Gonti is an Aetherborn crime lord from the plane of Kaladesh, and what better way to showcase his criminal antics than by stealing other people’s cards?!
The premise of this deck is simple: cast Gonti and steal things. We utilize an array of reanimation spells in order to continually trigger Gonti and gain value by being able to play powerful spells outside of our Mono Black color identity. That is the main goal of the deck. A sub-theme of the deck is being able to use other “enter the battlefield”, or ETB, effects to continuously gain value and help control the board.
We can win by out-valuing the other players, or simply by biding our time and going for a Nim Deathmantle/Ashnod's Altar combo kill.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury is a pretty unique card in that it does something mono black doesn’t do very often, if at all: it allows you to play other people’s cards. Let’s take a closer look at the card itself:
Cost:
Gonti costs 2BB to cast. That's a pretty fair price considering what he can do. With the right hand, you can get him out as early as turn two. This can help us get a slight edge over our opponents, especially if we can steal a counter spell.
Power/Toughness:
Gonti has a 2/3 body. Let's be really honest: it isn't the best. He can die to all sorts of damage spells that deal 3 damage, like Lightning Bolt, for instance. However, he does have Deathtouch, which helps in dealing with creatures, except for ones with Indestructible.
Ability:
His ability is the sole reason why this deck was built. When he enters the battlefield, we get to look at the top four cards of a target opponent’s library, exile one of them face down so only we know what it is, and put the rest on the bottom of their library in any order. At any time during the game, we can look at it, and as long as we have priority and the timing is right, we can cast it and spend mana as though it were of any type. Yes, type, and not color. We get to use colorless mana to cast a Counterspell if we so choose to. What makes the ability even better is that we can cast it for as long as it remains exiled, even if Gonti is no longer on the battlefield. Talk about value!
Do remember this: you cast the card you exiled. You cannot play lands if you choose them. However, if there is a land that can be problematic, such as Gaea's Cradle or even Dark Depths, don’t hesitate to exile them.
You might like Gonti if:
1) You like mono black.
2) You like having a unique and flavorful general.
3) You want to play mono black, but also cast spells of other colors.
4) You like reanimating creatures.
You might dislike Gonti if:
1) You dislilke mono color decks.
2) You would rather play anything besides black.
3) You enjoy your deck so much you don’t want to play anyone else’s.
4) You don’t like having fun and having some wacky games.
There are many other choices as far as mono black commanders go, as well as many other types of strategies such as combo or aggro. Here are a few examples of such commanders:
Sidisi, Undead Vizier: Sidisi is probably the best choice for a general if you are going the combo route. She’s a tutor in the command zone that can be recast time and time again in order to find all of your combo pieces, or whatever else you may need at the time.
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed: Another general that can be used as a combo general as he can sack himself to return a black card from your graveyard to your hand, such as a tutor. He also has the Horsemanship ability, so he is essentially unblockable and can be put into a Voltron-style deck.
Chainer, Dementia Master: Chainer is a pretty good general if you are going a more reanimator style deck. BBB and three life can really start to add up over time, so having a way to generate a lot of mana and life gain will be essential for the deck.
Sheoldred, Whispering One: She's a pretty good reanimator general that also doubles as removal. Getting a creature back for free during your upkeep is really nice, as well as your opponents losing one during there upkeep. However, she costs 5BB the first time you cast her from the command zone, and only continues to increase with each cast, so she may not be the best choice as far as a reanimator/control general goes.
When Gonti first came out, I knew I wanted to build him. I've always been a mono black player at heart, and have built a few mono black decks in my time as a commander player. What really drew me to him was his unique ability of being able to play cards outside of his color identity.
I didn't build him right away. I did research first. I looked at various deck lists and watched deck techs/gameplay footage of him to get a feel for what he could do. I took ideas from a few different lists and created a mash up of them for my first deck. While it was fun, I still thought he could do better.
The second iteration of the deck took out a lot of the more fun cards and went for a more cutthroat style of deck, with multiples combos such as Bitterblossom/Contamination and Necrotic Ooze combos. I piloted the deck for quite a while and it was putting up some pretty decent results. But I didn't really want to play him like this. I missed the old version where I would focus on having fun and not trying to win all of the time.
The third iteration is what I bring to you today. I took out the combos that made the deck more brutal (still have a couple I win combos, but they have more purpose than being just a combo piece) and put in some of the older cards I loved like Lifeline.
Never have I had more fun playing a deck than I have with this one. You can make ridiculous plays, have fun, and still win.
Note: There may be repeats of cards in each category, as some cards have more than one function in the deck. If I am missing something, or something is in the wrong category, please let me know.
While there are many options for cards that could be included in a deck, there are only room for 100. In the spoiler below, I will give a card-by-card explanation as to why I specifically chose to have a certain card in in the deck.
Creatures:
Viscera Seer: Early game sac outlet. We like our sac outlets to be free to activate, and Seer does that. He comes out early enough, and helps set up our draws by scrying away cards we don't want.
Dusk Legion Zealot/Phyrexian Rager: Early card draw on ETB creatures. We don't do much in the earlier turns, so these will help us to dig deeper into our deck for things to do later on.
Mesmeric Fiend: A new addition to the deck. I wanted to have a more proactive approach to removal, so what better way to do that than take it straight from the hand. Fiend also exiles the card, so it's permanent removal, for the most part, and hits any nonland card. Much like Faceless Butcher, its two effects are separate, so after it enters and triggers, you sacrifice it, its LTB effect will trigger, returning nothing, and then the ETB effect resolves and exiles the card indefinitely.
Soldevi Adnate: Sac outlet that generates an amount of B equal to the CMC of the sacrificed creature. This will basically pay Gonti's printed cost, and all we need to pay for is the commander tax. Otherwise, we sac another creature to pay for other spells.
Crypt Ghast: Staple card in any mono black deck. Doubles the amount of mana your Swamps produce. Has the added effect of draining each opponent and you gaining that much life at the cost of B each time you cast a spell. With Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth out, tapping your nonbasic lands for B will net you BB
Dimir House Guard: Mainly used as a tutor. There are 14 cards with a CMC of 4, meaning there is no end to what this guy can grab such as removal, card draw, or utility. Can also use him as a body with a built-in sac outlet.
Entomber Exarch: Recursion and proactive removal on an ETB creature. Allows us to pull creatures from the graveyard to reuse, or it gets problematic noncreature spells from an opponent. The versatility on this creature is very nice.
Erebos, God of the Dead: A source of indestructible card draw. Prevents opponent’s from using any lifegain shenanigans. When we have enough devotion, we get ourselves a 5/7 indestructible beater.
Faceless Butcher/Ravenous Chupacabra: Removal on a stick for any creature an opponent controls. Another ETB effect to abuse with Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet. Butcher can also be used in conjunction with a sac outlet to permanently exile a creature due to the separated clause in its effect.
Solemn Simulacrum: Sad Robot! On ETB, he allows us to search up a land. On death, he lets us draw a card . Both effects we love in this deck.
Thought-Knot Seer: This card is in the same vein as Mesmeric Fiend. Used as proactive removal to get rid of threats straight from the hand. The downside is that it will give an opponent a free card draw when it leaves. It also has separate ETB/LTB triggers, so you can use a sac outlet to have the opponent draw a card first, and then exile any one of them, or use it politically and exile a card from one opponent, and give the card draw to another. It does require C to cast, so be sure you have a nonblack producing land ready.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel: Big Daddy Gary! This guy gets to be bonkers if our devotion is high and we have Panharmonicon on the field. Even better when Conjurer's Closet is also out. Gains us life and drains our opponents. One of our win conditions in the deck.
Sidisi, Undead Vizier: Tutor on a stick. Doubles as a sac outlet for a creature so we can reanimate it to get more use out of an ETB effect. 4/6 with Deathtouch is nothing to scoff at either.
Duplicant: Colorless removal that exiles so it gets around indestructible creatures. Do note that he only copies P/T and Creature Type and not any abilities. If you go to exile a commander, and they choose to put it into the Command Zone instead, Duplicant will not copy the values as it is a replacement effect, so will enter as a 2/4 Shapeshifter. No worries though, as we can just sac him and reuse him later.
Grave Titan: 10 power across 3 three bodies for 4BB is pretty good, especially when one of those bodies is a 6/6 with deathtouch. Can be used to generate infinite zombies and mana, and is a part of a win condition for the deck.
Kokusho, the Evening Star: One of the Legendary Kamigawa dragons, and the best one if you ask me. Keep sacrificing him and bringing him back will eventually kill our opponents, so he is another win condition in the deck.
Noxious Gearhulk: Another piece of our removal package. Repeatable use as it is an ETB effect creature so it can be blinked or recurred. Can also hit our creatures if we want to bring them back from the graveyard.
Wurmcoil Engine: Wurmcoil helps alleviate the loss of life that mono black is known for. It is also part of an infinite mana engine that gets passed Torpor Orb-like effects, as it is a death trigger instead of an ETB trigger. Not only helps create infinite mana, but can also create infinite tokens as well.
