Reasons You May Enjoy This
- You enjoy being able to shutdown the annoying lifegain tricks your opponent has.
- Playing mono black is the thing for you.
- Always wanted to play an EDH version of that regular deck you have that focused on siphoning life from your opponent.
- Wanting a refresher from the typical Aggro, Mill, and Combo decks.
- Wanting to play a general who is actually very sturdy against multiple forms of removal.
Reasons Why You May Not Enjoy
- Not a fan of mono black COMM/EDH Decks.
- Not a fan of of decks that enjoy taking their time.
- Not a fan of decks that don't blow up lands/artifacts/creatures/walkers/enchantments en masse.
- Not a fan of the devotion mechanic
He spoke of tortured souls
So outrageous the toll
You can lose all you have
He refused to give in to the town that takes all
Survive, you must have the will
This movie doesn't end the way we want all the time
Then he shouts at the moon
She's gone, and fear has overcome
He was walking the mile, he was walking alone
So outrageous the toll
You can lose all you have
He refused to give in to the town that takes all
Survive, you must have the will
This movie doesn't end the way we want all the time
Then he shouts at the moon
She's gone, and fear has overcome
He was walking the mile, he was walking alone
Four and twenty deadbirds, they bleed upon the nest
There was no time for reason, they had no sign of a threat
Now it's too late, too late for me
This town will eventually take me
Too late, too late for me
This town will win
(spoken)
Through this fog they come along
Dark creatures singing a terrible song
The rest of the bar laughed at him
Only I felt my hope grow dim
They found him dead the very next day
"No more stories from him," I heard them say
We blamed bad luck for his fate
Only I felt terror so great
She and he will know
that someday all things will end
That misty night
That dismal moon
The dead search for their kin
While angels sing, in endless dark
The dead seek out sin
How does Erebros win in this deck? By wringing your opponent dry of all their life with assistance. Any card that can siphon even 1 life or deal 1 damage to an opponent can be considered a win con as Erebros' static ability "Opponents cannot gain life" means that their life total can only go lower and lower. Siphon cards even something as simple as Death of a Thousand Stings can kill opponents who have no means to deal with Erebros and have lost exactly 39 life before being killed. Erebros is difficult to deal with in the eyes of an opponent. He is always indestructible. His color is black so he is tougher to remove against cards that would target nonblack creatures usually. His devotion mechanic that counts to see if you have a total of BBBBB (5) means that he may not always be active so he may not always be a creature for creature-based removal. Bounce, Exile, and Tuck are the only ways to deal with Erebros, the first two are temporary at best while the third is completely relying on the opponent not drawing a Tutor spell which black is well known for Tutoring cards.
Erebos, God of the Dead (Via General Damage or just to finish the job w/o General Damage on an opponent with less than 21 life)
Other Generals: Reaper King, Karona (Pillowfort)
Ending Life Total: 41
How Karona Lost: Underworld Dreams over four turns after being hit by Sorin Markov's -3, and his +2 once, and inadvertenly killing my Blood Artist with his Martyr's Bond while I had Sanguine Bond out. Without Underworld Dreams he would have won as I apparently missed an opportunity to finish him off as on his following turn he casted Leyline of Sanctity.
How Reaper King Lost: Bless his heart, he tried to do a Mirror-Mad Phantasm + Rite of Replication into a Dread Return into a Laboratory Maniac. He would nearly have won this game, however I was holding a Massacre Wurm in my hand who I had previously thought was being pretty worthless since Turn Zero, I was lucky Reaper King didn't have two mana to cast a spell to draw a card as he would have won.
Note: I rarely needed to activate Erebos' draw ability, I did activate five times at the end of a players turn, dropping my life total from 51 to 41 (five activations) which for the most part led to a pretty meager draw of mostly four lands and a No Rest For the Wicked.
Note: The only harshest destruction I received was my Subversion being O-Ringed, the rest that got destroyed were negligible at best.
Note: Phyrexian Arena from turn three onwards until it got hit by Martyr's Bond provided me with extra card draw. Came up in opening hand.
Note: I was sitting on Simulacrum the entire game, unfortunately it never got used which would have been great in tandem with the Sanguine Bond which did get hit by a Martyr's Bond.
