Demonic Vigor

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.

When enchanted creature dies, return that card to its owner's hand.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (40)

trippy_mcfly on

2 years ago

Cool deck. I'm here to offer some suggestions after you pointed me here from your other deck.

Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip is a powerful commander and generates insane advantage in 4-player games. Let's take a look at this deck and see what it is doing, and then streamline it. I see three main objectives of this deck:

1 - RAMPING.

This is pretty much a primary objective of any commander deck, since if your only source of mana is playing one land per turn, you're going to fall way behind. Your main ramping plan for this deck is to double lands, using Cabal Coffers, Cabal Stronghold, Caged Sun, Crypt Ghast, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, and Nirkana Revenant. This is super cool and probably a pretty strong plan. We want to try to maximize this plan. How can we do that?

All of these cards want you to load up on basic swamps, which you did. We want to make sure we are playing a basic swamp every turn. Solemn Simulacrum is definitely a worthwhile add. Liliana of the Dark Realms is very helpful and I'm happy to see her in this deck. Often times Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a worthwhile add for decks with Cabal Coffers. I think it is worth it here. Although you yourself don't have many non-swamps that will benefit from Urborg, you are likely going to be stealing people's lands with Tergrid, and counting those as swamps will be helpful for you.

How else can we keep getting swamps onto the battlefield to power up this strategy? Card draw. The more cards in your hand the higher the chance you will have a swamp to play every turn. Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood are great for this. Disciple of Bolas is solid too. Dread Presence loves swamps and is a must-add. I would add Phyrexian Arena, which is great card draw for you. Necropotence, one of the craziest cards in the game, is also a worthwhile addition. Not as good but worth consideration are Yawgmoth's Bargain and Null Profusion. Two other well-known card draw machines in black are Dark Confidant and Bolas's Citadel. You have some costly spells in your deck, so they might be a bit of a liability. If you want to include them, Sensei's Divining Top pairs very well with them.

Just because you are mainly ramping with land doubling doesn't mean there isn't room for other ramping as well. You have Black Market, which I have never personally tested, but is probably decent. Black has some explosive, single-turn ramp with Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Culling the Weak. These cards would do well in letting you get out expensive plays ahead of schedule, mainly Tergrid. Artifact ramp is also great in any deck. I would add Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Jeweled Lotus, and Jet Medallion. I would consider adding even more artifact ramp as well. Getting down Tergrid as early as turn 1 or 2 is just so good.

2 - SACRIFICE AND DISCARD.

Once you have Tergrid out, sacrifice and discard become powerful effects that let you take control of your opponent's permanents. This is insane advantage and if left unchecked for very long will win you the game. Syphon Mind while Tergrid is in play not only puts you up 4 cards in comparison to each opponent (since they each went down 1 and you went up 3), but also could net you 3 more cards if they discard permanents that then go onto your field. That's insane. Let's take a look at all the cards you have that enable Tergrid:

SACRIFICE:

Archfiend of Depravity - A one-sided, almost board wipe that repeats every turn? Pretty solid. Getting the creatures onto your field with Tergrid? That is nuts. The one issue is that some commander decks won't have that many more than 2 creatures on the field when this comes down, and if they do, then this card and/or Tergrid become a big target, but if you survive the turn, this and your commander will put you ahead so far.

Butcher of Malakir - Similar to Archfiend. If this guy sticks around for a bit, you're going to be at such an advantage. It costs 7 which is a bit high and very vulnerable to something like Mana Drain, so I wouldn't be super upset if you cut it, but it is great with Tergrid.

Gatekeeper of Malakir - This guy only costs three and steals a creature if Tergrid is on the field. Love it.

Phyrexian Obliterator - If someone is dumb enough to deal damage to this guy, then you're getting a lot of their permanents! I don't love this card for you. People will just leave it alone and then you just hit someone for 5 each turn or leave up a blocker, which is a bit slow.

Sheoldred, Whispering One - Similar to Archfiend. If this guy sticks around for a bit, you're going to be at such an advantage. It costs 7 which is a bit high and very vulnerable to something like Mana Drain, so I wouldn't be super upset if you cut it, but it is great with Tergrid.

Torment of Hailfire - Expensive and liable to be countered but if it resolves then you will get a ton of value!

Dictate of Erebos - I like it. Let's say you have 10 mana. Cast Tergrid, then somebody goes to kill him. Flash this card in. Now, you at least get 3 of your opponents creatures on the way out!

Grave Pact - I like this as well. You can't flash it in, but if you put this card on the field, then people will have to kill this before Tergrid comes down or else end up giving you their creatures.

The Eldest Reborn - Immediate impact with Tergrid on the field, pretty good value on its own. Definitely a keep.

DISCARD:

Liliana, Defiant Necromancer - You need to flip her first, but once flipped she is great.

Syphon Mind - Great.

Torment of Hailfire - Expensive and liable to be countered but if it resolves then you will get a ton of value!

The Eldest Reborn - Immediate impact with Tergrid on the field, pretty good value on its own. Definitely a keep.

