The Great Chain

Commander / EDH Mono-Black Multiplayer Reanimator

Chompythebeast

Land (38)

• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x City of Traitors
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x High Market
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Strip Mine
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Winding Canyons

Artifact (13)

• 1x Akroma's Memorial
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Doubling Cube
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Creature (25)

• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Corpse Connoisseur
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Guiltfeeder
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Hunted Horror
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Nightmare
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed

Instant (4)

• 1x Betrayal of Flesh
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Insidious Dreams
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Exquisite Blood

Commander (1)

Sorcery (18)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Behold the Beyond
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Collusion
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Plague Wind
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Temporal Extortion
• 1x Twilight's Call
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

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Maybeboard

Creature (35)

• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Archfiend of Spite
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Demonlord Belzenlok
• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
• 1x Lord of the Void
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Overseer of the Damned
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Raving Dead
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 2x Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Virtus the Veiled
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Sorcery (19)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Bond of Revival
• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Death Cloud
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Entreat the Dead
• 1x Ever After
• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Finale of Eternity
• 1x In Garruk's Wake
• 1x Life's Finale
• 1x Pox
• 1x Scheming Symmetry
• 1x Skull Storm
• 1x The Elderspell
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Land (9)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Dust Bowl
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms

Enchantment (18)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Chainer's Torment
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Font of Agonies
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Hedonist's Trove
• 1x Koskun Falls
• 1x Liliana's Contract
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Shadows of the Past
• 1x Tainted Remedy

Artifact (8)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Endless Atlas
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Mirage Mirror

Instant (7)

• 1x Fated Return
• 1x Force of Despair
• 1x Grip of Desolation
• 1x Scour from Existence
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Wake the Dead

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*~ The Chompy Masterpiece Collection - Vol. II: Magus Niger ~*

Straightforward, old-school, mono-black reanimator - best played with pretty pink sleeves.

One of the big reasons this deck is fun is because you don't have to worry too much about board wipes, the bane of some other decks. In fact, this deck loves board wipes! It runs as many as it can get away with - all the better for Chainer, Dementia Master , Rise of the Dark Realms et al. Because when it comes to the Powers of Life and Death, the Black Mage knows that a Man chooses; a Slave obeys.

The deck also has plenty of reanimate on cards other than Chainer, like Betrayal of Flesh , Fated Return , and Beacon of Unrest (among others), so it isn't particularly dependent upon its general - another way in which it is different from some other decks.

Memory Jar is just so good in this deck... pop it when you're out of cards (or cards you need) in hand, play what you can, and then discard your reanimatables, while your opponents fatten up their yards for you!

Shuffle-in effects (such as those on Blightsteel Colossus , or far worse, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre ) are not your friend, unless it's Beacon of Unrest!

This deck has black in it, so Tainted Strike would be powerful here... but I refuse to run it. This scenario is why: "Oh, Opponent A is swinging Opponent B for 9 damage on one creature? Oh, it's early, so opponent B is just gonna take it? Well that's just too bad... because I happen to have one mana open." The card is better when you don't even target one of your own creatures! Turning 1 black mana into 1 friend no longer playing just doesn't feel fun to me. Maybe if I was taking my deck to a public tournament where there was money or prizes on the line, but at the moment, the words "it's just a game" echo in my head and prevent me from sleeving up the taint strike. I recommend anyone just playing with their friends (and not in public tournaments) do the same. But hey, it's a free country! Douche-baggery is a constitutional right.

Guiltfeeder is a serious bomb with hilarious evasion. I think somehow he's one of the most underrated cards in EDH, but I'm not really sure why. Where are all the Guiltfeeders, people?! Even if you aren't fattening their yards up on purpose, your opponents will usually do it for you!

You get a hundred points if you kill an opponent with Bloodgift Demon 's ability. Same goes for Leechridden Swamp . That one I've done, once or twice.

