Forgot to reply about Urabrask the Hidden- I don't run it because of the 5CMC. The commander games I play are just too quick to be able to afford a 5 mana haste enabler. I have a hard time keeping my haste effects on board, so either playing them early or having them cheap to almost treat as disposable effects has been more effective in my experience. Cards like Fervor, Dragon Breath, Mass Hysteria, and Anger (always free with a loot effect) mean they can be played the same turn as a creature. Swiftfoot boots and lightning greaves also are cheap haste with the upside of protection.
Fiery Emancipation is such a great finisher in the deck- I highly recommend it! The issue with Goryo's Vengeance is that it can't reanimate many of the game winning targets that I would want. No Rune Scarred Demon, It That Betrays, Archfiend of Despair, Gray Merchant, Treasonous Ogre, etc. If I wanted another reanimate effect, I'd choose Dance of the Dead before Goryo's you know?
I think Abhorrent Overlord is a great card, and combined with breath of fury seems like a cool combo. I'm running other cards I like more than Abhorrent, but it's a great demon for sure. Breath of Fury seems like it could be a dead card in hand too often in my own list, as I tend to value keeping a demon around to sac for mana later. Deck philosophy wise, I also tried to maximize the "turn a non-threatening board into a wincon in a single turn" approach, which is why I'd rather have cards like Fiery Emancipation, which can turn a single demon into lethal damage to a player, instead of cards that require a developed board state to profit from, which Breath of Fury leans towards. If you build your own deck focused more on playing out cheaper beaters and other token producing effects, I agree that breath would do tremendous work.
Cuts I would make:
1) Demonlord Belzenlok: I only wanted to cast him if I needed card draw, and he's not terrific at that. There is cheaper, better draw in black.
2) Temporal Extortion: The losing player at the table usually just pays half in return for political favors, which just turns into a waste for the caster.
3) Abyssal Persecutor: We don't need cheap beaters because we reanimate scarier things
4) Magus of the Will: Mizzix's Mastery is better in my experience
5) Mana Vault: deck is too color intensive in my opinion to include this, but if it works for you, sure
6) Havoc Festival: 6cmc is too much for this effect
7) Phyrexian Delver: One of the weaker reanimate effects and is 5cmc You can of course chain resurrect with it, but it doesn't add much value to that plan.
8) Sower of Discord: Feels like it should be a great way to "double your damage", but tables tend to just use player removal on you instead. If you already have enough demons on table to win with this, an extra combat spell would do the trick instead.
9) Malfegor: Losing our hand to remove on average 3-4 creatures is a bad trade. Better to use something like toxic deluge which feeds into alternate win cons like repay in kind
10) In general, the red loot spells that require additional discard a card effects are awesome if trying to set up reanimation plays, but are also dead draws if top decking. Tutors add more value to the deck than inefficient loot effects imo
Simply reanimating Hellcarver Demon in the first couple of turns of the game can give you a chance to win big and cheat in huge value early game. However, Hellcarver Demon is twice the fun when you've stacked the deck. Note- optional costs like the entwine cost of Savage Beating can be paid for when cast with Hellcarver Demon's effect. Insidious Dreams functions as a less “all in” copy of Doomsday in the deck if you have 5 or more other cards in hand. Necropotence does an excellent job both finding and enabling Insidious Dreams.
While the order of the Doomsday pile in the library does not matter, spells must be cast all at once with Hellcarver's ability, so the spell you want to resolve first should be put on the stack last to resolve in the correct order. The following piles have been ordered in the sequence the spells should resolve, not the order they should be cast.
In any of the following combos, if Living Death or Repay in Kind is in the graveyard already, replace it with Mizzix's Mastery. This is actually the better case scenario and will result in even more of a payoff depending on the instant and sorcery spells in your graveyard. If Repay in Kind is in the graveyard, use Treasonous Ogre or Kuro, Pitlord's ability to bring yourself to low health before casting Repay in Kind. A neat interaction- as long as you remove at least half of an opponent's life total with Repay in Kind, ending the turn with Archfiend of Despair on the board will kill them.