Meteor Golem: Black has a hard time dealing with noncreatures. Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk were used as ways of getting rid of these things. However, they hurt us as much as the opponent, if not more. Enter Meteor Golem. Our saving grace. He can destroy any nonland permanent. It's an ETB effect so it's abusable with Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet/Lifeline. He's a creature so he can be reanimated for multiple uses. By far the best card M19 has brought to this deck.
Rune-Scarred Demon: Another tutor on a stick. 5BB for a 6/6 flyer is still kinda hefty, but since it has an ETB effect of tutoring any card, he makes the cut in the deck as we can flicker with Conjurer's Closet and bring him back from the graveyard.
Sepulchral Primordial: Recursion for opponents' creatures. Not the most powerful effects for cost, as some opponents may not even run creatures, but it can bring back up to three creatures (six if Panharmonicon is out).
Sheoldred, Whispering One: The big boss lady herself. Removal and recursion in one creature. She tends to paint a big target on her head, but if she sticks around, she can give you some pretty good value.
Artifacts:
Mana Crypt/Sol Ring/Jet Medallion: The mana rocks. Helps accelerate us into playing more spells each turn, or bigger spells. Invaluable to have in EDH.
Nim Deathmantle: Artifact that lets us return a creature when it dies for only 4. Also gives the creature +2/+2 and intimidate for a little evasion. Main combo piece alongside Ashnod's Altar.
Ashnod's Altar: Sac outlet that gives us CC for every creature sacrificed. Use it to power out a bigger spell, gives us another target to reanimate, and is a combo piece alongside Nim Deathmantle.
Phyrexian Altar: Another sac outlet that gives us mana. This Altar allows us to generate mana of any color, so if we steal something with an activated ability that requires mana, we can pay its cost. It does not go infinite like Ashnod's Altar, but can do so if you also have a Panharmonicon out to double up on the tokens produced by Grave Titan.
Panharmonicon: This is what the deck is built around. This card is SO GOOD! Doubles all of our ETB triggers so we can get double exile, double life drain, double sacrifices, double trouble! This card usually paints a big target on itself when you play it, but if it sticks around, you will not be disappointed. Can get multiple uses out of it with Beacon of Unrest.
Lifeline: This artifact can be a double-edged sword. It makes all of our removal null (minus board wipes/exile effects) as it also works on our opponent's creatures as well. However, the advantage we have with all of our ETB effects should outweigh the negativity it has. With a sac outlet, we can sac and bring back every turn, and gain insane value in the process.
Conjurer's Closet: Another of Gonti’s favorite toys to play with. Allows us to get more use out of our ETB creatures that are already on the battlefield. If we control an opponent’s creature, we can use Closet to exile it and it will return under our control. If we somehow gain control of their commander, we can use Closet to exile it, they can then choose to put their commander in the command zone, but it will still return under our control since Closet says to "return that card" to the battlefield and not "return the exiled card," as it doesn't reference the exile zone.
Sorceries:
Reanimate: The best reanimate spell. Returns any creature at the price of its CMC being deducted from your life.
Black Sun's Zenith/Toxic Deluge/Damnation/Mutilate: Board wipes. Not much to be said about these except these are probably the best ones you can use. BSZ, Deluge, and Mutilate get past indestructible creatures as well.
Demonic Tutor: Black staple card. Hands down the best tutor available. 1B to bring any card from your library to your hand is insane. Search up an answer if you need it or a fun card if you want it.
Diabolic Intent:Sac outlet and tutor. Having another low-cost tutor will help us grab a card we need, and it gives us another creature to reanimate for value.
Buried Alive: Sorcery-speed Entomb, but for three creatures instead of one. Can be used to set up a good Living Death, or just to have options to reanimate. Probably one of the weaker cards in the deck to be honest.
Yawgmoth's Will: One of the best black spells ever printed. Allows us to replay any card from our graveyard. Use caution with this spell, however, as any card that goes to the graveyard the same turn this is played will be exiled.
Beacon of Unrest: Reanimates any creature or artifact from any graveyard, then will get shuffled back into your library for future use, if it resolves. Really useful if someone gets rid of Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet or any other good card.
Living Death: This card doubles as removal and recursion. Gets around indestructible creatures since they are sacrificed and not destroyed.
Instants:
Entomb: Mainly used to get a creature into the graveyard for later reanimation. Could also be used to put an artifact in the graveyard to be brought back with Beacon of Unrest.
Supernatural Stamina/Undying Evil: Our surprise reanimate spells. Only works if our creature is going to die; they cannot return something that is already dead.
Vampiric Tutor: Instant speed tutor. Grabs a card and sticks it on top of our library for two life. If I start the game with it, I will usually grab Mana Crypt in order to get a turn two Gonti or something else early on. Otherwise, it will grab whatever we need at the time.
Wake the Dead: Another instant speed reanimation spell. Can only be used during an opponent's combat step, but has the ability to reanimate more than one creature for some surprise shenanigans.
Corpse Dance: Instant speed reanimate spell. This one is a bit limited as it can only grab the top most creature in your graveyard, and it exiles at end step. A sac outlet is useful in conjunction with it if you want to bring the creature back at a later time.
Enchantments:
Kaya's Ghostform: A new toy from WAR. It is functionally identical to Undying Evil/Supernatural Stamina in the sense that when the creature dies, it will be returned to the battlefield. This card, however, does more, as it also functions when it gets exiled AND also works on planeswalkers as well!
Phyrexian Reclamation: Cheap way to bring back creatures from the graveyard so we can use them again.
Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead/Necromancy: Reanimation enchantments. Can be used to grab any creature from any graveyard. Necromancy can also be played at instant speed for surprise shenanigans, but the creature will be sacrificed at end step.
Necropotence/Phyrexian Arena: More card draw that sticks around after it’s cast. These two are probably the best card draw spells that black has to offer.
Planeswalkers:
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Liliana of the Dark Realms: Mainly used to grab a Swamp. Can also act as spot removal when in a pinch, and if we can get to her ultimate, we will have plenty of mana for our shenanigans.
Lands:
Ancient Tomb: Great EDH land. Allows us to play our spells a turn earlier than normal at the cost of two life.
Arcane Lighthouse: Sometimes we need to get rid of a creature that has shroud/hexproof while leaving our creatures intact, so this utility land gives us that ability to do so with targeted removal.
Cabal Coffers: My favorite land of all time. Can net so much mana, especially with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play. Without Urborg, however, you need to have 4 Swamps before you can start to net mana.
Cabal Stronghold: Cabal Coffers, Jr. The nice thing about this land is that it produces mana itself. However, in order to net mana, you need to have 5 Swamps out, and they have to be basic, since that’s what it counts. It will not work with Urborg, since it doesn’t make them basic Swamps.
High Market: The life gain is fairly insignificant compared to what we will lose over the course of the game, but it is a sac outlet regardless.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Another big-mana producing land. Needs our devotion to be at least BBBB in order to net any mana.
Petrified Field: Since we don't run, or even have use for, Crucible of Worlds, this is the next best option we have to reuse Coffers/Stronghold/Nykthos if they get destroyed.
Phyrexian Tower: Sac outlet land that produces BB to cast spells or activate abilities.
Swamp: The lifeblood of the deck. No Swamps means no playing our black cards. Not much to say about these, except make sure they match!
Thespian's Stage: Used to copy our non-legendary lands, or can copy an opposing land if we need it to.
Vesuva: Another copy land. Gives us another Coffers/Stronghold to use, or we can even copy someone else's land as well.
Volrath's Stronghold: Utility land that lets us reuse our creatures by putting one on top of our library. Will also keep us from decking out, as long as we have a creature in our graveyard.
This section is reserved for cards that didn’t make the cut, or will be kept in reserve as a “toolbox” of sorts for things I can swap out when I feel like changing the deck up.
The strategy to playing this deck is simple: play lands, cast spells, steal opponent’s cards. We want to use and abuse our ETB effects as much as possible, and win through sheer value or a simple combo. In order to do that, we need to make sure we start the game out right.
1) Mulligans:
We want to have a minimum of two Swamps in our opening hand, just in case we can get a turn two or three Gonti. Any card draw or tutor in the hand is a keep, as long as we can cast them on curve. If our hand has a high CMC, we will need to send it back. Any kind of mana rock (Sol Ring/Mana Crypt/Jet Medallion) will usually mean a keep, as we can cast higher CMC cards a lot sooner than just hitting land drops.
Example Hands: Damnation, Ancient Tomb, Swamp, Faceless Butcher, Sol Ring, Duplicant, Volrath's Stronghold: This hand is borderline. We have three lands, but only one of them being a Swamp. We also have Sol Ring, which will power out our higher CMC spells. Plenty of removal to keep the board clear, it just all depends on who we are playing against, and if we feel we can draw into a Swamp within the first couple of turns.
Necromancy, Swamp, Swamp, Fellwar Stone, Ancient Tomb, Animate Dead, Swamp: This hand is a keep. We are on curve for hitting a turn three Gonti, possibly turn two if an opponent plays out a Swamp of their own. We also have a couple pieces of recursion in case Gonti gets removed and we can get him out cheaper by bringing him back from the graveyard instead of having to recast him.
