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Pojo's MTG
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BMoor's Magic
The
Gathering
Deck Garage
Well, Karl, the decklist looks decent,
but closer inspection reveals that this deck suffers
from a textbook lack of focus. You say you want a
Hellbent deck that dumps its hand and wins in one big
rush. But then you've got Moonlight Bargain to "defend
you" in case all that discarding causes you to have no
hand. Whaaa? Wasn't the whole point to have no hand?
Having an empty grip in a game of Magic
is a risky proposition. Oftentimes it means you're at
the mercy of the top of your deck, while your opponent
has options aplenty. But a good Hellbent deck does
exist, and playing without sanity off the cuff is an
all-or-nothing decision. Do you want to hold cards in
hand, or do you want to use Hellbent to the fullest and
accept the reality of playing without a net? Since you
listed Hellbent as your "main idea behind the deck", I
have to assume you're wiling to bend hell and abandon
sanity to win. Time to hop aboard the rails of the
crazy train! All aboard! Muhahaha!
First of all, drop Moonlight Bargain.
Infernal Tutor, however, can stay. Pick up two mreo if
you can, even. If you happen to top deck it, you just
missed no matter what the situation. And if you're not
Hellbent, it can get you an extra Rite of Flame so you
can chain them into a ton of mana. That strategy is
usually employed when people are looking for large Storm
counts. Since you've already got everything you need to
pull it off, why not throw in a few Empty the Warrens?
Your next issue is Cabal Coffers, Molten
Slagheap, and Urborg.
What do you need that much mana for? You don't have
Demonfire. And Demonfire is an expensive rare. Unless
you're willing to get it, drop all these nonbasic lands
for more basics, or duals. But not Rakdos Carnarium; it
returns land to your hand and denies you Hellbent. If
you want a Hellbent-friendly land, go with Keldon
Megaliths.
Speaking of mana, why do so many of your
cards cost five mana? That's a little pricey for a deck
that wants to empty it's hand pronto. I know Dread Slag
and the Anthem are important to you, but with Brainspoil
and Infernal Tutor, you can play toolbox and run fewer
copies of each five-mana spell.
A few more Hellbent cards you should look
into are Cackling Flames, Rakdos Pit Dragon, and
Gibbering Descent. The Descent is especially good in
this deck, since your Hellbent enablers can Madness it
out. Speaking of which, there's a rich vein of black
Madness cards you need to look into as well. A few red
ones, too; most notably Fiery Temper.
Finally, we need a patch for that
Darksteel Colossus fever that seems to be running
rampant in your playgroup. What stops the Colossus?
Well, there's Enslave and Treacherous Urge. Enslave
lets you beat them with their own Colossus. The Urge is
a one-shot deal, and may backfire if your opponent isn't
holding the Colossus in hand, but it is tutorable with
Brainspoil. Then there's Cruel Edict and barter in
Blood, but those require that your opponent not have
enough other creatures to sacrifice. You could also try
Melancholy or Rathi Trapper and tap it down, but I think
your best answer is the simplest: Threaten. That's
right, the one from 9th. You're probably wondering why
this is the silver bullet, since it only works once.
Well, you're Hellbent and throwing damage all around,
right? You can get an opponent to 11 by the time ol'
D.C. makes the scene, right? If not, then the turn you
Threaten then al your other attacking creatures can seal
the deal, if you're Hellbent, right? Even if not,
Threaten works best against decks that focus on one big
creature instead of a lot of small ones. Once you
Threaten a few of your friends, they'll realize that
putting all their eggs in one basket may be a bad idea.
Hopefully this will discourage all the Colossus fever
and get people to play other decks.
Until next time, don't be afraid to get
reckless!
~BMoor
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