- The deck's designed to abuse Enchantments and thrives in metas that don't run a lot of enchantment hate. Keep Ghost Council alive by saccing your tokens, or you can sacrifice any number of guys that do stuff when they go to the graveyard. Build a pillowfort and play defensively and win the war of attrition! Win con is a big Exsanguinate or a horde of tokens or sometimes just chipping away with your commander. This deck is SLOW, and designed for long, grindy multiplayer games.
- Don't overextend on your enchantments, but you can always use Replenish and Auramancer to get your stuff back.
- I'm sure there's a Teysa combo in there somewhere but I've yet to bother finding it since that's not really what this deck is about.
Notable Exclusions
- Sanguine Bond would give this deck a legitimate win-condition with the infinite combo alongside Exquisite Blood, but for me it seems a little cheesy. If my meta were more cutthroat, I wouldn't hesitate to put it in, but I only want one or the other, and this one seems a touch worse than EB.
- Idyllic Tutor - Looking for one, but it will likely go in if I can find one.
- Three Dreams - not enough good Auras in my opinion.
- Spirit Loop, Hyena Umbra, Griffin Guide etc. - there's a few good auras in these colours, but I find they erode the slots I can dedicate to the powerful non-Aura enchantments. They tend to fall off when you put them on Ghost Council since he bounces around a lot, so I just don't think they're quite right in this deck.
- Staples like Demonic Tutor, Phyrexian Arena, Damnation, Vindicate, etc. are MIA because they're either in my cube or otherwise hard for me to get. Scroll Rack is a particularly good card to pair with Land Tax, while I'm on the subject of staples, but they're both in the "hard to acquire" pile.
(Aside: I like to use my "best"/"spikiest" cards for my cube, which makes deckbuilding a little more fun for me since I have more slots for lesser-used cards. I find this makes my deck a little more fun to play AGAINST as well, and lead to more interactive games. Just my two cents!)
A thread I posted in earlier inspired me to create a deck based on Ghost Council of Orzhova, seeing as I had a variety of decent W/B cards handy. Here's my take:
This deck originally focused on tokens specifically to synergize with the general, Ghost Council of Orzhova. As I added more of my best white and black cards to the deck, I started noticing many powerful enchantment cards. At first, I wondered if this was possible to do in BW only, since one would assume that if they wanted to build a deck that focuses on enchantments, they'd use one the usual suspects: Zur, the Enchanter, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, or Ertai, the Corrupted. Each were tempting, but I had a problem with each of them:
Zur: This general plays very differently than the approach I wanted. I wanted non-Aura Enchantments for the most part, and Zur goes the opposite direction. The reason I prefer Ghost-Council is that my meta has a ton of board wipes, and I wanted this deck to be sort of an answer to that. I think because of the risk of tons of card disadvantage by relying on stacking Zur with Auras, I want to steer clear of him.
Hanna: This was easy. She doesn't let me play Black. The only time I play non-Black is when I pair Red with Green. Black needs to be included. End of story.
Ertai: Seems like this guy would be perfect for the deck I wanted to create, right? After all, he allows me access to the best enchantments of Black, White, and Blue, and giving me counterspell support to boot! Seems awesome, right? Well, sort of. I didn't really want to have to nuke an enchantment every time someone tried to Wrath though, and it happens enough. Plus, without the luck of having Thousand-Year Elixir or Lightning Greaves in play, it seems too fragile to rely on a general that is vulnerable to the very removal I'm trying to avoid.
That aside, more on the deck. It's fundamental to the philosophy of this deck that you play as few creatures as possible. Well, not fundamental, but it's a big part of it at any rate. Remember me mentioning my creature-unfriendly meta earlier? I wanted this to be the deck that took advantage of that. So, taking a key from the Legacy Burn decks, I wanted to make their removal be as useless as possible.
What do I do instead of winning with straight up creatures? To synergize with Ghost Council and provide a way to give another knee to the groin of Wrath of God, this deck plays a ton of land- and enchantment-based token generation that traditional creature removal will find hard to keep up with in the long game.
