"Blood is really warm, it's like drinking hot chocolate but with more screaming."
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier (Heroes of the Plane Studio) for the amazing banner!
In Minuo Imperium: In blood is power. I will teach you what it is in the night that you fear, and you will embrace it. Your life essence will flow into me, and as your existence comes to an end, you will behold my full power and glory. You will know that your blood has helped fuel my greatness. - Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
How does the deck play/win:
A variation of my Ghost Council Sacrifice & Recursion deck, this deck also uses heavy sac & recur with lots of synergy and combos/mini-combos, but also heavily utilizes lifegain. Now I know that lifegain is an "iffy" proposal in edh, but this deck doesn't just gain life as a buffer, it uses the life (and some heavy sac fodder generation) as a resource for card advantage, removal, ramp, life drain, and as a wincon itself. Sanguine Bond becomes especially dangerous in this environment.
In flavor, the deck gets more powerful as it drains the life from opponents, their creatures, and it's own creatures.
All my decks try to adhere to these guidelines:
1) Be able to win.
2) Be mostly true to a flavor and a theme.
3) Be fun to pilot or to play against and interactive.
4) Have multiple paths to victory.
5) Have lots of cool interactions and synergy.
6) Play out differently every game to keep it fun over a long time.
7) Be streamlined and fast to play without excessive upkeep, time-consuming play or overcomplicated boardstates.
8) Integrate the Commanders abilities into the strategy at least a little, but be able to win without ever playing the commander.
Notes:
I've kept the utility lands to a minimum in order to keep the basics count high and utilize
Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
Cool Interactions/Tips/Tricks/Combos:
Phyrexian Dreadnought Trick: (thanks ChefStiX)
With Vish in play, cast Phyrexian Dreadnought, his etb ability on the stack, sac him to Vish for 12x +1 counters, the Dreadnoughts ability resolves and you may still choose to sac him making nothing further happen. See ruling on Magiccards.info, it's legal.
Death By Sanguine Bond:
The perfect card for this deck in both function and flavor, there are numerous ways to end the game quickly when it's in play, and any lifelink creature or source of lifegain
becomes double the threat. Reverse the Sands Exsanguinate Sorin Markov Death Grasp Tainted Sigil
All spell death for one or more players.
-------------------------------------------------
Using Corpse Dance: Corpse Dance is a one card recursion engine if you've got a sac outlet in place and enough mana for the buyback cost. Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Tower as the sac outlet make playing it multiple times in a turn very doable.
As an added bonus, Corpse Dance is an "Instant" rather than "Sorcery" like most recursion, so it can reanimate an emergency blocker or in response to graveyard hate to save a creature you don't want to lose forever (then sac it back after hate resolves).
-------------------------------------------------- Sun Titan Renewal Combos:
Vish + Sun Titan + Angelic Renewal = Infinite Removal, and Infi-Big Vish swinging for max damage and lifegain. Sac Titan to Vish, bring it back with Renewal, bring Renewal back with Titan, repeat.
If your sac outlet is Blasting Station, you can kill the table with infi-damage.
If your sac outlet is Ashnod's Altar, you can generate infi mana for a game winning Exsanguinate/Profane Command.
Karmic Guide + Reveillark + Continuing Sac Outlet = An infinite loop of Lark and Guide entering/leaving the battlefield. The third piece of the combo can have varying effects:
Plus, if you've got Suture Priest in play you get infinite life. Priest plus Sanguine Bond in play and you kill the table.
If you're not familiar with how the Lark/Guide combo works, I'll explain it here as best I can:
Here is how you manage an ifinite loop of Karmic Guide and Reveillark with Blasting Station as your sac outlet (henceforth known as Guide, Lark, and BS), by manipulating the stack.
With Guide in the graveyard, doesn't matter how she got there, she self sacs if you don't pay her echo.
You BS sac (or evoke) Lark, which returns Guide to play. When Guide comes into play, 2 triggers happen...
Trigger 1 = Return Lark to play
Trigger 2 = Untap BS
You control both triggers, so you get to decide what order they go on the stack. Stack them just like that.
Trigger 2 comes off the stack first and untaps BS. With Trigger 1 still on the stack, BS sac Guide. Now let Trigger 1 resolve and Lark comes into play untapping BS again.
