I run a big black control deck as well in EDH, and I have cut out all the "Pox"-esque cards over the year. These effects hurt you more than you realize because you cripple your greatest strength: The amount of Swamps you have! As we all know, Coffers only really gets popping after 6 or so swamps in play, so why jeopardize that to hopefully pop a player who has ramped really hard. This is also the reasoning behind not running fetches in my deck as well, because fetches cut down on the chances of achieving a critical mass of swamps.
If you want to punish players with greedy mana-bases instead look into a card like Helldozer. I also think that Larceny is that great because you aren't generating enough creatures for it to matter, and you already have spectres and Necrogen Mists. Also, you need to put the old standard-standby in Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Decimator Web isn't as good as you want it to be, you would need to run a larger proliferate engine. Gauntlet of Might seems seems kind of sub-par in this kind of list as I don't see you making a ton of tokens. However, looking at the list I can see that card price might not be much of a hurdle, so I would suggest something like Candelabra of Tawnos as that should give you another source of infinite mana production. If you are running Mycosynth Lattice you should also look at cards like Karn, Silver Golem or Shattering Pulse/Spree for repeated Land destruction.
I run a Lovisa list as well, and I have found that Rally the Horde never lives up to its billing. Cards that have shined are Guild Feud and Five-Alarm Fire . GF helps provide some good card-advantage when targeting creature-light decks or Voltron decks (as usually the only threat is the general). FAF is just a fun spell if you are swinging with numerous creatures every turn, and if you have multiple attack phases/double strike oohwoo!
Thopter Squadron - Another recruit to add to my fleet of Overclocked Robots. While not as good as Pentavus, its in for redundancy. I am wondering How hard the sorcery speed is going to effect his output.
Squee, Goblin Nabob - Seemed to be a natural inclusion. He's everybody's favorite guy to sacrifice or pitch to to TPost. In the future, he will be a main skullclamp target.
Brittle Effigy - This card fills a need for some form of board control, as well as exiling which is the best removal in EDH and red tends to lack that.
Shimmer Myr - Ridiculous . That's all that needs to be said.
Viashino Heretic - I had a bad experience with Null Rod, and I figured I needed a repeatable way to beat it. Note that even though he won't destroy a darksteel forge he will deal 9 damage.
There are a few cards that I think may help you general:
1) Torpor Orb - You are bouncing creatures a lot, which could lead to some overuse of ETB on the opponents side. This makes sure no shenanigans happen.
2) Dictate of Kruphix - Because you are making people replay threats over and over again the cards they see from Dictate aren't as useful, also makes Forbid something.
3) Maybe Karn, Silver Golem or March of the Machines so that you can hit problem non-creature artifacts with your general's ability.
4) Dreamscape Artist. He's a ramp monster in Mono-Blue and will function better the more cards like Dictate that you put in.
5) Arcane Laboratory - Hey I bounced your guys, and you can only play 1 a turn *evil laugh*
- A note: This Thread will be under construction, as I want to truly understand what the deck needs to do before I feel can explain my choices in detail (or even have a very optimized list!). So because of this I will be uploading card choices, strategies as I find the ones that are necessary for the deck to run well in a competitive Meta. This is also my first attempt at playing a true combo deck as most of the decks are control/Rock in style.
Petrified Field is a must get for any deck with a Coffers package. Also Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx seems pretty good with the amount of Black mana symbols you stack the board with.
Part of me wants to shoehorn in Dimir House Guard, but as it stands currently I don't think you have enough 4 CMC cards to really tutor for effectively (also a sac outlet in a pinch). Is Night Dealings on the table, it also works with your pestilence on a stick rats.
More Ideas:
Sac outlets: Phyrexian Plaguelord: Sac out, indestructibility Sadistic Hypnotist: Control, and saccing rats to get inside someones head has to be sadistic right?
Last Laugh in our meta this has been dubbed "Black Wrath that kills players too", very effective especially if you find yourself a little ahead in life Especially dumb with Blood Artist and Falkrenrath Noble, but we have discuess the reasons against their exclusions already
Minions' Murmurs: May put you more into a combo heavy build, but seems like its a better than like Promise of Power or something like that
Also, lastly could you abuse Carnival of Souls? Seems like its pretty dangerous and you have to win on the turn you play it, but would ramped mana give you access to any insta wins?
I can see your points on the Obelisk. However, you can do Obedience for FREE, as your token rats can tap for black! Which makes it pretty nifty, The only problem with Beacon is you need a lot of card draw/library manipulation to make sure you see it often, otherwise its a 5 mana reanimate.
Reprocess seems like it could find a nice home in the deck. Since we touched on the topic of convoke with Obelisk of Urd, what about Endless Obedience? The ability to take any fattie from a graveyard and do it for free essentially due to the amount of rats you make that can't swing right away seems like a good choice as well. And I know they aren't rats, but something like Blood Artist or Falkenrath Noble sounds like they could find a home in your deck.
Tragic Slip , Dictate of Erebos and Dark Prophecy seem like cards that would benefit from always having a sac outlet. Also would you consider the new artifact Obelisk of Urd?
I'd say Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper is probably not ideal as you need to have non - token guys die to get the effect. Prossh would be my first choice. Or if you want one not listed, Shatergang Bros definitely love having extra bodies around.
This deck started off as a Sygg, River Cutthroat deck, but slowly morphed into more a of prison-style deck and that's when I decided on Oona. Moving to her I miss the few extra cards in the beginning of games/body that Sygg gives me, but she unlike Sygg is actually rather potent in the late game. Generally I hear that Oona is most often used as kill condition in conjunction with some kind of infinite mana producer, and I wanted to stay away from that.
Playstyle - Just amass a ton of value until you manage to put out one or 2 prison pieces out and assemble a win con.
Threats And Answers Avatar of Woe - Good, repeatable targeted removal. Ixidron - Deals with Hexproof, Protection, Shroud, creatures with nasty leave play effects, indestructability etc Consuming Aberration - Tertiary WinCon. Milling till land serves a 2nd purpose in making it hard to keep up with braids/smokestack. Herald of Leshrac - Tertiary Fun Lock, use lands for either Gix, Reprocess, braids etc Phyrexian Plaguelord - Great sac outlet, synergy with both tokens and myr retriver, solemn Diluvian Primordial - Too Good not to run, Recursion with Trading Post & Volrath's Stronghold wins games. Sepulchral Primordial - Card I am not totally sold on Blatant Thievery - Mind Grind -
Consuming Aberration - One of the win-cons for both his passive ability as well as through outright combat damage.
Mortus Strider - A fun creature with Trading Post, Claws of Gix, Consuming Abberation etc. Expunge- Vanilla removal spell but my favorite artwork when I started playing magic so it stays
Cards I am questioning Sepulchral Primordial - Never seems to be as amazing as I want him to be Sleep - Seems like this could be used for something else to be tutored by Mystical Teaching or Dimir House Guard Phyrexian Infiltrator - Never have enough mana to truly abuse the ability, See comments for Sleep
So what cards do I need to pick up to make it better. I definitely want to get something like Black Market and better duals, but what else I am missing? if you have questions please ask.
If you want to punish players with greedy mana-bases instead look into a card like Helldozer. I also think that Larceny is that great because you aren't generating enough creatures for it to matter, and you already have spectres and Necrogen Mists. Also, you need to put the old standard-standby in Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Expedition Map- Better access to Valakut, Molten Pinnacle, as well as my other Non-Basic's. Also can be abused by Salvaging Station.
Great Furnace- No - brainer, just didn't have a copy around, too many synergies to name.
