For those of you who joined me for my last article (Rising Waters in MBC), you can plainly see how dominant that deck has been in the first week of qualifiers for Pro Tour: Chicago. It has qualified a good amount of people the first two weeks of this season, and the number of people who have top eight’ed (I think I just made a word up, or slaughtered every English grammar rule!) with this deck have only been matched by Green White Rebels.
This week’s deck is what I consider the primal beginnings of combo in MBC. Natural Affinity, Death Pit Offering, and Massacre put together are serious beats. The two cards Natural Affinity and Massacre work as a double Wrath of God and Armageddon against some decks, and the addition of Death Pit Offering make your creatures very hard to stop. Let us look at the deck that placed ninth place at Pro Tour New York:
3x Forced March
4x Massacre
7x Forest
16x Swamp
As I said earlier, Mike Hron played this deck to ninth place at PT: NY. However, the addition of Prophecy allows you to run better cards for this deck. Let’s now take a look at the creature base and see how it has evolved:
Creatures (10)
These are the only creatures in Hron’s decklist from the Pro Tour. Each creature holds a very important purpose. The Evincars make your own creatures stronger while it makes your opponent’s creatures weaker. The Divining Witch plays Demonic Consultation tricks to get you to the game breaking card that you desperately need, and the Wumpus helps to keep weenie hordes in check. The following cards have been added to my personal Death Pit Offering deck.
Creatures
4x Blastoderm
In my deck and Hron’s, the number of creatures remain the same. However, the differences are glaring. I added Blastoderm because I believe it is one of the better creatures in the game. The 5/5 for four mana is very effective against decks that use direct damage as a way to control creatures. I do believe that in both decks the creatures are mana intensive, but sometimes they are the best way to win.
3x Forced March
4x Massacre
The question you might be asking yourself right now maybe, "How does this deck get any control on the board?" The spell base of the deck is very good. Natural Affinity helps to damage your opponent or block a lethal attack. Massacre helps keep those pesky Rebels at bay for a turn (moreso if you actually kill some of them). Massacre coupled with the Affinity acts like an Armageddon. Forced March handles weenies, and can take out the higher casting cost creatures if need be. Listed above are Hron’s spell choices, and below you will see mine.
4x Dark Ritual
4x Massacre
The largest difference in spell selection is the maindecked Chimeric Idol, and the lack of Forced March. A card that I was very high on was the March, but the possibility of Citadel of Pain type-decks makes it a necessity to have a reliable mana sink. You have that in the Chimeric Idol, which is quite possibly the most powerful artifact since Masticore. The Ramos pieces are another source of mana for this mana-intensive deck. These pieces also help to get out of Rising Waters locks, and still allow you enough room to cast stuff while a Citadel is in play.
7x Forest
16x Swamp
Lands in this deck should remain basic. Dust Bowls do not have a place in here, and I believe that the underrated Rath’s Edge does not belong in here as well. We all know that the abusive Rishadan Port has been banned, and that allows for more basics of each type to be played. Hron’s deck runs an insane amount of land (27!!!), and that could also stand to change some.
6x Forest
14x Swamp
The twenty land in this deck gives it a better chance of being explosive; you’re almost guaranteed that you will receive at least one of the colors that you need to cast with.
My complete Death Pit Offering Deck looks like this:
4x Blastoderm
4x Dark Ritual
4x Massacre
14x Swamp
6x Forest
Total of sixty cards…
Sideboarding is important with this deck. I would include Snuff Out, Vendetta, Jolrael Empress of the Beasts, Forced March, Woodripper (Anti-Ramos/ Chimeric Idol tech!), and whatever cards will help you gain an edge in your local area. Remember my rules for sideboarding: Do what is best for your deck, use utility cards, and sideboard what you think is right, not what some guy online tells you too!
Remember I am moving up to Minnesota soon. If anyone knows a good place to play please tell me at [email protected]. I hear that there is a good store up in the Minneapolis area. I hope so, as I would love to get some playtesting done for the Pro Tour season.
Join me next week for yet another MBC deck analysis (Merc Burn!!!), and the formation of the Joshua Claytor School of Magic. Bring your pencils, paper, and erasers, cause I’m gonna take you all to school!
Thanks for reading!