Note: Most of the time Erebos was a enchantment creature instead of just an enchantment due to the amount of various enchantments and few creatures I drew into in this game.
Despite not being allowed to use Erebos for playtesting due to "Not Released Yet", I played anyway if my General about on par with a Vanguard Card that did nothing.
Opponents: Damia, Karn, and Jaya Ballard
Result: I lost with 20 infect damage over the course of two attacks from Blightsteel Colossus.
Winner: Karn.
Now I know what your thinking exactly: Karn must have been a royal jerk in this match, right?
Well you would be wrong.
It then became a two-turn Grudge match between me and Karn. He won because of a Blightsteel Colossus he had cheated out because of Damia's Oath of Druids since I was the one with the most creatures due to an early Bitterblossom. When the dust cleared and Karn stood victorious, he was at 1 HP. I took Karn down from 24 to 1 in the course of two turns. It was a mixture on my part by using cards like Vampire Nighthawk, Blood Reckoning, Corrupt, and the Faeries from Bitterblossom.
I respect this Karn player for going through the hellish battle and ending up winning with only 1 Life left.
Welcome back to Day Three!
This time it got a win, I fumbled and accidentally used the old incarnation of it instead of the new one with the most recent suggestions for playtesting.
How Ith Lost: Brought down to 14 life mostly because me and Thromok using Phurophoros in his deck (Shocks ensue), Thromok lands the killing blow with Avenger of Zendikar with Phurphoros and nine lands out (20 damage total), I got reduced from 40 life I had at the time to 20.
How Thromok Lost: I whittled him down on one turn with a leftover Bitterblossom from 11 to 10 and then casted on that same turn Corrupt with Pontiff of Blight out which dealt for a full eight and I gained eight (28) and Thromok was at (2), on his next turn he got two more lands but was exactly 5 damage away from being able to swing for lethal at me, on my turn I casted Soul Burn for "0" and Extorted twice for the win.
Notes: I never drew a tutor spell, sad but uncessary in this game as my opponents had no form of lifegain from what I could tell and Ith decided to Terminus the board once while Erebos had devotion so Erebos went to the bottom.
Man today was tough, I got kicked twice because I was using an unreleased general, however third game I got to play a full game.
How Zegana Lost: Forfeiting as they needed to be somewhere, however this one did have the strongest board presence.
How Ruric Thar Lost: Conceded because he thought Shimatsu was about to do infinite damage, although Shimatsu did point out he thinks infinite damage was overrated.
Notes: The victory felt very...very...very hollow. Like I was all for trudging through against the hoards of Shimatsu, the Birthing Pod user Zegana, or the creature-based Ruric Thar.
Notes: Depending on how much life you are regaining as Erebos, you can easily overcome the punishments of Ruric Thar, the Unbowed unless he is also preventing you from gaining life.
How to Survive Like A Boss
Many of the Siphon cards in the deck do their job by resupplying you with life so you can always maintain a step ahead of your opponent's life total as Erebos and a few other cards in the deck like Bloodgift Demon will demand life payment.
Forcefield: Unless I've been hit by 21 general damage from 21 attacks or less, or my opponent is using Infect, they will not be able to take down my life total as fast as I am trying to take theirs down. As long as they don't blast it with artifact removal that is. On the other hand though, if I have Exquisite Blood and Hissing Miasma out alongside Forcefield and of course Erebos, It becomes: "Pay 1 Life: Reduce the combat damage of a creature to a minimum of 1, the attacking creature's controller loses 1 life. You gain 1 life."
Trading Post: It gains you life at the cost of discarding a card you probably couldn't use for quite awhile and would be dead weight in your hand. It provides you with a token each time for each 1 life you spend once per activation. It brings back artifacts that you or another might have destroyed at the cost of a creature, possibly that goat you bought the previous turn. Finally it can turn something like Soul Conduit into an extra card draw if it just cannot help in your current situation.
Ivory Tower: Great for maintaining a higher life total. Bring in Reliquary Tower to gain larger amounts of life as those say 12 cards in your hand now just became 8 life gain, and in which you can spend that 8 life with Erebos to gain four more cards to then be able to gain even more life. When your opponents cannot gain life, like at all because of Erebos, more power to you to stay alive longer.