Lake of the Dead is a super-powered land, especially with Crucible of Worlds . But nothing compares to Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers . Every 1-3 color black deck, and perhaps even most 5 color decks should run this combo in EDH. It is on two cards, but it is better than Tolarian Academy . Cards like Deserted Temple , Vesuva and Thespian's Stage make the combo even better, because inexplicably (and unlike the Academy), Cabal Coffers is not legendary. Crypt Ghast , Nirkana Revenant , and Caged Sun also combo with your pseudo-swamps, while Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power top off your "real" swamps. Altogether, this deck (and any deck like it) can easily produce even more mana than green decks or indeed artifact decks can, and just as regularly, if not even more regularly. The bevy of black (i.e. restriction-free) tutors helps enormously to this end: In fact, it is neither uncommon nor unwise (I think) that I use Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor just to search up Insidious Dreams , which permits me to get my Urborg, Cabal, Crypt Ghast, Deserted Temple, Vesuva, Thespian's Stage, Nirkana Revanent, & Caged Sun (perhaps even in that order of priority) if I don't already have them. Also excellent is Demonic Collusion - its buyback cost is usually a bonus rather than a burden in this deck, and it can also net you both pieces of the Cabal/Urborg mana battery with relative ease.

NB: In case you were wondering, yes, Crypt Ghast is legal in mono-black EDH, just as Blind Obedience is legal in mono-white. The reason is because the hybrid B/W mana symbol that appears on the card appears in what is called "Reminder Text", not the cards "Rule Text"; the card is just reminding you that you may either spend B or W to pay for extort costs. The common example given to explain this seemingly quirky loophole is in the Darksteel printing of Trinisphere , where the card's reminder text uses a black mana symbol simply to illustrate a for-instance describing how the card would work against a black spell. Trinisphere's "color identity" is still colorless, and it does not contain any mana symbols where it counts - therefore any EDH deck may run Trinisphere. Likewise, any black EDH deck may run Crypt Ghast, even if it is mono-black; no, especially if it is mono-black!

Here's a question for you: What's your favorite mono-black card draw? I just cut Promise of Power for Bloodgift Demon because I like the recurrability of creatures. Griselbrand was probably indeed too much - he was banned before he even hit the shelves - but it'd be nice to get some more versatile black card draw. Erebos, God of the Dead might be worth running, but he actually doesn't seem that great unless he's your general. And maybe I'm wrong, but 2 life per card (plus the mana to boot) seems a much steeper price than 1 life per card, as seen on the super-banned Yawgmoth's Bargain and even Griselbrand. I'm not sure if I agree they didn't over-correct the cost a little bit, especially in this color. He's basically just a black, indestructible Book of Rass (or an expensive, indestructible Greed ), really. I don't know. Maybe Erebos will end up in here after all... Or maybe Necropotence (so intriguing!).

Hunted Horror is one of my favorite cards in he deck. If you get it out turn 2, it will do a lot of damage throughout the course of the game before anyone deals with it, especially when you add the damage done by the two 3/3 centaurs you get to give to someone else. Hopefully, of course, those centaurs don't come for you - but if you don't attack the player to whom you gave the creatures, then really, why should they attack you? For giving them early attackers and/or pro-black blockers? It's a card that creates some really interesting early-game politics, and its recklessly powerful nature feels very Black Mage to me. Also, and on an unrelated note, take a look at Word of Command up there on my Maybeboard. That'd be pretty fun to play, amirite!? "Would you kindly play that Comet Storm targeting yourself for - how much life do you have again?"

Finally, don't forget that Nightmare gets +1/+1 from Chainer whether it was reanimated by him or not! That's some kinda synergy, baby.

Old Maybes: Balthor the Defiled , Butcher of Malakir , Coalition Relic , Erebos, God of the Dead , Exquisite Blood , Grave Betrayal , Grim Monolith , Hythonia the Cruel , Liliana of the Dark Realms , Mana Vault , Necropolis Regent , Reaper from the Abyss , Scorched Ruins (An "F" or Foil mark indicates that a card is slated "For Removal" if it's in the Mainboard, or "For Insertion" if in the Maybeboard.)

The Chompy Masterpiece Collection: Vol. I: Intet Dreams of Yesterday’s Day After Tomorrow (2008)Vol. II: The Great Chain (2009)Vol. III: Sliver Overlord Is Watching You (2010)Vol. IV: The One Where Radiant Gets Mad (2010)Vol. V: The Salvation Army (2011)Vol. VI: Zero-Point Omnath (2012)Vol. VII: Wu Daze, Blue Knights (2013)Vol. VIII: Mach Daddy Karn (2014)Vol. IX: Τὰ Πυρὰ τοῦ ὈλύμπουThe Fires of Olympus (2014)

Date added	10 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	WURG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.89
Tokens	Centaur 3/3 G w/ Pro Black, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH