i just played in a 1.5 tournament with the mono-black discard deck i previously posted, and i took third place, but i lost to a sligh deck and a red/white weenie/bolt deck...the metagame for the tournament was strange...33% black discard decks, 33% sligh decks, and the rest was either green stompy or elf, some powerless type 1 blue decks which were not good, and rogue stuff...i was thinking about playing the following deck in the tournament in two weeks...it is at the same place and i expect the same metagame, and it is for a black lotus so i really want to win...anyway here is what i am thinking....
4 lightning bolt
4 chain lightning
4 incinerate
4 fireblast
4 flame rift
4 shock
4 seal of fire
4 thunderbolt
4 earthquake
4 howling mine
20 mountain
sideboard:
4 anarchy
4 pyroblast
4 pyroclasm
3 nevinyrral's disk
before you dismiss this deck as totally brainless and unable to win, let me give you my thinking on it...i think in a standard 1.5 metagame that would be right...but my metagame is so skewed that i think this could stand a chance...i figure the only things that could beat my maindeck are things like the following...
cop red
story circle
warmth
ivory mask
chill
a good sligh deck
a good weenie deck
so, if i encounter any of the white things that could hurt me, i side in anarchy and disk (and take out the howling mines and thunderbolts)...and earthquake and flame rift are good vs. ivory mask....vs. a blue deck i just side in pyroblast and hope for the best (the blue decks in this tournament will be weak)...and vs. a weenie or a sligh deck in side in the pyroclasm, and then i have pyroclasm and earthquake and should be able to beat a weenie deck....by my thinking, the only problem i should encounter would be a deck filled with pro-red creatures, and if i see that then i will just accept defeat....
one more note...i know some of the people here will not like the howling mines but the fact is that after turn 5, either your opponent is dead, or this deck has stalled badly in the face of a defense...dropping a mine has in the past provided the second rush i needed to get a victory, and i only drop one after turn 5 anyway, never before...plus they help against discard...
cursed scroll helps with pro-red weenies. It doesn't synergize especially with the howling mines, but i'm not really a fan of the mine in this deck anyway.
Anarchy and Disk both cost 4 mana. A strong WW deck will be close to winning, especially since they'll be Land Taxing at that point.
I think the Mines are dubious, since any that you draw before Turn 5 are, by your own statements, dead cards.
- brian
Where are your creatures?
Any "burn" deck needs creatures to apply continuous pressure. You toast blockers and attack, attack, attack.
The reason you want to use Howling Mines is because you blow your load too fast; you run out of threats because you can only use each of them once.
Creatures can be used every turn...
This deck does not need Howling Mines, and it can stay creatureless with no problems. Try something to this effect:
4 Fireblast (31)
4 Seal of Fire
4 Shock
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Incinerate
3 Flame Rift
4 Cursed Scroll (8)
4 Ball Lightning
21 Mountains (21)
This deck consistently kills turn 3 or 4. Drop the howling mines, the earthquakes and the thunderbolts for cursed scrolls, ball lightnings and volcanic hammer. In case you are wondering about volcanic hammer: You can't afford Card disadvantage (Sonic Burst) and you can't afford mana inefficiency (Urza's Rage).
volcanic hammer is pretty bad. The original earthquake fills the slots better, since it serves the dual purpose of clearing out attackers and dealing damage.
I like Deck Parfait in 1.5 or Big Blue.
Deck parfait is the following, I have had relative sucess against all of those types of decks with it.
4 Land Tax
2 Scroll Rack
2 Zuran Orb
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Moat
1 Wrath of God
1 Story Circle
1 Ivory Mask
1 Ivory Tower
3 Aura of Silence
4 Abeyance
1 Planar Birth
1 Replenish
1 Jesters Cap
1 Tormod's Crypt
4 Argivian Find
1 Soldevi Digger
3 Sacred Messa
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Armagedon
4 Wastelands
18 Plains
SIDEBOARD
1 Moat
3 Light of Day
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Powder Keg
2 Replenish
1 Ivory Mask
1 Sacred Ground
3 Orim's Chant
Any good Rec/Sur deck is a beating!
Don't forget the following non-white cards
which will hose your deck pretty well:
Recurring Spike Feeder
Bottle Gnomes
And my personal favorite:
Ivory Tower