2) Early Game:
The first part of the early game (when commanders are revealed) is spent assessing our opponent(s). If there is more than one opponent, determine who may have the best options for us to steal from. Blue can give us access to counters, green for ramp, red for burn or artifact destruction, white for creature removal, and black for more recursion or creature removal. Of course, it all depends on what Commander they are playing, as they may not have those things and are going with an entirely different strategy. We want to try to get Gonti out as quickly as possible to begin creating our toolbox of tricks to help us achieve victory. Getting out mana rocks or even Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth/Cabal Coffers will enable quick and possibly multiple castings of Gonti in order to begin picking away at libraries.
3) Mid Game:
We really want to be abusing Gonti's and other creatures ETB abilities by this point, so if we haven't drawn into Panharmonicon or Conjurer's Closet, we will hopefully be able to tutor for it. Being able to double up on ETBs will enable us to gain more value out of our creatures when they enter, or at the end of turn in Closet's case. Once you have an established board presence, you want to establish a game plan of how you want to win. You will want to out-value your opponents through card advantage and board control, and then win through damage, draining their life, or go for a combo kill. Once you have this established, utilize your tutors and card draw to dig for your pieces to win.
4) Late Game:
By the time you enter the late game, you should have your avenue of victory in hand or a way to get it from the graveyard/deck, or have it on the field. If one of our combo pieces (Ashnod's Altar/Nim Deathmantle) gets destroyed, we can bring them back with Beacon of Unrest. However, if they were to be exiled, we have no way of getting them back, and must utilize another way to win. We want to make sure the path is clear before going in for the kill, whether that is everyone else being tapped out, or possibly having some counters in our toolbox. If the latter is the case, be sure you have enough mana available to support the counters and your win condition. We can utilize Ashnod's Altar/Nim Deathmantle in various ways to secure a combo kill using infinite mana engine and going for infinite drain with Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star, or steal everyone’s entire library with Gonti. Otherwise, we make a horde of tokens and swing in for lethal. If a mass token swarm is the way you want to finish the game, do so at the end of your opponent's turn before yours; doing so will allow them to attack on your turn without having to wait.
1) Graveyard Hate:This is a reanimator-style deck, so we heavily rely on the graveyard as a second library of sorts. Therefore, any card that prevents interaction with the graveyard will hinder us severely. The following cards are a few examples of very problematic cards:
These are only a few of the many graveyard hate cards in the game. Any of them are bad for us so if we can get rid of them, we should prioritize that.
2) ETB Hate Cards: The second theme of the deck is Enters the Battlefield (ETB) effects. Most of our creatures have an ETB effect that helps us in some way, so if those get shut off, we have a hard time of winning. Even parts of our combo rely on our creatures entering the battlefield. So, some of the cards we need to look out for are:
3) Hexproof/Shroud: Another problem we will run into is anything that has or can grant Hexproof/Shroud. A lot of our ETB creatures interact by targeting. If we can’t target our opponent’s stuff, then we may end up targeting ours if they are legal targets, and we don’t want that happening. That is why we have added in Arcane Lighthouse to interact with these creatures. Be mindful of these effects and play wisely.
One of the most powerful cards in this deck is Nim Deathmantle. Why is it so powerful? Well, when combined with Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar and select creatures found in this deck (there are even more not in here), we are able to generate infinite mana and/or tokens. We can then use the infinite mana to end the game via non-combat, or make enough tokens to swing for lethal. Let’s look at the various ways we can accomplish that.
*While this deck list may or may not contain some of the cards in these combos, I felt like leaving them in there for those that do run them. It is a lot of information, and I'd rather not have to retype it all in case I add these cards back in the future.
Su-Chi: Sacrifice Su-Chi to generate CC, which will trigger Nim Deathmantle and Su-Chi's on-death trigger, which will then generate an additional CCCC. Use that mana to bring back Su-Chi. Repeat for infinite C.
Grave Titan: With Grave Titan and two Zombie tokens on the battlefield, sacrifice all three to generate CCCCCC. Use CCCC to bring back Grave Titan and create two more Zombie tokens. Repeat for infinite C. You can also sacrifice Grave Titan and one Zombie token to generate CCCC, bring back Grave Titan and create two zombie tokens. Repeat for infinite Zombie tokens.
Marionette Master: With Marionette Master and three Servo tokens, sacrifice all three tokens to generate CCCCCC and have an opponent lose three life. Sacrifice Marionette Master to generate an additional CC, and use CCCC to bring her back and create three more Servo tokens, and netting CCCC. Repeat to infinitely drain all opponents.
Wurmcoil Engine: With Wurmcoil Engine on the battlefield, sacrifice it to generate CC and put the Nim Deathmantle's trigger on the stack first, followed by the Engine's. Create the two tokens, then sacrifice both for CCCC and use the mana to bring back Engine, netting CC in the process. Repeat for infinite C. You can also sacrifice only one token to bring back Engine, and repeat again for infinite Lifelink/Deathtouch Wurm tokens.
The Phyrexian Engine: This engine utilizes Phyrexian Altar in place of Ashnod's Altar, but is only compatible with these two creatures:
Su-Chi: Sacrifice Su-Chi to generate B, which will trigger Nim Deathmantle and Su-Chi's on-death trigger, which will then generate an additional CCCC. Use that mana to bring back Su-Chi. Repeat for infinite B.
Marionette Master: With Marionette Master and three Servo tokens, sacrifice all three tokens to generate BBB and have an opponent lose three life. Sacrifice Marionette Master to generate an additional B, and use BBBB to bring her back and create three more Servo tokens. Repeat to infinitely drain all opponents.
The Win Conditions: Now that we have generated infinite mana, we can use one of the following cards to close out the game:
Gonti, Lord of Luxury: With Gonti on the battlefield, sacrifice it and send to the graveyard, triggering Nim Deathmantle. Bring Gonti back with the infinite mana and exile one card from an opponent's library. Repeat to exile all cards in all libraries. Pass the turn and when they try to draw, they lose the game.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel: With Gray Merchant on the battlefield, sacrifice it and send to the graveyard, triggering Nim Deathmantle. Bring him back with the infinite mana and drain your opponent's life equal to your devotion to black and gain that much life. Repeat to drain all opponents.
Kokusho, the Evening Star: With Kokusho on the battlefield, sacrifice it and send to the graveyard, triggering Nim Deathmantle and Kokusho, draining each opponent for five life and you gaining that much. Bring back Kokusho with the infinite mana, and repeat to infinitely drain all opponents.
Marionette Master: With Master and the three Servo tokens on the battlefield, sacrifice the three Servos, draining an opponent for three life, then sacrifice Master and bring back with the infinite mana. Repeat to infinitely drain all opponents.
The Torpor Orb-Proof Engine: One thing to keep in mind is that if there is a Torpor Orb-like effect on the battlefield, it will shut off our ETB creatures, nullifying part of our engine. However, we do have two ways of still generating infinite mana through these effects, and also a win condition that is not an ETB effect:
The main theme of these changes is effectiveness. Fleshbag/Merciless, while they are removal and abusable ETB creatures, don't let us select what creatures we want to remove, which can be a devastating thing. Xiahou Dun was just too slow as his ability has a timing restriction, so no surprise shenanigans. Our creatures cost too much to be able to abuse with Curio, and Mimc Vat has the potential of permanently losing one of our creatures, even our commander. Ritual was too narrow, as a lot of the time we would like to steal a black or artifact creature. Entomb is a sort of narrow tutor card, and almost useless unless we can reanimate right away. Dead Man's Chest is bad if the only creatures out are commanders, so we get no value, and even if there are creatures out, we have to have a way of killing it and sending it to the graveyard. Gate also has a timing restriction, and we can only use once per turn.
Abhorrent and Wurmcoil can replace Grave Titan in our mana engine, and can create a ton of bodies for attacking/blocking/sacrificing. Intent is another cheap and efficient tutor. Lifeline, Wake, and Makeshift are great cards for reanimating creatures and abusing things. Oblivion Stone is another mass removal that can hit artifacts, enchantments, and even planeswalkers. Sign in Blood and Morbid Curiosity for more card draw to get to our good cards.
After testing these changes, I've decided to make all of them final for the deck. Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk were put in here as more efficient ways of dealing with artifacts and enchantments over Gate to Phyrexia. However, when we have an established board presence with our artifacts, they tend to hurt us just as much as the opponent(s). Geth, Lord of the Vault isn't a very efficient reanimator. Yes, he can bring back artifacts, but if no opponent has a legal target in their graveyard, he does nothing. Nirkana Revenant is an overcosted Crypt Ghast and hurts us more if it gets removed. Ob Nixilis Reignited is still a great card, but I needed to make another cut, and he seemed to have the least impact over other choices. Yawgmoth's Will was definitely a hard choice, and one I'm not sure of keeping out of the deck. It can be easily brought back in.