That puts you back where you started. With Guide in the gy, Lark in play, and an untapped Blasting Station (and an opponent -2 life).
You can also do it with Lark in the graveyard and Guide in hand. You'll figure it out.
---------------------------------------------- Su-Chi Combo: (thanks to Byrningangel)
Add Suture Priest to any of the above for infinite lifegain.
Su-Chi + Ashnod's Altar + Corpse Dance = a ton of Grave Pact or Suture Priest triggers.
Su-Chi + Vish Kal + Corpse Dance = lots of removal and a big vamp.
lots of possibilities here.
---------------------------------------------- The Yosei Lock:
Yosei, the Morning Star offers several ways to effectively lock out a single player rather easily, and he can even lock out a whole table with enough mana available.
Here are several ways you can accomplish it:
Yosei + any sac outlet +
Sheoldred, Whispering One or Emeria, the Sky Ruin = Lock out a single player every turn.
Nim Deathmantle - Sac him, tap down player and pay 4 to return him to play. Repeat next turn. 8 locks out two players, 12 locks out 3 players, etc.
Corpse Dance -Sac, tap, Corpse Dance with buyback repeat. If you can produce 9 mana and have Ashnods out, you can lock out 3 players for one turn. 11 mana locks out 3 players for good.
------------------------------------------
Ashnod's Deathmantle:
Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar Combo for Infinite Mana & Tokens:
Nim Deathmantle plus Ashnod's Altar plus any creature that brings at least two tokens into play with it = Infinite Tokens and Mana. The creature could be Knight-Captain of Eos, Cloudgoat Ranger, or Wurmcoil Engine.
Here's how it works with Knight-Captain of Eos:
KC in play with the 2 tokens he brought. Sac the two tokens to Ashnods which puts 4 in the pool. Now sac KC himself to the altar. 6 in pool, using 4 of it to bring KC back with Deathmantle. Now you're at your starting state and up 2 in the pool. Repeat for as many times as you need to kill the table with an Exsanguinate.
NOW THAT YOU'VE GOT INIF-MANA: It's time to get infi-tokens.
Just sac off KC and one token instead of both tokens, and use the 4 mana that generates to return KC to play on the Deathmantle. Now you're even on mana and +1 token. Repeat.
Plus, if you've got Suture Priest in play you get infinite life. Priest plus Sanguine Bond in play and you kill the table.
Deathmantle + Ummmm + ANYTHING!:
Just having Deathmantle and a sac outlet out makes abusing etb/ltb abilities so cheap and easy it's crazy. Archon of Justice or Angel of Despair with 8 mana on board = Destroy any 2 target permanents. If the sac outlet is Ashnod's Altar, you get to kill 4 permanents. How many turns can someone hold up losing 2 to 4 target perms each time?
Karmic Guide + Nim Deathmantle:
Karmic Guide + Nim Deathmantle - KG kills itself every upkeep, pay 4, get KG and another creature back every upkeep.
----------------------------------------------- The Turbobleed Quickee:
I try to use this in duels if I have one piece in hand early and tutor for the other. At about turn 5 or 6.
Play out Sorin Markov, set opps life to 10.
Next turn (or two depending on my mana) hit him with Exsanguinate or Profane Command. I can sac a creature or two to Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Tower for the extra mana needed to kill. If I'm still short one point, just play GCO next turn.
------------------------------------------------ The Ongoing ETB Abuse Engine:
One of the strongest strategies of the deck is to set up an ongoing sac/recursion engine with one of it's etb/ltb baddies to win a war of attrition. This can be accomplished easily with one card in each of 3 categories, they are all somewhat interchangeable, and become even stronger with Grave Pact, Martyr's Bond, or Butcher of Malakir in play.
The Sac Outlet:
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Phyrexian Tower
High Market
Blasting Station
Ashnod's Altar
The Recursion Engine:
Debtors' Knell
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Nim Deathmantle
Corpse Dance (with buyback)
Karmic Guide with Nim Deathmantle
The ETB/LTB Creature:
Yosei, the Morning Star
Angel of Despair
Archon of Justice
------------------------------------------------ Skullclamp, The Insane Draw/Removal Engine:
Skullclamp is particularly useful in the deck. It turns Bloodghast into a "draw two cards" creature every time you drop a land or another creature you control is put in the graveyard while equipped, again becoming exponentially more powerful with a Grave Pact or Butcher of Malakir on your board. Also gets amazing with:
Bitterblossom tokens.