Soul Conduit: The exact card for those "OH SHI-" moments when you are on the verge of losing and all your plans went south and Erebos is not around. This conflicts with Erebos when he is out. As according to the rulings the effect of the conduit won't happen as they won't be able to gain life. However this is a wonderful tool when Erebos isn't around. Sure your opponent is free to gain life, but chances are if you use this card and then follow it with a Siphon Spell, that opponent might just lose depending on the amount of siphoning needed.
There are a bunch of cards in the deck that seem to go with a discard strategy (Quest, Shrieking Affliction) yet not really any discard. I don't get what Sleeper Agent is doing here (especially when Underworld Dreams can spread around the damage to more players while adding to devotion). Erebos' card-drawing has phenomenal synergy with the very inexpensive Ivory Tower, which is probably preferable to the unreliable Rhystic Syphon.
Note: Most of the time Erebos was a enchantment creature instead of just an enchantment due to the amount of various enchantments and few creatures I drew into in this game.
I don't know if you want Erebos to remain just an enchantment or not, but I'm running even more black permanents than you are in my deck and Erebos rarely becomes a creature.
Private Mod Note
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There are no divisions: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28
I would say we run very close to the same number of black permanents.
Are you remembering to count each B in the mana cost area of permanents you have out alongside Erebos? As enchantments and walkers do count towards devotion.
It more or less ended up being for me: "Oh... OOPS! Erebos is a creature." When I had Erebos, Phyrexian Arena and Subversion out early on.
I would say we run very close to the same number of black permanents.
Are you remembering to count each B in the mana cost area of permanents you have out alongside Erebos? As enchantments and walkers do count towards devotion.
It more or less ended up being for me: "Oh... OOPS! Erebos is a creature." When I had Erebos, Phyrexian Arena and Subversion out early on.
Yes, I'm remembering.
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There are no divisions: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28
Going to go gold fish this deck a few more times before going to bed. Like trying to iron out the kinks in it. I think one culprit might be the Death of a Thousand Stings, funny to try and kill someone with, though not good enough for this deck.
Currently Looking For: More cards that allow for higher survivability chances.
Well, you have almost no mass removal. That's a real problem.
Besides the most obvious (Damnation and Mutilate) I would also suggest Kagemaro, First to Suffer. Not only does it get bigger off Erebos' card-drawing, fueling its creature-sweeping ability, it also adds devotion 2. I think Kagemaro could be the real sleeper card here.
You should also really take out the weaker drain spells, and add more devotion-boosting creatures that take out potential threats (maybe Dark Impostor, Phyrexian Obliterator, Avatar of Woe, Visara the Dreadful). If you get up to something like 25 creatures, you can throw in Grave Pact. If you want a real kooky idea for a creature, try Urborg Syphon-Mage which pitches the excess cards you draw and don't need for more life-draining.
Also Rhystic Study is a lot worse than Beseech the Queen. This deck is also mana-hungry and I think you're maybe 3-4 lands shy of where you want to be.
Guilt Feeder as so far appeared once in two games, the first one. Its cool probably in a mill deck, but not here as more often than not an opponent may have 4-13 cards in their graveyard at most from past games I noticed when I wasn't playing Erebos.
Kagemaro, First to Suffer would be very helpful and probably would replace Guilt Feeder as last game 2:3 of my opponent both had Blightsteel Colossus which I could do nothing to except hope to out last it.
I will be honest here, I would rather Mutilate most of the time over Damnation as Indestructible is becoming more common place with each new block and common go-to equipments and enchantments are the ones that make a creature indestructible. So since I'm playing black, the color that does not have much answers to each Enchantment or Artifact played except by possibly enchanting the enchantment/artifact, I would think that cards that gave -X/-X or -1/-1 counters en masse like Black Sun's Zenith. As another common place thing I always noticed is that many will run Shroud/Hexproof protection for themselves and/or the permanents they have out, like if I did not add PochetteRecharge's Underworld Dreams suggestion, I would have lost to the Karona who was pillowforting by using Leyline of Sanctity and lots of other enchantments like Sphere of Safety which he targeted with Copy Enchantment just so it would cost 22 mana to attack Karona with one creature.
