Obzedat, Ghost Council carries the torch as the new general for the previous commander Ghost Council of Orzhova in what has slowly evolved into my Drain Life themed deck. The basic premise is to drain opponents of life points at every opportunity while incrementally gaining card advantage and destroying key permanents. The deck is slow and grindy, but it definitely stays true to its theme and promotes a controlled game state without drawing too much attention or hate.
Card Breakdown:
There really isn't a lot to the deck, but the cards do break down into several distinct categories.
Extort:
The deck runs 9 of the 13 possible Extort cards that were printed in Gatecrash and Dragon's Maze. If there was enough room I'd run them all, but some of them are just not powerful enough on their own to warrant inclusion or are just plain too expensive. The beauty of the Extort mechanic is that it drains each opponent for each activation, so not only are you efficiently damaging your opponents you are also gaining lots of life in the process. Some of the Extort creatures are small and you may be tempted to cut them, but they will go a long way towards dealing lots of early damage and providing the deck plenty of early plays. The deck also runs a lot of recursion engines so that you never run out of spells to play with which to trigger Extort.
Life Drain Spells:
Although the deck does not play the iconic Drain Life, it does run 4 of the best Life Drain sorceries that you can run. Exsanguinate and Debt to the Deathless are particularly powerful in that they drain all opponents.
Bleed Life Effects:
One of the keys to the deck is to find cards that can repeatedly damage your opponent with little or no additional mana cost since you want your mana available to pay for Extort or to further advance your board. There are several cards available that will slowly bleed away your opponent's life total for doing things that they would normally want to do. Put a creature into play? Suture Priest and Blood Seeker say hello. Put a land into play? Polluted Bonds drains you for two? Draw a card? Underworld Dreams hits you for one.
Cards I have considered Blood Clock/Umbilicus: These cards fit right into the theme, either draining the opponent life or setting their board back a permanent. The problem is that the 'enters the battlefied' effects of creatures has gotten so good that I would often help the opponent rather than hurt them and they rarely drained the opponent like I wanted. Stab Wound, One Thousand Lashes, Pillory of the Sleepless: Great cards that do double duty in the deck, but I hated being torn between wanting these cards on the battlefield and wanted to Wrath the board. I have replaced them with cheaper removal. Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble: These cards need more support in the form sac outlets to be effective.
8/25/2014:
+1 Scholar of Athreos: A card that can repeatedly drain the opponent giving me a nice outlet for all the black mana the deck can produce. It's also much cheaper than the alternatives allowing me to trigger Extort more often.
+1 Underworld Coinsmith: Another card that can repeatedly drain the opponent, with a nice little life gain upside when I trigger constellation. It's also another cheap Extort enabler.
+1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: Card is so good at punishing tutoring that it slides into the deck perfectly.
-1 Agent of Masks: Fine card that just ended up being too slow.
-1 Day of Judgment: The didn't need all 3 Wraths so I cut the one that doesn't have the "cannot regenerate" clause.
-1 Conjurer's Closet: The deck wants 2.5 of these cards, so for now I'm keeping Erratic Portal and Cloudstone Curio and cutting this.
4/24/2017
Apparently, I wasn't over 99 cards before so the decklist only showed 98 in the MD...
+1 Bontu's Monument - 1 mana cost savings on all my black creatures (22 plus Obzedat) plus life drain to each opponent for each creature I cast makes this a nice add to the deck.
2/11/2018:
+1 Crested Sunmare - Another great lifegain triggered effect
+1 Torment of Hailfire - An upgrade over Blood Tribute in that it can hit all players.
+1 Vona, Butcher of Magan - A lifelinking removal option replacing Shriekmaw
+1 Twilight Prophet - A card draw upgrade over Disciple of Bolas that also drain my opponents
-1 Disciple of Bolas - I have no synergies with the creature sacrifice so Twilight Prophet ends up being the better card.
-1 Blood Tribute - Pulled for Torment of Hailfire
-1 Shriekmaw - Pulled for Vona
-1 Ob Nixilis Reignited - This has always just been fine, but never really that great.
