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Explorations #12 - King Sedris and the Traitors

Steve Gargolinski

Competitive Magic (or Please Just Be Cool)

I decided to write this little intro section to my regularly scheduled article after reading this article.

I am a big fan of eternal formats.  Back in college I used to play in Legacy tournaments every week or so, and Vintage whenever I had the chance - but then I converted over to online for the most part and basically stopped playing eternal formats.  I've always wanted to get back to them, but for whatever reason I never made the leap over to Classic.  I guess my excuse is that I was waiting for Legacy, but as time went on this seemed like a worse and worse reason.

So last weekend I decided to try out some Classic.  I already have tons of staple classic cards (which also happen to be staple Legacy cards) so why not?  I tried to enter the premiere event, but it came two people short of firing.  I decided to try a few eight-mans instead.  Here's what I played - a modified Spike Storm deck (credit to whiffy penguin for the original list, which you can read about here):

I goldfished a whole bunch of hands to at least get a basic idea of how the combo works and then headed to find a mini-tournamnet.  I know I'm not a Classic master (in fact, I'm a complete novice!), but I do know a lot about Vintage and Legacy - so at least I have some frame of reference to work from.  I've played Long.dec, Burning Wish combo, The Epic Storm, etc. so how different could it possibly be, right?  I figured that I'd at least win a few games.  Plus I'd get to play Necropotence again, one of my favorite cards from back in the day.

The first eight-man was a total disaster.  In game one of round one I landed Necropotence on the first turn and drew eighteen cards - including every blue card in my deck and absolutely no Soul Spike or Ritual action.  I fizzled out and lost.  In game two I went first and used Demonic Consultation to get Necropotence out on turn two.  Unfortunately the Consultation knocked my library down to eighteen cards!  Soon after I manaburned myself down to zero via misclick.  Not exactly a fantastic start to my Classic career! The manaburn was completely my fault, but I had already given up by that point.  I think it was actually my subconscious trying to get out of this game as quickly as possible.  It also probably didn't help that the TV was on and my girlfriend was over my shoulder, but trying to move blame off of yourself and onto something (or someone) else is usually not the right way to think about fixing a problem. Remember that no matter how badly you want to win, there isn't always a way to make it happen - but if you really want to lose then you will ALWAYS figure out a way to do so. I was down, but not out - so I entered a four-man queue.  The first round was against Stiflenaught.  Game one I won on turn two through an attempted Stifle on Tendrils of Agony, but I had Force of Will.  In game two I had to deal with more Stifles and ended up winning with Soul Spikes, a mini-Tendrils, and Tombstalker.  Game two really showed me how resilient this deck can be.  It's fun to see that one resolved Stifle doesn't spell your doom.  My opponent resolved two copies of Stifle in this game and I still won.  So far so good in tournament number two!

In the 'finals' of the four man I played against Charbelcher combo.  In game one I used Force of Will to stop my opponent from getting up to four mana a ritual on turn one (with no Lion's Eye Diamond, so I figured he was on the Empty the Warrens plan) and then hit the combo from there.

In game two my opponent went first and hit his Charbelcher combo on turn one, activating and flipping over Blood Crypt as the FIRST card!  I went for my own combo and Consulted for Necropotence into oblivion.  Are you kidding me?

In game three I mulliganed down to a five card hand with Force in order to protect myself on turn one and do basically exactly the same thing as game one.  I untapped and played out Pithing Needle naming Goblin Charbelcher, winning a few turns later.

Sounds good right?  Well it was, except that during this entire process my opponent reminded me every step of the way how "It must be nice to be so lucky", "We would all win if we were lucksacks", "You could never beat me without a deck full of hate", etc.  All of it was in much more broken english, but I'm sure that you get the basic idea.  I don't understand this attitude at all.  I mean, is this really the way it has to be?  Is there any way for me to get through a tournament without playing someone who insists on telling me how terrible I am or how fantastic he is - often both?  It really reminds me of a whole bunch of reasons why I stopped playing competitive paper Magic in the first place.  MTGO version 3 is actually a blessing here: the crappy chat interface makes it a lot easier to miss/ignore pointless insults/trash talking! Let's think about this for a minute.  First off, when you assemble a seven card first-turn kill and your opponent stops it with one card in their hand (plus a card to pitch) - then it seems very strange to assume that your opponent is the one who is "lucky".  From my point of view, the guy who used seven full cards to sculpt a turn-one win should take that title.  What this really means is that for some people "getting lucky" is just another phrase for "beating me".  This isn't how it has to be!