All of this is complimented with a heavy enchantment subtheme, taking advantage of the fact that BW has access to some of the most powerful enchantments in the game.
FAQ:
Isn't the ability kind of weak for a general?
True, the Ghost Council's bleed effect doesn't give the biggest whack, but people never seem to get mad at me for it. As long as I randomly distribute the bleed effect and not pick on a single player, I slowly gain life that goes largely uncontested. This is important in multiplayer and is one of the subtle things I love about what this general does.
How is Ghost Council so good against removal?
As long as I can find a way to produce a creature of some kind (read: tokens), Ghost Council is immune to most removal, as long as I have 1 of course. This is awesome because I can slowly bleed while keeping a threat on the board that's hard to get rid of. Because of the ability to blink him, it makes my opponents' removal largely useless, and thus 'dead' cards (at least against me). This is one of the ideas to the deck that makes it hum in the right environment.
What's the best card in this deck?
Bitterblossom. It's an enchantment, so works with all of my support cards, and has monstrous synergy with Ghost Council. A shining example of a Haydoken in the sternum to Damnation.
It seems odd, but it's a very political card in multiplayer. Sometimes it can mess things up for me, but I can usually work around it, and I usually get to abuse it the most with my tokens anyway. It really shines when your opponents use the trigger on each other and forget about the fact that it's your enchantment that's causing the mess!
I used to run it, but I replaced it with Cage of Hands. Seems odd, but I run enough draw effects that I can afford to drop Mind's Eye in order to get a chance at some fun combos with Mesa Enchantress and/or Sigil of the Empty Throne. It also potentially frees up some mana that I'd probably rather be using to "EOT, Make a token" with. Plus, seems good against generals (and I can save it if someone tries to remove it! +1 for sticking to the deck's philosophy!)
What are this deck's weaknesses?
Fracturing Gust, Tranquility, Tempest of Light, and Leave No Trace. No, seriously. With this deck, you get nice late-game power with token generation and very few actual creatures, as well as an overall high resolve against creature removal. The downside is that you can get absolutely ruined by global enchantment effects.Thus, you have to play your enchantments cautiously, much in the same way that you would not over-commit creatures if you suspect a Rout is about to nuke the board. The deck has cards to help recover from enchantment removal, but if your meta runs a lot, I wouldn't recommend this style. All I know is it's great against control.
I tried to fit in lots of token generators that I can get multiple uses out of to make sure I always have some poor soul to satisfy the GC and really abuse my general. Just also want to point out how ridiculously flavourful Fanatical Devotion is in this deck, and not even in a Monty Python way.
Suggestions and comments are welcome, but before you post, here's some cards that are not in the decklist above, but I will put in as soon as I get a copy (feel free to suggest anything not listed here):
I did consider Spectral Procession. I cut it in the end because it's just a one-shot effect, and even though 3 tokens for 3 mana seems good, I think I'd be casting it for 2WB more often than WWW, so I opted for more permanent forms of token generation.
I also briefly considered Deathbringer Liege but it just seems too weak for me:
First off, the pump. It's nice to get pump effects for my creatures, but he's a little fragile for that use by itself. I'd rather run Crovax, Ascendant Hero or some enchantment (Glorious Anthem or something). I also don't really want to be in a situation where my Skullclamp now requires Ghost Council to be out in order to get 2 cards from a token.
Secondly, the triggered abilities. They seem like they could be useful, but my friends run a *lot* of mass removal (hence me building a deck that is more resiliant), so a guy that requires me to pay more mana on other spells to kill dorks seems a bit weak, and more importantly, unreliable. I can't guarantee I'll draw the BW spell when I really need to just kill a guy, and I'd rather just add another CIP dork that kills upon entering play.
That being said, I'd be more than happy to listen to arguments in favour of running either of those cards, that was just my reasoning based on what I know right now.
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Totally unrelated (sorry) but, Blackjack, your avatar picture ALWAYS looks like Soltari Champion when i see it in my peripheral vision. The first time I saw it I thought I was just crazy, but now again I thought it was Soltari Champion. Weird.
Tumultuous..... In case you don't recognize him, it's Burt Gummer.
