MTG Salvation

I saw Liliana's Contract as a spoiler and knew I had to make a deck with it. I struggled to find the best Demon to head the charge and decided to go with Black Oath Ob Nix because I don't have a Planeswalker as a Commander, he's relatively unique and the other options may cause my opponents to start attacking me.

Blood Speaker is kinda jank but I've always been pretty impressed with him in Demon shells. He's a re-usable blocker at worst, and can usually get a couple tutors in over the course of the game. He gets much better with cost reduction too, which this deck could probably use. Have you considered Jet Medallion/The Immortal Sun/Heartless Summoning in place of some of the more "normal" ramp? When your curve is so high you'll get a lot of mileage out of them. I'd even be inclined to try out a Helm of Awakening.

Other than that the only suggestions I have are demons based on my personal preference. I really like Herald of Anguish for example, especially in an artifact heavy build like yours, but most big demons are pretty interchangeable.

Razaketh, the Foulblooded seems obviously good. Are you excluding him on purpose?

I also think almost any legendary demon would be better than Ob Nixilis.

Herald's Horn is sweet as you have a ton of demons and it reduces their cost.

I like Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood and Read the Bones better than Graveborn Muse. They help late game so you can get the cards right now instead of waiting for two upkeeps.

Abyssal Persecutor is also a pretty good demon. It has really good stats and the downside of "opponents can't lose" is funny tech against cards like laboratory maniac and approach of the second sun.

Rogue's passage and crypt of agadeem are pretty bad lands.

Quote from thomeyis »

Blood Speaker is kinda jank but I've always been pretty impressed with him in Demon shells. He's a re-usable blocker at worst, and can usually get a couple tutors in over the course of the game. He gets much better with cost reduction too, which this deck could probably use. Have you considered Jet Medallion/The Immortal Sun/Heartless Summoning in place of some of the more "normal" ramp? When your curve is so high you'll get a lot of mileage out of them. I'd even be inclined to try out a Helm of Awakening.

Other than that the only suggestions I have are demons based on my personal preference. I really like Herald of Anguish for example, especially in an artifact heavy build like yours, but most big demons are pretty interchangeable.

I actually really want to add Blood Speaker to the deck but my LGS has been out of stock.

You reminded me of my Mono Black Ramp package, so I looked through my cards to find it. A bunch of them have been added to the deck. I won't be adding Heartless Summoning despite it probably being very good; I want my beef to be beefy.

I tried Herald of Anguish in the initial build, he was too slow. Though I have added a bunch of Artifacts since, so perhaps he can eventually make a return.

Quote from XeroxedFool »

Razaketh, the Foulblooded seems obviously good. Are you excluding him on purpose?

I also think almost any legendary demon would be better than Ob Nixilis.

Herald's Horn is sweet as you have a ton of demons and it reduces their cost.

I like Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood and Read the Bones better than Graveborn Muse. They help late game so you can get the cards right now instead of waiting for two upkeeps.

I am not using Razaketh, the Foulblooded because I don't have that many bodies to feed him. Though, thinking about it, he can probably be used to find more bodies. So, sort of intentionally excluding him. I don't want him in the Chair either, as that might cause people to believe this is a Combo deck instead of Demon Tribal Midrange.

I am using Ob Nix intentionally because he's unique, plus it gives me a mini-game of getting his Ult off. Which if I do, I probably win the game as it is absurd! He's also another reason to not use The Immortal Sun which I've sold my copy of. I loathe tracking down cards I've already gotten rid of. Yeah, it's probably a fallacy but I am fine without examining that due to the Sun's price.

Herald's Horn is also $15 CAD last time I checked, probably more now.

I dislike burst draw over something steady, people take note when you draw more. Graveborn Muse was initially just a placeholder for Bloodgift Demon, but I like having all of these extra "Phyrexian Arenas" running around. While waiting two upkeeps is a long time, it isn't near the early game and I am just accruing free value.

Quote from illakunsaa »

Abyssal Persecutor is also a pretty good demon. It has really good stats and the downside of "opponents can't lose" is funny tech against cards like laboratory maniac and approach of the second sun.

Rogue's passage and crypt of agadeem are pretty bad lands.

I thought of using Abyssal Persecutor but I don't have a reliable way to sacrifice him, so I've excluded him from the deck.

I'm going to have to disagree with Rogue's Passage and Crypt of Agadeem. Crypt was spitting out 5+ mana yesterday and Rogue lets me get a massive demon in with all of my Equipment that gives +X/+X where X is Lands.

Onto deck changes: Initially, Graveborn Muse was the placeholder for Bloodgift Demon, but I liked what she did. I decided to keep her and axe Disciple of Bolas, as he couldn't guarantee having a friend to Sacrifice. The deck doesn't run that many Creatures.

Ill-Gotten Gains has blown up in my face repeatedly, I axed it for Jet Medallion's Ramp.

Temple of the False God was a Ramp Slot, but I rather have Extraplanar Lens to really make my Swamps count.

Decree of Pain is fun for all the draw, but it is expensive. I rather have Nev's Disk to deal with all of the Noncreature Threats.

Caged Sun is one of the best cards for Monoblack, so I cut the Worn Powerstone. I like Powerstone, but Sun is just so much better.

I cut Volrath's Stronghold from Vosk, as the deck doesn't need it and this deck does. A Swamp gets axed in its place.

Two changes: Desecration Demon never did what I wanted, it didn't get fed when I wanted it to grow and it always got tapped down when I wanted to go to combat. By adding Lashwrithe, I am completing the +X/+X subtheme Equipment. Sure, I lose a Demon but it's an unreliable one.

Arch of Orazca has very little opportunity cost that it deserves to be in any midrange style deck.

Quote from Tev »

I thought of using Abyssal Persecutor but I don't have a reliable way to sacrifice him, so I've excluded him from the deck.

Removing Persecutor really isn't a problem. You can always go for the ob nixilis ultimate and leave Persecutor to block because attacking planeswalkers is the most common way to remove planeswalkers.

Also if you manage get an opponent into a situation where they would lose (eg. 0 life) they can't actually kill you or your demon because if they do they lose. You essentially gain an unwilling ally that needs to protect you and also kill your other opponents for them to even have a chance of winning.

Quote from Tev »

You reminded me of my Mono Black Ramp package, so I looked through my cards to find it. A bunch of them have been added to the deck. I won't be adding Heartless Summoning despite it probably being very good; I want my beef to be beefy.

I mean, quick look at your list shows that it doesn't kill any of your creatures, and you don't produce any tokens. I feel having the costs of your Demons reduced by 2 is well worth it, considering they're still evasive threats and -1/-1 isn't that massive a drawback. Being able to turn all of your 5-6-7 drop creatures into 3-4-5 makes a huge difference. Though in fairness, it doesn't do anything for the rest of the deck.

Aside from that, I see you already have all the big mana producers in monoB, but aside from Rune-Scarred Demon and Expedition Map, no tutors. I can appreciate if you prefer to run minimal tutors, but with a curve like this, you probably need ways to fetch some of your better ramp early on.

Quote from illakunsaa »

Quote from Tev »

I thought of using Abyssal Persecutor but I don't have a reliable way to sacrifice him, so I've excluded him from the deck.

Removing Persecutor really isn't a problem. You can always go for the ob nixilis ultimate and leave Persecutor to block because attacking planeswalkers is the most common way to remove planeswalkers.

Also if you manage get an opponent into a situation where they would lose (eg. 0 life) they can't actually kill you or your demon because if they do they lose. You essentially gain an unwilling ally that needs to protect you and also kill your other opponents for them to even have a chance of winning.

Ah, I see that you play with the expectation that you'll get the Emblem. I do not. I have found I have won games if I got the Emblem off, so to me it isn't a simple matter of 'Just Ult'. That's like saying 'Just Win', which is fun to say to your friends but ineffective deck advice.

Maybe. It is a very strong body for low cost and the mini-game of "You better keep this Demon alive because it is the only thing that's causing you to not lose" sounds appealing. I just don't know what the hell to cut.

Quote from Grimoire »

Quote from Tev »

You reminded me of my Mono Black Ramp package, so I looked through my cards to find it. A bunch of them have been added to the deck. I won't be adding Heartless Summoning despite it probably being very good; I want my beef to be beefy.

I mean, quick look at your list shows that it doesn't kill any of your creatures, and you don't produce any tokens. I feel having the costs of your Demons reduced by 2 is well worth it, considering they're still evasive threats and -1/-1 isn't that massive a drawback. Being able to turn all of your 5-6-7 drop creatures into 3-4-5 makes a huge difference. Though in fairness, it doesn't do anything for the rest of the deck.