I'm bringing in Meteor Golem to repalce Stone/Disk. He hits any nonland permanent, can be reanimated since he's a creature and it's an ETB effect. He is easily abused with Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet/Lifeline. Phyrexian Altar is in as another sac outlet. Has a harder time going infinite than Ashnod's Altar, but it is possible with Panharmonicon. Abnormal Endurance is another surprise reanimation spell, although a bit higher costing thatn Supernatural Stamina/Undying Evil. Helm of the Host is coming back in as it is a great card to have. Yes, it will most likely see removal the first chance someone gets, but it's too good with all of our ETB creatures. Sandstone Oracle is in here to fill our hand back up. It's an ETB effect so easily recurrable in here. We tend to run out of gas fairly quickly, and this has the means of filling our hand back to full. Sengir Autocrat was added for redundancy for our infinite mana combo. Comes down earlier than the others as well.
I'm putting in Entreat the Dead as another reanimation spell that can get back multiple creatures, and Insidious Dreams to help set it up. Oblivion Strike is added for more exile removal and also because of the devoid ability, and Arcane Lighthouse to help deal with shroud/hexproof creatures.
After playing the deck with the last changes, I have found out something: Insidious Dreams is only really good when Entreat the Dead is still in the deck, and we have creatures in our hand to help set it up. Otherwise, it’s a sub-par tutor card. I wanted to make the deck more resilient to board wipes, so I decided to up the reanimation spells to include Dance of the Dead, Goryo's Vengeance, Rescue from the Underworld, and Yawgmoth's Will (which allows us to play even more cards). I also added in other combo creatures in Su-Chi, to help against ETB hate, and Marionette Master, which can win games on her own.
I took out Abhorrent Overlord so we don’t have too many combo creatures, Massacre Wurm got cut simply because Demon of Dark Schemes also reanimates, Oblivion Strike so we don’t take a turn off to remove a creature, and Makeshift Mannequin since the creature can be easily removed by just targeting it. Probably the most controversial cut I made was to remove Sheoldred, Whispering One. She was definitely a hard cut, but she does paint a significant target on her head when she comes out. We mainly used her to reanimate our creatures, and there was a good chance she would be taken care of before it got back to our turn. I opted to remove her for more one-shot reanimation spells in order to hopefully get the curve lowered and give us more shots with other spells.
As you can tell, it's quite the big update! I've been back and forth with what I wanted to do with the deck, and finally I decided to pull the trigger and go back to what this deck originally was: a goodstuff reanimator deck. I took out quite a bit of the combo pieces (Marionette Master,Su-Chi,Wurmcoil Engine), as I don't want to necessarily focus on getting those out and winning the same way every time. I'd rather just play a value reanimator deck and have fun. I still have the main Deathmantle/Ashnod/Grave Titan loop in there, and may put back in Wurmcoil just in case of Torpor Orb, but for now, this is what I want to run.
I took out some of the bulkier/underperforming cards, and added in a couple more sac outlets, ETB creatures, creature tutor and reanimation spells.
Some notable cards I took out were some spot removal spells. There are quite a few creatures with ETBs that remove creatures, but didn't have anything to remove noncreatures. That is why I have included Mesmeric Fiend and Thought-Knot Seer. There is plenty of reactive removal, but not enough proactive removal. What's really great with these two is they have separated enters and leaves play effects, so we can permanently exile cards from hands if we have a sac outlet out, and can continually repeat this with Lifeline.
Vesuva/Petrified Field were added in order to recur or copy a Coffers in case ours gets removed, or we just want way more mana to pump into Torment of Hailfire.
Overall, I am very happy with how the deck is playing, and will continue to play and update regularly.
Palace Siege seems perhaps a little slow as a 5 drop that does nothing until the next turn. If you are going for the rez option from it you might have better results with Phyrexian Reclamation who can recover immediately when you drop it not to mention it costing less and having the option of repeating it multiple times a turn.
Overall our lists look a bit similar so I dont have too much else.
Also, I am a little confused as to what infinite people were using with Archangel of Thune. Archangel of Thune and Spike Weaver have no infinite synergy between them. I think you were going for Spike Feeder. Panharmonicon's second trigger of Sepulchral Primordial also would have gone on the stack at the same time as the first copy. Sepulchral Primordial does in fact target so both triggers would have to target when they hit the stack so a second trigger of it would not in some way be able to target a creature who dies and is attempting to recover it afterwards.
It is possible I have misinterpreted your game report though. I apologize if I am doing so.
Palace Siege seems perhaps a little slow as a 5 drop that does nothing until the next turn. If you are going for the rez option from it you might have better results with Phyrexian Reclamation who can recover immediately when you drop it not to mention it costing less and having the option of repeating it multiple times a turn.
Overall our lists look a bit similar so I dont have too much else. Also, I am a little confused as to what infinite people were using with Archangel of Thune. Archangel of Thune and Spike Weaver have no infinite synergy between them. I think you were going for Spike Feeder.
My curve is definitely a little on the high end, I would agree on that. They're just too good to not run. Lol.
already here and posting. Thats what I get for editing my post so many times lol. Anyways I am glad you are enjoying cult luxurious
I'm definitely enjoying it! In fact, I based my list off of yours. Lol.
I know that when Sepulchral Primordial's ability goes on the stack, you have to select targets right away. That player saw me kill Acidic Slime before casting it, so when I did cast Primordial, he knew I was coming for his Skullclamp, as that was the only relevant target on the field. What he also failed to realize was that I was going to get a double trigger thanks to Panharmonicon. Easy mistake to make.
Gotta say this is great stuff. Been wanting build Gonti but kept getting stumped on battle plan. Now my comments are.
1) What is the current budget looking like for this?
2) Palace Siege - drop it for more removal, personal choice. Might help keep Gonti alive longer for ability. Looks like you have enough ways to drain via ramp and Grey Merch but also recursion suite looks solid.
3) Raving Dead - might show my inexperience for playing one color but it seems good
Gotta say this is great stuff. Been wanting build Gonti but kept getting stumped on battle plan. Now my comments are.
1) What is the current budget looking like for this?
2) Palace Siege - drop it for more removal, personal choice. Might help keep Gonti alive longer for ability. Looks like you have enough ways to drain via ramp and Grey Merch but also recursion suite looks solid.
3) Raving Dead - might show my inexperience for playing one color but it seems good
1) This particular build is looking to be around $700.
2) Palace Siege is looking to be replaced by Phyrexian Reclamation. The reason why I choose more recursion over removal is that with Gonti, we can steal other peoples removal.
3) Raving Dead doesn't really do much for the deck, to be honest.
1) What is the current budget looking like for this?
2) Palace Siege - drop it for more removal, personal choice. Might help keep Gonti alive longer for ability. Looks like you have enough ways to drain via ramp and Grey Merch but also recursion suite looks solid.
3) Raving Dead - might show my inexperience for playing one color but it seems good
I dropped my own list into deckstats.net and excluding my copy of Tabernacle my list comes to something around $450.00 which to be honest probably ends up being around $525.00 after you take into account they probably take the absolute lowest prices they can ignoring conditions for that price. I by no means was building mine on a budget but I think if you did want to build this deck on a budget you could easily come up with a $100.00 list without sacrificing a ton. Cut the tutors and big $20.00 cards and still most of the core of the deck functions fine. Your goal for a deck like this is mostly running lots of recursion, sac outlets, and a few big bomb creatures to recur other than Gonti occasionally. Its odd because some really really cheap recursion stuff is some of the best. You will notice in both of our lists we run Goryo's Vengeance which honestly is a fantastic card in this deck but as a whole its price comes from modern. It is almost not run anywhere else in commander unless you build a deck where you want to rez your commander for an ETB effect so for the most part thats something you just dont really need to buy.
Building on a budget just move some of the better tutors to some of the cheaper ones like Diabolic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, and Dark Petition could easily come in to replace Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent, and Vampiric Tutor. Obviously they wont perform quite as well but if budget is a factor I think these sacrifices can be made without a ton of impact on the deck. Bitterblossom is a good card but you can just as easily use something like Stinkweed Imp or Vampire Nighthawk as defensive blockers with the downside that they dont produce lots of bodies that can be sacrificed as well.
Raving Dead - the thing to understand about commander in general is that little chump blockers are everywhere in this format. Its not hard to deal with the Raving Dead with a chump blocker and you dont get to chose where it is going. I have seen it used before but usually you want to be like cheating into play tapped and attacking such as in a deck like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death where you can bring it in attacking where you want. Creatures without evasion that are there just to turn sideways usually need to do something more or have haste or something. Its very hard to justify a creature who has no evasion whose value only comes from if it connects to a player. When it comes to multiplayer commander, there is a lot of life total to get through so generally speaking its stronger to play card advantage tactics and use wincons that are multi functional or get their value in faster. Gray Merchant of Asphodel as an example creature does its work on its entering the battlefield and I cant even tell you how many times I have used him with 6-12 devotion and then sacrificed and resurrected him to play repeatedly to just mass murder everyone at the table.
1) What is the current budget looking like for this?
2) Palace Siege - drop it for more removal, personal choice. Might help keep Gonti alive longer for ability. Looks like you have enough ways to drain via ramp and Grey Merch but also recursion suite looks solid.
