Liliana of the Dark Realms would be a great addition to this.

Volrath combos really well with reanimation effects so maybe include some cards like Exhume , Reanimate , and Phyrexian Delver

Yeah, you're right about Liliana. The reason she's still in the Maybeboard is because I don't have one yet. You're also right about the reanimation. This was a different deck when I first started building it, so I know I missed some things. I'll dig back through my collection and see what I've got.

Phyrexian Reclamation might be a good, lower-costed way to get things back into your hand for Volrath's ability.

That's a good idea. The people I play and trade with right now weren't buying cards during Urza Block, but I think my brother might have one. I'll check.

Black is not my strongest colour but ill have a go.

Ill suggest City of Shadows even though its a black deck... perhaps you can sac opponents creatures.

Creature removal, card:Eyeblight's Ending Rend Flesh Slaughter Pact Altar of Shadows .

Rain of Filth and maybe even Spoils of Evil is a great way to finish off an Exsanguinate ftw lol.

+1 Im not sure there are many ideas I could add to this lol. Very good build.

Yeah, Altar of Shadows almost made it in, but just missed the cut as one of the last two cards to come out. I'll see what I can do to cram it back in there. I still haven't had the chance to play a game against another person yet, so if experience shows me I still need more spot removal or "suicide ramp" I'll also consider the other things you mentioned. Thanks for taking a look.

Bloodrite Invoker should go. Its effect for 8 mana is just not strong enough in EDH for it to be useful. I'd also cut yourself down to 37 lands, as 39 is a lot since you have so many mana rocks. That being said, Crypt of Agadeem would make for another good addition with all the creature discard you'll be doing.

Cards like Zombify and Rise from the Grave work wonders with decks like this. You have a lot of reanimation stuff and things to bring back creatures from your graveyard, so be worried about graveyard hate. cards like Pithing Needle can lockdown hate cards like card:Tormod's Crypt.

try throwing in some card draw like Necropotence , Phyrexian Arena , Skeletal Scrying , or Necrologia . Trading life for cards in black is a nice thing to have.

Hope this helps

Yeah, maybe I should cut 1-2 land and the Invoker and try to fit in some more card draw and reanimation. My one concern with Necropotence is getting caught underneath it, since I don't have any extra copies of card:Nevinyrral's Disk, Oblivion Stone , or Infernal Tribute in my collection right now. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play the deck in some real games soon, so then I'll have a better feel for what it still needs and what it doesn't.

It all depends if you wanna combo quick or not. I understand the potential threat of Necropotence , I use it in a combo deck and unless you find your cards quick you're screwed. However if someone tries to remove it you can always just draw a ton of cards off it in response.

Phyrexian Arena might be a better fit for your deck then since it has a much lower board presence and is less likely to cause problems late-game. Its slower but from what i see this deck isn't really about speed.

Try to use Dauthi Embrace when you attack with Volrath and discard a lot of card! Ten years ago this was my favorite combo with che mono black! An use Hatred when attacking with shadow creature! ;-)

This deck with the mana base, doesn't need Grim Monolith I also agree with the idea of cutting Bloodrite Invoker his ability costs too much for his pay out. I like the deck seems like itll draw nice and Volrath the Fallen and his ability can do dastardly things to people. my only other suggestion is maybe one or two instant kills card:Hero's Demise is a good general remover at any point Go for the Throat is boss as well

You're right, sometimes I feel like the deck is a bit too heavy on the artifact mana. I'll back off on some of it, get rid of the Invoker, and replace them all with more "do stuff" cards.

have you thought of the big eldrazi for volraths ability.

Hmmm, no I haven't. I think I have an extra Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and It That Betrays laying around. Thanks for the idea.

Referring to your post in the EDH help thread, I think I see part of the problem. Your creatures are all really expensive, so you don't really accomplish much as far as board position goes until you have either ramped or made 6+ land drops. There are two options (although they aren't mutually exclusive): lower the mana curve or include more ramp.

