Lands (36):
Cabal Coffers
Bloodstained Mire
Deserted Temple
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
26 Snow-Covered Swamp
Verdant Catacombs
Marsh Flats
Polluted Delta
Vesuva
Buried Ruin
Thespian's Stage
Acceleration (17):
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt
Gauntlet of Power
Basalt Monolith
Candelabra of Tawnos
Nirkana Revenant
Caged Sun
Mana Vault
Worn Powerstone
Thran Dynamo
Gilded Lotus
Crypt Ghast
Black Market
Everflowing Chalice
Magus of the Coffers
Grim Monolith
Burnished Hart
Card Draw/Selection (4):
Sensei's Divining Top
Memory Jar
Promise of Power
Necropotence
Tutors (13):
Diabolic Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Expedition Map
Beseech the Queen
Shred Memory
Praetor's Grasp
Grim Tutor
Demonic Collusion
Cruel Tutor
Imperial Seal
Increasing Ambition
Diabolic Revelation
Removal/Sweepers (15):
Damnation
Barter in Blood
Ashes to Ashes
Innocent Blood
Oblivion Stone
All is Dust
Karn Liberated
Decree of Pain
The Abyss
Spreading Plague
Toxic Deluge
No Mercy
Infest
Withering Wisps
Dread
Graveyard Recursion (3):
Yawgmoth's Will
Crucible of Worlds
Mimic Vat
Miscellaneous (11):
Leyline of the Void
Helm of Obedience
Rings of Brighthearth
Exsanguinate
Infernal Darkness
Silent Arbiter
Ensnaring Bridge
Sculpting Steel
Staff of Domination
Ward of Bones
Crawlspace
It's a pretty straightforward deck. Punish people who attack you, and control the game until you're ready to kill with:
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top/Exsanguinate
Helm of Obedience + Leyline of the Void
Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple + Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top/Exsanguinate
Magus of the Coffers + Staff of Domination
Your best tutor target is usually Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Deserted Temple, Vesuva, or Candelabra of Tawnos, as these cards combine to generate an insane amount of mana in this deck. Later in the game, Yawgmoth's Will is your best bet.
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed is a deck that relies on subtlety and your opponents being more afraid of each other than of you. There's a saying in my EDH group: "The third player to be scary wins the game." Basically, the first person who does something insanely powerful gets hated out by the other players, the second player to do so gets whatever is left of the counters/removal, but by the third time someone tries to win the game no one has enough cards left to stop them. Your goal with Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed is to be the third player who tries to win the game.
The best way to play is to sit back while building up cards and mana for the first six to eight turns of the game. Try not to do anything overtly threatening until your opponents have blown their loads. Tutor for cards like Cabal Coffers that set you up for the long game without drawing attention to yourself. Let your opponents over-commit to building up their board state then blow an Oblivion Stone or cast All is Dust. All those extra cards you drew and all that extra mana from Cabal Coffers should leave you better off than everyone else. If you're going for an instant kill like Helm of Obedience + Leyline of the Void, play and use it in a single turn whenever possible. Leaving half of a kill out there will draw attention to yourself and make your opponents target you every time you play a tutor.
As the speed in which your playgroup kills varies, you're going to have to adjust the deck to continue being the third scary person.
Looks very solid, I love decks with minimal creatures.
Any reason Maze of ith didn't make the list?
Some kind of GY hate should probably get fit in their somewhere, maybe Bojuka Bog?
If a land isn't a Snow-Covered Swamp I need a really good reason to run it. This deck uses Cabal Coffers a lot and needs a critical mass of swamps to work properly.
I run so many ways to kill creatures. Why settle for untapping them?
I run Leyline of the Void and Shred Memory. I could run more, but my metagame has kind of moved away from graveyard decks.
True dat.
After New Phyrexia, I'm going to make the following changes:
- Strata Scythe
- Extraplanar Lens
- No Mercy
- Crystal Ball
+ Lashwrithe
+ Praetor's Grasp
+ Karn Liberated
+ Caged Sun
EDIT:
More changes:
- Necrologia
- Temporal Aperture
- Prototype Portal
- Venser's Journal
+ All is Dust
+ Nirkana Revenant
+ Solemn Simulacrum
+ Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
+ Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
+ Beacon of Unrest
- Nevinyrral's Disk
- Sigil of Distinction
I want a way to get back a counterspelled Yawgmoth's Will, and Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed is about my only option. Since people keep destroying my Cabal Coffers, I want more ways to get it back besides Yawgmoth's Will and Crucible of Worlds. Beacon of Unrest lets me get back a destroyed Crucible of Worlds, while giving me lots of other options. Also considered were Ill-Gotten Gains and Grim Discovery.
After adding All is Dust, Nevinyrral's Disk was slow and redundant. I don't like cutting the Sigil of Distinction, but it's been a long time since I used it to kill someone. Anyone have another suggestion for something I could cut?
It's a little pricey, but Life's Finale can really screw someone over. I play it in my Vorosh deck and it works like a charm. It also has good synergy with Beacon of Unrest.
I don't think the deck needs more sweepers right now, but if it did, Life's Finale would be in the running with Overwhelming Forces, Decree of Pain, and Black Sun's Zenith. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. I like that Life's Finale only costs six and has the potential to do cool things, but I like the card draw from Overwhelming Forces and Decree of Pain.
Life's Finale is the definite front-runner should I decide to add another sweeper.
Any thoughts on a better cut than Sigil of Distinction?
