UL's Better Deckbuilding: Heartless Hidetsugu

Hey Zoners-

Sorry about the long-delayed postings. Hopefully, today's lengthy deck primer will remedy your EDH fix.

The past couple weeks I've been toying around with Hidetsugu, who's a pimp, because this art I found suggests as much.

In reality, the deck hasn't been so good to me. Perhaps because I'm not a traditional red player. It takes a completely different side of the brain to find the road map through the chaos- to take bigger risks with the top of the library.

This isn't because the deck is inconsistent- just hard to play because you're in topdeck mode from the beginning of the game, which is a result of trying to make it fast.
This deck is pretty similar to the Ashling and 99 Mountains deck in that regard, because both are trying to go downhill with life totals.

The big difference though is that Ashling, as the gimmicky name of the deck both disguises and suggests, doesn't really need as many resources to do its damage.
 
In true red deck fashion, HH has a pretty obvious strategy:

1. Find Haste Outlet
2. Keep Life Totals Close
3. Drop Hidetsugu
4. Shiva-Blast!

Artifacts
1    Armillary Sphere
1    Basilisk Collar
1    Basalt Monolith
1    Darksteel Ingot
1    Duplicant
1    Elixir of Immortality
1    Expedition Map
1    Extraplanar Lens
1    Grim Monolith
1    Lightning Greaves
1    Loxodon Warhammer
1    Mind Stone
1    Oblivion Stone
1    Ring of Valkas
1    Sculpting Steel
1    Sensei's Divining Top
1    Sol Ring
1    Swiftfoot Boots
1    Temple Bell
1    Thousand-Year Elixir
1    Trading Post
1    Venser's Journal



Creatures
1    Godo, Bandit Warlord
1    Hellrider
1    Inferno Titan
1    Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
1    Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1    Lightning Mauler
1    Siege-Gang Commander
1    Solemn Simulacrum
1    Stigma Lasher
1    Stingscourger
1    Thundermaw Hellkite
1    Vexing Devil
1    Zealous Conscripts

Enchantment
1    Fervor
1    Mark of Fury 

Instant
1    Chaos Warp
1    Comet Storm
1    Dead/Gone
1    Mages' Contest
1    Molten Influence
1    Parallectric Feedback
1    Price of Progress
1    Reiterate
1    Reverberate
1    Seething Song
1    Shattering Pulse
1    Skullcrack
1    Soul's Fire

Land
1    Bloodstained Mire
1    Evolving Wilds
1    Glacial Chasm
1    Kher Keep
1    Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
31  Mountain
1    Shivan Gorge
1    Temple of the False God
1    Terrain Generator
1    Terramorphic Expanse 

Planeswalker
1    Chandra Ablaze
1    Chandra, the Firebrand
1    Koth of the Hammer  

Sorcery
1    Acidic Soil
1    Browbeat
1    Faithless Looting
1    Heat Shimmer
1    Red Sun's Zenith
1    Wheel of Fortune 

I've mentioned a few of the All-Stars, but there are a few here that have been pretty crucial to deck success.

 Thousand-Year Elixir has been one of my favorite cards in this deck. With the elixir in play, I can double blast people with Hidetsugu on Turn 6.

The Elixir also has pretty great synergy with Kiki-Jiki and Jaya, in terms of untapping.  At worst it's a way to have vigilance.






 


Venser's Journal has actually been a bit of a surprise. I was looking through my binder for something to help me stay alive, and I decided to give it a whirl.


It doesn't seem like much, but getting 4 life a turn nets me 2 extra life after a Shiva-Blast, which is still pretty good. I'm probably never gonna have more than 7 cards in hand, but if I do what a bonus.

This card might come out for something a little more useful like Druidic Satchel, but it's saved my life a couple times already.

Stigma Lasher was in this deck's past life as Fumiko, and I saw no reason to take it out. It's the only way I can keep opponents from gaining life, but it's pretty good to have in the early game. One of the few cheap red guys I've found useful- particularly in this deck.












This deck has come a long way in two weeks, and therefore I've made a whole lot of cuts.

And I'm still not done.

Here's a list of a bunch of stuff that I cut so far.

Magus of the Moon
Blasphemous Act
Rings of Brighthearth
Mad Prophet
Grim Lavamancer
Lich's Mirror
Hoarding Dragon
Leyline of Punishment
Ashling the Extinguisher
Aether Membrane
Lightning Bolt
Pulse of the Forge
Volcanic Fallout
Cinder Cloud
Fissure
Aftershock
Chandra Nalaar
Chain Reaction
Skullclamp
General's Regalia

A majority of the cuts have resulted as part of an effort to make the deck a turn or two faster.
I realized as a result of the narrow mana curve that I need to maximize certain turns as part of a more tempo, opportunistic approach.

Anyway, it's still a work in progress- but it's fun, quick, makes games interesting, and super-sad when you lose the close ones. That's how you know it's good. 60% of the time, it doesn't work every time. 

What keeps me going though is the idea of Shiva-Blasting on the rare occasion that I do win.

Alright. Enough goofy humor.

Peace, Love, Land Drops.

-UL