The Community Deck Build Project v5.0b

[Avacyn Believer]

Rather we need to evaluate it when we draw it on t3 and how long it's dead in our hand because it's a multicolour giant spider. And right now rotwidow's claim to fame is it does what the commander does for a slight mana discount...at the expense of taking a deck slot rather than being in the command zone. And unlike the commander it doesn't make a board presence on ETB. I really do think this card is a tribal trap.

If I draw Rotwidow Pack on t3 in a spider deck, I'm very happy (assuming I'm not mana screwed), because now I know I have it I can play towards it, and by turn 7-8, I'm going to be terrorizing the table with it. Not every card needs to be amazing in a vacuum to be good.

Firstly, I agree with Jemolk here. I do appreciate having something in my hand I can plan ahead for. Secondly, I'd like to offer a counter point to 3drinks. In other decks I would agree with the reasoning of 'dead early draw' but this is a graveyard deck that cares about Delirium. Therefore, in my opinion, our chances of having dead card sitting in hand is lot lower because it can just as, if not more, likely sit in our graveyard instead, where instead of being dead card in hard, it'll be a card that counts towards Delirum at worst, and at best we can bring it up when we need to. Sure, we can't protect the graveyard, but that is a risk any graveyard deck is taking. With decks like this, I see the graveyard as a second hand.

As for card votes; yes for Lolth, Spider Queen. I like her, nice flavour. Traverse the Ulvenwald, also easy yes. Nice way to get the dredge land or something else we need.

[3drinks]

I think I got everything up-to-date. On the clock today will be @Dunharrow and @RxPhantom.

[Dunharrow]

I am nominating Corpse Dance
I just think it will be so good with our General. Sac Ishkanah, bring her back, sac and do it again.
Almost goes infinite with either Altar (which I hope will make the deck)
Toc keeps hinting at big mana and this goes well with big mana too...

[toctheyounger]

I am nominating Corpse Dance
I just think it will be so good with our General. Sac Ishkanah, bring her back, sac and do it again.
Almost goes infinite with either Altar (which I hope will make the deck)
Toc keeps hinting at big mana and this goes well with big mana too...

Yeah I'm into that. I was wondering what you were going to suggest for reanimation and this suits nicely. Lock in a yea for me.

I'll drop in some big mana ideas from my next pick.

[3drinks]

For sure. Anything that reanimates is great with the spider's free bodies on etb. Like rezzing a battlesphere. As for big mana finishes, how long before someone throws Torment of Hailfire in the mix? 👀

[Avacyn Believer]

The only drawback I see with Corpse Dance is signaling that we are playing it because you have to be careful not to shuffle your graveyard, but yes from me!

[aliciaofthevast]

Graveyard order matters! It's an old rule that new players may not be familiar with, so I guess that makes it a learning opportunity! I certainly wouldn't avoid playing corpse dance just for that. It's too good, especially so on a commander with an enters trigger!

[RxPhantom]

I'm gonna go out on a limb for this one, but I'm going to go with Rescue from the Underworld. It's expensive recursion, yes, but it let's us get some ETB value out of not one, but two creatures! Including our commander! I think it's just the right kind of jank, and at instant speed will probably allow us to make some fun plays.

And I'll yay Corpse Dance. It's a cool little gem that more people should play.

[toctheyounger]

I really like Rescue, from a flavor and mechanics standpoint. I think it can be pretty risky, so you almost certainly want to be playing it at instant speed before your turn, but it does stuff we want and that's cool. I'll yea it.

[Jemolk]

So, I'll yea Corpse Dance, but also a caveat -- playing this card (or anything that cares about graveyard order) forces the entire table to track graveyard order for the whole game, and we will have to announce that so everyone knows that graveyard order matters. Those are the official rules. That annoyance is probably related to why it's played less than its power level would suggest. I still think it's worth it, but just be aware of that if you ever play anything that cares about graveyard order -- you're not the only one who has to track it. I presume that's to deal with incidental theft or copy effects.

I also quite like Rescue, and will yea that as well. Pretty darn solid, largely due to being an instant (blowout potential would be way too high otherwise).

