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K'rrik, Harbinger of the Abyss (Primer)

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Doomsday Pile Infinite Combo Mono-Black Primer Tempo

Marwin440

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Lands (32)

ComboSetUp (4)

WinCon II (2)

Tutor (18)

Removal (13)

WinCon I (3)

Draw (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth

Ramp (17)

Protection (8)

Maybeboard

Removal (1)

Hello brewer,

I am glad that you are interested in playing K'rrik as commander and walking alongside me on this abyssal path to victory. Compared to most other K'rrik decklists available online, this deck follows a more streamlined approach to end the game as all combos played in this deck are centred around Aetherflux Reservoir as the only way to win the game. In the following chapters I outline how K'rrik based commander decks have evolved over the past, what the gameplan is of this deck, what card choices are noteworthy to mention, why I think this deck has an edge over the other K'rrik decks available in the realm of Phyrexia followed by a discussion in which I will incorporate the changes made to this deck list based on the feedback I will receive. So let's dive in...

As soon as K'rrik was released in 2019, brewers around the globe started compiling decks of which all found their raison d'être in accrueing value by paying life instead of paying valueable mana resources. In mono coloured black decks that means you are only enabled to get an edge over your opponents by including spells which have black mana symbols in their casting costs or contain activated abilities for which black mana has normally to be paid. Prominent examples of black mana based value engines include Necropotence, Doomsday or many of the unconditional tutors the black empire provides. Based on this asymmetrical mana base advantage (paying life instead of mana), the following deck ideas were born:

1) Doomsday centred decks: Doomsday is a card which allows you to search your library and graveyard for 5 cards and putting them on top of your library in any order while exiling your graveyard and library. As in the cEDH realm K'rrik is played as a combo deck this strategy enables you to put all the combo cards you need on top of your library and then comboing off. As Doomsday can be played in the same turn your commander is played by paying 6 life instead of spending 3 black mana, this gameplan can be considered as a very fast mean to combo off. As tempo is very important in cEDH, many brewers gravitated towards that strategy. The main drawback this strategy inherits is twofold: 1) You need a cantrip in your hand to draw the top card of your library to combo off and 2) It is an all in strategy. cEDH is a very interactive style of playing Magic The Gathering and thus if your opponents are able to break your combo after you played doomsday, you probably wont have any means to come back into the game. A primer which follows this approach can be found here:

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/1Eo9b_-Kg0afXcEipjT-og (unfortunately the URL connection does not work at the moment)

2) Staxx decks: In the staxx version of K'rrik it is tried to create asymmetrical value by playing staxx pieces such as Winter Orb, Static Orb, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, Contamination, Infernal Darkness, etc. Playing Contamination or Infernal Darkness for example allows the K'rrik player to restrict the opponents of playing spells while paying life to keep the stax pieces alive. The main problem with this strategy is that most of the conventional stax pieces are constituted by artifacts which contain colourless mana in their casting cost. Consequently, the edge created by playing those cards is rather limited to the K'rrik player. An example primer can be found here K'rrik staxx

3) Reanimator decks: K'rrik reanimator decks are also combo based decks which try to combo off early by putting respective combo pieces in the graveyard with Buried Alive and reanimating those. The main combo used in those decks is constituted by Chainer, Dementia Master, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and a sacrifice outlet such as Carrion Feeder or Viscera Seer. This type of deck does not try to combo off as early as its Doomsday counterpart, but instead be more consistent and resilient. Consistency in that context refers to the circumstance that you don't need a cantrip to draw the first card of the doomsday pile. Resilience refers to the fact that if you try to combo off with Buried Alive and a reanimation spell and your combo gets broken by for instance Buried Alive being countered you are not left with 5 cards in your library. An example of a reanimator based K'rrik deck can be found here Black Hole Son [[Primer]]

All of the described strategies most often include the chainer loop (as briefly outlined under (3)) AND Aetherflux Reservoir lines. Combos using Aetherflux Reservoir lines most often include Aetherflux Reservoir and Leshrac's Sigil or Aetherflux Reservoir, Bolas's Citadel and Sensei's Divining Top as means to path the way for victory. As stated, almost all K'rrik based combo decks use BOTH a chainer loop and Aetherflux Reservoir lines. I have the feeling that this is quite slot inefficient as including the chainer loop requires many combo pieces which in turn takes away many of the 99 available slots for important cards such as tutors or removal spells. Most decks running the chainer loop include the 3 combo pieces and an approximate average of 4 reanimation spells. As a consequence those decks can't afford many redundancy pieces which would make the combo more resilient. This is why I searched for a more streamlined way to utilize K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth.

