Born by Death

Commander / EDH Mono-Black

themeeps

Creature (29)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Massacre Girl
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sengir Autocrat
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Slum Reaper
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Artifact (9)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1x Grave Pact

Commander (1)

Land (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x High Market
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 29x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (4)

• 1x Entomb
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Malicious Affliction
• 1x Wake the Dead

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited

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Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Sifter of Skulls

Artifact (3)

• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Revel in Riches

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Ritual of the Machine

Land (1)

• 1x Phyrexian Tower

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. . . to Rise Eternal.

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With War of the Spark, we received four out of the five Amonkhet gods in their eternalized forms. As Amonkhet is one of my favorite planes, and it's associated gods some of my favorite cards, I couldn't resist building them for myself.

• Rhonas: [Forged by Might](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/forged-by-might/?cb=1555173875)
• Kefnet: [By Force of Will](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/by-force-of-will/?cb=1555173872)
• Oketra: [One From Many](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/one-from-many-1/?cb=1555700480)
• Hazoret: **coming soon**

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So now, on to Bontu herself. This card is an absolute powerhouse of a commander, especially when compared to her old card. While original Bontu could pay mana in to sacrifice one creature for a small payoff, this version wants large hordes to wipe out quickly. This means that with the right pieces, God-Eternal, Bontu can act like a board wipe, card draw, and a finisher all in one card. For me personally, this is exactly what I wanted from the original version, and really what I want in my commander in general. Below I'll include a list of card choices and the win conditions, with explanations for how they fit together into the deck.

Culling the Meek

We start off by looking at the cards we're actually sacrificing. While God-Eternal, Bontu states we can sac any permanent, we're primarily looking to sacrifice creatures. So, we'll need ways to get them:

• Bitterblossom
-Starting off we have a classic token generator in Bitterblossom. 1 life nets us a creature that can be turned into card draw, removal, or a blocker.
• Dreadhorde Invasion
-A slightly worse Bitterblossom, but serves the same purpose as far as this deck is concerned.
• Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
-This card, while 5 mana, does create a decent amount of Thrull tokens. With it being a cast trigger, we guarantee Bontu drawing 5 cards at a minimum off of the tokens.
• Sengir Autocrat
-Just a small creature to net a few tokens, recurable through our reanimation package to get us 4 creatures on board. Weak to removal, but if they're throwing removal at an Autocrat they're probably doing it wrong.
• Abhorrent Overlord
-Sengir Autocrat's bigger, more demonic brother. Basically does everything Sengir does but better as long as you have some amount of black pips on board.
• Reassembling Skeleton
-The classic recurable creature, nothing fancy.
• Liliana, Death's Majesty
-Gets us a Zombie every turn and puts cards to our yard to reanimate. While small token generation, it still provides us with two ways to have bodies.
• Grave Titan
-The house himself, this card can single handedly win games if left unchecked, and at worst is three bodies for six mana.

Before moving on to the rest of the deck, I want to give a quick nod to Crucible of Worlds , Pitiless Plunderer , and Revel in Riches . All three of these cards allow us to sacrifice lands and treasures to Bontu to help with the card draw. Crucible is the easiest include, as it also just serves decent general purpose use, the other two however are a little slow, but not unplayable, as it lets the treasures have a dual use.

A Tolerable Eternity

Now clearly our only payoff for all of these creature's dying isn't just Bontu's effect. Aristocrat decks have plenty of tools to help us use the dead for our own gain, and our opponent's loss:

• Dictate of Erebos
-Starting off with a mainstay in aristocrat decks, we have Dictate. Every time we sacrifice a creature, we tax our opponents for one of their creatures. Straightforward, and extremely potent.
• Grave Pact
-Second verse, same as the first. Basically a flash-less Dictate.
• Butcher of Malakir
-Dictate/Pact on a creature. Fairly straightforward.
• Blood Artist
-While not as strong as in a pure token deck, this card will still drain our opponents and keep our life afloat from cards like Bitterblossom .
• Zulaport Cutthroat
-Basically a worse Blood Artist.
• Falkenrath Noble
-Basically a worse Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat.
• Grim Haruspex
-While it doesn't trigger off of our tokens dying, it does still net us card draw off of our non-tokens. While this may be a possible exclusion in later builds, it makes the cut for now.
• Black Market
-Gains us mana on our turn for creatures dying. Cares about what our deck wants to do, check. Ramps us, check. This card is incredibly strong, and will often lead to a game ending quickly if left unchecked.

Revival of the Fittest

In this deck we run a general reanimation package, and a few ways to tutor creatures to our graveyard. While I won't be going in-depth on the reanimation cards themselves, the creatures are worth noting as they help our prior gameplans or are simply powerhouses in themselves:

• Plaguecrafter , Fleshbag Marauder , Slum Reaper , Merciless Executioner
-While all four of these cards could have their own explanations, it's easier to just throw them all into one. They're all basically the same card, with Plaguecrafter being the best of the bunch. They serve the deck as solid reanimation targets (effectively turning an Animate Dead into a removal spell, while also allowing us to sacrifice creatures for all of our payoffs.
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel
-Our friend Gary has become a very common black card, and reanimating him a few times often will lead to a game either ending or coming very close to ending.
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
-Devotionless Gary attached to a large, dragon shaped body? Sign me up for this value filled card. It drains our opponents, keeps us alive, and serves as a constant threat if recurred a few times.
• Sheoldred, Whispering One
-A creature we can bring back that forces our opponents to sac, reanimates our creatures, and is also threatening on it's own.
• Abhorrent Overlord , Grave Titan
-Strong reanimation targets simply due to the usefulness outlined earlier.
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier , Rune-Scarred Demon
-Both tutors that we can bring back from our graveyard.

Win Conditions

• Torment of Hailfire , Exsanguinate
-Two large spells that we can cast off of the extra mana from Cabal Coffers , Cabal Stronghold , and Black Market . Efficient finishers to close out a game after you've got the game under your control.
• Kokusho, the Evening Star , Gray Merchant of Asphodel
-With enough recursion these two cards can easily put you far and above your opponents through the drain/gain effects of both.
• God-Eternal Bontu
-When in doubt, beat them with a large, blue rock covered, bipedal crocodile. (And other assorted creatures.)

--- [The Maybeboard contain's cards that I will possibly be adding to the list as I work on it, or cards that will end up in the list when I am able to obtain them.]

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 32 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.62
Tokens	Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Harpy 1/1 B, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Morph 2/2 C, Serf 0/1 B, Thrull 1/1 B, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Decks I want