Grinning Demon

Creature — Demon

At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 2 life.

Morph (2)(Black)(Black) (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for (3). Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)

Tokens

• Morph 2/2 C

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (12)

ClockworkSwordfish on Creature Donation Ideas

2 years ago

If you want to think outside the box, try Phyrexian Negator. Every time it's blocked, its controller is losing a bushel of hard-earned permanents. Of course, you can always help the process along by pointing a Consume Spirit or Essence Extraction at the Negator!

Other good options include Gutwrencher Oni, Grinning Demon, Scourge of Numai, Pitiless Horde, Steel Golem, Grid Monitor, Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore, Evil Eye of Urborg, Archdemon of Greed  ^Flip, Abyssal Persecutor, Ebonblade Reaper, Thrashing Mudspawn, Wretched Anurid, Ebon Drake, Moroii, Rotting Regisaur, Flesh Reaver, Asmodeus the Archfiend and the truly deplorable Infernal Denizen.

Hexapod on Google Ghave and The Search Engine of Doom

5 years ago

This is a nice idea! I hope you manage to make it work.

You need a Strionic Resonator to double the activations of Ob-Nixilis or Maralen.

Avatar of Growth would be great if you can lay your hands on one.

I am not too fond of the white counterspell sub-theme you have included; with this color scheme you have ample options for removal. Personally I like Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking, Utter End, and Pernicious Deed. With your search to kill theme, Assassin's Trophy and Path to Exile should also be included.

Not sure why you are currently including Gift of Immortality, but adding a Spore Frog and a Necrotic Sliver makes for fun control.

Since your theme is running a bit thin, I see two options to make this deck more efficient : filling it to the brim with tutors, or including an alternate wincon. I definitely favour the second option; and I though you would like it to include your hidden general for flavor. Here is my suggestion for that:

Liliana's Contract and inexpensive Demons, like Desecration Demon, Grinning Demon, Herald of Torment, Indulgent Tormentor, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Rakshasa Deathdealer, Soulcage Fiend.

Hope this helps!

Force_of_Willb on Ob Nixilis Landfall

5 years ago

Top recommendations: Burnished Hart, sad robot-Solemn Simulacrum, and Liliana's Contract due to the number of demons your are running.

Undiscovered Paradise/Ghost Town - are ways to ensure land drops each turn

Other Ways to search for lands: Liliana's Shade, Armillary Sphere, Journeyer's Kite/Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip, Pilgrim's Eye, Surveyor's Scope, Thawing Glaciers, Field of Ruin

Keeping the demon subtheme I would suggest: Ammit Eternal, Baleful Ammit, Archfiend of Despair, Demon of Catastrophes, Demon of Dark Schemes, Demon of Wailing Agonies, Harvester of Souls, Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis, Reiver Demon

Demonlord Belzenlok/Kothophed, Soul Hoarder/Razaketh, the Foulblooded (these three + griselbrand hold liliana's contract very flavorful)

I would remove: Buried Alive (don't see strong graveyard recursion), Temporal Extortion/Dash Hopes (bc if its that important to your opponents they will pay the life), Grinning Demon/Minion of Leshrac (no upside), Gloom/Infernal Reckoning(unless this is a meta choice but its too situational), Sanguine Bond (do you gain that much life to be relevant?), Death's Approach (for hard removal) and Without Weakness

Pandaka on Razaketh's Demon Army

5 years ago

First, you will need a lot of ramp to get this deck going with all your demon and being able to maybe play multiple demons a turn making this deck able to sweep in with a win. You will also need more creatures that are to be sacrificed to Razaketh, the Foulblooded. Razaketh and Liliana's Contract will have you lose life so you will need some way to regain any lost life. Some cheap demons I've found are Ammit Eternal, Baleful Ammit, Demonic Taskmaster, Grinning Demon, Herald of Torment, Master of the Feast, Mindwrack Demon, Razorjaw Oni, Scourge of Numai, Soulcage Fiend, and Soulstinger.

HowsLife on Marchesa, Lobbying for Power

5 years ago

I would recommend Anguished Unmaking , Bitterblossom , Blessing of Leaches , Blood Scrivener , Bloodgift Demon , Boon of Erebos , Coa Ren, Wei Commander , Corpse Augur , Cruel Tutor (Actually, any of the tutor cards). Be sure to include Embargo. Some more are Grinning Demon , Hoarder's Greed , Kothoped, Soul Hoarder. Just suggestions.

Coward_Token on Grixis!Zedruu

6 years ago

(I would add a proper community card but that feature seems to be malfunctioning right now.)

Farly straightforward, this card would mostly be Zedruu the Greathearted (although a different character, not simply her gone evil or something) with a casting cost of and an activation cost of . In EDH, this could lead to some fun usage of cards like the following:

(I realize you can basically already do this with any Grixis commander + e.g. Bazaar Trader, but that's a bit less straightforward.)

Wall of cards Show

Vampirism, Pitiless Horde, Aku Djinn, Witch Engine, Yawgmoth Demon, Andradite Leech, Moroii, Ebonblade Reaper, Demonic Hordes, Phyrexian Vatmother, Treacherous Vampire, Takenuma Bleeder, Archdemon of Greed  ^Flip, Immortal Coil, Null Profusion, Phyrexian Negator, Reaver Drone, Blood Funnel, Oni Possession, Benthic Djinn, Yawgmoth's Agenda, Phyrexian Etchings, Master of the Feast, Unholy Fiend, Bloodcurdler, Juzam Djinn, Wretched Anurid, Yukora, the Prisoner, Colfenor's Plans, Sleeper Agent, Gloom Surgeon, Minion of Tevesh Szat, Oath of Lim-Dul, Demonic Pact, Vampire Lacerator, Exiled Boggart, Midnight Oil, Herald of Torment, Jagged Poppet, Flesh Reaver, Measure of Wickedness, Nefarious Lich, Derelor, Ebon Drake, Liege of the Pit, Grinning Demon, Filthy Cur, Fledgling Djinn, Scourge of Numai, Hasran Ogress, Demonic Taskmaster, Thrashing Mudspawn, Gutwrencher Oni, Evil Eye of Urborg, Forbidden Crypt, Bellowing Fiend, Priest of the Blood Rite, Grollub, Xathrid Demon, Blessing of Leeches, Infernal Denizen, Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore, Minion of Leshrac, Lord of the Pit, Abyssal Persecutor

(Hell, even things like Necropotence, Kothophed, Soul Hoarder, Carnival of Souls, Dark Prophecy, Dralnu, Lich Lord and Corpse Augur can be less-than-pleasant for an unsuited person.)

I'm unsure what would be suitable for its upkeep ability. Just copying Zedruu's straight off isn't too inappropriate, as drawing is certainly associated with black and life gain isn't too far out either, but that's kinda boring. Replacing the life gain with something negative towards opponents like milling, discard or plain life loss proportional to the amount of gifted permanent could be one option that's more in line with the color change (thought the negative effects would probably targeted in order to preserve some political potential). Putting a +1/+1 counter per gift on Zedruu the Grixishearted to take advantage of commander damage could also work (especially when combined with auras like Herald of Torment), in which case you could also change power/toughness from the original's 2/4 to 4/2 to signal greater aggression.

For the sake of flavor its subtype would be Horse Djinn, with the artwork depicting a djinn with a mare's head, wearing a mouth-covering veil.

Feedback would be welcome, especially on ways to make Grixis!Zedruu more distinct from the original while still fulfilling the basic function of giving out torturous black cards, in addition to the blue and red ones they both share.

(A version containing green could also be made for the sake of giving that color a chance to show off its painful cards, in which case the creature in question should probably have monkey paws.)

treeplanter07 on

6 years ago

sweet dude. Have you played with this thing much? I see the average mana costs are pretty high, just curious how it's played out for you. Grinning Demon is a pretty good one a really potent turn 2 drop with dark ritual. I use it in my Suicide black/weenie murderer deck. (is that how you hyperlink decks?)

ItsPericles on Template: Demonic Duel Deck

6 years ago

g0regrind Thanks for taking a look, and taking the time to comment! I love the suggestions, and while I've been playing for years, I admittedly don't have a lot of experience playing anything other than kitchen table games with my friends. Naturally, I wanted to add all the stuff my normal Demon deck would have, but I thought it would be fun to give Modern a go, and see what I could come up with.

I think I'll be including the Bloodgift Demon, Tendrils of Corruption, and Read the Bones, all of which I have handy. I'll definitely have to add a Heartless Summoning, the flavor and mana saving are way too good to ignore. Tribute to Hunger as well, if I'm paying life, I should have a good way of getting it back. I also never liked Larceny, but it was available at the moment. I kind of suspected I'd be removing it at some point down the road.

The real standouts in your recommendations are the Desecration Demon and the Whip of Erebos. I used to love running Grinning Demon as a 4CMC drop, the Desecration Demon is leaps and bounds better. And to give a bunch of big body demons lifelink is like Christmas coming early.

I'll take a look through your deck as well, and see what fits the flavor, legality, and budget. Thank you again!