+1 from me!

Things I love about this deck:

. Mono-black - I've been a big Mono black player for years - so deadly!

. All the combo redundancies - the redundancies in the combos add redundancy to the combo potential of the combo redundancies. (see what I did there?) - and the variety of infinite, kill everybody, draw all the cards, get all the life gain, etc. is quite appealing.

. And, of course, the budget - I actually already have nearly every card in the list in my collection. I had to shell out for Mik' himself, and a Mutilate, but some other ones I have functional stand-ins for. I also have a few of the more powerful non-budget goodies.

I'm going to try it with fewer combo pieces, and more tutors, I think.

Another strategy I think is good is to not use Mikaeus as commander.

It makes the deck too obvious. I'm going to try with Sidisi, Undead Vizier As commander to hide my intent, and use her exploit ability to search for Mikey when I have the other combo pieces in play or in hand.

A couple questions:

1. What do you think of the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond combo in this deck? It's a gimmicky alt-win-more combo that is completely unnecessary, but either card on its own could combo with an infinite (or just large) Mikaeus loop.

2. I want to use Crypt Ghast, but it has w/b hybrid mana in the extort ability. Is that okay for color identity purposes? Is it because the mana symbol is in the reminder text?

Alright, time to sleeve this monster up and go make people cry!

MagnusMTG: Answering number 2 first since it's the easiest: Yes, since the symbol is inside the reminder text, it is not part of the card itself and thus not a part of its color identity. Crypt Ghast can be played in mono black. I used to run it but it became a bit too expensive lately.

As for the first question: It's definitely not worth it in THIS deck. As it is a 2 piece combo with too expensive pieces.

However in a deck that runs sidisi, Undead Vizier, I'd easily run it as I can tutor for it whenever as another win-condition route.

If you want to run Sidisi, I REALLY recommend you add: Buried Alive, Triskelion, Necrotic Ooze and Phyrexian Devourer. What's important is that you also run ALL the reanimation spells possible, as well as cards like Undying Evil (Cast it on Sidisi, tutor twice!)

• Play Sidisi
• tutor Buried Alive (If you have a reanimation spell in hand)
• play Buried Alive, put Triskelion, Necrotic Ooze and Phyrexian Devourer in the graveyard
• cast Animate Dead (or something similar) targetting Necrotic Ooze
• Exile cards from top of library and remove +1/+1 counters until everyone at the table is dead.

Remember, the creature dies INSTANTLY if it has 7 power or more. So if you exile a card with too high CMC, just don't let it resolve and keep on exiling other cards.

Anyways, glad you enjoyed the deck! :)

Regarding this build. I have got to say you have non stop stayed true to form. Thank you. I have used this build and your not so budget build and have built a pretty solid deck. It has fared well. But as always I need to play it more often.

Thanks for the tips and for the confirmation re: Crypt Ghast. :-)

I think I have a Buried Alive in my 'unearth' zombies deck (Sedris, the Traitor King and friends)... I have Triskelion, Animate Dead (and Dance of the Dead - also fun), and Undying Evil already in.

Yeah, the Bond+Blood combo, like I said, is completely unnecessary, but I've pulled it off before a couple times using a Grixis commander deck, and it is very satisfying to see the looks of utter despair on my opponents' faces when it hits.

I'll try it with and without. I want to focus mostly on tutoring and mana-ramping to get some combo to stick quickly and reliably.

I think my main worry is counterspells and other disruption. Someone blowing up my artifacts or exiling things could completely shut me down if I can't recover quickly enough.

MagnusMTG here are, some cards that work very well with this deck and Sidisi, Undead Vizier as the commander:

Chainer, Dementia Master

Mimic Vat

Corpse Dance

Sheoldred, Whispering One

Cast the commander and exploit her to herself, and then put her in the graveyard to make these work. (Mimic Vat is a last resort as it can cause your commander to become permanently exiled, use with caution.)

If you want, take a look at my deck, it uses Sidisi, Undead Vizier as the commander, just not so budget focused. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mikaeus-the-unclean/

I like the Deck, but, how is it an Infinite Combo if you tap blasting station? +1

Oh lol nvm I forgot to read bottom part

Maybe Add Bone Splinters? It would help with removal.

bone splinters

Raz0r_: I've tried Bone Splinters in the deck before, but the problem is that it only works after I have persist creatures in play! Also, it being sorcery speed is extremely relevant. It's too situational unfortunately.

MagnusMTG: What Ayle said is very true, especially Chainer, Dementia Master. A friend of mine tried making a sidisi deck, Chainer was disgusting in the list, and killing it doesn't work either as Sidisi just tutors for a reanimation spell, reanimates Chainer, then starts reanimate spamming Sidisi again until you win.

