You can take a look at my Gisa deck linked in my sig. It's zombie tribal, but don't let that throw you off. It is a very competitive deck outside of a fast combo meta. It can win through aggro, token aggro, or several combo options. Take a look, and if you have any specific question, just let me know
That's a good question. I'll probably start around a third each for creatures, spells/artifacts, and lands and then tweak from there. I think each deck is going to end up skewing itself in different ways as they go from prototype to completion, so there isn't a hard answer that will apply to all 5 at once. There is actually a Lord cycle from one of the older sets that hits Soldiers, Wizards, Zombies, Goblins, and Elves, so that will most likely make the cut, but even going full tribal might not require all the lords. If I stick with wizards for blue, I can't really see myself doing a lot of attacking with them. They'll be more for disruption and utility to control the board and make way for a big kraken to beat face. Zombies or soldiers will most likely want more lord support as they'll be turning sideways a lot. Goblins can go either way... sometime they're for swinging, sometimes they're for tossing or blowing up. I think it's a little too early to tell, but there will definitely be some lord support.
Ever since the mono-colored Commander deck set came out, I've wanted to rebuild them to be a little more powerful and actually balanced. One thing or another always came up so it's been a pet project that hasn't seen much attention. I've finally got all my other decks where I want them to be for the time being, and now I have some time to spend on this project. That being said I figure the best way to do this to reach out to the community for some ideas and see what we can come up with.
The concept will be simple, but I think the execution is going to take a lot of thought and playtesting:
1. Multiple Commander options for the decks with the focus on the Origin 5.
2. The decks will be designed for both showcasing the strengths of each color without over compensating for their weaknesses.
3. Incorporation of iconic tribes from each color similar to the way the original commander set attempted.
4. Adding in useful cycles of cards like the diamonds, commands, titans, etc...
5. The banlist will be somewhat liberal as I'm designing this to be a self contained set, and as long as the decks remained balanced I don't care about the banlist.
6. While the decks will mainly compete against each other, they should also be able to work together for the twist I mentioned in the title... I would also like to build a 6th deck with Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker as the general for Archenemy games of the Gatewatch vs Bolas. This deck will have no building restrictions at all and will need to be absolutely brutal. Even in 5 on 1 matches I want the situation to feel hopeless, and I may have to tweak the rules a bit when playing less than 5 on 1 so that it's even possible.
Genrals:
Here's what I'm thinking about so far with commanders...
I'd like another legendary cycle or two here, but I'm not sure what to use. I was thinking about the original pit fighter cycle from Onslaught but Rorix Bladewing is so underwhelming compared to the others. If only he had firebreathing! I like most of the Commander 2014 legends, but Stitcher Geralf doesn't feel blue enough, and Titania, Protector of Argoth requires too much building around. I'm open to suggestions here, and the commanders don't have to be a cycle, but they should represent their color well and have synergu with the rest of the deck.
Tribes:
Here I'm considering a major and minor theme similar to the 2014 Commander decks...
White: Soldiers with a side of Angels
Blue: Wizards or Merfolk with a side of Krakens/Sea Monsters
Black: Zombies with a side of Demons
Red: Goblins with a side of Dragons
Green: Elves or Druids with a side Beasts or Elementals
White, Black, and Red seem like no brainers to me. Blue and green are a little trickier. If I go with a more control route I think wizards is the better option, and if I go more aggro I'm thinking merfolk. Both tribes are very blue, and I'm not really sure which would be better for this project. I don't want to go overboard with control so that the decks stay balanced and fun. I have a similar issue in Green. Elves is easily the most iconic green tribe, but it's also overpowered without very careful design. The blue and the green decks are going to need the most attention, because out of the 2014 set which I'm building off of, they were easily the worst and the best respectively.
I'm considering the Primordials although Sylvan Primordial may be a problem.
There are some land cycles I'll probably add as well like the ones from Kamigawa and the Onslaught tribal lands.
As for the Archenemy Nicol Bolas deck, it will have no building restrictions and needs to be as brutal as possible. I'd like to keep it somewhat thematic using some of the characters he's corrupted or used throughout the story, but this deck's priority will be power first then flavor. It will definitely run Augur of Bolas, Disciple of Bolas, Slave of Bolas, and Tezeret, Agent of Bolas. A few more flavor cards I'm considering are Mindclaw Shaman, Blood Reckoning, Imp's MIschief, Rakka Mar, and maybe Wit's End or something like Countersquall or Soul Manipulation. Other than that, I haven't put a lot of thought into it other than fast mana and combos. I was toying around with making Nicol Bolas and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker some kind of custom flip card, but I haven't figured out a way to do it yet. I'd love to throw a nod to the origins of EDH by running the Elder Dragon version, but he just isn't good enough for a competitive deck. I'm not opposed to the idea of redesigning him though for the custom card and it would most likely involve removing his upkeep, changing the casting cost to that of the planeswalker, and then figuring out what will trigger the flip. I'm thinking I'll need to design the deck first and then figure out a flip trigger based on the deck's mechanics. Anything is fair game for this deck. I'm also happy to proxy here as well until I can afford an original. Think Moxes, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, etc...
I have a bunch of other ideas for the deck set, but before I taint the well too much, I'd really like to see what ideas ya'll have. All suggestions will be most welcome and appreciated!
Edit: TL;DR... Building 5 decks with the Gatewatch at the helm, balanced with a liberal banlist, and looking for cycle and general suggestions for inclusion. 6th deck will be Archenemy Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and ruin everyone's day.
I have a tribal zombie Gisa list in my sig that is pretty well tuned while remaining on theme. It wins a lot of games without being hyper competitive. Feel free to take a look at it for some ideas. Definitely one of my favorite decks to play.
I found Coffin Queen mostly being used to rez from my own yard, and Relentless Dead is just bonkers in this deck. There's no real downside to playing Westvale Abbey and with this deck's token production, getting the demon out for 5 mana is effectively never a problem and always a threat.
Updated the main decklist. I saw Scoeri's awesome tribal decklist and realized I'd neglected this list even though it's still one of my favorite decks to play. The deck has gone through a few iterations from my last update. I moved from Gisa to Sidisi, Undead Vizier as the general for a while and basically made it a tuned combo control deck. That was fun for a couple of months much to the bane of my EDH league, but I wanted to take it back to a more pure Zombie tribal list without all the infinite combos. There's still a couple combos in the deck, but only ones that work with Zombies or Grave Titan.
It's been so long since I looked at this thread, but I'm highly considering adding in Victimize as was suggested above. What a great late Christmas present!
Blighted Fen may make it into the deck as well. I know the list could be a little more fine tuned, but I want to try and keep this one on theme as much as possible. Aside from Phyrexian Dreadnought, effectively every card in the deck is on theme with the graveyard/dark arts of necromancy. The Dreadnought is just amazing tech though getting 12 zombies for 2 mana, so it gets the exception. Some other cards I'm considering would be Zombie Trailblazer as an extra swampwalk outlet as it works without needing Urborg on the field and tokens are almost always available. There are a couple of really good utility zombies that are always on the cusp of inclusion but never make it into the deck like Plaguebearer, Withered Wretch, Shepherd of Rot, Cabal Interrogator, and Graveborn Muse. I've played with the Wretch and, while this may be a meta thing, I never really found myself needing his ability. Shepard was in the deck for a while but it backfired against me too much with the life loss. Same thing for the muse. The card draw was incredible, but this deck makes tokens so fast that the life loss can get out of control quickly without a sac outlet. One other card I've always wanted to put in the deck but could never justify the slot for is Walking Dead... It's awesomeness pretty much speaks for itself, lol.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
Blade of Selves works with Sundial, but it's kind of a nonbo with Sundial + Nacatl.
You can activate Sundial in the end of combat step, after the Myriad trigger that would exile the tokens goes on the stack. This allows you to keep those tokens.