Insidious Dreams Liliana's Contract Stack:
- Any 3 Demons, Liliana's Contract, Final Fortune = (Since Hellcarver Demon plus 3 other demons satisfies the contract, you win the game on the extra turn upkeep. This combo will not work using Doomsday, because the draw effect on Liliana’s Contract will lose you the game with an empty library.)
Variations on the Lich + Repay in Kind Doomsday Stack:
In order to win the game immediately but fake out those who know the deck, replace the last two spells of any of the previous combos with Lich and Repay in Kind. If they think you are going for a different combo, then may use counter spells prematurely, giving you the win.
If they have already seen this trick and are waiting for the Lich + Repay in Kind combo to counter, you still get a potentially winning board state with the following stacks:
- The most potent pile: Kuro, Pitlord (Treasonous Ogre can also work but riskier), Lich, Repay in Kind, Mizzix's Mastery, Gray Merchant of Asphodel = (Redundant wincons- if Kuro resolves, set self at 5 health (or lower, depending on if Archfiend is on board or potential opponent answers like direct player damage or creature kill spells for Kuro when Gary is on the stack). Lich and Repay in Kind combo now resolves, which must be responded to or the table dies. If they survive the combo, Mizzix Mastery should allow you to use reanimation spells in the graveyard to reanimate [[Kuro, Pitlord]] and other creatures for devotion (especially if Living Dead is in the graveyard) as well as recast [[Repay in Kind]]. Finally, Gary resolves and drains each opponent for lethal.
Here’s my up to date version of the deck- I modified the deck by trimming most of the fat and upped the speed and power to remain a threat to current decks I play against (optimized power level, around 7+). This also meant removing some of the less game winning life loss cards like Cruel Bargain to weather the table hate and make for more explosive winning turns with Necropotence and Treasonous Ogre. The deck would probably be improved by removing Insidious Dreams for Vampiric Tutor, but I like how Insidious Dreams can function as a second (and sometimes better) copy of Doomsday for Hellcarver Demon.
- Simply casting Rakdos, especially with a haste enabler active, can force some generous political deals with other players at the table. Even in positions where actually committing to an attack would lose us the game, just casting Rakdos and making temporary truces can buy enough time to get another land drop or the draw needed to set up a win. Be cautious of players trying to goad you into attacking or are avoiding politics- they likely have instant speed interaction. You will sacrifice your permanents to Rakdos the Defiler on swing, but opponents have to take damage first before they are forced to sacrifice permanents, so enemy instant speed removal will cause Rakdos to rout only your own board state if they respond to his attack trigger. You may find that other players are more than happy to protect Rakdos when attacking a common enemy, and will leave you alone afterwards when they see that your board state was halved after the swing. They may feel like it would be “kicking you while you’re down”, not realizing the deck is designed to operate on little mana and with a mostly empty board state. Take advantage of others’ dismissal of the threat you still possess.
- Not an insta-kill, but makes for a quick finish with demons on board to attack with. Treasonous ogre allows for extremely explosive turns in the deck and generates the mana and life-loss outlet for Repay in Kind all by itself. Drawing 20+ cards with Necropotence should also find Repay in Kind or a tutor for it, as well as the mana to play it the following turn.
- Hellcarver demon is twice the fun when you've stacked the deck. Use Doomsday before swinging with Hellcarver Demon to put the insta-kill Lich and Repay in Kind combo on top. Alternatively, stack beaters like Archfiend of Despair and Abhorrent Overlord, Living Death, a haste enabler and extra combat spells to close out the game with a bloody splash. Reanimating Hellcarver Demon in the first couple of turns of the game can also give you a chance to win big and cheat in huge value early game.
- Depending on your devotion to black (or the devotion to black in your graveyard with Living Death), this life drain combo can often be enough to kill even moderate health opponents, especially when part of a Hellcarver Demon combo. Hellcarver demon sacrifices your creatures before Living Death is cast in the Doomsday combo, ensuring maximum creature based devotion.
- Fill up your graveyard by using Doom Whisperer’s ability as many times as possible. This ability can also be used to dig through the deck to find Living Death or a tutor in case it is not already in hand. Do this on your opponent’s end step to draw Living Death or the tutor at the beginning of your turn. Living Death is a uniquely powerful resurrection spell that can get around opponent graveyard hate pieces like Grafdigger’s Cage because creatures enter from exile, not the graveyard directly.