3) Raving Dead - might show my inexperience for playing one color but it seems good
I dropped my own list into deckstats.net and excluding my copy of Tabernacle my list comes to something around $450.00 which to be honest probably ends up being around $525.00 after you take into account they probably take the absolute lowest prices they can ignoring conditions for that price. I by no means was building mine on a budget but I think if you did want to build this deck on a budget you could easily come up with a $100.00 list without sacrificing a ton. Cut the tutors and big $20.00 cards and still most of the core of the deck functions fine. Your goal for a deck like this is mostly running lots of recursion, sac outlets, and a few big bomb creatures to recur other than Gonti occasionally. Its odd because some really really cheap recursion stuff is some of the best. You will notice in both of our lists we run Goryo's Vengeance which honestly is a fantastic card in this deck but as a whole its price comes from modern. It is almost not run anywhere else in commander unless you build a deck where you want to rez your commander for an ETB effect so for the most part thats something you just dont really need to buy.
Building on a budget just move some of the better tutors to some of the cheaper ones like Diabolic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, and Dark Petition could easily come in to replace Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent, and Vampiric Tutor. Obviously they wont perform quite as well but if budget is a factor I think these sacrifices can be made without a ton of impact on the deck. Bitterblossom is a good card but you can just as easily use something like Stinkweed Imp or Vampire Nighthawk as defensive blockers with the downside that they dont produce lots of bodies that can be sacrificed as well.
Raving Dead - the thing to understand about commander in general is that little chump blockers are everywhere in this format. Its not hard to deal with the Raving Dead with a chump blocker and you dont get to chose where it is going. I have seen it used before but usually you want to be like cheating into play tapped and attacking such as in a deck like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death where you can bring it in attacking where you want. Creatures without evasion that are there just to turn sideways usually need to do something more or have haste or something. Its very hard to justify a creature who has no evasion whose value only comes from if it connects to a player. When it comes to multiplayer commander, there is a lot of life total to get through so generally speaking its stronger to play card advantage tactics and use wincons that are multi functional or get their value in faster. Gray Merchant of Asphodel as an example creature does its work on its entering the battlefield and I cant even tell you how many times I have used him with 6-12 devotion and then sacrificed and resurrected him to play repeatedly to just mass murder everyone at the table.
Man, I wish I could give in-depth answers like that. Lol.
It might be worth running a few any-color sources, for example Darksteel Ingot or City of Brass, to allow you to get a little more millage out of your stolen cards. Activated and triggered abilities on permanents you steal as well as additional costs like kicker often require colored mana. Also, Inventors' Fair fetches Conjurer's Closet (and plenty of other stuff) which seems pretty clutch here.
It might be worth running a few any-color sources, for example Darksteel Ingot or City of Brass, to allow you to get a little more millage out of your stolen cards. Activated and triggered abilities on permanents you steal as well as additional costs like kicker often require colored mana.
I do get where you are going with this and I agree with the activated ability part of it. I just wanted to clerify though as well that kickers are an additional cost when casting and can be paid for using any color mana as part of Gonti's effect. Tooth and Nail for example you may pay the kicker with any type of mana.
Quote from Gonti"s Text »
When Gonti, Lord of Luxury enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of target opponent's library, exile one of them face down, then put the rest on the bottom of that library in a random order. For as long as the card remains exiled, you may look at it, you may cast it, and you may spend mana as thought it were mana of any type to cast it.
When it comes to things like say.... Ant Queen though, yes if may be worth considering the ability to pay for things like this. I actually haven't personally found too many of these type of cards to be what I am stealing but it could be worthwhile. If you do go down this avenue, Chromatic Lantern may also be of use.
I think its a little bit of a question of what the meta looks like. I think its usually easier to responsively shift to this than it is to start assuming you will have lots of things that are stolen that you need other colored mana to activate. I often find myself stealing answers, ramp, and draw more than anything else.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Well with budget I was going to see how much you had to play with. I have no quams about investing into decks that have potential and you are the "Lord of Luxury" so show it.
It might be worth running a few any-color sources, for example Darksteel Ingot or City of Brass, to allow you to get a little more millage out of your stolen cards. Activated and triggered abilities on permanents you steal as well as additional costs like kicker often require colored mana. Also, Inventors' Fair fetches Conjurer's Closet (and plenty of other stuff) which seems pretty clutch here.
Chromatic Lantern would probably be the way I'd go if I decided to need other colored mana. Inventors' Fair is definitely in the realm of possibilities. A Tutor that doesn't take up a spell slot can't be bad.
Well with budget I was going to see how much you had to play with. I have no quams about investing into decks that have potential and you are the "Lord of Luxury" so show it.
Well with budget I was going to see how much you had to play with. I have no quams about investing into decks that have potential and you are the "Lord of Luxury" so show it.
I'll be honest. It isn't the best deck out there. It has its fair share of problems. But it's really fun to play and probably my favorite non-competitive deck.
Everflowing Chalice and Thought Vessel seem very good for a t3 Gonti. I find digging for opposing ramp spells a very good place to be early on. I play Felwar's Stone as sell for the colors.
Everflowing Chalice and Thought Vessel seem very good for a t3 Gonti. I find digging for opposing ramp spells a very good place to be early on. I play Felwar's Stone as sell for the colors.
Didn't realize I hadn't updated this thing in months.
I did a complete overhaul of the deck, and this is what it is on MTGO and what it will be in paper very soon. Runs a lot better and can close out games faster, as well as play the long game. Really love this dude.
Unfortunately, there is nothing from the set that I feel would make a good enough impact in the deck. I had some high hopes for Bontu, but sadly it's just not good enough. Maybe something will come around in Hour of Devastation.
EDIT: I guess I didn't look close enough at the black cards. Supernatural Stamina is another card similar to Undying Evil, which will help keep a creature on the field after a destroy effect. Perfect addition to this deck!
I've been in the process of doing a write-up, and the first post is what I have done so far. If anyone sees some errors anywhere, or something I am missing, please let me know. I will probably submit this for Primer status once I am completely satisfied with everything.
This card does blinking, albeit slow, without the usual blue/white color tag.
You can use it to get more out of all your ETB effects. Also, you can use it to protect your stuff from dying if you want it to.
I will add it to Gonti's Treasure Vault to save for future use. I am currently happy with the setup I have now, but may change out a few things here and there. Thank you!
I've been getting in some good games lately with the deck. I am hoping to maintain a sort of journal of all my gameplay to review here.
The list has been functioning fairly well. Happy with how things have been going. As of right now, I am unsure of keeping Dead Man's Chest. Sometimes it's really lackluster, especially if the only creature out is someone's commander. I will have to give some thought to this and maybe find something else to try in its spot.
I haven't made any updates to this deck in a while as I've been building up a deck collection on MTGO and have been trying to get those tested and tuned.
One thing I've noticed, however, is in some games where I play Gonti and the opponent has a Helm of the Host in their deck, it tends to make our deck more explosive. If they play green, they're most likely running Primeval Titan, which when coupled with Helm, can significantly improve our mana.
While the cost is fairly high, I think giving another go to Helm could be good for this deck.
Does anyone else have any ideas as to what can make Gonti even better than he already is?
I haven't made any updates to this deck in a while as I've been building up a deck collection on MTGO and have been trying to get those tested and tuned.
One thing I've noticed, however, is in some games where I play Gonti and the opponent has a Helm of the Host in their deck, it tends to make our deck more explosive. If they play green, they're most likely running Primeval Titan, which when coupled with Helm, can significantly improve our mana.
While the cost is fairly high, I think giving another go to Helm could be good for this deck.
Does anyone else have any ideas as to what can make Gonti even better than he already is?
Lifeline did some serious work for me when I had my deck together.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Gonti is an Aetherborn crime lord from the plane of Kaladesh, and what better way to showcase his criminal antics than by stealing other people’s cards?!
The premise of this deck is simple: cast Gonti and steal things. We utilize an array of reanimation spells in order to continually trigger Gonti and gain value by being able to play powerful spells outside of our Mono Black color identity. That is the main goal of the deck. A sub-theme of the deck is being able to use other “enter the battlefield”, or ETB, effects to continuously gain value and help control the board.
We can win by out-valuing the other players, or simply by biding our time and going for a Nim Deathmantle/Ashnod's Altar combo kill.
Cost:
Gonti costs 2BB to cast. That's a pretty fair price considering what he can do. With the right hand, you can get him out as early as turn two. This can help us get a slight edge over our opponents, especially if we can steal a counter spell.
Power/Toughness:
Gonti has a 2/3 body. Let's be really honest: it isn't the best. He can die to all sorts of damage spells that deal 3 damage, like Lightning Bolt, for instance. However, he does have Deathtouch, which helps in dealing with creatures, except for ones with Indestructible.
Ability:
His ability is the sole reason why this deck was built. When he enters the battlefield, we get to look at the top four cards of a target opponent’s library, exile one of them face down so only we know what it is, and put the rest on the bottom of their library in any order. At any time during the game, we can look at it, and as long as we have priority and the timing is right, we can cast it and spend mana as though it were of any type. Yes, type, and not color. We get to use colorless mana to cast a Counterspell if we so choose to. What makes the ability even better is that we can cast it for as long as it remains exiled, even if Gonti is no longer on the battlefield. Talk about value!
You might like Gonti if:
1) You like mono black.
2) You like having a unique and flavorful general.
3) You want to play mono black, but also cast spells of other colors.
4) You like reanimating creatures.
