The Prime Evils

[Qweerios]

Hatred, Terror, and Destruction...

I want to create a flavorful deck with competitive value using a combination of the Prime Evils. Phyrexian Negator and Nyxathid could also make acceptable complementary abominations.

What do these handsome devils have in common? They are threatening, evasive, and vulnerable to removal. For this very reason, I believe that white would make the best splash for this deck simply because of Mother of Runes. White also offers great additions such as: Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, and Tidehollow Sculler to name a few.

Here is an example of a core for this deck:

4 Mother of Runes
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
0-4 Vindicate
20-24 Lands


The real challenge is deciding what evil combination to play. Here are some examples of strategies to adopt:

Discard

4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Dark Confidant
4 Nyxathid
4 Phyrexian Obliterator

4 Funeral Charm


Aggro

4 Dark Confidant
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Abyssal Persecutor

4 Dark Ritual


Tempo

4 Nantuko Shade
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Tombstalker

4 Dark Ritual
2 Phyrexian Arena
4 Wasteland


Land Destruction

4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Tombstalker

4 Sinkhole
2 Phyrexian Arena
4 Wasteland


There are plenty of different paths to take depending on what evil you are willing to support. The main dilemma, however, seems to be wether you want to play Dark Confidant or Tombstalker, and if you wish to include Dark Ritual.

Looking forward to read your suggestions and explanations.

[DragoFireheart]

I think wasteland and a splash of any color for creatures with double BB or the guy with BBBB cost is a bad idea. However, I do like the concept and I feel maybe you should stay mono-black. Since the creatures are all big and somewhat slow to get out, you should aim for a mid-range style deck. Focus on good beaters, lots of disruption (discard) and card advantage. I think the quality of black removal is good enough to stay mono-black: Team America uses stuff like Go for the Throat well enough.

Cut the Tombstalker count to less than 4 since they can easily clog up your hand.

Cabal Therapy should be in your deck. It gives you an counterable way to kill your Abyssal Persecutor.

Bob with tombstalker is really ballsy.

[Mystical_Jackass]

This is the way I see it. Your creatures are huge and have evasion, so I'd almost be less concerned about removal and just run a crapload of hand removal to take out their removal, drop a fatty, then ride it to victory.

If you want to go a Sui Aggro, I'd run cards like:

4x Dark Ritual
4x Thoughtseize
4x Duress
4x Unmask
4x Hymn to Tourach

Creatures, maybe...

4x Tombstalker
4x Phyrexian Obliterator
4x ?

The great thing about unmask is that it allows you to pitch any dead cards in your hand and allows you to make huge first turn plays. Give it a try. And I really dont think Gatekeeper and Confidant are "aggro" creatures, more control in my book. You want big creatures that create artificial CA by forcing your opponent to chump so they dont die.

[Roman]

Even in a Tempo Deck i would not recommend running Negator because in the actual Meta there is a lot of Lightning Bolt and Lavamancer Decks hanging around ;)

[Qweerios]

Dark Ritual and Phyrexian Obliterator have been the most underperforming cards out of all my experiments so far. Obliterator and Persecutor don't mix very well as they cluster the mana curve with 4drops. The fact that Percy supports Wastelands and a splash color better makes it superior to Obliterator in my book. The hardest thing for me in building this deck has been to find good T1 and T2 plays that would disrupt enough to get the demons out.

My best attempt so far has been with a green splash for Tarmogoyf and Sylvan Library. Goyf and Nyxathid are very good together because they both grow from discard and fit the curve nicely. There is also some obvious synergy between Lilliana, Percy, and Nyxathid which is why I replaced the auto-include Gatekeeper of Malakir from "The Gate" decks with Lilliana. Here is what I currently have:


Creatures (14)
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Nyxathid
3 Abyssal Persecutor
3 Tombstalker

Spells (18)
4 Funeral Charm
4 Thoughtseize
2 Cabal Therapy
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Go for the Throat

Enchantments (2)
2 Sylvan Library

Planeswalkers (4)
4 Liliana of the Veil

Lands (22)
4 Wasteland
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
4 Swamp
4 Bayou
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats

[Greenpoe]

I would just run the risk of Bob-Stalker. It's not that bad because:
1.Bob usually dies fast.
2.You usually have enough life to live through it.
3.Tombstalker often prevents lifeloss, as he's a big body that can come down before turn 4 and stop plenty of threats from hurting you.
4.In the case that Bob lives and you're at low life, just attack with him/chump with him.
5.The chance of flipping 'stalker is low since Bob accounts for less than 50% of the draw-power of the deck.

Although, Bob-Stalker+Thoughtseize is a tad overboard.

[Qweerios]

I have considered running Bob in conjunction with Tombstalker but figured that the curve is too packed to support Bob anyways. With 4 Nyxathid, 4 Liliana, 2-3 Percy and 2-3 Tombstalkers, I don't think playing Bob is wise, even with 2-3 Tops. And yeah, along with Thoughtseize and Fetches, it becomes a liability. Besides, Sylvan Library has been treating me just fine.

On a different note, Liliana is very strong in this type of deck. Her edict ability is very useful with Funeral Charm poking at smaller creatures. Her +1 is very aggravating for control decks and she makes non-evasive fatties much more threatening. I wish I could abuse her +1 more with something like Unearth or Bloodghast.

Percy, however, is dissapointing in G2 and G3 where I need to side out removal. Unless I replace Go for the Throat/Victim of the Night with Cabal Therapy, I end up having to side out Percy as well.