... and that's it. We need more cards that are busted with Tergrid! The following would be great adds to your deck: Smallpox, Dark Deal, Liliana's Triumph, Plaguecrafter, Soul Shatter, Mire in Misery, Innocent Blood, Vona's Hunger, Death Cloud, Burglar Rat, Demon's Disciple, Fleshbag Marauder, Elderfang Disciple, Liliana, Waker of the Dead, Bottomless Pit, Fraying Omnipotence, Rotting Rats, Cunning Lethemancer, Merciless Executioner, and a personal favorite: Smokestack.

Notice that all of these cards are typically even trades (ex: I play Elderfang Disciple, going down 1 card, everyone else goes down 1 card.) These aren't great on their own since it costs you mana to do so, and, in the case of discard and sacrifice, the opponent gets to choose an asset that they are least upset to get rid of, making them actually below-even trades. However, they become insanely busted with Tergrid. (ex: I play Elderfang Disciple, going down 1 card in hand for a measly 1/1. But, I get a Carpet of Flowers, basic plains, and Birds of Paradise on my field? Now that's an amazing play). Therefore, the ones that are recurring are better, since they give you more chances to make sure they resolve while Tergrid is on the field. (ex: I play Cunning Lethemancer and my opponent kills Tergrid. Later in the turn I play Tergrid again, albeit for 7 mana now due to commander tax. Next turn, with the Lethemancer trigger, I get some great value!)

Here are some other cards that work well with Tergrid, although they only target one opponent: Sudden Edict, Hellish Rebuke, Pharika's Libation, Diabolic Edict, Duress, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Chain of Smog, Despise, and Divest.

Notice that in the absence of Tergrid, these cards are negative trades. They set you and an opponent back by putting you both down one card. The other two opponents are left untouched. Seeing them early in the game is not particularly helpful since you'd rather spend the early game ramping. They are great and slowing down whoever is winning, but at the expense of your own board. There is a trade-off here, since these can be leveraged politically. "Each opponent discards a card"" can give you tons of value with Tergrid on the field but makes you 3 enemies. "Target opponent discards a card"" gives you not as much value in general but you can leverage this to make someone else the common enemy or make a deal with a player ("if you don't attack me next turn I won't target you with my Duress"). Things like Duress can also target specific cards, which is an added benefit for you and an added detriment to the opponent.

I would run some from each category, probably with an emphasis on maximizing Tergrid value.

3 - DRAIN AND GAIN.

Blood Artist and other cards gain you one life and drain your opponent one life. This is cool and certainly an interesting archetype of a deck. It doesn't synergize with Tergrid particularly well. I personally would not use this strategy at all in this deck and maximize the Tergrid plan. However, Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond is an awesome combo and an unexpected way to finish the game for you while people are busy dealing with Tergrid. If you want to keep this, I would trim some of the other cards, such as Exsanguinate and maybe Underworld Dreams.

---

So, now that we know what the 3 objectives are, and have maybe cut the third, we have a bit more of a plan. I've suggested adding some card draw and mana rocks for ramp, and tons more Tergrid synergy. What are the cuts? I would say anything that doesn't fit in with the objectives, so basically any card I haven't mentioned already, unless it gives great value on its own. I'll go through some:

Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are incredible cards and provide great value. Diabolic Tutor, Scheming Symmetry, and Shrouded Lore are worse tutor effects and should probably be moved to the maybe board. Sudden Spoiling is interesting and stops somebody from comboing off on their turn so is probably worth it. Reanimate is good value and should probably stay, same with Animate Dead. Demonic Vigor protects creatures but not Tergrid, unless you want him going to your hand. This is risky but probably fine. I could see him getting countered and then removed from your graveyard which puts you back majorly, but I could also see you avoiding commander tax. Worth looking into. Undying Evil is strictly better since it has instant speed and keeps him on the field. We might also want to protect him with Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots

Coffin Queen is too expensive and vulnerable. Drana, Liberator of Malakir is cool for aggressive strategies and can help you close out the game but is out of place in this deck. Falkenrath Noble is an overcosted Blood Artist. Gonti, Lord of Luxury is a value creature that if you can get his ETB many times, which your deck can't really do. Grave Titan isn't worth it in this deck. Gravedigger is fine but might be a bit slow. Helldozer is probably not worth it unless you want to pick on somebody lol. Korlash, Heir to Blackblade is not worth it. Massacre Wurm might not be worth it. Nighthowler isn't worth it. Opposition Agent is always a good add. Phage the Untouchable is too slow and vulnerable. Sepulchral Primordial might not be worth it. Skirsdag High Priest is probably not worth it. Syr Konrad, the Grim is not worth it. Wight of Precinct Six is not worth it. Tainted Strike is not worth it. Lashwrithe is not worth it. That's about 15 cuts right there.

Props to you for building Tergrid and having an interesting ramp strategy. I think if you go more in on the Tergrid plan by cutting unrelated cards for cards that ramp or are good with Tergrid then your deck will be a lot more reliable. After all, the most fun part of this deck is going off with Tergrid!

