You have a lot of things that redirect damage in combat. I'd probably say too many, especially considering Sunforger can fetch them. They're cool and fun when you can make them work, but are typically late-game cards. You're wondering if you have too many boardwipes, but those are far more useful throughout the game than combat tricks. Boardwipes save you for more than 1 turn. Blasphemous Act is a good budget one you're missing. It's a pretty serious upgrade over stronghold discipline.
Id also consider adding a little card draw. Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving can be had cheap and increase your likelihood of hitting land drops early and keep you going late game.
I know you said you have a lot of ramp, but I'm not seeing it. A lot of ramp in this format is like 10+ non land slots. Commander's Sphere is cheap and pretty good. Solemn Simulacrum isn't cheap but is very good. Land count is a personal thing and one deck to deck basis, but I run 37 at the lowest currently, and that's in a low-curve deck with green and tons of ramp and cheap draw. I'd honestly run 40 as a starting point here. Command Tower is the only new nonbasic I'd worry about saving up for now.
I don't see any, but extra combat step effects are really good with Tariel. She has vigilance, so it nets you extra damage plus another extra activation of her ability. Godo, Bandit Warlord does double duty of giving an extra combat step as well as fetching Sunforger. Aurelia, the Warleader is in ftv Angels and more useful than baneslayer in your deck and commander in general.
I haven't had a Tariel deck in several years, but a friend of mine has one that works pretty well. He runs huge amounts of ramp and still sometimes has trouble recasting her late since she demands an answer and is expensive. My deck was all about pruning the yard to get the best card. His is more about hitting multiple activations and just getting maximum value before she dies and it seems to work better.
Other options you didn't mention are: Bane of the living: gets indestructible, as big as you want it, instant speed, easy to recur, rattlesnake, gets through Iona Kagemaro, first to suffer: instant speed, 1 mana rattlesnake, usually hits everything, easy to reanimate necromantic selection: gives you a threat after wiping Crypt Rats: as big as you want it, hits players too, easy to recur, doesn't get indestructible
Life loss is easy to manage in monoblack unless another player has Erebos, God of the Dead out. I play erebos as my general and easily gain pretty serious amounts of life despite spending a lot of it to keep my hand full.
The 2013 decks are less cohesive and more just piles of good cards in the colors with some occasional garbage thrown in. The generals are powerful but the decks aren't that focused on a particular general or strategy. If one of the generals interests you a whole lot, you could build a better deck with singles for the cost, although you won't get the "value" of the pricier cards that come in the box. The 2011 decks were the same in that the generals in cards in the box were good but not necessarily good together as a deck. They also had way more junk filler than the 2014 decks that have almost nothing that should immediately come out.
The 2014 decks are way more cohesive and better straight out of the box. They're more of an actual deck and less of a pile of good edh cards in the right colors. The red, white, and green are good right away and are really easy to upgrade. The black deck really only needs a few things to get going, like a Cabal Coffers and a good general like Erebos, God of the dead as Drana is the best general for the deck as it is. The blue one is a little more clunky, but that's probably because its mono blue and therefore annoying to play against. The red deck is incredibly powerful and you can upgrade it a little or a lot and it just runs really well. Daretti is incredibly powerful if you can keep him alive. The white deck is really solid but will always struggle to draw cards. The green elf deck is incredibly cohesive and straightforward to play and really easy to upgrade too.
Out of curiosity, what are they selling the decks for? All the same price/msrp still?
The multicolored decks are very fun to play outside the box, but in order to improve them to competitive level you'll have to put fetchlands and dual lands which make the manabase already expensive, the Marath, Will of the Wild competitive version does not contain more than 6 cards from the original EDH prebuilt deck, you'll get away from the first idea of the deck.
You do not need dual and fetch lands to be competitive if nobody else is running them. In fact, you don't NEED them unless you're playing pretty cutthroat. It's multiplayer. If you get a slower start you typically don't get messed with as much earlier. You also say "the competitive version" like there's only 1 decklist you can run with Marath and be competitive which is absolutely not true.
Haste enablers are also helpful to get Bolas through. Dragon Breath is often forgotten and a low investment recurring source of haste for big Nic. You'll probably want a good amount of mana rocks as well. I've played a Nicol Bolas deck on and off for years and found it's best to lay low and be patient. Drop Nicol Bolas only when you're pretty confident you can get through and wreck somebody. My current deck is actually all old card frame black bordered for the old school vibe.
I love playing Legends legends as my general. Hazezon Tamar is getting most of the love now but I also have a Ramses Overdark deck and played Halfdane for a while. I have a sweet signed Legends copy of Arcades Sabboth that I want to build a deck around but don't have the inspiration for anything beyond Bant goodstuff at this point and that doesn't excite me.
You can build most generals into a decent deck on a budget. As long as you're only playing with each other, power level doesn't matter as long as it's consistent between decks. 1 and 2 color decks are easier to build a super cheap manabase, but 3 color isn't too bad on a budget as long as you're really only splashing one color. What do some of your friends like in terms of color combinations, playstyles, and aspects of the game? For example, I like black best, like the political aspect of multiplayer, and would rather slowly overwhelm my opponents with card advantage and resources than win out of nowhere, so I've really been enjoying Pharika, God of Affliction lately.
I've been really pleased with Volcanic Offering. Im pretty sure that every time I've played it, all 4 targets died. There's almost always a powerful non basic that pops up and needs to be removed and that's primarily what I use it for. Anti-maze, coffers/cradle, stronghold/academy ruins. Somebody's also bound to have a bounce land that's often the opponent's choice. It got Reiterated once when my brother had 2 bounce lands out.
Erebos is really solid as one of the 99 and as a commander. It's pretty easy to offset the life loss in black. I think Erebos does best in monoblack and golgari since it's so easy to make stupid amounts of mana to draw a couple extra cards a turn. He's fetchable with green's creature tutors and white's enchantment tutors and easy to recur. The life gain prevention is more useful than I thought it would be. It's especially satisfying against Oloro decks.
I was skeptical of the card when it came out but tried it out at a friend's recommendation and was really impressed. I run it as one of the 99 in one deck and have a deck with him as the general. As a general he's really resilient like all the gods because he's hard to kill and cheap to cast so nobody bothers.
Vish Kal can be a brutal control deck general who 1-hit KOs your opponents. It's kind of combo in that you assemble your pieces without drawing much attention and then kill one player out of nowhere. It's not as annoying as infinite combos that kill everyone at once, but when you 1-shot someone with Vish Kal, you gain 21+ life which can buffer you against other opponents.
I like to run at least one cool old card in each deck that most people have to read, or at least double check. This is one of my favorites. He's actually done something before too. The Dark is sweet.
I really like Pharika. I didn't when I first saw the card, but it's a really fun deck. Pharika creates fun political situations and graveyard abuse has been pretty rampant in my playgroup. My deck focuses a little more on utility creatures that can become snakes and milling than yours.
A few things that have done well for me that you might consider: Burnished Hart swings or blocks a little, ramps, and becomes a snake Yavimaya Elder. See above. Krosan Tusker draws and fetches a land, then becomes a snake or can be a late-game body. Sadistic Hypnotist. If you're playing tokens and black, you're doing yourself a disservice not playing this. You can wreck someone's hand the turn you drop it. Perilous Forays. It looks like you had it but cut it? I've found it can get out of hand pretty quickly and is great with Grave Pact and friends. Moment's Peace is better than Spore Frog by a mile. If you want a fog effect, check it out. Greed isn't as good as Erebos, but still very relevant. Essence Warden is a 1-drop for pod and usually nets a good few life. Geth, Lord of the Vault is a brutal win condition that can also help fill the graveyard for snake making Golgari Charm is another glaring omission. What happens when an opponent has 10 tokens out and you have your Sangromancer? You get a lot of fuel to get Greedy, that's what.
A few things I've yet to draw but could be good: Sword of Body and Mind can help fill the graveyard Thunderfoot Baloth since you have tokens and usually have your commander Hair-Strung Koto works well with tokens Angel's Trumpet is political. No, it doesn't care about summoning sickness so you can give snakes on their turn and it hurts Vigor trumps deathtouch on your opponents' snakes. Reaper from the Abyss and Extractor Demon like when things die and help make more snakes
Also, good work on including Reap. It's a good card normally and hilarious here. I'll be back soon with some potential cuts, as that's way harder than adding cards in.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave got a boost by not being able to be tucked anymore. He also really got helped out by not being bounced anymore. Those were his two biggest weaknesses. Losing 10+ counters was sad. No more will it happen.
Thanks for the help. I had thrown a quick zo-zu deck together a long time ago, when i was to to the format, and it's something i've been meaning to revisit it. @elvish sniper: i really like the suggestion of collar and warhammer (idk why i never thought of giving him lifelink before) and i also really like ensnaring bridge here. What do you think of crawlspace and meekstone? @Hakim: I had considered winter orb, in what way did it have mixed results? not relevant enough or hurt you almost as much as your opponents?