Pawn of Ulamog seems cool at first, but then I realized a lot of my creatures come from token makers and the Pawn does not count tokens.
Koskun Falls and Silent Arbiter, I'm on the fence about. Not that they are bad, just that I don't like when a deck gets really "pillowforty", however "Tide-Turners" are always more welcome additions as after all, maintaining control of the board is an important part.
I doubt the deck will reach 25 creatures. It may have rose to 15 from its original 13, that does not exactly mean I have creatures to sacrifice all day long to fuel Gravepact, which becomes increasingly less useful if the opponent has a continuous source to spew out tokens out or revive creatures.
I will look into possible threat creatures you listed PochetteRecharge.
Beseech the Queen seems good, I think I can axe my Underworld Connections as I have effectively Phyrexian Arena, Dark Prophecy, and Erebos to rely on for extra card drawing. Also that maintaining life so far as not been an issue for costs, usually I have been able to maintain a stable amount above 30 with all the various tools that siphon life.
Thank you all very much for the comments you given me after Day 2. I do regard and carefully think about each one when trying to figure out how to make the deck more like a Juggernaut and try to weigh the Pros & Cons to each removal and addition to the deck
Update: Day Four with Game Four
Considering: Repay in Kind
Phyrexian Etchings is great. It pays for itself after the third turn really when you payed for the upkeep, 6 cards over the course of 3 turns for 6 life for an enchantment that costs 3+1+2+3?
Battle: I am usually either defending or I am poking people with a few tokens. I never get to the part where I have like fifteen faerie tokens, five vampire tokens, and a whole slew of rat tokens.
Do you think Phyrexian Etching is better than Underworld Connections . I have always liked the fact that connections can cantrip right away later in the game. And thanks for sharing the results of your testing.
Do you think Phyrexian Etching is better than Underworld Connections . I have always liked the fact that connections can cantrip right away later in the game. And thanks for sharing the results of your testing.
I've not yet tested Phyrexian Etchings but I like that Underworld Connections doesn't require a large mana investment. Being able to use the drawn card immediately is a nice bonus for builds running few instants like mine.
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There are no divisions: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. -Galatians 3:28
"Game. Set. Match"
01 Erebos, God of the Dead
Creatures (15)
02 Blood Artist
03 Bloodgift Demon
04 Bloodline Keeper
05 Chancellor of the Dross
06 Crypt Ghast
07 Grave Titan
08 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
09 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
10 Kokusho, the Evening Star
11 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
12 Massacre Wurm
13 Ogre Slumlord
14 Pontiff of Blight
15 Skirge Familiar
16 Thrull Parasite
Enchantment (15)
17 Bitter Blossom
18 Blood Reckoning
19 Bloodchief Ascension
20 Circle of Affliction
21 Dark Prophecy
22 Exquisite Blood
23 Hecatomb
24 Hissing Miasma
25 No Rest for the Wicked
26 No Mercy
28 Phyrexian Arena
29 Sanguine Bond
30 Subversion
31 Underworld Dreams
32 Withering Wisps
33 Caged Sun
34 Coldsteel Heart
35 Forcefield
36 Gauntlet of Power
37 Ivory Tower
38 Lightning Greaves
39 Sol Ring
40 Soul Conduit
41 Trading Post
Instant (5)
42 Simulacrum
43 Sorin's Thirst
44 Suffer the Past
45 Tendrils of Corruption
46 Vampiric Tutor
Planeswalker (1)
47 Sorin Markov
Sorcery (15)
48 Beseech the Queen
49 Blood Tithe
50 Consume Spirit
51 Corrupt
52 Cruel Tutor
53 Demonic Tutor
54 Diabolic Tutor
55 Drain Life
56 Exsanguinate
57 Grim Tutor
58 Mutilate
58 Rhystic Tutor
59 Sorin's Vengeance
60 Soul Burn
61 Syphon Life
62 Cabal Coffers
63 Deserted Temple
64 Homeward Path
65 Maze of Ith
66 Mystifying Maze
67 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
68 Reliquary Tower
98 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
99 Vesuva
Erebos' Whip (1)
100 Whip of Erebos
Reasons You May Enjoy This
- You enjoy being able to shutdown the annoying lifegain tricks your opponent has.