Reassembling Skeleton
Knight-Captain of Eos
Cloudgoat Ranger
-----------------------------------------------
I would say that Weathered Wayfarer is a must for me in any deck that runs white and no green so you can keep up with people and also get those key lands like emeria.
Divinity of Pride and Serra Ascendant could also be good just the for fact that it can get you that life gain early on and for the costs there not bad either
Blood Tribute should also be in this deck with Sanguine Bond that basicallly says pay 6 mana kill a player if you kick it which shouldnt be that hard
I also like Hatred in this sort of deck where you should be gaining **** tons of life so you can basically knock out a player with a swing from your general and giving him the Hatred
Celestial Mantle could also work wonders in this deck even if you only get one hit off it it will still net you a lot of life.
my last suggestion would be Phyrexian Processor since life will be in abundence paying 10-20 life for this shouldnt hurt you that much
Very nice I was thinking of making a deck like this ustilizing lifegain and the cards that abuse it
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I will be typing up deck lists as soon as I an be bothered, I really only play EDH:
Agree with how good Wayfarer can be, I run him in my Ghost Council build. I should probably put him in even for only Emeria. The only problem I have making him "auto-include" is that I do end up in a lot of duels with my multiplayer decks, and so a lot of times his ability can't be used (if I'm doing better on land drops than the opp). On the plus side, a body to Skullclamp or use for other nefarious purposes is never useless. So he's definitely on the watchlist.
Divinity is in the list already, he's seriously scary in here.
I had overlooked Blood Tribute. I'll have to think about that one, it's definitely got potential, plenty of synergy, on theme and flavorful. I just wish I had a couple more vamps for the kicker. I'm adding it to the watchlist.
Hatred, though on my watchlist is one I'm really hesitant to include. Could be win, but the thought of getting it countered after I paid a buttload of life, or getting mindslavered while it's in my hand is unsettling to me.
Celestial Mantle is one I'll also add to the watchlist.
A few suggestions that I play in my Vish Kal deck.
Phyrexian Reclamation. The 2 life cost doesn't seem like it will effect you at all. But it is a nice recursion engine.
Krovikan horror, gives you both a sac engine (if you need one) and it will return itself from your hand if it dies (although setup is required for this)
Thanks for the suggestions cthostme and Vash9177. I'll give them all a second look. I don't get to play this deck very often, so changes come pretty slowly to it... I've got too many edh decks, lol.
There isn't a big problem with enchant removal in my meta, I agree Pact/Bond would be great. The only reason I haven't included them is because this deck re-uses so much from my Ghost Council deck already that I wanted to diverge from it where I could and give myself a more varied play experience.
What would you replace for shu-chi? You mention it in the interactions section, however I do not see it on your current list.
Yeah, I won't get one 'til my Innistrad order goes out next week but I thought I'd go ahead and include it in the combo explainations. I'll probably just take out one of the spot removal spells, not sure yet though.
How do you feel about Children of Korlis?There must be a way to abuse this card in this list.
I've never considered him. Processing......
The first thing that jumps out at me is some absolutely sick synergy with Necropotence and some recursion.
And assuming that you've lost at least one life in the turn, he would get you infinite life total with Lark/Guide and a sac outlet like Vish or the Altar. And that would kill the whole table if you have Sanguine Bond in play.
What would make me hesitant is:
1) I'm actually thinking of dropping Necropotence. Too much Mindslaver in my meta.
2) If I've got Lark/Guide going, I'm probably going to win without him.
3) Depends on me taking a lot, but not lethal damage to be any good at all (assuming no combo).
I understand what you're getting at though, it seems like there's just got to be a broken combo in there somewhere, but I don't see it yet. I'm going to put him on the watch list and see if some revelation smacks me in the face one of these days.
Thanks for the heads up on him. If you figure out something with him before I do, please let me in on it!
