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Main » Articles » A Dark Prophecy for Standard

A Dark Prophecy for Standard

Blake Rasmussen
Posted on July 26, 2013
 Reddit

About a year ago, I went to see a palm reader. She was a bit of an odd duck—as I imagine palm readers tend to be—but an intriguing one. She professed to being a devout Christian and claimed, repeatedly and forcefully, that her gift came from God. She also said she couldn’t see her own future.

Coincidentally, she wasn’t particularly talented at seeing mine. She claimed she didn’t see my career making any dramatic changes in the next eight weeks, for example. Interestingly enough, I had just put in my notice at the job that had me interviewing her. I was just a couple weeks away from a significant career shift that would see me traveling for the next few months before moving into the corporate world.

Fortunately, I’m much better at seeing my own future, and for at least the next year, my future is going to be filled with prophecy. Dark Prophecy to be precise.

This card, far more than any other, has jumped out at me as a card to watch in Magic 2014 Core Set. It should come as no surprise that I have a thing for drawing cards at any cost (cough, Duskmantle Seer, cough), but so much of Dark Prophecy screams to be broken that I just can’t ignore it.

Dark Prophecy
Check it:

  • Costs bbb: Check

  • Black card-draw enchantment: Check

  • Exchanges 1 life for one card: Check

It’s pretty much the exact card I submitted for You Make the Card, which explains why my design wasn’t selected: Double-check (and makes me feel better about myself).

Now, I still have some faith that Duskmantle Seer can be a thing (though its primary prey, Reanimator, took a hit with M14 and will be rotating soon enough), but it clearly has not caught on. Duskmantle Seer’s pedigree was Dark Confidant, but it was very clearly different than Bob. It is symmetrical, costs 4, and is multicolored. They’re not really remotely similar.

Dark Prophecy, however, has a predecessor that I didn’t even think of until someone asked about the card while I was playing a proxied version of it:

“So, it’s basically just Fecundity?”

Truth be told, it basically is just Fecundity, but it’s nonsymmetrical, harder to cast, and bound by your life total. It’s as though Fecundity and Necropotence had a child, and that child became an old woman with a penchant for painful prophetic visions.

Those are all powerful spells in their own right, so I don’t see why we can’t try to break it now.

My first attempt was probably the same Dark Prophecy deck a lot of people built, albeit with a bit more Shadowborn Demon, another card I’m higher on than most people.

"A Dark Prophecy for Standard"

The only testing I’ve been able to get in with the deck was a long set against Jund, and the results were . . . intriguing.

Bonfire of the Damned
First of all, Dark Prophecy was either the best card in the deck or it single-handedly killed you, usually based on whether you were Bonfired. When Bonfire of the Damned didn’t make an appearance or wasn’t backed by additional pressure, Dark Prophecy let your little dorks overwhelm Jund’s bigger problems. When Prophecy drew just lands or too many low-impact spells, it killed you.

The big takeaways were that Doomed Traveler and Xathrid Necromancer were very much a thing (and AJ Sacher was kind enough to prove that at SCG Richmond last weekend),that Blood Artist with Dark Prophecy is just as amazing as it sounds, and that the deck had too many creatures that died too easily. And them dying too easily meant you died just about as easily.

Also, Shadowborn Demon is insane. Keep that in mind. Also of note is that Disciple of Bolas seems to be an awesome Human to include, but unless we’re sacrificing a Shadowborn Demon, the rate isn’t great.

Still, the games where you were Bonfired but had Dark Prophecy were probably lost without it anyway. We just need to go a little bit bigger and add in a few more ways to gain life . . . 

"Another Dark Prophecy for Standard"

The weird competition between the 5-drops is to try them out. It’s possible six 5-drops is too many, and it’s almost certain that one or two of them are better than the others. I just don’t know which. Vampire Nighthawk is cute with Archangel of Thune, but Obzedat gains life immediately. This version also doesn’t really do as much with Cartel Aristocrat or Doomed Traveler, making their inclusions questionable.

It’s possible we want some Geralf's Messengers, too, and that we shouldn’t leave home without Blood Artist. I’m just not sure yet. Disciple of Bolas is also an interesting potential addition.

Speaking of Geralf's Messenger . . . 

"A Third Dark Prophecy for Standard"

Killing Wave
Remember when Zombies was a thing? I wonder if we should be using the old Killing Wave technology in this one. It becomes something of a hybrid of Wrath of God and Braingeyser that gives you some weird amount of flexibility, especially if you have Blood Artist.