Dr. Awesome:
Belfry Spirit - He's 2 flying tokens when he comes into play and 2 more when the creature he haunts gets killed. Quite a bit of sac fodder/chump blockers for the deck.
Beacon of Unrest - Brings any Artifact or Creature in a graveyard into play for you.... seems pretty strong in EDH.
What to remove for them, I wouldn't know.
I'm fairly new to EDH, and won't pretend to know much about what I'm doing. I ask about including cards as much for my own use rather than just as suggestions for your deck.
Tumultuous..... In case you don't recognize him, it's Burt Gummer.
Dr. Awesome:
Belfry Spirit - He's 2 flying tokens when he comes into play and 2 more when the creature he haunts gets killed. Quite a bit of sac fodder/chump blockers for the deck.
Beacon of Unrest - Brings any Artifact or Creature in a graveyard into play for you.... seems pretty strong in EDH.
What to remove for them, I wouldn't know.
I'm fairly new to EDH, and won't pretend to know much about what I'm doing. I ask about including cards as much for my own use rather than just as suggestions for your deck.
Cool no worries, the suggestions are definitely appreciated!
I was trying to work a way to get Cloudgoat Ranger into the deck (because he's a jacked-up version of Sengir Autocrat), but I think I'll go with Belfry Spirit once I get a copy since he gives me a potential of 5 sac outlets rather than just 4.
As for the Beacon, I might try it, but the slot goes to Dread Return right now because of the synergy with my token generators.
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For anyone keeping up with this thread, I think Reborn Hero and Epochrasite could find a home as sacrifice outlets that stick around. I think this deck wants a few more lands too.
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In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
A friend of mine also runs Ghost Council, but it's obvious you've actually put some decent cards in it XD. His goes along the lines of "I'm gonna gain oodles of life I dare you to False Cure me!!!" I think yours is much better, and he'll cry and weep in shame when I show him this list.
About the lands, 35 is fine imho. In any deck, you want at least a third of the deck to be land, and yours barely fits the bill. You also have some mana artifacts.
I'd suggest running Wayfarer's Bauble over Lightning Grieves, so you can get some mana out of the deck. The Grieves isn't really needed for shroudly goodness because of your reanimation effects, and the haste is kinda meh. If you can, you also could try to increase the land count by two, though what you take out is up to you.
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Currently Playing:
Standard: Vampires, U/W Control, Jund Cascade
Extended: Faeries!
Elder-Dragon Highlander: Niv-Mizzet, Mayael the Anima, Korlash, Teneb the Harvester, Jaya Ballard, Momir Vig, Darigaaz the Igniter, Horde of Notions (5-color)
I'd suggest running Wayfarer's Bauble over Lightning Grieves, so you can get some mana out of the deck. The Grieves isn't really needed for shroudly goodness because of your reanimation effects, and the haste is kinda meh.
Are you high?
/curt smart-ass
Wayfarer's Bauble is great, but Lightning Greaves is, hands down, one of the best cards EVER in EDH. Even if my general was my only creature I'd run it.
Ok well anyway, I decided to take out Syphon Mind, Mindslicer and Havoc Demon for 2x Plains and 1x Swamp. I just realised this deck can get mana-hungry with a lot of ways to abuse large amounts of lands, so I figured I'd see what adding a few more would do.
I axed those three because:
Havoc Demon is controllable with GC and 1 up, but that's 6BB just to give the board -5/-5, and the Council has to be around (or some other sac outlet). Seems too slow and too small an effect for such an investment.
Mindslicer would be cute to force everyone to play topdeck, but pretty much everyone at my table has some way or another to abuse cards going to their graveyard (i.e. Sharuum the Hegemon, and I don't think I have enough of a way to abuse the effect on my end.
Syphon Mind is decent in a large game. Actually, it's very good. But when you topdeck this late-game with only two or three players remaining, you wish it was Ambition's Cost. I'll be adding Phyrexian Arena when I can get one, but until then, I feel like the deck has enough ways to draw cards.
