Cryptolith Fragment

Back:

Aurora of Emrakul

Legality

Format Legality
Tiny Leaders Legal
1v1 Commander Legal
Magic Duels Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Vintage Legal
Modern Legal
Penny Dreadful Legal
Pioneer Legal
Leviathan Legal
Legacy Legal
Frontier Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Unformat Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal

Printings View all

Set Rarity
Eldritch Moon (EMN) Uncommon

Combos Browse all

Cryptolith Fragment

Artifact

Cryptolith Fragment enters the battlefield tapped.

: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Each player loses 1 life.

At the beginning of your upkeep, if each player has 10 or less life, transform Cryptolith Fragment.

View at Gatherer Browse Alters

Cryptolith Fragment Discussion

TitaniumTP on K'rrick Kobain and his Monster Mash

2 weeks ago

Let's get down to business, shall we?

DELETE THIS

Venser's Journal , Mindcrank , Armillary Sphere , Dash Hopes , Doomblade, Street Wraith , Leshrac's Sigil ,

QUESTIONABLE

Noosegraf Mob , Phyrexian Reclamation , Kaya's Ghostform , Blood Tribute , Whip of Erebos , Armillary Sphere , Reiver Demon , Pestilence Demon , Magus of the Mirror , Endling , Bloodthirsty Aerialist

At first glance these are what I think you should delete and think about deleting.

COMBO TIME

I notice that you have combo potential with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed . The only 2 card combo with him is Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion . All other combos with him require 4 pieces.

  1. The man (zombie?) himself: Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

  2. Sac outlet - Viscera Seer , - Ashnod's Altar , - Carrion Feeder ,

  3. The Sacrifice (something with persist, or that can somehow remove the +1/+1 counter from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ) - Lesser Masticore , - Putrid Goblin , - Skinrender if you put the 3 -1/-1 counters on itself each time it enters, - Puppeteer Clique , - Lingering Tormentor ,

  4. ALL THESE TRIGGERS - Bitter Ordeal for infinite exiling of decks, - Falkenrath Noble for infinite damage, - Vindictive Vampire for infinite damage, - Zulaport Cutthroat for infinite damage, - Vengeful Dead for infinite damage, only if sacrificed creature is a zombie, - Blood Artist for infinite damage, - Pitiless Plunderer for infinite mana, - Pawn of Ulamog for infinite colorless mana, - Deathgreeter for infinite life, - Smothering Abomination for infinite card draw,

MORE COMBO

You also have the 3 piece combo of

  1. Sanguine Bond
  2. Exquisite Blood
  3. Anything that either causes you to gain life, or an opponent to lose life - Leechridden Swamp , - Ebony Charm , - Death Cultist , - Nightmare's Thirst

I recommend using instant speed interaction for the 3rd piece of the combo, so you can respond to removal by winning

If you decide to follow The Way of The Combo, you should also add library searching effectz to help make sure you always find your pieces.

LIBRARY SEARCHIN EFFECTZ

Expedition Map for finding lands for ramp, or combo pieces if you go for the aforementioned Leechridden Swamp combo Scheming Symmetry , Behold the Beyond , Demonic Collusion , Diabolic Tutor , Final Parting , Mastermind's Acquisition , Doomsday , Demonic Collusion , Dark Petition

The more combo and storm heavy your deck is, the more search library cards you will want to add.

EXTORT OP

Basilica Screecher , Thrull Parasite , Syndicate Enforcer

Nothing much to add here, but extort is so broken in this deck. Extort will be extra powerful in storm builds.

Okay, it's Mana Time

Caged Sun

COOL LANDS

Castle Locthwain , swamp with benefits, Thespian's Stage , can become a copy of other dank lands like Temple of the False God and Cabal Stronghold , Crystal Vein , pop it on the turn where you're going to try and win, Westvale Abbey  Flip, potential wincon, Leechridden Swamp , potential combo piece and also fun to use with leftover mana, Bottomless Vault , probably sucks but you could use it in a storm deck, Memorial to Folly , Mortuary Mire , Temple of the False God , Myriad Landscape , ramp that looks like a land

Mana Rocks

Cryptolith Fragment  Flip probably not good, Thran Dynamo , super epic, Hedron Archive , Prismatic Lens , Fractured Powerstone , you know you want this for the planeschase ability, Sisay's Ring , Ur-Golem's Eye , Liliana of the Dark Realms , Nirkana Revenant , Paradise Plume , Magus of the Coffers , Black Market

For mana rocks you want the best bang for your buck, since you can just pay life instead of {B}. I like the mana rocks that cost {4} but tap for {2}, and the ones that cost {2} and tap for {1}. The more control heavy your deck is, the more rocks you want.