The main gameplan in this K'rrik version is straight forward. The main strategy can be outlined as the following:

  1. Cast K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth as early as possible
  2. Tutor for and cast Peer into the Abyss. If casting Peer into the Abyss gets countered you should go ahead and tutor for and cast Shrouded Lore or Sins of the Past targeting Peer into the Abyss.
  3. When Peer into the Abyss resolves and you have half of your deck in your hand, you cast all your mana positive mana rocks.
  4. With enough mana available you cast some of your "protective" spells such as Duress, Thoughtseize or Defense Grid making sure that no one can interact with you when you cast your combo.
  5. Cast a game winning combo. Those combos are:
  1. Aetherflux Reservoir and Leshrac's Sigil
  2. Aetherflux Reservoir, Blood Pet and Phyrexian Reclamation
  3. Aetherflux Reservoir, Bolas's Citadel and Sensei's Divining Top

Having cast Peer into the Abyss as combo enabler is such a great way to set up this combo because of multiple reasons. First, its not an all in move. Even if you should get disrupted by your opponents to combo off you are left with 50 cards in your hand. That is why I included Reliquary Tower, Spellbook and Thought Vessel. With 50 cards in hand you should be able to combo off next turn again while still having spells available to protect your combo (or at least tutors in hand which can find you the respective "protective" card). Second, it allows you to create a high storm count. Nothing feels worse than being able to cast Aetherflux Reservoir and Leshrac's Sigil but not having the sufficient life points due to a low storm count. After having successfully cast Peer into the Abyss your storm count is surely 6 or higher before you cast Aetherflux Reservoir and Leshrac's Sigil. That means you might only need 4 life to cast Leshrac's Sigil to combo off.

Even if the Peer into the Abyss route doesn't work out in a game you are still playing a deck with a ton of tutors, a combo line which is very slim and many single cards which provide great value. Those cards include Necropotence, Bolas's Citadel and Doomsday. Especially noteworthy are the synergies between Bolas's Citadel and Sensei's Divining Top (which could actually be considered as a two card combo) as well as Bolas's Citadel and Necropotence. In both cases you can skip though your library by paying 1 life for one card until you find a respective tutor or missing combo piece.

As Aetherflux Reservoir is the main combo card in this deck I also included Karn, the Great Creator to find an exiled Aetherflux Reservoir and Buried Ruin to get it back from the graveyard.

  1. Necropotence and Bolas's Citadel: Combined those two cards allow you to skip through your library to search for a tutor or missing combo piece by paying 1 life per card
  2. Sensei's Divining Top and Bolas's Citadel: Similar to the synergy above. However, here you draw a card immediately for one life instead of exiling it and putting it back into your hand at your end step
  3. Doomsday and respective combo lines in this deck: Even though Doomsday is not the main road to win the game, it can still be an option. If you have for example a cantrip in your hand and a tutor and you know your oppenent is likely to go off next turn, why not go for an all in doomsday push?
  4. Peer into the Abyss and Aetherflux Reservoir: Casting Peer into the Abyss gives you a high storm count. Thus, most likely no life is needed to combo off
  5. Peer into the Abyss and Spellbook, Thought Vessel or Reliquary Tower: Allows you to draw your library and keep half of your deck in your hand if you shouldn't be able to combo off
  6. Aetherflux Reservoir and Blood Celebrant: If you have those two cards in your hand after having cast Peer into the Abyss, you should be able to cast every spell in your hand. Just use Blood Celebrants ability to convert 3 life into one black mana and storm off

This K'rrik based commander deck constitutes a fast and resilient combo deck which is streamlined towards Peer into the Abyss as combo enabler and Aetherflux Reservoir combo lines to finish off the game. After trying to start your combo with Peer into the Abyss and getting interacted with by your opponent, you will often times be able to combo off the following turn. Compared to the current mostly played Chainer reanimator decks this deck follows a more resilient and streamlined approach. This is mainly due to 2 circumstances:

  1. This deck is more slot efficient vis-à-vis chainer loop K'rrik decks as the main combo is slimmer and only one combo is played instead of playing 2 completely different combo lines. Consequently, this deck contains fewer dead cards and especially more tutors to find combo pieces.

  2. This deck contains two ways of recursions to get back a countered Peer into the Abyss which Chainer based decks normally don't have. That means that in case Buried Alive is countered the Chainer centred deck normally looks for other combo lines such as Aetherflux Reservoir and Leshrac's Sigil to establish. This deck simply tries to get back one spell (Peer into the Abyss) to restart the combo.

This block I will use in include the feedback I will receive from the community to create a changelock of how this deck might change.

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Casual

93% Competitive