A friend of mine also runs Ghost Council, but it's obvious you've actually put some decent cards in it XD. His goes along the lines of "I'm gonna gain oodles of life I dare you to False Cure me!!!" I think yours is much better, and he'll cry and weep in shame when I show him this list.
Thank you very much!
I'd suggest running Wayfarer's Bauble over Lightning Grieves, so you can get some mana out of the deck. The Grieves isn't really needed for shroudly goodness because of your reanimation effects, and the haste is kinda meh. If you can, you also could try to increase the land count by two, though what you take out is up to you.
Not a good idea, sorry. This thing gives protection to all my relevant beaters, and makes combat math impossible for my opponents. I run this in every deck I play, too.
I wouldn't cut Syphon Mind if I were you. Even with only 2 other players, it's still very relevant. By that late in the game, two extra cards is huge, especially because you'll likely have the mana to cast them immediately if necessary.
You may disagree, but I don't like Beacon of Immortality at all. Here's why: 1.) It doesn't really help you recover if you're on the verge of death. 2.) If you're at or close to 40 when you do cast it, it will have a large effect, but it will also draw a lot of attention to you. There are a lot of people that like to keep things even, so shooting up 40 life above everyone else will paint a big old target on your forehead. 3.) You have to spend an entire turn casting it.
I wouldn't cut Syphon Mind if I were you. Even with only 2 other players, it's still very relevant. By that late in the game, two extra cards is huge, especially because you'll likely have the mana to cast them immediately if necessary.
You may disagree, but I don't like Beacon of Immortality at all. Here's why: 1.) It doesn't really help you recover if you're on the verge of death. 2.) If you're at or close to 40 when you do cast it, it will have a large effect, but it will also draw a lot of attention to you. There are a lot of people that like to keep things even, so shooting up 40 life above everyone else will paint a big old target on your forehead. 3.) You have to spend an entire turn casting it.
I'd cut that before I cut Syphon Mind.
Here's why I am hesitant to cut the spell:
The shuffle effect is really nice with Top in play.
It is a game-swinging effect. My deck is constantly gaining small amounts of life, and this essentially doubles every single life-gain effect, even just the 2-point swing from Ghost Council. Granted, it won't win me the game, but it can give me a rather large buffer zone to work with for a couple more turns to get back into it.
Yes, it costs an entire turn to use it, but I added a few more lands to help in that respect. Also, Syphon Mind has the potential to fail too if I'm almost dead and one of the last two or three players. I'd need the 3Bplus whatever mana for the spell I draw to keep me alive. That spell will likely be more than a CMC of 2, so the Beacon almost becomes cheaper in those cases.
Syphon Mind paints a target on your chest too, but doesn't give you a buffer zone. Everyone wants payback for what you did to them, but you're still at the same life-total, and if I don't have a sweeper, that could be just as bad.
There's definitely two sides to the argument, but in the end, the Beacon is splashy and fun, and that's really what this whole format is about!
There's almost certainly something you should cut before Syphon though, especially in a deck with almost no other card drawing effects. Try this: next time you're playing with the deck, wait until mid-game and then imagine if you would have prefered Syphon over each non-land card you draw. Obviously certain situations call for different cards, but the more you think this way, the more you'll be able to figure out what you want to cut (if anything).
There's almost certainly something you should cut before Syphon though, especially in a deck with almost no other card drawing effects. Try this: next time you're playing with the deck, wait until mid-game and then imagine if you would have prefered Syphon over each non-land card you draw. Obviously certain situations call for different cards, but the more you think this way, the more you'll be able to figure out what you want to cut (if anything).
Cool, thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to add the white and black Urza's cycling lands too for slightly more card draw.
Edit: I decided to axe Fanatical Devotion in favour of the Syphon Mind. It's a cute trick, and instant-speed sac outlets are generally good, but the effect hasn't been as useful as I'd like it to be, and I think the deck has enough sac outlets that I can get away without having this one. I'm sad to see such a flavourful card get away though
Fellow Ghost Council player here. I like the deck, especially the Enchantment sub-theme. I think it's quite solid, but a few changes I would make would be:
These cards fail as Council-fodder, as you still have to kill your own Council when you sacrifice these to it (unless you have something else to feed the Gatekeeper, which may not always be the case).
