Subversion

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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

Subversion

Enchantment

At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses 1 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Cardura treats your BPH

2 years ago

Whenever I see Brash Taunter anywhere, I can't help but suggest Blazing Sunsteel, the wincon is just too real with these two. Considering Kardur's massive lifedrain, Subversion could be fun indeed. I just found it and I don't yet know what to do with it. Maybe it helps you. Also, as you already want creatures to die, how about Revel in Riches as ramp and another potential wincon?

EnbyGolem on Edgar Markov drains your life

3 years ago

I really like that you are taking a different direction with Markov than most people! I have a couple cards I thought might be interesting to consider...

For general lifegain goodies, I really like Rhox Faithmender. It breaks away from vampire tribal but it might give your life-matters theme great support!

Here are a handful of syphon effects that you might want to consider as well: Exsanguinate, Subversion, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Polluted Bonds, Kalastria Highborn, Indulging Patrician, Foul-Tongue Shriek, Epicure of Blood, and Cliffhaven Vampire.

Finally, if you want another way to turn all that life into fire-power, Aetherflux Reservoir can be a great way to blowup your opponents' face :)

Blobby_Bobby on Kambal - First Approach to Commander

3 years ago

That is a very good question, what to cut. I don't want to micromanage anything but here are cards I feel are "weak" with what you have going (also, keep Dash Hopes if your play group hates it, it must be good ;))

Out (?): Conclave Tribunal

Dictate of Erebos (I know, it's an amazing card, but without creature support it isn't actually doing anything for you. This is a soft cut, it's always going to put a little work in just like Butcher of Malakir)

Maybe replace Prison Realm with One Thousand Lashes and/or Faith's Fetters

I LOVE Subversion but is it really putting in enough UMPH for 5 CMC? I really like Righteous Cause but that's just me. Hissing Miasma is pretty cool too, no life gain but it's cheaper and deters attacks.

Consecrate / Consume (hope formatting works here) is a 4 cmc kind of squanky force sacrifice of the most dangerous (most powerful) creature of an opponent. I don't like it. You have a huge removal suite and this seems like a good cut. You have Orzhov, you are the removal king and you can Murder or Return to Dust

Consecrate / Consume is too situational to be useful in your go-to 100

Revival / Revenge is sexy, keep it. But look at what cards actually make it mean something. Serra Avatar Evra, Halcyon Witness Sunbond etc. Play around with it, but in my experience, it is rare for doubling your life total to more impactful than gaining 3 instances of life gain. (but look at Wall of Reverence

Cut Dismember for more "UMPH" (kill conditions) Cut Make a Stand for more "UMPH" (kill conditions) Cut Nightmare's Thirst It is too situational for you. We can find better removal. Find room for more "UMPH" (kill conditions) Cut Rootborn Defenses we're going to add some creatures who love life gain after this section

OK, stick with me on this one: Liliana, Dreadhorde General draws cards for dead creatures, right? But... you don't have creatures (really) in your deck... Not saying cut her, but she would and will be happier in a sacrifice black deck (Maybe a Sheoldred, Whispering One deck, I think you could do it). If you need to make cuts I'm saying she isn't doing much for you here but letting you draw sometimes.

We're not abusing Athreos, God of Passage but he's too awesome to cut. If he isn't pulling his weight in this deck you can ship me the card, I'll give you my address. ;)

Mentioned Butcher of Malakir before: awesome card as deterrence but it shines when you have a lot of token to sacrifice for value. not an immediate cut, but if you include Sheoldred, Whispering One and Dictate of Erebos you might want want to add some sacrifice/recursion to capitalize. Making your sacrifices give you advantage and hurt your enemies is the coolest thing black can do.

Cut Piper of the Swarm replace with Vampire Cutthroat or Vampire Nighthawk or Call to the Feast or really anything. Piper isn't helping your mechanics. Replace with Sunscorch Regent because that guy beefs up fast and hard.

In (?)

Dusk is a great wipe and the dual nature of the card gives utility.

This is your call. I'd recommend Sunscorch Regent as a win-con.

Serra Avatar is great with life gain, especially if you add Rogue's Passage

Just look for ways to make that life gain work for you: Bloodbond Vampire Bloodthirsty Aerialist Ajani's Pridemate

Rebuff the Wicked is a fantastic counterspell, works with you control aspect. If it were me I'd add more card draw and Approach of the Second Sun and aim for that. Easier win con than Revel in Riches in my experience (have mardu deck based on treasure, removal and alternate win cons and Approach of the Second Sun is much easier and more reliable than Revel in Riches.

I don't know what else to say. You make your own Kambal deck. Just know you need some "UMPH" to take down your opponents beyond some life gain and drain. I love the build, but you need to 'seal the deal' as it were.