- Playing mono black is the thing for you.
- Always wanted to play an EDH version of that regular deck you have that focused on siphoning life from your opponent.
- Wanting a refresher from the typical Aggro, Mill, and Combo decks.
- Wanting to play a general who is actually very sturdy against multiple forms of removal.
Reasons Why You May Not Enjoy
- Not a fan of mono black COMM/EDH Decks.
- Not a fan of of decks that enjoy taking their time.
- Not a fan of decks that don't blow up lands/artifacts/creatures/walkers/enchantments en masse.
- Not a fan of the devotion mechanic
9/5/2013
IN
- Reliquary Tower
- Deserted Temple
- Underworld Dreams
- Ivory Tower
- Trading Post
OUTQuest for the Nihil Stone
2x Snow-Covered Swamp
- [CARDS]Soul Feast
- Rhystic Syphon
- Sleeper Agent
[/box][box]9/6/2013
IN
- Skirge Familiar
- Thrull Parasite
Out- Death of a Thousand Stings
- Phyrexian Etchings
[/box][box]9/7/2013
IN
- Beseech the Queen
- Kagemaro, First to Suffer
- Mutilate
- No Mercy
Snow-Covered Swamp*Out
- Crypt Incursion
- Underworld Connections
- Guiltfeeder
- Shrieking Affliction
[/box][box]9/8/2013
IN
Profane Command
OUT
Soul Burn
Music That Fits the Theme of This Deck
Silent Hill 3 - Hometown
He spoke of tortured souls
So outrageous the toll
You can lose all you have
He refused to give in to the town that takes all
Survive, you must have the will
This movie doesn't end the way we want all the time
Then he shouts at the moon
She's gone, and fear has overcome
He was walking the mile, he was walking alone
So outrageous the toll
You can lose all you have
He refused to give in to the town that takes all
Survive, you must have the will
This movie doesn't end the way we want all the time
Then he shouts at the moon
She's gone, and fear has overcome
He was walking the mile, he was walking alone
Four and twenty deadbirds, they bleed upon the nest
There was no time for reason, they had no sign of a threat
Now it's too late, too late for me
This town will eventually take me
Too late, too late for me
This town will win
(spoken)
Through this fog they come along
Dark creatures singing a terrible song
The rest of the bar laughed at him
Only I felt my hope grow dim
They found him dead the very next day
"No more stories from him," I heard them say
We blamed bad luck for his fate
Only I felt terror so great
She and he will know
that someday all things will end
That misty night
That dismal moon
The dead search for their kin
While angels sing, in endless dark
The dead seek out sin
(Note: ALL win combinations involve Erebros and his "No Lifegain for Opponents" static ability.)
