MTG Salvation

She is pretty good if the board is calm. I like her in the early game but sometimes she doesn't do much in the late game. I think she will be an excellent stax piece when I get more of those elements into the deck.

What do you guys think of this stax transformation to the deck.

Cut:

• Animate Dead
  
• Necromancy
  
• Phyrexian Reclamation
  
• Corpse Dance
  
• Living Death
  
• Rune-Scarred Demon
  
• Shriekmaw
  
• Puppeteer Clique
  
• Gauntlet of Power

Add:

• Braids, Cabal Minion
  
• Smokestack
  
• Gravepact
  
• Magus of the Abyss
  
• Liliana of the Veil
  
• Mindslicer
  
• Smallpox
  
• Death Cloud
  
• Contamination

I don't know if Erebos, God of the Dead could be any sweeter. He has large toughness to block, he disrupts lifegain, and he draws you cards. Not only that, hes a ferkin 4 drop for Dimir House Guard. That card is sooo in. Probably in the slot of Graveborn Muse. I'm not positive on that yet.

My testing of stax pieces hasn't really gone anywhere yet. I might abandon that little project as there just aren't enough to really put the pressure on early. Esper just has so many tools that we dont.

I've had a black Mike EDH deck together for quite some time that while well built, didn't get played very often (it's my 9th of 9 decks). I'm taking out the janky -1/-1 counter subtheme and trying to tweak it to be a good bit more reliable. I've got an XHD and an Italian Abyss that came out in one 6-player game that just kept the board immaculate. I'm thinking I'll probably toss in a few force-sac effects (killing wave and all is dust). I'll likely move Mike outta the commander slot and toss XHD in that position for awhile.

RE:Stax - our meta hates stax more than any other archetype - to the point where a known stax deck will find it difficult to find enough opponents to play against it. I'm trying to stay well on the (locally) accepted side of the Stax line.

But I'm definitely going to get an Erebos for this when it comes time.

Man, I wish I had an Abyss. I was testing with a janky Magus of. My list is light stax at the moment. I didn't add all the cards I was thinking of so maybe that was the problem. I like XHD as a commander (obviously). I think that he draws less hate them Mike and he is very synergistic with all the cards that say 'when a creature dies.' Give him a shot if you get a chance.

I'm gonna test Fleshwrither. I need to give him a chance lol.

So you've had some good experience with Tangle Wire? Do you run any artifacts that make spells cost more? Or just that one disruption piece?

I didn't even want to cast my force sac stuff when I drew it. Maybe I just didn't build it right.

Cool, thanks for the advice on Tangle Wire.

Fleshwrither is in my deck at the moment. I should be able to get some testing in soon. I will be sure to post here if I am able to use him.

I'm really excited for the new Theros cards. Mainly Erebos, God of the Dead. There are a ton of other awesome cards though and I will go over them.

God Himself:

Erebos is a great card draw engine. He also disrupts lifegain strategies which is pretty awesome. He will be a definite include.

Abhorrent Overlord:

A very powerful card. It has great synergy with Phyrexian Altar and the Living Death chain. I'm not sure that I can afford any more 7 drops though, and I will probably skip this one. Of course I might change my mind if I see it in action.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel:

This card is amazing and is probably going right in. Another Kokusho, the Evening Star that has awesome synergy with the deck? Thank you!

Hero's Downfall:

I like how this card is versatile and powerful. It sorta makes Murder pointless. I don't know why wizards did this but hey, I can't say no to powerful cards.

Whip of Erebos:

The lifelink is very good here. It makes attacking a viable strategy because you can really buff your life total. It seems awesome with something as simple as Bitterblossom. Turn those fae into life gain instead of loss. This is obviously better with a heavy creature deck.

Quote from XeroxedFool

Hero's Downfall:

I like how this card is versatile and powerful. It sorta makes Murder pointless. I don't know why wizards did this but hey, I can't say no to powerful cards.

My guess would be because Murder wasn't really a good card outside of limited. In EDH there were a lot of cheaper options that functionally work around most of their limitations for the format. Murder has no limitations but even then it rarely sees any play anywhere.

Also.... planeswalkers need to be susceptible to more forms of removal. The fact that it had been like Oblivion Ring effects, mass sweepers, and aggro only was sort of silly. In the same time though, its unlikely that a card that can ONLY kill a planeswalker would be any good.