KongMing on Rakdos Demons

3 years ago

I see the way you are trying to dominate the board is through mass wipes, some general sacrifice and destroy effects, and big flying creatures who hit hard once the board is clear. It's a great strategy for something like Red/White or Red/Green. But you're playing Red/Black, which means you have ample sacrifice and graves games you can play. You just need to maybe be willing to cut a couple bigger demons for smaller creatures who act as sac fodder, and replace your targeted Instant removal with repeatible effects that have better longevity in a multiplayer game.

First, you want to benefit more from sacrificing creatures and having things die. Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos are incredibly oppressive cards whose forced sacrifice go through hexproof, shroud, and indestructible. Zulaport Cutthroat, Pawn of Ulamog, Smothering Abomination, and Grim Haruspex are a few examples of these.

Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner can force sacrifices all around the board.

Viscera Seer is an example of a good sac engine, but there are many more. Then all you really need is either token generators to produce zombies/imps/elementals to sac, or a recursion engine that puts things from grave to your field/hand.

Some cards that can help get Rakdos out and rack up damage on your turn: Festering Evil, Fireblade Artist, Ill-Gotten Inheritance, Lim-Dul's Hex, Magmatic Force, Palace Siege, Subversion.

Vulnoth on Turbo Aggro Grind Time

3 years ago

Continuing where I left off.

continuing from creatures

Something to consider when addressing what to drop for my suggestions is how it affects your overall strategy and politics. Ashenmoor Gouger looks good because on paper it can deal damage, but consider what happens if you draw it 10 turns in and the table has all dug in for the long game. Hyper aggressive cards of the sort that do little else aren't going to help you after the first few turns. Hackrobat, Rakdos Firewheeler, Thrill-Kill Assassin, and the like are what you should look for when hacking cards out of the deck in the creature department. You might be gearing up to go fast and hit hard, but you still are playing the "long game", if you can even call it that.

Support

Onwards we march, starting with the strict spell category. Here, you should be looking for either utility or pure power. Spot removal cards like Go for the Throat work in regular 60 card formats, but lose a ton of value as the game is slowed enough for that one spell to have a diminished effect because it can only hit a single creature, often to little effect. Now Bedevil, on the other hand, is outstanding because you can hold it for either an artifact or 'walker, thus expanding your range and making it always live and effective.

  • Allure of the Unknown - A huge resource generation spell. Additionally, it plays into politics well by letting an opponent (or friend) have a card. Gotta keep the train moving.

  • Bituminous Blast - Perhaps not the most clutch of cards, but at least worth considering since EDH is slow enough for these types of spells to put in work, mostly because Cascade is nuts. I'd understand if it didn't make the cut, though.

  • Captive Audience - Hilarious and effective. Instant enemy-maker, but if you haven't farted in the general direction of everyone at the table, others might turn a blind eye. In my experience, when Joe Shmoe poops out an army of dargons and you slap him with this, the table would generally point and laugh.

  • Cauldron Dance - A nice little shuffling of creatures, which is nice if you're rich in chunguses.

  • Kolaghan's Command - The best charm from its cycle, for good reasons. It's always live in EDH.

  • Spiteful Visions - Perhaps risky for politics, but it does put damage on board, thus making Rakdos live, and generates card advantage.

  • Fork/Reverberate/Wild Ricochet - copy spells, in my experience, tend to do a lot since they're just whatever everyone else is playing.

  • Beacon of Unrest - There will always be something in the grave, and self-recursion is a godsend in my books.

  • Scheming Symmetry - Helps your consistency and makes a friend.

  • Subversion - Nibbles at your opponents while sustaining yourself, and makes Rakdos live.

  • Generally any spell with X in its cost. As the game drags on, they only get better.

I did a brief skim of cards in Gatherer and from among my own decks, but don't be afraid to look at other decks or EDHRec for things that will help you. Just remember that your goal boils largely down to pinging to make Rakdos live, cards that Rakdos is payoff for, and utility general support that rounds out the deck.

Artifacts

Necessary gears to get the machine moving. Mostly it will boil down to mana rocks to accelerate your state, but there will be others that you want purely because they work well for you.

Lands

Here you can start to have some fun. Being 2-color, you do have to be somewhat mindful of what you're running, but you can definitely make use of a lot of offbeat lands since you're not trying to be a fool and mana fix 5 colors. Keep in mind that you may not necessarily need everything listed here, but it's just a matter of helping keep your ability to produce both colors consistent.

  • Temple of Malice - Slow lands may be unappealing, but Scrying usually helps.

