In last week’s article, New Roles for Powerful Cards, the idea of incorporating Entomb into Ichorid was introduced. No such design or potential list was presented, and only a cursory explanation of the potential uses of the cards were covered. The primary reason for this was that there seems to very few if any such lists that are publicly available.
The lack of existing designs allows for a new process of trying to best utilize Entomb in Ichorid to begin without the benefit or the shortcomings of previous builds. This process could begin by trying to build Ichorid from the ground up with no previous design as a starting point. This would have the benefit of trying to non-traditional card choices in the deck that might take advantage of Entomb being there. The other approach, and the one taken here, is to use an existing design of Ichorid and add Entomb to it. The main reason for this take is that, to a large degree, Ichorid has so many cards that have to be in the deck and are difficult to change without really altering the deck dramatically. There are no substitutes for these cards in the card pool. While starting from scratch may sound enticing, adding many of the same cards will likely lead to something close to one of the already existing designs. This is not to minimize the differences between Ichorid decks. Their designs are unique enough to warrant their own discussion.
The starting point for our discussion is the following list. It was developed by Damon Whitby and was played by me almost two years ago. This is an old list, but it (or something like it) has worked in multiple tournaments. For those of you who are not familiar with this type of list, an interview with him about this topic can be found here. These are excellent resources for understanding the card choices and development of this deck.
Creatures (25)
- 2 Sadistic Hypnotist
- 4 Putrid Imp
- 4 Ichorid
- 4 Golgari Grave-Troll
- 3 Golgari Thug
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Narcomoeba
Lands (11)
Spells (24)
- 3 Unmask
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 2 Deep Analysis
- 4 Breakthrough
- 4 Lion's Eye Diamond
- 3 Dread Return
- 4 Bridge from Below
Sideboard
Fitting Entomb into this deck is not an easy task. Each card choice has been carefully made and taking something out inevitably means upsetting that balance that has been achieved. Given this circumstance, the question of why even bother to add Entomb to a list that has already been refined might come to mind. This is a completely reasonable question, and it asks what is wrong with Ichorid as it is currently constructed.
One of the problems with Ichorid is that its opening hands are inconsistent, ranging from hands that can win on turn 1 to hands that absolutely do nothing and have to be mulled. This is not unique to Ichorid, as many decks have a wide-range of hands, especially combo decks, but Ichorid has to mulligan for a specific group of cards that have to be in its opening hand, namely a dredge card, a way to discard it, and a way to cast that discard outlet. Any hand without these parts is usually unplayable. As the deck mulligans, the chances of having such groups of cards in a smaller hand decreases. The mulligan is the only reasonable course action an Ichorid player can take, as it cannot rely on just drawing whatever is missing from the top of his or her library. Entomb fixes this problem to some degree, as it both a dredge card and discard outlet in one card. It also finds the best dredge card in the deck, Golgari Grave-Troll. If Entomb is included in the deck, not only is there less chances of a mulligan, but the deck also mulligans better, as it has more cards that can fulfill these roles. In the most dire of circumstances, a mulligan down to two cards of a land and an Entomb is a hand to keep because it gives the deck a chance to operate properly.
While many of the uses of Entomb will be to tutor for Golgari Grave-Troll, its uses are not limited to just that. Ichorid’s other problem, and perhaps one greater than the issue of opening hands, is that the deck sometimes dredges poorly, dredging into cards that do not allow the deck to kill an opponent quickly. This can mean missing any number of cards depending on the situation.
Here is a list of cards that it can Entomb for in this type of situation –
Narcomoeba
Cabal Therapy
Bridge from Below
Ichorid
Deep Analysis
Dread Return
Flame-Kin Zealot (or other Dread Return targets)
Each of these cards will be missing in specific cases, but Entomb will find any of them in every case. Entomb, in many ways, starts to resembles Demonic Tutor in this deck, but it only costs one mana, it’s an instant, and it puts the card in the graveyard, which is where this deck would prefer the card to be. The only cards it cannot put in the proper zone are lands, Breakthrough, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and Putrid Imp. It’s hard to imagine that more players have not started to add Entomb to Ichorid, given the compelling case that can be made for its inclusion.
If the case to include Entomb is overwhelming, then the only decision left is what it should replace in any given list. As mentioned earlier, this is not a simple decision, but the number of cards that can be considered is incredibly small, as much of the deck needs to remain intact for it to work as designed. The only card that seems to make sense is Unmask. The removal of Unmask should not be taken lightly, as this will hurt the deck’s chances against combo decks, where extra discard is vital in winning close games. It may also hurt against control decks, where it will be more difficult to clear counterspells to resolve a discard outlet.
