I am really motivated to want to make a black token edh. I already have a friend with a very good Endrek Sahr, so I'd like to make either Merrow-Gnawer or Ghoulcaller Ghisa. My fairly competitive playgroup varies between games of 1-4 people. We have a couple of heavy counter decks (Talrand), a couple of aggro decks (Krenko) and mostly midrange w/green decks. We are alright with attrition strategies, infinite combos and unaffordable cards. What should I build between those two?
msun: Knives scoop ice cream.
Highroller: No they don't, knives don't scoop. Spoons scoop.
msun: Well, knives SHOULD scoop icecream.
Highroller: We have spoons that do it. Moreover, the shape of a knife that would scoop ice cream would make it horrible for performing the functions of a knife.
msun: Highroller, you bring up spoons as though they were the utensil used for scooping ice cream.
If you added white and went Orzhov you could play Teysa, Orzhov Scion and do some sac shenanigans but of the two you asked about I would suggest Marrow-Gnawer and go rat tribal for kicks. If you would build Teysa the cheapest combo you could build would be Pawn of Ulamog/Carrier Thrall + Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle to make near infinite spirit tokens.
Helm of Possession seems great, too. Use zombies to steal something, sacrifice it to make zombies to steal something else, etc. Geth, Lord of the Vault could be similar for repeatable reanimation. So what if the creature comes in tapped if you're going to sacrifice it?
Blasting Station can probably go infinite several ways with Gisa. You could trigger Salvaging Station's untap frequently, too, so it might be worth considering SS and a SS package. (Gisa, some untapping, SS, and Necrogen Spellbomb to empty opponents' hands, for example.)
Snake's meta is my meta. It's a Simic Breeding Pit, where unfun decks go to +1/+1 themselves at the expense of the others. Casual players are assimilated. The pace of evolution seems remarkable. The best player runs Thraximundar, but the best deck is probably a Captain Sisay. There's a Xenagos deck that wants for nothing, a fairly tweaked Uril, a deceptively strong Pheldagryff, the Krenko he mentioned -- that Talrand is improving pretty quickly, but still has a lot of room for improvement. Other regulars are playing fully pimped Azusa, there's a Kruphix, Vorosh. The Kaalia deck always beats me 1v1, but I don't think it's noteworthy yet. A newcomer to the shop - a guy who was playing Magic at the lunch table in high school back in 94, has every card ever, and his Krenko and Angus decks show for it. It's stupidly competitive. We still mourn the loss of the Sen Triplets and Azami player who set us down the path of the dark side.
Anyhow, I'd recommend Teysa - she's really good, and might at some point, be my next evolution, but there are already a couple Teysa players with decks in the works. Gissa would be new. You could essentially take my Endrek deck, plop in Gissa, and replace Breeding Pit and other thrull-themed cards with Endless Ranks of the Dead and other zombie themed cards, and probably be better for it.
It'd probably work better funnily enough. It'd be similar but I'd be able to be more zombie tribal and aggro, I don't really have an token-aggro deck so I've been tossing around the idea of commanders I could build. Mono B I haven't tried to build and seems pretty fun.
An enigma as vexing as life itself.
But RE you topic, irrespective of what you build, It sounds like it will have to be somewhat competitive.
I recommend running plenty cheap removal, creatures that are sac outlets for tokens with benefits, and lots of draw.
Moved to Commander
-Feyd
An enigma as vexing as life itself.
Necromantic Team Building
The Care Bear Stare
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Helm of Possession seems great, too. Use zombies to steal something, sacrifice it to make zombies to steal something else, etc. Geth, Lord of the Vault could be similar for repeatable reanimation. So what if the creature comes in tapped if you're going to sacrifice it?
Puppet Strings, Staff of Domination, Sword of the Paruns, Thousand-Year Elixir, and Umbral Mantle offer other means of untapping Gisa to use her ability more frequently.
Blasting Station can probably go infinite several ways with Gisa. You could trigger Salvaging Station's untap frequently, too, so it might be worth considering SS and a SS package. (Gisa, some untapping, SS, and Necrogen Spellbomb to empty opponents' hands, for example.)
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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Anyhow, I'd recommend Teysa - she's really good, and might at some point, be my next evolution, but there are already a couple Teysa players with decks in the works. Gissa would be new. You could essentially take my Endrek deck, plop in Gissa, and replace Breeding Pit and other thrull-themed cards with Endless Ranks of the Dead and other zombie themed cards, and probably be better for it.
An enigma as vexing as life itself.
If you're going not-mono black, and are including White or Green: Fecundity, Evolutionary Leap, Mentor of the Meek
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