- Lots of harpies means lots of sacrifice fodder for Rakdos, or more damage to close out the game with, especially when combined with a haste enabler and/or extra combat spells. Simply casting or reanimating Abhorrent Overlord with a moderate devotion count (5 to 7 is pretty typical for the deck) enables a very low risk for blowout swing with Rakdos.
- Get everything your opponents sacrifice. What's not to love? If this combo is unanswered, it will win the game in a turn or two as your board state shoots ahead and all others fall behind.
- Rakdos hurts your board and destroys your lands, but make sure your opponents get it twice as bad with double strike. Extra combat phases ensure that your suicide missions ruin multiple opponent's days. Many decks fold to a single connection with Rakdos, but a double tap keeps them down. Multiple games have ended with only Rakdos on board with each opponent controlling only 1 or 2 lands and nothing else. The oppressive assault when swinging with Rakdos the Defiler every turn can absolutely win multiplayer games outright by shutting down opponent board state development much like an early eldrazi titan does.
- Three combat phases allows you to swing once at each opponent to reset all boards, or commander damage kill a player in one turn. Remember to trigger the landfalls in the second main phase, as your creatures will not untap for the “regular” attack phase if the landfalls occur in the first main phase.
I think Abhorrent Overlord is a great card, and combined with breath of fury seems like a cool combo. I'm running other cards I like more than Abhorrent, but it's a great demon for sure. Breath of Fury seems like it could be a dead card in hand too often in my own list, as I tend to value keeping a demon around to sac for mana later. Deck philosophy wise, I also tried to maximize the "turn a non-threatening board into a wincon in a single turn" approach, which is why I'd rather have cards like Fiery Emancipation, which can turn a single demon into lethal damage to a player, instead of cards that require a developed board state to profit from, which Breath of Fury leans towards. If you build your own deck focused more on playing out cheaper beaters and other token producing effects, I agree that breath would do tremendous work.
1) Demonlord Belzenlok: I only wanted to cast him if I needed card draw, and he's not terrific at that. There is cheaper, better draw in black.
2) Temporal Extortion: The losing player at the table usually just pays half in return for political favors, which just turns into a waste for the caster.
3) Abyssal Persecutor: We don't need cheap beaters because we reanimate scarier things
4) Magus of the Will: Mizzix's Mastery is better in my experience
5) Mana Vault: deck is too color intensive in my opinion to include this, but if it works for you, sure
6) Havoc Festival: 6cmc is too much for this effect
7) Phyrexian Delver: One of the weaker reanimate effects and is 5cmc You can of course chain resurrect with it, but it doesn't add much value to that plan.
8) Sower of Discord: Feels like it should be a great way to "double your damage", but tables tend to just use player removal on you instead. If you already have enough demons on table to win with this, an extra combat spell would do the trick instead.
9) Malfegor: Losing our hand to remove on average 3-4 creatures is a bad trade. Better to use something like toxic deluge which feeds into alternate win cons like repay in kind
10) In general, the red loot spells that require additional discard a card effects are awesome if trying to set up reanimation plays, but are also dead draws if top decking. Tutors add more value to the deck than inefficient loot effects imo
Here is my list these days: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/demon-till-your-dreams-come-true/
Hellcarver Demon + Doomsday/Insidious Dreams Combos
Simply reanimating Hellcarver Demon in the first couple of turns of the game can give you a chance to win big and cheat in huge value early game. However, Hellcarver Demon is twice the fun when you've stacked the deck. Note- optional costs like the entwine cost of Savage Beating can be paid for when cast with Hellcarver Demon's effect. Insidious Dreams functions as a less “all in” copy of Doomsday in the deck if you have 5 or more other cards in hand. Necropotence does an excellent job both finding and enabling Insidious Dreams.
While the order of the Doomsday pile in the library does not matter, spells must be cast all at once with Hellcarver's ability, so the spell you want to resolve first should be put on the stack last to resolve in the correct order. The following piles have been ordered in the sequence the spells should resolve, not the order they should be cast.