However, since you're skipping over your end step, the Nacatal's trigger that exiles its tokens a the beginning of the next end step doesn't have a chance to trigger and get exiled by the Sundial, so it will trigger on the next available end step - in your opponent's turn.
So you can use Sundial to keep the Blade of Selves tokens OR the Nacatl's tokens, but there's no way to (permanently) keep both using Sundial.
While the Blade of Selves tokens disappear at end of combat, the NWP tokens they make for each player's defending creatures last until the normal end of turn trigger, so you still get huge value with Sundial. If those tokens stick around, the next turn would be bonkers!
So, funny story about ETB creatures and Torpor Orb... This is the first deck I've ever ran the orb in, and the first game I played with the deck, I got out the orb and a couple turns later cast Phage, played Endless Whispers, and sac'd Phage to donate it for... nothing... Now I'm staring down the barrel of my own gun, lol. So I play Rune-Scarred Demon to tutor up an answer... oh wait... LMAO! I slotted in Infernal Tribute after that as a way to sac the orb if that came up again. Rats of Rath is another option if you need redundancy.
I could definitely see using Nether Void in a Stax build. There's a really good Stax Primer in the main Commander forum that I'd suggest taking a look at. I had a Stax Chainer, Dementia Master build that could look down the board pretty quickly, and I still think it could have been further optimized. Once you have a good Stax shell built, you really only need Phage, Sundial, Withering Boon, and Command Beacon to make it a Phage list. I'd definitely leave out Torpor Orb in that build though as you're going to rely on ETB recursion with things like Fleshbag Marauder, Disciple of Bolas, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, etc...
To OP, this is your Phage thread, so I'd say go ahead and post your current Ad Naus/Combo version of the deck for comparison. I've been following this thread as well for a while and love the idea of Phage as a general. I have a Mono-Black EDH Cube that I use to to build decks out of and the first one I built was Phage. As Patrick mentioned above, this thread is the only active Phage discussion, I thought I'd share my list as I had a blast playing it.
I built this to be a fun deck to play in league. I tried to use Phage as the primary win condition, but there's a couple backup combos just in case. Koko/Gary loops, infinite exsanguinate, etc... If I put the list back together and wanted it to be more competitive, at the very least, I would add Contamination. This is MBC's best answer to shutting down stronger decks. Getting it out quick won't make you any friends, but it is effective. I purposefully left it out for that reason. Shimian Specter isn't something I'd considered previously, but Justice's argument is compelling, and I could see it finding a spot in my list as well.
I've been wanting to do a Withengar Unbound deck ever since Elbrus got printed, and I finally got around to putting it together. I talked it over with my playgroup and league, and they were all cool with it. In the event that I'm playing with someone who throws a hissy fit about the technically illegal commander, I can slot in either Xiahou Don, the One-Eyed or Skithyrix, the Blight Dragon. This is the first iteration of the deck, and it's been playing out pretty well in playtesting, but I'm sure it can use some optimization. Definitely looking for feedback and suggestions, so let me know what you think.
Effectively, the deck uses hard to kill/hard to block creatures that can hold swords and swing for profit. Withengar can be a difficult general to work with because of how many steps you have to go through just to get him on the field. Once he hits the board, if he isn't dealt with, he will quickly take over the game. Being that he is a must answer threat and always has to go a full turn round the table before you can swing with him, prepare for him to eat a lot of removal. So far, I've found the best way to mitigate this is to already have something down and swinging that is a huge threat by itself, leaving your opponents choices escalating from bad to worse. Once he's on the field though his first kill takes 2 hits by himself, but with a little equipment he can easily one-shot an opponent on his first swing, and definitely any opponents after the first.
The living weapon cards (Batterskull and Lashwrithehave proven to be great so far, and I'm considering adding Scytheclaw and Necropouncer. The former will find a slot as soon as I get a copy, and the latter may get a little playtesting but I think may be over-costed for it's ability.
Nether Traitor is an absolute all star in the list! Haste, shadow, and built in reanimation will make this little guy your best friend. He's a great way to get Withengar out, and effectively has to eat one of your opponent's exile spells that they probably would have rather saved for Ulamog or Skittles.
