Merciless Resolve

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Merciless Resolve

Instant

As an additional cost to cast Merciless Resolve, sacrifice a creature or land.

Draw two cards.

MrKillStar on Konrads wrath

3 years ago

Hello there, fellowr Syr Konrad player!

You could check my own Syr Konrad, the Grim's deck: For the Void to see how I went with him, why did I chose the cards I chosen and maybe you'll see some cards you might like too. Some feedback and upvote would be very appreciated aswell! :)

First things first, type CMDR behind "1x Syr Konrad, the Grim" in your decklist to specify him as a commander.

Second, I would probably avoid discard cards like: Mind Rot,Cavern Whisperer when its not discard focused deck.
Same would go with Underworld Dreams.. yes, it can punish some decks for their big card draws, but doesnt really fit the idea of the deck that well. But you could always add Peer into the Abyss which pairs with Underworld Dreams really well.

Next cut would probably be some creatures that doesnt really do much and other cards:

1) Barrow Witches - your only Knight is Syr Konrad, which you will 99.9% times cast from command zone anyway.
2) Feral Abomination - for 5/5 deathtouch is kinda meh, something that generates tokens would be much better, with so many creatures, cards like Pawn of Ulamog and Sifter of Skulls are nice budget options (even when token creature dies, it goes to graveyard -> triggering Syr Konrad's ability, then insantly vanishes).
3) Squelching Leeches - this can grow fairly big if you play for a lot of turns, but without anything that ramps your Swamps out quick, its just slow dumb creature.
4) Vampire Opportunist - its ability is really expensive just to drain 2 life.
5) Im sure you could replace much more creature for something more usefeul, either a card draw, removal, sacrifice outlets or more token generators. 6) Merciless Resolve is worse version of Altar's Reap, which is now worse than Village Rites.
7) Pharika's Libation - Im personally fan of this removal, just because your opponent can choose what to sacrifice. Feed the Swarm is definitely a better option.
8) Kaya's Ghostform - Kaya's Ghostform is okay, cheap protection for only one . You could add more protection, like: Malakir Rebirth  Flip, which works even better, because its an instant speed "protection" and can also be used as a land if needed.
9) Evolving Wilds - no need to run this at all. You would be better to switch it either for an additional Swamp or some other utility land. Also Myriad Landscape is cheap budget option to ramp a bit, but its quite slow.

Some cards you could throw in:

1) Cabal Stronghold - budget version of Cabal Coffers, which can tap itself for and adds a decent number of black mana later on.
2) Crypt of Agadeem - with so many black creatures in your deck, this could ramp you a lot. Costs few dollars, but is definitely worth it in mono-black decks like yours.
3) Some mana rocks and spells to help you with ramp, so you won't fall behind that much should help for sure. There is plenty of mana rocks you could use, starting with Sol Ring/Mana Geode/Arcane Signet, also something like Bontu's Monument, Charcoal Diamond. There is also Culling the Weak/Dark Ritual/Cabal Ritual to give you some fast mana, on top of Bubbling Muck and Songs of the Damned. If you browse some other decks and the internet, you can find plenty of mono-black creatures and/or artifacts that can ramp your super fast.
4) Again, with so many creatures in your deck, try to get Morality Shift - which could easily take out all your opponents at once with Syr Konrad on Board. More creature returning spells from yor graveyard could be: Gravepurge/Forever Young and Death Denied. Gravepurge and Forever Young works even better with something like Bolas's Citadel, enabling you to cast those cheap creatures right away and possibly even sacrifice them, triggering Syr Konrad's at least twice each time.
5) In my opinion, super strong card like Tortured Existence. It can easily trigger Syr Konrad's twice, getting big creatures into your graveyard to reanimate them later, get cheap creatures back into your hand to re-cast them again, save some creatures from graveyard hate and works well with Desecrated Tomb. All that at instant speed, as many times as much you got to pay! And its really $cheap.

multimedia on Rakdos stuff

3 years ago

Hey, very good budget version of Meren.

For the manabase my advice is play an equal amount of Forests and Swamps because you have one drop green mana dorks who you want to be able to consistently play turn one which a Forest is the best land option for the manabase to do that. Having double the amount of Swamps than Forests is problematic when playing one drop mana dorks.

Some budget cards to consider adding:

Buried Alive is excellent to tutor for any three creatures and put them into your graveyard, one of the best cards with Meren. Jarad's Orders and Final Parting are nice budget tutors with Meren. Tutoring for two cards, one goes into your hand and the other being a creature into your graveyard to reanimate/recur with Meren. Elves of Deep Shadow and Talisman of Resilience are low CMC budget ramp upgrades.

Midnight Reaper and Deathreap Ritual are more repeatable draw sources when creatures you control die. Deathreap can draw a lot of cards in multiplayer Commander since morbid can trigger on any players turn as long as any creature died during the turn. Butcher of Malakir is a upgrade for a budget big creature to reanimate with Meren since it's a repeatable source of opponents having to sac a creature they control when any creature you control dies. Demon's Disciple is an upgrade for Merciless Executioner since if an opponent doesn't have a creature, but has a Planeswalker they have to sac a Planeswalker.


Some cards to consider cutting:

The Vivid lands are not good lands and even on a budget there's better options. They aren't reliable enough to warrant ETB tapped and even if you have a way to put more counters on them with proliferate I still think they're not worth playing even over more basic lands. Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis is not worth the trouble of casting it or reanimating it. It's just a beater, but you want more than that with high CMC creatures in Commander.

Good luck with your deck.

Arktaurous on Edgar Markov Vampires 2.0

3 years ago

Great deck!

I would swap Vampire Cutthroat with Vampire of the Dire Moon because deathtouch is handier than skulk.

I would get Dark Impostor in there. You could swap out Stromkirk Condemned,Vampire Hexmage, or Vampire Nocturnus. More than half your deck isn't black cards so Vampire Nocturnus might not be as handy not to mention showing your opponent your next draw is not usually advantageous.

Purphoros, God of the Forge is kinda expensive for a chance at extra damage. Consider Brutal Hordechief; relative same cost but more bang for your buck. Along with Sanctum Seeker and say Foul-Tongue Shriek you could be doing a ton of damage.

I would swap Basalt Monolith out for Ashnod's Altar. A lot more mana production, a lot more synergy with other cards in the deck, less expensive, more utility est.

I think you really need some card draw in there but I'm not sure how to make those changes. You could use cards like Oathsworn Vampire as a way to sacrifice a creature for cards like Altar's Reap, Carnage Altar,Costly Plunder, Dredge, Merciless Resolve, Morbid Curiosity, Phyrexian Vault, Reprocess, Skulltap, or Vampiric Rites.

Idol of Oblivion could get you some extra card draw with all of Edgar's token generation.

Cliffhaven Vampire, Defiant Bloodlord, and Epicure of Blood are all worthy of consideration.

Drana's Emissary is also nice to have early game.

TitaniumTP on K'rrick Kobain and his Monster Mash

4 years 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

Tylord2894 on W/B Teysa Commander

4 years ago

Okay, so after looking at this deck for a while, considering its sideboard, and adding some cards that I use often for similar strategies, I've come up with a list of edits (well, actually three lists).

Before I get to those, I would like to explain what I found. Firstly, I like the idea behind the deck. Token strategies are always a great way to make a casual deck that can scale to be for optimized. I love the afterlife keyword as it lends itself to this optimization really well. But there were several less-than-savory card choices in here. The two biggest issues that I saw are ones that I see a lot (and full into too). The first of these is that many cards have a very high cost-to-value ratio. That is, there were several cards that cost too much (mana) and do too little for it. Elgaud Inquisitor is a fantastic example. While Elgaud Inquisitor is on-theme with their on-death triggered ability, that is all they have going for them. The lifelink isn't super useful, and the CMC is WAY too high. They are only a 2/2 too boot. Second off, theme isn't the same as function. I understand that there is a vorthos element to this deck, but since this deck isn't a full tribal deck, I think it's better to focus on ways to make the good parts of the theme work great.

I saw lots of cards that were life gaining cards ( Pontiff of Blight , Impassioned Orator , Riot Control , etc). This deck can make a lot of tokens which Tesya gives lifelink. You need not worry about life gain card. The strength of your creatures that make tokens when they die is that you can easily recur them in W/B. In the lists below, there are many cards that give added value to dying creature or make killing your creatures more ways to die. Lastly and most importantly, you had ZERO ramp and ALMOST NO card draw. THESE ARE THE TWO MOST FUNDAMENTAL ASSPECTS IN EDH!!! You NEED to have them!!! You can not rely solely on the one land drop and card draw. I've listed several cards that assist the main strategy and draw you cards (things like Dredge and Altar's Reap ). As for ramp, there is almost no good ramp outside of green. That only means that you have to look harder. Mana rocks are a must. I only have three in the lists, but they are absolute must-haves. Next, I put in several cards that give you mana in other ways. Most of them align themselves with the main strategy ( Ashnod's Altar , Soldevi Adnate , and Pawn of Ulamog to name a few). Similarly, I added cards that draw you cards from creatures dying. There is one card that I would like to point out in particular, Erebos . The important part of Erebos is his last ability. You pay and 2 life to draw a card. Life is a resource, and you'll be making plenty of it. Be sure to spend it. There are lots of cards that help you turn life into various things, like Bolas's Citadel (which I almost put in and still think has a place here). I would encourage you to look into them. Lastly, I would remove 6 lands. You have other ramp now and don't want to be flooded all of the time.

Here is the list of cards that I would remove:

I understand that there is a budget to this deck, so I've split my suggestions into two lists. The first is all cards that are cheap and should keep you under budget. The second list of cards is for later edits. If you want to spend more money on this deck, those are the cards that I would recommend buying.

As you're read through these, you might notice that a lot of these came from your sideboard. There are lots of good cards in there.

I hope you enjoy these changes. Just remember that casual decks don't have to be un-optimized.

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