Altar of Dementia

Legality

Format Legality
Vintage Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Legacy Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal

Printings View all

Set Rarity
Conspiracy Rare
Tempest Rare

Combos Browse all

Altar of Dementia

Artifact

Sacrifice a creature: Target player puts a number of cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

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Altar of Dementia Discussion

Rothon on Plunder the Graves 2.0

20 hours ago

How has Veldalken orrery been testing? It seems like one of the weaker options atm

You also could include the Grave Titan + Nim Deathmantle combo her if you'd like

As for sac outlets I enjoy Evolutionary Leap personally, an I think Dimir House Guard would be very good here as a sac outlet, and tutor that Meren can recur.

Miren, the Moaning Well is a nice choice being a land, and Greater Good is just plain silly.

Dark Privilege gets an honorable mention for protecting Meren as well as being a sac outlet, and Perilous Forays turns everything into a quasi Sakura-Tribe Elder which is just great with Meren.

Finaly for some value you could consider Attrition or Helm of Possession or even Altar of Dementia as a win con and to mill more creature into your grave.

As far as cuts go, I might suggest Verdant Force, Mazerek, either of the Lillianas, especially of the veil in commander, Birds of Paradise,and Mulch as these are the cards that seem to be the weakest in this format and in your deck.

Casey4321 on The Deckwatch [Home Base]

1 day ago

I love telling good stories and I just got through with another memorable game of EDH so I thought I would share. I was piloting Punch and Judy Raise the Dead my Gisa and Geralf brew I've been playing since Eldritch Moon. The opponents were Zedruu the Greathearted (Pillow Fort shenanigans) and Grenzo, Havoc Raiser (Goblins)

A well timed Noxious Ghoul kept the Goblin Population well in control in spite of a Krenko and a Throne of the God Pharaoh. Remember folks, get your Goblins spayed and neutered.

So it comes down to me and Zedruu Zedruu had Sphere of Safety and Copy Enchantment down as a copy it forced me essentially to find a way around. (Paying 12 per not my idea of a good time.) He passes me Pyromancer's Swath I ditch my hand and top deck... The Scarab God Alright bud...Let's do this! He put the team on his back (Shell?) and carried us to the PROMISELAND! Scry 7 pick one bottom all lands. By the time our opponent drew Rout I was able to use Altar of Dementia to mill them for 70. They gg'ed Point is. He's in.

VexenX on Egyptian God of the Rising Sun (Butts up!!!)

1 day ago

Shad0wRaz0r: You make a very good point about the sac-outlets... I run Altar of Dementia mainly for the mill, but I think Ashnod's Altar will get cut. Training Grounds was once in my first list... but got cut due to lack of space... I will add it to my 'Maybe' list. I plan on making a ton of changes once I actually get to playtest it! (All the cards I could not find locally are currently in the mail).

Thank you for the pointers! I really need to make cuts so I can add some of the other goodies available to me. Also, if you liked the list, could you leave a +1? Thank you!!!

Shad0wRaz0r on Egyptian God of the Rising Sun (Butts up!!!)

1 day ago

Thank you for the mention. I would recommend Training Grounds, to reduce the cost of The Scarab God 's activated ability. Also, I believe that to really maximize the potential of The Scarab God , you should base your zombie army on lots of tokens, which I see you doing a good job of. However, I would slacken a bit on the sac outlets, as you need to amass a large amount of zombies in order to drain life and gain card advantage with your commander; sac outlets that make more tokens like Ghoulcaller Gisa are fine, but I don't know if you really need cards like Altar of Dementia or Ashnod's Altar to fuel your deck, as there can potentially be other, non-sacrificial options. With the The Scarab God deck that I created, I learned that if you have a lot of zombies on the battlefield at once, you can end the game really quickly. For example, with only 10 zombie tokens, you drain a quarter of EACH of your opponents' life total every turn, for free.

Aiding on I decide who lives and die

6 days ago

Well, it sort of depends on what your playgroup likes when it comes to suggestions. If they are super competitive (and I use that term a little broadly) and allow infinite combos, something like a Karmic Guide + Reveillark + sac outlet like Altar of Dementia = infinite milling. Something with those two cards + Ashnod's Altar + a drain effect like Blood Artist = infinite (or at least until your opponents die) colorless mana and life drain.

(the combo works by having the reveillark and karmic guide on the battlefield, (or reveillark in the graveyard and casting Karmic guide returning it.) You sac the KG, THEN the reveillark. The lark triggers, returning the KG+some other thing. The KG then returns lark. (repeat until infinite salt/mill/death happens)

Just a general "goodstuff" suggestion, Mimic Vat is a mini version of your commander. Board wipe effects are also good because they get things into the graveyard to steal.

Also, mana fixing is great in a three color deck, so I would at least advise of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Command Tower as well as possibly a Chromatic Lantern if it is affordable. Ramp in general like all the signets/talismans are very good as well because they help get your commander out faster (he is a LOT of mana to make).

I personally think that a self-reanimator theme is kind of hard in your deck because you are trying to take the opponents juicy things instead of making your own, so some things like Buried Alive may be unneeded. (I personally have not made this commander before, but I had a Meren deck, so I sort of have an idea.) To some degree, self reanimation is really nice because it gets more value out of your stuff. So I personally like things like Sheoldred, Whispering One.