I'm not completely sold on the Marit Lage package (Dark Depths, Vampire Hexmage, and Æther Snap), bur I love throwing this is any deck where it can fit. Marit Lage fits the theme with both evasion and indestructible as well as being the other mono-black Legend that can't be your general. Pulling this really only frees up one slot anyway from Æther Snap as the Hexmage is good enough to stay on her own coming down quick with first strike to hold a sword and to take out troublesome planeswalkers, and Dark Depths will just become a swamp or maybe a Blinkmoth Nexus.
Things under consideration:
Ob Nixilis Reignited - He always has a relevant ability, and the only reason he isn't in the list currently for testing is that I don't have one yet.
Karn Liberated, Scour from Existence, Spine of Ish Sah, Unstable Obelisk - Mono-black's method of artifact and enchantment removal. While always good, right now I'm feeling out my meta to see if more of these are needed in the list. So far I've been okay, but these are always options as needed.
Liliana of the Dark Realms - Like Ob above, always relevant abilities, but I felt her original version would be better for the tutor ability.
Whispersilk Cloak - Already sitting on the side, it just didn't make the first cut. So far I haven't felt like I needed another evasion effect, but this will probably be the first choice if I do. The main reason I'm not running it is because of shroud. If I only have one dude out, I can't add another sword to him until I get another dude to move the cloak to. This problem applies to Lightning Greaves as well, but it's benefits outweigh any downside.
There's definitely a bunch of really good stuff I'm not running to try and keep the deck from just being a good stuff deck with a Voltron theme. Gary, Koko, and Corpse Dance all fit under that category. I purposefully left out any combos as well as I don't want this deck to win that way. I'm definitely open to any and all suggestions though, so don't hold back!
I double sleeve all my decks and typically use the Ultra-Pro 150 acrylic boxes. They hold the decks perfect, but as I foiled out my Sliver deck, I ran into a problem. As I kept adding new foils, the fit kept getting tighter and tighter until I had to be really careful not to bend cards returning it to the box. It got to the point where I got the deck in and had to break the case to get it back out, lol. This was with about 7 or 8 cards non-foil. I was using KMC Perfect Size and KMC Hyper Mat sleeves. I replaced that box with a new one that turned up recently in my LGS called Elder Dragon Hoard deck box. It's about $15.00 and will hold a double sleeved fully foiled deck snugly. They come in different colors, seem to be very well made, and have a textured dragon scale pattern on the outside. Not sure how to post pictures here, but a quick Google Image Search will show them to you.
There's a lot of answers you really aren't running in the deck whether it be price concerns or just a different playstyle, but cards like Glacial Chasm, Maze of Ith, and Mindslaver stand as auto includes to me. Forcefield has been a defensive all-star for me, but it only works when you can get it and if it isn't out of your price range. If you're running the new Eldrazi tutors, then that should help with getting some answers more consistently, and Newlamog becomes a must. Also, annihilator is one of the most effective answers this deck can produce, but it isn't everyone's playstyle, and certainly won't make many friends. All that being said, when you can't ramp with this deck it can sometimes just sit there and do nothing. Sounds like you just had a bad shuffle.
Howdy, ya'll! Just retooled my Butcher list for the Great Distortion and thought I'd share. The Maybeboard lists the cards that have been shuffled in and out of the deck through it's different iterations of Stax vs Aggro and Control. I rebuilt the deck for the new Kozilek as it is still very powerful, but I can now play it in league without it being completely backbreaking with annihilator on turn 3. Trying to play the deck now as a combination of Aggro and Control. Any and all suggestions are always welcome!
Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul help as sac outlets and can get game-endingly large with Gravecrawler and the Altar.
Relentless Dead can also help with your reanimation strategies.
The concept will be simple, but I think the execution is going to take a lot of thought and playtesting:
1. Multiple Commander options for the decks with the focus on the Origin 5.
2. The decks will be designed for both showcasing the strengths of each color without over compensating for their weaknesses.
