MTG Salvation

Alright! So, Homelands is considered by most to be the worst set ever devised in the history of MtG. Now, to be fair, it did help development to make better sets and it did have some okay cards. The legendary creatures were a bit subpar but I like the flavor of the set and I'm trying to break a very costly but possibly very useful commander in the form of Baron Sengir.

Now, why Baron Sengir for a monoB when there are so many much better generals than this Homelands reject? Why even use Baron Sengir for vampire tribal when there are much better 2-color (like Olivia Voldaren and others) and 3-color generals (particularly Garza Zol, Plague Queen) for such a task? Well, because like a lot of players out there, I like a good challenge.

However, this being no easy task I would like to call upon the MtG community to help me shine this turd like a Twilight vampire amongst the sun. I'll provide the current decklist and the ideas that I more or less have. I will be testing this all the while seeing what works more in practice than in theory. Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated!



Basically, it's a quasi-Voltron / vampire Tribal but there's no attrition or control for being a black deck. It's basically running like a green deck that wants to amass the mother of all hordes and pump them up as quickly as possible. That could be a good thing because opponents expect certain things from a monoB deck - one of them being not running like a monoG Stompy. While some preventative or responsive disruption that's key to black decks should be included (please help with suggestions on what to add and remove for its place), I did add some alternate wincons in case all out aggro didn't work (life draining spells like Exsanguinate and the like).

I do like the focus of Baron Sengir and all his abilities. Defensively, he can regenerate a vampire. Offensively, he can swing relatively hard with the added bonus of getting seriously beefed up when killing creatures. This is where some of the other cards play on this particular ability. Equipping Baron Sengir with Thornbite Staff while he has deathtouch makes him a Goblin Sharpshooter on steroids. Super pumped while clearing the board of any and all blockers. That's one key way of piloting the deck.

Other ways of using the deck is amassing a very menacing vampire army. There's a lot of boons for killing creatures from getting pumped to actually stealing them. The vampires don't just limit themselves to boons and pumping but also straightforwardly getting rid of creatures.

I will be thoroughly testing this deck as I have an inexplicable fondness to Homelands and I like the hipster factor of seeing people taking out more commonplace commanders whilst I whip out a Baron Sengir. "You see that planet-like expansion symbol? Good. 'Cause that means I'm about to rock your world."

[Reserved]

I see you're using Rise of the Dark Realms. I would also choose something like Reanimate or Necromancy to round it out.

Consider also some black ramp. Lake of the Dead, Skirge Familiar, Crypt Ghast and Spoils of Evil. You may want to double up on the Coffers with the Magus. Oh yeah, and if things are going to be dying every turn, throw in a Black Market.

Sweet. Yeah, the deck has been running a bit slow, but interestingly, people have always gunned for me since turn 1. Just to give you an idea, I was in a 3DH against Thraximundar and Brago, King Eternal and before I even dropped my 1st land, Thraxi cast a Thoughtseize - at me, when the other opponent is Brago. I was like "Damn! Fear the Baron!"

I switched out Rise of the Dark Realms for In Garruk's Wake. I do like your suggestions for more ramp. I've always loved Lake of the Dead so I'm gonna include that automatically. I already got Crypt Ghast. Magus of the Coffers is a good include, as is Black Market. I'm thinking that maybe I don't need so many vampires. They're menacing and all they do is entice wraths. I'm thinking about what could be removed without losing the tribal aspect. After all, all I need is 21 commander damage. Some of these guys are too expensive to be able to cast so amassing an army has proven to be quite difficult. I'll have to do some more testing to see.

I liked you suggestions to add, now what do you suggest I remove? I'll update the OP with some of the minor changes I've made since I played last.

EDIT:
Okay, here's the updated list:


I took out some more vampires and added some more lands, plus most of the cards you recommended. Now all I need is to test some more.

I would take out Soul Burn and Drain Life and replace them with Corrupt (or Tendrils of Corruption) and Consume Spirit.