The deck could also definitely benefit from a little Varolz, the Scar-Striped action, possibly/probably over Dreg Mangler. If we want to be really aggressive, we could drop the Garruks and incorporate some Rakdos Cacklers. If we want to go slower, Disciple of Bolas is another potential route to take (that guy keeps popping up).

It’s equally possible we should go harder on Gnawing Zombie here. That activation cost is pretty high, however. Bloodthrone Vampire might just be better. I want plenty of ways to sacrifice Gravecrawlers and Geralf's Messengers, but there are only so many options in two colors.

But maybe we can push the color requirements further. Junk Aristocrats already heavily leaned toward black. We’d probably have to abandon Gavony Township, which is certainly a blow, but maybe Dark Prophecy can make up for it with sheer power. I want to try Archangel of Thune here, too, and maybe more is necessary.

"The Fourth Dark Prophecy for Standard"

That might be pushing it too far, especially if Burning Earth is a thing. It bends the mana base a lot to try to include Prophecy, but it might be what we want at some point. Bonfire is still a giant problem—you lose a lot of life. It’s possible we want to go even harder on Vampire Nighthawks here.

But if we’re going to be selling our souls for power, why not look closely at Shadowborn Demon again and fill our graveyards to capacity. We could even go back to a minor Zombie theme and have up to eight Blood Artist–like effects with Diregraf Captain in the mix.

"Standard’s Fifth Dark Prophecy"

If we felt saucy, maybe we could even try some Duskmantle Seer. In an aggressive deck, they may even make more sense than skipping a turn to play Forbidden Alchemy. It would certainly push the deck faster and further, but it would endanger our life total pretty readily. I don’t know that I would be ready to take that jump without more testing.

On the other hand, maybe we aren’t going quite far enough with the Zombies theme for the last few months we have them in Standard . . . 

"DPS VI"

With Dark Prophecy and Rooftop Storm, we create an engine with our Gravecrawlers bound only by our life total and a sacrifice outlet. This is completely a casual deck (as is every Rooftop Storm deck ever), but if Rooftop Storm is your thing, Dark Prophecy may offer the right kind of incentive to go nuts.

But maybe we should just kill people instead.

"The Penultimate Prophecy"

Patrick Chapin posted something like this earlier in the week, and I think this could definitely have some legs, at least at Friday Night Magic. There’s a lot of synergy here and a lot of ways to play it. Barraging a Gravecrawler into a Brimstone Volley and drawing a card for your troubles gives me all kinds of chills.

But given the bbb cost of Dark Prophecy, maybe—just maybe—we finally have enough incentive to go mono-black. After all, Corrupt and its other Drain Life variants have, at times, played Braingeyser for Necropotence.

"The Final Prophecy"

Corrupt
The curve is too high, but our defensive options at 2 mana are limited. It’s possible Desecration Demon should just be Bloodline Keeper, especially for Shadowborn Demon purposes, but I want something big to sacrifice to Disciple.

Realistically, this deck feels like it’s a Thoughtseize and a Mindsludge away from being a real deck. But, in the interest of appealing to the mono-black fanboys and fangirls out there, here it is.

You could also take the path of more Lilianas of one or both sorts, but then why are you Prophesying? It’s a legit road to take, but not if you already have your chosen Necropotence working for you.

Slum Reaper is an interesting sideboard option against Hexproof, though black is certainly not short on answers there. It’s probably not worth it, but it’s quite cool with Dark Prophecy.

These are all intriguing options for Dark Prophecy, but only time will tell if it makes the cut. I certainly haven’t (yet) been proven right about Duskmantle Seer, but reading the signs points to Dark Prophecy being an intriguing build-around for at least the next twelve months. I’m all-in, but I can’t say for sure what the future will bring.

Things I Think I’m Thinking

  • I was never a fan of Jonathan Medina, and his willingness to be extremely (I would say overly) frank about his departure from the game is a bit odd, but can we just not talk about another man’s marriage anymore? And, even more so, let’s stop speculating on the third party. It doesn’t matter. Move on.

  • I’m going to be in Calgary for the Grand Prix this weekend. Do I pack a sweater? Does the sun even shine up there? Can I ride a moose?

  • There will be a sizeable number of people who don’t realize that last point is a joke until they read this.

  • I’m pretty sure I lost the battle over Saito for the Magic Hall of Fame. I don’t really blame anyone for not voting for him. If he doesn’t come close this year, I may abandon that particular battle. Depending on next year’s candidates, I might regardless.

  • I’m already having Snapcaster Mage and Augur of Bolas withdrawal symptoms, and Theros is still a ways away. I may never love another again.

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, deck list, brew, magic 2014, m14, blake rasmussen

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