Fate Reforged Palace Siege - I wavered on this one. At one time or another, it has replaced Oversold Cemetery and Debtor's Knell as a recursion piece that can also be a continuous life drain effect if I need it to be.
Dragons of Tarkir
Nothing
Magic Origins Alhammarret's Archive - I tried to resist putting this into all my decks, but it was tried out here as a suggestion from another MTGS user. The lifegain boost is very useful in this deck, but I was very surprised as to how often the card draw part was relevant. Shadows of the Past - I took this for a whirl, but the ability is just too expensive.
Battle for Zendikar Bloodbond Vampire - Right idea, but not good enough. Defiant Bloodlord - Amazing card in this deck. Drana's Emissary - I like that this is cheap and that it flies. Replaced some more expensive card. Ob Nixilis Reignited - I'm already playing the two creature versions of Ob Nixilis, so it seemed natural to want to try his Planeswalker card as well. Shambling Vent - Good dual land with Lifelink
Commander 2015 Karlov of the Ghost Council - On theme a couple different ways, this deck plays well with what the deck is trying to do.
Shadows Over Innistrad Anguished Unmaking - The life loss is inconsequential for the added flexibility this has over some options, but not so much as to want to play this over something like Mortify or Vindicate but rather in addition to them if he deck has space. Sorin, Grim Nemesis - The abilities are on theme, the +1 ability affects all opponents, and doubles as removal.
Eldritch Moon Campaign of Vengeance - I've tried this out and it was great when it worked. I've tried this in place of Polluted Bonds a couple of times.
Conspiracy: Take the Crown Kaya, Ghost Assassin - When I had more ETB life-drain in the deck, this was pretty good. I've since reduced that theme down a lot and this card was cut because of it. It's fine, but not great unless you have a ton of stuff you want to bounce.
Kaladesh Aetherflux Reservoir - I didn't really want to run stuff that only gained life, but there are a few exceptions to this. I cannot decide exactly where this will fit in my long term plans for this deck. Kambal, Consul of Allocation - Fits right into what this deck wants to do. Panharmonicon - Amazing card in this deck; all the ETB life drain triggers and stuff like Suture Priest all get doubled up. I pulled a bunch of these kinds of cards when I reconfigured the deck and this went with it, but it is possible to run this and be very happy about it.
Hour of Devastation Crested Sunmare - I have 28 cards that can gain me life in some fashion along with 4 other cards that trigger when I gain life. They are all pretty awesome in this deck, so I expected nothing less from Crested Sunmare. I was not disappointed with it here. Torment of Hailfire - I'm usually not a fan of cards that give the opponent a choice, but I can generate some mana at time that can make this a pretty efficient finisher. I liked that it hits all opponents and not just one like Blood Tribute.
Commander 2017 Alms Collector - This is a fine card that ended up in another deck.
Ixalan Dire Fleet Ravager - I had high hopes for this but it was underwhelming at best whenever it got played. Raiders' Wake - Excellent card that rarely triggers unless I get Raid-ing so I ended up pulling it. Vona, Butcher of Magan - This is a strong addition to this deck; it's removal, some lifegain, and a reasonable beater.
Rivals of Ixalan Elenda, the Dusk Rose - This just isn't good enough; maybe if I were more Vampire-tribal oriented then this might be worth it for the token generation. Profane Procession - This is expensive, but it exiles the offending creatures and there is obviously some upside when it flips into Tomb of the Dusk Rose. In the end I felt like I just had enough better options. Twilight Prophet - This card is pretty amazing if it sticks around, generating card advantage, draining life, and essentially doing everything I could ask for of a 4-drop.
