Hey guys, I cant get the idea of a Demigod deck out of my mind. I think its so cool. I play multiplayer 4-5 player free for all. I play a pretty slow meta. Whenever one of us steps it up and make a bad*** quick acting deck the whole board freaks out and takes him out, so it's very political and tense lol.
I picture middle of the road 5 drops for the main meat of the deck. Gary for the finish or reboost of life. Very basic deck, but it seems like it would be fun and multifaceted without drawing too much attention or hate.
I really like the Demigods and Gary aspect. I need to get a guy or two on the board in the first turn or two. There is not much going on early in the game usually except for guys destroying whoever gets a slow start. I figure the quicker I can get a guy on the field and then make 5 mana the better. Not exactly sure how much ramp to run though. Thought about vampire nighthawk instead of stinky but I thought the recursion was better.
I think Basal Thrull and Leaden Myr, and Dark Ritual are bad ramp choices for this deck. You mentioned the fact that your meta is slow, so there's no need to give up that kidn of card advantage just to power out a 5-drop that much sooner. Since you're in monoblack and all your 5-drops will give a ton of devotion, you might want to make room for 2-3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in your mana base. Myriad Landscape is another one-color option that can ramp you to 5 mana one turn sooner. Buried Alive seems perfect in this deck, as you can use it to find 3 Demigod of Revenge and immediately start swinging for 20 per turn.
In 1-2 color decks with no 1 drops and very few 2 drops I think that it's almost objectively wrong to field fewer than 4 copies of Myriad Landscape. I'll concede that in the all BBBBB deck you don't want to cast it on turn 4 or 5 but I mean it's by far and away the single best turn 1 play that your deck could possibly make.
I definitely agree with this. Anything that boosts your mana temporarily is going to ring the alarm bells. My casual meta is very similar to what you describe and I'm usually the first one out if I try to make a move, so I can relate. Stinkweek Imp is solid. I think you could add in a few Vampire Nighthawk, not substitute to help discourage attacks. I'd probably swap it for the Thrull. Artifact mana would also be nice support like Mind Stone.
I also echo the land needs a bit more help with Myriad Landscape and Nykthos. Both go in this list without question.
Syphon Mind is also great unless your group frowns on discard effects.
Mind Stone isn't very good when you can't use it to cast the vast majority of your deck.
Nykthos isn't very good when your first threats are landing on turn 5 and they can't be cast with colorless mana. Adding Legendary lands to a deck that's already playing at least 2 fewer lands than it should be doesn't seem like a very wise decision either. I also don't see what Nykthos accomplishes. It's only going to generate meaningful mana if you have 1-2 dudes in play at which point you shouldn't be looking to overextend into Wraths to begin with. If you're going for a combo kill, that's another story, but in general I don't think that Nykthos is very useful in these kinds of shells.
Play Syphon Mind even if it pisses people off. The other alternatives aren't 4 mana Tidings with significant upsides.
Buried Alive isn't just useful for finding Demigods. It can also find Stinky which is a perfectly passable turn 4 blocker and the Dredge will fuel your revival engines.
With all of the B in your permanents, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx will be great as will Crypt Ghast. The latter will probably get picked off on sight, but it's incredible ramp if not. A Gilded Lotus would also do work and may not garner as much attention.
I'll second Buried Alive. You'll love it the first time you play a Demigod and get to swing for 20 with all four of them. I'd cut at least one Leechridden Swamp. I personally don't like more than a couple of CIPT lands in a mono-colored deck. You lose all of the speed and consistency that comes with playing mono. An Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would be good as well.
Seeing as this list has so many 5-drops, I'd go for consistency first.
I agree with most of the thoughts here > Nykthos just isn't needed, and playing more than 3 or 4 lands that don't create black mana (or find swamps) is gonna be problematic.
The only reason I would include Nykthos would be if you had some X-spells in here.
I would keep Stinky > it's a great card for any black deck.
Yes to Buried alive, maybe a few other cards that could benefit from it, perhaps Vengeful Pharaoh?
Yes to Syphon Mind. If it pisses people off, tell them they need to grow up. You need card draw in a deck this top heavy, and besides, Phyrexian Arena is getting silly expensive.
