Amonkhet & Hour of Devastation -1/-1 counter deck for around $10.
[...] “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, [...] “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field — on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats.
Deck concept
Each -1/-1 counter we place on a creature does the following:
All creatures, in addition to most other spells in this deck, double as triggers for these, as Banewhip Punisher, Decimator Beetle, Festering Mummy and Soulstinger all have -1/-1 counter effects. Of course, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Obelisk Spider also have ways for this to trigger.
Playing with this deck
Board advantage is gained by removing enemy creatures with -1/-1 counters and Grind / Dust, while building your army of snake and insect tokens. Obelisk Spider slowly drains the enemy's life when placing -1/-1 counters, weakening your enemy outside of combat.
Enemy creatures with shroud and hexproof can't have -1/-1 counters placed on them by most of this deck (except Obelisk Spider), but remember that you can place -1/-1 counters on your own creatures, too, to trigger Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, Obelisk Spider and Nest of Scarabs.
Splashing
White splash for Grind / Dust, which is an amazing card in this deck. It also allows us to play Forsake the Worldly to deal with artifacts and enchantments.
Deck interactions and card alternatives
These cards probably upgrade this deck, but are (way) more expensive.
These cards have good synergy with this deck, but are from different sets:
- Anything with wither / infect or persist, and anything with proliferate. Best cards do multiple, e.g.
Core Prowler
.
- Dual lands (e.g. Blooming Marsh, Concealed Courtyard, Woodland Cemetery)
- Blowfly Infestation: amazing card to add; we trigger this a lot, and it triggers our effects. And with any 1/1 creature and Nest of Scarabs already in play, this triggers an infinite loop (add e.g. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons for infinite snakes, Obelisk Spider for infinite life drain, another Nest of Scarabs for infinite insects).
- Necroskitter: this will make any enemy creature you kill with -1/-1 counters yours... for . Amazing.
- Black Sun's Zenith: scalable removal and triggers our effects a lot when there are many creatures in play.
-
Crumbling Ashes
: good card, but might eventually target your own creatures.
-
Fume Spitter
: alternative to
Festering Mummy
.
-
Incremental Blight
: OK.
- Quillspike: lets you remove -1/-1 counters from your own creatures while buffing itself.
-
Scar
/
Virulent Wound
: cheap -1/-1 counter placement.
- Scarscale Ritual: draw 2 cards and trigger -1/-1 placement effects for only .
- Skinrender: 3/3 body and places 3 -1/-1 counters on a creature.
-
Wickerbough Elder
: possible alternative for Forsake the Worldly.
- Carnifex Demon: good body and double -1/-1 counter triggers (put a -1/-1 counter on this, pay , put it on something else).
- Intangible Virtue: buff your tokens. OK card.
