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Power, at any cost. Suicide Mono Black Demon Tribal
Because you hate people with a passion
This here is a Table of Contents:
-Scroll Manually, you lazy man, until I decide to make one for real.
Reasons to play demon tribal:
-You like huge creatures
-You can't be bothered by very complex plays, but you still want your deck to have nice interactions
-You like playing powerful spells
-You remember Black Summer
-Demons are your best friends
-You are inherently evil
Reasons not to play demon tribal:
-You don't like black
-You don't like creatures or a playstyle that has some drawbacks
-You are on a strict budget
-You like life gain
-You love puppies and kittens
History of the deck
If you were like me, and read Lord of the Rings when you were young, and saw the movies more than five times each, you probably also have been fascinated by the Balrog, one of the creatures of the LotR universe that inspired raw terror and awe. I based by DnD character on a demon, and made my first MTG deck with Lord of the Pit in the list. In fact, demons are what introduced me to the game (along with Craw Wurm, but I digress).
I love the color black in Magic with a passion, and I honestly think it is single-handedly the most powerful color in the game. This EDH deck was my third list ever played, second made from scratch. I never retired it, just put it on hiatus for a while. I have not seen many demon lists here, so I decided to post this thread to help fellow demon lovers make their own decks.
Choice of the commander
I would have chosen Lord of the Pit if he was legendary, but alas, he is not, so here's our choices:
Griselbrand: The next best thing after Lord of the Pit. Sadly, he is banned. If your playgroup lets you run, it, he is a DEFINITE choice. Pick him no matter what happens.
Kagemaro, First to Suffer: A "build around me". You normally play him with a lot of card draw. The card doesn't make you a huge threat when people first see it, so it can be a good choice.
Kuro, Pitlord: A bigger, badder Lord of the Pit. He isn't as metal as the old school one, and doesn't require a creature sacrifice. His ability to kill a lot of smaller creatures is very useful if you have the life to spare. He wasn't considered at the helm because of his prohibitive cost.
Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse: Awesome title for a demon, but needs to be built around. Theme of spirits and arcane spells is viable, though, I'll give it that.
Malfegor: He's not so great at the helm of the deck.
Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis: He is very good at the helm, and good in mono black control, but we need a real general, that commands POWER, not just a pesky overlord.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots: The fact there isn't many good demons in red is the only thing keeping this deck from being two colors, and this guy at the helm. An awesome card that makes your demons ridiculously cheap to cast.
Seizan, Perverter of Truth: A very good demon, but not at the helm of the deck. His abilities are great for everyone, and we do not want that.
That's a pretty bad creature for the mana cost. What makes him awesome is his ability.
Landfall -Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have target player lose 3 life. If you do, put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.
Alright. Now pause, breathe a little, and think about that for a while. Ok. Do you need a bit more time? Alright, I'll give you some more.
His landfall trigger makes it that you are never unhappy to see a land, or even a fetch, because he will get 3 more power and toughness, as well as damaging an opponent in the process. 2 lands played with him? He's a 9/9 and one of your opponents lost 6 life. Not bad, right? Now just think equipping him with something. Now you see why he's used in voltron mono black.
That means he has a fair chance of killing someone with commander damage, and is always a valid option to card when all has failed. Black also has many ways of giving him evasion, either by fear or simply by killing every other creatures. Note that I do not run any fetches. This is from a Vorthos point of view, I just don't like off color cards in my decks. They are very good with Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, and should be played if you want to shell out the cash. Ob Nixilis also almost became a planeswalker, according to his flavor text. Although that makes him a b*tch in the world of demons, his power he plenty enough to kill those who oppose him.
Now, I have a confession to make. The real paper version of this deck runs Griselbrand as general. I know he's "banned", but he fits much more at the helm than any other demon. Plus, since when demons gave a ***** about rules?
I'll explain some of the card choices heres, starting from the most obvious ones:
The Fallen Beneficial demons: Demons that are straight up good, with no drawback:
Bloodgift Demon: Phyrexian Arena on a 5/4 flier body. He can also help you kill opponents, if you don't mind their card advantage.
Demon of Death's Gate: 9/9 flier trampler for 9, one of the biggest creatures in our deck. His alternate cost also makes him very interesting if you don't mind your creatures dying.
Dread Cacodemon: Kills everything that isn't you. Tapping your creatures won't matter much, especially if you attacked earlier.
Detrimental Demons: They require you to pay some cost in order to have them in play
Abyssal Persecutor: You will need to kill him in order to win, but he is a very aggressively costed creature, and can save your opponents from dying too!
Lord of the Pit: He's in there stricly for flavor. If you don't like sacrificing creatures, run Kuro, Pit Lord instead.
Enablers Because you need to get these demons out ASAP
Recursion It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him. -Goethe
And it should, because what's evil always comes back.
You'll have to wait on that a bit, I'm still writing it. Coming soon!
