MTG Salvation

I'm finally getting around to updating my PDH decks with the last few expansions. For a while now I've been using Gray Merchant as my mono black general so the deck was more focused on maximizing devotion. I think Crypt Rats is probably a stronger general though so the deck had to change a bit. Basically, Eternal Thirst (which can be fetched with Shred Memory) made me want to try this general again so here it is:



Since the plan is to sweep the board over and over I really only want to use creatures with ETB effects or regeneration. This deck is intended for multi player games where I don't want to play 1 for 1 removal anyway, and with Crypt Rats as the general I don't feel that cards like Gangrenous Zombies and Evincar's Justice are necessary. Consume Spirit and Drain Life were hard to cut, but I think they're just too mana intensive for this deck.

I kind of go back and forth on how many mana rocks to play in PDH, but here I've decided to include them all. Crypt Rats is a great mana sink, especially when it has lifelink. I don't have a lot of use for colorless mana though which is why I'm not playing the 4 mana Sol Rings.

Finally, I've never played Exhume in this format before but it seems very good here. I have Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Shred Memory, Crypt Incursion, and Faerie Macabre to empty other graveyards, and whatever they reanimate will probably just die to the Crypt Rats that I brought back.

Any ideas for adds or cuts? Thanks

So you are aware, as it can be a common mistake made with Pestilence, cards like Fog of Gnats needs to be regenerated every single time you activate Pestilence. You cannot active Pestilence 4 times, then regenerate your gnats once. You may already know that, but I thought I'd say something since you mentioned regenerative creatures in your OP.

Quote from Strudel_King »

So you are aware, as it can be a common mistake made with Pestilence, cards like Fog of Gnats needs to be regenerated every single time you activate Pestilence. You cannot active Pestilence 4 times, then regenerate your gnats once. You may already know that, but I thought I'd say something since you mentioned regenerative creatures in your OP.

In addition: This doesn't apply to Crypt Rats, since it does its damage in one go unlike Pestilence.

If you want more regenerators in addition to the Gnats, there's a couple that only cost 1 mana:
Rimebound Dead. You need snow lands, though.
Urborg Skeleton is like a worse Rimebound Dead but lacks the snow requirement.

Necrobite seems like it would have insane synergy with the Rats. Cast Necrobite on it, activate for 1, wipe the board and leave the Rats alive. Baleful Eidolon is another card to give them deathtouch.

Ah yes, that is right, I guess I got too caught up in thinking of Pestilence effects, and grouped it all together. I suppose in the case of Crypt Rats it would be fine. Oops.

Quote from jalu99 »

You're focused on Auras too much, I would drop some of them as you have a quite huge recursion package, so increasing the creature number would make some sense instead, I think.

I'm usually not a fan of auras either but Crypt Rats with regeneration and lifelink is so good that I think they are worth it in this deck. The problem with playing more creatures is that they just die when I use the rat's ability. My main goal with the recursion is to avoid having to pay extra each time I want to play my general. I'm actually thinking of cutting some of the more expensive recursion spells if I find them clogging up my hand in play testing.

Fog of Gnats and Viscera Seer don't deserve their slots, but every monoblack deck should contain Liliana's Specter, Chittering Rats, Okiba-Gang Shinobi and Warren Pilferers, too.

I've found that playing Crypt Rats as my general draws a lot of hate so I wanted an early blocker to help preserve my life total. One of the strongest decks in my local play group is Ascended Lawmage which the Fog of Gnats can block over and over. Stinkweed Imp is of course much better for this, but hexproof voltron generals are a pretty big problem. Abyssal Gatekeeper is also in there to help deal with this issue, and I might run Innocent Blood if necessary although it can't be recurred like the Gatekeeper. Unfortunately, unlike Fleshbag Marauder in regular EDH, the Gatekeeper needs to die to be effective which is one reason I play Viscera Seer as a sac outlet. I've been pretty impressed with the scry ability of the Seer as well when digging for answers and just to get a bit more value out of my creatures before I wrath the board with Crypt Rats.

You will definitely need more discards like Augur of Skulls, Disciple of Phenax or Mournwhelk.

I'm guess I'm not really convinced of the power of discard in multi player magic, but I could be wrong on that. I'll probably try to fit Liliana's Specter and Okiba-Gang Shinobi in first and see how I like them.

Ashes to Ashes is definitely better than Seal of Doom. I would even drop Executioner's Capsule (maybe in favor of Victim of Night), because you can't transmute for 1.

I really like the deterrent effect of Executioner's Capsule and Seal of Doom. I don't like playing very much 1 for 1 removal in multi player games, but these cards suggest to other players that they should attack someone else in ways that a Murder in your hand really can't. At least Ashes to Ashes is a 2 for 1, and exiling is a bonus so it's likely worth finding room for though.

Is Explorer's Scope really worth a slot?

I'm pretty sure Explorer's Scope is a great card. It's basically going to ramp you about 38% of the time in this deck. It takes the land you would have drawn off the top of your deck and at least lets you see the next card if it misses. Sometimes you'll have Darksteel Pendant in play at the same time and then it's even better!

There would definitely be a lot of different card choices if this was for single player. But in my area, PDH is mostly a multi player format. In single player, 1 for 1 removal is fine, and I'd play every variation of Duress that's available. But when you play against 3-4 other people those types of cards don't work as well.

I guess Capsize is ok in single player if you can get to 12 mana and start bouncing their lands. You know that if you kill the Capsize target in response the spell fizzles which is my usual answer to the card. And in multi player games other players are more than happy to kill your creature and get rid of Capsize at the same time so it's never been a dominating card.

I find Augur of Skulls to be a kind of slow card. That one turn delay just gives everyone an opportunity to play their best spell or save an extra land to discard to it. If you could sac it at instant speed it would be awesome though. Okiba-Gang Shinobi is more what I'm looking for with the surprise value and bouncing a creature with a good ETB effect.

I'd be interested in other people's opinion of Explorer's Scope because it seemed weak to me for a long time too, but then I started playing it and found it better than expected. Small, incremental card advantage is probably better in PDH than most other formats, but I think it's proabbly good enough for real EDH too especially if you have Sensei's Divining Top working with it.