3. Incorporation of iconic tribes from each color similar to the way the original commander set attempted.
4. Adding in useful cycles of cards like the diamonds, commands, titans, etc...
5. The banlist will be somewhat liberal as I'm designing this to be a self contained set, and as long as the decks remained balanced I don't care about the banlist.
6. While the decks will mainly compete against each other, they should also be able to work together for the twist I mentioned in the title... I would also like to build a 6th deck with Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker as the general for Archenemy games of the Gatewatch vs Bolas. This deck will have no building restrictions at all and will need to be absolutely brutal. Even in 5 on 1 matches I want the situation to feel hopeless, and I may have to tweak the rules a bit when playing less than 5 on 1 so that it's even possible.
Genrals:
Here's what I'm thinking about so far with commanders...
Origin 5 Cycle: Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Liliana, Heretical Healer, Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh, and Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Commander Planeswalker Cycle: Nahiri, the Lithomancer, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, Daretti, Scrap Savant, and Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
Praetor Cycle: Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Urabrask the Hidden, and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
I'd like another legendary cycle or two here, but I'm not sure what to use. I was thinking about the original pit fighter cycle from Onslaught but Rorix Bladewing is so underwhelming compared to the others. If only he had firebreathing! I like most of the Commander 2014 legends, but Stitcher Geralf doesn't feel blue enough, and Titania, Protector of Argoth requires too much building around. I'm open to suggestions here, and the commanders don't have to be a cycle, but they should represent their color well and have synergu with the rest of the deck.
Tribes:
Here I'm considering a major and minor theme similar to the 2014 Commander decks...
White: Soldiers with a side of Angels
Blue: Wizards or Merfolk with a side of Krakens/Sea Monsters
Black: Zombies with a side of Demons
Red: Goblins with a side of Dragons
Green: Elves or Druids with a side Beasts or Elementals
White, Black, and Red seem like no brainers to me. Blue and green are a little trickier. If I go with a more control route I think wizards is the better option, and if I go more aggro I'm thinking merfolk. Both tribes are very blue, and I'm not really sure which would be better for this project. I don't want to go overboard with control so that the decks stay balanced and fun. I have a similar issue in Green. Elves is easily the most iconic green tribe, but it's also overpowered without very careful design. The blue and the green decks are going to need the most attention, because out of the 2014 set which I'm building off of, they were easily the worst and the best respectively.
Cycles that will be included:
Command Cycle: Austere Command, Cryptic Command, Profane Command, Incendiary Command, and Primal Command - These are all good and represent their colors nicely!
Lieutenant Cycle: Angelic Field Marshall, Stormsurge Kraken, Demon of Wailing Agonies, Tyrant's Familiar, and Thunderfoot Baloth
Graveyard Incarnations: Valor, Wonder, Filth, Anger, and Brawn
Tutor Cycle: Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Gamble, and Worldly Tutor
Titan Cycle: Sun Titan, Frost Titan, Grave Titan, Inferno Titan, and Primeval Titan (don't care that he's banned)
Diamonds, Medallions, Cycle Lands, Theros Gods
I'm considering the Primordials although Sylvan Primordial may be a problem.
There are some land cycles I'll probably add as well like the ones from Kamigawa and the Onslaught tribal lands.
As for the Archenemy Nicol Bolas deck, it will have no building restrictions and needs to be as brutal as possible. I'd like to keep it somewhat thematic using some of the characters he's corrupted or used throughout the story, but this deck's priority will be power first then flavor. It will definitely run Augur of Bolas, Disciple of Bolas, Slave of Bolas, and Tezeret, Agent of Bolas. A few more flavor cards I'm considering are Mindclaw Shaman, Blood Reckoning, Imp's MIschief, Rakka Mar, and maybe Wit's End or something like Countersquall or Soul Manipulation. Other than that, I haven't put a lot of thought into it other than fast mana and combos. I was toying around with making Nicol Bolas and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker some kind of custom flip card, but I haven't figured out a way to do it yet. I'd love to throw a nod to the origins of EDH by running the Elder Dragon version, but he just isn't good enough for a competitive deck. I'm not opposed to the idea of redesigning him though for the custom card and it would most likely involve removing his upkeep, changing the casting cost to that of the planeswalker, and then figuring out what will trigger the flip. I'm thinking I'll need to design the deck first and then figure out a flip trigger based on the deck's mechanics. Anything is fair game for this deck. I'm also happy to proxy here as well until I can afford an original. Think Moxes, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, etc...
