4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Golgari Thug
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Necroplasm
1 Greater Mossdog
3 Grave-Shell Scarab
2 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Gleancrawler
4 Sanguine Praetor
4 Darkblast
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Vigor Mortis
2 Nightmare Void
1 Life from the Loam
9 Forest
7 Swamp
4 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Miren, the Moaning Well |
  Praetor
Natural.
Description of deck by it's author
(quoted):
I've built decks using just about every
“reject rare” from Guildpact, including the sub-spectacular Giant
Solifuge. One card that I wasn't too excited about until recently is
Sanguine Praetor. Sanguine is a word that means “cheerfully optimistic”
or even “Pollyannaish,” but it can also mean “bloody.” I guess the moral
of the story is, “When life gives you lemons, murder them.”
It is by no means an efficient card (see: Kagemaro,
First to Suffer), but there are a couple ways to maximize the utility of
Sanguine Praetor:
1. Play with creatures at various points in the mana
curve.
2. Play with creatures that can be recurred.
Conveniently, Ravnica's Dredge creatures allow you to do
both of these things with ease. Golgari Thug, Stinkweed Imp, Greater
Mossdog, and Grave-Shell Scarab cover the two-slot to the five-slot.
Opposing one-drops can oftentimes be dealt with using Darkblast. Since
Sanguine Praetor costs you eight mana, you're either going to need to make
a lot of mana (paging Elder and Reach!) or find a way to cheat the Avatar
into play (paging Vigor Mortis!). Life from the Loam can facilitate either
plan of action, putting Praetors in the graveyard in order to be
reanimated or getting you the lands you'll need to hardcast them later on.
Greater Mossdog isn't really great, but it's the only
Dredge creature at four-mana. Savra, Queen of the Golgari was my original
four-drop, but she needed a bit more deck support than I was willing to
give her (Shambling Shell over Stinkweed Imp, say). On top of that, her
“Grave Pact”-ability doesn't interact all that well with Sanguine Praetor.
If, for example, you have both cards in play and you sacrifice a Stinkweed
Imp to the Praetor, Savra's ability will trigger and your opponent can
just sacrifice the three-mana creature he or she was going to lose to the
Praetor anyway. Of course, Savra allowed you to get rid of opposing
creatures if you didn't have one with the same converted mana cost, but I
decided to cut her anyway because the whole point of the deck is to make
good use out of Sanguine Praetor. Indrik Stomphowler, Necroplasm, and
Greater Mossdog were the replacements. The Beast is much needed utility,
and while it can't be Dredged back, you can reanimate it with Vigor Mortis
or put in top of your library when Golgari Thug hits the bin. The Ooze,
meanwhile, gives you answer to token-heavy decks, a situation where
Sanguine Praetor isn't that great.
If you wanted to dip into the Extended card pool, I'd
certainly add Brawn and/or Filth to give your bigger creatures some
evasion (cut Greater Mossdog) and the other card I'd put in is Genesis.
The latter seems particularly beneficial, making it much easier and more
tempting to play with a greater number of non-Dredge creatures. |
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