Please, PM me for grammatical errors in this thread. I am not a native English speaker and it is actually my third language. Don't hate me for mistakes!
Feel free to write any comment, criticism, recommendations, etc.
Necropotence: Simply because I want to give my opponents a chance of winning. This card is just too powerful.
Dual fetch lands: My inner Vorthos doesn't approve of off color fetches, so I prefer not to run them. Plus they cost a bunch for not quite much an improvement in mono color. If you have them though, USE THEM. THEY WORK GREAT WITH OB NIXILIS
Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds: I hate lands that enter the battlefield tapped. Screws up my tempo. They work fine with Ob Nixilis though, so I recommend it.
I used Schondetta's wonderful thread to help me format mine, thanks!
Deck Updates
In the middle of 2012: Deck built
05/03/13: Thread started
26/06/13: Out: Graveborn Muse, Liliana of the Veil, Falkenrath Noble, Dark Depths, Grave Pact, 2 Swamps
In: Phyrexian Tower, Maze of Ith, Dust Bowl, Crucible of worlds, Xathrid Demon, Nightmare Lash
To-do list
-Clean up the thread
-Add more jokes
-Table of contents
-Strategy section
-Examples of plays and explanations
-More quotes
nice deck
but i would take out grave muse, she doesn't do much for you. and add a coat of arms. as well as a do or die for epic flavour
and a nightmare lash always nice
nice deck
but i would take out grave muse, she doesn't do much for you. and add a coat of arms. as well as a do or die for epic flavour
and a nightmare lash always nice
Sorry for the late reply. Added the card you suggested, since it makes sense. Do or die is not in though, because we need to find one first!
UPDATE:
Out: Graveborn Muse, Liliana of the Veil, Falkenrath Noble, Dark Depths, Grave Pact, 2 Swamps
In: Phyrexian Tower, Maze of Ith, Dust Bowl, Crucible of worlds, Xathrid Demon, Nightmare Lash
If you are adding nightmare lash, I think Lashwrithe is strictly better
All good cards, but this is a demon tribal deck, the point of a tribal deck is sticking with the same tribe and a few creatures that help it. And no gravepact effects, enough creatures die already anyway. And lashwrithe is there already? Deathcloud is not good for me, because it hurts me more than my opponents. I don't plan on playing Stax elements, because I'm kind of sick of the idea.
Abhorrent Overlord seems like it wouldn't be too bad here, with your potential for huge devotion to black. You can get a lot of extra token fodder, which are good for things like Skullclamp.
And speaking of, why aren't you running Skullclamp? You're running the trinity of 2CC B dudes that love the card, and Harvester of Souls loves it even more.
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Power, at any cost.
Suicide Mono Black Demon Tribal
Because you hate people with a passion
This here is a Table of Contents:
-Scroll Manually, you lazy man, until I decide to make one for real.
Reasons to play demon tribal:
-You like huge creatures
-You can't be bothered by very complex plays, but you still want your deck to have nice interactions
-You like playing powerful spells
-You remember Black Summer
-Demons are your best friends
-You are inherently evil
Reasons not to play demon tribal:
-You don't like black
-You don't like creatures or a playstyle that has some drawbacks
-You are on a strict budget
-You like life gain
-You love puppies and kittens
If you were like me, and read Lord of the Rings when you were young, and saw the movies more than five times each, you probably also have been fascinated by the Balrog, one of the creatures of the LotR universe that inspired raw terror and awe. I based by DnD character on a demon, and made my first MTG deck with Lord of the Pit in the list. In fact, demons are what introduced me to the game (along with Craw Wurm, but I digress).
I love the color black in Magic with a passion, and I honestly think it is single-handedly the most powerful color in the game. This EDH deck was my third list ever played, second made from scratch. I never retired it, just put it on hiatus for a while. I have not seen many demon lists here, so I decided to post this thread to help fellow demon lovers make their own decks.
Choice of the commander
I would have chosen Lord of the Pit if he was legendary, but alas, he is not, so here's our choices:
So why Ob Nixilis, the Fallen over all these choices?
Let's just start looking at the card:
- 3/3 for converted mana cost 3BB
That's a pretty bad creature for the mana cost. What makes him awesome is his ability.
- Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have target player lose 3 life. If you do, put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.
Alright. Now pause, breathe a little, and think about that for a while. Ok. Do you need a bit more time? Alright, I'll give you some more.
His landfall trigger makes it that you are never unhappy to see a land, or even a fetch, because he will get 3 more power and toughness, as well as damaging an opponent in the process. 2 lands played with him? He's a 9/9 and one of your opponents lost 6 life. Not bad, right? Now just think equipping him with something. Now you see why he's used in voltron mono black.That means he has a fair chance of killing someone with commander damage, and is always a valid option to card when all has failed. Black also has many ways of giving him evasion, either by fear or simply by killing every other creatures. Note that I do not run any fetches. This is from a Vorthos point of view, I just don't like off color cards in my decks. They are very good with Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, and should be played if you want to shell out the cash. Ob Nixilis also almost became a planeswalker, according to his flavor text. Although that makes him a b*tch in the world of demons, his power he plenty enough to kill those who oppose him.
