MTG Salvation

Erebos! Bleed your opponents dry and leave them no mercy...

The game plan is to summon Erebos and then slowly bleed our opponents dry, and stay out of harm's way via high life totals. In case the bleed isn't enough, we also have a slew of cards to whittle down each player's hand, but we can stay ahead using Erebos to ensure that our hands remain bigger: bigger hands, more cards to be answered, less answers from our opponents. We bleed them dry.



Wants:




I'm not sure how to improve this deck. Do I up the reanimation? Or lower the mana curve/ increase ramp? I'm not sure. Anything else I'm missing? Constructive criticism much appreciated = )

Removed Wound Reflection and Geth's Verdict for Falkenrath Noble and Necrogen Mists

Your lack of Pestilence is saddening.

Quote from Poopingmypants

Your lack of Pestilence is saddening.

I couldn't agree more....

no Braids, Cabal Minion + Reassembling Skeleton + Contamination soft lock?

Quote from Kaencat

no Braids, Cabal Minion + Reassembling Skeleton + Contamination soft lock?

I used to run these cards in Endrek (link in sig) but they weren't fun. They're also much less useful without Endrek's constant stream of tokens letting me use them even without the Skeleton.

Quote from artaud

No Sol Ring? No Dark Ritual? Your curve is high and Erebos himself requires a fair amount of mana for his ability. Discard theme is fine (you lack Mindslicer and/or Myojin though) but building up mana is more important. Get rid of some stuff:
- you don't need Geth if you have Chainer and vice versa
- Steel Hellkite is slow
- Grave Titan is more suited for stax
- you don't need Bloodgift Demon nor Graveborn Muse, you have Erebos
- Reiver Demon OR Plague Wind
- Skinrender is meh
- what do you need Mindcrank for?

It's just a couple of things you should consider cutting.

Mmm, I know I need a Sol Ring (and a Mana Vault!) I have one in most of my other decks, just need to get one soon for Erebos. Thanks for the reminder. I want to run Dark Ritual, looks fun. Only problem is lategame when I have nothing to cast, but then again my general is Erebos

I think Geth was good for the artefact recursion. I mostly use him to take mana rocks and stuff like that. Steel Hellkite is more of a meta call for enchantments and stuff.

Mindcrank is for the Bloodchief combo.

Grave Titan is pretty weird, I should take him out. I'll likely remove Reiver Demon as well in the near future.

Definitely removing Skinrender. I have a copy of Balthor, the Defiled that would likely be much better for the 4CMC slot.

Changelog

-Skinrender
-Tendrils of Corruption

+Burnished Hart
+Balthor the Defiled

The only thing I can really think of is to cut your weaker cards for stronger ones.

replace Diabolic Tutor with Vampiric Tutor
replace Diabolic Revelation with Demonic Tutor
replace Increasing Ambition with Grim Tutor or Imperial Seal I realize these two might not be viable because budget.

I also see you have a lot of Swamp dependant effects: Mutilate, Corrupt why not run Liliana of the Dark Realms ?

Cut a few cards for:

• 1 Ivory Tower
  
• 1 Harvester of Souls
  
• 1 Pestilence
  

Cards I'm currently thinking of running:

1 Staff of Domination
infinite mana with the Magus, but how far does that matter?

Shriveling Rot
Anti-wrath technology, could prevent combos based on infinite sacrifices...

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned this yet!
Cabal Coffers - I've heard this referred to as the true general of mono-black decks
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Helps above when you don't run all swamps
Deserted Temple - What's better than using Coffers or Nykthos once? Doing it again!
Vesuva - Copy Coffers for even more fun.
Expedition Map - Find Coffers, or whatever utility land you need.
Thespian's Stage (???) - Sometimes it's fun to have a third copy of Coffers.

You could also switch to Snow-Covered Swamps and run Extraplanar Lens.

EDIT: Oh, you did know, derp! next time expand the boxes.

This was similar to a deck I ran for over a year. I just couldn't get it right. Then - after taking a break from thinking about it for a few months, I drastically reduced casting costs. I think my average CMC went from 5.87 to 2.71 - and it plays like an absolute dream now.

Most all of my decks are available to loan out to pals - and this is one of the most frequently requested ones.

Quote from Omega Furnace

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned this yet!
Cabal Coffers - I've heard this referred to as the true general of mono-black decks
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Helps above when you don't run all swamps
Deserted Temple - What's better than using Coffers or Nykthos once? Doing it again!
Vesuva - Copy Coffers for even more fun.
Expedition Map - Find Coffers, or whatever utility land you need.
Thespian's Stage (???) - Sometimes it's fun to have a third copy of Coffers.

You could also switch to Snow-Covered Swamps and run Extraplanar Lens.

EDIT: Oh, you did know, derp! next time expand the boxes.

Yeah I know, I'm just too much of a cheapsake to buy them all at one shot. I'm proxying them for now ;_;

Quote from Burntgerbil

This was similar to a deck I ran for over a year. I just couldn't get it right. Then - after taking a break from thinking about it for a few months, I drastically reduced casting costs. I think my average CMC went from 5.87 to 2.71 - and it plays like an absolute dream now.

Most all of my decks are available to loan out to pals - and this is one of the most frequently requested ones.

Interesting. The current cmc avg is around 3.57 if I remember correctly: anything I should cut? I was thinking of Grave Titan and something else because I really want to run Words of Waste + Geth's Grimoire.

cuts

- Subversion
+ Sadistic Sacrament

Subversion isn't very good and the deck has no real ways to interact with combo players aside from Sudden Spoiling. Sadistic Sacrament can help me deal with the problem in advance.

