Friday Night Magic: The Winner’s Circle #4

Hi Everybody! Bill Carrig here again in the Winner’s Circle. This time I’ve got Chris Williams aka Wiggles. Chris has been a fixture of the local magic community for a long time now. Since way back in the days of Adventure Cards and Comics. He ran a mono-black homebrew to a 4-0 finish this past Friday. Check out his decklist:

4 Thoughtseize
4 Thrill-Kill Assassin
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Desecration Demon
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Hero’s Downfall
3 Doom Blade
1 Ultimate Price
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Underworld Connection
2 Crypt Ghast
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nix
21 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Duress
3 Dark Betrayal
2 Devour Flesh
2 Ultimate Price
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Lifebane Zombie
1 Shadowborn Demon
1 Hythonia the Cruel
Bill: So Chris, tell me about this deck. What cards are essential to produce a winning game?

Chris: I’d like to stress the power of Grey Merchant of Asphodel. The damage to the face and the dramatic swing in life total is what keeps everything going. It’s a 2/4 corrupt for 1 less mana. It’s sweet. The lifegain lets me rifle though my deck with Erebos and Underworld Connection without having to worry too much, and playing 4 means I know I’ll always hit him when I want to. Plus with the single Whip of Erebos means I’m able to hit with him again.

Bill: Seems like your deck emphasizes a devotion to black theme. How do you capitalize on that?

Chris: With Erebos! He’s the only god that says draw out as much as you want, especially when I channel mana into it with Crypt Ghast. Yeah 2 life is expensive, but it’s totally worth it. And I rarely don’t hit a Grey Merchant.

Bill: Alright, so what about the rest of the deck?

Chris: Thrill-kill Assassin and Desecration Demon are both from Ravnica and they’re both so relevant both early and late game. Their mutual ability to block just about anything and are themselves hard to block make them both aggressive and defensive powerhouses. It’s the general consensus that maining Lifebane Zombie is cool. It ruins Domri’s plus ability, murders angels, and it’s generally good against most of the local metagame. At worst it’s a hard to block power 3 that adds to devotion. Hero’s downfall is great. People love to keep hands with their Domris and their Ashioks and Downfall helps shut them down in the very early game. Plus it’s instant kill everything relevant. It’s great! Oh and I didn’t even mention Thoughtseize. I’m so glad it’s back. It’s such a powerful idea in this game.
Bill: So did any cool plays come up over the course of the event?

Chris: Turn 1 thoughtsize, Turn 2 Duress, Turn 3 lifebane happened a bunch. That always feels good. A couple of times I had either an absurd amount of mana or an absurd amount of life. I really like Shrine to Nyx.

Bill: So having perfect information about your opponent’s hand is real important?

Chris: That’s the thing. In round 2, my opponent had a hexproof bloodrush thing going on, but since I knew what was in his hand most of the time, I was able to just block with my 6/6s accordingly. Rounds 3 and 4 were both control and I’m really good against it. But it’s pretty bad when Ashiok hits a Desecration Demon.

Bill: Thanks Chris! Any final thoughts you want to add?

Chris: I’d definitely like to add my genuine and sincere love for pizza. Win or lose, that impressive pile of awesomeness you guys always got going on in the corner is enough incentive to keep me coming every Friday night!

Bill: Shout outs to free pizza! I love it! Thanks again Chris and congrats on the big win. I hope to see all of you again on Friday for another great FNM at Dave and Adam’s Card World on Transit Road. Maybe I’ll see you in the Winner’s Circle too!