Personally I would really try to fit some more weenies in here > having some 2 or 3 drops is very useful. Vampire Hexmage for example, is a great card for killing planewalkers or otherwise making large threats with counters a bit smaller and more manageable.
One of my fave weenies is Abyssal Gatekeeper... not terribly suited to this deck, but it's a great card.
Hey guys, thanks for the great advice. I am still trying to understand it all.
In general I dont see how this deck wants top end mana. I see it needing a few extra up front to get you to 5. Here's what I mean:
Basal Thrull: Not sure why this isn't a good choice. Quick 2 drop that produces mana and is larger than the usual mana producing 1/1 for 2. Sure the mana is one time, but I should only need it one time to jump me to 5 a bit quicker. I get to trade him for a 5 drop on turn 3. Leaden Myr seems more surely a continual mana producer, but he's only a 1/1 and would facilitate a 5 drop on turn 4 alone. They seem like a pretty good chump blocker, mana ramp duo to me. What dont you like about them? Myriad Landscape seems like a good idea to me.
Alternatively, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gilded Lotus and Cryptghastconfuses me as I dont see how they really help pre-turn 5. And dont see what I need ramp for after that?
Love the idea of Vampire Hexmage and Syphon Mind. Maybe I really dont need much ramp except for the Myriad Landscape. Then I can add in some good smaller guys. Golgari Thug and Stinkweed Imp seems to go well together. Feeding the graveyard and recurring at the same time. The more I think about this, I think if I just focus on my 5 drops and try to recur them never letting them go away I should be in a good spot. What do you think of this:
I think you may be underestimating the normal play speed of multiplayer. Unless your group encourages combos and finishing games quickly, you don't need to be pulling out major threats on turn 5. Also, unless your group also uses land destruction, lands > other mana producers. I'll take 6 lands on turn 6 over 3 lands and a mana dork every single game.
The reason Basal Thrull is a bad play is because it is a one-time use and is a dead draw late game. Turns 7+ you need to be cranking out 2-3 threats a turn, and not focused on what you can get out by turn 5.
In your revised list you only have one method and three copies of recursion. Eight copies of Dredge is way too many for this. I don't think you will get the results you are expecting, not even in a vacuum. You need some Animate Dead, Dread Return or something if you are going to be dredging the hell out of your library.
Try tappedout.net or your other favorite play tester and see how it works. I can't imagine it working the way it should.
Hmmm. I see what you mean. I wasn't trying to dredge so much as I was trying to recur. Stinky was there to offer me a flying deathtouch that can come back and back (it loads the graveyard as a bonus as far as I was concerned). The Golgari Thug was there to be a chump blocker that offers a recur. Dredge is a bonus here too but also offers the ability to bring itself back if I want. Do these not provide decent recursion? I kind of liked the idea of having an actual recursion engine, but also having recurring blockers that helped with that as well.
My initial thought would be to get rid of maybe 2 or possibly all 4 syphon mind for dread return
I picture middle of the road 5 drops for the main meat of the deck. Gary for the finish or reboost of life. Very basic deck, but it seems like it would be fun and multifaceted without drawing too much attention or hate.
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Ghastlord of Fugue
3 Divinity of Pride
3 Deity of Scars
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Leaden Myr
4 Basal Thrull
4 Dark Ritual
3 Phyrexian Reclamation
23 Land
4 Leechridden Swamp
19 Swamp
I really like the Demigods and Gary aspect. I need to get a guy or two on the board in the first turn or two. There is not much going on early in the game usually except for guys destroying whoever gets a slow start. I figure the quicker I can get a guy on the field and then make 5 mana the better. Not exactly sure how much ramp to run though. Thought about vampire nighthawk instead of stinky but I thought the recursion was better.
Any thoughts?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I definitely agree with this. Anything that boosts your mana temporarily is going to ring the alarm bells. My casual meta is very similar to what you describe and I'm usually the first one out if I try to make a move, so I can relate. Stinkweek Imp is solid. I think you could add in a few Vampire Nighthawk, not substitute to help discourage attacks. I'd probably swap it for the Thrull. Artifact mana would also be nice support like Mind Stone.