You may also want to replace Aspect of Gorgon with something else. May I suggest Nemesis Mask, if you're going to be attacking with a suited-up Baron? Kusari-Gama doesn't seem that useful either.

My instincts are telling me to cut something for Bloodghast, Vampire Hexmage, Viscera Seer and Pawn of Ulamog, but that may not be your style. If you do want to go that route, I would also suggest Corpse Dance, along with Grave Pact to keep your opponents down.

Guul Draz Assassin could be good spot removal.

Yeah, I like the cheap utility vampires. As for Soul Burn and Drain Life Corrupt and Consume Spirit are better alternatives 'cause they can kill outright. Nemesis Mask is great with deathtouch. Viscera Seer is a good sac outlet which can combo with most of the cards you recommended. I could probably add Bloodghast and Pawn of Ulamog along with Grave Pact. Yeah, Kusari-Gama is only useful if I can force blocks which I don't think is likely without ways of provoking creatures. So,
-Kusari-Gama
+Nemesis Mask
-Aspect of Gorgon
+Bloodghast
-Soul Burn
+Corrupt
-Drain Life
+Consume Spirit
-Soul Collector
+Viscera Seer
-Malakir Bloodwitch
+Pawn of Ulamog
-Krovikan Vampire
+Grave Pact

Quote from DementedKirby »

Yeah, Kusari-Gama is only useful if I can force blocks which I don't think is likely without ways of provoking creatures.

You mean something to force blocks like nemesis mask?

Yeah, but Nemesis Masks makes everything block it, lol. But I see what you mean. Well, Kusari-Gama also allows for pumping - which is one reason I wanted to include it. Hmmm... now, I'm slightly regretting eliminating it, lol.

Kusari-Gama's ability makes it deal the damage, not the equipped creature.

Quote from DementedKirby »

...Homelands is considered by most to be the worst set ever devised in the history of MtG.

I don't remember where I read it, but Homelands was Richard Garfield's favorite set. That's gotta count for something.

Anyway, throwback deck? Try some throwback removal: Ashes to Ashes, Hellfire, Broken Visage.

There are a few equipment cards that cause the creature to deal the damage which have not been discussed such as Viridian Longbow.

In addition to Nemesis Mask, Grappling Hook has a lure type of effect. Quietus Spike, Worldslayer and Elbrus, the Binding Blade might also make your opponents want to block the Baron at all costs.

You might like to try out a few of the swords, in particular I've always had a soft spot for the Sword of Feast and Famine's untap all lands you control ability as a pseudo-ramp effect.

And Finally, your inclusion of Mephidross Vampire really makes me want to suggest you throw in Triskelion as fun little combo you can use to wipe the board, and create a soft lock which prevents your opponents from playing their creatures until they find an answer for it.

I remember Broken Visage. The casting cost is steep as hell but nothing beats killing the strongest creatures and using a copy of it to block a smaller creature. Talk about a twofer! Ashes to Ashes is actually a pretty great card considering the negligible drawback in EDH. Hellfire could be very useful to then attack afterwards with creatures with lifelink. From these I'd probably try to make space for Ashes to Ashes - if anything then to get rid of cards like Blightsteel Colossus, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, etc. (even though you'd need two legal targets otherwise the spell would just fizzle), though that's why I'm running Dark Impostor and Shauku, Endbringer. But yeah, instantaneous multiple exile for a mere 3 mana is as good as any!

I have totally forgot about Grappling Hook! Thanks! It actually looks like a kusari-gama anyways, lol! And they go great together! That would be an excellent combo. I tried Quietus Spike and Elbrus, the Binding Blade but found Elbrus to be too slow. Quietus Spike I took out because I'd had already included the two gorgon equipments - both of which are cheaper to cast and cheaper to equip. I want to avoid the swords mostly because I can't afford any of them at the moment, lol. But yeah, the swords are great in any voltron deck. Triskelion always makes me a target because it's so easy to combo infinitely (which I do in other decks I have) so I avoided it in this one. However, it's a viable strategy for anyone interested in doing it.