MBC is my favourite archetype and I've played Sheoldred for a long time until disassembled due to being too slow for competitive meta. When Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was spoiled my hope for returning raised. Then spoilers showed Vilis, Broker of Blood and now I'm torn which one to choose.
Yawgmoth
PROS: quite cheap (4 mana), free sac outlet and removal, proliferate option. Two-card combo with Nest of Scarabs.
CONS: needs creatures to sac which forces to use token-producers and weak, self-recurring creatures. Deck may not function without it.
Vilis
PROS: draws cards off playing MBC stamples (Toxic Deluge, Snuff Out, Imp's Mischief etc.), removal of stick, big demon. Two-card combo with Necropotence, Doom Whisperer.
CONS: very expensive (8 mana), needs to focus on ramp and more on life-gain effects.
I like Yawgmoth better for MBC because of the mana cost and the large list of abilities. He can be cast 3 times from the command zone before matching the cost of Vilis and does very similar things with -1/-1 and draw.
Proliferate is a good second ability to have if you want an infect backup win con, or like using planeswalkers. Easy to ULT any walker after making a single turn cycle, or even on ETB if you have the mana and cards. He may end up drawing less cards overall, but the flexibility and lower cost make him my favorite.
The both require some specific deck building constraints, so it depends on what you would like playing more. I like the token synergies with Yawgmoth, and sacing creatures is what black does best, so there are plenty of cards that support that theme. You do not have to lean too heavily on token production, as just sacing your incidental creatures should keep the fuel coming as long as Yawgmoth is in play.
I will be building a Yawgmoth deck. Just wish I had more mono-black planeswalkers to put in it right now. They are on the wish list.
I voted Vilis, because MBC usually is more interested in playing board control for a while than rushing out its commander. Also, it ramps exceedingly well with coffers and all the swamp support.
What I want when I build MBC is to be able to pull a bomb out of my command zone and refuel or just win the game on its back. Stuff like Geth, Lord of the Vault.
I think Yawgmoth is a bit more powerful, but also a bit more buildaround. You need more derpy token effects and things like Nest of Scarabs which is a horrible card on its own.
MBC is about playing the best cards and ramp, not about playing weird -1/-1 counter or proliferate synergies. Just my opinion though of course.
I relent to the above. If you want hard core control, then Vilis will be more splashy if you want your commander to be a win con. Once you get a critical mass of mana, Vilis will come down mid/late and dominate the field with mass draw.
Yawgmoth may be quite a bit more grindy, and you will probably have to add wincons into your deck that are facilitated by Yawg. It will draw many cards, but will need to be facilitated by other cards in the deck more than just "loose life".
Personally Yawg speaks to me much more than giant card drawing Demon. In that instance, Razaketh would likely be the "BEST" MBC commander.
I thrive off synergies, and Yawg has much potential for synergy plays vs goodstuff control.
You want to easily put Vilis in the GY and that gets much trickier when he begins the game in the Command Zone over starting in the library in a Mono-B deck.
Okay, why do we call Vilis Bruce? Is it Bruce Willis? Because if so that's really stupid.
Anyway, the Ineffable is better in the Command Zone. Vilis works better as a reanimation target because, um, eight mana. At some point, a creature has to be cheated.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I reference Vilis as Bruce because of Die Hard series. You know, the more he was beaten up / injured the more effective / determined he was. Yes, that's kind of stupid
As for Yawgmoth I browsed through some decklists and most of them included a lot of useless stuff only to work with Yawg. I like playing good cards or at least ones that aren't dead draws without Commander.
Yawgmoth
PROS: quite cheap (4 mana), free sac outlet and removal, proliferate option. Two-card combo with Nest of Scarabs.
CONS: needs creatures to sac which forces to use token-producers and weak, self-recurring creatures. Deck may not function without it.
Vilis
PROS: draws cards off playing MBC stamples (Toxic Deluge, Snuff Out, Imp's Mischief etc.), removal of stick, big demon. Two-card combo with Necropotence, Doom Whisperer.
CONS: very expensive (8 mana), needs to focus on ramp and more on life-gain effects.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward
Proliferate is a good second ability to have if you want an infect backup win con, or like using planeswalkers. Easy to ULT any walker after making a single turn cycle, or even on ETB if you have the mana and cards. He may end up drawing less cards overall, but the flexibility and lower cost make him my favorite.
The both require some specific deck building constraints, so it depends on what you would like playing more. I like the token synergies with Yawgmoth, and sacing creatures is what black does best, so there are plenty of cards that support that theme. You do not have to lean too heavily on token production, as just sacing your incidental creatures should keep the fuel coming as long as Yawgmoth is in play.
I will be building a Yawgmoth deck. Just wish I had more mono-black planeswalkers to put in it right now. They are on the wish list.
What I want when I build MBC is to be able to pull a bomb out of my command zone and refuel or just win the game on its back. Stuff like Geth, Lord of the Vault.
I think Yawgmoth is a bit more powerful, but also a bit more buildaround. You need more derpy token effects and things like Nest of Scarabs which is a horrible card on its own.
MBC is about playing the best cards and ramp, not about playing weird -1/-1 counter or proliferate synergies. Just my opinion though of course.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Yawgmoth may be quite a bit more grindy, and you will probably have to add wincons into your deck that are facilitated by Yawg. It will draw many cards, but will need to be facilitated by other cards in the deck more than just "loose life".
Personally Yawg speaks to me much more than giant card drawing Demon. In that instance, Razaketh would likely be the "BEST" MBC commander.
I thrive off synergies, and Yawg has much potential for synergy plays vs goodstuff control.
Vilis obviously has some amazing ways to abuse him, but he is just more mana intensive on all fronts so will always not be as good.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Anyway, the Ineffable is better in the Command Zone. Vilis works better as a reanimation target because, um, eight mana. At some point, a creature has to be cheated.
On phasing:
As for Yawgmoth I browsed through some decklists and most of them included a lot of useless stuff only to work with Yawg. I like playing good cards or at least ones that aren't dead draws without Commander.
Everything will - [Primer] Sheoldred, Whispering One - Bow to Phyrexia!
Turboland - Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Control
Vampires' - Edgar Markov - Bites
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Jumping Ninjas
Daretti, Scrap Savant - From Scrap to Treasure
Prime Speaker Zegana - Primal Surge permanentness
Krenko, Mob Boss - Angry Goblins CHARGE!
Traximundar - Flashback Forward