You might dislike Gonti if:
1) You dislilke mono color decks.
2) You would rather play anything besides black.
3) You enjoy your deck so much you don’t want to play anyone else’s.
4) You don’t like having fun and having some wacky games.
When Gonti first came out, I knew I wanted to build him. I've always been a mono black player at heart, and have built a few mono black decks in my time as a commander player. What really drew me to him was his unique ability of being able to play cards outside of his color identity.
I didn't build him right away. I did research first. I looked at various deck lists and watched deck techs/gameplay footage of him to get a feel for what he could do. I took ideas from a few different lists and created a mash up of them for my first deck. While it was fun, I still thought he could do better.
The second iteration of the deck took out a lot of the more fun cards and went for a more cutthroat style of deck, with multiples combos such as Bitterblossom/Contamination and Necrotic Ooze combos. I piloted the deck for quite a while and it was putting up some pretty decent results. But I didn't really want to play him like this. I missed the old version where I would focus on having fun and not trying to win all of the time.
The third iteration is what I bring to you today. I took out the combos that made the deck more brutal (still have a couple I win combos, but they have more purpose than being just a combo piece) and put in some of the older cards I loved like Lifeline.
Never have I had more fun playing a deck than I have with this one. You can make ridiculous plays, have fun, and still win.
4 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
//Creatures (24):
1 Viscera Seer
2 Dusk Legion Zealot
2 Mesmeric Fiend
2 Soldevi Adnate
3 Phyrexian Rager
4 Crypt Ghast
4 Dimir House Guard
4 Entomber Exarch
4 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Faceless Butcher
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Thought-Knot Seer
5 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
5 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
6 Duplicant
6 Grave Titan
6 Kokusho, the Evening Star
6 Noxious Gearhulk
6 Wurmcoil Engine
7 Meteor Golem
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
7 Sepulchral Primordial
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
//Artifacts (10):
0 Mana Crypt
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
2 Jet Medallion
2 Nim Deathmantle
3 Ashnod's Altar
3 Phyrexian Altar
4 Panharmonicon
5 Conjurer's Closet
5 Lifeline
1 Reanimate
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Diabolic Intent
2 Night's Whisper
2 Sign in Blood
3 Buried Alive
3 Morbid Curiosity
3 Read the Bones
3 Toxic Deluge
3 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Damnation
4 Mutilate
5 Beacon of Unrest
5 Living Death
//Instants (6):
1 Entomb
1 Supernatural Stamina
1 Undying Evil
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Wake the Dead
3 Corpse Dance
//Enchantments (7):
1 Kaya's Ghostform
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
3 Necromancy
3 Necropotence
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Liliana of the Dark Realms
//Lands (36):
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Deserted Temple
1 High Market
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Petrified Field
1 Phyrexian Tower
23 Swamp
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vesuva
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Note: There may be repeats of cards in each category, as some cards have more than one function in the deck. If I am missing something, or something is in the wrong category, please let me know.
4 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
//ETB Creatures:
2 Dusk Legion Zealot
2 Mesmeric Fiend
3 Phyrexian Rager
4 Entomber Exarch
4 Faceless Butcher
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Thought-Knot Seer
5 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
5 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
6 Duplicant
6 Grave Titan
6 Noxious Gearhulk
7 Meteor Golem
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
7 Sepulchral Primordial
//ETB Shenanigans:
4 Panharmonicon
5 Conjurer's Closet
5 Lifeline
//Card Advantage and Tutor:
1 Entomb
1 Expedition Map
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Dusk Legion Zealot
2 Night's Whisper
2 Sign in Blood
3 Buried Alive
3 Morbid Curiosity
3 Necropotence
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Read the Bones
4 Dimir House Guard
4 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Liliana of the Dark Realms
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
0 Mana Crypt
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Sol Ring
2 Jet Medallion
3 Ashnod's Altar
3 Phyrexian Altar
4 Crypt Ghast
4 Liliana of the Dark Realms
4 Solemn Simulacrum
//Recursion:
1 Kaya's Ghostform
1 Petrified Field
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Reanimate
1 Supernatural Stamina
1 Undying Evil
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
2 Wake the Dead
3 Necromancy
3 Corpse Dance
3 Victimize
3 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Entomber Exarch
5 Beacon of Unrest
5 Lifeline
5 Living Death
7 Sepulchral Primordial
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
//Removal:
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Mesmeric Fiend
3 Toxic Deluge
4 Damnation
4 Entomber Exarch
4 Faceless Butcher
4 Liliana of the Dark Realms
4 Mutilate
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Thought-Knot Seer
5 Living Death
6 Duplicant
6 Noxious Gearhulk
7 Meteor Golem
2 Nim Deathmantle
3 Ashnod's Altar
6 Grave Titan
6 Wurmcoil Engine
//Win Conditions:
5 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
6 Kokusho, the Evening Star
//Lands:
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Deserted Temple
1 High Market
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Petrified Field
1 Phyrexian Tower
23 Swamp
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vesuva
1 Volrath's Stronghold
While there are many options for cards that could be included in a deck, there are only room for 100. In the spoiler below, I will give a card-by-card explanation as to why I specifically chose to have a certain card in in the deck.
Artifacts:
Sorceries:
Instants:
Enchantments:
Planeswalkers:
Lands:
This section is reserved for cards that didn’t make the cut, or will be kept in reserve as a “toolbox” of sorts for things I can swap out when I feel like changing the deck up.
The strategy to playing this deck is simple: play lands, cast spells, steal opponent’s cards. We want to use and abuse our ETB effects as much as possible, and win through sheer value or a simple combo. In order to do that, we need to make sure we start the game out right.
1) Mulligans:
We want to have a minimum of two Swamps in our opening hand, just in case we can get a turn two or three Gonti. Any card draw or tutor in the hand is a keep, as long as we can cast them on curve. If our hand has a high CMC, we will need to send it back. Any kind of mana rock (Sol Ring/Mana Crypt/Jet Medallion) will usually mean a keep, as we can cast higher CMC cards a lot sooner than just hitting land drops.
2) Early Game:
The first part of the early game (when commanders are revealed) is spent assessing our opponent(s). If there is more than one opponent, determine who may have the best options for us to steal from. Blue can give us access to counters, green for ramp, red for burn or artifact destruction, white for creature removal, and black for more recursion or creature removal. Of course, it all depends on what Commander they are playing, as they may not have those things and are going with an entirely different strategy. We want to try to get Gonti out as quickly as possible to begin creating our toolbox of tricks to help us achieve victory. Getting out mana rocks or even Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth/Cabal Coffers will enable quick and possibly multiple castings of Gonti in order to begin picking away at libraries.
3) Mid Game:
We really want to be abusing Gonti's and other creatures ETB abilities by this point, so if we haven't drawn into Panharmonicon or Conjurer's Closet, we will hopefully be able to tutor for it. Being able to double up on ETBs will enable us to gain more value out of our creatures when they enter, or at the end of turn in Closet's case. Once you have an established board presence, you want to establish a game plan of how you want to win. You will want to out-value your opponents through card advantage and board control, and then win through damage, draining their life, or go for a combo kill. Once you have this established, utilize your tutors and card draw to dig for your pieces to win.
4) Late Game:
By the time you enter the late game, you should have your avenue of victory in hand or a way to get it from the graveyard/deck, or have it on the field. If one of our combo pieces (Ashnod's Altar/Nim Deathmantle) gets destroyed, we can bring them back with Beacon of Unrest. However, if they were to be exiled, we have no way of getting them back, and must utilize another way to win. We want to make sure the path is clear before going in for the kill, whether that is everyone else being tapped out, or possibly having some counters in our toolbox. If the latter is the case, be sure you have enough mana available to support the counters and your win condition. We can utilize Ashnod's Altar/Nim Deathmantle in various ways to secure a combo kill using infinite mana engine and going for infinite drain with Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star, or steal everyone’s entire library with Gonti. Otherwise, we make a horde of tokens and swing in for lethal. If a mass token swarm is the way you want to finish the game, do so at the end of your opponent's turn before yours; doing so will allow them to attack on your turn without having to wait.
- Anafenza the Foremost
- Bojuka Bog
- Containment Priest
- Grafdigger's Cage
- Leyline of the Void
- Nihil Spellbomb
- Rest in Peace
- Tormod's Crypt
These are only a few of the many graveyard hate cards in the game. Any of them are bad for us so if we can get rid of them, we should prioritize that.2) ETB Hate Cards: The second theme of the deck is Enters the Battlefield (ETB) effects. Most of our creatures have an ETB effect that helps us in some way, so if those get shut off, we have a hard time of winning. Even parts of our combo rely on our creatures entering the battlefield. So, some of the cards we need to look out for are:
- Hushwing Gryff
- Tocatli Honor Guard
- Torpor Orb
3) Hexproof/Shroud: Another problem we will run into is anything that has or can grant Hexproof/Shroud. A lot of our ETB creatures interact by targeting. If we can’t target our opponent’s stuff, then we may end up targeting ours if they are legal targets, and we don’t want that happening. That is why we have added in Arcane Lighthouse to interact with these creatures. Be mindful of these effects and play wisely.One of the most powerful cards in this deck is Nim Deathmantle. Why is it so powerful? Well, when combined with Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar and select creatures found in this deck (there are even more not in here), we are able to generate infinite mana and/or tokens. We can then use the infinite mana to end the game via non-combat, or make enough tokens to swing for lethal. Let’s look at the various ways we can accomplish that.