What do you guys think of mana doublers? extraplanar lens seems like an auto include but i'm not sure if gauntlet of power and caged sun make the cut. Tax effects seem like they should be good but i can only think of lodestone golem and sphere of resistance am i missing some?
Crawlspace and Meekstone are probably good choices to keep you alive.
Winter Orb is great if you're ahead on board position as it slows the game down a lot and forces land drops. It sucks if anyone else has any reasonable board presence and it can be tempting to play as a way to stall which doesn't make friends.
I never ran mana doublers, although I experimented with Mana Flare. I did win one game where I dropped a Mana Flare and an opponent did as well in order to try and cast stuff, but I did have a couple X spells and a red Akroma so I was better able to use the mana. Extraplanar Lens takes you down a land and is a tempting target for your opponents to blow up. Gauntlet of Power and Gauntlet of Might can help opponents. Caged Sun is a bit pricey for Zo-Zu. The biggest reason I avoided doublers is that I made the argument to my opponents that I was being fair and hurting everyone equally. Everyone got punished a little and you only got a proper paddlin' if you got greedy and tried to have more lands than the rest of us.
You have a lot of things that redirect damage in combat. I'd probably say too many, especially considering Sunforger can fetch them. They're cool and fun when you can make them work, but are typically late-game cards. You're wondering if you have too many boardwipes, but those are far more useful throughout the game than combat tricks. Boardwipes save you for more than 1 turn. Blasphemous Act is a good budget one you're missing. It's a pretty serious upgrade over stronghold discipline.
Id also consider adding a little card draw. Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving can be had cheap and increase your likelihood of hitting land drops early and keep you going late game.
I know you said you have a lot of ramp, but I'm not seeing it. A lot of ramp in this format is like 10+ non land slots. Commander's Sphere is cheap and pretty good. Solemn Simulacrum isn't cheap but is very good. Land count is a personal thing and one deck to deck basis, but I run 37 at the lowest currently, and that's in a low-curve deck with green and tons of ramp and cheap draw. I'd honestly run 40 as a starting point here. Command Tower is the only new nonbasic I'd worry about saving up for now.
I don't see any, but extra combat step effects are really good with Tariel. She has vigilance, so it nets you extra damage plus another extra activation of her ability. Godo, Bandit Warlord does double duty of giving an extra combat step as well as fetching Sunforger. Aurelia, the Warleader is in ftv Angels and more useful than baneslayer in your deck and commander in general.
I haven't had a Tariel deck in several years, but a friend of mine has one that works pretty well. He runs huge amounts of ramp and still sometimes has trouble recasting her late since she demands an answer and is expensive. My deck was all about pruning the yard to get the best card. His is more about hitting multiple activations and just getting maximum value before she dies and it seems to work better.
Bane of the living: gets indestructible, as big as you want it, instant speed, easy to recur, rattlesnake, gets through Iona
Kagemaro, first to suffer: instant speed, 1 mana rattlesnake, usually hits everything, easy to reanimate
necromantic selection: gives you a threat after wiping
Crypt Rats: as big as you want it, hits players too, easy to recur, doesn't get indestructible
Life loss is easy to manage in monoblack unless another player has Erebos, God of the Dead out. I play erebos as my general and easily gain pretty serious amounts of life despite spending a lot of it to keep my hand full.
The 2014 decks are way more cohesive and better straight out of the box. They're more of an actual deck and less of a pile of good edh cards in the right colors. The red, white, and green are good right away and are really easy to upgrade. The black deck really only needs a few things to get going, like a Cabal Coffers and a good general like Erebos, God of the dead as Drana is the best general for the deck as it is. The blue one is a little more clunky, but that's probably because its mono blue and therefore annoying to play against. The red deck is incredibly powerful and you can upgrade it a little or a lot and it just runs really well. Daretti is incredibly powerful if you can keep him alive. The white deck is really solid but will always struggle to draw cards. The green elf deck is incredibly cohesive and straightforward to play and really easy to upgrade too.
Out of curiosity, what are they selling the decks for? All the same price/msrp still?
You do not need dual and fetch lands to be competitive if nobody else is running them. In fact, you don't NEED them unless you're playing pretty cutthroat. It's multiplayer. If you get a slower start you typically don't get messed with as much earlier. You also say "the competitive version" like there's only 1 decklist you can run with Marath and be competitive which is absolutely not true.
Haste enablers are also helpful to get Bolas through. Dragon Breath is often forgotten and a low investment recurring source of haste for big Nic. You'll probably want a good amount of mana rocks as well. I've played a Nicol Bolas deck on and off for years and found it's best to lay low and be patient. Drop Nicol Bolas only when you're pretty confident you can get through and wreck somebody. My current deck is actually all old card frame black bordered for the old school vibe.
