I made this deck as a proof of concept for using Yawgmoth as a fast combo commander.
This deck is definitely a work in progress.
Mono black has notably rather sub par interaction by cEDH standards, and I'm likely running far too little interaction in this list presently. The only interaction pieces I really have in here are
Slaughter Pact
,
Praetor's Grasp
, and
Faerie Macabre
. The latter two are exceptional, but there is probably room for more hate/removal/protection in this deck. An
Imp's Mischief
, some
Duress
effects, some creature removal, etc.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
,
Cavern of Souls
,
Hope of Ghirapur
, and
Defense Grid
are our only protection.
As for the deck: it is certainly not optimized at this time, but it really does have to run lean on interaction due to the fact that card:Bolas's Citdel lines would have us tiptoeing around our own removal and Yawgmoth himself requires a good number of bodies and sources of bodies for his experiments.
Prognosis
There are three main ways this deck tries to win:
-
Ad Nauseam
If we cast Ad Nauseam and no one has been wreaking havoc on our life total, we will generally draw enough cards to win the game using one of the deck's payoffs.
Bolas's Citadel
In combination with our commander, who can put all the lands you encounter into your hand, this card can easily draw our entire deck. Fitting that the two biggest bad boys in Magic history would have such game-winning synergy. This card has very notable interactions with Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, and
Sensei's Divining Top
.
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
The man himself! There are a number of low-mana-investment bodies and mana-positive cards in this deck that can frequently enable Yawgmoth to draw you as many cards as you want (or at least killing all opposing creatures) as early as turns 3 and 4, and occasionally before then.
Terminal Conditions
-
Aetherflux Reservoir
is often the go-to storm win condition in EDH, and as a deck that makes frequent use of life as a resource, it is also a welcome source of lifegain. This can easily kill people when you are drawing and playing a lot of cards.
Zulaport Cutthroat
and
Blood Artist
not only negate the life we have to pay for Yawgmoth's ability the same way
Deathgreeter
does, but they can kill our opponents at the same time. If you run out of cards while attempting this method, there is always
Elixir of Immortality
, or you can slot in an Eldrazi Titan like
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
, but those have high cmc and can cause problems when using
Ad Nauseam
or
Bolas's Citadel
.
Occasionally you will find yourself with an unbounded amount of mana when playing this deck. There are technically lots of ways to do this, but the most intuitive way is to use the two-card combo Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth
. With infinite mana,
Walking Ballista
becomes your best friend, and Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top
becomes an infinite draw engine that doesn't require you to pay life or sacrifice creatures.
Using
Elixir of Immortality
, mana positive cards like
Dark Ritual
, and any of our ways to draw infinite cards (usually involving our commander and a
Deathgreeter
effect), it is also possible to use
Praetor's Grasp
to kill opponents by drawing through your deck repeatedly and casting it until all opponents' libraries have been exiled face down. This is unlikely to be helpful except in very rare cases, since all of the above methods will usually be available if we can draw our whole deck.
With a shell similar to this, many other combos can be added to the deck--some for as little as one card. It's possible and likely that I am missing worthy includes, as well as including unnecessary cards.
Operation in Progress
Just how should you pilot this deck?
The
Ad Nauseam
line is the easiest way to win with this list. Casting an early Ad Nauseam, especially with protection, is liable to win you the game a lot of the time; so if you see a route toward doing that, go for it. However, I daresay that the printing of
Narset's Reversal
and its popularity in cEDH makes casting even an uncounterable Ad Nauseam quite a bit riskier than it used to be.
I won't usually tutor for
Bolas's Citadel
, as it often plays out sort of like a less consistent, easier-to-stop Ad Nauseam. If you have
Sensei's Divining Top
already, a citadel may benefit you a lot. Generally, Citadel is worth trying to cast quickly if it's in your hand.
The most difficult and complicated route to victory is quite commonly your best one, though. When you start trying to go off with
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
, it can be difficult to know in advance whether you will just run out of mana or cards and hit a dead end. However, the bulk of the card choices in this deck were made to give you the best odds of being able to use Yawgmoth to turn a few resources into a whole lot. Some star players to that end are
Carnival of Souls
, any undying creature or
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
and any two non-human creatures,
Genesis Chamber
,
Nest of Scarabs
and
Skirge Familiar
; there are a lot of similar effects to these in the deck, since every bit of extra redundancy increases the odds of hitting critical mass and winning the game when cycling through creatures.
Entomb
usually finds
Bridge from Below
or a reanimator target like
Skirge Familiar
.
The X-cost creatures in this deck are often best when cast for zero mana. There are lots of things in the deck that turn their etb/death triggers into value.
Anyway, I am not exactly proud of this, but I think I have worked on it enough for now.
Comments and Feedback are Welcome!