Dominaria Arvad the Cursed - The thematic tie-in would be that it as Lifelink, but the +2/+2 bonus would apply to 7 other creatures plus my Commander. Given enough Legendary creatures, this is potentially worthwhile, but for the meantime I'll just keep it in the back of my mind that this is an option. Chainer's Torment - The first two chapters drain life from everyone, but the last chapter gives us what should be a huge token. I'm skeptical that this is going to work out well given that the token is vulnerable and has no evasion, so I'm going to pass for now. Demonlord Belzenlok - The card is kinda ridiculous, but I think I'm going to pass on adding it here. There is at least one other deck where this has found a home and I'm trying to spread out my "staples" among my decks rather than putting them in every deck. Lich's Mastery - I think that this might be the exact place that a card like this makes sense. At first I was really leery of this card, especially given that I don't actually produces a lot of permanents to make sure that I don't die to my own Lich. But the fact that it has Hexproof and that I can exile cards from hand or the graveyard makes me think that the chance of that happening are very slim. I'm going to give it a whirl here.
Battlebond Archfiend of Despair - This is really expensive at 8 mana, but it is perfect for what this deck wants to do thematically. The plan is to remove another late-game card in Torment of Hailfire to fit this in. Regna, the Redeemer - With plenty of ways to trigger Lifegain, this seems like a solid potential addition to the deck. Virtus the Veiled - Seems pretty saucy if I can give it evasion or clear the way for it.
So the changes this time around are as follows:
+1 Shriekmaw, -1 Duplicant - I wanted to go back to using Shriekmaw as the cheaper option.
+1 Lich's Mastery, -1 Nirkana Revenant - I really like Revenant, but it is only really effective when I have Urborg out.
+1 Archfiend of Depair, -1 Torment of Hailfire - Torment is not a bad card, but I felt like it never really lives up to its potential and I needed to cut a late-game card for the 8-CMC Archfiend.
+1 Regna, the Redeemer, -1 Geralf's Messenger - Messenger was the last remnant of a class of cards that I used to run, so it finally gets pulled.
Obzedat, Ghost Council carries the torch as the new general for the previous commander Ghost Council of Orzhova in what has slowly evolved into my Drain Life themed deck. The basic premise is to drain opponents of life points at every opportunity while incrementally gaining card advantage and destroying key permanents. The deck is slow and grindy, but it definitely stays true to its theme and promotes a controlled game state without drawing too much attention or hate.
Updated through Battlebond (6/8/2018)
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
Creatures - 35
1 Thrull Parasite
1 Orzhov Guildmage
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Tithe Drinker
1 Blood Seeker
1 Suture Priest
1 Basilica Screecher
1 Syndic of Tithes
1 Underworld Coinsmith
1 Karlov of the Ghost Council
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Kingpin's Pet
1 Scholar of Athreos
1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
1 Cliffhaven Vampire
1 Twilight Prophet
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Fate Unraveler
1 Shriekmaw
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Vona, Butcher of Magan
1 Crested Sunmare
1 Treasury Thrull
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Pontiff of Blight
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1 Regna, the Redeemer
1 Defiant Bloodlord
1 Angel of Despair
1 Ashen Rider
1 Archfiend of Despair
1 Path to Exile
1 Night's Whisper
1 Sign in Blood
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vindicate
1 Mortify
1 Utter End
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Decree of Pain
1 Debt to the Deathless
1 Exsanguinate
Enchantments - 11
1 Blind Obedience
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Necropotence
1 Underworld Dreams
1 Polluted Bonds
1 Campaign of Vengeance
1 Palace Siege
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Wound Reflection
1 Lich's Mastery
1 Debtors' Knell
Artifacts - 5
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Bontu's Monument
1 Scrubland
1 Godless Shrine
1 Fetid Heath
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Marsh Flats
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Command Tower
1 Shambling Vent
1 Tainted Field
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Scoured Barrens
1 Temple of Silence
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Temple of the False God
1 Dust Bowl
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Cabal Coffers
4 Plains
13 Swamp
There really isn't a lot to the deck, but the cards do break down into several distinct categories.
