Minions' Murmurs

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Block Constructed 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
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Minions' Murmurs

Sorcery

You draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of creatures you control.

MTGBurgeoning on Edgar & Eminence: A Love Story

2 years ago

Thank you for reviewing my build and thank you for your comment! I enjoyed perusing your list and admire the strengths and overt power of your deck. There are some cards in your build that I have wanted to include here (Mana Crypt, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Sensei's Divining Top). I am waiting for some copies to become available. Regarding your suggestions:

1) In a vacuum, I absolutely agree with your preference for building Edgar Markov with a vision of tempo and super-aggressiveness. If I were playing an Edgar Markov deck at an LGS, then this is the path I would select as well. However, the 99 of this deck has been shaped to fit the play-conditions of my meta-game. Too often, an early-game overly-aggressive combat directive ended, predictably, with a board wipe, Cyclonic Rift or mass-exiling effect. Even with a high number of protection spells in the deck (Teferi's Protection, Unbreakable Formation, Akroma's Will, Boros Charm), sometimes it's difficult to be resilient. This tendency of my meta helps to explain the deck's somewhat dichotomous structure: I usually had very few options for interacting with my opponents after board wipes. They were able to re-establish their board states with bigger threats than I could produce. I'm creating Vampire creature tokens while they're casting Dragons or Eldrazis. I needed to lean a little bit more into interaction in order to prevail in the mid-to-late game. Leading to...

2) My meta is not prone to use tax or Propaganda effects, so mass-enchantment removal has never been a concern. The majority of removal spells in this build are spot-removal spells, generally with the ability to target various permanent types. These spells have been very beneficial in subduing my opponents' potential threats or barriers to combat. This has allowed me to persevere through the mid-to-late game.

3) As for cantrips spells, I prefer to include spells that have a more controlled effect secondary to life-loss. Cards like Necropotence and Phyrexian Arena allow for less randomized returns and investments. For me, historically, with spells like Pact of the Serpent and Minions' Murmurs on the stack, an opponent will respond to them with instant-speed mass-removal. Unfortunately, this leaves me with a fizzled investment and dreams of what could have been. Also, the potential to lose a high amount of life can be too detrimental. I have died NUMEROUS times to an opponent's Living Death or other mass-recursion spell while Champion of Dusk and a slew of other Vampire creature cards are in my graveyard. It feels bad. It feels really bad. So I decided to cap the potential loss of life by specifically including spells like Read the Bones, Painful Truths and Plumb the Forbidden. Plumb the Forbidden also has been a great way to benefit from imminent board wipes, especially mass-exiling effects. Perhaps if the deck slanted a bit more toward a life-drain theme, then I definitely could reconsider your suggestions of Pact of the Serpent and Minions' Murmurs. However, I just don't think I can ever include Champion of Dusk. It hurts. It hurts a lot.

I really appreciate your feedback and suggestions! Edgar Marvok is uber-powerful and I look forward to continuing our discussions about him! Which brings me to this question:

Are there any cards from Crimson Vow that you are considering for inclusion in the 99?

VampRamped on Edgar & Eminence: A Love Story

2 years ago

Glad to see another Edgar Markov deck join the fray. I do not have much to say for the quality of cards for the Edgar Markov here besides that Painful Truths, Plumb the Forbidden and Read the Bones are kind of weak cards for what you can play in Edgar Markov and would recommend Pact of the Serpent, Minions' Murmurs, and Champion of Dusk as they are significantly more powerful card draw.

Besides that, the biggest challenge I can see this deck facing is that the deck looks a little torn between the midrange element of the plentiful removal suite, and the aggressive speed element of the deck. In my experience, the only removal that an aggressive Edgar Markov needs is cards that prevent Edgar Markov from being able to win through attacks ie propaganda effects, and tabernacle-type effects which are mostly contained in enchantments so mass enchantment removal is very valuable to an aggressive Edgar Markov deck. The issue with a large removal suite is that removal can clog up your hand in addition to the fact utilizing removal slows down your deck by spending your mana to interact with their cards rather than using your mana to play cards that kill your opponent. An aggressive Edgar Markov's decks biggest strength is its ability to put on significant kill pressure and build rapid tempo quickly. By playing a large removal suite you slow your deck down and allow your opponents to get into the game as most commander decks are built around utilizing the early turns of the game to ramp to enable them to make haymaker plays in the mid to late game. By playing a large removal suite you allow most other commander decks to play on their terms which are usually the terms unfavorable for Edgar Markov.

Check out my deck A Vampire Storm *Primer*, and let me know what you think.

VampRamped on The Ancient House of Markov [Primer]

3 years ago

I appreciate the passion and work that was put into this primer and hope you get some more recognition and comments for the work you put into it.