I have a bunch of other ideas for the deck set, but before I taint the well too much, I'd really like to see what ideas ya'll have. All suggestions will be most welcome and appreciated!
Edit: TL;DR... Building 5 decks with the Gatewatch at the helm, balanced with a liberal banlist, and looking for cycle and general suggestions for inclusion. 6th deck will be Archenemy Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and ruin everyone's day.
Out:
In:
I found Coffin Queen mostly being used to rez from my own yard, and Relentless Dead is just bonkers in this deck. There's no real downside to playing Westvale Abbey and with this deck's token production, getting the demon out for 5 mana is effectively never a problem and always a threat.
It's been so long since I looked at this thread, but I'm highly considering adding in Victimize as was suggested above. What a great late Christmas present!
Blighted Fen may make it into the deck as well. I know the list could be a little more fine tuned, but I want to try and keep this one on theme as much as possible. Aside from Phyrexian Dreadnought, effectively every card in the deck is on theme with the graveyard/dark arts of necromancy. The Dreadnought is just amazing tech though getting 12 zombies for 2 mana, so it gets the exception. Some other cards I'm considering would be Zombie Trailblazer as an extra swampwalk outlet as it works without needing Urborg on the field and tokens are almost always available. There are a couple of really good utility zombies that are always on the cusp of inclusion but never make it into the deck like Plaguebearer, Withered Wretch, Shepherd of Rot, Cabal Interrogator, and Graveborn Muse. I've played with the Wretch and, while this may be a meta thing, I never really found myself needing his ability. Shepard was in the deck for a while but it backfired against me too much with the life loss. Same thing for the muse. The card draw was incredible, but this deck makes tokens so fast that the life loss can get out of control quickly without a sac outlet. One other card I've always wanted to put in the deck but could never justify the slot for is Walking Dead... It's awesomeness pretty much speaks for itself, lol.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
While the Blade of Selves tokens disappear at end of combat, the NWP tokens they make for each player's defending creatures last until the normal end of turn trigger, so you still get huge value with Sundial. If those tokens stick around, the next turn would be bonkers!
I could definitely see using Nether Void in a Stax build. There's a really good Stax Primer in the main Commander forum that I'd suggest taking a look at. I had a Stax Chainer, Dementia Master build that could look down the board pretty quickly, and I still think it could have been further optimized. Once you have a good Stax shell built, you really only need Phage, Sundial, Withering Boon, and Command Beacon to make it a Phage list. I'd definitely leave out Torpor Orb in that build though as you're going to rely on ETB recursion with things like Fleshbag Marauder, Disciple of Bolas, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, etc...
1x Phage the Untouchable
Artifact (19)
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Caged Sun
1x Charcoal Diamond
1x Elbrus, the Binding Blade
1x Expedition Map
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mana Vault
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Sundial of the Infinite
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Torpor Orb
1x Whispersilk Cloak
Enchantment (6)
1x Animate Dead
1x Bitterblossom
1x Endless Whispers
1x Infernal Tribute
1x Necropotence
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Corpse Dance
1x Hero's Downfall
1x Imp's Mischief
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Withering Boon
Creature (16)
1x Crypt Ghast
1x Dimir House Guard
1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
1x Maga, Traitor to Mortals
1x Nether Traitor
1x Nirkana Revenant
1x Platinum Angel
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1x Stronghold Overseer
1x Vampire Hexmage
1x Viscera Seer
1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
Land (36)
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Command Beacon
1x Dark Depths
1x Deserted Temple
1x Homeward Path
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Petrified Field
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Rogue's Passage
22x Swamp
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x AEther Snap
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Bubbling Muck
1x Consume Spirit
1x Damnation
1x Dark Petition
1x Decree of Pain
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Intent
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Exsanguinate
1x Grim Tutor
1x Temporal Extortion
1x Toxic Deluge
Planeswalker (3)
1x Liliana Vess
1x Sorin Markov
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
I built this to be a fun deck to play in league. I tried to use Phage as the primary win condition, but there's a couple backup combos just in case. Koko/Gary loops, infinite exsanguinate, etc... If I put the list back together and wanted it to be more competitive, at the very least, I would add Contamination. This is MBC's best answer to shutting down stronger decks. Getting it out quick won't make you any friends, but it is effective. I purposefully left it out for that reason. Shimian Specter isn't something I'd considered previously, but Justice's argument is compelling, and I could see it finding a spot in my list as well.
1x Elbrus, the Binding Blade
1x Withengar Unbound
Artifact (19):
1x Batterskull
1x Expedition Map
1x Jet Medallion
1x Lashwrithe
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Loxodon Warhammer
1x Mana Vault
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Tawnos's Coffin
1x Trading Post
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Whip of Erebos
Creature (12):
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Etched Champion
1x Guardian Beast
1x Nether Traitor
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1x Stronghold Overseer
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1x Vampire Hexmage
1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Command Beacon
1x Dark Depths
1x Deserted Temple
1x Homeward Path
1x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Petrified Field
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Rogue's Passage
17x Swamp
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vesuva
1x Volrath's Stronghold
Enchantment (8):
1x Animate Dead
1x Bitterblossom
1x Dauthi Embrace
1x Infernal Darkness
1x Koskun Falls
1x Necromancy
1x Necropotence
1x Phyrexian Arena
Instant (7):
1x Hatred
1x Hero's Downfall
1x Imp's Mischief
1x Snuff Out
1x Sudden Spoiling
1x Tainted Strike
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Æther Snap
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Crux of Fate
1x Damnation
1x Decree of Pain
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Exsanguinate
1x Grim Tutor
1x Night's Whisper
1x Profane Command
1x Promise of Power
1x Read the Bones
1x Reanimate
1x Sign in Blood
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Yawgmoth's Will
Planeswalker (2):
1x Liliana Vess
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Effectively, the deck uses hard to kill/hard to block creatures that can hold swords and swing for profit. Withengar can be a difficult general to work with because of how many steps you have to go through just to get him on the field. Once he hits the board, if he isn't dealt with, he will quickly take over the game. Being that he is a must answer threat and always has to go a full turn round the table before you can swing with him, prepare for him to eat a lot of removal. So far, I've found the best way to mitigate this is to already have something down and swinging that is a huge threat by itself, leaving your opponents choices escalating from bad to worse. Once he's on the field though his first kill takes 2 hits by himself, but with a little equipment he can easily one-shot an opponent on his first swing, and definitely any opponents after the first.
The living weapon cards (Batterskull and Lashwrithehave proven to be great so far, and I'm considering adding Scytheclaw and Necropouncer. The former will find a slot as soon as I get a copy, and the latter may get a little playtesting but I think may be over-costed for it's ability.
Nether Traitor is an absolute all star in the list! Haste, shadow, and built in reanimation will make this little guy your best friend. He's a great way to get Withengar out, and effectively has to eat one of your opponent's exile spells that they probably would have rather saved for Ulamog or Skittles.
Bitterblosson, Inkmoth Nexus, and Trading Post will help you quickly recover from a boardwipe. As will Reanimate, Necromany, and Animate Dead, while also providing the extra utility of grabbing a threat from an opponents yard.
I'm not completely sold on the Marit Lage package (Dark Depths, Vampire Hexmage, and Æther Snap), bur I love throwing this is any deck where it can fit. Marit Lage fits the theme with both evasion and indestructible as well as being the other mono-black Legend that can't be your general. Pulling this really only frees up one slot anyway from Æther Snap as the Hexmage is good enough to stay on her own coming down quick with first strike to hold a sword and to take out troublesome planeswalkers, and Dark Depths will just become a swamp or maybe a Blinkmoth Nexus.