Whenever you lose it doesn't automatically mean your opponent got lucky - sometimes they get lucky, sure, but sometimes you get outplayed, sometimes you don't draw the cards you need, and sometimes you just lose!  Hard to imagine for some people, I know.  Sure flipping over Blood Crypt as your first Charbelcher activation is a very rare occurance, but sometimes it happens.  And sometimes your opponent removes his entire library with Demonic Consultation.  That's just the way things go.

In addition to all of this, MAGIC IS A GAME OF LUCK!  Sure there's plenty of skill involved, but whenever you shuffle up a deck there's always that chance that all of the playskill in the world will be negated by how the cards fall.  That's just how it is, and it's one reason why Magic is such a fantastic game.  If you never want to play against a 'lucksack' then get yourself a chess board!  Or play checkers or go.  There are plenty of other options.

I can understand being happy, sad, frustrated, etc.  But that's no reason to put extra effort purely into being a jerk.  If everyone understood this then the environment would just be better for everyone.  Instead of letting your opponent know that he just got really lucky to win (even if he did), why not congratulate him on the win and wish him luck in the future?  Is that really such a horrible thing to do?  Would it really be so terrible to be happy and supportive instead of sad and miserable?  If you're not having fun playing Magic, then you should find something that you enjoy more.

To be fair, I understand that not everyone is a jerk on MTGO (or in the real world) - but the ones who are do a lot to ruin it for everybody.  It really takes a lot of the pleasure out of the game for me when my opponent is whining the entire time (winning or losing).  That's pretty much the end of my rant (for today anyways)!

Next time I play this deck I'll be swapping out Gush for Daze, at least in the main deck.  Gotta love that additional turn one protection!  In addition I'll definitely play Vampiric Tutor, and probably Imperial Seal as well.  Demonic Consultation is so dangerous.  I also want something like Smother in the sideboard to deal with Ethersworn Cannonist and Meddling Mage.

Here's what I would play today:

Tell me if I'm crazy for not running Chrome Mox!  I played this deck in a few test games in the tournament practice room, and it's gone great.  Sometimes I just can't believe the amount of hate that this deck manages to win through.  When it's going well I find myself thinking, "How could this deck ever possibly lose?"  Obviously there are plenty of ways to lose, but I guess that's one sign of a strong deck.

Black, Blue, and Red

Way back at the beginning of time, I played a black, red, and blue deck.  This was back in the days of the original kitchen table games, and things were very different.  Everyone played decks that were slower than molasses, and it wasn't really important to be able to defend yourself until somewhere around turn six or seven.  Three of my favorite cards early on were Demonic Hordes, Shivan Dragon, and Vesuvan Shapeshifter.  Why not run them all in a nice, tight seventy-five card deck?  This may sound crazy, but that's basically how things were.

This was way back before there was anything resembling a shard in Magic, and definitely before the average player knew anything about how to make a deck.  The Magic community had not yet learned its lesson about control vs. beatdown or really even the lesson of sixty cards.  Tournament players were starting to learn these things, but the kitchen table was a long distance from Zak Dolan and the first World Championship.

Color combinations in early casual decks were almost completely non-linear, and mostly based around each player's favorite cards.  For quite some time, I didn't even realize that there were explicit enemy and friendly colors.  I mean, I understood that Gloom hosed white and Karma screwed black, but to me that was more of a good vs evil thing.  At the time I didn't really grasp the significance of Tsunami, Lifeforce, and Volcanic Eruption when it comes to color relations.  Red and blue are enemies?  Seriously?  If red hates blue so much, then please explain to me why is it so much fun to Clone a Shivan Dragon. This is not something that made much sense to me as a small child. So I went on happily for a while slinging Demons alongside Dragons and strange Shapeshifters until I played in my first real tournament, of course, and got absolutely demolished.  It was then that I realized the folly of my ways.  But ever since then, I've always had a fondness for the black and blue cards - and the red ones aren't too bad either.  Pretty much everything seems right with the world when you're beating down with the Shivan Dragon and simultaneously eating away your opponent's land with Demonic Hordes.  So today I'm going to throw together a seventy-five card deck based on Sedris, the Traitor King, Shivan Dragon, Fulminator Mage, and Amoeboid Changeling!  Just kidding, but I am going to check out what Sedris can do in a sixty card deck.