My friend was looking for a B/W lifesuck deck and i think i found one i may reference alot. I saw VK at my local shop today and immediately thought "this guy would be fun." i already know the lark combo really good as i abuse it in my ertai, the corrupted deck. and i could probably take a page from your book with all this recursion for that deck as well. if i post a deck ill definitely credit you to all the thought behind the deck lol. thanks for the awesome post!
Have you tried Cradle of Vitality? My friend has a Vish Kal life gain deck and it seems sick in the deck.
I forgot all about that card... that's disgustingly nasty in here. I like it! Even if Vish isn't on the board, after an Exsanguinate or a Reverse the Sands, something is going to get really big.
I just built a Vish Kal deck (from the remnants of a failed test B/R/W deck modified from a Commander precon) and like a lot of what I see in your build. I'm curious about your thoughts on some of the creatures that have a good power to casting cost ratio that often have a drawback but pack a punch?
I'm thinking things like Serra Avenger and Loxodon Peacekeeper, where they might be risky plays early on, but later they pack a punch for the amoung of mana you need to put into them, especially if all you want is to beef up Vish Kal himself or hurl them at things that might otherwise be in the way.
Mine's still a work in progress, but even as I craft it from what I have on hand, I really like the potential I see there, especially with how creature heavy my casual meta is.
I'm curious about your thoughts on some of the creatures that have a good power to casting cost ratio that often have a drawback but pack a punch?
I'm thinking things like Serra Avenger and Loxodon Peacekeeper, where they might be risky plays early on, but later they pack a punch for the amoung of mana you need to put into them, especially if all you want is to beef up Vish Kal himself or hurl them at things that might otherwise be in the way.
I think we've got a lot better options. I see your point, but even undercosted 3/3 or 4/4 vanilla beaters/sac fodder are a little underwhelming. True that they are nice sac fodder for Vish, but without him they need to be able to do more on their own. Not a bad idea, I like your thinking, Phyrexian Dreadnaught and Serra Ascendant are the poster children for it, but it seems we can do better and/or more universally relevant.
Might I suggest deathrender. I have this card in my vish-kal deck and it provides really good combat tricks as well as easily getting expensive creature into play.
Question on play strategy as I just stuck Vish in a deck of mine. When do you drop the big guy? 7 CMC is a lot... You wouldn't want to have to recast him too many times. What's your general (ha) strategy?
Question on play strategy as I just stuck Vish in a deck of mine. When do you drop the big guy? 7 CMC is a lot... You wouldn't want to have to recast him too many times. What's your general (ha) strategy?
I try to only ever play him when I can immediately take advantage of his abilities. It doesn't always work out that way, but I try to stick to it. But that's also why I built the deck to not rely on him.
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier (Heroes of the Plane Studio) for the amazing banner!
In Minuo Imperium:
In blood is power. I will teach you what it is in the night that you fear, and you will embrace it. Your life essence will flow into me, and as your existence comes to an end, you will behold my full power and glory. You will know that your blood has helped fuel my greatness. - Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
How does the deck play/win:
A variation of my Ghost Council Sacrifice & Recursion deck, this deck also uses heavy sac & recur with lots of synergy and combos/mini-combos, but also heavily utilizes lifegain. Now I know that lifegain is an "iffy" proposal in edh, but this deck doesn't just gain life as a buffer, it uses the life (and some heavy sac fodder generation) as a resource for card advantage, removal, ramp, life drain, and as a wincon itself. Sanguine Bond becomes especially dangerous in this environment.
In flavor, the deck gets more powerful as it drains the life from opponents, their creatures, and it's own creatures.
All my decks try to adhere to these guidelines:
1) Be able to win.
2) Be mostly true to a flavor and a theme.
3) Be fun to pilot or to play against and interactive.
4) Have multiple paths to victory.
5) Have lots of cool interactions and synergy.
6) Play out differently every game to keep it fun over a long time.
7) Be streamlined and fast to play without excessive upkeep, time-consuming play or overcomplicated boardstates.
8) Integrate the Commanders abilities into the strategy at least a little, but be able to win without ever playing the commander.