[3drinks]

So Corpse Dance and Rescue From the Underworld are both confirmed. That puts @Avacyn Believer and myself on the clock for today.

My card is the RCotD for today, Coffin Queen.

I'm gonna go out on a limb for this one, but I'm going to go with Rescue from the Underworld. It's expensive recursion, yes, but it let's us get some ETB value out of not one, but two creatures! Including our commander! I think it's just the right kind of jank, and at instant speed will probably allow us to make some fun plays.

I was super stoked to see this card as a true successor to Victimize, a card that has been a staple of all my b decks for decades! I suspect the former should be played first (five is a lot, and the timing does matter), but I'm very excited and believe both cards quite clearly have a place in this deck if for no other reason (and there's lots of reasons) that our own trigger pays the cost! Obviously if it wasn't clear, I'm certainly yaying this card.

So, I'll yea Corpse Dance, but also a caveat -- playing this card (or anything that cares about graveyard order) forces the entire table to track graveyard order for the whole game, and we will have to announce that so everyone knows that graveyard order matters. Those are the official rules. That annoyance is probably related to why it's played less than its power level would suggest. I still think it's worth it, but just be aware of that if you ever play anything that cares about graveyard order -- you're not the only one who has to track it. I presume that's to deal with incidental theft or copy effects.

I play Phyrexian Furnace in almost all decks (all wit Salvaging Station), so this isn't a big ask to me. Just tell them "if you don't track grave order correctly, then I'm just going to use my furnace as a targeted hate piece instead." That's usually enough to get them to play ball, so to speak.

[Dunharrow]

Rescue from the Underworld is one of my happiest cards. I got so many Ashen Rider triggers off of it in standard.

[Jemolk]

Not sure where I stand on Coffin Queen, I have to admit. I'm leaning toward nay, but not by enough to make it definitive, and I'm open to being convinced. It just seems... not really worth it at first blush.

[toctheyounger]

I think Coffin Queen falls in a similar area to Grave Pact. It might fit but it's a little downstream from where we are right now. I think I'll sit on the fence on it and see how the votes fall from others. I'm open to being convinced.

[RxPhantom]

I'm just really happy that Rescue went over so well. I'm with everyone else on Coffin Queen. I'd like to hear other arguments for it, but I do like that it can take from any graveyard and not just ours.

[Avacyn Believer]

That puts @Avacyn Believer and myself on the clock for today.

So my pick is for card advantage and graveyard fill. Blex, Vexing Pest. The main reason is the back side, Search for Blex. I really like this spell because it can give you up to five cards in hand or graveyard, and there are no limitations on the card type. Not the cheapest self-mill card for mana, but I do like playing it in graveyard decks because some cards I prefer in hand than graveyard. The front side can also work as a lord for Spiders, if we already have enough cards or could swing for lethal by boosting all Spiders with +1/+1.

I'm gonna go out on a limb for this one, but I'm going to go with Rescue from the Underworld.

Bit late on the vote, but it would be yes. Also I am glad to have found this card, never seen it before!

My card is the RCotD for today, Coffin Queen.

I am with the others on this, that I am not sure. I see why it would be good in most decks, or , because you can steal opponents' creatures, but it feels more 'generic good' than a right fit in this deck. I think we care more about bringing back Spiders for effect, than creatures in enemy graveyards, and that we can do with other spells that won't make opponents target us more. Nobody likes they stuff used against them.

I was super stoked to see this card as a true successor to Victimize, a card that has been a staple of all my decks for decades!

This is just out of curiousity. How come you see it as a successor? Victimize just seems better and cheaper to cast, since you can throw away tokens to it. Though I can understand the logic if you got bored playing Victimize all the time.

[Jemolk]

Blex is a good call. The modality is really interesting here. Mainly because we want cards in our graveyard, of course. Search for Blex is painful to use if you're putting more than a card, maybe two in hand, but as a graveyard filler that allows us to grab an arbitrary number of arbitrary cards out of those milled and put them to hand instead for a cost, it seems pretty darn good. And as you say, incidental upside from the spider lord bit on the front. Yea.