I love playing Legends legends as my general. Hazezon Tamar is getting most of the love now but I also have a Ramses Overdark deck and played Halfdane for a while. I have a sweet signed Legends copy of Arcades Sabboth that I want to build a deck around but don't have the inspiration for anything beyond Bant goodstuff at this point and that doesn't excite me.
I was skeptical of the card when it came out but tried it out at a friend's recommendation and was really impressed. I run it as one of the 99 in one deck and have a deck with him as the general. As a general he's really resilient like all the gods because he's hard to kill and cheap to cast so nobody bothers.
Important cards are Phyrexian Dreadnought, Sun Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Sacred Mesa, Bloodghast, boots, reanimation spells (Necromancy, Animate Dead, Reanimate), and tutors.
Here's a super old version of my friend's list. It has seen some updates since, but not a whole lot. It can easily go toe-to-toe with the standard mtgsalvation Teysa deck.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/211665-multi-edh-vish-kal-alpha-striker
Scuttling Doom Engine doesn't seem that great here.
What do you typically use Bow of Nylea for? Your snakes already have deathtouch.
Is Pygmy Kavu more than just a cute trick? Is it worth running over Decree of Pain?
Khalni Heart Expedition seems weaker than a land-fetching creature like Yavimaya Elder or Burnished Hart. As does Golgari Signet when the extra creatures in the graveyard have extra benefits.
Is Golgari Grave-Troll more than just a big dredger? Do you have enough creatures in the yard to use it as a finisher?
Are Vulturous Zombie and Lord of Extinction decent finishers?
How is Hornet Queen here?
Does Grim Guardian see enough triggers to make an impact?
How useful is Nyx Weaver?
I'm curious how Thoughtrender Lamia has been doing for you. It's expensive, but seems like it could be good here and I'm considering running it.
A few things that have done well for me that you might consider:
Burnished Hart swings or blocks a little, ramps, and becomes a snake
Yavimaya Elder. See above.
Krosan Tusker draws and fetches a land, then becomes a snake or can be a late-game body.
Sadistic Hypnotist. If you're playing tokens and black, you're doing yourself a disservice not playing this. You can wreck someone's hand the turn you drop it.
Perilous Forays. It looks like you had it but cut it? I've found it can get out of hand pretty quickly and is great with Grave Pact and friends.
Moment's Peace is better than Spore Frog by a mile. If you want a fog effect, check it out.
Greed isn't as good as Erebos, but still very relevant.
Essence Warden is a 1-drop for pod and usually nets a good few life.
Geth, Lord of the Vault is a brutal win condition that can also help fill the graveyard for snake making
Golgari Charm is another glaring omission. What happens when an opponent has 10 tokens out and you have your Sangromancer? You get a lot of fuel to get Greedy, that's what.
A few things I've yet to draw but could be good:
Sword of Body and Mind can help fill the graveyard
Thunderfoot Baloth since you have tokens and usually have your commander
Hair-Strung Koto works well with tokens
Angel's Trumpet is political. No, it doesn't care about summoning sickness so you can give snakes on their turn and it hurts
Vigor trumps deathtouch on your opponents' snakes.
Reaper from the Abyss and
Extractor Demon like when things die and help make more snakes
Also, good work on including Reap. It's a good card normally and hilarious here. I'll be back soon with some potential cuts, as that's way harder than adding cards in.
Lethal vapors isn't really a boardwipe but it's pretty good with Zurgo.
Desolation Giant
Oblivion Stone is better than disk sadly.
Akroma's Vengeance is super good.
Crawlspace and Meekstone are probably good choices to keep you alive.
Winter Orb is great if you're ahead on board position as it slows the game down a lot and forces land drops. It sucks if anyone else has any reasonable board presence and it can be tempting to play as a way to stall which doesn't make friends.
I never ran mana doublers, although I experimented with Mana Flare. I did win one game where I dropped a Mana Flare and an opponent did as well in order to try and cast stuff, but I did have a couple X spells and a red Akroma so I was better able to use the mana. Extraplanar Lens takes you down a land and is a tempting target for your opponents to blow up. Gauntlet of Power and Gauntlet of Might can help opponents. Caged Sun is a bit pricey for Zo-Zu. The biggest reason I avoided doublers is that I made the argument to my opponents that I was being fair and hurting everyone equally. Everyone got punished a little and you only got a proper paddlin' if you got greedy and tried to have more lands than the rest of us.