Enter Grixis

Grixis is the black, blue, and red shard of Alara.  It is a decaying land of horror, and not the kind of place that you would want to spend a cool autumn afternoon.  Sedris is a mythic rare in Shards of Alara, and king of the Grixis shard.  Here he is, in all of his glory:

Each shard in Alara has a featured mechanic, and the Grixis mechanic is unearth.  Sedris, the Traitor King takes this to mechanic to the logical conclusion and turns all of the creatures in your graveyard into sneak attack zombies.  One bummer is that this ability is redundant with lots of the other cool creatures in Shards of Alara.  Creatures like Viscera Dragger, Sedraxis Specter, and Hell's Thunder already have unearth.  There's not much leverage gained with Sedris in play and Hell's Thunder in the graveyard, which is a shame.  Sure, it makes the unearth cost a bit easier on the mana, but it's not really a huge strategic benefit.  But that's ok!  There are plenty of other cool creatures to run alongside Sedris, the Traitor King, and just because he makes the unearth ability redundant doesn't mean that we can't run a cool unearth creature like Sedraxis Specter.  That guy seems like a lot of fun, and I really want to try him out.

One thing that I like to do when sketching out ideas for a deck is to check out what other people are playing.  So I did some searching around for Grixis cards used in tournament decks these days, and found only a few - mostly as compliments to established decks.  This is not surprising; it usually takes a while for new sets to catch on.  Here are the cards that I found in use (please comment if I missed any major examples!): Cruel Ultimatum and sometimes Grixis Charm in Cruel Control decks, Blightning and Hell's Thunder in two aggressive decks (both Rakdos and mono red style), Sedraxis Specter in some rare multi-color control decks, and Agony Warp in most Faeries builds. It's time to walk through a bunch of options for our Sedris deck, and I think that the above list is a pretty good place to start. Cruel Ultimatum This is as good as it gets in a game of Magic, and one of the most powerful effects to ever reach cardboard (or virtual cardboard).  I think this card is an absolute blast, and I will be running a copy or two for sure. Blightning I loved playing aggressive Rakdos decks back in the Ravnica days, and Blightning would have been an absolute perfect fit (if it had existed).  Compares pretty well to discard that's been used in the past such as Stupor.  You trade a random discard for a non-random discard, three damage, and a more difficult casting cost.  Seems like a decent trade to me?

Sedraxis Specter
A solid variation on Hypnotic Specter.  Almost always trades (at least) one-for-one when it comes to cards, and usually better than that.  Forms a decent discard core with Blightning.  Just like the good ol' days, if your opponent isn't able to take out the Specter then they are going to be in big trouble.

Hell's Thunder
Flies through the red zone for a bunch of damage, and then comes back later on for just as much damage.  Sedris reduces his unearth cost by two full mana.  If we're going with an aggro deck then Hell's Thunder is a solid option.

Agony Warp
We're focusing on Sedris, the Traitor King so this deck is almost definitely going to be running a high number of creatures.  If we have a decent creature in play then Agony Warp can easily be a two-for-one trade.  In other situations, Agony Warp can be Last Gasp or Lightning Helix.  Agony Warp is an excellent, versatile card.

Grixis Charm Speaking of versatile cards, all of the charms in Shards of Alara fit the bill.  Grixis Charm can be Boomerang, non-split second Sudden Death, or the offensive half of Fortify.  Lots of solid options! To be honest, I'm a big fan of all six of these cards.  One thing that seems worth exploring is the discard theme that runs through Sedraxis Specter, Blightning, and even Cruel Ultimatum.  I definitely want discard to be a solid part of this deck.  Let's check out some other discard options available in Standard these days. Thoughtseize The best discard spell around. Raven's Crime Fantastic in Extended alongside Life From the Loam, and used in Standard in decks that run a ton of land or River Kelpie. Distress Probably the best budget alternative for Thoughtseize.  It's a bit rough if you need to run a card that costs BB in a deck that's supporting three different colors, but thankfully mana is pretty easy these days!

