I like the Glacial Chasm suggestion though my meta is pretty stuffed with Strip Mine's. Plus it eats my swamps which hurts my mana.
Still it's certainly worth a try. Necropotence might be worth a try too.
Kokusho and other mass drain effects are a big bull's eye in my meta so I try to avoid them. The same goes for Sanguine Bond...
Skeletal Scrying could also work great but I've got a mental block against exiling my own cards. Maybe I'll test run one or two.
By the way, an Elixir of Immortality in a deck with serious card draw capacity is a kind of recursion. On top of the life gain which is very much on theme in this deck. Plus it's pretty removal immune because it shuffles into the library.
Oh well, I understand that it's not a highly rated card but it serves it's purpose.
If the Arena's are too expensive you might want to consider 2 Graveborn Muse's.
They are faster than the harvesters and can be killed by the wargear if needed.
A recent deck I had a lot of fun with.
I'm open to suggestions (though loathe to change it) and comments.
The general idea is to gain life and then to spend it in ways that black does best.
I'm most interested in better ways to spend life.
Better ways on gaining life or general advice on effective deck buidling / cards is of course welcome too.
In my meta the best deck are 50% originality and 50% brutality.
Decks that destroy the other's ability to play are the worst. (Total control, unlimited combo etcetera)
But my meta is playing with two life long friends, it's about forgetting life and having fun, about a friendly one-up-manship and not really keeping score.
In cut throat meta's or playing with strangers or noobs it's an entirely different game.
However the Yawgmoth's Bargain is worth considering.
Your dislike of the elixir I only half understand but I'll browse my card collection for alternatives.
Thanks!
I like the Glacial Chasm suggestion though my meta is pretty stuffed with Strip Mine's. Plus it eats my swamps which hurts my mana.
Still it's certainly worth a try.
Necropotence might be worth a try too.
Kokusho and other mass drain effects are a big bull's eye in my meta so I try to avoid them. The same goes for Sanguine Bond...
Skeletal Scrying could also work great but I've got a mental block against exiling my own cards. Maybe I'll test run one or two.
By the way, an Elixir of Immortality in a deck with serious card draw capacity is a kind of recursion. On top of the life gain which is very much on theme in this deck. Plus it's pretty removal immune because it shuffles into the library.
Oh well, I understand that it's not a highly rated card but it serves it's purpose.
That way the guessing never ends...
I love Bane of the Living, Willbender, Grinning Demon, Soul Collector and of course Vesuvan Shapeshifter.
I think the interaction between Morph and Ninjutsu could be interesting.
They are faster than the harvesters and can be killed by the wargear if needed.
In multiplayer card drawing is very important.
One shot mana spells might be dropped.
Maybe something a bit more flexible than O-Rings?
You're not running reanimation, why the spectres?
And adding two Angel of Despair's never hurts...
If you do add GY recurrence you might even want to add some Necrotic Sliver's. They're slow but they get there.
If you're not running reanimation (or if it can target other GY's as well) you might want to add Elixir of Immortality.
Even if you disregard all my other suggestions I seriously recommend card drawing.
I'm open to suggestions (though loathe to change it) and comments.
The general idea is to gain life and then to spend it in ways that black does best.
I'm most interested in better ways to spend life.
Better ways on gaining life or general advice on effective deck buidling / cards is of course welcome too.
Lands (24)
22 Swamp
2 Cabal Coffers
Life everlasting
4 Elixir of Immortality
4 Gutless Ghoul
2 Disciple of Griselbrand
2 Tendrils of Corruption
2 Darkness
Cards (and demons)
2 Phyrexian Arena
2 Graveborn Muse
4 Promise of Power
Death all around
2 Thrashing Wumpus
2 Pestilence Demon
Targeted death
2 Kuro, Pitlord
Reanimation
2 Reanimate
Control elements
2 Spine of Ish Sah
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
Note that an animated Spine yields 7 life when eaten by the Disciple after which you can use it again to destroy stuff.
Decks that destroy the other's ability to play are the worst. (Total control, unlimited combo etcetera)
But my meta is playing with two life long friends, it's about forgetting life and having fun, about a friendly one-up-manship and not really keeping score.
In cut throat meta's or playing with strangers or noobs it's an entirely different game.
What's your meta?
I kinda forgot the cost.
The weakness I'm aware off.
Would mixing black with a decent amount of artifacts be fun for you?
It opens avenues otherwise unavailable and a boat load of cards that are playable in mono black. Maybe with 12-post or Urzatron or just some coffers.
Maybe there are some untried good artifacts in recent sets to bring new life to old favourites.
(Maybe some Paragon of the Amesha to keep you alive.)
Not too Wrath proof indeed but in my three player meta we can go wrathless easily for eight to ten turns...
(Tiny screen so I skipped the autocard, sorry.)
Also my normal games are three player FFA while you play larger games.
Still I´ll post a list, for you and other readers.
Old skool:
More recent:
I also like and play some of your favourite card drawers but they are not cards I'll build around.
Oh and if you're up for a challenge, a 5 color deck based on:
Infernal Denizen
But that's not your style I'd guess...
I hope this helps some of you.
I'll revisit for a longer reply but I'm currently tiny screen handicapped...