Well.... that's enough about Murder.... on another page, I am also very looking forward to Gray Merchant and how he plays.

Quote from BlackVise

I have no idea how I managed to overlook Gray Merchant of Asphodel, it's so awesome!


I'm curious to see how Erebos actually plays out - on paper he looks very good but I have a feeling he may well prove to be little other than a bad Greed. I'll be picking up a foil copy when I can regardless though.

I managed to get a copy of the god in pre-release. I have honestly not been impressed yet by it. I have drawn it twice now and never bothered playing it because it was never a good situation to do so. Its worse a lot of the other big draw and repeatable draw that black has and its really expensive per card to activate.

Given the option of having greed and the new god in hand... so far I would take greed over it EVERY TIME. Its a very different deck obviously and if you are lacking draw or lifegain is a problem for you then sure... I just haven't been impressed by it so far. The biggest killer for it for me is the fact that it costs 2 mana per activation. I would rather be susceptible to enchant removal and be able to activate it twice as much out of the gates. I also might be an odd situation because I run a TON of draw in my list that I test it in. Given the option of dropping it or another card draw option I like sort of always go with the other option.

I like how Erebos has synergy with all my creature oriented cards. I can sac him, reanimate him, and use him to attack or block. I like to think of him as an undercosted creature instead of an overcosted greed.

Out:

Wasteland, Vesuva, Spawning Pit, Gauntlet of Power, Diabolic Tutor, Slum Reaper, Puppeteer Clique, Shriekmaw, Animate Dead.

In:

Buried Ruin, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Smokestack, Hero's Downfall, Braids, Cabal Minion, Erebos, God of the Dead, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Liliana of the Veil, Dark Prophecy.

Wasteland was redundant with Strip Mine. I cut it for Buried Ruin so that I could have the added utility. This change boosts the power of Expedition Map and Crucible of Worlds.

Vesuva was normally used to copy Cabal Coffers and the Shrine to Nyx sorta does that without coming into play tapped. It also gives another big mana land which is pretty nice.

I cut Spawning Pit and Gauntlet of Power for Braids and Smokestack. I'm trying out an stax theme in the deck and seeing where it goes. So far I haven't had much positive results so those could become free slots in the future.

I cut Diabolic Tutor for Erebos, God of the Dead. The tutor is probably just better as it gets the card you need for the situation. I'm willing to try less tutoring though. It might make the deck more fun. I'm just testing Erebos and seeing how he plays.

I cut Slum Reaper for Hero's Downfall. I think that a tad more spot removal couldn't hurt at all. HD is versatile and powerful so I figured it was a good addition.

I think that Clique, Shriekmaw, and Animate Dead were just some weaker cards that could be removed to try out shiny new toys. Liliana adds to devotion and has great synergy with Sangromancer. She also adds to the stax package some giving me some hand disruption. She has been very powerful after board wipes so far. Dark Prophecy is amazing and it adds to devotion.

So far I'm super stoked for the changes. Let me know what you guys think. I'm a little iffy on the stax cards.

Sorry if this has been said, but while were on the stax theme, what about Contamination? You already run Bitterblossom so.

Quote from Kaim

Sorry if this has been said, but while were on the stax theme, what about Contamination? You already run Bitterblossom so.

I don't have one but if I did..

@blackvise: My devotion can get high in the late game. I just like that it works as a land before then.

I cut Caged Sun for Read the Bones and I think I'm gonna love it.

I updated the Primer, its been way too long.

Profane Command is pretty amazing with XHD. It recurs him and then he can recur it. I used to run it, but I cut the card when I decided to go in a creature based drain strategy instead of a sorcery based one.

Death Denied is one that I've never tried here. It might be powerful but I wouldn't know. I don't think I have room for it, but if you want to test it be my guest.

Tragic Slip seems like a good answer to certain huge monsters. I'm always wanting more spot removal so I might try that one out.

Kagemaro, First to Suffer has been suggested multiple times. He is a very powerful wrath. He is great with Living Death. I have been playing this deck a ton lately and I think that I might give him another try.

Quote from XeroxedFool

Kagemaro, First to Suffer has been suggested multiple times. He is a very powerful wrath. He is great with Living Death. I have been playing this deck a ton lately and I think that I might give him another try.