Extort:
The deck runs 9 of the 13 possible Extort cards that were printed in Gatecrash and Dragon's Maze. If there was enough room I'd run them all, but some of them are just not powerful enough on their own to warrant inclusion or are just plain too expensive. The beauty of the Extort mechanic is that it drains each opponent for each activation, so not only are you efficiently damaging your opponents you are also gaining lots of life in the process. Some of the Extort creatures are small and you may be tempted to cut them, but they will go a long way towards dealing lots of early damage and providing the deck plenty of early plays. The deck also runs a lot of recursion engines so that you never run out of spells to play with which to trigger Extort.
ETB Life Drain:
Highway Robber, Geralf's Messenger, Bloodhunter Bat, Blind Hunter, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Ghost Council of Orzhova all drain life from your opponents when they enter the battlefield. To promote the reuse of these effects, the deck runs cards like Oversold Cemetery to recur them from the graveyard or cards like Erratic Portal, Conjuror's Closet, and Cloudstone Curio to 'blink' them or return them to your hand to cast a gain.
Life Drain Spells:
Although the deck does not play the iconic Drain Life, it does run 4 of the best Life Drain sorceries that you can run. Exsanguinate and Debt to the Deathless are particularly powerful in that they drain all opponents.
Bleed Life Effects:
One of the keys to the deck is to find cards that can repeatedly damage your opponent with little or no additional mana cost since you want your mana available to pay for Extort or to further advance your board. There are several cards available that will slowly bleed away your opponent's life total for doing things that they would normally want to do. Put a creature into play? Suture Priest and Blood Seeker say hello. Put a land into play? Polluted Bonds drains you for two? Draw a card? Underworld Dreams hits you for one.
Blood Clock/Umbilicus: These cards fit right into the theme, either draining the opponent life or setting their board back a permanent. The problem is that the 'enters the battlefied' effects of creatures has gotten so good that I would often help the opponent rather than hurt them and they rarely drained the opponent like I wanted.
Stab Wound, One Thousand Lashes, Pillory of the Sleepless: Great cards that do double duty in the deck, but I hated being torn between wanting these cards on the battlefield and wanted to Wrath the board. I have replaced them with cheaper removal.
Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble: These cards need more support in the form sac outlets to be effective.
8/25/2014:
+1 Scholar of Athreos: A card that can repeatedly drain the opponent giving me a nice outlet for all the black mana the deck can produce. It's also much cheaper than the alternatives allowing me to trigger Extort more often.
+1 Underworld Coinsmith: Another card that can repeatedly drain the opponent, with a nice little life gain upside when I trigger constellation. It's also another cheap Extort enabler.
+1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: Card is so good at punishing tutoring that it slides into the deck perfectly.
-1 Agent of Masks: Fine card that just ended up being too slow.
-1 Day of Judgment: The didn't need all 3 Wraths so I cut the one that doesn't have the "cannot regenerate" clause.
-1 Conjurer's Closet: The deck wants 2.5 of these cards, so for now I'm keeping Erratic Portal and Cloudstone Curio and cutting this.
10/22/2014:
+1 Utter End: Upgrade over O-Ring.
+1 Underworld Dreams: This fell out of the deck and I decided it needed to go back.
+1 Scoured Barrens: This deck had some room for CIPT lands, and the life gain triggers a few effects.
+1 Temple of Silence: I like the Scry lands in general
-1 Oblivion Ring
-1 Baneful Omen
-1 Plains
-1 Swamp
1/8/2015:
+1 Fate Unraveler: Another bleed life effect
-1 Divinity of Pride: Not really on theme other than being a big lifelinker.
3/20/2017:
-1 Oversold Cemetery: In order to fit in Palace Siege, I needed to cut a recursion effect.
-1 Death Grasp: I like X-spells, but this one only hits one player at a time.
-1 Blind Hunter, -1 Highway Robber, -1 Bloodhunter Bat: Not impactful enough in the long run
-1 Cloudstone Curio, -1 Erratic Portal: I decided to demphasize the ETB draining effects and rely on my recursion from the graveyard to keep the cards flowing.
-1 Bone Shredder: I already had access to lots of removal
-1 Orzhov Basilica: I needed to drop an ETB land
+1 Palace Siege
+1 Defiant Bloodlord
+1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
+1 Karlov of the Ghost Council
+1 Cliffhaven Vampire
+1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
+1 Campaign of Vengeance
+1 Shambling Vent
Some reason, I was at 100 and not 99 in the MD...