[3drinks]

Unlike grave pact, the coffin queen doesn't need any synergy around it to be good. It's a known fact that people are gonna have their eternal witnesses as they play ETB: the Gathering, and queen acts as a pseudo check versus that, or at least makes people think twice before value sacrificing utilitarian cards to bring back and re-proc them. And if no one is playing value ETB (what a weird timeline that would be), then it still digs up our own yard for said value. Not for nothing, it also steals shuffle drazis in response to the shuffle clause to, if you see any of those. I'm also fairly certain if you have an effect like Puppet Strings, you can steal two bodies at once, similar to Merieke Ri Berit|tsb if you respond to the first activation with the untap.

I'm totally with Blex, on the surface, it'd seem that Moonlight Bargain is superior as a dig and drop tool, but having the other side actually be at it's most relevant is enough of a draw, for me at least. I'm okay with yaying this.

I was super stoked to see this card as a true successor to Victimize, a card that has been a staple of all my decks for decades!

This is just out of curiousity. How come you see it as a successor? Victimize just seems better and cheaper to cast, since you can throw away tokens to it. Though I can understand the logic if you got bored playing Victimize all the time.

The biggest thing is 1) instant speed and 2) being able to get back the body you sacrificed which victimize notably can't do. Even with the delayed return trigger making you forever weary of errant Stifle|scg effects.

On the clock today is @Jemolk and @toctheyounger.

[Jemolk]

Thinking more about Coffin Queen, the fact that you can sacrifice the reanimated creature without it being exiled is highly relevant to us, and in combination with @3drinks's comments... I think I'll make my vote a yea for that one.

In keeping with my tradition thus far, I'll nominate another spider card that I think is also good for our deck. My nomination this time is Skyfisher Spider. It's removal on a spider, of course, and a sacrifice outlet, but there's an extra upside. See, if you reanimate it in response to its dies trigger... for example, with Coffin Queen... I'm pretty sure you should be able to gain the life without exiling it. We already have instant-speed reanimation confirmed in Corpse Dance, too. Plus we just need to have removal, and this is versatile and potentially repeatable.

[toctheyounger]

Im down for Blex. Both sides are relevant to us so there's no reason not to give it a whirl.

So with my pick I guess we're all waiting for me to get some big mana picks in here like I keep going on about. I guess I'll start with one from off the beaten track a little.

Songs of the Damned. My thinking is we're dredging and curating our graveyard anyway, and a lot of that is creature based thus far. It's instant speed, could not be cheaper, and produces the color our commander wants for it's activated ability.

Edit: if we find we don't need or it's already used it's also a different card type for delirium.

[3drinks]

See, if you reanimate it in response to its dies trigger... for example, with Coffin Queen... I'm pretty sure you should be able to gain the life without exiling it. We already have instant-speed reanimation confirmed in Corpse Dance, too. Plus we just need to have removal, and this is versatile and potentially repeatable.

I'm fairly certain this works like Academy Rector where if you don't exile ~, you don't get to search.

[Avacyn Believer]

All right, Coffin Queen sounds like something that can be useful, let's go with yay.

I say yay to Skyfisher Spider too. It does have a useful effect and to me it feels like it would play out as a neat synergy people might appreciate to see.

Yay for Songs of the Damned as well. I do like quick mana boosts and this also synergizes with this deck.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Yea for Blex, Skyfisher, and songs!

[3drinks]

I'm not totally sold on skyfisher spider because a four mv sorcery that doesn't hit creatures is pretty weak, and "at least it's better than Mold Shambler" isn't exactly a glowing term of endearment. But I'm willing-ish to relent on that. There's still not really any value in pushing tribal in a tribe without support though.

Songs of the Damned is an easy enough yay, shouldn't be a problem getting more mana back than a dark rit.

And rounding out this cycle of picks today is @TheAmericanSpirit and @aliciaofthevast.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

My nomination is Satyr Wayfinder. It's a classic goon that helps set up our GY early and finds a land drop. Plays nice with Skullclamp too!