Hope this helps.

KBK7101 on Sengir and Kediss - Dark Privilege (v1.6)

2 years ago

Diamanacle - Sounds good! Looking forward to feedback. Cards that on the chopping block so far are Blood Pet, Greed, Demonic Vigor, Siege-Gang Commander and Torch Courier. Am probably gonna add Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Intent, Deadly Rollick and Shadowspear (which I forgot I had).

BPWyndon - Massacre Girl was in the deck while I was playtesting it before posting on here. She seems great, but whenever I add her to a deck I just end up flashing back using her on Arena with a board full of creatures and the resulting MASSIVE stack and it gives me a headache and I end up removing her. lol She definitely has potential though. I'll toss her on the maybeboard.

passimo on Pauper Curses

2 years ago

Love the idea, fan of drain meccanics too +1.

I know you made this deck with spare cards, but if you ever wanted to look for an upgrade here's my thoughts:

Firstly, you nave a high curve, so you could afford to waste time with tapped lands. Bojuka Bog is always nice to have in the mainboard. Or some Barren Moor given the deck's draw rate.

Marauding Blight-Priest is generally (Hello Lightning Bolt ) a straight up better Epicure of Blood . Less survivable but lets you waste less time you could use to play curses later.

(My opinion) I really don't like Quag Sickness for its cmc. I think you could use instead 3 Cast Down for some instant speed scenario, but if you want to keep the enchantment theme for the joy of Gary I'd find something better, like Death's Approach .

Looking at the sideboard, same goes for Unholy Indenture . Unfortunately, that awsome Seb McKinnon art is terribly wasted. Cards like Demonic Vigor do the same job.

As I said, I know you are using spare cards, but if you like my ideas maybe you could gather some of these among tour friends. That's one of pauper's advantages after all. Have fun!

bradtheimpaler13 on Mosh Pit

2 years ago

Rune-Scarred Demon or Abhorrent Overlord maybe? There's lots of cards that trigger a reanimation effect upon death similar to Unholy Indenture . Shade's Form Kaya's Ghostform Demonic Vigor Unhallowed Pact Undying Evil Minion's Return that can all recur Kardy.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Lurrus Artifact Aristocrats

3 years ago

This looks pretty cool. I have my own Lurrus list, maybe take a look?

Sadistic Kitty (Lurrus Eggs)

I like your synergy with Apostle of the vault. Also, Enduring Renewal is great for Lurrus. Cards you should really take a look at are Stitcher's Supplier, Reanimate Dead, Omen of the Dead, Kaya's Ghostform and Demonic Vigor.

Orange+ on

3 years ago

Hey man, great to see that you've added your take on Horobi, Death's Wail EDH :)

It looks like this deck has quite a few cool mechanisms that I haven't considered. But there's also a few things I'm unsure about.

Like Archfiend of Ifnir. You realise that this effect, and the effects of other "each creature" effects don't trigger Horobi, Death's Wail? The only other cards I can see the -1/-1 counters synergize with, are Necroskitter and Contagion Clasp. But I guess it fits with a -1/-1 theme, if thats what you are aiming for?

Just in case, I would also like to point out the anti-synergy between the auras like Demonic Vigor and Horobi, Death's Wail's effect because of the fact that auras target their creature when cast. But you probably already know this and is planning to use the auras before casting Horobi, in that case, you are all good :)

You could possibly swap Manalith for Darksteel Ingot.

Other than these observations I really like Grimoire of the Dead. That looks like a ton of fun! I am also curious that you chose the more mana expensive Bone Harvest over Raise Dead, and I am wondering if this is a trade I should do in my own deck. Bone Harvest does definitely have more value, and is way better than Raise Dead later in the game.

Thanks for sharing.

osiczym on Immortal Knights

3 years ago

Very nice deck! Very original and has a main interesting theme that looks like working well!

My suggestions: I would definitely swap Demonic Vigor for any enchantment with Totem Armor. I’d say preferably Felidar Umbra since lifelink is very powerful addon, but also Eland Umbra to make knights even more though or Hyena Umbra if you really need it for 1 mana (cause you already have fs in most creats). I don’t think you have mana for Mammoth Umbra but if so it really fits your deck giving vigilance and +3 buff. Anyway - totem armor is much better than Demonic because the enchanted creature remains on the table instead of going back to your hand.

Other interesting cards: Paladin en-Vec (I played it couple times and it is just a good card but not sure if it fits your deck well), Vault of the Archangel (you are looking for a good land and combo lifelink + deathtouch (from land) + first strike + vigilance (from your cards) sounds awesome

criddlegakes on Angels and Demon

3 years ago

I would get rid of Demonic Rising, Mark of the Oni, Expedite and Reign of the Pit.

I would replace Demon's Grasp with 4 copies of Terminate.

Demonic Vigor is fine but I wouldn't have 4 and it's low on the priority list of cards to keep.