The Prophet is just there as another "Wrath" effect that acts as a Seal. Basically, I view him as "Seal of Final Judgment". Ideally, I sac him to something when GC is RFG'd. Also, the Gatekeeper is one of the few ways I can take out my friends' Akromas and DSCs.
I generally don't like this card in EDH, because it's ALWAYS just a temporary solution. Someone will eventually destroy it at some point and then you'll be sorry for removing that Angel of Despair...
I'll put it on my watch list. I actually did a gel pen alter of one of these so I wanted an excuse to put it in the deck, but I'll make note.
Two perfect fits for the Enchantment-theme. The Rector makes for an especially nice target for the Council. Also consider No Mercy's big brother, Dread.
Rector is going in as soon as I can get a copy, but I don't want to buy one since $6 is a little pricey for me right now on one card. I considered No Mercy before, but I don't know why it never made the final cut. I'll try it out.
Also, me fail for forgetting YawgBargain was banned...d'oh!
Thanks for the comments though.
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Basically, this deck amounts enormous amounts of tokens and weenies through various means, and uses them as fodder for many cards, including the General.
I've done very well with this deck in 1 vs 1, but I haven't tried enough multiplayer to see how it does.
Thank you for your input!
Okay, I know I need to get some more of the 'Staples of EDH,' but is there anything else good to get?
Note to mods: I am 'necroing' this thread under the conditions of Necroing Rules 4a and b, concerning its 'official' status as listed under the threads of EDH, and applying to a specific general. Delete it if you must. Also, it has been much longer than 24 hours, making this a 24+hour bump.
EDIT: Darn it, was trying to rez my own thread. Maybe next time.
No Vindicate?
and also Angel of Despair vindicate on a 5/5 flying beatstick is always fun Galepowder Mage vindcates something everytime you attack if u have angel of despair out.
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Standard GBGB AggroGB
Modern GBRWDeath's ShadowGBRW UBWRAffinityUBWR GRTitanshiftGR URBGrixis ControlURB
Legacy BUGTrue Name BUGBUG UBRGrixis DelverUBR BUGShardless BUGBUG BUGElvesBUG
Angel of Despair is in there; I accidentally placed it after Angel of Salvation. I'll fix that now. Galepowder Mage is interesting; are there any other good Flicker effects you could think of as well?
I know combos are quite hard to pull off, but have you considered playing Painter's Servant to compliment your Teysa, Orzhov Scion" target="blank">Teysa, Orzhov Scion? If you have 3 white creatures out, it turns her into a removal beast. It also works well with Akroma, giving her pro-everything.
Here's the updated list:
CMC: 3.74
- The deck's designed to abuse Enchantments and thrives in metas that don't run a lot of enchantment hate. Keep Ghost Council alive by saccing your tokens, or you can sacrifice any number of guys that do stuff when they go to the graveyard. Build a pillowfort and play defensively and win the war of attrition! Win con is a big Exsanguinate or a horde of tokens or sometimes just chipping away with your commander. This deck is SLOW, and designed for long, grindy multiplayer games.
- Don't overextend on your enchantments, but you can always use Replenish and Auramancer to get your stuff back.
- Crackdown + Blind Obedience / Deathbringer Liege
- Skullclamp + tokens is good, but be careful of that awkward moment when you've got Captain of the Watch or Deathbringer Liege on the table.
- There's also a Soldier subtheme with some nice synergy between Captain of the Watch and Mobilization/Kjeldoan Outpost/Forbidden Watchtower/Martial Coup/Militia's Pride/Knight-Captain of Eos, etc.
- I'm sure there's a Teysa combo in there somewhere but I've yet to bother finding it since that's not really what this deck is about.
Notable Exclusions
- Sanguine Bond would give this deck a legitimate win-condition with the infinite combo alongside Exquisite Blood, but for me it seems a little cheesy. If my meta were more cutthroat, I wouldn't hesitate to put it in, but I only want one or the other, and this one seems a touch worse than EB.