You may also like some form of raw card draw as well. Phyrexian Arena, Painful Truths, Read the Bones, etc. are really good for the mana investment.

Some creature suggestions: Geth, Lord of the Vault mills the opponents and you get to pick what you want, granted you have the mana, very nice. Sidisi, Undead Vizier can just be a 5 mana tutor, personally love having a mimic vat on the field and being able have a 3 mana tutor every turn (if she exploits herself).

lastly, some tutors are good (depending on budget). Some Diabolic Tutor effects are budget friendly, but spending 4 mana for a card is kind of medium (and usually is wasting the turn).

sonnet666 on Scorpion god combo (CEDH)

1 week ago

Your curve is a little high, and you're overthinking your win conditions.

Think about it this way:

Infinite mana + Walking Ballista = Win

Infinite mana + Your commander + A creature you can kill repeatedly = Draw your deck

If you draw your deck, then you're always going to run into Walking Ballista and you're always going to win. (Altar of Dementia would kill the table at this point too.)

So really, all you need to have a guaranteed win is infinite mana, plus any ONE of the following: Reassembling Skeleton, Tenacious Dead, Relentless Dead, Bloodsoaked Champion, or ANY undying creature.

Geralf's Messenger isn't even necessary for this combo to work. (The 3 black actually makes it a bit more unwieldy than a Pyreheart Wolf or Butcher Ghoul would be.)

That also means that all of the following are win-more and overkill: Mike-and-Trike, Kiki-Zealous, Redcap, Blood Artist, Purphoros, Impact Tremors, Goblin Sledder, Nim Deathmantle, Viscera Seer, Phyrexian Delver, Metallic Mimic, and Doomsday (you don't have support for this).

Cutting all that would lower your curve significantly (making Ad Nauseam work better) and allow you to include more tutors, better draw factor (Dark Confidant), and have back up combos that actually contribute to and synergize with your main strategy.

NarejED once made a great observation about how people think that the more combos they fit in their cEDH deck, the better it is, when really all they're doing is scattering their deck's gameplan, and making sure their combos don't have enough support to be reliable.

That's kind of what you're doing here. You have Worldgorger, an infinite mana combo, Mike/Trike, a counter / damage combo, Kiki/Zealous, a token / combat combo, and then Doomsday with no Doomsday cards. Those couldn't be farther from supporting each other.

Without a doubt you should go with Worldgorger, seeing as it plays so well with your commander, but if you do include a backup combo, it's probably best to go with something else that makes infinite mana, because that really seems to be the heart of this deck, or at least something that takes advantage of Scorpion Bro's counter effect. (My recommendation: just keep Mikaeus and take out Triskelion. Mike + Walking Ballista + sac outlet works just as well, and then everything has a use by itself.)

(Sidenote: It just occurred to me that this infinite mana plan runs super similarly to Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, except she doesn't even need an extra creature to kill. Maybe we should move her up...)

rayxomnus on The God-Pharaoh Cometh

1 week ago

KuraiU Thanks! I might have an Ashnod's Altar or Altar of Dementia lying around here, but I think I'll postpone updating the deck until HOU comes out.

TheDarkSlayer21 on Marchesa Edh

1 week ago

Ok...There are typically two ways of making a Marchesa deck. The first way is to put in a lot of creatures that can get +1/+1 counters easily (like Anthroplasm, Aetherborn Marauder, Butcher Ghoul, Carrion Feeder or Unleash/Modular cards). The problem is, these cards hardly do anything other than putting counters on themselves. They're pretty much duds. So to make up for this, people will put in good sac outlets, (Cards like Mind Slash, Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, Altar of Dementia, Attrition, etc). This type of deck gets its engine running STRICTLY from it's sac outlets, (NOT FROM ITS CREATURES) and because of this, it is a bit more reliant on it's commander.

The second type of deck is my preferred method of playstyle. Whereby, the deck is not RELYING on its sac outlets, (although it does have a few) but rather on the bounce effects of creatures. (Cards like Mulldrifter and Harvester of Souls). With this type of deck, you're also not fully relying on your commander. Marchesa is just a perk. If you don't have her out, you can still play your creatures and benefit from them.

Also keep in mind, that it isn't too hard getting +1/+1 counters on your creatures just using the dethrone ability itself. I find that most, if not all the time, you will NOT be at the highest life total; especially if you have Necropotence, Ancient Tomb, Unspeakable Symbol, shock lands, fetch lands, and pain lands in the deck.

This is the Marchesa deck that I personally made. You're welcome to look at it for suggestions.

deck chart

Maleficent

Commander / EDH TheDarkSlayer21

SCORE: 12 | 16 COMMENTS | 7164 VIEWS | IN 16 FOLDERS

Some cards that I would highly recommend putting in the deck are:
- Sneak Attack
- Rune-Scarred Demon
- Demonic Tutor
- River Kelpie
- Necropotence
- Consecrated Sphinx
- Diabolic Intent
- Harvester of Souls
- Glen Elendra Archmage
- Mind Slash
- Thalakos Deceiver
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Phyrexian Tower
- Cyclonic Rift
- Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
- Scourge of the Throne
- Unspeakable Symbol
- Grave Betrayal
- Flayer of the Hatebound
- Thraximundar
NOTE: If you do decide to have this deck be a bit more ETB heavy, Deadeye Navigator and Rite of Replication are good cards to help abuse the ETB triggers.

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