UBW Nyxathid

[Alex]

This Wednesday there will be a Standard tournament in Richmond, and I thought I'd post the list that I'm going to play. It's rogue and it's based on discard.

Lands

4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Marsh Flats
6 Swamp
5 Plains
5 Island

Creatures

4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Nyxathid

Spells

4 Duress
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
3 Liliana's Caress
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Liliana Vess
4 Mana Leak
3 Esper Charm

Sideboard

3 Dispel
2 Day of Judgment
3 Spreading Seas
3 Doom Blade
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Lightmine Field

The deck is basically discard control. Make the opponent discard like crazy, get a Caress or a creature on the board, and do damage. Making them discard will hopefully also buy some time.

A friend suggested Nyxathid during a phone call last Friday. I said I wanted to play some sort of discard deck, and 'thid just happens to have the same CC as Specter, plus it works nicely with discard. There are only 3 because it's a bit more situational than Specter is.

The black spells focus on discard, and this gives me a chance to play Liliana Vess (the Lorwyn printing, which to me is still just rare!) which can be a wincon in a pinch. If someone plays Sun Titan Control then Inquisition will get better as that deck relies on 3cc and below. Esper Charm is awesome because it can destroy Leylines, make the opponent discard and let me draw cards.

White's role in the deck is removal with Path and O-Ring, and it contributes to discarding with Esper Charm, which is a 3-of because of its awkward mana cost.

Blue is in for Mana Leak, sideboard cards and the Charm. Drowned Catacomb makes it a bit easier to hit blue mana when I need it.

The sideboard is just extra answers. If my opponent loves their Mana Leaks, board in Dispel ("I don't have to pay three, just one!"); if up against Jund, then Spreading Seas their lands and so on. Relic is there to answer Vengevine and Sun Titan, and Lightmine Field is a random inclusion in case someone plays a token deck (at Richmond, there's always one!).

OK, that's the deck at the moment. As always, comments are welcome!

[Into the Aether]

I really like this deck.
I would even consider running liliana's specter or gatekeeper of malikir over mana leak. Yes mana leak is good but I don't know if it really fits this build and once people know you are running it thy will play around it.

[browncoat]

I think the specter would be better than liliana in this deck. I think the deck has enough discard to not need repeatable discard. The spectre also has the benefit of essentially being immune to Jace bouncing it. Tidehollow sculler may also have a place in the deck. I disagree with Into the Aether on mana leak as this deck wants to disrupt your opponent quickly and having a solid counter helps with that.

[Alex]

Into the Aether is right that once your opponent knows you have Mana Leak, they'll play around it. So, I plan to sideboard it out whenever I can and board in answers, maybe siding it back in game 3 (if there is one). It's one thing to disrupt with Leak, but it's another when your opponent thinks you might have Leak and you don't, but they still change their game.

[Alex]

I played the deck last night and went 1-1-1 over three rounds.

Round one was against white weenie. Game 1, I kept a hand that had some, but not much discard action. Eventually, Knight of the White Orchid plus me having to path his creatures to stay alive meant my opponent was overflowing with mana and could cast lots of creatures which eventually won him the game.

In game 2 it was a similar story, as I never saw Day of Judgment or Doom Blade. That happens sometimes. 0-1 overall.

Round two had a complete different tone. This was against Polymorph, and the black element of the deck went to town. Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt. It didn't help that in game 1 he was colour-screwed for a few turns, and Hypnotic Specter grabbed Polymorph twice in as many swings.

Game 2, I sided out all my Mana Leaks for Dispel and Spreading Seas (as he had Creeping Tar Pit). My opening hand had three Dispels plus a Duress, Inquisition and two lands. I nervously decided to keep and it worked out well. At one point, I played a card (don't remember which), he responded with Mana Leak, I responded with Dispel, he responded with Summoning Trap, and I responded with another Dispel. He conceded at that point, but should've played on as another Trap was on top, which would've found Emrakul. 1-1 overall.

Round three was against a guy who had only started playing Magic a couple of weeks ago (as I found out during our conversation in-between game 1 and 2). He was playing a very rogue R/G deck and in game 1 I won quite easily. In game 2, I was drawing bits and pieces, but it wasn't enough to fully disrupt him and eventually his big creatures (Pelakka Wurm and friends) managed to swing for exactly game.

I think game 3 would've turned out to be an interesting game, but five turns was called and we ended in a draw. 1-1-1 overall.

Overall, I think the deck did quite well for its first outing. It has problems against fast aggro, and I wouldn't play it in a meta full of white weenie or RDW without at least 3 DoJ in my board, if I played it at all. For a slower meta, though, I think it'd do well. I'll also have to add one or two Creeping Tar Pits to the list (can't believe I didn't think of them before). I don't want to change the deck too much before playing it in a larger tournament with a bigger range of decks.

[Disturbedone0777]

I got a friend (He's part of DC but I haven't seen him post) that runs a deck incredibly similar to that. Which he has beaten a few people with it. His though was mono-black and hasn't been edited since ROE came out I believe. Probably a little slower then your version as well. The only card he runs that I could see as a useful card was the quest that you get counters for each time your opponent discards, and if it has 2 quest counters, and they have no hand at their upkeep, they take 5 damage. If I recall it was a cheap quest (1 and B I think) and totally won him games with a slower version of the deck. I'm just not sure where I Would put it in your build.