In any of the following combos, if Living Death or Repay in Kind is in the graveyard already, replace it with Mizzix's Mastery. This is actually the better case scenario and will result in even more of a payoff depending on the instant and sorcery spells in your graveyard. If Repay in Kind is in the graveyard, use Treasonous Ogre or Kuro, Pitlord's ability to bring yourself to low health before casting Repay in Kind. A neat interaction- as long as you remove at least half of an opponent's life total with Repay in Kind, ending the turn with Archfiend of Despair on the board will kill them.
Insidious Dreams Liliana's Contract Stack:
- Any 3 Demons, Liliana's Contract, Final Fortune = (Since Hellcarver Demon plus 3 other demons satisfies the contract, you win the game on the extra turn upkeep. This combo will not work using Doomsday, because the draw effect on Liliana’s Contract will lose you the game with an empty library.)
Doomsday Combat Damage Stacks:
- Living Death, Archfiend of Despair, Abhorrent Overlord, Fervor/Mass Hysteria, Savage Beating = (Minimum of 88 damage dealt including the original Hellcarver swing)
Doomsday Gary Stacks:
- If combat damage will be blocked/prevented, creatures cannot attack a player, and you have no graveyard: 3 of the following demons (Kuro, Pitlord or Reaper from the Abyss or Lord of the Void or Pestilence Demon or Razaketh, the Foulblooded or Vilis, Broker of Blood), Archfiend of Despair, Gray Merchant of Asphodel = (32 damage to all opponents)
- If combat damage will be blocked/prevented, creatures cannot attack a specific player, but you DO have a graveyard: Living Death, Archfiend of Despair, 2 of the following (Kuro, Pitlord or Reaper from the Abyss or Lord of the Void or Pestilence Demon or Razaketh, the Foulblooded or Vilis, Broker of Blood), Gray Merchant of Asphodel = (Minimum of 20 damage to all opponents)
- Gary Drain plus a Swing: Living Death, Archfiend of Despair, Abhorrent Overlord (or Kuro, Pitlord for blocker removal), Fervor/Mass Hysteria, Gray Merchant of Asphodel = (Minimum of 40 combat damage plus a minimum of 12 drain damage to each opponent)
Doomsday Lich + Repay in Kind Stack:
- 3 other cards, Lich, Repay in Kind = (Win the game immediately)
Variations on the Lich + Repay in Kind Doomsday Stack:
In order to win the game immediately but fake out those who know the deck, replace the last two spells of any of the previous combos with Lich and Repay in Kind. If they think you are going for a different combo, then may use counter spells prematurely, giving you the win.
If they have already seen this trick and are waiting for the Lich + Repay in Kind combo to counter, you still get a potentially winning board state with the following stacks:
- Living Death, Fervor/Mass Hysteria, Savage Beating, Lich, Repay in Kind = (A massive attack if the combo is countered)
- If opponents or yourself are already at low health: Living Death, Archfiend of Despair, Lich, Repay in Kind, Gray Merchant of Asphodel = (if Lich is countered, you can potentially win from a minimum 8 damage to all opponents after Repay in Kind)
- The most potent pile: Kuro, Pitlord (Treasonous Ogre can also work but riskier), Lich, Repay in Kind, Mizzix's Mastery, Gray Merchant of Asphodel = (Redundant wincons- if Kuro resolves, set self at 5 health (or lower, depending on if Archfiend is on board or potential opponent answers like direct player damage or creature kill spells for Kuro when Gary is on the stack). Lich and Repay in Kind combo now resolves, which must be responded to or the table dies. If they survive the combo, Mizzix Mastery should allow you to use reanimation spells in the graveyard to reanimate [[Kuro, Pitlord]] and other creatures for devotion (especially if Living Dead is in the graveyard) as well as recast [[Repay in Kind]]. Finally, Gary resolves and drains each opponent for lethal.
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/demon-till-your-dreams-come-true/?cb=1599817899
All-stars in the deck:
Rakdos the Defiler
- Simply casting Rakdos, especially with a haste enabler active, can force some generous political deals with other players at the table. Even in positions where actually committing to an attack would lose us the game, just casting Rakdos and making temporary truces can buy enough time to get another land drop or the draw needed to set up a win. Be cautious of players trying to goad you into attacking or are avoiding politics- they likely have instant speed interaction. You will sacrifice your permanents to Rakdos the Defiler on swing, but opponents have to take damage first before they are forced to sacrifice permanents, so enemy instant speed removal will cause Rakdos to rout only your own board state if they respond to his attack trigger. You may find that other players are more than happy to protect Rakdos when attacking a common enemy, and will leave you alone afterwards when they see that your board state was halved after the swing. They may feel like it would be “kicking you while you’re down”, not realizing the deck is designed to operate on little mana and with a mostly empty board state. Take advantage of others’ dismissal of the threat you still possess.
Lich + Repay in Kind =
- Your life is set to zero without dying from Lich’s effect, then Repay in Kind sets everyone’s life to zero, killing everyone else at the table.
Treasonous Ogre or Necropotence + Repay in Kind =
- Not an insta-kill, but makes for a quick finish with demons on board to attack with. Treasonous ogre allows for extremely explosive turns in the deck and generates the mana and life-loss outlet for Repay in Kind all by itself. Drawing 20+ cards with Necropotence should also find Repay in Kind or a tutor for it, as well as the mana to play it the following turn.
Hellcarver Demon + Doomsday =
- Hellcarver demon is twice the fun when you've stacked the deck. Use Doomsday before swinging with Hellcarver Demon to put the insta-kill Lich and Repay in Kind combo on top. Alternatively, stack beaters like Archfiend of Despair and Abhorrent Overlord, Living Death, a haste enabler and extra combat spells to close out the game with a bloody splash. Reanimating Hellcarver Demon in the first couple of turns of the game can also give you a chance to win big and cheat in huge value early game.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Archfiend of Despair + Living Death or a high B devotion count =
- Depending on your devotion to black (or the devotion to black in your graveyard with Living Death), this life drain combo can often be enough to kill even moderate health opponents, especially when part of a Hellcarver Demon combo. Hellcarver demon sacrifices your creatures before Living Death is cast in the Doomsday combo, ensuring maximum creature based devotion.
Doom Whisperer + Living Death =
- Fill up your graveyard by using Doom Whisperer’s ability as many times as possible. This ability can also be used to dig through the deck to find Living Death or a tutor in case it is not already in hand. Do this on your opponent’s end step to draw Living Death or the tutor at the beginning of your turn. Living Death is a uniquely powerful resurrection spell that can get around opponent graveyard hate pieces like Grafdigger’s Cage because creatures enter from exile, not the graveyard directly.
Abhorrent Overlord + Devotion to Black OR Living Death + Abhorrent Overlord and Other Creatures in Graveyard =
- Lots of harpies means lots of sacrifice fodder for Rakdos, or more damage to close out the game with, especially when combined with a haste enabler and/or extra combat spells. Simply casting or reanimating Abhorrent Overlord with a moderate devotion count (5 to 7 is pretty typical for the deck) enables a very low risk for blowout swing with Rakdos.
Rakdos the Defiler + It That Betrays =
- Get everything your opponents sacrifice. What's not to love? If this combo is unanswered, it will win the game in a turn or two as your board state shoots ahead and all others fall behind.
Rakdos the Defiler + Savage Beating/World at War =
- Rakdos hurts your board and destroys your lands, but make sure your opponents get it twice as bad with double strike. Extra combat phases ensure that your suicide missions ruin multiple opponent's days. Many decks fold to a single connection with Rakdos, but a double tap keeps them down. Multiple games have ended with only Rakdos on board with each opponent controlling only 1 or 2 lands and nothing else. The oppressive assault when swinging with Rakdos the Defiler every turn can absolutely win multiplayer games outright by shutting down opponent board state development much like an early eldrazi titan does.
Rakdos the Defiler + Moraug, Fury of Akoum + Fetchland (for double landfall trigger) =
- Three combat phases allows you to swing once at each opponent to reset all boards, or commander damage kill a player in one turn. Remember to trigger the landfalls in the second main phase, as your creatures will not untap for the “regular” attack phase if the landfalls occur in the first main phase.