*While this deck list may or may not contain some of the cards in these combos, I felt like leaving them in there for those that do run them. It is a lot of information, and I'd rather not have to retype it all in case I add these cards back in the future.
1-19-18:
OUT:
Ash Barrens
Baleful Force
Chromatic Lantern
Coercive Portal
Dance of the Dead
Dark Ritual
Dawn of the Dead
Diabolic Intent
Disciple of the Vault
Inventors' Fair
Phyrexian Reclamation
Praetor's Grasp
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
IN:
Arch of Orazca
Arguel's Blood Fast
Azor's Gateway
Dead Man's Chest
Deserted Temple
Endless Sands
Go for the Throat
Hero's Downfall
Malicious Affliction
Ravenous Chupacabra
Tetzimoc, Primal Death
Torment of Hailfire
Vona's Hunger
========================================
4-27-18:
OUT:
Attrition
Arguel's Blood Fast
Swamp
Tetzimoc, Primal Death
IN:
Cabal Stronghold
Demonlord Belzenlok
Helm of the Host
Sepulchral Primordial
========================================
5-2-18:
Finalized writing primer, and got final deck list together. Here are the changes:
OUT:
Azor's Gateway
Demonlord Belzenlok
Endless Sands
Helm of the Host
Lifeline
Liliana, Death's Majesty
Liliana Vess
Malicious Affliction
Sepulchral Primordial
Sign in Blood
Torment of Hailfire
Vona's Hunger
Wretched Confluence
IN:
Chainer, Dementia Master
Cloudstone Curio
Dimir House Guard
Faceless Butcher
Gate to Phyrexia
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Nevinyrral's Disk
Nirkana Revenant
Snuff Out
Swamp
Vulturous Aven
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
========================================
7-4-18:
OUT:
Fleshbag Marauder
Merciless Executioner
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
Cloudstone Curio
Mimic Vat
Ritual of the Machine
Entomb
Dead Man's Chest
Gate to Phyrexia
IN:
Abhorrent Overlord
Diabolic Intent
Lifeline
Makeshift Mannequin
Morbid Curiosity
Oblivion Stone
Sign in Blood
Wake the Dead
Wurmcoil Engine
The main theme of these changes is effectiveness. Fleshbag/Merciless, while they are removal and abusable ETB creatures, don't let us select what creatures we want to remove, which can be a devastating thing. Xiahou Dun was just too slow as his ability has a timing restriction, so no surprise shenanigans. Our creatures cost too much to be able to abuse with Curio, and Mimc Vat has the potential of permanently losing one of our creatures, even our commander. Ritual was too narrow, as a lot of the time we would like to steal a black or artifact creature. Entomb is a sort of narrow tutor card, and almost useless unless we can reanimate right away. Dead Man's Chest is bad if the only creatures out are commanders, so we get no value, and even if there are creatures out, we have to have a way of killing it and sending it to the graveyard. Gate also has a timing restriction, and we can only use once per turn.
Abhorrent and Wurmcoil can replace Grave Titan in our mana engine, and can create a ton of bodies for attacking/blocking/sacrificing. Intent is another cheap and efficient tutor. Lifeline, Wake, and Makeshift are great cards for reanimating creatures and abusing things. Oblivion Stone is another mass removal that can hit artifacts, enchantments, and even planeswalkers. Sign in Blood and Morbid Curiosity for more card draw to get to our good cards.
========================================
7-24-18:
OUT:
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Nevinyrral's Disk
Nirkana Revenant
Ob Nixilis Reignited
Oblivion Stone
Yawgmoth's Will
IN:
Abnormal Endurance
Helm of the Host
Meteor Golem
Phyrexian Altar
Sandstone Oracle
Sengir Autocrat
After testing these changes, I've decided to make all of them final for the deck. Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk were put in here as more efficient ways of dealing with artifacts and enchantments over Gate to Phyrexia. However, when we have an established board presence with our artifacts, they tend to hurt us just as much as the opponent(s). Geth, Lord of the Vault isn't a very efficient reanimator. Yes, he can bring back artifacts, but if no opponent has a legal target in their graveyard, he does nothing. Nirkana Revenant is an overcosted Crypt Ghast and hurts us more if it gets removed. Ob Nixilis Reignited is still a great card, but I needed to make another cut, and he seemed to have the least impact over other choices. Yawgmoth's Will was definitely a hard choice, and one I'm not sure of keeping out of the deck. It can be easily brought back in.
I'm bringing in Meteor Golem to repalce Stone/Disk. He hits any nonland permanent, can be reanimated since he's a creature and it's an ETB effect. He is easily abused with Panharmonicon/Conjurer's Closet/Lifeline. Phyrexian Altar is in as another sac outlet. Has a harder time going infinite than Ashnod's Altar, but it is possible with Panharmonicon. Abnormal Endurance is another surprise reanimation spell, although a bit higher costing thatn Supernatural Stamina/Undying Evil. Helm of the Host is coming back in as it is a great card to have. Yes, it will most likely see removal the first chance someone gets, but it's too good with all of our ETB creatures. Sandstone Oracle is in here to fill our hand back up. It's an ETB effect so easily recurrable in here. We tend to run out of gas fairly quickly, and this has the means of filling our hand back to full. Sengir Autocrat was added for redundancy for our infinite mana combo. Comes down earlier than the others as well.
========================================
12-24-18:
OUT:
Abnormal Endurance
Arch of Orazca
Sandstone Oracle
Sengir Autocrat
IN:
Arcane Lighthouse
Entreat the Dead
Insidious Dreams
Oblivion Strike
Sengir Autocrat is a bad enabler for the infinite mana combo, as the tokens are only good for making the mana or being blockers. Sandstone Oracle didn't draw as many cards as I had hoped it would. Same goes for Arch of Orazca. Abnormal Endurance was good for what it did, but Undying Evil and Supernatural Stamina did it cheaper.
I'm putting in Entreat the Dead as another reanimation spell that can get back multiple creatures, and Insidious Dreams to help set it up. Oblivion Strike is added for more exile removal and also because of the devoid ability, and Arcane Lighthouse to help deal with shroud/hexproof creatures.
========================================
1-12-19:
OUT:
Abhorrent Overlord
Insidious Dreams
Makeshift Mannequin
Massacre Wurm
Oblivion Strike
Sheoldred, Whispering One
IN:
Dance of the Dead
Goryo's Vengeance
Marionette Master
Rescue from the Underworld
Su-Chi
Yawgmoth's Will
After playing the deck with the last changes, I have found out something: Insidious Dreams is only really good when Entreat the Dead is still in the deck, and we have creatures in our hand to help set it up. Otherwise, it’s a sub-par tutor card. I wanted to make the deck more resilient to board wipes, so I decided to up the reanimation spells to include Dance of the Dead, Goryo's Vengeance, Rescue from the Underworld, and Yawgmoth's Will (which allows us to play even more cards). I also added in other combo creatures in Su-Chi, to help against ETB hate, and Marionette Master, which can win games on her own.
I took out Abhorrent Overlord so we don’t have too many combo creatures, Massacre Wurm got cut simply because Demon of Dark Schemes also reanimates, Oblivion Strike so we don’t take a turn off to remove a creature, and Makeshift Mannequin since the creature can be easily removed by just targeting it. Probably the most controversial cut I made was to remove Sheoldred, Whispering One. She was definitely a hard cut, but she does paint a significant target on her head when she comes out. We mainly used her to reanimate our creatures, and there was a good chance she would be taken care of before it got back to our turn. I opted to remove her for more one-shot reanimation spells in order to hopefully get the curve lowered and give us more shots with other spells.
========================================
5/23/19:
OUT:
Entreat the Dead
Fellwar Stone
Go for the Throat
Goryo's Vengeance
Helm of the Host
Hero's Downfall
Marionette Master
Mind Stone
Rescue from the Underworld
Snuff Out
Su-Chi
Swamp x2
Wurmcoil Engine
IN:
Buried Alive
Disciple of Bolas
Entomb
Kaya's Ghostform
Massacre Wurm
Mesmeric Fiend
Petrified Field
Phyrexian Reclamation
Though-Knot Seer
Torment of Hailfire
Vesuva
Victimize
Viscera Seer
Yahenni, Undying Partisan
As you can tell, it's quite the big update! I've been back and forth with what I wanted to do with the deck, and finally I decided to pull the trigger and go back to what this deck originally was: a goodstuff reanimator deck. I took out quite a bit of the combo pieces (Marionette Master,Su-Chi,Wurmcoil Engine), as I don't want to necessarily focus on getting those out and winning the same way every time. I'd rather just play a value reanimator deck and have fun. I still have the main Deathmantle/Ashnod/Grave Titan loop in there, and may put back in Wurmcoil just in case of Torpor Orb, but for now, this is what I want to run.
I took out some of the bulkier/underperforming cards, and added in a couple more sac outlets, ETB creatures, creature tutor and reanimation spells.