4/24/2017
Apparently, I wasn't over 99 cards before so the decklist only showed 98 in the MD...
+1 Bontu's Monument - 1 mana cost savings on all my black creatures (22 plus Obzedat) plus life drain to each opponent for each creature I cast makes this a nice add to the deck.
2/11/2018:
+1 Crested Sunmare - Another great lifegain triggered effect
+1 Torment of Hailfire - An upgrade over Blood Tribute in that it can hit all players.
+1 Vona, Butcher of Magan - A lifelinking removal option replacing Shriekmaw
+1 Twilight Prophet - A card draw upgrade over Disciple of Bolas that also drain my opponents
-1 Disciple of Bolas - I have no synergies with the creature sacrifice so Twilight Prophet ends up being the better card.
-1 Blood Tribute - Pulled for Torment of Hailfire
-1 Shriekmaw - Pulled for Vona
-1 Ob Nixilis Reignited - This has always just been fine, but never really that great.
6/8/2018:
So the changes this time around are as follows:
+1 Shriekmaw, -1 Duplicant
+1 Lich's Mastery, -1 Nirkana Revenant
+1 Archfiend of Despair, -1 Torment of Hailfire
+1 Regna, the Redeemer, -1 Geralf's Messenger
Fate Reforged
Palace Siege - I wavered on this one. At one time or another, it has replaced Oversold Cemetery and Debtor's Knell as a recursion piece that can also be a continuous life drain effect if I need it to be.
Dragons of Tarkir
Nothing
Magic Origins
Alhammarret's Archive - I tried to resist putting this into all my decks, but it was tried out here as a suggestion from another MTGS user. The lifegain boost is very useful in this deck, but I was very surprised as to how often the card draw part was relevant.
Shadows of the Past - I took this for a whirl, but the ability is just too expensive.
Battle for Zendikar
Bloodbond Vampire - Right idea, but not good enough.
Defiant Bloodlord - Amazing card in this deck.
Drana's Emissary - I like that this is cheap and that it flies. Replaced some more expensive card.
Ob Nixilis Reignited - I'm already playing the two creature versions of Ob Nixilis, so it seemed natural to want to try his Planeswalker card as well.
Shambling Vent - Good dual land with Lifelink
Commander 2015
Karlov of the Ghost Council - On theme a couple different ways, this deck plays well with what the deck is trying to do.
Oath of the Gatewatch
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - This card was fine, but overall unimpressive.
Cliffhaven Vampire - Amazing little card in this deck.
Shadows Over Innistrad
Anguished Unmaking - The life loss is inconsequential for the added flexibility this has over some options, but not so much as to want to play this over something like Mortify or Vindicate but rather in addition to them if he deck has space.
Sorin, Grim Nemesis - The abilities are on theme, the +1 ability affects all opponents, and doubles as removal.
Eldritch Moon
Campaign of Vengeance - I've tried this out and it was great when it worked. I've tried this in place of Polluted Bonds a couple of times.
Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Kaya, Ghost Assassin - When I had more ETB life-drain in the deck, this was pretty good. I've since reduced that theme down a lot and this card was cut because of it. It's fine, but not great unless you have a ton of stuff you want to bounce.
Kaladesh
Aetherflux Reservoir - I didn't really want to run stuff that only gained life, but there are a few exceptions to this. I cannot decide exactly where this will fit in my long term plans for this deck.
Kambal, Consul of Allocation - Fits right into what this deck wants to do.
Panharmonicon - Amazing card in this deck; all the ETB life drain triggers and stuff like Suture Priest all get doubled up. I pulled a bunch of these kinds of cards when I reconfigured the deck and this went with it, but it is possible to run this and be very happy about it.
Commander 2016
Nothing - Tymna the Weaver and Ravos, Soultender are interesting, but ultimately not what this deck really wants.