- Don't have one, but I'd like to test them: Spear of Heliod, Opalescence, Parallax Wave, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Spirit Mirror, Celestial Ancient, Open the Vaults, and Glistening Oil.
- Bitterblossom, Land Tax, and other excellent BW enchantments like Phyrexian Arena[/card and Necropotence are not run because of my cube or scarcity.
- Enlightened Tutor - Went into my cube also.
- Idyllic Tutor - Looking for one, but it will likely go in if I can find one.
- Three Dreams - not enough good Auras in my opinion.
- Spirit Loop, Hyena Umbra, Griffin Guide etc. - there's a few good auras in these colours, but I find they erode the slots I can dedicate to the powerful non-Aura enchantments. They tend to fall off when you put them on Ghost Council since he bounces around a lot, so I just don't think they're quite right in this deck.
- Staples like Demonic Tutor, Phyrexian Arena, Damnation, Vindicate, etc. are MIA because they're either in my cube or otherwise hard for me to get. Scroll Rack is a particularly good card to pair with Land Tax, while I'm on the subject of staples, but they're both in the "hard to acquire" pile.
(Aside: I like to use my "best"/"spikiest" cards for my cube, which makes deckbuilding a little more fun for me since I have more slots for lesser-used cards. I find this makes my deck a little more fun to play AGAINST as well, and lead to more interactive games. Just my two cents!)
This deck originally focused on tokens specifically to synergize with the general, Ghost Council of Orzhova. As I added more of my best white and black cards to the deck, I started noticing many powerful enchantment cards. At first, I wondered if this was possible to do in BW only, since one would assume that if they wanted to build a deck that focuses on enchantments, they'd use one the usual suspects: Zur, the Enchanter, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, or Ertai, the Corrupted. Each were tempting, but I had a problem with each of them:
That aside, more on the deck. It's fundamental to the philosophy of this deck that you play as few creatures as possible. Well, not fundamental, but it's a big part of it at any rate. Remember me mentioning my creature-unfriendly meta earlier? I wanted this to be the deck that took advantage of that. So, taking a key from the Legacy Burn decks, I wanted to make their removal be as useless as possible.
What do I do instead of winning with straight up creatures? To synergize with Ghost Council and provide a way to give another knee to the groin of Wrath of God, this deck plays a ton of land- and enchantment-based token generation that traditional creature removal will find hard to keep up with in the long game.
All of this is complimented with a heavy enchantment subtheme, taking advantage of the fact that BW has access to some of the most powerful enchantments in the game.
FAQ:
I tried to fit in lots of token generators that I can get multiple uses out of to make sure I always have some poor soul to satisfy the GC and really abuse my general. Just also want to point out how ridiculously flavourful Fanatical Devotion is in this deck, and not even in a Monty Python way.
Suggestions and comments are welcome, but before you post, here's some cards that are not in the decklist above, but I will put in as soon as I get a copy (feel free to suggest anything not listed here):
I'll assume that was my thread..... glad you posted the decklist, it gave me some good ideas.
Have you considered Spectral Procession or Deathbringer Liege?
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Ha yes it was your thread I believe. You're welcome, I hope it helped.
I did consider Spectral Procession. I cut it in the end because it's just a one-shot effect, and even though 3 tokens for 3 mana seems good, I think I'd be casting it for 2WB more often than WWW, so I opted for more permanent forms of token generation.
I also briefly considered Deathbringer Liege but it just seems too weak for me:
T2
URG Destructive Force
UW Caw-Blade
Legacy
W Stax
U Merfolk
EDH
RB Bladewing the Risen
GW Tolsimir Wolfblood
UB Sygg, River Cutthroat
WUBRG Progenitus
B Maga, Traitor to Mortals
WUR Numot, the Devastator
R Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
G Azusa, Lost but Seeking
GWR Hazezon Tamar
Peasant
U Pros-Tide
Casual
BR Flaming Zombies Attack!
G Primalcrux
UR Pyromancer Ascension
UB Mill
Ah nice, I'll look to get a copy.
