When Life Gives You Lemons | Budget K'rrik Brew

Commander / EDH Budget Midrange Mono-Black Multiplayer Primer

Enral

Creature (21)

• 1x Basilica Screecher
• 1x Blood Celebrant
• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Chancellor of the Dross
• 1x Disciple of Griselbrand
• 1x Dread Presence
• 1x Gifted Aetherborn
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grimdancer
• 1x Hedron Crawler
• 1x Leaden Myr
• 1x Manakin
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Reiver Demon
• 1x Syndicate Enforcer
• 1x Thrull Parasite
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Viscera Seer

Instant (8)

• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Defile
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Malicious Affliction
• 1x Murder
• 1x Pharika's Libation
• 1x Succumb to Temptation
• 1x Victim of Night

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Ancient Craving
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Forced March
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Razaketh's Rite
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Shrouded Lore
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Syphon Mind

Artifact (10)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Guardian Idol
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Unstable Obelisk

Commander (1)

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip
• 1x Font of Agonies
• 1x Gonti's Machinations
• 1x Haunted Crossroads
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Leshrac's Sigil
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Shade's Form
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Vampiric Link

Land (37)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Desert of the Glorified
• 1x Memorial to Folly
• 1x Polluted Mire
• 32x Swamp
• 1x Terrain Generator

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The Deck

Introduction

My playgroup wanted to try out a $50 budget commander to balance game out so I've decided to use K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth which has always been a commander that I wanna build. The deckbuilding general rule of thumb is that we can use TCGPlayer low as a baseline and the budget excludes the commander's cost (which cannot exceed $10). Therefore higher total cost of the deck shown on tappedout is actually a lot lower when calculated on TCGPlayer which comes out to a total of $45.49 as of 5/16/2020. The deck is basically build around capitalizing K'rrik's ability to let me cast big black spells at a significantly lower cost at the expanse of my life total.

Restrictions

Because of the steep $50 budget. I have to make several concessions to deckbuilding and omit powerful cards that would have made the deck faster, leaner, and more effective in executing its gameplan. One of the biggest concessions are my land base which I have to omit the powerful Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth combo. Another card is Sensei's Divining Top which would be amazing in being able to assemble my Bolas's Citadel combo easier. Necropotence is also another powerful card that has to be omitted from the deck due to budgetary restrictions. Another huge lost are the efficient tutors Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. There are a couple more cards that have to be cut but are all options to be added later if I decide to convert it to a deck without the restrictions.

Piloting the Deck

This build plays like a traditional goodstuff monoblack control deck. Unlike commonly build list that depends on landing an early K'rrik and start storming off, I don't aim to power him out as soon as possible but instead want to focus on accruing value over the course of the game and find an opportune time to drop him down. This is because games play out very differently in a budget meta where mono-green is the strongest color and they usually get out a huge army of mana dorks and card draw early and start running away with the game if left uncontested. That's why running a more traditional control build is the direction I chose to take because K'rrik can be used as a mana battery to essentially power out an early board wipe to keep things under control.

Notable Synergies

There's a ton of synergies with K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth since he allows you to cheat on anything with a cost. The following are notable synergies in the deck with K'rrik in play:

• Blood Celebrant = Basically filters every into and lets me cast everything with just my life.

• Thrull Parasite = The extort mechanic cost is essentially . What this means is that for every spell cast, you net 1 life when facing 3 opponents. If there are multiple extorts available, I can essentially gain a life for each one in play.

• Vilis, Broker of Blood (MVP) = This is the most OP card in the deck. The world is your oyster if he resolves as you can start killing creatures and drawing a ton of cards.

• Font of Agonies = This card is made for K'rrik. If this sticks your opponents will never have any creatures in play for the rest of the game.

• Pestilence Demon = Boardwipe on a stick and can be activated for basically free with K'rrik.

• Shrouded Lore = This card has straight 100% synergy with K'rrik. I'm amazed how very little list runs this card. You can basically get any card back from your yard just by using your life total.

• Forced March: K'rrik is essentially 7 cmc which can make this a one-sided boardwipe. Since I am able to just pay with 6 life, I can spend minimal mana to do a controlled boardwipe.

• Reiver Demon: Another one sided boardwipe that can be easily cast for with K'rrik out.

Win Conditions

Plan A

The deck win conditions all revolves around K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth either via infinite combo or commander damage. The following are combo lines involving Aetherflux Reservoir:

• Aetherflux Reservoir + Leshrac's Sigil = You need to have at least 37 life minimum to kick start the combo. The combo consumes 8 life for each loop.

• Aetherflux Reservoir + Blood Pet/Blood Vassal + Bolas's Citadel + Haunted Crossroads = Gain infinite life and then laser beam your opponents to death.

Plan B

The following are combo lines involving Gray Merchant of Asphodel:

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Viscera Seer + Bolas's Citadel + Haunted Crossroads = Drain entire table infinite times.

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Viscera Seer + Phyrexian Reclamation + Blood Celebrant = Drain entire table infinite times. This combo will cost 20 life total for each loop which means you need at least 7 devotion for 3 opponents, 10 devotion for 2 opponents, and 20 devotion for an opponent.

Plan C

The following are quick ways to accrue commander damage:

• Lashwrithe = Significant boost K'rrik's power.

• Bolas's Citadel = Gives me the ability to chain multiple spells in a row to pump K'rrik up.

Plan D

Last but not least, we do have some beefy evasive creatures that can do significant damage:

• Vilis, Broker of Blood
• Pestilence Demon
• Chancellor of the Dross
• Reiver Demon
• Bloodgift Demon

Other Budget-ish Cards

• Fractured Powerstone/Star Compass: These mana rocks fall a little on the pricier side for about $1.50-$3.00. Powerstone is actually selling for $0.99 on cardkingdom even though it's listed as $3 on tappedout.

• Exsanguinate: This card has gotten pretty pricey but is worth looking at in the future when the price drops.

• Wayfarer's Bauble: This used to cost a quarter and it's like $3 now?! Well, if it gets reprinted again I might look into putting this in here.

• Revenge of Ravens: Anti-token aggro tech.

• Infernal Darkness: Budget Contamination.

• Necrologia: Budget Necropotence.

• Crypt Ghast: It's like $6+ but would be one of the best upgrades for the deck if the price drops on this.

Don't forget to +1 if you like the deck!

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	19 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 25 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.00
Tokens	Demon */* B, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B
Folders	My EDH Brews, My Active EDH Decks, cool, Cool ideas, Budget, Budget Decks, Budget, Affordable Decks, EDH Primers, Decks I can afford