Ramp

Wayfarer's Bauble , Burnished Hart

Lots of Mana Fast

Cabal Ritual , Bubbling Muck , Spoils of Evil , Culling the Weak , Sacrifice , Dark Ritual , Songs of the Damned

Getting giant bursts of mana is good in any mono Black deck, but you should invest more heavily the more combo and storm themed your deck is, since you want to pop off in a single turn and cast 1,000 spells.

Investments

Basal Sliver , Blood Pet , Bog Witch , Overeager Apprentice , Basal Thrull , Priest of Yawgmoth , Blood Vassal , Soldevi Adnate

A lot of these cards that are single time use mana sources would be great in a storm deck where you would just build up your load until you bust damage all over the faces of those unfortunate enough to be within 50m of you. They're also good in reanimation decks, which could utilize Phyrexian Reclamation to keep getting them back.

Summary:

The more control heavy your deck is, the more mana rocks you want. If you're going for combos then you want more quick mana. The only land I'm gonna have to 100% recommend is Thespian's Stage . Keep in mind that the more nonbasic lands you have in your deck, the less useful cards like Crypt Ghast and Cabal Stronghold will be.

TRIBAL

Zombie Tribal

Corpse Harvester , library search, Cemetery Reaper , lord, Undead Warchief , epic lord, Josu Vess, Lich Knight , wincon, Endless Ranks of the Dead , wincon, Death Baron , lord, Liliana's Mastery , lord, Graveborn Muse , card draw, Zombie Master , protection, Graf Harvest , team evasion, Fleshbag Marauder , saccy, Phyrexian Delver , recovery, Cryptbreaker , card draw, Lord of the Accursed , lord, Shepherd of Rot , hurty everyone, Stronghold Assassin , funny removal, Loyal Subordinate , Liliana, Death's Majesty , potential finisher, Grave Titan , Open the Graves , board wipe protection, especially good if you're going all in on creature aggro, Curse of Disturbance , Awaken the Erstwhile , once you're in an advantageous position just cast this and watch your opponents cry, Tombstone Stairwell , this would be especially epic if you have cards to buff your boys, Risen Executioner , lord

Some cards that could be spicy in zombie tribal. Epic combos would be lords such as Cemetery Reaper and Lord of the Accursed , and fatties such as Army of the Damned and Josu Vess, Lich Knight . Having tons of zombies also combos with Pontiff of Blight . I think that Eldrazi Monument in a zombie build is nightmare fuel.

Vampire Tribal

Sanctum Seeker , Kalastria Highborn , Blade of the Bloodchief , Bloodlord of Vaasgoth , Malakir Bloodwitch , Bloodline Keeper  Flip, Gatekeeper of Malakir , Nirkana Revenant , Drana, Liberator of Malakir , Sadistic Skymarcher , Defiant Bloodlord , Yahenni, Undying Partisan , Butcher of Malakir , Cordial Vampire , Bloodtracker ,

If you decide vampire tribal is better, here are some options. I would only play cards like Blood Tribute if you're going vampire tribal, I don't think it's worth to play unless you can get more value than just chopping 1 player's life in half.

To Go with Your Creature Spam, Sir...

Dowsing Dagger  Flip, Mask of Memory , Necropolis Regent , Bloodforged Battle-Axe , Explorer's Scope , Throne of the God-Pharaoh , Whip of Erebos

Buff My Team!

Sword of the Paruns , Intimidation , Death Pit Offering , Eldrazi Monument , Obelisk of Urd

Summary:

The more of one tribe you have, the more synergy you have. Only include lords if you're all in on that tribe.

REMOVAL

Targeted Removal

Hero's Downfall , Vraska's Contempt , Murder , Murderous Rider , Noxious Gearhulk , Malicious Affliction , New Blood , Ruinous Path , Tendrils of Corruption , Bone Splinters , Liturgy of Blood

Epic Board Wipes

Decree of Pain , Crux of Fate , Kindred Dominance , Bontu's Last Reckoning , Do or Die , Hellfire , Necromantic Selection

Summary: Use more board wipes the more control heavy you want your deck to be. Try to choose targeted removal such that the end cost will only be {1} and some life, so that it will be as cheap as possible. This is especially important in storm builds. Since we play multiplayer quite a bit, you'll probably want to add extra board wipes, especially the ones that draw you cards or come bundled with reanimation.

Wow, I Hate Minorities

Wow, I hate tokens

Ritual of Soot , Force of Despair

Wow, Green is Cancer

Perish

Wow, I hate when other people play spells

Painful Quandary

Wow, I hate when other people attack me

No Mercy , Dread , Koskun Falls

Wow, I hate myself

Season of the Witch (okay, maybe not that much Revenge of Ravens )

Wow, I hate lifegain

Tainted Remedy , False Cure

Wow, I hate real board wipes

Sudden Spoiling , Mutilate , Languish , Massacre Girl , Golden Demise

Wow, I hate burst damage

Palace Siege , Polluted Bonds

Wow, I hate my opponents having creatures

Dictate of Erebos , Grave Pact , Butcher of Malakir

Wow, I hate this one person in particular

Curse of Vengeance , Trespasser's Curse , Curse of Fool's Wisdom

Lifegain

Profane Memento , Crypt Incursion , Vampiric Link , Loxodon Warhammer , Kokusho, the Evening Star , Cavalier of Night , Whip of Erebos

Protection

Rush of Vitality

Benefit from Death

Ogre Slumlord , Shadows of the Past

Cool Card Draw

Moonlight Bargain , Promise of Power , Succumb to Temptation , Ransack the Lab , Infernal Contract , Necrologia , Carnival of Souls , Grim Haruspex , Night's Whisper , Succumb to Temptation , Phyrexian Etchings , Cruel Bargain , Dark Deal , Foreboding Fruit , Live Fast , Painful Lesson , Necropotence

Add more card draw the more stormy you want your deck to be. Also try to add ones that will cost the least amount of mana if you take your commander's ability into account.

Card Draw Requiring Sacrifice

Altar's Reap , Costly Plunder , Morbid Curiosity , Bankrupt in Blood , Skulltap , Merciless Resolve

These will be better in decks where you're sure you'll have tons of creatures. So adding these into zombie tribal would probably be a good idea, since you have things like Army of the Damned and Josu Vess, Lich Knight that produce a million tokens.

Storm Build Cards

Aphotic Wisps , Cremate , Succumb to Temptation , Yawgmoth's Will , Ill-Gotten Gains , Priest of Forgotten Gods , Skirge Familiar , Rain of Filth , Dredge , Gravebind , Nighthaze , Street Wraith

The idea of a storm deck is to cast as many spells in one turn as possible, building up a fat storm counter to execute all who oppose us with our 3 finishers, which are Aetherflux Reservoir , Tendrils of Agony and perhaps Empty the Pits . You'll want lots of cheap spells that only cost {B} mana and replace themselves, such as Aphotic Wisps . One time use mana is also dank here, such as Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual , and creatures like Basal Thrull and Soldevi Adnate .

Win Cons to think about

multimedia on Rakdos Beatdown

1 month ago

Hey, you're welcome :)

I don't want to discourage you by suggesting to add so many cards and cut so many cards. You have a really good plan for when you get Rakdos onto the battlefield, but the problem is you haven't included many ways to cast Rakdos. Because can only cast him if an opponent loss life for the turn. You have a great late game base of creatures, really good, but there's not very much, if any, early game plays to make. Commander decks want three plans at various stages of a game. One for the early game, one for the mid game and one for the late game. Right now you have planned out the mid and late game well, but have neglected the early game. My advice is sacrifice some mid and late game cards for early game cards.

Some examples of different plans for each stage of the a game.

Early game (ramp and pingers):

Mid game (Rakdos and reanimation):

Late game (Eldrazi and other big creatures)

In my opinion it's better to have a lot more early game plays then mid and late game. The early game plays should help to setup and get into the mid and late game. Low mana cast reanimation/enablers is an an example of early game plays that can be just as good as a mid/late game plays. Tutors are an excellent bridge between each stage of the game because they let you get a certain card for what ever stage you're at and in of need at the time.

As I said in my last comment I think you can cut quite a few of the big creatures and replace them with more early game cards that let you interact with Rakdos faster.

Cards to consider cutting:

  • Cinder Barrens
  • Bloodfell Caves
  • 1x Mountain
  • 1x Swamp
  • Chainer, Dementia Master
  • Endling
  • Garna, the Bloodflame
  • Geth, Lord of the Vault
  • Greven, Predator Captain
  • Hythonia the Cruel
  • K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
  • Massacre Girl
  • Nighthowler
  • Overseer of the Damned
  • Soul of Innistrad
  • Tetzimoc, Primal Death
  • The Haunt of Hightower
  • The Scorpion God
  • Fated Return
  • Phthisis
  • Blackblade Reforged
  • Whispersilk Cloak
  • Loxodon Warhammer
  • Sword of Truth and Justice

All these cards are by no means bad, they're just in my opinion worse than the other cards here. In my last comment I listed about 20 cards for you to consider adding most except Heartless Hidetsugu and Artisan of Kozilek were one to three CMC. Which included pingers ( Spear Spewer , etc.), mana rocks ( Rakdos Signet , etc.), reanimation/enablers ( Doomed Necromancer , Buried Alive , etc.) and instant removal ( Chaos Warp , etc.).

40 lands is a lot of lands, consider cutting some for additional mana sources (mana rocks)?

I think you're better off adding mana rocks then having lots of lands and equipment. I think it helps your deck more to have color fixing and ramp then equipment. Mana rocks are excellent early game plays. Equipment are mid to late game plays and they only do something if you have creatures on the battlefield who can attack. Rakdos or Sin Prodder could be good sources of a creature for equipment, but equipment overall is not doing much here. Because of mana cost for Rakdos then mana rocks that can make colored mana are more desirable then ones that can't. However if you have the powerful mana rocks that only make colorless mana ( Sol Ring , etc.) still play them because they're some of the best cards in Commander.

Lots of basic lands can be problematic when the main casting cost you're trying to make is for Rakdos. Some other playable Rakdos dual lands to consider adding:

multimedia on Rakdos Beatdown

1 month ago

Hey, you definitely like high mana cost cards (5 CMC plus). There's 28 here!

How do you expect to be able to cast Rakdos? Consider more cards that make an opponent lose life? This deck will have a difficult time functioning without having Rakdos on the battlefield, being able to reduce the casting cost of creatures. With a 4.9 avg. CMC even being able to cast Rakdos is going to be a problem.

My advice is focus much more on the early game and much less on the late game. You don't need 25 high mana cost creatures for Rakdos, it's overkill.

Cards to consider adding:

In the early game you want to make it easier to cast Rakdos this means mana rocks that can help make mana for his difficult casting cost and repeatable pingers to be able to make your opponents lose at least one life to be able to cast Rakdos.

Heartless Hidetsugu can reduce a ton of colorless mana with Rakdos with one activation. Use this reduction to free cast Eldrazi (Ulamog and Emrakul). Artisan of Kozilek can be reanimation and Void Winnower is also good. These Eldrazi are really the only high mana cost creatures you need because lets face it there's not a lot of other creatures that can even compare in power level.

Other high mana cost creatures of the ones here to consider keeping are: Ilharg, the Raze-Boar , Sidisi, Undead Vizier , Urabrask the Hidden , Etali, Primal Storm , Archfiend of Despair , Vilis, Broker of Blood , Sheoldred, Whispering One . This is a base to consider:

  • Heartless
  • LLharg
  • Sidisi
  • Urabrask
  • Eltali
  • Archfiend
  • Vilis
  • Sheoldred
  • Ulamog
  • Ulamog
  • Emrakul
  • Artisan
  • Winnower

There's beginnings of a reanimation strategy here with Chainer, Nightmare Adept . Reanimation is a good a backup plan to be able to get big creatures onto the battlefield without Rakdos. Reanimation needs two parts: enablers to get creatures into your graveyard and the actual reanimation to cheat them onto the battlefield. Consider expanding on each of these parts?

The Necromancers are good with Chainer. Discard a big creature than cast one of the Necromancers from your graveyard, it gets haste, sac it to reanimate the big creature you just discarded.

Other cards to consider adding:

If you would like I can give you a list of cards to consider cutting. Good luck with your deck.

TCG-Player on Inclusive Rakdos Is Colorblind

3 months ago

In terms of damage spells, I would recommend

Decidares on Jodah - Perfectly balanced.

4 months ago

Suggested Cuts and Inclusions

While I tried to make cuts and suggestions relevant (e.g. replace ramp with ramp), many of them are arbitrary. Feel free to ignore or swap with other suggestions!