Erebos, God of the Dead + Sorin Markov
Erebos, God of the Dead + Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Erebos, God of the Dead + faeries made by Bitterblossom
Erebos, God of the Dead + Syphon Soul
Erebos, God of the Dead + Underworld Dreams
Erebos, God of the Dead + Shrieking Affliction
Erebos, God of the Dead + Death of a Thousand Stings
Erebos, God of the Dead + Blood Artist
Erebos, God of the Dead + Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood
Erebos, God of the Dead + Subversion
Erebos, God of the Dead + Massacre Wurm
Erebos, God of the Dead + Bloodgift Demon
Erebos, God of the Dead + Blood Reckoning
Erebos, God of the Dead + Hissing Miasma
Erebos, God of the Dead + Bloodchief Ascension
Erebos, God of the Dead + Circle of Affliction
Erebos, God of the Dead + Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Erebos, God of the Dead + Ogre Slumlord
Erebos, God of the Dead + The rats made by Ogre Slumlord
Erebos, God of the Dead + Guiltfeeder
Erebos, God of the Dead + Chancellor of the Dross
Erebos, God of the Dead + Grave Titan
Erebos, God of the Dead + The zombies made by Grave Titan
Erebos, God of the Dead + Kokusho, the Evening Star
Erebos, God of the Dead + Vampire Nighthawk
Erebos, God of the Dead + Sanguine Bond
Erebos, God of the Dead + Sanguine Bond + Simulacrum
Erebos, God of the Dead + Withering Wisps
Erebos, God of the Dead + Suffer the Past
Erebos, God of the Dead + Tendrils of Corruption + Sanguine Bond
Erebos, God of the Dead + Blood Tithe
Erebos, God of the Dead + Consume Spirit
Erebos, God of the Dead + Corrupt
Erebos, God of the Dead + Drain Life
Erebos, God of the Dead + Exsanguinate
Erebos, God of the Dead + Sorin's Vengeance
Erebos, God of the Dead + Soul Burn
Erebos, God of the Dead + Pontiff of Blight
Erebos, God of the Dead + The extorting by Pontiff of Blight
Erebos, God of the Dead + Bloodline Keeper
Erebos, God of the Dead + the vampires made by Bloodline Keeper
Erebos, God of the Dead + Hecatomb
Erebos, God of the Dead (Via General Damage or just to finish the job w/o General Damage on an opponent with less than 21 life)
Ending Life Total: 41
How Karona Lost: Underworld Dreams over four turns after being hit by Sorin Markov's -3, and his +2 once, and inadvertenly killing my Blood Artist with his Martyr's Bond while I had Sanguine Bond out. Without Underworld Dreams he would have won as I apparently missed an opportunity to finish him off as on his following turn he casted Leyline of Sanctity.
How Reaper King Lost: Bless his heart, he tried to do a Mirror-Mad Phantasm + Rite of Replication into a Dread Return into a Laboratory Maniac. He would nearly have won this game, however I was holding a Massacre Wurm in my hand who I had previously thought was being pretty worthless since Turn Zero, I was lucky Reaper King didn't have two mana to cast a spell to draw a card as he would have won.
Note: I rarely needed to activate Erebos' draw ability, I did activate five times at the end of a players turn, dropping my life total from 51 to 41 (five activations) which for the most part led to a pretty meager draw of mostly four lands and a No Rest For the Wicked.
Note: The only harshest destruction I received was my Subversion being O-Ringed, the rest that got destroyed were negligible at best.
Note: Phyrexian Arena from turn three onwards until it got hit by Martyr's Bond provided me with extra card draw. Came up in opening hand.
Note: Rhystic Tutor and Diabolic Tutor both showed in this, Rhystic for Sanguine Bond and Diabolic for Underworld Dreams.
Note: I was sitting on Simulacrum the entire game, unfortunately it never got used which would have been great in tandem with the Sanguine Bond which did get hit by a Martyr's Bond.
Note: Most of the time Erebos was a enchantment creature instead of just an enchantment due to the amount of various enchantments and few creatures I drew into in this game.
Despite not being allowed to use Erebos for playtesting due to "Not Released Yet", I played anyway if my General about on par with a Vanguard Card that did nothing.
Opponents: Damia, Karn, and Jaya Ballard
Result: I lost with 20 infect damage over the course of two attacks from Blightsteel Colossus.
Winner: Karn.
Now I know what your thinking exactly: Karn must have been a royal jerk in this match, right?
Well you would be wrong.
Damia lost first as she drew the most hate from us with cards like Blightsteel Colossus, Oath of Druids, Jin Gitaxis, Damnation, and a lot of other "Goodstuff.deck" worthy cards and would have won.
Jaya lost after Damia, but not before putting a few dents in Karn with cards like Malignus and Greater Gargodon and Ogre Battledriver.
It then became a two-turn Grudge match between me and Karn. He won because of a Blightsteel Colossus he had cheated out because of Damia's Oath of Druids since I was the one with the most creatures due to an early Bitterblossom. When the dust cleared and Karn stood victorious, he was at 1 HP. I took Karn down from 24 to 1 in the course of two turns. It was a mixture on my part by using cards like Vampire Nighthawk, Blood Reckoning, Corrupt, and the Faeries from Bitterblossom.
I respect this Karn player for going through the hellish battle and ending up winning with only 1 Life left.
