Balthor's Demonic Cult

Commander / EDH* Aristocrats Demons Mono-Black Reanimator Theme/Gimmick Tribal

Monti_Jones

Draw (12)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Gate to the Afterlife
• 1x Greed
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Null Profusion
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Secret Salvage
• 1x Seizan, Perverter of Truth
• 1x Skullclamp

Wincon (3)

• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Mogis's Marauder
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Tutor (2)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Land (29)

• 29x Swamp

Value (8)

• 1x Aetherworks Marvel
• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Blade of Selves
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Xathrid Necromancer

Ramp (6)

• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring

Recursion (2)

• 1x Living Death
• 1x Twilight's Call

Suicide Cult (31)

• 31x Shadowborn Apostle

Commander (1)

Removal (5)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
• 1x Kuro, Pitlord
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Reaper from the Abyss

The Stupid Stone (1)

• 1x Thrumming Stone

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Bending the rules of the game is what Magic the Gathering is all about. Having more copies of the same creature than basic lands in a mono coloured deck is taking the bending to another level. "A deck can have any number of cards named Shadowborn Apostle." is the magic chant of a mass suiciding cult of demon lovers.

How the deck started out: Show

Now how do you start out with a deck that intends to play as many useless 1/1s as possible? My first build had Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker at the helm. Getting a demon every turn sounds great! In reality Shirei just gets removed and you have to draw a new set of Apostles. Getting out as many Apostles as possible is the way the decks wins so my next commander was Thrumming Stone in the form of Sidisi, Undead Vizier. This provided a very combo oriented game play. If the Stone resolves you are most likly winning, if not you wasted 2 turns doing nothing. The best commander for the deck turned out to be Balthor the Defiled. Not only does he bring back an already sacrificed set of Apostles but makes the deck stronger the longer a games goes on and as long as your graveyard is filling up.

How the Deck is built: Show

The key element to the deck is getting out as many Shadowborn Apostle as fast as possible. On the one hand this demands a sizeable amount of Apostles on the other hand a solid amount of card draw. Thankfully provides an abundance of options. Apostles bring their own sac outlet with them and make it easy to abuse several death trigger to further your board position. Being able to tutor up any demon works out great as a tool box. You can be creative here but it helps if the creatures are castable should you draw one. After pulling as many creatures as possible out of the deck it is easy to recycle them many times with Balthor or just hit your oppenents with huge flying beaters and pesky little clerics.

What the deck is trying to do: Show

The deck plays an Aristocrats style and provides solid options to go wide, tall or combo. As you cycle through Apostles, convert them into demons, recycle them for more demons all while building towards a possible combo win opponents often don't know what problem they should tackle first.

How the deck plays out: Show

Even though the deck plays 8 and 9 drops it operates on a very low mana count since you can spread out the costs for everything over multiple turns. There is, however, a very simple rule: never keep a hand without card draw! Nothing feels worse than being stuck on 5 Apostles and not being able to get the deck rolling. You can mulligan aggressivly as cards like Necropotence or Skullclamp can make up any initial disadvantage. The goal is to get out the first set of Apostles as soon as possible. On the way there the clerics can be used to fuel different engines like Aetherworks Marvel or simply block, them costing only ensures no mana goes unspent. With the first demon summon you can chose a direction for the mid game. Dig deeper with Harvester of Souls, control the board with Pestilence Demon, hamper combo decks with Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, go for the win with Razaketh, the Foulblooded, the choices are plenty. As the number of creatures is going up so are the chances to win too and winning with demon beat downs or Gray Merchant of Asphodel becomes trivial.

How the deck wins: Show

As already mentioned the deck can attack from multiple angles. Still there are a few special key pieces that will most likely assure a victory:

• Thrumming Stone: Because almost a third of the deck is the same spell you can abuse the otherwise utterly useless ability Ripple. It is nearly impossible to not get all the Apostles in the deck right onto the battlefield.

• Secret Salvage: Exiling one Apostle to get all the others is a small price to pay. The real fun starts the turn after casting this as Balthor can raise all the discarded ones.

• Razaketh, the Foulblooded: Best demon in the deck. It almost feels like cheating to tutor him up. Almost.

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel: Each Apostle gives one devotion, demons give even more. He is great as a stabilizer as well as a finisher.

• Zulaport Cutthroat: Similar to the Merchant, he can bring life totals to a comfortable range. Comfortable meaning own life total high, opponents life total low.

How the Deck loses: Show

Graveyard hate is the deck's biggest enemy. While losing a few cards to a Bojuka Bog is manageable winning is almost impossible if there is a Rest in Peace in play. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is a pain, not because you can't play Apostles but because she denies the commander too.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 24 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 32 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.75
Tokens	Copy Clone, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Maybe, Demon's 1, I like these, Cool decks