MTG Combo: Crown of Empires + Scepter of Empires + Throne of Empires

nobu_the_bard on Kambal

7 years ago

Addressing specific things now... I'm focusing on things to think about cutting to make room for lands.

Listing some observations, if I overlooked something this will make it obvious.

• Tutors (besides land tutors): Diabolic Tutor
• Mana Rocks: Gold Myr, Leaden Myr, Alloy Myr, Plague Myr*, Manalith, Sol Ring, Pristine Talisman
• Infect/Poison: Plague Myr, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Priests of Norn, Decimator Web
• Boardwipes: End Hostilities, In Garruk's Wake

*Missed this guy when I made my first post, drat. That's why I did this summation, in case I missed something else.

You have some things that look like they are intended to work together, with limited support to find the pieces (I only saw one tutor). You need to think about if you're serious about keeping all of these. I think they are okay on their own, just not incredible.

• Crown of Empires + Scepter of Empires + Throne of Empires : This is a fun set and I'd keep it if it's something you like, but you don't have enough tutors to make it likely you'll ever assemble it. If you're fine with that, great. The individual pieces are not incredible apart but not the worst.
• Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond : This is a really common combo in mono-black, but again you'll have to luck into it. If you're serious about using it to win you need more tutors. If you just like the cards I don't blame you for running them though.
• Infect stuff besides Skittles; Plague Myr, Priests of Norn, Decimator Web: These aren't likely to kill anyone with poison by themselves. Plague and Priests have little chance of connecting against a strong opponent (you don't have much evasion support since you're not aggro); Decimator will take forever and tons of mana to do it, Priests will probably hardly do anything interesting. There are much stronger alternatives. Skittles is pretty great on his own and can work excellent on offense or defense, so I'd keep him for now.

Now for some less good stuff, specific cards:

• Manalith is the most boring mana rock possible. There are tons of 3-drop mana rocks that are better than Manalith. You want either cheaper than 3 mana, or you want it do more than Manalith does at 3. Off the top of my head, cheapish examples: Commander's Sphere, Darksteel Ingot, Orzhov Cluestone, Orzhov Signet, Mind Stone
• Transgress the Mind and similar single target discard effects are hard to use in multiplayer (though this is one of the better ones if you really like them). It is difficult to know ahead of time which players have hands worth casting these on, and entirely possible you won't do much damage with them. Discard and mill effects also draw tons of aggro from less experienced players. Consider also discard runs in opposition to how your commander works (they can't play spells they're discarding after all) unless you're specifically going after creatures with the discard effects.
• Mind Sludge is similar, only targets one player. If they have a huuuge hand it can do a lot of damage maybe, but then they're probably a blue player late in the game, which means they have Counterspell or something. If they aren't a blue player, they've probably got graveyard shenanigans going on, so this won't hurt them. Syphon Mind is awesome though (mostly for the card draw and maybe priming other players' graveyards for Rise from the Grave etc).
• Reassembling Skeleton is great but he's not really doing his job here. He's a reusable guy to sacrifice! If you just want him as a defender, look up Brood of Cockroaches or Endless Cockroaches who are better at that.
• Unholy Hunger is terrible. You'd be better served by Murder. It's way too expensive for what it does. Actually I'd look for something that is either more thorough or more flexible, like Utter End or Sever the Bloodline.
• Elixir of Immortality never does its intended job in most decks. Unless you honestly think you're going to have a game last so long that you play through your entire deck, don't bother. If you have some group hug deck throwing your deck into your hand, you're going to play one of your combos and win, not fiddle with this. If you're worried about getting milled, chances are it'll end up in your graveyard, not your hand, anyway.

Things to look up!

• Exsanguinate is a popular Orzhov finisher that scales up to the game state. Even if you can't finish everyone off with it, its extremely efficient at funnelling everyone else's resources into you.
• Anything with extort works, I like Blind Obedience in particular. All of your later plays suck players dry slowly.
• Phyrexian Reclamation is cheap, uses your obscene life tank as a fuel, and makes it hard to get rid of your creatures.

That's all I can think of. I hope it is of some use. I don't expect you to cut all of it I just want you thinking. My Orzhov deck is Ayli, Eternal Cleric EDH but it needs some updating on tappedout, if you wanted to see where I got the experience.

Fergernuggets on Are you're board are belong to us

7 years ago

Control Magic, Empress Galina, Merieke Ri Berit, Bribery, Mindslaver, Aladdin, Aura Graft, Beguiler of Wills, Blatant Thievery, CoMManDeR, Cytoplast Manipulator, Dominate, Dragonlord Silumgar, Emrakul, the Promised End, Evangelize, Exert Influence, Govern the Guildless, Helm of Possession, Keiga, the Tide Star, Bringer of the Red Dawn, Crown of Empires + Scepter of Empires + Throne of Empires , Gilt-Leaf Archdruid, Herald of Leshrac, Infernal Denizen, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund + Shields of Velis Vel , Kukemssa Pirates, Memnarch, Might Makes Right, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Old Man of the Sea, Olivia Voldaren, Orcish Squatters, Peer Pressure, Preacher, Rubinia Soulsinger, Siren of the Fanged Coast, Sower of Temptation, Thalakos Deceiver, Willbreaker, Willow Satyr. Pick and choose what you like then add tutors to put your combo pieces and answers together. Also, add Ghostly Prison + Sphere of Safety for extra protection.