MA States

Hello everybody! This past weekend, I played in MA States aaaaand....... went 1-4 before dropping. However, I though my deck was awesome! The games I lost was mainly due to mana, which would have been fixed had I actually put more than 1 match into testing. The deck? 4 Color Burning Vengeance. It was a grixis-based list splashing green for Ancient Grudge. My mana problems came from having only 24 lands, 2 of which were absorbed from being effective by being Copperline Gorges.

The list I played:

2x Snapcaster Mage

4x Burning Vengeance

1x Ancient Grudge
1x Doom Blade
2x Dissipate
4x Forbidden Alchemy
3x Geistflame
4x Mana Leak
4x Desperate Ravings
4x Think Twice
1x Tribute to Hunger

2x Devil's Play
1x Sever the Bloodline
3x Slagstorm

6x Island
3x Mountain
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Copperline Gorge
4x Drowned Catacombs
4x Sulfur Falls
1x Ghost Quarter

Sideboard:
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Jace, Memory Adept
1x Geistflame
1x Slagstorm
2x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Consecrated Sphinx
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Dissipate
1x Tribute to Hunger
1x Flashfreeze
1x Doom Blade
1x Sever the Bloodline

My deck was good, but not quite tuned yet. All of my losses were really close, and like I said, it all started with the mana. Ancient Grudge was pretty terrible all day, just killing a Contagion Clasp once and an Inkmoth Nexus once across my 14 games. On the other hand, Sever the Bloodline is incredible! One match, I exiled a pair of Solemn Simulcrum in the early game, and then flashed it back later to neuter his Wurmcoil Engine. In testing since the event, I have been able to get many 4-for-1s, especially against Solar Flare. Oh how do I love it when they Sun Titan chain into just about anything, and then I just kill all of then for the low low cost of 4 mana with Mana Leak backup. Then when they try to get you again with Wurmcoil, you just flash it back and pass turn, laughing maniacally. (Is it a surprise my plan against Solar Flare and control decks is to Jace mill them?)

So after I acknowledged that the only thing Ancient Grudge is good against is Inkmoth, which Burning Vengeance already laughs at, so that was an easy cut. I replaced it with a Ghost Quarter, and then cut the green lands with a Dragonskull Summit and a Darkslick Shores. The maindeck has otherwise remained the same,  except the Doom Blade is now Go for the Throat to kill Phyrexian Crusader.

The sideboard has been basically completely changed though. Here's what it is currently, and why:

2x Jace, Memory Adept

I bring in Jace in lieu of Geistflames for control decks and Solar Flare. He provides an additional win condition, while also helping you stay ahead in card advantage, depending on the need of the moment.

2x Wurmcoil Engine

I bring this in against Aggro decks, usually cutting Dissipate. The most important part of this card is Lifelink and its resiliancy against removal. Depending on the matchup, he can also be used against control decks as the obligitory Titan

1x Doom Blade, 1x Tribute to Hunger, 1x Sever the Bloodline

Having a variety of removal options is simply important because they help you tune your deck for whatever you need to beat. The majority of this deck's SB is 1 or 2-ofs for that reason.

1x Flashfreeze, 2x Dissipate

Having a variety of counterspells is very important against the control decks and especially Wolf Run. Being able to untap with mana up against Wolf Run with them having no threats in play is usually game over post board, and the extra counterspells is a major reason why

1x Disperse

I actually want this card for the Red Deck matchup to reset their Shrine in the late game or force them to pop it pre-emptively before its lethal, but after you have stabilized.

1x Olivia Voldaren

This card simply seems unreal to me! It can be incredible against Aggro or Control as you can mow down all of Aggro's creatures, or steal all the control ones. I don't know if it is actually worthwhile, but in theory, untapping with Olivia should be GG.

3x Memoricide

This deck's biggest problem is Hexproof cards like Geist of Saint Traft, Thrun, and Dungrove Elder. Memoricide lets you attack those before they become a problem. Obviously this can be good against a threat-light control deck like UB by destroying all the threats out of their deck. Memoricide provides options, and good ones at that

The deck is undefeated after my first 2 days of testing, which doesn't really say much beyond there's potential. I will probably be rocking this deck at FNM this week, so I will have plenty more data to work with then. I feel this deck has favorable matchups because of it's flexibility. Against Aggro more removal comes in, and against control, we can out-control them while shocking them as we out-draw them until they lose. As of right now, I can't see any situation where we are the beatdown, so that's important to keep in mind if you're interested in trying out Grixis Vengeance.

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie@gmail.com
@ThingsILack