Welcome back to Day Three!
This time it got a win, I fumbled and accidentally used the old incarnation of it instead of the new one with the most recent suggestions for playtesting.
Other Generals: Ith, High Arcanist and Thromok the Insatiable
How Ith Lost: Brought down to 14 life mostly because me and Thromok using Phurophoros in his deck (Shocks ensue), Thromok lands the killing blow with Avenger of Zendikar with Phurphoros and nine lands out (20 damage total), I got reduced from 40 life I had at the time to 20.
How Thromok Lost: I whittled him down on one turn with a leftover Bitterblossom from 11 to 10 and then casted on that same turn Corrupt with Pontiff of Blight out which dealt for a full eight and I gained eight (28) and Thromok was at (2), on his next turn he got two more lands but was exactly 5 damage away from being able to swing for lethal at me, on my turn I casted Soul Burn for "0" and Extorted twice for the win.
Notes: I never drew a tutor spell, sad but uncessary in this game as my opponents had no form of lifegain from what I could tell and Ith decided to Terminus the board once while Erebos had devotion so Erebos went to the bottom.
Man today was tough, I got kicked twice because I was using an unreleased general, however third game I got to play a full game.
Other Generals: Shimatsu, the Blood Cloaked, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, Prime Speaker Zegana
How Zegana Lost: Forfeiting as they needed to be somewhere, however this one did have the strongest board presence.
How Ruric Thar Lost: Conceded because he thought Shimatsu was about to do infinite damage, although Shimatsu did point out he thinks infinite damage was overrated.
How I Won: I had Exquisite Blood already out, I casted Sanguine Bond followed by a Drain Life for X = 1
Notes: The victory felt very...very...very hollow. Like I was all for trudging through against the hoards of Shimatsu, the Birthing Pod user Zegana, or the creature-based Ruric Thar.
Notes: Depending on how much life you are regaining as Erebos, you can easily overcome the punishments of Ruric Thar, the Unbowed unless he is also preventing you from gaining life.
How to Survive Like A Boss
Many of the Siphon cards in the deck do their job by resupplying you with life so you can always maintain a step ahead of your opponent's life total as Erebos and a few other cards in the deck like Bloodgift Demon will demand life payment.
Forcefield: Unless I've been hit by 21 general damage from 21 attacks or less, or my opponent is using Infect, they will not be able to take down my life total as fast as I am trying to take theirs down. As long as they don't blast it with artifact removal that is. On the other hand though, if I have Exquisite Blood and Hissing Miasma out alongside Forcefield and of course Erebos, It becomes: "Pay 1 Life: Reduce the combat damage of a creature to a minimum of 1, the attacking creature's controller loses 1 life. You gain 1 life."
Trading Post: It gains you life at the cost of discarding a card you probably couldn't use for quite awhile and would be dead weight in your hand. It provides you with a token each time for each 1 life you spend once per activation. It brings back artifacts that you or another might have destroyed at the cost of a creature, possibly that goat you bought the previous turn. Finally it can turn something like Soul Conduit into an extra card draw if it just cannot help in your current situation.
Ivory Tower: Great for maintaining a higher life total. Bring in Reliquary Tower to gain larger amounts of life as those say 12 cards in your hand now just became 8 life gain, and in which you can spend that 8 life with Erebos to gain four more cards to then be able to gain even more life. When your opponents cannot gain life, like at all because of Erebos, more power to you to stay alive longer.
Soul Conduit: The exact card for those "OH SHI-" moments when you are on the verge of losing and all your plans went south and Erebos is not around. This conflicts with Erebos when he is out. As according to the rulings the effect of the conduit won't happen as they won't be able to gain life. However this is a wonderful tool when Erebos isn't around. Sure your opponent is free to gain life, but chances are if you use this card and then follow it with a Siphon Spell, that opponent might just lose depending on the amount of siphoning needed.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
Are you remembering to count each B in the mana cost area of permanents you have out alongside Erebos? As enchantments and walkers do count towards devotion.