Cards I would cut:

• Chancellor of the Dross - Although the effect is nice in multiplayer, this is a dead card in your opener and it isn't really all that powerful later on.
• Dread - Seems good on paper, but generally doesn't perform in practice.
• Laquatus's Champion - Seems underwhelming.
• Nightmare - Only really good as a beater; underwhelming.
• Ob Nixilis, the Fallen - Seems underwhelming.
• Vengeful Pharaoh - Seems underwhelming.
• Woebearer - Seems underwhelming.
• Chill to the Bone - Expensive.
• Tendrils of Corruption - Seems underwhelming.
• Barren Moor - Slow as a land, unnecessary.
• Bottomless Vault - Slow, unnecessary.
• Dakmor Salvage - Slow, unnecessary.
• Desert - Unnecessary.
• Ebon Stronghold - Slow, unnecessary.
• Leechridden Swamp - Slow, unnecessary.
• Peat Bog - Slow, unnecessary.
• Polluted Mire - Slow as a land, unnecessary.
• Corrupt - Slow, expensive, hindered in usefulness by the high number of non-Swamp lands in your deck.

You might upgrade Charcoal Diamond to Jet Medallion .

Is there a particular reason six of your Swamps are non-snow? I'm actually more surprised that you have non-snow basics because snow basics come with some extra benefits in monocolored decks (see my first recommendation below).

Cards I would consider adding:

• Extraplanar Lens - If you drop the unnecessary nonbasic lands and go for an almost all snow basic lineup (with some utility lands), you can get a lot of ramp power out of this card. The benefit of using snow lands is it doesn't spread the ramp to players who aren't using snow Swamps.
• Gauntlet of Power - Strong ramp.
• Caged Sun - Strong ramp.
• Demonic Tutor - Cheaper option for tutoring, although it does cost more monetarily.
• Necropotence - Consistent draw power.
• Ultimate Price , Go for the Throat , Doom Blade , Vendetta , Slaughter Pact , Snuff Out - Strong, cheap removal options.
• Thawing Glaciers - Land toolboxing.
• Expedition Map - Useful for finding Cabal Coffers or other utility lands.
• Sensei's Divining Top - Utility effect that helps you plan your next few moves and fix your draws.
• Reliquary Tower - Useful utility land.
• Sepulchral Primordial - Strong ability in multiplayer.
• All Is Dust - Serves as another boardwipe; mono-black has limited options for sweepers.
• Kiku, Night's Flower - Kills a lot of threatening creatures.
• Rune-Scarred Demon - Tutor on a powerful frame.
• Enslave - Good for stealing generals or threats.

Thanks for the help.

Of the cards you suggest for cuts, I'll go ahead and plan to take out Chancellor of the Dross , Dread , Laquatus's Champion , Woebearer , Barren Moor , Dakmor Salvage , Desert , Leechridden Swamp , and Polluted Mire , because I agree from experience they're not really all that hot. As for the rest of the cut suggestions, those are cards that have played well for me so far and I would like to hang on to them. However, some more of them may come out anyway as I make other changes.

The reason my swamps look like that is because when I was looking for land I decided on a whim to use all the snow swamps I could find in my commons box and fill the rest in with Zendikar swamps. If I can collect more snow swamps I'll keep adding them to the deck.

A few of your suggestions are things I've already considered for the Maybeboard, but the rest of them are really good too. I'll add them to the list. I'll make my decisions about how to actually update the deck the next time I get a chance to sit down and mess with my cards.

Again, thank you very much for the help.

Epoc got most of my suggestions for you. I do have a few more; some are just solid and some are for hilarity's sake.

Suggestions:

Do or Die

Dregs of Sorrow

Living Death

Plague Wind

Syphon Mind

Sudden Spoiling

Intimidation

Oversold Cemetery

Thanks for the comment. Dregs of Sorrow , Plague Wind , and Syphon Mind are cards I definitely want to do. There used to be a Syphon Mind in here, but I can't remember why it got cut. Maybe it didn't actually make it to the first build (I originally started trying to build a Cao Cao, Lord of Wei deck, and when I abandoned that plan I tossed out a big pile of discard stuff).

how many people do you play with, if your playgroup isn't large enough, i wouldn't run Syphon Mind , Greed is better.

I almost always play Commander games with 3 or more opponents, so that makes Syphon Mind pretty good most of the time.

Good call on Greed . I'd be really surprised if I didn't have one laying around somewhere. I'll go look.

Cool deck. Seems pretty straight forward for black, but solid. Since you play 3+ opponents was wondering if you could take a look at my Clash of Wills; Braids, Conjurer Adept deck and see if there wasn't any good additions I missed. I saw you had been playing almost as long as I've been alive (but not quite) and thought you might have some nice ideas. Also thought from your profile description you might enjoy the deck idea, cause it is FUN!

No Draco? Interesting.