MTG Salvation

This is my eighth Commander deck. Not highly competitive (e.g. no infinite combos, no Sol Ring and some cool but not inherently powerful cards), but it should be able to win. It is meant for both 1-vs-1 and multiplayer.



This is the typical black „big mana“ deck. And since those decks can have the situation where they have a million mana, but no card in hand that could use that mana, I simply went with a commander that can always make use of all that mana: Maga, Traitor to Mortals.

Big mana - These are the cards that generate huge amounts of mana. I'd always like to have at least one of them in play, but it becomes extra ridiculous if I have multiples and the effects stack.
Magus of the Coffers – Imitates the best mana maker in the deck.
Nirkana Revenant – This almost doubles my mana, while making the opponents hope they have a chump blocker ready.
Extraplanar Lens – A bit risky, but if I get the benefit for two or three turns, I can live with losing a land if this gets destroyed.
Gauntlet of Power – Can be symmetrical, which sucks. Should be used carefully, if there are other heavy black decks at the table.
Caged Sun – Ah, the fixed version of the last one. The second best mana doubler in this deck.
Cabal Coffers – And this, ladys and gentlemen is the crown jewel! Efficient and harder to destroy than all the artifacts and creatures.
Vesuva, Thespian's Stage & Deserted Temple – Don't work by themselves, but are insane with Coffers.

Big spells – There are the X-spells and my commander, of course. Then there are other expensive spells with powerful effects. This deck can get away with running a higher curve than usual.

Mass Removal – This deck needs to survive a few turns to set up its mana engine. Clearing the table of pesky attackers plays an important role in doing that. Black may not have as many Wrath effects as white does, but a few of them are quite good.
I wonder if I am running enough? I guess I could use one or two additional ones, so that I don't have to waste so many tutors on finding them. Any suggestions?

Card draw – Having lots of mana and no appropriate spells to cast sucks. Having Maga as the commander helps, but sometimes he is tucked, already on the battlefield or you just want to have another huge effect. Card draw helps keeping the hand full with fun stuff to do.

Snow – I run Snow-Covered Swamps to have another draw effect in the form of Scrying Sheets and to help keeping Extraplanar Lens one-sided.

I mean these comments constructively so first,lluminated folio is bad in most decks and even worse when you're playing mono back. Try ambition's cost or even mind's eye if you want artifact based continuous draw. There's also a lot of questionable creatures in there as well. Steel hellkite could replace sone of the chaff.Diabolic tutor should be here and if you're willing to spend so should Vampiric tutor. What do you use contagion engine for?Mouth of ronmon is not needed in mono black and wasting space a good utility land could be in like strip mine or Inkmoth nexus could be in. I recommend Inkmoth because you're running the nightmare lash equipments, I've used this combo in the past and it's pretty strong.

I concur with nutterbutter. Another great draw spell you could try is Memory Jar. In addition to Vampiric and Diabolic Tutor I'd try to find room for Planar Portal. It's expensive but once you get this online with enough mana you should just win if it isn't destroyed. Thawing Glaciers is a very important card for the deck ensuring that you hit all your land drops and it interacts well with Vesuva and Deserted Temple.

If you're wanting to make the deck more competitive then I'd look into Myojin of Night's Reach and Infernal Darkness which are among the best disruption black has to offer. No Sensei's Divining Top?

nutterbutter, your comment comes exactly at the right time, since I was thinking about adding a few cards and wasn't sure what to cut. Contagion Engine and Illuminated Folio look like decent cuts. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth can replace the Folio as another card draw effect.

This seems like the right deck for Increasing Ambition. Vampiric Tutor (and also Inkmoth Nexus right now) cost too much.

Wow, Thawing Glaciers is good one, Donald. Why haven't I thought about it?

Quote from Donald

No Sensei's Divining Top?

I don't own as many as I have Commander decks (or cubes).

ok so i play maga and the deck i built is a house. i also avoid infintes but the drain spells arent as good because you always have maga. and you dont care if he dies. the decl draws a ton of cards and is never hunting for an answer. it doesnt deal with enchants withi is why you are using the karn...but just kill that player and you dont have an enchant to worry about

so here is my deck list for inspiration. it is battle tested againt some vicious decks and has not been found wanting. now it is pricey, but it doesnt need to be done entirely this way. only the tabernacle is super exspensive.



so how you play it is, control the field with board wipes, meek stone, and ensaring bridge.
you disrupt them with discard spells and or mishra's helix which is a total back breaker.

you have a ton of mana doublers so you ramp up and go maga, beats, exsanguinate.

gain life if your getting hated with exsanguinate, kokusho, exquiste blood(which will gain you insane life) and extorting crypt ghast, or rite of consumption a maga.

draw cards with syphon mind, scroll rack(i know it not card draw), decree of pain, necro, arena, overwhelming forces, promise of power.

recurssion with volrath, xiahou, yawgmoths will, ill gotten gains, phyrexian reclimation

its alot of stuff and with all the tutors card draw and redundancy it is very consistent. But at the same time i have never heard a groan when i bring it out.

Just a random thought, no Profane Command? Seems to fit what you're doing.