Building Blocks: Innistrad Block Getting Darker

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Lee McLeod

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  1. Kibler was streaming Splinterfright in STD with BOPS, the 2-mana self-mill two guy, and Ghoultree. It was pretty amusing to watch (but its effectiveness is definitely debatable).

    I am excited to see Block Con. shape up with the new set- one set Constructed is always such a chore to play toward the end!

    Did you see the UB tempo/control deck from magic-league? Any thoughts on it? And GL at Baltimore!

  2. I recently threw together the Boros deck and took to the 2-man queues, because it looks to be the Tempered Steel of this format, except even cheaper. I’m playing an outdated version without Hellrider, so it was like 10 tickets total. I spent so much time last block trying and failing to beat Tempered Steel that I decided to just join the “dark” side. At this point I think I’m 11-3. I’m 2-1 vs b/w tokens, 3-0 vs Splinterfright, 2-1 vs U/R, 2-0 vs removal heavy BRg, and 0-1 vs the mirror(thanks mull to 4). The deck is just really consistent and the burn gives it a lot of reach. I definitely want to try out Hellrider, mainly cuz the haste is a beating, but Instigator Gang has actually flipped a fair amount for me. One Splinterfright player was at over 50 life after multiple Gnaws, but I killed him in 2 turns thanks to Wildblood Pack :)

    I actually just threw together a R/G deck in deck editor the other day. I started with the red core from Boros and swapped the white for Green. 4x Wolfbitten Captive, Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist, Gatstaff Shephard, Immerwolf, Daybreak Ranger, Gang, 2x Vorapede. It’s pretty much a straight swap. Immerwolf seems really good and you have Daybreak to deal with all the Spirits that will be flying around. Need a few cards to play it though. I suppose this deck should really run Huntmaster too, but that will be out of my price range :)

    I also want to try a B/u zombie deck splashing for the Captain and Grimgrin. Gravecrawler combo anyone? This deck is too expensive for me atm too…

  4. I disagree on Hellrider over Instigator Gang. Let’s not forget, Gang counts as a human also whereas Hellrider doesn’t. Also, I’ve found that Devil’s Play is just too slow for this deck. The deck is blazingly fast and when you through in a couple Increasing Devotions, Champions of Parish becomes frightening.

  5. Tothelight:

    Hellrider is miles better than instigator gang. Hellrider’s damage can beat through witchbane orb, redirected to planeswalkers, and I’ve killed people with big lifelink creatures in play because it eals damage before combat. It’s bigger, and it is even good on an open board, whereas instigator gang is stone worthless on an empty board.
    With Gang, all your 1/1 creatures will deal 2, if unblocked. With Hellrider, they all do at least 1, no matter what. Don’t even get me started on how insane attacking with 2 Hellriders is.

    I am winning way more with boros now that we have hellrider.

  6. @ChrisKool: I don’t look at magic-league events since I have no experience with them, but I went and looked for you. :)
    Deck looks kind of… all over the place. The maindeck looks fine, but it plays about 8 hate artifacts in the board which is insaaaanely too much. It’s probably better than U/R Stalker just because of Sever vs Burn is clearly in Sever’s favor right now, but the list is very unpolished. Definitely worth trying out.
    Also, thanks for the Baltimore well-wishing!

    @Tothelight: The only advantage Instigator gang has over Hellrider on average is that it costs only a single red mana. Having your four and five drops count for Champion of the Parish is gravy, but far from necessary. Usually, if Champion is doing it’s work, they have to deal with it way before you’re playing Increasing Devotion – otherwise they’re just dead regardless if you play it or not. As mentioned by Puddingtime, Hellrider also has the advantage of burning out planeswalkers through a Witchbane Orb without needing to attack them. This is MUCH bigger than having a Champ out and it getting a +1/+1 counter from your 4 drop that doesn’t immediately attack for 3.

    As for Devil’s Play, it might be too slow, but I like having them in the maindeck. For sideboard games, I generally sideboard them out and bring in more specialized answers to whatever I’m playing against (my sideboard is vastly different than ouedec’s list from when I wrote this article).

  10. It only has synergy with Rally the Peasants-type effects (and Champ when you draw it, but it’s pretty marginal), and even then it’s kind of slow. I’d play some Lingering Souls before the Doomsayer.

  11. Ok…so here’s what I’m thinking:

    4 Champion of the Parish
    4 Doomed Traveler
    2 Cloistered Youth
    3 Elite Inquisitor
    3 Fiend Hunter
    4 Hellrider
    2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

    4 Brimstone Volley
    4 Midnight Haunting
    4 Gather the Townsfolk
    2 Increasing Devotion

    14 plains
    6 mountains
    4 Clifftop Retreat

    Sideboard:
    2 Graffdigger’s Cage
    2 Blasphemous Act
    4 Urgent Exorcism
    4 Devil’s Play
    1 Fiend Hunter
    2 Silverchase Fox

    Let me know your thoughts!