Entomb, while not a perfect replacement for Unmask, still retains some of these same qualities. Entomb can find Cabal Therapy, which gives the deck more reliable discard against combo decks, and it is a discard outlet on its own, so it will be target for counterspells. This opens up three slots in the earlier list, but the inclusion of fourth Entomb is important in increasing the chances of having one in the opening hand. The only other card that might make sense to trim is Deep Analysis. This leaves the deck with only one, but again, Entomb can always find Deep Analysis. It is possible that it might make sense to cut down to two Dread Returns, since Entomb can find that card as well, but in general this deck is more likely to cast multiple Dread Returns in a game than it is Deep Analysis. The only other change to the maindeck was to simply upgrade from Cephalid Sage to Sphinx of Lost Truths.
Updating the sideboard has a great deal to do with combating the modern metagame, but again, the original sideboard was a starting point. One of the ways to retain Unmask was to simply move it to the sideboard. Leyline of the Void was there in large part to combat decks like Goblins, which could easily remove Bridge from Below by sacrificing their own creatures. It is possible that Ray of Revelation may not be necessary if Leyline of the Void is no longer a card that sees heavy play, especially with newer cards like Ravenous Trap and Faerie Macabre that the deck may need more room to fight instead.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Putrid Imp
- 4 Ichorid
- 1 Flame-Kin Zealot
- 4 Golgari Grave-Troll
- 3 Golgari Thug
- 4 Stinkweed Imp
- 4 Narcomoeba
- 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
Lands (11)
Spells (24)
- 4 Entomb
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 1 Deep Analysis
- 4 Breakthrough
- 4 Lion's Eye Diamond
- 3 Dread Return
- 4 Bridge from Below
Sideboard
I was able to play this list at May 15th Tournament in Vestal, NY. Here were the results of my rounds –
Round 1 – Ad Nauseam Tendrils – Loss
Round 2 – Pox – Win
Round 3 — Ichorid – Loss
Round 4 — Enchantress – Loss
Only during round 1 did I wish that I had Unmask in my maindeck, as it would have helped me a great deal in slowing down my Ad Nauseam opponent. In other rounds, Entomb was exceptional, mostly tutoring for Golgari Grave-Troll to consistently find the best dredge card. This limited tournament experience did not offer a great deal of testing for Entomb, but every time it did come up, it was very useful, and it helped me further the deck’s game-plan.
One other way to illustrate how Entomb works would be to just show some sample opening hands. It is important to note that only hands with Entomb in the opening hand are listed. Other hands were simply left out in order to focus on the role of Entomb in this deck. In each of these hands, I mulliganed if it was unacceptable, and drew one less card each time to see the effects of the mulligan, and to evaluate Entomb both in seven-card hands as well as smaller ones.
Sample Hands
Sample Hand #1
Putrid Imp
Gemstone Mine
Entomb
Golgari-Thug
Dread Return
There were two mulligans before this five-card hand, but this one should be kept. The first turn should involve playing Gemstone Mine and Putrid Imp. The second turn offers an interesting question. Should the deck Entomb for Golgari Grave-Troll instead of relying on the weaker Golgari Thug? In a real game, this would depend largely on what you are playing against.
Sample Hand #2
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Entomb
Narcomoeba
Narcomoeba
Golgari-Grave Troll
Flame-King Zealot
City of Brass
This is an interesting hand because it’s particularly hard to either mulligan or to keep. Keeping it means settling for just two Narcomoebas instead of the normal four. Choosing to mulligan it throws away a potential play that is powerful, and a strong opening. If one were to keep this hand, it should involve the following play:
Play City of Brass
Play Lion’s Eye Diamond
Entomb for Deep Analysis
Sacrifice Lion’s Eye Diamond to add UUU to the mana pool
Flashback Deep Analysis
Dredge six cards for Golgari-Grave Troll
This is a strong start, as it gives us the chance to dredge twice during the opening turn, and hopefully hit enough dredgers or Cabal Therapies to keep it going.
Sample Hand #3
Ichorid
Entomb
Deep Analysis
Cabal Therapy
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Cephalid Coliseum
This hand can be kept because of Entomb. Without a dredge card, a hand should very rarely be kept, because the deck never gets its game-plan going. The inclusion of Entomb here allows the deck to get Golgari Grave-Troll and to dredge it the very next turn. These six cards plus the Entomb means that a turn 2 Cephalid Coliseum can be activated, and if any dredge cards were hit by the original Grave-Troll then the deck could dredge a large portion of its library. If no other dredge card is hit, the deck could Cabal Therapy itself on the second turn and attempt to dredge again next turn. After activating the Cephalid Coliseum, the Ichorid and the Deep Analysis could be discarded, and the Deep Analysis could be flashed back the following turn.
While many variants of Ichorid exist, each of them should seriously consider adding Entomb to their builds. It is an instant speed tutor for almost everything in the deck, and it has virtually no drawback to being included in the deck, beyond which cards needed to be removed for its inclusion. Trying to determine what to remove to include Entomb maybe difficult, but it may also be difficult to imagine a future where Ichorid players do not play Entomb.