It more or less ended up being for me: "Oh... OOPS! Erebos is a creature." When I had Erebos, Phyrexian Arena and Subversion out early on.
lol
Going to go gold fish this deck a few more times before going to bed. Like trying to iron out the kinks in it. I think one culprit might be the Death of a Thousand Stings, funny to try and kill someone with, though not good enough for this deck.
Currently Looking For: More cards that allow for higher survivability chances.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
Well, you have almost no mass removal. That's a real problem.
Besides the most obvious (Damnation and Mutilate) I would also suggest Kagemaro, First to Suffer. Not only does it get bigger off Erebos' card-drawing, fueling its creature-sweeping ability, it also adds devotion 2. I think Kagemaro could be the real sleeper card here.
You should also really take out the weaker drain spells, and add more devotion-boosting creatures that take out potential threats (maybe Dark Impostor, Phyrexian Obliterator, Avatar of Woe, Visara the Dreadful). If you get up to something like 25 creatures, you can throw in Grave Pact. If you want a real kooky idea for a creature, try Urborg Syphon-Mage which pitches the excess cards you draw and don't need for more life-draining.
Also Rhystic Study is a lot worse than Beseech the Queen. This deck is also mana-hungry and I think you're maybe 3-4 lands shy of where you want to be.
Kagemaro, First to Suffer would be very helpful and probably would replace Guilt Feeder as last game 2:3 of my opponent both had Blightsteel Colossus which I could do nothing to except hope to out last it.
I will be honest here, I would rather Mutilate most of the time over Damnation as Indestructible is becoming more common place with each new block and common go-to equipments and enchantments are the ones that make a creature indestructible. So since I'm playing black, the color that does not have much answers to each Enchantment or Artifact played except by possibly enchanting the enchantment/artifact, I would think that cards that gave -X/-X or -1/-1 counters en masse like Black Sun's Zenith. As another common place thing I always noticed is that many will run Shroud/Hexproof protection for themselves and/or the permanents they have out, like if I did not add PochetteRecharge's Underworld Dreams suggestion, I would have lost to the Karona who was pillowforting by using Leyline of Sanctity and lots of other enchantments like Sphere of Safety which he targeted with Copy Enchantment just so it would cost 22 mana to attack Karona with one creature.
Pawn of Ulamog seems cool at first, but then I realized a lot of my creatures come from token makers and the Pawn does not count tokens.
No Mercy wouldn't be bad, in fact it would help greatly if I had that and Forcefield or Hissing Miasma / Blood Reckoning out.
Koskun Falls and Silent Arbiter, I'm on the fence about. Not that they are bad, just that I don't like when a deck gets really "pillowforty", however "Tide-Turners" are always more welcome additions as after all, maintaining control of the board is an important part.
I doubt the deck will reach 25 creatures. It may have rose to 15 from its original 13, that does not exactly mean I have creatures to sacrifice all day long to fuel Gravepact, which becomes increasingly less useful if the opponent has a continuous source to spew out tokens out or revive creatures.
I will look into possible threat creatures you listed PochetteRecharge.
Beseech the Queen seems good, I think I can axe my Underworld Connections as I have effectively Phyrexian Arena, Dark Prophecy, and Erebos to rely on for extra card drawing. Also that maintaining life so far as not been an issue for costs, usually I have been able to maintain a stable amount above 30 with all the various tools that siphon life.
Thank you very much for the suggestions. Kazujin, BlackVise, PochetteRecharge, and GFireflyE.
Hmm that is weird. Where did my custom-made card of Erebos I made go? If that is considered Image leeching I would be very confused.
Considering: Repay in Kind
Phyrexian Etchings is great. It pays for itself after the third turn really when you payed for the upkeep, 6 cards over the course of 3 turns for 6 life for an enchantment that costs 3+1+2+3?
Battle: I am usually either defending or I am poking people with a few tokens. I never get to the part where I have like fifteen faerie tokens, five vampire tokens, and a whole slew of rat tokens.
BRWC Mardu Shops - Tymna and Akiri Artifacts BRWC
BBB (cost) + B (upkeep) + BB (upkeep) + BBB (upkeep) = 6 Life for 1+2+3 (6) cards over your next three turns?
It pays for itself even if you only get one card off it, two extra turns of +5 cards is just gravy really.