There Can Be Only Kuon (Budget EDH)

Commander / EDH* Budget Combo Mono-Black Reanimator

Futuremonk

Death Trigger (32)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Deathgreeter
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Dross Harvester
• 1x Dross Scorpion
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Gate to the Afterlife
• 1x Gavony Unhallowed
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Gristle Grinner
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Jar of Eyeballs
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Lightning Coils
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Rotlung Reanimator
• 1x Sadistic Glee
• 1x Scavenger Drake
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Shadows of the Past
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Swarm of Bloodflies
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Village Cannibals
• 1x Workshop Assistant
• 1x Xathrid Necromancer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Tutor (7)

• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Jar of Eyeballs
• 1x Razaketh's Rite
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Tamiyo's Journal

Key to Combo (2)

• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Thornbite Staff

Discard (1)

• 1x Tortured Existence

Graveyard Removal (1)

• 1x Shred Memory

Land (40)

• 40x Swamp

Life Gain (10)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Deathgreeter
• 1x Dross Harvester
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Gate to the Afterlife
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Vampiric Rites
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Recursion (10)

• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Skeleton Shard
• 1x Tortured Existence
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Workshop Assistant

Tokens (9)

• 1x Lightning Coils
• 1x Necromancer's Stockpile
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Renegade's Getaway
• 1x Rotlung Reanimator
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Xathrid Necromancer

Ramp (8)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Leaden Myr
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Priest of Gix
• 1x Sifter of Skulls

Removal (3)

• 1x Blasting Station
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Dictate of Erebos

Untap (2)

• 1x Dross Scorpion
• 1x Thornbite Staff

Scry (1)

• 1x Shadows of the Past

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Protection (9)

• 1x Cloak and Dagger
• 1x Isolation Cell
• 1x Mask of Avacyn
• 1x Orbs of Warding
• 1x Renegade's Getaway
• 1x Rush of Vitality
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak
• 1x Witchbane Orb
• 1x Without Weakness

Pump (9)

• 1x Cloak and Dagger
• 1x Gavony Unhallowed
• 1x Gristle Grinner
• 1x Mask of Avacyn
• 1x Rush of Vitality
• 1x Sadistic Glee
• 1x Scavenger Drake
• 1x Swarm of Bloodflies
• 1x Village Cannibals

Burn (8)

• 1x Blasting Station
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Draw (6)

• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Necromancer's Stockpile
• 1x Razaketh's Rite
• 1x Tamiyo's Journal
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Vampiric Rites

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Maybeboard

Ramp (1)

• 1x Carnival of Souls

Recursion (1)

• 1x Oversold Cemetery

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This deck is based around one combo: Hell's Caretaker + Thornbite Staff .

It works like this: 1) equip Thornbite Staff to Hell's Caretaker; 2) have one other creature in play and one in your graveyard; 3) sac the other creature in play to return the one from the graveyard; 4) untap Hell's Caretaker due to Thornbite Staff ; 5) repeat as many times as you want for nearly unlimited benefits.

Wincons include: 1) having Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble, or Zulaport Cutthroat be either the extra creature in play or the one in the graveyard; 2) having Plague Belcher in play and a zombie to sac or recur (then sac); 3) creating unending tokens by having anything that is in both the Tokens and the Death Matters category in play and then sacking them with Blasting Station and untapping it each time you recur a creature; 4) surviving a turn then attacking everyone with a countless army of tokens.

Since this deck is so centered around this one combo, there is a ton to protect Hell's Caretaker and whatever other creatures you may want to be in play when you pull off the combo. There are also several tutors that can fetch you the cards you need, as well as a bunch of recursion.

The combo description focuses on ETB and LTB triggers, but I think that is too narrow. With this deck, the focus is "whenever a creature dies," which means you can have a lot more going at once.

Kuon, Ogre Ascendant is actually decent in case you struggle to pull off the combo or it gets irreparably foiled (e.g. Thornbite Staff or Hell's Caretaker getting exiled). Once he transforms into his Kuon's Essence form, which won't take long, he guarantees that creatures will keep dying and setting off all your triggers.

Upvotes and suggestions welcome!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Hell's Caretaker + Thornbite Staff
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	23 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.20
Tokens	Clue, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elemental 3/1 R, Goat 0/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Rat 1/1 B, Servo 1/1 C, Zombie 2/2 B