Approx:
Deckstats Value = $266
Average CMC = 3.59
1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Mana Lands:
9 Swamp
16 Plains
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Fetid Heath
1 Marsh Flats
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Godless Shrine
1 Command Tower
Utility Lands:
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin (Recursion)
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Strip Mine (Land Destruction)
1 Vault of the Archangel (Lifegain)
1 Phyrexian Tower (Sac Outlet/Ramp)
1 High Market (Sac Outlet/Lifegain)
1 Bojuka Bog (Grave Hate)
Mana Help:
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Orzhov Keyrune
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Tithe
1 Expedition Map
1 Solemn Simulacrum (+draw)
1 Sorin Markov (lifegain/drain)
Card Draw:
1 Skullclamp
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Bloodgift Demon
Recursion:
1 Reveillark
1 Auramancer
1 Sun Titan
1 Karmic Guide
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One (+Removal)
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Corpse Dance
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Grim Discovery (for Emeria)
1 Necromancy
Tutors:
1 Academy Rector
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
Removal:
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Archon of Justice
1 Angel of Despair
1 Faith's Fetters (+lifegain)
1 Austere Command
1 Vindicate
1 Mortify
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Rend Flesh
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Damnation
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Blood Artist
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Felidar Sovereign
1 Death Grasp
1 Exsanguinate
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Exquisite Blood
1 Beacon of Immortality
Additional Sac Outlets:
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Blasting Station
1 Viscera Seer
Other Creatures:
1 Yosei, the Morning Star (combo)
1 Wall of Reverence (defense, lifegain)
1 Vampire Nighthawk (defense, lifegain)
1 Divinity of Pride (lifegain)
1 Wurmcoil Engine (lifegain, fodder)
1 Knight-Captain of Eos (defense, fodder)
.
Changelog:
29 Nov 2012:
Out = Imp's Mischief
In = Exquisite Blood
30 Jan 2013:
Out:
- Vivid Marsh
- Vivid Meadow
- Swamp
- Profane Command
- Bloodghast
- Bitterblossom
- Reassembling Skeleton
- Suture Priest
- Unmake
- Reverse the Sands
- Tainted Sigil
- Butcher of Malakir
- Cloudgoat Ranger
- Martial Coup
In:Considering:
Phyrexian Dreadnought
Serra Ascendant
Angelic Renewal
Cradle of Vitality
Suffer the Past
Pristine Talisman
Notes:
I've kept the utility lands to a minimum in order to keep the basics count high and utilize
Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
Cool Interactions/Tips/Tricks/Combos:
Phyrexian Dreadnought Trick: (thanks ChefStiX)
With Vish in play, cast Phyrexian Dreadnought, his etb ability on the stack, sac him to Vish for 12x +1 counters, the Dreadnoughts ability resolves and you may still choose to sac him making nothing further happen. See ruling on Magiccards.info, it's legal.
Death By Sanguine Bond:
The perfect card for this deck in both function and flavor, there are numerous ways to end the game quickly when it's in play, and any lifelink creature or source of lifegain
becomes double the threat.
Reverse the Sands
Exsanguinate
Sorin Markov
Death Grasp
Tainted Sigil
All spell death for one or more players.
-------------------------------------------------
Using Corpse Dance:
Corpse Dance is a one card recursion engine if you've got a sac outlet in place and enough mana for the buyback cost. Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Tower as the sac outlet make playing it multiple times in a turn very doable.
Corpse Dance (w/buyback) + Sac Outlet +:
Reveillark or Karmic Guide = Super Recursion
Angel of Despair or Archon of Justice = Destroy any permanent every turn.
Yosei, the Morning Star = Lock down as many players as you can afford to.
Wurmcoil Engine = Big Hasty Deathtouching, Lifelinking suicide beater that leaves behind two (or more) tokens to keep.
Butcher of Malakir or Fleshbag Marauder = A sweep if you have the mana for multiples.
As an added bonus, Corpse Dance is an "Instant" rather than "Sorcery" like most recursion, so it can reanimate an emergency blocker or in response to graveyard hate to save a creature you don't want to lose forever (then sac it back after hate resolves).