My main concern with your deck is that card draw choices, besides skull clamp, are far too modest. Minions' Murmurs and Pact of the Serpent , are all as much or less mana than your current card draw choices and will draw significantly more cards than with your current card draw. As more of a midrange deck Phyrexian Arena is a fine but I would replace Sign in Blood , Night's Whisper , and Read the Bones as even in commander generally I personally think they are pretty weak cards.

Besides that, I just wanted to shout out Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord as I think an amazing card for Edgar Markov EDH in general as it has so much utility and flexibility for its mana cost. As well with the Sac outlets you have Living Death is an awesome card that has so much utility from a one-sided board wipe, to a game finisher with artist effects and Malakir Bloodwitch ETB.

PS: Curious is Necropotence not in your deck because it's not allowed in your playgroup or a similar reason?

You can check out my own personal primer I wrote here, and would be happy to get you thoughts

VampRamped on Threat Level Midnight [Edgar Markov Aggro]

3 years ago

I personally have not tried the full monte every one drop super low curve Edgar Markov list because I just love my own list I'm running right now so much, but that's not to say that I don't play a very aggressive list.

I think that the one drop full monte aggressive list should work very well in theory I have no criticism of any creature choices you run in the deck beside the fact that I think you should run Vampire Nocturnus since you have the mana base that he is fine and he is not to hard to trigger especially with fetch lands.

My main concern with your deck is that card draw choices, besides skull clamp, are far too modest. Minions' Murmurs , Pact of the Serpent , and Necropotence , are all as much or less mana than your current cards, and will draw significantly more cards than your current card draw. Additionally, if you can afford Vampiric Tutor , or Demonic Tutor they might also be good to replace your current card draw as Necropotence can fuel Edgar Markov Aggro nearly indefinitely.

Overall though the deck looks good, would appreciate it if you would check out my own list and would appreciate your thoughts.

PaulMuadDib on Vito, Thorn of Dusk Rose

3 years ago

You are going to need more than 12 lands. Whenever I build a deck, I always start with 40 lands and then for every 3 pieces of ramp, which for a mono black deck would be a mana rock or swamp doubler or ritual spell like Dark Ritual, I remove a land.
Please retune the deck with 12 non-land mana sources and 36 swamps for starters and you can think of non-swamp lands you want to include later.
My suggestions for those sources are any 12 of the following, depending on your budget:
Sol Ring
Star Compass
Commander's Sphere
Crypt Ghast
Charcoal Diamond
Soldevi Adnate
Songs of the Damned
Worn Powerstone
Dark Ritual
Everflowing Chalice
Ashnod's Altar
Cathodion
Guardian Idol
Hedron Archive
Mind Stone
Magnifying Glass
Millikin
Prismatic Lens
Cabal Coffers <- could replace a swamp
Bubbling Muck
Pristine Talisman <- defiantly want that

After that you've got the commander, which takes up 1 card slot, so that leaves you with 51 cards to choose from.

I see the bare beginnings of either an aristocrats or a reanimator deck. In my opinion you should push more for aristocrats. It can draw you tons of cards and gain you quite a lot of life. There's no harm in keeping some reanimation spells in there though.

You want a good number of sacrifice outlets. I haven't heard of what a hard number should be so I'd shoot for at least 5. Here's a list of some that I remember off hand:
Witch's Cauldron
Vampiric Rites
Ashnod's Altar
Infernal Tribute <- has a funny synergy with Spine of Ish Sah
Gnawing Zombie
Altar of Dementia
Attrition
Blood Bairn
Bloodflow Connoisseur
Bloodsoaked Altar
Bloodthrone Vampire
Carnage Altar
Carrion Feeder
Corpse Blockade
Culling Dais
Dark Privilege
Diamond Valley
Disciple of Griselbrand
Gutless Ghoul
Lampad of Death's Vigil
Mind Slash
Spawning Pit
Phyrexian Plaguelord

For this strategy you'll need recurring creatures or token generators
Ghoulcaller Gisa
Reassembling Skeleton
Endless Cockroaches
Tenacious Dead
Nim Devourer
Bridge from Below
Open the Graves
Sanitarium Skeleton
Gravecrawler

value
Pitiless Plunderer
Bolas's Citadel

Lifegain
Blood Artist is a staple
Plunge into Darkness is something you might want for the pure lifegain of 3 per creature you sacrifice. Not sure that you want to use the "exile a bunch of your deck" too often.
Bontu's Monument
Corrupt
Drain Life
Shadows of the Past

reanimation
Living Death
No Rest for the Wicked
Sepulchral Primordial
Zombify
Rise from the Grave
Victimize
Apprentice Necromancer
Call of the Death-Dweller

spot removal/board wipes
Mutilate
Damnation
Defile
Hero's Downfall
Vona's Hunger

draw
Read the Bones
Sign in Blood
Damnable Pact
Smothering Abomination
Ransack the Lab
Minions' Murmurs
Harvester of Souls

and so forth. I'd look through some already built aristocrats decks to see exactly whether you want to take that strategy.

Oh yeah, for utility lands I'd choose any of the following within your price range:
Leechridden Swamp
Bojuka Bog
Reliquary Tower
Cabal Stronghold
Volrath's Stronghold
Phyrexian Tower
Myriad Landscape
Terrain Generator
Geier Reach Sanitarium

SideBae on Howdy, May I have some Blood???

4 years ago

Hey N3M3S1S! Welcome to EDH. I hope you find it fun... I like this format the most. Hopefully you'll find these suggestions helpful:

  1. Card-draw is one of the most important elements of any EDH deck -- in a format with three opponents, you typically want any source of card advantage you can get. Not being in blue means you don't have access to Windfall and friends, but Mardu has its fair share of mass-draw effects. I highly suggest Painful Truths ... You'll frequently be casting it as a three-mana draw-three, and the life-loss is more than worth it. Other draw-spells to consider: Night's Whisper , Minions' Murmurs , Faithless Looting , Syphon Mind , Read the Bones , Commune with Lava , Sign in Blood ... I'm sure there're more, but they aren't coming to mind. Permanent-based card-advantage is even better, since it's... well... permanent. Consider some of the following: Twilight Prophet , Phyrexian Arena , Arguel's Blood Fast  Flip, Greed ... I love that you already have Necropotence .

  2. Multi-for-One removal is another way to build card-advantage -- cards like Go for the Throat , Anguished Unmaking , Mortify and Path to Exile are good in two-player formats, but in multiplayer I've often found them not to be good enough. Some cards to consider instead: Fire Covenant , Grasp of Fate , Wear / Tear ... Though it's a one-for-one, I think you should include Swords to Plowshares . It only removes one thing, but it's like... REALLY efficient. Path to Exile ramping your opponent is actively dangerous.

  3. Gamble is a good tutor to consider. Enlightened Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are also good, although those two tend to be very pricy.

  4. Consider Cover of Darkness as another way to capitalize on your tribal theme. Other tribal-powering cards to consider include: Cavern of Souls , Patriarch's Bidding , Vampire Nocturnus , Bloodlord of Vaasgoth , Malakir Bloodwitch and Champion of Dusk . I suggest removing Gifted Aetherborn Paladin of Atonement , Pitiless Pontiff and/or Vampire Cutthroat for some of these.

  5. Your artifact-ramp package has room for improvement. I like your signets... two-mana rocks are much better than three-mana rocks. Consider some or all of the following: Talisman of Conviction , Talisman of Hierarchy , Talisman of Indulgence , Mind Stone , Fellwar Stone , Arcane Signet , Prismatic Lens or even just Coldsteel Heart .

  6. I think Lightning Greaves is probably better than Swiftfoot Boots , if you want to be able to equip frequently. If you need to get around the shroud, you can move the boots to something else, do what you need, and then return the boots to the first creature.

  7. If you take my advice from (5), you can cut some lands. In general, if you have ramp and your curve is low, you can run 31 or 32 lands. With your current curve, I suggest 35 lands plus ramp. If you want to keep your basic land count high, you can run things like Blood Moon , Ruination , etc. Otherwise, here're some non-basics to consider: City of Brass , Mana Confluence , Prismatic Vista , Godless Shrine , Blood Crypt and Sacred Foundry .

  8. Finally, I see you're running Bloodghast . Consider Skullclamp . The combo of 'play a land, pay one, draw two' seems good.

Right. Good luck have fun!

SideBae on Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

4 years ago

So I think you probably don’t want 36 lands... frankly, I think you want 33 at most. The reason I say this is that, being green, your deck has access to the best ramp in the game. You should strongly consider running any/all of the following: Llanowar Elves , Elves of Deep Shadow , Fyndhorn Elves , Elvish Mystic , Deathrite Shaman , Birds of Paradise , Arbor Elf , Utopia Sprawl and/or Wild Growth .

You want your creatures to be synergistic with your general and be more than midrange value. I think cards like Mindslicer , which effect the board when sacrificed as well as being a body, are likely a lot better than Wall of Blood , Splinterfright , Rhizome Lurcher , etc. Other creatures to consider for these slots: Stinkweed Imp , Golgari Grave-Troll , Eternal Witness , Entomb , Kokusho, the Evening Star ...

This list could also benefit from more card-drawn. Phyrexian Arena is the classical example, but there’re other good options. I like the Shamanic Revelation in your MB; I suggest considering Night's Whisper , Blood Divination , Life's Legacy , Minions' Murmurs , Syphon Mind and Succumb to Temptation .

Also, Diabolic Intent as a more budget Demonic Tutor .

Good luck!

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