I have always been a fan of Kagemaro if for no other reason because he can be used at instant speed allowing you to utilize him as sort of a pillowfort style of card. If someone already has crazy damage output in play for instance, they can still just swing it at someone else and beat them up all they want. I have often been impressed by how he operates in many decks that I have played him in.

I've had a mono-black for quite some time that just never seemed to do it for me. When Theros came out, I felt like I finally had the goods to be able to make this thing work. Since then I've dropped my curve several times - it resembles yours now.

Xiahou is in my maindeck and Erebos is my commander currently - and he's been great for me. Sometimes I have an empty hand and need cards - other times I need to dig for an out - he's been necro#2 - fantastic in both of those situations.

I run a couple more enchantments than you do and Grey merchant and Nykthos are serious MVP's with all the devotion I'm usually packing.

Thanks for the list - you made me give mono-black a second chance.

I'm really excited by Toxic Deluge. My deck can gain a ton of life so I was thinking that its a powerful card in all phases of the game. Mono black has gotten so much love these days that I barley have room for all the new toys. And there was already a stocked library of spells for us before these recent printings.

Kagemaro might be a better slot for Toxic Deluge. I'm not sure which is better. I gotta test both of them.

I like Fell Shepard, Baleful Force, and Ophiomancer as well.


I'm okay with cutting Yawgwill. Its so stupidly powerful but I might need more reactive cards. I like the current build a ton though, Ive been able to win a few games and have a ton of fun in the process.

I added Toxic Deluge in place of Bloodline Keeper. I've honestly never really had any success with it. I've had any desire to cast the card so cutting for a super solid spell seems like a good idea.

I played a few games with the deck today although I was not able to draw Read the Bones or Toxic Deluge. I can safely say that I was not sad to not see Caged Sun or the vampire.

On another note I've update the primer even more with a better formatting and some pictures to liven things up. If you guys want to take a look and offer suggestions I would be very grateful.

Quote from XeroxedFool

Kagemaro, First to Suffer has been suggested multiple times. He is a very powerful wrath. He is great with Living Death. I have been playing this deck a ton lately and I think that I might give him another try.

Don't forget his strongest interaction, Corpse Dance.

Quote from BlackVise

I've also cut Yawgmoth's Will in favor of Ill-Gotten Gains, I haven't had a chance to play it in a game yet, but in goldfishing at least I've found myself casting far more than I cast YawgWin because it doesn't leave me with a lot of the best cards in my graveyard exiled.

If you combine it with Leyline of the Void, all of your opponents will discard their hands and be unable to recur any of them from the spell's effect since they are exiled. Drop Leyline early enough where there's also nothing in their graveyard already and you get a free Myojin of Night's Reach.

I run Nihil Spellbomb and Bokuka Bog. They're pretty nice most of the time. I wouldn't mind another piece of grave removal though.

my version of this deck uses dawn of the dead to great effect. as many sac outlets as I run, the creature I pull is never exiled, not to mention the synergy with captain eye-patch himself. also use this with nim deathmantle to make it more permanent. as anti g.y. hate I run the eldrazi titans with entomb. removing my gy? ok, enomb titan shuffle up and go.

Quote from artaud

I wouldn't risk using any of the Eldrazi here as losing nicely stacked gy can be backbreaking. Half a value off Living Death and Xiahou gets useless until you fill it again. If you draw it and someone makes you discard or just mill, you're screved.

I played few games with my newly assembled One-Eyed yesterday and sadly didn't win any of them. I got an impression he's too slow - till I got my recursion engines going a Gx player comboed out and won. The second thing is I cannot reliably pay Contamination and/or Braids upkeep cost unless Skeleton or Bloodghast is involved or I dedicate some priceless card slots into token-makers. Finally the third - Xiahou is neither answer or threat, he's just recursion for both which means I have to draw into them first.

Above conclusions may be result of my lack of experience in playing with Xiahou but either way I wonder how you guys fight combo decks with him? Tutoring or drawing into answers may not be enough and assembling repeatable recursion/draw engines has a priority here anyway. I got a feeling Xiahou is more combo than control Commander and should be focused on getting infinite mana or infinite Living Death loops.

XHD is fun and powerful but there is not much chance you're going to be able to beat UGx combo decks frequently. I've done it, and you aren't completely out of the race, but their stuff is just better. One plays mono black for the fun of it.