Cut Painful Quandary and Grave Titan for regular Swamps.

Added:

• 1 Words of Waste
  
• 1 Geth's Grimoire
  
• 1 Necropotence
  
• 1 Venser's Journal
  
• 1 Underworld Dreams

Upping the pressure! These cards work great in combos and as standalone pieces.

Cuts

• 1 Charcoal Diamond
  
• 1 Phyrexian Totem
  
• 1 Balthor, The Defiled
  
• 1 Animate Dead
  
• 1 Polluted Bonds
  

Cut the most subpar artifact ramp cards, Balthor for generally being not as useful, Animate Dead for being a rarely cast card and Polluted Bonds for generally not doing much of note.

Cut:

Pontiff of Blight (usually extorting for >1 isn't the ideal choice)
Corrupt (rarely interesting)

Added:

Demonic Tutor
Living Death

Ever tried playing with Global Thermonuclear War? I hear it gets ugly.
"Would you like to play a game?"

Or what about Lethal Vapors? That can lead to some awkward looks. You can play "Who's going to crack first."

Quote from Omega Furnace

Ever tried playing with Global Thermonuclear War? I hear it gets ugly.
"Would you like to play a game?"

Or what about Lethal Vapors? That can lead to some awkward looks. You can play "Who's going to crack first."

Oh wow.....Last Laugh...with double devotion.....heh...heh.....

Lethal Vapors is pretty good too.

What could/should I remove for them? I don't have to run both I suppose but is there anything I should really be cutting? I know I'm missing a few 'essentials' like Sol Ring, etc.

Quote from SchizoidMan

What could/should I remove for them? I don't have to run both I suppose but is there anything I should really be cutting? I know I'm missing a few 'essentials' like Sol Ring, etc.

Sol Ring is a format staple, but I've got at least 1 non-French EDH that intentionally doesn't use it. A common reason to omit is a high colored mana requirement. Would it benefit this deck? Probably. Is it necessary? Clearly not if this deck is working as is. Don't feel pressured to run something just because everyone else is.

Is 31 lands working for you? It seems very light to me. Your curve goes up to 9. I think you could use another 4-6 lands.

On to the cuts.

From your inclusion of Crypt Incursion and Suffer the Past I'll guess that you have some graveyard abuse in your meta. Otherwise, those would be short-listed for cuts.

I'm also guessing there are some troublesome artifacts flying around from Gate to Phyrexia.

I would probably cut Ivory Tower. Venser's Journal just does more, albeit later in the game.

I'm not much of a fan of Falkenrath Noble. I can see why you would include it, but it is pretty inefficient compared to Blood Artist. If you can spare the redundancy, I suggest you consider cutting it.

Geth is at odds with the bleeder aspect of your deck. Unless you frequently see cards like Kokusho in someone else's bin, I think he might be better off in a different build.



Grave Pact might be fun in your deck.

Minor nit-pick: Dark Ritual is an Instant, not Sorcery.

Quote from Omega Furnace

Sol Ring is a format staple, but I've got at least 1 non-French EDH that intentionally doesn't use it. A common reason to omit is a high colored mana requirement. Would it benefit this deck? Probably. Is it necessary? Clearly not if this deck is working as is. Don't feel pressured to run something just because everyone else is.

Is 31 lands working for you? It seems very light to me. Your curve goes up to 9. I think you could use another 4-6 lands.

On to the cuts.

From your inclusion of Crypt Incursion and Suffer the Past I'll guess that you have some graveyard abuse in your meta. Otherwise, those would be short-listed for cuts.

I'm also guessing there are some troublesome artifacts flying around from Gate to Phyrexia.

I would probably cut Ivory Tower. Venser's Journal just does more, albeit later in the game.

I'm not much of a fan of Falkenrath Noble. I can see why you would include it, but it is pretty inefficient compared to Blood Artist. If you can spare the redundancy, I suggest you consider cutting it.

Geth is at odds with the bleeder aspect of your deck. Unless you frequently see cards like Kokusho in someone else's bin, I think he might be better off in a different build.



Grave Pact might be fun in your deck.

Minor nit-pick: Dark Ritual is an Instant, not Sorcery.

I've played a mirror match recently (that I lost due to a terrible misplay on my end) but his deck ran much more artifact ramp. Only issue I had was that his volume of threats was lower. I may just run Sol Ring and Mana Vault to get a T2 Erebos...Dark Ritual helps for the T1 Necropotence and stuff. I may look into Cabal Ritual and Yawgmoth's Will if it ever comes to that.

Geth is pretty good in that I have little artifact ramp but yeah he's pretty meh otherwise. I'll think about it.

I have more than 31 lands, just 31 or so Swamps.

I may cut the Tower. I'll do some playtesting first I guess.

Quote from SchizoidMan

I have more than 31 lands, just 31 or so Swamps.

I may cut the Tower. I'll do some playtesting first I guess.

In the words of Bender B. Rodriguez "Are you familiar with the robot expression 'Does not compute?'"

That math doesn't work. I count 67 non-land cards, plus your general for 68. That's 32 lands (ok, I goofed up slightly, but the point still stands), 7 utility lands and 25 swamps if my math is correct. Of course I'm working from the list in the original post, so if that's out of date, you can chuck this entire calculation out.