I also echo the land needs a bit more help with Myriad Landscape and Nykthos. Both go in this list without question.
Syphon Mind is also great unless your group frowns on discard effects.
Nykthos isn't very good when your first threats are landing on turn 5 and they can't be cast with colorless mana. Adding Legendary lands to a deck that's already playing at least 2 fewer lands than it should be doesn't seem like a very wise decision either. I also don't see what Nykthos accomplishes. It's only going to generate meaningful mana if you have 1-2 dudes in play at which point you shouldn't be looking to overextend into Wraths to begin with. If you're going for a combo kill, that's another story, but in general I don't think that Nykthos is very useful in these kinds of shells.
Play Syphon Mind even if it pisses people off. The other alternatives aren't 4 mana Tidings with significant upsides.
Buried Alive isn't just useful for finding Demigods. It can also find Stinky which is a perfectly passable turn 4 blocker and the Dredge will fuel your revival engines.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I'll second Buried Alive. You'll love it the first time you play a Demigod and get to swing for 20 with all four of them. I'd cut at least one Leechridden Swamp. I personally don't like more than a couple of CIPT lands in a mono-colored deck. You lose all of the speed and consistency that comes with playing mono. An Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would be good as well.
I agree with most of the thoughts here > Nykthos just isn't needed, and playing more than 3 or 4 lands that don't create black mana (or find swamps) is gonna be problematic.
The only reason I would include Nykthos would be if you had some X-spells in here.
I would keep Stinky > it's a great card for any black deck.
Yes to Buried alive, maybe a few other cards that could benefit from it, perhaps Vengeful Pharaoh?
Yes to Syphon Mind. If it pisses people off, tell them they need to grow up. You need card draw in a deck this top heavy, and besides, Phyrexian Arena is getting silly expensive.
Personally I would really try to fit some more weenies in here > having some 2 or 3 drops is very useful.
Vampire Hexmage for example, is a great card for killing planewalkers or otherwise making large threats with counters a bit smaller and more manageable.
One of my fave weenies is Abyssal Gatekeeper... not terribly suited to this deck, but it's a great card.
In general I dont see how this deck wants top end mana. I see it needing a few extra up front to get you to 5. Here's what I mean:
Basal Thrull: Not sure why this isn't a good choice. Quick 2 drop that produces mana and is larger than the usual mana producing 1/1 for 2. Sure the mana is one time, but I should only need it one time to jump me to 5 a bit quicker. I get to trade him for a 5 drop on turn 3. Leaden Myr seems more surely a continual mana producer, but he's only a 1/1 and would facilitate a 5 drop on turn 4 alone. They seem like a pretty good chump blocker, mana ramp duo to me. What dont you like about them? Myriad Landscape seems like a good idea to me.
Alternatively, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gilded Lotus and Cryptghastconfuses me as I dont see how they really help pre-turn 5. And dont see what I need ramp for after that?
Love the idea of Vampire Hexmage and Syphon Mind. Maybe I really dont need much ramp except for the Myriad Landscape. Then I can add in some good smaller guys. Golgari Thug and Stinkweed Imp seems to go well together. Feeding the graveyard and recurring at the same time. The more I think about this, I think if I just focus on my 5 drops and try to recur them never letting them go away I should be in a good spot. What do you think of this:
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Ghastlord of Fugue
3 Deity of Scars
3 Divinity of Pride
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
3 Vampire Hexmage
4 Syphon Mind
3 Haunted Crossroads
24 Land
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Dark Depths (have one, fits theme, goes with hexmage)
22 Swamp
The reason Basal Thrull is a bad play is because it is a one-time use and is a dead draw late game. Turns 7+ you need to be cranking out 2-3 threats a turn, and not focused on what you can get out by turn 5.
In your revised list you only have one method and three copies of recursion. Eight copies of Dredge is way too many for this. I don't think you will get the results you are expecting, not even in a vacuum. You need some Animate Dead, Dread Return or something if you are going to be dredging the hell out of your library.
Try tappedout.net or your other favorite play tester and see how it works. I can't imagine it working the way it should.
My initial thought would be to get rid of maybe 2 or possibly all 4 syphon mind for dread return