Other useful inclusions

SP3CTR3_chelts on Rakdos commander

5 months ago

Cryptolith Fragment  Flip, Thermo-Alchemist (and other versions of creatures that tap for a damage) also a lot of card from the new rakdos guild will help with Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Vipy5 on Father of Infect

5 months ago

If you need help with knowing how much/what ramp to use, you might want to check out https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/brewer-s-minute-ramp-math

I am not an expert in mono, but for you I recommend adding:

Mana Crypt pricey but spicey

Charcoal Diamond goes so well with Sol Ring

Everflowing Chalice and Astral Cornucopia - especially if you somehow get more proliferate

Extraplanar Lens

Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar are good if you want double-down on sacrificing your own creatures.

Myriad Landscape can go in almost any edh deck

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is solid in any one- or two-colour deck

Lake of the Dead has a downside, but you won't care when you're using it (trust me)

Deserted Temple , Vesuva , Candelabra of Tawnos and Thespian's Stage to double-down on Cabal Coffers.

Petrified Field to protect valuable lands.

Expedition Map and/or Wayfarer's Bauble to tutor itfor all your powerful lands.

I'm not sure how I feel about Temple of the False God , but it is an EDH classic.

Other mono ramp

I ended up finding so many mono ramp cards I thought I might as well make a more full list.

Solemn Simulacrum is a good catch-all

Magus of the Coffers is slow, but might be worth it. Crypt Ghast is a better version.

Pawn of Ulamog and Sifter of Skulls are good in any deck that sacrifices often

Nirkana Revenant is good in the right deck

Bog Witch is kind of weird, but has fringe uses

I haven't thought hard, but you might be able to do some flicker shenanigans with Priest of Gix

Priest of Yawgmoth and Soldevi Adnate work if you hate your own stuff

Leaden Myr , Hedron Crawler , Manakin , Scuttlemutt , Alloy Myr , Opaline Unicorn , Palladium Myr are usually worse than rocks, but maybe you want?

Worst case, an edh deck can always load up on rocks. These are some of the best ones for mono black

Sol Ring every edh deck should include this

Star Compass , Fellwar Stone , Fractured Powerstone , Mind Stone all fill similar voids

Thran Dynamo , Ur-Golem's Eye , Worn Powerstone , Gilded Lotus , Hedron Archive , Sisay's Ring

Pillar of Origins for tribal decks

Consider Pentad Prism , Kyren Toy , or Coalition Relic for proliferate

In most games, these do the same thing: Commander's Sphere , Cryptolith Fragment  Flip, Cultivator's Caravan , Darksteel Ingot , Hierophant's Chalice , Honor-Worn Shaku , Mana Prism , Manalith , Orazca Relic , Phyrexian Totem , Powerstone Shard , Pristine Talisman , Seer's Lantern , Serum Powder , Skull of Ramos , Sol Grail , Spectral Searchlight , Vessel of Endless Rest , Victory Chimes , and Chromatic Lantern

Thought Vessel if you fill your hand

Chrome Mox is usually worth the card disadvantage

Lotus Bloom , Mana Vault , Basalt Monolith , Grim Monolith , and Lotus Petal for explosive potential

Mox Amber if you usually have your commander/a legendary thing out

Mox Diamond if lands in your graveyard is a good thing

Mox Opal if you have 2+ extra artifacts

Black Market is good if you tend to sacrifice/kill a lot of creatures

Caged Sun , Doubling Cube , and Gauntlet of Power are fair if you want to reach that high mana

Liliana of the Dark Realms is nice with proliferate, and makes sure you don't miss land drops in the mid/late-game

Sword of the Animist is best with one-mana creatures, and if you attack often, but might be justified even if not

Jet Medallion and Heartless Summoning do a lot of work if you play many cards in a turn

Carnival of Souls is fun with some creature-based combos

These mostly work for combo/explosive turns

Bubbling Muck for explosive/combo turns

Dark Ritual for getting a turn 2 Crypt Ghast , etc.

Sacrifice and Culling the Weak for sacrificing. They go nicely with Songs of the Damned

Spoils of Evil for lategame combos

Rain of Filth must be used with caution

Crypt of Agadeem works, but only if you consistently have 4+ creatures in the graveyard

Phyrexian Tower eats your creatures

Cabal Coffers is a staple

It's porbably unnessecary, but if you end up with few basic swamps, consider Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to supplement your Cabal Coffers .

Cabal Stronghold is great if you can't afford many nonbasics, and might be good enough besides.

UsedToVenom on Terminator Judgement Day WMLD

6 months ago

Planned changes OUT - 5

IN - 5

Load more

Cryptolith Fragment occurrence in decks from the last year

Commander / EDH:

All decks: 0.01%

Red: 0.13%

Rakdos: 0.32%