Yikes! Good point.
- Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
+ Sheoldred, Whispering One
There was too much overlap between Avatar of Woe and Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet. I stuck with Avatar of Woe because it could potentially cost two mana, had evasion, and doesn't cost mana to activate. Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet's ability to make creatures wasn't relevant in my testing, because the deck almost always kills with poison counters, Helm of Obedience/Leyline of the Void combo, or a huge Exsanguinate.
Sheoldred, Whispering One lets me attack creatures from a different angle, and also does potentially ridiculous things with Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed.
Hi! Very nice deck! Do you think it's playable without Candelabra of Tawnos?
@BorntoGrill: It sure is.
@Kuma: I'd definitely add Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ambition's Cost and Unspeakable Symbol. Also, I'm not sure if Praetor's Grasp worth it in MP Games.[/cards]
Be careful with Eldrazi titans. I know this is a black deck and most mono-black EDH tends to be very board controlling, but make sure that if you run any huge fat in your deck that it's something you can handle. I'm convinced that with the printing of more and more rediculous fat creatures that the golden rule of EDH should be:
Thou shall not put any creature in your deck that you can't deal with when your opponent casts Bribery on you.
I'm actually removing Blightsteel from my Sharuum deck because I hate having to waste tutors to find bounce or Duplicant my own Blightsteel.
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With Xiahuo, you can easily playout Fleshbag Marauder to prevent such shenanigans from occuring. Since they're both in the deck, Corpse Dance also becomes much more attractive as an alternate to Yawgmoth's Will. It especially combos well with 187 creatures and sacrifice effects.
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Absolutely. The deck's main mana engine is Cabal Coffers, and I'd say that's the only card the deck isn't playable without. I wouldn't have Candelabra of Tawnos in here except that I picked one up cheap from a LGS for $81.
I've thought about adding Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, but I'm not sure what to cut, and I'm not sure the deck needs more than one Eldrazi titan. If you can suggest a reasonable cut, I'm open to trying him out.
The reason I run Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper but don't run Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving is mana cost. This deck doesn't do much on the first few turns of the game, so Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper give me something to do on what would otherwise be a wasted turn. Lots of cards in my deck cost four or more mana, which means Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving are competing with business spells for my time. I know it's a good idea mathematically speaking to run Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving, but I'm not sure where they fit and they'd probably sit in my hand until the late game most of the time.
Unspeakable Symbol is too costly and too risky. Compare it to Nightmare Lash and Lashwrithe. To turn Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon into a one-hit kill, Unspeakable Symbol costs three mana and eighteen life. Nightmare Lash costs four mana and three life, Lashwrithe costs four to six mana and zero to four life. Also, if they kill Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon after you make him huge, you paid half your life for nothing and you almost certainly won't be able to pay that much life again. My equipment doesn't have that problem.
What do you mean Praetor's Grasp isn't worth it in multi-player? At worst it's a Mana Crypt or Sol Ring. At best it could be a Cabal Coffers, Yawgmoth's Will, Oblivion Stone, etc.
I don't think I run enough creatures to make Corpse Dance worth it, and I'm definitely not cutting Yawgmoth's Will for it. I like the idea, but it's going to be a dead card most of the time.
I want to make the following changes:
- Mana Vault
- Thran Dynamo
- Consuming Vapors
- Mind Shatter
+ Grim Tutor
+ Buried Ruin
+ Petrified Field
+ Bojuka Bog
+ Demonic Collusion
You'll notice that that's five adds but only four cuts. I'm looking for suggestions for a fifth cut. Does anyone have any ideas?
In a deck packed with tutors, is a combo win really that fun? Helm/Void seems like a pretty boring way to win.
On a side note, for a deck that need to meet it's land drop every turn, I really like Armillary Sphere and Journeyer's Kite.
Is Memory Jar that good? I understand that it's a draw seven but when I used to play it, I typically had to throw it out there unprotected and hope it didn't get blown up for a turn in order to have mana to use the new cards.
Winning is boring?
I've given those cards lots of consideration in the past, because it's important for this deck to hit its land drops. The problem with Journeyer's Kite is that spending that much mana to hit your land drops stops you from doing anything for a long time. Once you get seven or eight mana, i.e. with Cabal Coffers, land drops become less important. My most tutored for card is Cabal Coffers followed by Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which mitigates the need for land drops somewhat. It's not like I'm lacking cards that help me hit land drops in the first place.
Armillary Sphere might be worth a look, but right now I need to cut a card not add another one. I'll worry about trying it later.
With the absurd amount of mana this deck can make, you often don't have to wait a turn to pop your Memory Jar. Even if you do and they destroy it, that's still one less piece of hate for your other cards. I like running things my opponents have to destroy.
Tutors are the best cards in the deck. They're all pretty much untouchable. You can't have too many tutors in EDH. That's why Dimir Machinations and Dimir House Guard are in the deck. Karn Liberated might get cut, but one of my biggest problems is not being able to answer problem artifacts and enchantments. There are only so many ways to do that in mono-black.
EDIT:
I decided that the last cut is going to be Gilded Lotus. Opening post updated.
I'd recommend fitting an Infernal Darkness into your list somewhere (maybe in place of Mind Slaver?). It can buy you the time needed for a few General kills, particularly if you drop it immediately after a Wrath effect. What is the poison counter limit in Commander anyway?
Also in the offhand chance that you actually own one and overlooked it, Imperial Seal should be in the deck.
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