Phyrexia's Core- The uncountetable sac outlet that we need, does everything from making Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring "go off" also can save Kurkesh from getting tucked with some help ( Liquimetal Coating and Ashnod's Transmogrant, ideally I will find a High Market at some point)
Goblin Recruiter, Goblin Matron, Triassic Egg
The more the deck is played the more I realize that it needs Goblin Welder to keep up with some of the higher end decks. To remedy this I have included two cards to search for Goblin Welder (Goblin Matron and Goblin Recruiter). They also help get Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer and Squee, Goblin Nabob. (new!) Triassic Egg is one of the few options this deck has at directly reanimating GW. It can also be used to cheat in Bosh, Iron Golem and the Robot Squad
Thopter Squadron - Another recruit to add to my fleet of Overclocked Robots. While not as good as Pentavus, its in for redundancy. I am wondering How hard the sorcery speed is going to effect his output.
Squee, Goblin Nabob - Seemed to be a natural inclusion. He's everybody's favorite guy to sacrifice or pitch to to TPost. In the future, he will be a main skullclamp target.
Brittle Effigy - This card fills a need for some form of board control, as well as exiling which is the best removal in EDH and red tends to lack that.
Shimmer Myr - Ridiculous . That's all that needs to be said.
Armillary Sphere - Another great Ramp Piece.
Viashino Heretic - I had a bad experience with Null Rod, and I figured I needed a repeatable way to beat it. Note that even though he won't destroy a darksteel forge he will deal 9 damage.
1) Torpor Orb - You are bouncing creatures a lot, which could lead to some overuse of ETB on the opponents side. This makes sure no shenanigans happen.
2) Dictate of Kruphix - Because you are making people replay threats over and over again the cards they see from Dictate aren't as useful, also makes Forbid something.
3) Maybe Karn, Silver Golem or March of the Machines so that you can hit problem non-creature artifacts with your general's ability.
4) Dreamscape Artist. He's a ramp monster in Mono-Blue and will function better the more cards like Dictate that you put in.
5) Arcane Laboratory - Hey I bounced your guys, and you can only play 1 a turn *evil laugh*
- A note: This Thread will be under construction, as I want to truly understand what the deck needs to do before I feel can explain my choices in detail (or even have a very optimized list!). So because of this I will be uploading card choices, strategies as I find the ones that are necessary for the deck to run well in a competitive Meta. This is also my first attempt at playing a true combo deck as most of the decks are control/Rock in style.
4 Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient
Creatures (26)
0 Ornithopter
1 Goblin Welder
2 Goblin Recruiter
2 Iron Myr
2 Myr Retriever
2 Perilous Myr
2 Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer
3 Burnished Hart
3 Deal Broker
3 Goblin Matron
3 Junk Diver
3 Myr Propagator
3 Scarecrone
3 Shimmer Myr
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Viashino Heretic
4 Diaochan, Artful Beauty
4 Mindless Automaton
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Kuldotha Forgemaster
5 Thopter Squadron
6 Triskelion
7 Myr Battlesphere
7 Pentavus
7 Triskelavus
8 Bosh, Iron Golem
2 Braid of Fire
4 Aggressive Mining
Sorceries (4)
1 Earthquake
1 Ghitu Fire
1 Vandalblast
3 Pillage
Instants (1)
5 Fissure
Artifacts (29)
0 Claws of Gix
0 Lotus Petal
0 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ashnod's Transmogrant
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Codex Shredder
1 Expedition Map
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Voltaic Key
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Armillary Sphere
2 Grinding Station
2 Ichor Wellspring
2 Liquimetal Coating
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
2 Strionic Resonator
3 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Goblin Charbelcher
4 Jester's Cap
4 Trading Post
4 Triassic Egg
4 Smokestack
5 Gilded Lotus
5 Ring of Three Wishes
6 Dreamstone Hedron
6 Salvaging Station
7 Spine of Ish Sah
7 Summoning Station
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Great Furnace
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Temple of the False God
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
31 Mountain
Part of me wants to shoehorn in Dimir House Guard, but as it stands currently I don't think you have enough 4 CMC cards to really tutor for effectively (also a sac outlet in a pinch). Is Night Dealings on the table, it also works with your pestilence on a stick rats.