Cunning Lethemancer
If we end up running a decent number of unearth creatures, then we could gain an advantage on the symmetrical discard effect.  Since we're planning on using Sedris then I don't think we'll be running a ton of monsters with unearth.

Resounding Scream
Doesn't seem too great to me - three mana is a lot for one card, and we could easily cast Cruel Ultimatum instead of the cycle cost.

Splitting Headache
Expensive, but might be an ok budget option depending on what we're looking for.

Ravenous Rats
Most of the time at least one-for-one on cards, chump blocks later.

Hypnotic Specter
The classic discard flier.  One of the earliest lessons that I learned back in the days of Revised was "Kill the Hypnotic Specter or you will die!"

Needle Specter Very fragile, and not really worth it unless we have some decent way to boost power.  Grixis Charm probably isn't enough. Cinderhaze Wretch Expensive and slow.  Might be fun if you're running some ways to remove -1/-1 counters, sort of a weird Mind Sludge? Liliana Vess Slow discard, but comes with a bunch of other functions.  Tutor effects are always useful, and the super graveyard resurrection is almost as badass as Cruel Ultimatum. Mind Rot Vanilla discard.

Mind Shatter
It's tough to know if we need something like Mind Shatter without playing a few test games.  If we're losing to control, then it's definitely something that I would consider running.

Mournwhelk
Four mana for two cards is ok, but it's great in the late game when we can get a 3/3 along with the discard.  Even better, Mournwhelk can be unearthed with Sedris!  The evoke ability is definitely something that I want to focus on - there are lots of strong evoke creatures thanks to Lorwyn block.  I think I've found the second subtheme that I'm going to utilize alongside Sedris!

Evoke creatures have proven themselves in many decks over the past year or so, specifically Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw.  Here's a deck that uses both of these cards in a pretty cool way: 

This deck uses Makeshift Mannequin instead of Sedris to bring evoke creatures back from the graveyard, but the basic concept is roughly the same.  Evoke Shriekmaws and Mulldrifters early for utility and then bring them back into play via Makeshift Mannequin later on.  Let's check out the available evoke options in black, blue, and red.

Mulldrifter
This is probably the most evoked creature around.  Two cards for three mana isn't terrible - but it's fantastic when a 2/2 flying creature comes along for the ride.

Shriekmaw
The number one contender to Mulldrifter's throne as #1 evoke creature.  Terror has been useful in a million different Magic formats, and it's definitely relevant today.  Shriekmaw is a sorcery speed Terror and a 3 mana fear creature - solid.

AEthersnipe
Boomerang that comes with a 4/4 body if we can manage to stick this guy in play.  Costs 1UU to evoke, which is a bit of a bummer - 2U would be a lot easier to manage, but I guess that's the point.

Nevermaker
Seems like a superior version of Aethersnipe for this deck.  Easier on the colored mana and puts the card on top of a library instead of back into their hand, unfortuantely cannot hit land.

Faultgrinder
How good is a five mana Stone Rain in this format?  Seems very slow to me unless we're playing something like Smokebraider.

Ingot Chewer
Only costs one mana to evoke, which is strong.  If artifacts are a problem, then we definitely want to run this guy.

Spitebellows
Good damage-based removal, sends six power into the red zone to deal with if we bring into play via Sedris.  Seems like a strong option.

That's a decent list of evoke creatures to work from.  There are a few other cards that I thought about for this deck.

River Kelpie
As mentioned above, there's a pretty cool River Kelpie deck running around in Standard. 

 The basic idea with this deck is to use River Kelpie alongside Raven's Crime to gain a huge card advantage.  I've played this deck before, and it's a blast.  Raven's Crime can become Ancestral Recall with a little bit of effort!  I wonder how well unearthing creatures is as an alternate strategy to Raven's Crime for Kelpie triggers.

Back to card evaluations...

Corpse Connoisseur
It's tough to say how good this guy is, especially since we're not running a ton of guys with unearth.  But he is a lot like Buried Alive or Entomb, and those cards can be awesome in the right strategy.

Viscera Dragger
This seems like a staple card for the unearth linear.  It's a little underwhelming to hardcast, but getting it back for a turn is pretty sweet and the cycling options turns it into one versatile creature.

Kederekt Leviathan
Is this a deck that wants to Upheavel in the late game?  Probably not, but you never know.