Aeher Revolt
Nothing
To be continued...
So I am... last update, I miscounted I guess. This is good because I want to try Bontu's Monument in the deck. Thanks!
Crested Sunmare - I have 28 cards that can gain me life in some fashion along with 4 other cards that trigger when I gain life. They are all pretty awesome in this deck, so I expected nothing less from Crested Sunmare. I was not disappointed with it here.
Torment of Hailfire - I'm usually not a fan of cards that give the opponent a choice, but I can generate some mana at time that can make this a pretty efficient finisher. I liked that it hits all opponents and not just one like Blood Tribute.
Commander 2017
Alms Collector - This is a fine card that ended up in another deck.
Ixalan
Dire Fleet Ravager - I had high hopes for this but it was underwhelming at best whenever it got played.
Raiders' Wake - Excellent card that rarely triggers unless I get Raid-ing so I ended up pulling it.
Vona, Butcher of Magan - This is a strong addition to this deck; it's removal, some lifegain, and a reasonable beater.
Rivals of Ixalan
Elenda, the Dusk Rose - This just isn't good enough; maybe if I were more Vampire-tribal oriented then this might be worth it for the token generation.
Profane Procession - This is expensive, but it exiles the offending creatures and there is obviously some upside when it flips into Tomb of the Dusk Rose. In the end I felt like I just had enough better options.
Twilight Prophet - This card is pretty amazing if it sticks around, generating card advantage, draining life, and essentially doing everything I could ask for of a 4-drop.
The update this time around ends up as follows:
+1 Crested Sunmare
+1 Torment of Hailfire
+1 Vona, Butcher of Magan
+1 Twilight Prophet
-1 Disciple of Bolas - I have no synergies with the creature sacrifice so Twilight Prophet ends up being the better card.
-1 Blood Tribute - Pulled for Torment of Hailfire
-1 Shriekmaw - Pulled for Vona
-1 Ob Nixilis Reignited - This has always just been fine, but never really that great.
Dominaria
Arvad the Cursed - The thematic tie-in would be that it as Lifelink, but the +2/+2 bonus would apply to 7 other creatures plus my Commander. Given enough Legendary creatures, this is potentially worthwhile, but for the meantime I'll just keep it in the back of my mind that this is an option.
Chainer's Torment - The first two chapters drain life from everyone, but the last chapter gives us what should be a huge token. I'm skeptical that this is going to work out well given that the token is vulnerable and has no evasion, so I'm going to pass for now.
Demonlord Belzenlok - The card is kinda ridiculous, but I think I'm going to pass on adding it here. There is at least one other deck where this has found a home and I'm trying to spread out my "staples" among my decks rather than putting them in every deck.
Lich's Mastery - I think that this might be the exact place that a card like this makes sense. At first I was really leery of this card, especially given that I don't actually produces a lot of permanents to make sure that I don't die to my own Lich. But the fact that it has Hexproof and that I can exile cards from hand or the graveyard makes me think that the chance of that happening are very slim. I'm going to give it a whirl here.
Battlebond
Archfiend of Despair - This is really expensive at 8 mana, but it is perfect for what this deck wants to do thematically. The plan is to remove another late-game card in Torment of Hailfire to fit this in.
Regna, the Redeemer - With plenty of ways to trigger Lifegain, this seems like a solid potential addition to the deck.
Virtus the Veiled - Seems pretty saucy if I can give it evasion or clear the way for it.
So the changes this time around are as follows:
+1 Shriekmaw, -1 Duplicant - I wanted to go back to using Shriekmaw as the cheaper option.
+1 Lich's Mastery, -1 Nirkana Revenant - I really like Revenant, but it is only really effective when I have Urborg out.
+1 Archfiend of Depair, -1 Torment of Hailfire - Torment is not a bad card, but I felt like it never really lives up to its potential and I needed to cut a late-game card for the 8-CMC Archfiend.
+1 Regna, the Redeemer, -1 Geralf's Messenger - Messenger was the last remnant of a class of cards that I used to run, so it finally gets pulled.