This is the deck that I play that everyone tells me is the one that is on a different level from the others so lets treat it like that.
Why Vish Kal?
You mean other than the fact of his dope sunglasses? Vish Kal supports every playstyle you would want from EDH as long as you are up to diving headfirst into the strengths of Orhzov which he exemplifies more than any other Commander
Built in lifelink on a legendary creature is still rather rare
Flying is still an obstacle for a lot of people to deal with and is a nice thing for him to just have
Decent base body
Is the engine that fuels his own growth
Can eat himself
The only actual downside is his base mana cost of 7 which is both reasonable for his wide swath of abilities and easy to overcome playing black.
The Competition
Teysa, Orzhov Scion: A bit pigeon holey welcome to the combo and welcome to the hate from the table because of it
Karlov of the Ghost Council: A terrifying commander, however is not as in control of his own growth as Vish Kal and is missing a couple other pieces to really accelerate him into the stratosphere
Athreos, God of Passage: I don't like leaving any choice in the hands of my opponents if I can help it, sure it is fun with Shadowborn Apostles but other than that you are just playing slow re-animator / punisher.
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim: The new kid on the block, super aggressively costed and has some interesting potential especially as the first B/W Tribal Cleric Legendary
The others are okay in their own ways but I consider them far weaker than the big 5.
This list is very malleable and can work it self into a lot of different forms depending on the needs of the game and the decks it plays against. Most of the time it slots into a more Tempo role of just rolling with the punches while it attempts to find a break to push through either by aggro, voltron or combo.
Powerful Synergies & Combos
1. Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - I don't run Triskelion or his new brother because I find them boring, however Mikaeus fits well into the deck and combined with only my Commander says you need to remove one or the other before you can have any creatures on the board. If you were then to add a Grim Haruspex into that you would then draw your whole deck.
2. Karmic Guide and Reveillark - If you combine these two creates with any single of the decks three sacrifice outlets then they loop forever and you can then utilize the rewards of that outlet for all you want being Scry, Mana or Vish Kal counters.
There are more but from this point on they get more complex and use more pieces.
Useful Cards and Creatures Stoneforge Mystic in this deck can find Combo, Ramp, Draw and more
Crucible of Worlds protects all the useful lands this deck runs, also along with Urborg allows us to get life out of used Fetch Lands other than finding basics.
This deck runs a board wipe for every occasion including Sudden Spoiling the best black card in EDH.
Vampire Hexmage is both a Planeswalker killer and can play fun with Mikaeus and Undying Counters
Panharmonicon - This deck runs a lot of good ETB effects of both the creature and artifact variety (Puresteel Paladin is Panharmonicon all star) that this card does a nice job at accelerating deck.
Cards I Should Try mogis marauder - Haste is pretty hard to find a good version of it these colors and this guy seems pretty sweet.
Hi there! I like the deck! I currently hava a Athreos deck, but I want to change it, it just doesnt seem focused enough. Your deck might convince me to go vish kal.
You actually have very little ramp and just 35 lands, are you able to play vish kal on a regular basis or is he the back up plan?
See I agree with you completely I always think that the count is too low or I am not running enough ways to get them, but then I play the deck and it usually works out, it probably needs a bit of tweaking on the manabase side, but recently the most common win condition has been Vish Kal
Terrain Generator feels slow and this deck doesn't have the basics level to support it Petrified Field makes a bunch more sense because there are lands in this list that people like destroying.
Why Vish Kal?
You mean other than the fact of his dope sunglasses? Vish Kal supports every playstyle you would want from EDH as long as you are up to diving headfirst into the strengths of Orhzov which he exemplifies more than any other Commander
The only actual downside is his base mana cost of 7 which is both reasonable for his wide swath of abilities and easy to overcome playing black.
The Competition
The others are okay in their own ways but I consider them far weaker than the big 5.
