Peer into the Abyss

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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
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Peer into the Abyss

Sorcery

Target player draws cards equal to half the number of cards in their library and loses half their life. Round up each time.

Profet93 on MONO BLACK SHADOW

2 days ago

indieinside

Rise of the Dark Realms - Alt wincon, expensive but powerful.

All is Dust - Board wipe that hits enchantments (and some artifacts).

Neither of the above 2 are needed. While the deck is low to the ground, my fear is that in the mid-late game, after one wipe, it is hard to rebuild. That's where rise comes in handy for mass recursion and all is dust when someone either tries to pillowfort their way to safety or just outvalue you. Thoughts on that?

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse - Deathtouch + Useful with all the drawing. Speaking of drawing, Peer into the Abyss might be useful given you can't always get combat damage. Not to mention since your deck is low to the ground, you should be able to cast a lot of your hand and with reliquary tower + spellbook, not discard it. Lastly, both of them combo with each other for an alt wincon.

Speaking of alt wincon, have you thought of adding Rings of Brighthearth + some more fetches? Rings + fetches = ramp. More fetches = Use bojuka bog at instant speed. Moreover, you can "save" fetches with urborg out. Lastly, Rings + Coffers + Lots of swamps (Urborg makes it less) = . Rings also simply double's your commander's ability.

Bubbling Muck - Symmetrical with urborg but extremely powerful.

I can attempt to provide other suggestions + cuts should you wish. Looking forward to your response.

SufferFromEDHD Disdain for cabalstronghold is the exact word I would use. A lot of people try to add it in their decks thinking it's ramps but the amount of basic swamps needed to make it into a ramp piece simply made it unviable for most decks. The only decks it should have a place in are budget mono black decks that don't run coffers and use mostly basic swamps with little non-basic lands.

I love corpse dance, best with a sac outlet which I don't see in this deck. Hatred is amazing (my Sidisi deck used to be Xiahou dun, I run corspe dance still, but not hatred). Hatred is a difficult card to use because 1) You hold up 5 mana 2) Life is additional cost to cast - so counterspells are your worst enemy. I wouldn't run it without some form of counterspell protection such as Conqueror's Flail. Very solid suggestions though, as always.

Profet93 on Sheoldred/ aggro opponent life loss

1 week ago

Joslay131, what kind of suggestions are you looking for? Budget per card? Meta?

Peer into the Abyss - Synergy with commander

Definitely put Alhemeret's archive in. It is a bit winmore but given all your draw and lifegain, I think it fits well. Black can ramp easily so it shouldn't be an issue to cast.

Profet93 on That's Not How Money Works

1 week ago

MutinyMate +1

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse - Combo with top and citadel. Deathtouch body and lifegain is nice

Peer into the Abyss - Draw+ combo with sheoldred

Deserted Temple - Untap mana producing land + politics

Profet93 on Braids: Infinite Death and TaXXXes

3 weeks ago

JimboSliceJr

G-d pharaoh's statue seems kind of weak. Unless you face a lot of storm in the meta or can ramp into it, it isn't incredibly impactful. Have you thought of swapping it out for something else? Perhaps a Peer into the Abyss to go with Sheoldred? Or perhaps a Necropotence? A Reliquary Tower could keep your hand size for you, you definitely have enough flexibility in the mana base for it.

Speaking of mana base, perhaps a fetchland or 2 to instantly get witches cottage in play? Maybe even a Crucible of Worlds for some synergy with the fetches and your commander?

Skullclamp for draw?

Can you explain what your infinite combos are? All I see is chain of smog + professor.

Profet93 on Visions of Erebos

1 month ago

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse - Offsets commander lifeloss, great against blue/draw decks. Deathtouch is nice. Synergy with Peer into the Abyss (which also goes well with underworld dreams).

MAYBE Heartstone? - I'm unsure if this works with your commander only if he's a creature or even if he's just an enchantment.

Cabal Coffers - Ramp. Cabal Stronghold is more budget.

Deserted Temple - Untap coffers + politics

MAYBE Rings of Brighthearth - Copy commander ability without paying life. Also Coffers + Deserted temple + rings = . Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Makes you need less swamps but is not budget (or needed, but helpful).

Imp's Mischief - "Counter" counterspells while redirecting targeted removal, extra turns and draw.

Necropotence - Draw

I am unsure what your wincon is, beatdown? You lose a lot of life with your commander's ability. Perhaps a The Meathook Massacre could help as a wipe + lifegain effect?

Diabolic Tutor/Beseech the Queen/Beseech the Mirror. Tutors are black's biggest strength, utilize it for consistency.

Alhammarret's Archive - Extra draw

Black's 3rd biggest strength is massive mana. Aside from coffers, Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant, Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power

Once you determine your wincon, you can start to mold the deck to achieving that goal.

