Read the Bones

Sorcery

Scry 2, then draw two cards. You lose 2 life. (To scry 2, look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order.)

Combos

• Read the Bones + Whip of Erebos

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 (51)

HeavenlyAxe on

4 weeks ago

Hey Indie,

First off I really like the lands you have assembled and the suggestions from SufferFromEDHD are all good.

You are definitely going to want an artifact ramp package.

Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Gilded Lotus, Thran Dynamo

Special Mention to Nyx Lotus, it could be good being in mono black. and Jeweled Lotus, pays for your commander for free on turn 1 even.

Sword of the Animist is not bad ramp at all and buffs yours rats

Commander's Plate might be cute.

Liliana of the Dark Realms, makes sure you always get a land drop and could make your swamps tap for four.

Chittering Witch if your playing with more opponents.

Crypt Ghast is sort of ramp, but doubles your swamps. Very good in mono black.

Dauthi Voidwalker is not on theme at all but is just sooo much value in a two cost card I have to recommend it.

God-Eternal Bontu is excellent draw power in the right situation.

Dont forget you can run any number of Relentless Rats

Gray Merchant of Asphodel will heal you up a lot and hurt your opponents

Krav, the Unredeemed is also great card draw.

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, has card draw, removal, and proliferate all on one card

Deadly Rollick, potentially free removal

Defile, cheap good removal

Thrilling Encore saves you from a board wipe or lets you bring everything back after sacrificing it all to like God-Eternal Bontu

Phyrexian Arena some ok card draw.

Bojuka Bog if you are worried about graveyards

Mutilate, a good board wipe in mono black

Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Sign in Blood, are a great draw package for mono black

Toxic Deluge a great board wipe for when things need resetting, and you could follow with Thrilling Encore and get it all back

Syphon Mind is great draw if your playing with more players

Victimize - is really really strong, get rid of one weak thing for two of your best things

Yawgmoth's Will - lets you treat your graveyard like your hand for a turn

Lord Skitter, Sewer King makes rats

Marrow-Gnawer - lets you make lots of rats

Infectious Inquiry - good draw and gives poison

Ogre Slumlord - makes rats when your creatures or your opponents creatures die.

Tangled Colony - if your opponent has to block it or it dies to like Blasphemous Act will make you rats

Vraska's Fall removal and poison counter

Drown in Ichor removal and poison

Bontu's Monument all your creatures cost less

Rat Colony can have any number and they buff themselves, and cost less mana than Relentless Rats

Typhoid Rats deathtouch rat opponents wont want to block

Crypt Rats can board wipe but can also win the game if you give it infect, doesnt work with your commander because toxic specifies combat damage but does work if you give it infect and deal damage with it's ability.

Ratcatcher tutors rats, and gives you card advantage

Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm - buffs your rats and lets you get rats back

Wave of Rats has blitz and reanimates itself

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni rat that steals opponents stuff

Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion rat that steals opponents stuff

Adaptive Automaton is a rat and buffs rats

Okiba-Gang Shinobi rat makes opponents discard and has ninjutsu

Filth gives all your rats swampwalk pairs well with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Dark Ritual lets your get a head start or some extra mana a turn you need it

Tainted Strike instant speed infect, funny in multiplayer because you can use it on anyone's creatures.

Phyresis Outbreak gives poison and might kill opponents creatures

Feed the Swarm enchantment removal in black

Vat Emergence gets a creature back and proliferates

Spread the Sickness destroys a creatures and proliferates

Pact of the Serpent strong tribal card draw

Living Death swap graveyards with battlefields, great after sacrificing your whole board to draw cards

Skullclamp sack small rats for card draw

Thrumming Stone if you go the Relentless Rats or Rat Colony route

Coat of Arms your rats will be huge

Bolas's Citadel this card is dumb lol, lots of casting power and then you hit Gray Merchant of Asphodel and keep going lol

Icon of Ancestry kinda draw buffs rats...is ok

Contagion Engine proliferate twice each time you activate

Eldrazi Monument gives creatures flying indestructible and +1/+1

Grafted Exoskeleton gives a creature infect, great with Crypt Rats

Sword of Truth and Justice proliferate sword

Bad Moon buff all black creatures, opponents too

Phyresis gives infect again good with Crypt Rats

Greed card draw

Vraska, Betrayal's Sting proliferate planes walker

I know that's a lot but hopefully gave you some ideas to work with!

Profet93 on Tinybones, The Pickpocket

1 month ago

LivingThing +1

Nice low avg cmc. I don't think you have enough basics to consistently ramp with Cabal Stronghold. Have you considered swapping it for a Volrath's Stronghold or another utility land such as Buried Ruin to recur one of your artifacts?

What is the wincon, commander damage and/or value from thieving opponent's graves? If it is the former, perhaps a Hatred might serve you well? Or if it's the latter, a Strionic Resonator to double up on casting?

Do you feel you have enough draw, especially given your low avg cmc? A Read the Bones could help. I'm unsure if you're into combos but a Helm of Obedience goes with your voidwalker. It also fits on theme, although it's cmc is relatively high for this build.

Should you wish, Arterial Flow and Mind Twist are additional discard effects. Note that mind twist does say random. I love ramping into it early game and just neutering one opponent to make him easy to hit consistently.

Profet93 on EFF YOUR DUDES!