--------------------------------------------------
Sun Titan Renewal Combos:
Vish + Sun Titan + Angelic Renewal = Infinite Removal, and Infi-Big Vish swinging for max damage and lifegain. Sac Titan to Vish, bring it back with Renewal, bring Renewal back with Titan, repeat.
If your sac outlet is Blasting Station, you can kill the table with infi-damage.
If your sac outlet is Ashnod's Altar, you can generate infi mana for a game winning Exsanguinate/Profane Command.
---------------------------------------------------
Lark/Guide Combo!!:
Karmic Guide + Reveillark + Continuing Sac Outlet = An infinite loop of Lark and Guide entering/leaving the battlefield. The third piece of the combo can have varying effects:
Blasting Station = Kill the table
Ashnod's Altar = Infinite Mana for an Exsanguinate or Profane Command
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter = Infinite creature kill and infinitely large vampire.
Plus, if you've got Suture Priest in play you get infinite life. Priest plus Sanguine Bond in play and you kill the table.
If you're not familiar with how the Lark/Guide combo works, I'll explain it here as best I can:
Here is how you manage an ifinite loop of Karmic Guide and Reveillark with Blasting Station as your sac outlet (henceforth known as Guide, Lark, and BS), by manipulating the stack.
With Guide in the graveyard, doesn't matter how she got there, she self sacs if you don't pay her echo.
You BS sac (or evoke) Lark, which returns Guide to play. When Guide comes into play, 2 triggers happen...
Trigger 1 = Return Lark to play
Trigger 2 = Untap BS
You control both triggers, so you get to decide what order they go on the stack. Stack them just like that.
Trigger 2 comes off the stack first and untaps BS. With Trigger 1 still on the stack, BS sac Guide. Now let Trigger 1 resolve and Lark comes into play untapping BS again.
That puts you back where you started. With Guide in the gy, Lark in play, and an untapped Blasting Station (and an opponent -2 life).
You can also do it with Lark in the graveyard and Guide in hand. You'll figure it out.
Su-Chi Combo: (thanks to Byrningangel)
Su-Chi + Blasting Station + Nim Deathmantle = Kill the table
Su-Chi + Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle = Infi Mana
Su-Chi + Vish Kal + Nim Deathmantle = Infinite Removal and Huge Lifelinking Vamp
Add Suture Priest to any of the above for infinite lifegain.
Su-Chi + Ashnod's Altar + Corpse Dance = a ton of Grave Pact or Suture Priest triggers.
Su-Chi + Vish Kal + Corpse Dance = lots of removal and a big vamp.
lots of possibilities here.
----------------------------------------------
The Yosei Lock:
Yosei, the Morning Star offers several ways to effectively lock out a single player rather easily, and he can even lock out a whole table with enough mana available.
Here are several ways you can accomplish it:
Yosei + any sac outlet +
Sheoldred, Whispering One or Emeria, the Sky Ruin = Lock out a single player every turn.
Nim Deathmantle - Sac him, tap down player and pay 4 to return him to play. Repeat next turn. 8 locks out two players, 12 locks out 3 players, etc.
Corpse Dance -Sac, tap, Corpse Dance with buyback repeat. If you can produce 9 mana and have Ashnods out, you can lock out 3 players for one turn. 11 mana locks out 3 players for good.
------------------------------------------
Ashnod's Deathmantle:
Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar Combo for Infinite Mana & Tokens:
Nim Deathmantle plus Ashnod's Altar plus any creature that brings at least two tokens into play with it = Infinite Tokens and Mana. The creature could be Knight-Captain of Eos, Cloudgoat Ranger, or Wurmcoil Engine.
Here's how it works with Knight-Captain of Eos:
KC in play with the 2 tokens he brought. Sac the two tokens to Ashnods which puts 4 in the pool. Now sac KC himself to the altar. 6 in pool, using 4 of it to bring KC back with Deathmantle. Now you're at your starting state and up 2 in the pool. Repeat for as many times as you need to kill the table with an Exsanguinate.
NOW THAT YOU'VE GOT INIF-MANA: It's time to get infi-tokens.
Just sac off KC and one token instead of both tokens, and use the 4 mana that generates to return KC to play on the Deathmantle. Now you're even on mana and +1 token. Repeat.