Edit: Added Twilight Drover, Winding Canyons, Radiant's Dragoons, Golgari Thug, Wayward Angel, Magus of the Abyss, Righteous Aura. Removed Tar Fiend, Swamp, Enslave, Nezumi Graverobber, Mortivore, Boneshredder, and Undead Gladiator,
How 'bout Belfry Spirit
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EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Interesting. What would you recommend I swap out for them, and why?
Totally unrelated (sorry) but, Blackjack, your avatar picture ALWAYS looks like Soltari Champion when i see it in my peripheral vision. The first time I saw it I thought I was just crazy, but now again I thought it was Soltari Champion. Weird.
Dr. Awesome:
Belfry Spirit - He's 2 flying tokens when he comes into play and 2 more when the creature he haunts gets killed. Quite a bit of sac fodder/chump blockers for the deck.
Beacon of Unrest - Brings any Artifact or Creature in a graveyard into play for you.... seems pretty strong in EDH.
What to remove for them, I wouldn't know.
I'm fairly new to EDH, and won't pretend to know much about what I'm doing. I ask about including cards as much for my own use rather than just as suggestions for your deck.
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Cool no worries, the suggestions are definitely appreciated!
I was trying to work a way to get Cloudgoat Ranger into the deck (because he's a jacked-up version of Sengir Autocrat), but I think I'll go with Belfry Spirit once I get a copy since he gives me a potential of 5 sac outlets rather than just 4.
As for the Beacon, I might try it, but the slot goes to Dread Return right now because of the synergy with my token generators.
About the lands, 35 is fine imho. In any deck, you want at least a third of the deck to be land, and yours barely fits the bill. You also have some mana artifacts.
I'd suggest running Wayfarer's Bauble over Lightning Grieves, so you can get some mana out of the deck. The Grieves isn't really needed for shroudly goodness because of your reanimation effects, and the haste is kinda meh. If you can, you also could try to increase the land count by two, though what you take out is up to you.
Standard: Vampires, U/W Control, Jund Cascade
Extended: Faeries!
Elder-Dragon Highlander: Niv-Mizzet, Mayael the Anima, Korlash, Teneb the Harvester, Jaya Ballard, Momir Vig, Darigaaz the Igniter, Horde of Notions (5-color)
Are you high?
/curt smart-ass
Wayfarer's Bauble is great, but Lightning Greaves is, hands down, one of the best cards EVER in EDH. Even if my general was my only creature I'd run it.
Bahah!
Ok well anyway, I decided to take out Syphon Mind, Mindslicer and Havoc Demon for 2x Plains and 1x Swamp. I just realised this deck can get mana-hungry with a lot of ways to abuse large amounts of lands, so I figured I'd see what adding a few more would do.
I axed those three because:
Not a good idea, sorry. This thing gives protection to all my relevant beaters, and makes combat math impossible for my opponents. I run this in every deck I play, too.
You may disagree, but I don't like Beacon of Immortality at all. Here's why: 1.) It doesn't really help you recover if you're on the verge of death. 2.) If you're at or close to 40 when you do cast it, it will have a large effect, but it will also draw a lot of attention to you. There are a lot of people that like to keep things even, so shooting up 40 life above everyone else will paint a big old target on your forehead. 3.) You have to spend an entire turn casting it.
I'd cut that before I cut Syphon Mind.
Here's why I am hesitant to cut the spell:
Cool, thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to add the white and black Urza's cycling lands too for slightly more card draw.
Edit: I decided to axe Fanatical Devotion in favour of the Syphon Mind. It's a cute trick, and instant-speed sac outlets are generally good, but the effect hasn't been as useful as I'd like it to be, and I think the deck has enough sac outlets that I can get away without having this one. I'm sad to see such a flavourful card get away though
The Prophet is just there as another "Wrath" effect that acts as a Seal. Basically, I view him as "Seal of Final Judgment". Ideally, I sac him to something when GC is RFG'd. Also, the Gatekeeper is one of the few ways I can take out my friends' Akromas and DSCs.
I'll put it on my watch list. I actually did a gel pen alter of one of these so I wanted an excuse to put it in the deck, but I'll make note.
Hmm I think I have a copy, I'll test it out for sure.
