Don't play with the kitty: Purraj has returned

Commander / EDH Casual Infect Mono-Black Multiplayer Voltron

Rossa

Creature (21)

• 1x Bloodtracker
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Cinderhaze Wretch
• 1x Dark Impostor
• 1x Deadeye Tracker
• 1x Dread Presence
• 1x Embodiment of Agonies
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Guul Draz Overseer
• 1x Mer-Ek Nightblade
• 1x Necropolis Regent
• 1x Patron of the Vein
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Shadow Alley Denizen
• 1x Skinrender
• 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x The Haunt of Hightower
• 1x Thief of Blood
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Eternal Thirst
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Glistening Oil
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Retribution of the Ancients
• 1x Unholy Indenture
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Land (35)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Cave of Temptation
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Jund Panorama
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 20x Swamp
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Damnable Pact
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Parting Thoughts
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Spread the Sickness
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Contagion Engine
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Heraldic Banner
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Ring of Xathrid
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Tome of Legends
• 1x Unstable Obelisk

Instant (5)

• 1x Defile
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Grim Affliction
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Wretched Confluence

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Maybeboard

Artifact (7)

• 1x Animation Module
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Instant (2)

• 1x Hatred
• 1x Slaughter Pact

Creature (7)

• 1x Bloodcrazed Paladin
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Crypt Rats
• 1x Festercreep
• 1x Mindwarper
• 1x Silumgar Assassin
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Land (2)

• 1x Esper Panorama
• 1x Leechridden Swamp

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Syphon Mind

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyresis

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Let's resurrect an other good old commander from her dark and forgotten crypt. This time let's choose Purraj of Urborg! Probably you don't remember this card, but with some new concepts and cunning tactics we can give her a unique and lethal flavor.

So what does this commender do? She can get +1/+1 counters if you play a black card. So let's fill the deck with cheap and useful black cards like Shadow Alley Denizen, Defile, Go for the Throat, Sign in Blood. Instants are really cool, since they can give +1/+1 in response, which means we can pump up our commander as a reaction saving her from a Mutilate or a deadly combat damage. This pump up ability makes a destiny to her, she has to be a Voltron commander, which can beat the opponents by Commander damage.

But let's see the other cards in the deck, - what do we have?

Our commander can generate plus counters, so it is reasonable to put other creatures to the deck with similar ability. Deadeye Tracker, Dark Impostor, Patron of the Vein, The Haunt of Hightower, and some others.

What other cards can provide us more counters? Here is the list: Necropolis Regent, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Eternal Thirst, Feast on the Fallen, Unspeakable Symbol, Spread the Sickness, Blade of the Bloodchief, Contagion Engine, Ring of Xathrid, Grim Affliction, Karn's Bastion, Cave of Temptation, Unholy Indenture (This is also excellent to re-trigger ETB creature effects, like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Patron of the Vein, Skinrender).

What can we do with tons of counters (beside pumping up our commander to the sky)?

Cinderhaze Wretch: Can discard a full hand if it has enough counters.
Mer-Ek Nightblade: Provides Deathtouch to all creatures with counters. Purraj's First Strike becomes deadly when attacking.
Puppeteer Clique: Can bring back from death any amount of creatures if you can switch the -1/-1 counters to plus ones.
Thief of Blood: Can beat an opponent with a single swing.
Triskelion: Can destroy creatures, Planeswalkers, opponents.
Black Market, Everflowing Chalice: Can produce planty of mana.
Retribution of the Ancients: Can eliminate creatures.
Parting Thoughts: Can kill a creature, or using it against one of your own creature allows you to draw tons of cards.
Cauldron of Souls: Can provide immortality to all of your creatures.
Blast Zone: Targeted board wipe against permanents with certain mana cost.
Tome of Legends: Cheap card draw.
Liliana of the Dark Realms and other Planeswalkers: Can achieve ultimate ability quicker.

Is there an other way to use counters and make them deadlier?
The answer is Infect. Grant Infect to one of your creature that has enough counters to kill an opponent with a sinle attack, or pump up the bone dragon: Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Glistening Oil, Tainted Strike.

Attacking sometimes requires surprising solutions, so let's add a tiny landfall here like, Grixis Panorama, Jund Panorama, Burnished Hart, Myriad Landscape:
Dread Presence: Can eliminate potential defenders with landfall.
Guul Draz Overseer: Can pump up the power of all attacking creatures with landfall.

And, if somehow Purraj is not enough or she is too expensive to bring back to play, let's use other fatties to punish the opponents with counter based abilities, like Embodiment of Agonies, The Haunt of Hightower, Thief of Blood.

Try out this deck and if you have any comments or observations I would be thankful if you share them with me!

PS: If you would like to see another old fashioned but cool commander deck, check this out!
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/forgotten-lord-of-an-ancient-cult/

Top Ranked	Achieved #41 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #25 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Casual 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Infect 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.37
Tokens	Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B
Folders	Inspirational card choices, Vampires, Awesome EDH, Decks