Ashnod's Transmogrant - longer lasting Liquimetal Coating, with shenigans becomes pump
Tormod's Crypt
Also I find Dreamstone Hedron be really effective, because 3R sacrifice tap :draw 6 cards is pretty ridic for mono red
Sac outlets:
Phyrexian Plaguelord: Sac out, indestructibility
Sadistic Hypnotist: Control, and saccing rats to get inside someones head has to be sadistic right?
Last Laugh in our meta this has been dubbed "Black Wrath that kills players too", very effective especially if you find yourself a little ahead in life Especially dumb with Blood Artist and Falkrenrath Noble, but we have discuess the reasons against their exclusions already
Minions' Murmurs: May put you more into a combo heavy build, but seems like its a better than like Promise of Power or something like that
Also, lastly could you abuse Carnival of Souls? Seems like its pretty dangerous and you have to win on the turn you play it, but would ramped mana give you access to any insta wins?
Without further ado here is the current list:
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
Threats and Answers - 9
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Ixidron
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Herald of Leshrac
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Diluvian Primordial
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Mind Grind
Utility Creatures - 14
1 Phyrexian Infiltrator
1 Mortus Strider
1 Myr Retriever
1 Junk Diver
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Trinket Mage
1 Mulldrifter
1 Shriekmaw
1 Leaden Myr
1 Silver Myr
1 Tidehollow Strix
1 Rootwater Diver
1 Notion Thief
1 Dimir House Guard
Prison and Stax Elements - 7
1 Smokestack
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Curse of the Cabal
1 Dreamborn Muse
1 Pendrell Mists
1 Meishin, the Mind Cage
1 Spine of Ish Shah
1 Trading Post
1 Claws of Gix
1 Jar of Eyeballs
1 Ichor Wellspring
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Expedition Map
1 Skeleton Shard
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Rhystic Study
1 Reprocess
1 Perilous Research
1 Sensei's Divining Top
Removal and Stall-13
1 Sleep
1 Aetherize
1 Capsize
1 Recoil
1 Far (Far/Away)
1 Befoul
1 Expunge
1 Ghastly Demise
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Tragic Slip
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Counterspell
1 Psychic Spiral
Search and Draw -6
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Impulse
1 Preordain
1 Think Twice
1 Brainstorm
1 Sol Ring
1 Dimir Signet
1 Academy Ruins
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Soldevi Excavations
1 Barren Moor
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Remote Isle
1 Watery Grave
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Salt Marsh
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
9 Swamp
9 Island
Playstyle - Just amass a ton of value until you manage to put out one or 2 prison pieces out and assemble a win con.
Threats And Answers
Avatar of Woe - Good, repeatable targeted removal.
Ixidron - Deals with Hexproof, Protection, Shroud, creatures with nasty leave play effects, indestructability etc
Consuming Aberration - Tertiary WinCon. Milling till land serves a 2nd purpose in making it hard to keep up with braids/smokestack.
Herald of Leshrac - Tertiary Fun Lock, use lands for either Gix, Reprocess, braids etc
Phyrexian Plaguelord - Great sac outlet, synergy with both tokens and myr retriver, solemn
Diluvian Primordial - Too Good not to run, Recursion with Trading Post & Volrath's Stronghold wins games.
Sepulchral Primordial - Card I am not totally sold on
Blatant Thievery -
Mind Grind -
Consuming Aberration - One of the win-cons for both his passive ability as well as through outright combat damage.
Mortus Strider - A fun creature with Trading Post, Claws of Gix, Consuming Abberation etc.
Expunge- Vanilla removal spell but my favorite artwork when I started playing magic so it stays
Cards I am questioning
Sepulchral Primordial - Never seems to be as amazing as I want him to be
Sleep - Seems like this could be used for something else to be tutored by Mystical Teaching or Dimir House Guard
Phyrexian Infiltrator - Never have enough mana to truly abuse the ability, See comments for Sleep
So what cards do I need to pick up to make it better. I definitely want to get something like Black Market and better duals, but what else I am missing? if you have questions please ask.