Nighthawks

Commander / EDH Infinite Combo Mono-Black Tribal Zombie

tarkington

Creature (28)

• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Changeling Outcast
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Diregraf Ghoul
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Festering Mummy
• 1x Filth
• 1x Foulmire Knight
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Physician
• 1x Highborn Ghoul
• 1x Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Epic Downfall
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Foreboding Fruit
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Temporal Extortion
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Instant (7)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Vraska's Contempt

Land (33)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 28x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Commander (1)

Artifact (9)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Conjurer's Closet
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

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This deck is ideal for "King" variants and is powerfully resilient, including against exile effects thanks to Mastermind's Acquisition. Its shortcomings are relatively high cmc and limited ways to accelerate mana (fingers crossed you find Cabal Coffers). This deck leans a little on the casual side, so please don't take it to a Magic Fest for a cPOD. I recommend trying with friends, or at a LGS where combos are appreciated. You get to play the biggest, baddest creatures and enchantments all dressed in black, so you just show up and play it like Agent J in MIB

"You know what the difference is between you and me?" "I make this look good."

Making land drops every turn is critical to the success of the game because we can't make up for missed ones with ramp spells or additional land plays. So, cards like Liliana of the Dark Realms and Sword of the Animist keep us on tempo and ensure a smooth curve. If you're into an aggressive game plan, there are plenty of nasty creatures to contest the best blockers out there. You can even Entomb a Filth with an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth on board and they will be unblockable. However, there are several ways to bring opponents to 0 without combat. A great, yet sometimes obvious plan, is to use our permanents for their pips to increase our devotion to , setting up a solid ETB off Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Once he's out, blinking him on board with a Conjurer's Closet is an option. Alternatively, you can sacrifice him and recur him with Lord of the Undead or any Reanimate effect in our instant/sorcery suite.

Big Mana

You have the tech to produce "infinite" mana by way of Rings of Brighthearth and permanents with effects. You may have heard of Basalt Monolith in this scenario, and you can see it listed. Deserted Temple is a land with an untap effect that works just as well. Un/tapping Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Cabal Coffers with the temple will pay for the rings and net you mana if you "float" it in between the stacked untap abilities (original and copied). While no one should really complain with so much mana, one of the weaknesses you will come across playing this list is the strictly limited supply of "sinks" for it all. I'm sure you noticed the Exsanguinate and Torment of Hailfire shout out to lethal sorceries. Those two spells are it. Although knocking it out of the park like Babe feels good, do not underestimate casting one of them early for more modest values of X to regain control of the board or your life total. You aren't as zippy as some lists, so making a tempo play to push the game out is generally in your favor. You have two of them at your disposal. Use good judgement.

Key Combos

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion can ping opponents to death on the spot, and I like to think we know how it works. However, I am not a fan of people assembling their combo lines and asking the pod to concede to a board state. So, with both on board, the Tricksy Lion is a 2/2 with three +1/+1 counters on it. Ping a target of your choice for 1. The last two counters removed have to target itself so it will die from lethal damage, then return to the battlefield with undying (que Mike). Now it's a 2/2 with four +1/+1 counters. Ping 2 of your choice. The last two have to target 'lion again. He will return with undying. repeat.

Phyrexian Altar + Gravecrawler + any zombie (ie. Sidisi, Undead Vizier) will give us infinite casts, ETBs, and death triggers. With a Vengeful Dead on board, this yields infinite non-target damage.

If you happen to land an early Bloodchief Ascension and manage to get the quest counters, try tutoring for mind crank. These two will "mill" your opponents library to the graveyard. Even if they're playing shuffle effects, the damage from the ascension will kill them.

Sensei's Divining Top and Bolas's Citadel will let you draw as many cards as you wish off the top of your library. Sensei's to draw a card, replacing it with the "top." You then re-cast Top from your library because the Citadel allows you to do so with your life total rather than mana. I tried Aetherflux Reservoir to not only recoup the life I was losing with each cast, but also for its own activated ability. I found it to be overkill. Drawing a high cmc artifact that really doesn't do much else for you in a deck concerned with devotion can feel quite bad.

Following a turn two Bitterblossom with a turn three Contamination is a sure fire way to to find a nice comfy position while your opponents figure out what to do with only black mana. Be aware though. That enchantment will also affect the amount of mana produced from a Cabal Coffers or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.09
Tokens	Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Food, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH