Love this concept, and the budget is just a bonus.

Thanks Definitely for the heads up, Crypt Ghast was added back in and you're credited in the updates ;).

Glad you like it bayard! Thanks for the upvote!

No problem! :)

less than two dollars?!

InDirectX Yup! Every card in this has to be under $2 from TCGPlayer mid prices. A few cards are pushing that boundary, but most of them are well underneath :)

Im not sure how many spells you play a turn but Eye of the Storm could get a crazy spell train going with everyone milling everyone (assuming this is multiplayer) and you will get the best creature out of it and well, you could get to cast Traumatize every turn.

Coinman1863

Eye of the Storm is one of those cards that I love. Group-hug types of cards like Eye of the Storm promotes a lot of fun politics and table-talk so even if it backfires horribly I'll probably try and find a place for it in this deck!

This suggestion, pushing the price envelope is Consuming Aberration, read it. That is all that needs to be said.

Coinman1863 Oh believe me. That card has tormented me. I can turn down buying things like Sol Ring and the Swords for the sake of keeping this budget; but Consuming Aberration single-handedly made me consider about breaking this deck out of this format.

I want that card in this deck more than anything, so I'm hoping for a reprint that will just push it down 50 cents :(.

Trust me, I want it, but I'm holding off for the time being.

For more repeatable mill, look into Memory Erosion. Royal Assassin is the same, only for removal.

Undead Alchemist and Altar of the Brood make a nice synergy if you can get an engine set up. Plus lots of tokens to either sac or block with.

Nightveil Specter can hold an equipment or block flyers, as can Mindshrieker

Rogue's Passage allows strong creatures (or Mirko) to punch in. Maybe a Mortivore or Wight of Precinct Six?

Animate Dead can help steal or get back an important guy.

More efficient removal could be Pongify or Rapid Hybridization.

Lots of future ideas for you in my Lazav Roleplay deck, if you ever invest more heavily into teh deck.

ecmmyers Wow, I see your Lazav deck on the EDH page all the time and I'm really flattered that you commented on mine! Means a lot =).

Rogue's Passage is already in this deck (I literally just put it in a couple days ago).

Memory Erosion is such an interesting card and I don't know how I never noticed that before! I'm looking for a place to put it now.

Pongify and Rapid Hybridization are such great cards that I might replace Murder with one of them and possibly Tragic Slip with the other.

Mortivore, Wight of Precinct Six, Mindshrieker, and Royal Assassin are all really good cards that fit in this theme but I'm having a hard time to figure out what cards to cut for them. Out of these I'm probably considering Mortivore the most because of the regenerate ability for Necrotic Ooze and just as an all around blocker/bomb.

Nightveil Specter and I had a falling out recently. I was a dummy and didn't read the text carefully and was painfully reminded by my playgroup that it doesn't contain the text "you may spend mana as though it were any color to cast this." That paired up with the fact that the cards never hit the graveyard made it usually just a 2/3 flier for 3; which in its own right isn't terrible. Also because this deck is for the $2 budget edh format, I can't throw tons of swords on it like I would like to; the only worthwhile card would really just be Trepanation Blade.

And finally the Undead Alchemist + Altar of the Brood combo. Insanely fun. I never noticed that before or even thought about that combination before, but I love it. The problem is that I would want both of them, so that means finding space for both in this deck. If I can find two cards to cut, I definitely will add that in.

Thanks once again for your valuable input and I really appreciate you respecting the price limit I'm going for. Your deck already gets a +1 from me and if I decide to take it out of this format then I will probably heavily use your deck as a reference.

Apologies for the oversight on Rogue's Passage.

You may want to keep in some -X/-X removal just to take care of indestructibility, plus sometimes those 3/3 tokens can be more trouble than you expect (though often less than what they replaced)

As for cuts, I don't see much in the way of ETB effects that could justify running Deadeye. Having only one or two big effects that are good enough to recur may not be worth the 4UU to cast him most days. Underworld Connections is a possible cut, if you feel that you wouldn't mind losing the draw. With the way it taps a land, I think it may strain an already thin mana base. Psychic intrusion is kind of a gamble (but sometimes that's half the fun). I often found Necrotic ooze to be a bit underwhelming, as often he collected abilities that didn't help or nothing I could use.

Understood on the Specter. I cut him for a similar reason. I just thought he would be an okay flying/ evasive creature. If you don't mind playing Infect, Blighted Agent can also hold a Bonehoard or Blade.

Consuming Aberration could work well in this deck. Love the idea. +1 for sure!

ecmmyers That's a really good point. I think I'll take your advice and just replace Murder with one of those cards for now to lower both the mana cost along with the devotion cost. I'll leave in Bile Blight and Tragic Slip for tokens and indestructible, respectively.

I really appreciate your feedback on the cuts too. I'm sometimes blinded by how much I like the respective card that I need to realize that it just doesn't work the way I thought it would. That being said, I feel like Underworld Connections embodies that in this deck. I really love the card, and when it works, it really works. Unfortunately, like you said, the mana base is thin and more often than not I'm tapping out every turn so that I can get things on the board. Deadeye Navigator is a card I'll playtest a bit more, but what you said makes sense and it'll probably end up being cut. Lastly, Psychic Intrusion is pretty much only in the deck for flavor reasons. Most of the time I use it just to cast a card from the graveyard with the added chance of getting something great from their hand. I do feel like I have too many sorceries and not enough creatures so I'm also really considering it as a cut too. As always, thanks again =)

godofcruelty I love Consuming Aberration and really want him in this deck! Unfortunately it's slightly over the $2 budget that the format allows =(. it goes with TCGPlayer mid prices so I can't put it in the deck if I still want to play in this format. I appreciate the recommendation though!