2 months ago

Deserted Temple - Untap coffers + politics

Thespian's Stage - Copy coffers, temple or another utility land

Imp's Mischief - Versatile utility. It can "counter" counterspells which is important depending on your meta as you sink all your mana into your commander (or one of your expensive wipes). It can also redirect targeted removal, draw and extra turns.

Oblivion Stone - Wipe that hits artifacts and enchantments

Erebos's Intervention > Battle of Bridge - You don't have enough artifacts to use effectively. Moreover, Erebos's is an instant and is flexible for grave hate.

Necropotence/Syphon Mind/Read the Bones/Night's Whisper/Sign in Blood - Draw

Maybe Strionic Resonator? - Double on all on your creature ETB's and most importantly your commander's ability

Maybe MImic Vat? - More ETBs and can use opposing creatures to deny GY synergies and abuse their ETBs as your own.

Profet93 on This Deck Does Not Believe In Free Will

2 months ago

Infernal Darkness - Contaminations cousin that doesn't shut off coffers

Read the Bones/Sign in Blood/Night's Whisper/Syphon Mind - Draw. I understand your commander tutors but you won't always be ensured that she lives to see your next turn. Having some draw to help you dig is crucial.

Perhaps some flexible spot removal like Sheoldred's Edict?

More than anything, you have a lot of high cmc cards and long winded combos which are difficult to pull off, even with a tutor in the command zone. Some ramp can help you, Arcane Signet and Mind Stone come to mind. Lowering the avg cmc of this deck + adding more draw and ramp = more consistency in achieving your goal. Having a plan B (and C) is fine until it takes too much away from Plan A.

Crow_Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

2 months ago

Thank you Profet93, I appreciate it.

The Night's Whisper was a recent re-addition. I had a rough game about a month ago where I got more mana flooded with this deck than I've ever been. I'm sure I have a Read the Bones around in one of my commons boxes, it's just I had a Night's Whisper more immediately on hand in my Black binder.

I was also considering Deadly Dispute for the slot, as I've used it before in some of my other decks that also make creature and/or treasure tokens.

Waiting for the rest of MKM/MKC spoilers before I make any more potential new additions, but could def see Night's Whisper swapped with either Deadly Dispute or Read the Bones.

Profet93 on Haunted Shadowheart

3 months ago

Vessiliana

To deal with stalling out, more draw can't hurt. Syphon Mind, Phyrexian Arena, Read the Bones, Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Ambition's Cost and Ancient Craving are all decent ideas.

I would add some more interaction as a preventative measure for staying power such as Contamination and/or Infernal Darkness. How are they gonna wipe if they can't cast spells? Swapping out your 4cmc lili for Karn, the Great Creator could be worth considering as well. Having one of the above enchantments + karn = fun times.

I personally disagree with insidious dreams because 1) It's an additional cost to cast. Without any anti-blue measures in the deck, this would be strongly meta dependent IMO. 2) It doesn't bring the cards to hand. Even ignoring mill, you have to wait to draw them or cast an additional draw spell just to get them. Why not add a more expensive CMC card that can accomplish what you're looking for? Your avg cmc is low enough to support it. Something like Peer into the Abyss (synergy with Archfiend of Despair) or Diabolic Revelation might work for you. Never hurts to try insidious though.

While not necessary, have you considered an alternate wincon? Rings of Brighthearth + cabal coffers + Deserted Temple = {INFINITY}{B}. You have a lot of flexibility in your landbase, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can reduce the amount of swamps you need. Temple can be used for politics and ramp with coffers on it's own. Rings synergizes with your commander, your shadowborn apostyles and several other cards. Adding in fetches could allow you to ramp. All depends on your goals + budget.

You have no instants. While I'm personally biased, Imp's Mischief can "counter" counterspells and redirect targeted removal, draw and extra turns! You definitely need an instant or two to bluff.

Profet93 on Ob Nixilis, of the Combo

3 months ago

Willmsy

I haven't kept up with anything past March 2020.

Draw

Syphon Mind - Draw 3, opponents discard 1 each.

Read the Bones - Draw with scry

Sign in Blood/Night's Whisper/Ancient Craving - Simple draw

Necropotence - Super draw

Ramp

Mana Vault

Mana Crypt

Grim Monolith

Basalt Monolith - I am actually not a fan of this one, grim monolith is better because it can bring your commander down Turn 3. Basalt + Rings + 2 mana = Infinite colorless. Add a Sensei's Divining Top to draw your whole deck. Note; Adding top to the rings + deserted temple + coffers combo also allows you to draw (and then cast) your entire deck

Dark Ritual - Helpful in a pinch

Bubbling Muck - Super ramp. Be careful with urborg out though as it affects all players.

Jet Medallion - Cost reducer

Mind Stone - Ramp when you need it, draw when you don't

I don't recommend everything above, just wanted to give you options to consider based on budget, availability and preference. Let me know if you would like suggestions for cuts.

wallisface on Zombies of the Westvale Abbey

3 months ago

Your deck is lacking any real form of interaction… letting your opponent just do what they want is a really dangerous place to be! As both Read the Bones and Fog aren’t really doing anything for you here, i’d replace them both with killspells like Fatal Push Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Trophy, and/or Infernal Grasp.

Without any real graveyard shenanigans, Gravecrawler isn’t great here, and you’re probably better off with something like Shambling Ghast to provide some chump-blocking and potential ramp/removal.