Plus, if you've got Suture Priest in play you get infinite life. Priest plus Sanguine Bond in play and you kill the table.
Deathmantle + Ummmm + ANYTHING!:
Just having Deathmantle and a sac outlet out makes abusing etb/ltb abilities so cheap and easy it's crazy. Archon of Justice or Angel of Despair with 8 mana on board = Destroy any 2 target permanents. If the sac outlet is Ashnod's Altar, you get to kill 4 permanents. How many turns can someone hold up losing 2 to 4 target perms each time?
Karmic Guide + Nim Deathmantle:
Karmic Guide + Nim Deathmantle - KG kills itself every upkeep, pay 4, get KG and another creature back every upkeep.
-----------------------------------------------
The Turbobleed Quickee:
I try to use this in duels if I have one piece in hand early and tutor for the other. At about turn 5 or 6.
Play out Sorin Markov, set opps life to 10.
Next turn (or two depending on my mana) hit him with Exsanguinate or Profane Command. I can sac a creature or two to Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Tower for the extra mana needed to kill. If I'm still short one point, just play GCO next turn.
------------------------------------------------
The Ongoing ETB Abuse Engine:
One of the strongest strategies of the deck is to set up an ongoing sac/recursion engine with one of it's etb/ltb baddies to win a war of attrition. This can be accomplished easily with one card in each of 3 categories, they are all somewhat interchangeable, and become even stronger with Grave Pact, Martyr's Bond, or Butcher of Malakir in play.
The Sac Outlet:
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Phyrexian Tower
High Market
Blasting Station
Ashnod's Altar
The Recursion Engine:
Debtors' Knell
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Nim Deathmantle
Corpse Dance (with buyback)
Karmic Guide with Nim Deathmantle
The ETB/LTB Creature:
Yosei, the Morning Star
Angel of Despair
Archon of Justice
------------------------------------------------
Skullclamp, The Insane Draw/Removal Engine:
Skullclamp is particularly useful in the deck. It turns Bloodghast into a "draw two cards" creature every time you drop a land or another creature you control is put in the graveyard while equipped, again becoming exponentially more powerful with a Grave Pact or Butcher of Malakir on your board. Also gets amazing with:
Bitterblossom tokens.
Reassembling Skeleton
Knight-Captain of Eos
Cloudgoat Ranger
-----------------------------------------------
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Divinity of Pride and Serra Ascendant could also be good just the for fact that it can get you that life gain early on and for the costs there not bad either
Blood Tribute should also be in this deck with Sanguine Bond that basicallly says pay 6 mana kill a player if you kick it which shouldnt be that hard
I also like Hatred in this sort of deck where you should be gaining **** tons of life so you can basically knock out a player with a swing from your general and giving him the Hatred
Celestial Mantle could also work wonders in this deck even if you only get one hit off it it will still net you a lot of life.
my last suggestion would be Phyrexian Processor since life will be in abundence paying 10-20 life for this shouldnt hurt you that much
Very nice I was thinking of making a deck like this ustilizing lifegain and the cards that abuse it
Thraximundar Control voltron
Darien, King of Dudes The swarm
Karador, Ghost ChieftainJunk graveyard
Erebos, God of the DeadMy BIG BLACK.......deck
Zedruu the kindhearted My take on Pristaxcontrombmodruu!
Roon of the Hidden Realm Bounce house
Agree with how good Wayfarer can be, I run him in my Ghost Council build. I should probably put him in even for only Emeria. The only problem I have making him "auto-include" is that I do end up in a lot of duels with my multiplayer decks, and so a lot of times his ability can't be used (if I'm doing better on land drops than the opp). On the plus side, a body to Skullclamp or use for other nefarious purposes is never useless. So he's definitely on the watchlist.
Divinity is in the list already, he's seriously scary in here.
I had overlooked Blood Tribute. I'll have to think about that one, it's definitely got potential, plenty of synergy, on theme and flavorful. I just wish I had a couple more vamps for the kicker. I'm adding it to the watchlist.
Hatred, though on my watchlist is one I'm really hesitant to include. Could be win, but the thought of getting it countered after I paid a buttload of life, or getting mindslavered while it's in my hand is unsettling to me.