Prince of Thralls King Sedris' baby boy.  Defeats his father in a straight up battle, and seems like fun to run as a singleton.  But let's get serious for a second - you can cast Cruel Ultimatum for cheaper! Ok.  The final strategy that I want to discuss when it comes to Sedris, the Traitor King is to use creatures with cycling to fill your graveyard and then bring them back later with the big guy.  There are a few cards in Standard that might fit the bill. Jungle Weaver Outside of our colors, but a 5/6 with reach isn't too bad for 2B. Yoked Plowbeast Another out-of-color beater.  5/5, nothing too special. Ridge Rannet Not much to discuss here, Ridge Rannet is Craw Wurm that plays well with Mr. Sedris.  At least it's in our colors.

Alright, I went through a few different strategies that would work alongside Sedris.  I'm going to focus on Sedris + discard + evoke creatures as discussed above.  Here's the first list that I want to try out:

This deck is pretty straightforward based on the discussion above: powerful control spells, twelve strong evoke creatures, and Sedris, the Traitor King.  I run a full playset of Sedraxis Specter (which seems like a lot of fun), and two copies of Cruel Ultimatum (which is obv a lot of fun).

Time to hit the test games and see how it goes!

Game 1 vs Blue Mill

I start off with Underground River and Thoughtseize.  My opponent has Traumatize, Scalpalexis, Angelsong, and a few lands.  I take the Traumatize, and then we play land go for a while.  I'm unfortunately without a red mana source, and I'm unable to cast either one of the Blightnings in my hand.  I evoke Mournwhelk and then eventually my opponent casts Traumatize, trashing half of my library.  I finally get the Cascade Bluffs required to play out my triple Blightning, and keep my opponent off of cards for a few turns.

With my opponent down to eleven I draw Sedris, the Traitor King.  I unearth double Mournwhelk (no Shriekmaw targets) and swing for exactly the eleven required damage.

Analysis:  Traumatize actually helped me out a lot in this game, filling my graveyard with all sorts of options for Sedris' unearth ability.  I had two dead Grixis Charms in my hand for most of this game.  I didn't have any creatures (or even non-land permanents), and neither did he - pretty much up until the last turn.  It's not very often that you see a card that's so versatile without any use at all, but sometimes it happens.

Game 2 vs Green Elves Splashing White

My opponent plays out Nettle Sentinel, and I take it out with Agony Warp.  He plays out another Nettle Sentinel, and I evoke Shriekmaw to get rid of the 2/2.  Devoted Druid comes into play, and then Elvish Harbinger grabs Elvish Visionary.  I evoke Mulldrifter and then my opponent plays out Visionary into Visionary.  I cast Blightning and he discards his last two cards - double Ranger of Eos.

Heritage Druid comes off the top, but I have Grixis Charm to take it out.  I hardcast Mulldrifter, Mulldrifter, and then Cruel Ultimatum.  My opponent concedes.

Analysis:  Blightning seems like a simple card, some quality discard with direct damage attached, but it's actually tricky to play correctly.  Usually when a spell reads "3 damage", players worry most about how to time the direct damage for maximum effect.  Do I use it to take out his Nettle Sentinel or throw it at his face?  Blightning doesn't hit creatures, and will always be headed towards your opponent's face - so the question to answer is this:  When do we cast Blightning to get maximum value out of the 'discard two cards' effect? Take a look at this game I just played.  The most important thing to note is that I did not play out Blightning on turn three, even though I could have.  In most games, you do not want to cast Blightning on turn three.  If I had cast out Blightning on turn three, then my opponent would have been able to pitch a land and an Elvish Harbinger instead of total gas in double Ranger of Eos.  The more cards that your opponent has in their hand, the more options that they have about which cards to discard.  This gives them an opportunity to minimze the pain.

If we wait a turn or two to cast Blightning, until our opponent has two or three cards in their hand, then the discard effect will generally be more powerful.  Of course, this move is not without risk.  Our opponent could draw a counterspell or answer, they could empty their hand, or they could blow up our third land and prevent us from ever casting Blightning.  This means that, of course, it depends on the matchup.  Try to weigh these risks when deciding when to cast a spell like Blightning.