Rector is going in as soon as I can get a copy, but I don't want to buy one since $6 is a little pricey for me right now on one card. I considered No Mercy before, but I don't know why it never made the final cut. I'll try it out.
Also, me fail for forgetting YawgBargain was banned...d'oh!
Thanks for the comments though.
1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
Other Creatures (38)
1 Angel of Salvation
1 Angel of Despair
1 Archon of Justice
1 Belfry Spirit
1 Blind Hunter
1 Darklit Gargoyle
1 Deathbringer Liege
1 Dregscape Zombie
1 Dusk Urchins
1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Grixis Slavedriver
1 Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Mournwhelk
1 Myojin of Cleansing Fire
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
1 Nantuko Husk
1 Nip Gwyllion
1 Orzhov Guildmage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Phyrexian Gargantuan
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Plague Sliver
1 Plagued Rusalka
1 Prickly Boggart
1 Restless Apparition
1 Rotting Rats
1 Shriekmaw
1 Sigiled Paladin
1 Skeletal Vampire
1 Souls of the Faultless
1 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Viscera Dragger
1 Voracious Hatchling
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Mind Stone
1 Quietus Spike
1 Scepter of Dominance
1 Skullclamp
Enchantments (6)
1 Debtors' Knell
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Pillory of the Sleepless
1 Promse of Bunrei
1 Recumbent Bliss
Sorcerys (7)
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Castigate
1 Cenn's Enlistment
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Rite of Consumption
1 Spectral Procession
1 Syphon Life
Instants (3)
1 Cauldron Haze
1 Mortify
1 Unmake
20 Plains
20 Swamp
Basically, this deck amounts enormous amounts of tokens and weenies through various means, and uses them as fodder for many cards, including the General.
I've done very well with this deck in 1 vs 1, but I haven't tried enough multiplayer to see how it does.
Thank you for your input!
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
Other Creatures (38)
1 Angel of Despair
1 Angel of Salvation
1 Archon of Justice
1 Belfry Spirit
1 Blind Hunter
1 Darklit Gargoyle
1 Deathbringer Liege
1 Dregscape Zombie
1 Dusk Urchins
1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Grixis Slavedriver
1 Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Mournwhelk
1 Myojin of Cleansing Fire
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
1 Nantuko Husk
1 Nip Gwyllion
1 Orzhov Guildmage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Phyrexian Gargantuan
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Plague Sliver
1 Plagued Rusalka
1 Prickly Boggart
1 Restless Apparition
1 Rotting Rats
1 Shriekmaw
1 Sigiled Paladin
1 Skeletal Vampire
1 Souls of the Faultless
1 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Viscera Dragger
1 Voracious Hatchling
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Mind Stone
1 Quietus Spike
1 Scepter of Dominance
1 Skullclamp
Enchantments (6)
1 Debtors' Knell
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Pillory of the Sleepless
1 Promse of Bunrei
1 Recumbent Bliss
Sorcerys (7)
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Castigate
1 Cenn's Enlistment
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Rite of Consumption
1 Spectral Procession
1 Syphon Life
Instants (3)
1 Cauldron Haze
1 Mortify
1 Unmake
20 Plains
20 Swamp
Okay, I know I need to get some more of the 'Staples of EDH,' but is there anything else good to get?
Note to mods: I am 'necroing' this thread under the conditions of Necroing Rules 4a and b, concerning its 'official' status as listed under the threads of EDH, and applying to a specific general. Delete it if you must. Also, it has been much longer than 24 hours, making this a 24+hour bump.
EDIT: Darn it, was trying to rez my own thread. Maybe next time.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
and also Angel of Despair vindicate on a 5/5 flying beatstick is always fun
Galepowder Mage vindcates something everytime you attack if u have angel of despair out.
GBGB AggroGB
Modern
GBRWDeath's ShadowGBRW
UBWRAffinityUBWR
GRTitanshiftGR
URBGrixis ControlURB
Legacy
BUGTrue Name BUGBUG
UBRGrixis DelverUBR
BUGShardless BUGBUG
BUGElvesBUG
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW