Ectoplasm
11-29-2009, 08:54 AM
Death Aspect always seemed like a great general to me, so yesterday I decided to take to it and throw something together! Turns out, he's pretty strong, if you ask me potentially one of the best generals out there right now, but I'm having a bit of a problem which I'll get to in a bit.
Strategy is simple: Resolve Iname, Death Aspect and win, either with a mass-reanimate spell or with another trick such as a crypt of agadeem/songs of the damned-fueled drain life/consume spirit.
This 'plan B' isn't infallible though, since right now I play around 30 spirits which isn't enough to instagib an opponent with a consume spirit/maga/drain life/profane command and I don't know enough manarampers in monoblack to make it lethal every time, though it often is.
On to the cards!
// Lands
1 [ZEN] Crypt of Agadeem
1 [FNM] Cabal Coffers
1 [TSP] Vesuva
1 [AQ] Strip Mine (3)
30 [IA] Snow-Covered Swamp
1 [TE] Wasteland
1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
// Creatures
1 [SOK] Maga, Traitor to Mortals
1 [PLC] Magus of the Coffers
1 [M10] Howling Banshee
1 [ZEN] Bloodghast
1 [VI] Nekrataal
1 [RAV] Keening Banshee
1 [SOK] Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 [SOK] Infernal Kirin
1 [CHK] Horobi, Death's Wail
1 [CHK] He Who Hungers
1 [LE] Graveborn Muse
1 [CHK] Gibbering Kami
1 [SOK] Kemuri-Onna
1 [EX] Entropic Specter
1 [PY] Chilling Apparition
1 [DIS] Enemy of the Guildpact
1 [LRW] Shriekmaw
1 [CHK] Wicked Akuba
1 [CHK] Thief of Hope
1 [MI] Spirit of the Night
1 [LE] Spectral Sliver
1 [RAV] Sewerdreg
1 [PRE] Revenant
1 [AL] Krovikan Horror
1 [GP] Plagued Rusalka
1 [BOK] Patron of the Nezumi
1 [TSP] Nether Traitor
1 [OV] Nether Shadow
1 [SHM] Midnight Banshee
1 [BOK] Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse
1 [CHK] Kuro, Pitlord
1 [LRW] Cairn Wanderer
// Spells
1 [5E] Drain Life
1 [SHM] Beseech the Queen
1 [9E] Diabolic Tutor
1 [A] Demonic Tutor
1 [M10] Mind Shatter
1 Mind Twist
1 [LRW] Profane Command
1 [VI] Vampiric Tutor
1 [IA] Songs of the Damned
1 [TO] Cabal Ritual
1 [MI] Tombstone Stairwell
1 [6E] Hecatomb
1 [ST] Grim Tutor
1 [MR] Extraplanar Lens
1 [TSP] Gauntlet of Power
1 [IN] Twilight's Call
1 [ON] Patriarch's Bidding
1 [TSP] Living End
1 [TE] Living Death
1 [10E] Consume Spirit
1 [CHK] Devouring Greed
1 [CHK] Rend Flesh
1 [US] Reprocess
1 [FD] Night's Whisper
1 [M10] Sign in Blood
1 [DDC] Promise of Power
1 [A] Dark Ritual
1 [CHK] Journeyer's Kite
1 [9E] Phyrexian Arena
1 [DM] Necropotence
1 [TO] Mortal Combat
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [CHK] Iname, Death Aspect
Some general strategy/tricks:
The deck revolves around resolving Iname, then taking advantage of your filled-to-the-brim graveyard in some way, either by reanimating everything with Living Death/Living End/Patriarch's Bidding/Twilight's Call, followed up with devouring greed if you have it but swinging is usually enough, winning outright with Mortal Combat, resolving a revenant and beating up your opponent, beating up your opponent with zombietokens from Tombstone Stairwell or ramping mana and blasting your opponent with something with an X in it.
Songs of the damned is amazing since you can just cast it and play your entire hand, undress your opponent with mind twist/shatter if you have it and refill with some drawspells if you have them. Crypt of Agadeem obviously does the same but it takes an extra turn and doesn't do much without Iname.
Blockers aren't a problem after reanimating everything, since you'll have Kuro, Pitlord and Horobi to take care of everything for a few life.
Even if you resolve Iname without having an obvious kill, you can get back Bloodghast, Krovikan Horror and Nether Shadow for free and use those to cast reprocess for some extra cards, or sac them to cast hecatomb for some direct damage.
The spirits have some useful triggers when they come into play, such as giving a creature -2/-2 which means it dies because of horobi, making your opponent lose 1 life for every permanent that goes to his graveyard (at least 1 because of the -2/-2 trigger), discarding a card etc. Some even have haste, which is always good to know.
[b]Some points to consider or, Why this is under construction
The 'manaramp and go for the throat' plan doesn't always work, usually songs of the damned/crypt of agadeem gives around 25-30 mana which isn't enough to kill your opponent outright usually. The obvious fix to this is playing more spirits but I don't think fitting 40+ spirits in this deck is the way to go, playing better/more manaramping, but maybe my knowledge of MTG is too limited or there isn't any more decent manaramping out there, or playing a recursive wincon somehow. Any ideas?