Now, I have a confession to make. The real paper version of this deck runs Griselbrand as general. I know he's "banned", but he fits much more at the helm than any other demon. Plus, since when demons gave a ***** about rules?
Sign me up! Where's the decklist?
1x Abyssal Persecutor
1x Blood Speaker
1x Bloodgift Demon
1x Crypt Ghast
1x Demon of Death's Gate
1x Dread Cacodemon
1x Harvester of Souls
1x Lord of the Pit
1x Lord of the Void
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
1x Nether Traitor
1x Nirkana Revenant
1x Pawn of Ulamog
1x Pestilence Demon
1x Reaper from the Abyss
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Reiver Demon
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Xathrid Demon
1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
1x All Is Dust
1x Ambition's Cost
1x Ancient Craving
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Damnation
1x Decree of Pain
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Revelation
1x Exsanguinate
1x Increasing Ambition
1x Patriarch's Bidding
1x Praetor's Grasp
1x Profane Command
1x Promise of Power
1x Temporal Extortion
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Caged Sun
1x Expedition Map
1x Gauntlet of Power
1x Grim Monolith
1x Lashwrithe
1x Mana Vault
1x Nightmare Lash
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x strata scythe
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Dust Bowl
1x Maze of Ith
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1x Strip Mine
26x Swamp
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vesuva
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Dance of the Dead
1x Enslave
1x Necromancy
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Karn Liberated
1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
1x Liliana Vess
1x Sorin Markov
I'll explain some of the card choices heres, starting from the most obvious ones:
The Fallen
Beneficial demons:
Demons that are straight up good, with no drawback:
Detrimental Demons:
They require you to pay some cost in order to have them in play
Because you need to get these demons out ASAP
Card advantage:
Tutoring
Mana Acceleration
The Unhallowed
Creatures that love death
Recursion
It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him. -Goethe
And it should, because what's evil always comes back.
Sweepers
Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds
Other great cards
Strategy
You'll have to wait on that a bit, I'm still writing it. Coming soon!
Please, PM me for grammatical errors in this thread. I am not a native English speaker and it is actually my third language. Don't hate me for mistakes!
Feel free to write any comment, criticism, recommendations, etc.
Dual fetch lands: My inner Vorthos doesn't approve of off color fetches, so I prefer not to run them. Plus they cost a bunch for not quite much an improvement in mono color. If you have them though, USE THEM. THEY WORK GREAT WITH OB NIXILIS
Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds: I hate lands that enter the battlefield tapped. Screws up my tempo. They work fine with Ob Nixilis though, so I recommend it.
Cards to try out
Do or Die
Credits
Deck Updates
In the middle of 2012: Deck built
05/03/13: Thread started
26/06/13: Out: Graveborn Muse, Liliana of the Veil, Falkenrath Noble, Dark Depths, Grave Pact, 2 Swamps
In: Phyrexian Tower, Maze of Ith, Dust Bowl, Crucible of worlds, Xathrid Demon, Nightmare Lash
To-do list
-Add more jokes
-Table of contents
-Strategy section
-Examples of plays and explanations
-More quotes
but i would take out grave muse, she doesn't do much for you. and add a coat of arms. as well as a do or die for epic flavour
and a nightmare lash always nice
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
Sorry for the late reply. Added the card you suggested, since it makes sense. Do or die is not in though, because we need to find one first!
UPDATE:
Out: Graveborn Muse, Liliana of the Veil, Falkenrath Noble, Dark Depths, Grave Pact, 2 Swamps
In: Phyrexian Tower, Maze of Ith, Dust Bowl, Crucible of worlds, Xathrid Demon, Nightmare Lash
Comments?
Sac outlet for gravepact effects? viscera seer Phyrexian altar
Sheodred, whispering one braids cabal minion contamination magus of the abyss call to the grave infernal darkness death cloud
If you are adding nightmare lash, I think Lashwrithe is strictly better
All good cards, but this is a demon tribal deck, the point of a tribal deck is sticking with the same tribe and a few creatures that help it. And no gravepact effects, enough creatures die already anyway. And lashwrithe is there already? Deathcloud is not good for me, because it hurts me more than my opponents. I don't plan on playing Stax elements, because I'm kind of sick of the idea.
Nightmare Lash may be replaced by strata scythe because the latter is just better.
What will be added in:
And will replace Skeletal Scrying and a swamp respectively.
Any other relevant cards from the set? Greek mythology is not very demon-heavy.
And speaking of, why aren't you running Skullclamp? You're running the trinity of 2CC B dudes that love the card, and Harvester of Souls loves it even more.