  • Arch of Orazca - Yet another personal choice. All you need is to have 10 permanents at any point while controlling/playing a card with City's Blessing and you have it for the game. At which point, Arch becomes something to do with spare mana.

  • Reliquary Tower - Like Thought Vessel, it's worth considering, but is acceptable to pass on if you keep burning your hand up.

  • Command Tower - Staple.

  • Graven Cairns - Filter lands are always nice.

  • Rakdos Carnarium - Slow, yes, but in the long run gives more mana.

  • Shadowblood Ridge - Another pseudo Filter Land

Chopping Block

I encourage you to think these things out on your own or ask friends about this part, because understanding the process of what and why things stay or go is important to understanding your deck. Below are my suggestions for what needs to get yeeted.

  • Ashenmoor Gouger/Hackrobat/Hellhole Flailer/Rakdos Firewheeler/Thrill-Kill Assassin/Rakdos Guildmage - All just don't do that much. Awesome to drop in the first turns, but soon are just fodder. They're nice fodder for Lysolda and Judith, but overall too narrow in use and too low impact.

  • Void Winnower/Blood Moon - As someone who wins almost all his games through player politics, I advise against these types of cards that choke the entire table. Like infinite combos kept as panic buttons in decks, you really only get to pull it once before the group starts remembering what you have up your sleeve. After that, you risk being targeted because they'll know what you have.

  • Phyrexian Obliterator - BBBB in 2-color is a bold move for what's essentially a 5/5 unblockable.

  • Dark Ritual/Doom Blade/Go for the Throat - I personally would cut them, but feel free to play around with at least the removal spells for consistency in board control. Ritual, however, is just not suited for this format.

  • Everlasting Torment - It's the only card of its type in your deck, and actually makes you vulnerable to getting chump blocked.

  • Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Urborg serves almost no purpose in this deck.

  • Rakdos Guildgate - Guildgates are just packfiller.

  • Rakdos Signet/Rakdos Keyrune - In the modern day, your mana rocks mostly should be more useful than an overcosted creature, and if it only produces mana, it needs to be efficient like Sol Ring.

  • Lava Axe - Shouting "Catch" while literally throwing this is hilarious, but the card's just horribly overcosted.

  • Anthem of Rakdos - You will lose a lot of games you shouldn't lose because of this.

  • Ogre Battledriver - Giving a dude Haste to swing is nice, but it's a lot easier to just run a pinger like Goblin Fireslinger or Lobber Crew

  • Ob Nixilis, the Fallen - His Landfall is nice, but by nature isn't consistent, which is what you're looking for in ways to ping your opponent. Becoming a chungus is nice, but you're better off just skipping the hoops and playing an actual chungus.

  • Vial Smasher the Fierce - This one I'm not totally sold on cutting, but she seems more complicated than just running a pinger. Play around with her and see how Vial Smasher synergizes.

  • Master of Cruelties - Another I'm not totally sold on chopping, but he can only attack alone, which bottlenecks your options.

I know this all is sort of messy, but when making edits, start with comparable replacements (i.e. swapping a creature for a creature), run a few test turns, and see how things work.

Hybrow on Heart of Black Coal - Ayara ETB trigger EDH

4 years ago

LeoSushi thanks for the comment.

Thanks so much, Tombstone Stairwell is definitely going on my buy list.. I am a little afraid that it might bite me in the A because of others getting creatures.. but hey - thats the fun of mono black.

Thanks for also adding a cut card, thats always the hardest part. I agree, Subversion is nice, but in play, i have always found i have better things to play, and when i do play it, its pretty slow. And slow doesnt work in a deck where I am the automatic target of all my friends as soon as I show my commander.

LeoSushi on Heart of Black Coal - Ayara ETB trigger EDH

4 years ago

The deck Seems like a lot of fun, but you're missing one of the most powerful cards in ayara... The spooky staircase. Tombstone Stairwell turns every creature in your yard into 4 damage to each opponent per turn cycle. Card is old and cumulative upkeep means it'll only stick around for a few times around the turn cycle, but it's absolutely worth playing. I'd cut Subversion for it.

bushido_man96 on

4 years ago

I don't really know that Mogis falls into what I would consider "political." I think "oppressive" is how I would describe him.

With that said, I'd play to his strengths, that being oppression. You've got Animate Dead listed, and I think a reanimator package is in order, if all your foes are sacrificing creatures. Other options are Necromancy , Dance of the Dead . Sepulchral Primordial could be fun.

Cards like Subversion play into more of what Mogis does; oppress others.

I think I'd cut cards like Cathartic Reunion . Black has much better card draw options, like Greed , Necropotence , Arguel's Blood Fast  Flip, or even cards like Sign in Blood .

That's it for now. Hope that helps you get started.

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