He took his deck apart later that day because of how disgusting it was.

is Underworld Connections cheap enough to add in now? the card draw might help with consistency.

Where is the Retribution of the Ancients?? :(

It's such a synergistic card with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. All the undying triggers!

Raging_Squiggle: In a deck where all the cards alreafy go infinite, it does nothing! It's great in any other deck though.

pryoplasm: It's definitely cheap enough now. I'm not sure if the card is too slow for this deck though. It costs 4 mana for the first card, and generally you want to win the turn after paying that much to draw!

What are the best cards to replace with blasting station, sol ring, and tragic slip?

AlphaHawken: Jeweled Amulet for the Sol Ring, Blasting Station for any 3 CMC sac outlet of your choice, Tragic Slip depends on if you want more removal or not. If you do, remove a card like Fractured Powerstone and if you feel you don't, cut one of the current removal spells.

Where is the Archdemon of Unx? All the undying and you will never have to sacrifice your commander.

Also, If I had both a Night's Whisper AND a Sign in Blood hanging around, what would I take out for the whisper? And if Nevinyrral's Disk is a little pricy, could I slip in the Tragic Slip Instead? I kind of need targeted removal to kill people's god commanders anyway.

Also, Maalfeld Twins Synergises well because of the double trigger. Spoils of Blood works well because of all the deaths, turning your huge vanilla creature into 2 huge vanilla creatures, for 1 black and 1 card.

Midn8: Creatures that synergize when they die aren't good enough. I want creatures that WIN when they die. The only exception I have found that is good enough is Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Why play the Archdemon when I can play Triskelion the turn before and just win? :)

As for not having Disk, that really hurts as it is your best removal for enchantments and artifacts, but if you don't have it then adding another removal spell is fine.

Try taking a manarock like Jeweled Amulet or Fractured Powerstone out for the Night's Whisper.

What about Spoils of Blood? It turns your single 100M/100M creature into 2 100M/100M creatures.

Midn8: As fun as having two infinite power creatures is, having one is enough to win :P

Deck runs great. Very resistant to being milled out of options, as combo pieces are plentiful.

Currently having issues with Meren of Clan Nel Toth. As a group we used to just play for fun, but ever since a certain player in our group bought the new GB commander deck, things have spiraled out of control. I can't afford to pump $40/week into upgrades the way my play group does.

Have been considering adding Puppeteer Clique in for graveyard hate that remains a sac fodder for infinite combos.

Would this be a valid sub? Any other grave hate subs that wouldn't ruin the consistency of the deck?

Sleazebag: Congrats on the 3rd Place!

Would you be able to give a quick beginner explanation for how Diabolic Servitude works? I don't really understand these stack shenanigans :P Thanks!

Kreinas: Yes, Puppeteer Clique is AWESOME in Mikaeus. Puppeteer Clique + Mikaeus + Sac outlet lets you reanimate every single creature in your opponents graveyard infinitely! For infinite ETB's, LTB's etc.

As for GY hate, Tormod's Crypt, Nihil Spellbomb (No Card Disadvantage) and Withered Wretch is good graveyard hate.

Here's a hidden gem extremely few people are aware of though: Planar Void. But Planar Void exiles ALL graveyards, doesn't it? Yes it does, but not instantly. Stuff enters the graveyard, then Planar Void triggers to exile it. So stuff still enters the graveyard, triggering stuff like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, and most importantly: Undying! Since you control both the triggers, you choose the order, and you let undying resolve before the planar void trigger! Which happens to be exactly the same as Diabolic Servitude.

MoistingItUp: Diabolic Servitude has a trigger that reads "When the creature put onto the battlefield with Diabolic Servitude dies, exile it and return Diabolic Servitude to its owner's hand."

Undying reads "When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it."

BOTH of these trigger at the same time when your creature dies. Since you control both triggers, you decide which one resolves first! You let the undying trigger resolve, putting it back onto the battlefield. Then Servitude tries to resolve. It tries to exile the creature, but it no longer exists as it's now a "different" creature that is in play. Then it returns to your hand.

Oh yes, and to clarify the Puppeteer Clique combo: Clique enters, you reanimate their creature, you sacrifice their creature, you sacrifice the clique, it enters again, you reanimate their creature again, repeat.

Once had a guy who thought he was clever when he activated Homeward Path after I reanimated his creatures with Clique.I then sacrificed all his creatures, let the homeward path resolve, then reanimated them all again. So crushing.

The only reason Puppeteer isn't in this deck is because of his price!

Sleazebag Thanks a billion that explanation really helped! I'm excited to get started in EDH with this deck - its awesome! I've only got to collect about 15 more cards and I've got the full decklist.