Before the Explanations we need the List
1x Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Creature (29)
1x Abhorrent Overlord
1x Archangel of Thune
1x Ashen Rider
1x Burnished Hart
1x Crypt Ghast
1x Eldrazi Displacer
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Emeria Shepherd
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Grave Titan
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Grim Haruspex
1x Karmic Guide
1x Knight of the White Orchid
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Nirkana Revenant
1x Puresteel Paladin
1x Restoration Angel
1x Reveillark
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Sun Titan
1x Vampire Hexmage
1x Viscera Seer
1x Weathered Wayfarer
1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
1x Gift of Immortality
1x Land Tax
1x Necropotence
1x Phyrexian Reclamation
Land (35)
1x Barren Moor
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Caves of Koilos
1x City of Brass
1x Command Beacon
1x Command Tower
1x Deserted Temple
1x Flooded Strand
1x Godless Shrine
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Petrified Field
6x Plains
1x Polluted Delta
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Strip Mine
4x Swamp
1x Temple of Silence
1x Temple of the False God
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Windswept Heath
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Faith's Reward
1x Path to Exile
1x Return to Dust
1x Sudden Spoiling
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Wretched Confluence
Artifact (12)
1x Blade of the Bloodchief
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x Panharmonicon
1x Phyrexian Altar
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of the Animist
Sorcery (11)
1x All Is Dust
1x Austere Command
1x Council's Judgment
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Intent
1x Living Death
1x Merciless Eviction
1x Night's Whisper
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Unburial Rites
1x Victimize
How it Wins
This list is very malleable and can work it self into a lot of different forms depending on the needs of the game and the decks it plays against. Most of the time it slots into a more Tempo role of just rolling with the punches while it attempts to find a break to push through either by aggro, voltron or combo.
Powerful Synergies & Combos
1. Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - I don't run Triskelion or his new brother because I find them boring, however Mikaeus fits well into the deck and combined with only my Commander says you need to remove one or the other before you can have any creatures on the board. If you were then to add a Grim Haruspex into that you would then draw your whole deck.
2. Karmic Guide and Reveillark - If you combine these two creates with any single of the decks three sacrifice outlets then they loop forever and you can then utilize the rewards of that outlet for all you want being Scry, Mana or Vish Kal counters.
3. Sun Titan and Fiend Hunter - See above it works the same way. Also you can swap out Fiend Hunter for Gift or Immortality
4. Living Death and Abhorrent Overlord and Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and Phyrexian Altar. Obviously as with everything that involves Living Death the more stuff you bring to the party the more fun it is.
5. 2 Black Devotion + Abhorrent Overlord + Phyrexian Altar + Nim Deathmantle
There are more but from this point on they get more complex and use more pieces.
Useful Cards and Creatures
Stoneforge Mystic in this deck can find Combo, Ramp, Draw and more
Crucible of Worlds protects all the useful lands this deck runs, also along with Urborg allows us to get life out of used Fetch Lands other than finding basics.
This deck runs a board wipe for every occasion including Sudden Spoiling the best black card in EDH.
Vampire Hexmage is both a Planeswalker killer and can play fun with Mikaeus and Undying Counters
Panharmonicon - This deck runs a lot of good ETB effects of both the creature and artifact variety (Puresteel Paladin is Panharmonicon all star) that this card does a nice job at accelerating deck.
Cards I Should Try
mogis marauder - Haste is pretty hard to find a good version of it these colors and this guy seems pretty sweet.
You actually have very little ramp and just 35 lands, are you able to play vish kal on a regular basis or is he the back up plan?
RJaya Ballard, Task Mage Mono Red Control Decklist
WNahiri, the Lithomancer Mono White Control Decklist
RGWUKynaios and Tiro of Meletis Aikido Control Decklist
UBGisa and Geralf Tribal Aggro Decklist
URGRiku of Two Reflections Non-combo coolstuff Decklist
RWUBruse Tarl, Boorish Herder and Kraum, Ludovic's Opus Equipments Decklist
WBAthreos, God of Passage Reanimate/Goodstuff Decklist
Terrain Generator feels slow and this deck doesn't have the basics level to support it Petrified Field makes a bunch more sense because there are lands in this list that people like destroying.
Suggestions welcome.