From my prior testing experience, it seems like people want to use Blightning like a hammer - BAM take 3, discard 2.  It makes much more sense to think of it like a scalpel.  It has more in common with something like Thoughtseize or Duress than people give it credit for - it just doesn't give you quite as much information about where to make the cut.

Game 3 vs Giants

I keep a risky hand with double Mulldrifter, double Sedris, Thoughtseize, Swamp, and Graven Cairns.  I Thoughtseize away Taurean Mauler and see a bunch of Giants in my opponent's hand.  I don't have blue mana on turn three, so I can't evoke Mulldrifter and my opponent takes advantage and plays out Blind-Spot Giant and then double Countryside Crusher.  I get a blue source and use Agony Warp to take out Blind-Spot Giant (both Crushers are 4/4 at this point) and stop some damage, and then cast out Mulldrifter.  I'm getting beat down pretty bad, and don't think that I'll be able to gain control in time.

Down to eight life I play Sedris, the Traitor King which scares my opponent into not attacking for some reason.  He's missing land just about every single turn with his double Countryside Crushers, which are both still only 4/4 after a few turns in play.  I guess he's waiting for them to be able to take out Sedris before he attacks?  I evoke Shriekmaw and then unearth him on the same turn, taking out both Countryside Crushers.  I cast Cruel Ultimatum and then draw into another Cruel Ultimatum.  Tough to lose when you do that!

Analysis:  My opponent never read, "Who's the Beatdown?".  I definitely should have lost this game, and my opponent punted it away for sure.  He was much too careful with his Countryside Crushers, and for some reason didn't want to lose one due to a Sedris block - even if it meant that I was going down to three or four life and minimal resources to block next turn.  Sure he got very unlucky to miss lands turn after turn with his Crushers, but that doesn't matter - he should have won this one for sure.  I guess he was worried about tricks?

Game 4 vs Some Precon Combination

I play Sedraxis Specter and my opponent comes back with Venerable Monk.  I evoke Mournwhelk and my opponent discards double Elvish Visionary.  He casts Suntail Hawk and I hardcast Mulldrifter.  I cast double Sedraxis Specter and then Sedris the Traitor King.  Things don't last long.

Analysis:  My opponent's deck was just too underpowered in this one.

Game 5 vs GR Aggro I start off with two copies of Thoughtseize, grabbing Boartusk Liege and Boggart Ram-Gang.  My opponent plays out Vexing Shusher and then starts to beat down.  I cast out Sedraxis Specter, which my opponent takes down with Flame Javelin, and then evoke Mournwhelk to empty out my opponent's hand.  A second Vexing Shusher hits the table, and I am getting dangerously low on life.  I get Mulldrifter in play and then take out both Vexing Shushers with Agony Warp.  I cast out Sedris and my opponent concedes.  I'm not really sure why!  I'm at four life without an immediate win on the board (although it is not far away) and my opponent is running Flame Javelin and a very aggressive deck! Analysis:  Here's another win that was a little bit less than glorious.  I'm not sure why my opponent conceded, I didn't have the game wrapped up at all.  In fact, I was pretty worried about how I was going to win before another Flame Javelin hit me in the face.  My win was at least another two or three turns away in the best case.

Game 6 vs Blue-Green-White

I start off and Thoughtseize away a Mulldrifter.  My opponent plays out Birds of Paradise and Akrasan Squire while I evoke a Mulldrifter of my own.  I pay full price for Shriekmaw and take out the Squire, but Oblivion Ring sends my 3/2 away from the game forever.

A second Birds of Paradise comes into play on my opponent's side, and then I use Blightning to get rid of his last two cards (double Snakeform).  He plays out Mulldrifter and then passes the turn.  I cast out Mournwhelk to get rid of the two cards that he just drew, which happen to both be very powerful:  Rafiq of the Many and Primal Command.

From this point I get Cruel Ultimatum into another Cruel Ultimatum, and finish off with Shriekmaw, Sedraxis Specter, and Grixis Charm.

Analysis:  This game went pretty much as planned, with the exception of not landing Sedris the Traitor King.  Early discard really hurt my opponent, and even though I draw a whole ton of extra land I still had enough gas to keep the pressure on.  The Sedraxis Specter I cast towards the end got rid of Wrath of God, which would have been trouble - but nothing that I couldn't deal with by that point.