Aside from that, I see you already have all the big mana producers in monoB, but aside from Rune-Scarred Demon and Expedition Map, no tutors. I can appreciate if you prefer to run minimal tutors, but with a curve like this, you probably need ways to fetch some of your better ramp early on.

Yeah, I probably need tutors. I was toying with adding stuff that fetches basics, just so I don't miss land drops. I don't want this deck to be that good, so I don't want uber consistency of many tutors. There also isn't an obvious card to axe, so I have trouble seeing what could become a Heartless Summoning or Diabolic Tutor.

Well, I am going more in-theme: I don't like cutting Graveborn Muse, as it is more card draw but Blood Speaker lets me tutor up Demons. At the very least, that makes a Liliana's Contract win more possible. Plus THEME!

Needed more draw: Kothophed will feed me lots of cards; hopefully not before I die from him/her (which one is it? I don't know). Lord of the Void is just slightly too above curve for me, so they swapped out. Plus Kothophed as a Legend will help with Blackblade Reforged.

I didn't need ramp as much as consistent draw. Making land drops each turn is important, as well as the effective draw. I wanted that more than the Charcoal Diamond.

Mikokoro rounds out the draw suite upgrade.

Needed more draw: Demonlord Belzenlok should fill my hand, I had him fetch me 6 cards yesterday. I cut Extraplanar Lens because of the amount of other Swamps that are in my meta, including other mono black decks. Every time I resolved the Lens, it would provide power to another player over me and I would be down a land drop.

Heirloom Blade makes my demons a little more lethal but more importantly, it draws me to the deck one when they die. The Equip cost is tiny, so I can keep chaining demons as they get answered. I don't know if cutting Strands of Night is the correct call, it just didn't feel good to have it show up midgame and stall me from endgame because I was eating my own landbase. I hope that the continual supply of Demons will make Heirloom Blade worth it.

This may be excessive, but I'm surprised that Nirkana Revenant never made it into your decklist. It's expensive, I confess, but being able to splurge your hand, refill it, and then splurge again would be hilarious.

Revenant is just too expensive dollar-wise for what I want to invest in this deck. Most of it is from cards I already own.

Cut a subtheme: All of these Equipment are great on Commanders that can carry the Equipment, opening up Commander Damage as a different wincon. I realized they weren't working out. The deck was missing alternative wincons and stumbles on draw, so these changes are to help with that.

Twilight Prophet helps with draw and killing the table, especially since this deck has a high CMC. Evasion and big butt also helps. Phyrexian Arena is also draw. I cut Strands of Night and immediately regretted it. I liked the Heirloom Blade's effect, so I decided to axe Mind Stone for this. Yeah, I do acknowledge the hilarity of cutting Ramp for something that kills my mana.

Corrupt and Sower of Discord are solidly in the alternative wincon spots. I can easily put the top two in a mutually destructive alliance; or if I ever get ahead I can chain myself and another opponent together. If they try to kill me, they die as well. Corrupt is just pin point damage to the face.

Bog 'cause Bog.

Chainer is far more flexible than Strands:

Parts from different decks: Necropotence was pulled from Daxos' dissolution, I put it in the deck because it's bonkers. I cut Blood Fast because it is merely a Necro-imitation, not the real stuff.

Herald's Horn was pulled from Edgar because I want the deck to hit harder, this is my other real tribal deck so it was good to put in the deck. I haven't had problems casting spells, but I've had issues running out of gas. Jet Medallion should solve all of that.

With Vosk's dissolution, I needed to figure out which I my decks would inherit Scrying Sheets, I've decided it should be Ob Nix: He needs the card draw and something to do with all of the extra mana.

I don't actually have that many demons: Liliana's Contract is more of a ruse, make my opponents toss removal at it after it was drawn me cards. I have less than 20 Demons in the deck, so Herald's Horn doesn't do that much aside from a slight cost reduction. I saw the opportunity to pick up a relatively cheap Darkness, as that card is surprisingly expensive, and I've put it in my deck so I have more interaction.

I've had this Obliterator staring at me, asking to be used. Finally, I caved. I cut my worst Demon and slapped in the Obliterator.

O Stone is much faster than Disk, so in it goes.