Things under consideration:
Ob Nixilis Reignited - He always has a relevant ability, and the only reason he isn't in the list currently for testing is that I don't have one yet.
Karn Liberated, Scour from Existence, Spine of Ish Sah, Unstable Obelisk - Mono-black's method of artifact and enchantment removal. While always good, right now I'm feeling out my meta to see if more of these are needed in the list. So far I've been okay, but these are always options as needed.
Liliana of the Dark Realms - Like Ob above, always relevant abilities, but I felt her original version would be better for the tutor ability.
Whispersilk Cloak - Already sitting on the side, it just didn't make the first cut. So far I haven't felt like I needed another evasion effect, but this will probably be the first choice if I do. The main reason I'm not running it is because of shroud. If I only have one dude out, I can't add another sword to him until I get another dude to move the cloak to. This problem applies to Lightning Greaves as well, but it's benefits outweigh any downside.
Quietus Spike, Basilisk Collar, Sword of Body and Mind, Sword of War and Peace, Sword of Vengeance - I consider these equipments in any voltron deck, but none of these seemed superior to what I'm already running. Scytheclaw is an option because of Living Weapon, but I need to get one to try. Nightmare Lash and Strata Scythe are on the table too.
Phyrexian Obliterator and Mind Slicer - These don't have evasion, but make the opponent think twice about combat and removal.
There's definitely a bunch of really good stuff I'm not running to try and keep the deck from just being a good stuff deck with a Voltron theme. Gary, Koko, and Corpse Dance all fit under that category. I purposefully left out any combos as well as I don't want this deck to win that way. I'm definitely open to any and all suggestions though, so don't hold back!
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Artifact (49):
1x Akroma's Memorial
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Blinkmoth Urn
1x Candelabra of Tawnos
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Clock of Omens
1x Coalition Relic
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Darksteel Forge
1x Doubling Cube
1x Dreamstone Hedron
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Expedition Map
1x Forcefield
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Grim Monolith
1x Hedron Archive
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Helm of Possession
1x Krark-Clan Ironworks
1x Kyren Toy
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mimic Vat
1x Mind's Eye
1x Mindslaver
1x Mirrorworks
1x Mox Opal
1x Null Brooch
1x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sisay's Ring
1x Sol Ring
1x Spine of Ish Sah
1x Staff of Nin
1x Strionic Resonator
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Torpor Orb
1x Trading Post
1x Unstable Obelisk
1x Unwinding Clock
1x Ur-Golem's Eye
1x Voltaic Key
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Blasted Landscape
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Crystal Vein
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Deserted Temple
1x Dust Bowl
1x Eldrazi Temple
1x Eye of Ugin
1x Haunted Fengraf
1x High Market
1x Homeward Path
1x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Maze of Ith
1x Miren, the Moaning Well
1x Mirrorpool
1x Mishra's Factory
1x Mishra's Workshop
1x Petrified Field
1x Phyrexia's Core
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Rishadan Port
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Sanctum of Ugin
1x Strip Mine
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Tower of the Magistrate
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vesuva
1x Wasteland
1x Winding Canyons
Planeswalker (2):
1x Karn Liberated
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Instant (1):
1x Scour from Existence
Sorcery (1):
1x All Is Dust
Creature (12):
1x Blightsteel Colossus
1x Colossus of Akros
1x Conduit of Ruin
1x Duplicant
1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
1x Metalworker
1x Oblivion Sower
1x Phyrexian Dreadnought
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Copper Gnomes
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Hangarback Walker
1x Loreseeker's Stone
1x Memory Jar
1x Mutavault
1x Myr Battlesphere
1x Palladium Myr
1x Platinum Emperion
1x Shimmer Myr
1x Static Orb
1x Storm Cauldron
1x Tangle Wire
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Vedalken Orrery
1x Warping Wail
1x Winter Orb