Time to make a change to this list.  Here's one thing that you'll notice about my mana curve:

1:  4
2:  3
3:  12
4:  0
5:  8
6:  3
7:  6

That seems pretty crazy high, doesn't it?  One thing to remember is that I'm running a bunch of creatures with evoke.  If I adjust this data based on evoke costs, here's what I end up with:

1:  4
2:  7
3:  16
4:  4
5:  0
6:  3
7:  2

That's looking a little better, isn't it?  One obvious inclusion that I'm not running is, of course, Bitterblossom.  If it's not the best card in Standard, then it's definitely top five.  I'm going to add in four copies.

In:  4x Bitterblossom

I wasn't exactly sure what to remove, though.  Every card in the list has been working out pretty well so far - so there's nothing obvious to cut.  Sedraxis Specter is a good card, but it's a flying threat which intersects somewhat with Bitterblossom - so I don't feel too bad about trimming away two copies.  Grixis Charm is versatile, but I haven't really used the +2/+0 mode or the bounce mode with this deck; it's mostly been used for the -4/-4 ability - so I'll cut out a copy.  Finally, I'll trim away one copy of Mournwhelk - I'm trying to cut down the mana curve a bit and the 3/3 is the most expensive of my evoke creatures.

Out:  2x Sedraxis Specter, 1x Mournwhelk, 1x Grixis Charm 

Back to testing...

Game 7 vs Esper

My opponent plays off Cathartic Adept and then Etherium Sculptor.  I use Thoughtseize to get rid of Tower Gargoyle and then get Sedraxis Specter into play.  My opponent doesn't have a solution and get hits by the Specter three turns in a row.  He attempts to get Master of Etherium into play, but I have Grixis Charm to take care of the Artifact Lord and then cast Bitterblossom and Sedris, the Traitor King.

I evoke Mulldrifter and then use Sedris to bring him back in play, refilling my hand and drawing me into Cruel Ultimatum.  I beat down with Sedris, Bitterblossom tokens, and Mulldrifter for the win.

Analysis:  Not much new here that wasn't covered in the other game reports.  My opponent couldn't answer Sedraxis Specter and fell behind big time in the card advantage war.  He was never really able to get anything going and was just overwhelmed.

Budget Time

A few games back I swapped out a few cards for Bitterblossom, which is obviously going to need to be undone in order to get this deck within budget.  The other real money card in our list (outside of the manabase) is Thoughtseize, so we'll take out all four copies of the discard sorcery.

Out:  4x Bitterblossom, 4x Thoughtseize

The first thing I'm going to do is to go back up to full playsets of Agony Warp, Grixis Charm, and Mournwhelk.

In:  1x Agony Warp, 1x Grixis Charm, 2x Mournwhelk

This leaves us with four more cards to fill out the deck.  There are a whole bunch of options here depending on what you want.  If you're looking for a discard replacement, then you could run something like Distress or Raven's Crime.  If you want board control, then you could run Aethersnipe, Boomerang, Profane Command, Whirlpool Whelm, Nameless Inversion, or Terror.  If you want to turn up the aggression then can add Spitebellows, Sedraxis Specter, Incinerate, Goblin Deathraiders, or Inner-Flame Acolyte.

I'm going to run 3x Aethersnipe instead of running a full playset - because I want to add in a twenty-fifth land.  I went with Aethersnipe, but there's plenty of room for other options here.

In:  3x Aethersnipe

The only thing left to do is overhaul the manabase to fit within a budget.  Here's what I came up with: 

... and here's how the cost breaks down with prices from mtgotraders:

Card	Total Cost
Sedris, the Traitor King	$2.25
Sedraxis Specter	$2.10
Shriekmaw	$1.60
Mulldrifter	$0.48
Mournwhelk	$0.20
Grixis Charm	$0.80
Blightning	$1.00
Agony Warp	$0.80
Cruel Ultimatum	$3.00
Crumbling Necropolis	$2.00
Vivid Marsh	$0.45
Terramorphic Expanse	$0.48

for a total of about $15.

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun playing this Grixis deck, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like many other people are.  Check out this report here and notice the staggering lack of any Grixis love at all.  Hopefully something will come along in Conflux to even things out a bit.

Thanks for reading!

Steve Gargolinski
spgmtgo@gmail.com