Some notable cards I took out were some spot removal spells. There are quite a few creatures with ETBs that remove creatures, but didn't have anything to remove noncreatures. That is why I have included Mesmeric Fiend and Thought-Knot Seer. There is plenty of reactive removal, but not enough proactive removal. What's really great with these two is they have separated enters and leaves play effects, so we can permanently exile cards from hands if we have a sac outlet out, and can continually repeat this with Lifeline.
Vesuva/Petrified Field were added in order to recur or copy a Coffers in case ours gets removed, or we just want way more mana to pump into Torment of Hailfire.
Overall, I am very happy with how the deck is playing, and will continue to play and update regularly.
========================================
6/26/19:
OUT:
Chainer, Dementia Master
Demon of Dark Schemes
Disciple of Bolas
Torment of Hailfire
Victimize
Vulturous Aven
Yahenni, Undying Partisan
IN:
Black Sun's Zenith
Dusk Legion Zealot
Entomber Exarch
Phyrexian Rager
Sepulchral Primordial
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Soldevi Adnate
I took out Disciple of Bolas and Vulturous Aven and put in Dusk Legion Zealot and Phyrexian Rager. Having the ability to unconditionally draw earlier in the game is more important than later in the game. Demon of Dark Schemes was replaced with Black Sun's Zenith due to it being a better boardwipe, as it can kill more creatures than Demon. Soldevi Adnate replaces Yahenni, Undying Partisan as a sac outlet (although limited to once per turn), but it can generate mana to cast other spells. Victimize, Chainer, Dementia Master, and Torment of Hailfire were replaced with Entomber Exarch, Sheoldred, Whispering One, and Sepulchral Primordial. Exarch is recursion and disruption in one, Sheoldred is recursion and removal, and Primordial can get up to 3 creatures just upon entering.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Palace Siege seems perhaps a little slow as a 5 drop that does nothing until the next turn. If you are going for the rez option from it you might have better results with Phyrexian Reclamation who can recover immediately when you drop it not to mention it costing less and having the option of repeating it multiple times a turn.
Overall our lists look a bit similar so I dont have too much else.
Also, I am a little confused as to what infinite people were using with Archangel of Thune. Archangel of Thune and Spike Weaver have no infinite synergy between them. I think you were going for Spike Feeder. Panharmonicon's second trigger of Sepulchral Primordial also would have gone on the stack at the same time as the first copy. Sepulchral Primordial does in fact target so both triggers would have to target when they hit the stack so a second trigger of it would not in some way be able to target a creature who dies and is attempting to recover it afterwards.
It is possible I have misinterpreted your game report though. I apologize if I am doing so.
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[Modern] Allies
My curve is definitely a little on the high end, I would agree on that. They're just too good to not run. Lol.
Phyrexian Reclamation does seem better than Palace Siege, and it would help lower the curve just a tish.
I got the Spike cards mixed up, Feeder is the one I meant. Lol. I'll change that so I don't confuse people by the story.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
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[Modern] Allies
I'm definitely enjoying it! In fact, I based my list off of yours. Lol.
I know that when Sepulchral Primordial's ability goes on the stack, you have to select targets right away. That player saw me kill Acidic Slime before casting it, so when I did cast Primordial, he knew I was coming for his Skullclamp, as that was the only relevant target on the field. What he also failed to realize was that I was going to get a double trigger thanks to Panharmonicon. Easy mistake to make.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
1) What is the current budget looking like for this?
2) Palace Siege - drop it for more removal, personal choice. Might help keep Gonti alive longer for ability. Looks like you have enough ways to drain via ramp and Grey Merch but also recursion suite looks solid.
3) Raving Dead - might show my inexperience for playing one color but it seems good
1) This particular build is looking to be around $700.
2) Palace Siege is looking to be replaced by Phyrexian Reclamation. The reason why I choose more recursion over removal is that with Gonti, we can steal other peoples removal.
3) Raving Dead doesn't really do much for the deck, to be honest.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
I dropped my own list into deckstats.net and excluding my copy of Tabernacle my list comes to something around $450.00 which to be honest probably ends up being around $525.00 after you take into account they probably take the absolute lowest prices they can ignoring conditions for that price. I by no means was building mine on a budget but I think if you did want to build this deck on a budget you could easily come up with a $100.00 list without sacrificing a ton. Cut the tutors and big $20.00 cards and still most of the core of the deck functions fine. Your goal for a deck like this is mostly running lots of recursion, sac outlets, and a few big bomb creatures to recur other than Gonti occasionally. Its odd because some really really cheap recursion stuff is some of the best. You will notice in both of our lists we run Goryo's Vengeance which honestly is a fantastic card in this deck but as a whole its price comes from modern. It is almost not run anywhere else in commander unless you build a deck where you want to rez your commander for an ETB effect so for the most part thats something you just dont really need to buy.
Building on a budget just move some of the better tutors to some of the cheaper ones like Diabolic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, and Dark Petition could easily come in to replace Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent, and Vampiric Tutor. Obviously they wont perform quite as well but if budget is a factor I think these sacrifices can be made without a ton of impact on the deck. Bitterblossom is a good card but you can just as easily use something like Stinkweed Imp or Vampire Nighthawk as defensive blockers with the downside that they dont produce lots of bodies that can be sacrificed as well.
Raving Dead - the thing to understand about commander in general is that little chump blockers are everywhere in this format. Its not hard to deal with the Raving Dead with a chump blocker and you dont get to chose where it is going. I have seen it used before but usually you want to be like cheating into play tapped and attacking such as in a deck like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death where you can bring it in attacking where you want. Creatures without evasion that are there just to turn sideways usually need to do something more or have haste or something. Its very hard to justify a creature who has no evasion whose value only comes from if it connects to a player. When it comes to multiplayer commander, there is a lot of life total to get through so generally speaking its stronger to play card advantage tactics and use wincons that are multi functional or get their value in faster. Gray Merchant of Asphodel as an example creature does its work on its entering the battlefield and I cant even tell you how many times I have used him with 6-12 devotion and then sacrificed and resurrected him to play repeatedly to just mass murder everyone at the table.
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[Modern] Allies
Man, I wish I could give in-depth answers like that. Lol.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Says the one on the primer committee
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[Modern] Allies
I do get where you are going with this and I agree with the activated ability part of it. I just wanted to clerify though as well that kickers are an additional cost when casting and can be paid for using any color mana as part of Gonti's effect. Tooth and Nail for example you may pay the kicker with any type of mana.
When it comes to things like say.... Ant Queen though, yes if may be worth considering the ability to pay for things like this. I actually haven't personally found too many of these type of cards to be what I am stealing but it could be worthwhile. If you do go down this avenue, Chromatic Lantern may also be of use.
I think its a little bit of a question of what the meta looks like. I think its usually easier to responsively shift to this than it is to start assuming you will have lots of things that are stolen that you need other colored mana to activate. I often find myself stealing answers, ramp, and draw more than anything else.
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[Modern] Allies
I'm a bit out of practice. Lol.
Chromatic Lantern would probably be the way I'd go if I decided to need other colored mana. Inventors' Fair is definitely in the realm of possibilities. A Tutor that doesn't take up a spell slot can't be bad.
I'll be honest. It isn't the best deck out there. It has its fair share of problems. But it's really fun to play and probably my favorite non-competitive deck.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Combo-Free Kiki-Jiki
Thought Vessel may be good, especially with Necropotence. I may even add in Chromatic Lantern so I can use activated abilities of cards I steal.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Didn't realize I hadn't updated this thing in months.
I did a complete overhaul of the deck, and this is what it is on MTGO and what it will be in paper very soon. Runs a lot better and can close out games faster, as well as play the long game. Really love this dude.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Unfortunately, there is nothing from the set that I feel would make a good enough impact in the deck. I had some high hopes for Bontu, but sadly it's just not good enough. Maybe something will come around in Hour of Devastation.
EDIT: I guess I didn't look close enough at the black cards. Supernatural Stamina is another card similar to Undying Evil, which will help keep a creature on the field after a destroy effect. Perfect addition to this deck!
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
I have finalized (for now) the deck list and finished doing the write up! Time to submit for (hopefully) Primer status!
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
I will add it to Gonti's Treasure Vault to save for future use. I am currently happy with the setup I have now, but may change out a few things here and there. Thank you!
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
The list has been functioning fairly well. Happy with how things have been going. As of right now, I am unsure of keeping Dead Man's Chest. Sometimes it's really lackluster, especially if the only creature out is someone's commander. I will have to give some thought to this and maybe find something else to try in its spot.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
I haven't made any updates to this deck in a while as I've been building up a deck collection on MTGO and have been trying to get those tested and tuned.
One thing I've noticed, however, is in some games where I play Gonti and the opponent has a Helm of the Host in their deck, it tends to make our deck more explosive. If they play green, they're most likely running Primeval Titan, which when coupled with Helm, can significantly improve our mana.
While the cost is fairly high, I think giving another go to Helm could be good for this deck.
Does anyone else have any ideas as to what can make Gonti even better than he already is?
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Lifeline did some serious work for me when I had my deck together.
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[Modern] Allies