Celestial Mantle is one I'll also add to the watchlist.
Thanks for the suggestions
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Phyrexian Reclamation. The 2 life cost doesn't seem like it will effect you at all. But it is a nice recursion engine.
Krovikan horror, gives you both a sac engine (if you need one) and it will return itself from your hand if it dies (although setup is required for this)
Geth, Lord of the Vault , When I kill stuff I like to reanimate it.
Curious on why you don't run Grave Pact or Martyr's Bond? Do you run into a lot of enchantment hate in your group?
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
There isn't a big problem with enchant removal in my meta, I agree Pact/Bond would be great. The only reason I haven't included them is because this deck re-uses so much from my Ghost Council deck already that I wanted to diverge from it where I could and give myself a more varied play experience.
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Yeah, I won't get one 'til my Innistrad order goes out next week but I thought I'd go ahead and include it in the combo explainations. I'll probably just take out one of the spot removal spells, not sure yet though.
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
There must be a way to abuse this card in this list.
RW Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
I've never considered him. Processing......
The first thing that jumps out at me is some absolutely sick synergy with Necropotence and some recursion.
And assuming that you've lost at least one life in the turn, he would get you infinite life total with Lark/Guide and a sac outlet like Vish or the Altar. And that would kill the whole table if you have Sanguine Bond in play.
What would make me hesitant is:
1) I'm actually thinking of dropping Necropotence. Too much Mindslaver in my meta.
2) If I've got Lark/Guide going, I'm probably going to win without him.
3) Depends on me taking a lot, but not lethal damage to be any good at all (assuming no combo).
I understand what you're getting at though, it seems like there's just got to be a broken combo in there somewhere, but I don't see it yet. I'm going to put him on the watch list and see if some revelation smacks me in the face one of these days.
Thanks for the heads up on him. If you figure out something with him before I do, please let me in on it!
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
i mention it because both cards are good and with vish kal its infinite removal and death to someone
Hell, I forgot I already had that in the play guide. It also combos with Blasting Station for infidamage and Ashnods for infimana.
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Thank you so much mchief111 for the amazing art!
BUG is the Jund of EDH!
Modern: Jund, Grixis Delver, Bant Eldrazi, TitanShift
Commander: Brago, Yidris, Mizzix, Marath, Atheros, Daretti
I forgot all about that card... that's disgustingly nasty in here. I like it! Even if Vish isn't on the board, after an Exsanguinate or a Reverse the Sands, something is going to get really big.
Going in. Thanks.
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
I'm thinking things like Serra Avenger and Loxodon Peacekeeper, where they might be risky plays early on, but later they pack a punch for the amoung of mana you need to put into them, especially if all you want is to beef up Vish Kal himself or hurl them at things that might otherwise be in the way.
Mine's still a work in progress, but even as I craft it from what I have on hand, I really like the potential I see there, especially with how creature heavy my casual meta is.
WCommander EeshaBDrana, Kalastria BloodchiefBGGlissa, the TraitorBWVish Kal, Blood ArbiterRUNin, the Pain Artist
UGEdric, Spymaster of TrestWRBasandra, Battle SeraphBGWDoran, the Siege TowerBGWGhave, Guru of Spores
RGWUril, the MiststalkerGUBThe MimeoplasmUWGRafiq of the ManyWUBRGSliver Overlord
I think we've got a lot better options. I see your point, but even undercosted 3/3 or 4/4 vanilla beaters/sac fodder are a little underwhelming. True that they are nice sac fodder for Vish, but without him they need to be able to do more on their own. Not a bad idea, I like your thinking, Phyrexian Dreadnaught and Serra Ascendant are the poster children for it, but it seems we can do better and/or more universally relevant.
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
you are looking for storm herd......
you can sac them seperately and remove more efficiently since you dont have 12 counters on at once. dreadnaught is still sick i play him haha
Awesome deck, thanks!
--Evil
Cool, let us know how it goes. If you're looking for a little more power in BW, you might check out the Ghost Council commanded version.
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
I try to only ever play him when I can immediately take advantage of his abilities. It doesn't always work out that way, but I try to stick to it. But that's also why I built the deck to not rely on him.
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning