The Obliterator

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Hello again MTG peeps,

As you can read in our last post (which just went up) where we covered off another slew of new Avacyn Restored spoilers, we did feel a bit bad not having a daily post for you on Friday.  We want to make it up to you with an additional post - FNM gamers and fans of Magic the Gathering standard constructed, this ones for you.  Our buddy at OMG Games, Jon T., provided this write up for a mono-black deck he has been playing for a while now.  

Here is Jon's notes and list . . .

The deck plays really well and the cards interact with each other in a way that feels really natural. Black hasn't been this strong in a while and I'm pleased at the power level of the deck.

The Deck with No Name (Mono-Black)

(We'll give it a name for you Jon - we'll call it Jo-Bliterator)

Creatures:
4 x Gravecrawler
4 x Geralf's Messenger
4 x Phyrexian Obliterator
3 x Grave Titan
3 x Phyrexian Metamorph

3 x Liliana of the Veil

4 x Despise
4 x Go for the Throat
3 x Tragic Slip
3 x Altar's Reap
2 x Lashwrithe

3 x Drowned Catacomb
20 x Swamp

I've been playing Mono-Black in Standard since Zendikar block. It lost a bit of steam when strong cards like Vampire Nighthawk and Abyssal Persecutor rotated out, but with the addition of Dark Ascension it found some new toys and it's now firing on all cylinders again. Basically, the main deck is a strict bread-and-butter assembly of black's all-star cards. There are a few black builds floating around the internet right now but I feel like mine has a different plan in mind than some of the others -- most of which are dedicated zombie builds.
The deck hits its stride around turns three and four, when I gain access to cards like Messenger, Liliana, Obliterator and Metamorph. The first couple of turns allow me to set things in my favor quickly with cards like Despise and Gravecrawler, either of which is a fine first turn play for the deck. Altar's Reap interacts wonderfully with the Crawler and Messenger, allowing me to refresh quickly without any drawback. At the high end of the curve is the Grave Titan, who comes in on clean-up duty to keep up the pressure into the late game.
Sideboard:

3 x Phyrexian Crusader
2 x Spellskite
2 x Hex Parasite

3 x Surgical Extraction
3 x Doom Blade
2 x Black Sun's Zenith

The sideboard is designed specifically to tighten up the deck versus the individual decks in the local playgroup. While it's true that I'm mixing my damage types when I side in Crusader, against a red or white deck he becomes essentially an Obliterator one turn earlier. Red decks stop in their tracks when a Crusader hits the table, and if I follow it up with the Obliterator, they'll usually scoop. Surgical is a useful tool against a lot of the current decks, including the mirror match. We don't see a lot of Tempered Steel around here any more so I've opted for Go for the Throat in the main, but Doom Blade is an easy swap if I run into a heavy artifact build. Hex Parasite helps out against infect and Super Friends builds, and Spellskite allows me to push some of my harder threats versus decks that could otherwise deal with them, like Black-Blue and Black-Red.

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Comments, questions, hate eMail ? Just abuse the comment form below . . .

Also of note - Did you know that MTG Mint Card has a very lovely page you could input your Magic the Gathering deck list for show and tell ? Check out 'Deck Central' and this aptly named 'Zombieland' deck idea.
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Phyrexian Obliterator SCD

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We hope everyone had an oportunity to take in a Magic the Gathering New Phyrexia pre-release event this weekend. We attended a Sunday event which, although we had a blast, did not do very well with our sealed deck games. We did however manage to pull another Karn, the Liberated in a MiniMaster side-event so we're not feeling all that bad about the day. There were quite a few cards that we did pull which we are considering for inclusion in some of our standard constructed build, but we will have another post latter to cover off all of this.

For today, we wanted to yatter about an interesting card from New Phyrexia which might be making an appearence in several standard mono-black builds. We would also like to hear from you (via the comments form below) to pipe into our Single Card Discussion on Phyrexian Obliterator - the new Phyexian Negator -

Phyrexian Obliterator,
Creature - Horror, Mythic Rare
Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to Phyrexian Obliterator, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents.
5/5

The single note in the New Phyrexia FAQ document provides the following : "Only permanents still on the battlefield when Phyrexian Obliterator's triggered ability resolves can be sacrificed.". The other important thing to note to avoid confusion is a careful review of the wording "Whenever a source deals damage to Phyrexian Obliterator, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents." The words are not "a permanent", but "that many permanents" means for every point of damage dealt to the Obliterator, an equal number of permanents are to be sac'd. As this wording won't trigger after damage is dealt, the opposing player will not be able to sacrifice a creature which may have just swung into or just blocked the Obliterator - that player will have to sac one (or more) other permanents.

One way to protect yourself is a zero toughness wall such a Wall of Tanglecord which will be happy to block the Obliterator all day long. Alternatively, there are a number of spot removals available such as Go for the Throat, Dismember, Beast Within (for a serious threat down-grade) Journey to Nowhwere, a metalcraft Dispatch, Condemn, etc. or perhaps a more neutralising effect wuch as Tumble Magnet. Another strategy may be stealing the Obliterator - especially if are attacking with the Oliberator and another creature : we suggest looking into Act of Agression, Act of Treason, Captivating Vampire, etc.

There are a number of other cards in standard which one may want to consider if you are looking to build a mon-black deck with a sac theme : Mortician Beetle, Sadistic Sacriment, or It That Betrays.

The build of choice though would have a more agressive profile, namely using the new Lashwrithe equipped to Phyrexian Obliterator - having a 9/9 trampling horror is never a bad thing (except if you are facing one from the business end).

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Not sure if Phyrexian Obliterator will go nuclear just like Jace the Mindsculptor ? (perhaps not to the extent that it has gone)

You could wait and see if the hype dies down or take your chances that this card will only go up in value - stay tuned to places like MTG Mintcard and buy smart.

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