Shadowborn and proud of it.

Commander / EDH Casual Combo Jank Mono-Black Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick

Atheist

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Forbidden Ritual
• 1x Tendrils of Agony

Creature (60)

• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 59x Shadowborn Apostle

Artifact (2)

• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Thrumming Stone

Land (35)

• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 34x Swamp

Commander (1)

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There are two win conditions in the deck and a third if you count beating your opponents with 50 1/1 attackers. That being said, I am open to any suggestions on making this a little more competitive or if you know of any other cool win conditions that could easily be added. Any input will be greatly appreciated. Now lets start this epic journey!

Episode 1

First, you need to get six Shadowborn Apostle out on the battlefield and then sack them to get Rune-Scarred Demon. Let him hit the battlefield and grab Thrumming Stone.

Note: If I have Rune-Scarred Demon in my starting hand I mulligan get him out of there... ain't nobody got time for a 7 drop.

Episode 2

So, to start this episode 2 you must have 5 mana to cast Thrumming Stone

Note: The reason you cast the Thrumming Stone first is if it gets countered in any way you can then tutor for Elixir of Immortality using Sidisi, Undead Vizier and try getting that bad boy back

Episode 3

Alright, you just dropped a Thrumming Stone now cast your commander Sidisi, Undead Vizier on your next turn. Once you cast Sidisi sack either Sidisi herself, a Shadowborn, or even your demon you used to tutor for Tendrils of Agony.

Episode 4

You should have Thrumming Stone out on the battlefield and a Rune-Scarred Demon (maybe, maybe not who knows all we care about is that Thrumming Stone is). You need to have a bare minium a Shadowborn Apostle and Tendrils of Agony in hand for this next step and minium 5 mana to cast both cards (only need more mana if you want to cast more then 1 Shadowborn). Casting more than one Shadowborn would be nice but, not necessary (unless you get super unlucky).

Episode 5

So now you can cast a Shadowborn Apostle and trigger Ripple from Thrumming Stone to get all the shadowborns out on the battlefield. If you wiff on your first try don’t be a hero, just pass the turn and hope you get a Shadowborn Apostle on your next upkeep. If it does go off you should have 48 -50 Shadowborn Apostle out on the battlefield. Now you can cast Tendrils of Agony dealing 96 - 100 damage as you like (There are 59 Shadowborns in the deck you sacked 6 of them to get your demon out and that should leave about 53 Shadowborn Apostle and most likely had to cast a few to use as chump blockers which leaves you with roughly 48-50 Shadowborn Apostle). You should be able to kill two out of the three possible opponents by this method.

Episode 6

To kill the last opponent you get to use your roughly 50 1/1 creatures in play! That’s right you have 50 1/1’s out! Now swing wide and hard and start smashing them for +40 damage with 1/1s that could possibly deal lethal to them. Remember it is not your fault they don't have enough blockers to handle that many Shadowborns.

Or, if you want a more dramatic approach you can also take the following path.

You will need Forbidden Ritual to be in your hand for this to work. First, cast Forbidden Ritual and then start to sack Shadowborn Apostle one at a time and then sit back and watch as your opponent sacks their permeants, discard cards from their hand, and or take damage. This is a great time for taunting and mocking your opponents.

Episode 7

Welcome to the combo explanation.

Section 1: First, lets understand the Ripple effect from Thrumming Stone. This card has ripple 4 and this needs to be in play for the combo to go off. What is Ripple? Great question the answer is below.

1a. Ripple is a triggered ability that When you cast a spell, you may reveal the top 4 cards of your library, or, if there are fewer than 4 cards in your library, you may reveal all the cards in your library. If you reveal cards from your library this way, you may cast any of those cards with the same name as this spell without paying their mana costs, then put all revealed cards not cast this way on the bottom of your library in any order.

Section 2: Now lets look at the interaction when you cast your first Shadowborn Apostle. When the Ripple 4 trigger resolves and you reveal the top 4 cards of your library. For every Shadowborn Apostle revealed this way you can cast it for free and trigger the Ripple 4 again for each additional shadownborn you cast this way. So, you pretty much get to cast every Shadowborn in your library. Unless, you hit 4 non-shadow born Apostles on your first Ripple (example you reveal 4 Swamps). Sections a-e breaks the combo down even further. If you get how it works please feel free to skip to Section 3

2a. We will start from the beginning. You already cast your first Shadowborn Apostle. Once it resolves the Ripple 4 will trigger from Thrumming Stone and you reveal the top four cards of your library. Lets say you revealed 2 Swamps and 2 Shadowborn Apostles

2b. The Swamps go to the bottom of your library.

2c. Now it’s fun time! You revealed 2 Shadowborn Apostles and they indeed share the same name as Shadowborn Apostle! The best part of Ripple is you now get to cast them for free. Resolve each one at a time and cast your first Shadownborn that was revealed in the First Ripple 4 trigger. Now you get to Ripple 4 again!

2d. Reveal the top 4 cards of your library again and cast any card that shares the name Shadowborn Apostle. Lets say on your first one you reveal only 4 swamps. This is not an issue because on your first ripple 4, you revealed 2 Shadownborn Apostles and that means you get to Ripple 4 again. However if for some unknown reason you get 8 swamps in a row on the two ripple 4s you have the worst luck in the world and try again next turn.

2e. You should now get to cast every single Shadowborn Apostle in your deck (as long as you don't wiff) and you should get all of your Shadowborn Apostles out on the battlefield this way.

Recap: You cast your first Shadoborn and Rippled 4 and revealed 2 Swamps and 2 Shadowborns. You cast the first Shadowborn that was revealed from the first Ripple and Rippled 4 again and you got 4 swamps then you resolve the second Shadowborn from your first Ripple 4 again revealing 4 more Shadowborns and then you get to start the process all over with the 4 newly revealed Shadowborn.

Section 3: Now Cast Tendrils of Agony right after you cast all your Shadowborn Apostle and kill as many opponents as possible. Even if someone counters that spell it still triggers for every other Shadowborn you cast. So, if you cast 48 Shadowborns they will have to counter 48 spells!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 4 - 0 Rares 2 - 0 Uncommons 59 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.31
Folders	Shadowborn