero mana. The other removal spells have their own limitations. Ghastly Demise relies on the graveyard but does not work so well if Tombstalker is delving most of it away. Diabolic Edict will always hit the weakest creature and costs two mana. Smother can destroy most of the format’s creatures, but again it costs two mana as well. Some of the decks have splashed for White and included Swords to Plowshares for precisely these reasons. Path to Exile is another excellent removal spell that has been printed for White, for which Black has nothing comparable.
These problems when taken one at a time a time might be easily overcome, but as group they represent significant setback for the archetype as whole. The lack of a cohesive group of threats, weaker disruption, and substandard removal all make for a design challenge that has no easy answers. One potential solution maybe to realize that Suicide archetype lacks the current crop of cards to support a winning strategy. While this assumption maybe correct, it offers little insight beyond the fact that any further development of the archetype should be shelved. Another answer might be to simply use the parts of the strategy that are working and try to add elements from other colors and strategies that can supplement it. This may drift any such deck somewhat away from the Suicide archetype, but it may also result in a viable deck.
While many players are surely working on different Suicide variants, Philip Sagnay has been tweaking just such a deck. It has yet to make a Top 8 at a large event, but it has been coming close and has done well in smaller tournaments. It seems to have some similarities to midrange Rock decks and has some of the disruptive elements of Legacy Suicide decks. It retains the discard and land destruction elements but opts for Vindicate over Sinkhole. It tries to answer the removal issue by utilizing Swords to Plowshares. In addition to playing Tarmogoyf and Tombstalker, it has some peculiar creatures choices, such as Qasali Pridemage and Kitchen Finks. It’s also important to realize that this deck does not use Dark Ritual because of the larger than usual number of non-Black cards. The use of Sensei’s Divining Top tries to help the deck from drawing dead later in the game.
Modern Suicide decks will require inventive designs that address the problems holding back the archetype. This deck represents one potential avenue of development.
Creatures (18)
Lands (23)
Spells (19)