Strategy is simple: Resolve Iname, Death Aspect and win, either with a mass-reanimate spell or with another trick such as a crypt of agadeem/songs of the damned-fueled drain life/consume spirit.
This 'plan B' isn't infallible though, since right now I play around 30 spirits which isn't enough to instagib an opponent with a consume spirit/maga/drain life/profane command and I don't know enough manarampers in monoblack to make it lethal every time, though it often is.
On to the cards!
// Lands
1 [ZEN] Crypt of Agadeem
1 [FNM] Cabal Coffers
1 [TSP] Vesuva
1 [AQ] Strip Mine (3)
30 [IA] Snow-Covered Swamp
1 [TE] Wasteland
1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
// Creatures
1 [SOK] Maga, Traitor to Mortals
1 [PLC] Magus of the Coffers
1 [M10] Howling Banshee
1 [ZEN] Bloodghast
1 [VI] Nekrataal
1 [RAV] Keening Banshee
1 [SOK] Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 [SOK] Infernal Kirin
1 [CHK] Horobi, Death's Wail
1 [CHK] He Who Hungers
1 [LE] Graveborn Muse
1 [CHK] Gibbering Kami
1 [SOK] Kemuri-Onna
1 [EX] Entropic Specter
1 [PY] Chilling Apparition
1 [DIS] Enemy of the Guildpact
1 [LRW] Shriekmaw
1 [CHK] Wicked Akuba
1 [CHK] Thief of Hope
1 [MI] Spirit of the Night
1 [LE] Spectral Sliver
1 [RAV] Sewerdreg
1 [PRE] Revenant
1 [AL] Krovikan Horror
1 [GP] Plagued Rusalka
1 [BOK] Patron of the Nezumi
1 [TSP] Nether Traitor
1 [OV] Nether Shadow
1 [SHM] Midnight Banshee
1 [BOK] Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse
1 [CHK] Kuro, Pitlord
1 [LRW] Cairn Wanderer
// Spells
1 [5E] Drain Life
1 [SHM] Beseech the Queen
1 [9E] Diabolic Tutor
1 [A] Demonic Tutor
1 [M10] Mind Shatter
1 Mind Twist
1 [LRW] Profane Command
1 [VI] Vampiric Tutor
1 [IA] Songs of the Damned
1 [TO] Cabal Ritual
1 [MI] Tombstone Stairwell
1 [6E] Hecatomb
1 [ST] Grim Tutor
1 [MR] Extraplanar Lens
1 [TSP] Gauntlet of Power
1 [IN] Twilight's Call
1 [ON] Patriarch's Bidding
1 [TSP] Living End
1 [TE] Living Death
1 [10E] Consume Spirit
1 [CHK] Devouring Greed
1 [CHK] Rend Flesh
1 [US] Reprocess
1 [FD] Night's Whisper
1 [M10] Sign in Blood
1 [DDC] Promise of Power
1 [A] Dark Ritual
1 [CHK] Journeyer's Kite
1 [9E] Phyrexian Arena
1 [DM] Necropotence
1 [TO] Mortal Combat
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [CHK] Iname, Death Aspect
Some general strategy/tricks:
The deck revolves around resolving Iname, then taking advantage of your filled-to-the-brim graveyard in some way, either by reanimating everything with Living Death/Living End/Patriarch's Bidding/Twilight's Call, followed up with devouring greed if you have it but swinging is usually enough, winning outright with Mortal Combat, resolving a revenant and beating up your opponent, beating up your opponent with zombietokens from Tombstone Stairwell or ramping mana and blasting your opponent with something with an X in it.
Songs of the damned is amazing since you can just cast it and play your entire hand, undress your opponent with mind twist/shatter if you have it and refill with some drawspells if you have them. Crypt of Agadeem obviously does the same but it takes an extra turn and doesn't do much without Iname.
Blockers aren't a problem after reanimating everything, since you'll have Kuro, Pitlord and Horobi to take care of everything for a few life.
Even if you resolve Iname without having an obvious kill, you can get back Bloodghast, Krovikan Horror and Nether Shadow for free and use those to cast reprocess for some extra cards, or sac them to cast hecatomb for some direct damage.
The spirits have some useful triggers when they come into play, such as giving a creature -2/-2 which means it dies because of horobi, making your opponent lose 1 life for every permanent that goes to his graveyard (at least 1 because of the -2/-2 trigger), discarding a card etc. Some even have haste, which is always good to know.
[b]Some points to consider or, Why this is under construction
The 'manaramp and go for the throat' plan doesn't always work, usually songs of the damned/crypt of agadeem gives around 25-30 mana which isn't enough to kill your opponent outright usually. The obvious fix to this is playing more spirits but I don't think fitting 40+ spirits in this deck is the way to go, playing better/more manaramping, but maybe my knowledge of MTG is too limited or there isn't any more decent manaramping out there, or playing a recursive wincon somehow. Any ideas?