EDIT: Removed the non-budget options

Profet93 on Volrath, Voltron Reanimator

1 month ago

Skirge Familiar > Grimore of the dead - Skirge is a combo enabler and while it does cost one more mana, is tutorable and more importantly, more easily recurrable. Not to mention it adds mana. While grimore does have a big payoff, it is widely telegraphed and doesn't give you any upfront investment.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse + VILIS, BROKER OF BLOOD + Skirge Familiar = Infinite draw triggers. Near-infinite black mana, lifegain, lifegain triggers, card draw, looting and self-discard triggers. Sheoldred is good against blue decks that like to draw a lot as well with a deathtouch bonus

SHEOLDRED, THE APOCALYPSE + Greed + SKIRGE FAMILIAR = Infinite looting, draw triggers, self-discard triggers and Near-infinite lifegain triggers

Asmodeus the Archfiend + Necrotic Ooze + SKIRGE FAMILIAR = Infinite card draw, draw triggers, looting, self-discard and Near-infinite black mana.

SKIRGE FAMILIAR + Peer into the Abyss + Exsanguinate/Torment of Hailfire = GG. Peer is great on it's own. Given you are mono black, you should emphasize a bit more on the big black mana as a fallback incase (or rather, when) your reanimation strategy doesn't pan out given to all the grave hate in EDH (further exacerbated by all your black decks in the meta).

On the note of big black mana, Deserted Temple - Untap coffers + political tool. Thespian's Stage is a potential consideration as well. I know it seemed slow in the previous iteration but some big ramp pieces should be considered as well.

Victimize - Swap from maybeboard to main. It's 3 mana, sac a creature and get 2 back. It's a lot of value for such a cheap cost

Blightsteel Colossus > Kozilek - It serves the anti-mill purpose with high mana and potential alt wincon. Is it not included due to price? He would be much better than the cut suggestions below.

While cutting too many expensive cmc cards goes against the plans, these are just my thoughts of your weakest high cmc cards to consider removing....

Archon of Cruelty - Costs too much for such little impact. 8 mana should be game winning. While I know you're not paying retail, it's the fat of the deck that's ripe for cutting. Even if it said each opponent it's still not worth it.

Archpriest of Shadows - Reminds me of ashling the extinguisher. Not impactful enough, cool ability though. If you do want another 5cmc card to take it's spot, Junji, the Midnight Sky has a nice death trigger that's flexible and helpful.

Dauthi Voidwalker - I'm torn, I do like him a lot. Especially since you said there is mill in the meta. The weakest option for cuts for sure. Just 2 mana that doesn't impact your strategy doesn't seem worth it IMO. If you ran Leyline of the void + helm combo and used this as redundancy that would be one thing.

Hoarding Broodlord - A weird runescarred dragon. 8 mana wins games, not tutoring.

Pathrazer of Ulamog - I get the high cmc is great, but he isn't impactful enough.

Torgaar, Famine Incarnate - Make someone's life 20, nothing crazy.

Strands of Night - Black has better recursion. Losing a land is a harsh penalty.

The_Acid_Drip on The price is life

1 month ago

A couple of options are available to you here.

First, Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract both help you lose life and draw cards. While not as effective as Peer into the Abyss, peer has a tendency to deck players. Just a thought.

Likewise, Death Wish is a great tutor for a silver bullet which also reduces the cost of the tutor target. Very useful.

Doomsday is kinda outside of what you're doing but could be an option. Usually people play doomsday in a combo deck as a final way to assemble the pieces. Your deck seems to be more of a value deck, which is more fun and interactive, so it's probably not a fit.

Best of wishes, great brew!!

TijuanaBachelorParty on Date Night with Phage

2 months ago

Profet93 the devil is in the details as they say and magic is no exception.

As of now I have only used Peer into the Abyss on myself, though the dream is there to combo with bowmasters. Orcish Bowmasters has been a great include as it provides consistent board presence (which is extremely effective offensivly and defensively) and incremental damage throughout the game. In similar ways Ophiomancer functions in a similar role.

As for the removal of Platinum Angel, it happened to me recently and it was honestly a pretty fun moment with my buddies. When it happened, I did have an alternate path for Phage but did not choose to go that way. Reflecting on the game made me recognize the fragility of Platinum Angel and the importance of knowing your opponent's deck and board state. This leads to one of the things I love about the deck, the precision in timing needed for so many pieces of the deck.

I find that having multiple effects like Soul Conduit are helpful with consistency with so many life as a resource effects in the deck. I find people will often counter the flashy spell Profane Transfusion but would let Soul Conduit resolve knkwing it's mana investment. Additionally the benefit of repeatable use and the ability to exchange two opponent's life total has shown itself to be quite useful at times.

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