Bontu's Monument

Legendary Artifact

Black creature spells you cast cost less to cast.

Whenever you cast a creature spell, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

Discussion (50)

multimedia on Chainer Nightmare Reanimator

4 days ago

Hey, if you're wanting to take your deck into 8 or more power level (PL) then you really need to decide how you want to win the game? At 8 PL or higher to win infinite combos are the way to go. Chainer doesn't need to be a piece of the combo, his discard can be an enabler. Since Chainer cares about creatures then using combos that involve creatures is best.

Some creatures to play for combos: Worldgorger Dragon, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Gravecrawler, Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Walking Ballista, Murderous Redcap, Pitiless Plunderer, Dualcaster Mage, Reassembling Skeleton.

Some enablers for combos to play: Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Goblin Bombardment, Altar of Dementia, Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, Necromancy, Twinflame or Heat Shimmer.

Some win conditions for the combos: Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Walking Ballista, Murderous Redcap, Zealous Conscripts, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Dualcaster Mage, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Mayhem Devil, Goblin Bombardment, Bontu's Monument, Aetherflux Reservoir, Sunscorched Desert, Impact Tremors, Cut / Ribbons(Ribbions), Torment of Hailfire.

Some cards to play to protect combo: Deflecting Swat, Tibalt's Trickery, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Dualcaster Mage, Reverberate.

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Beyond combos some other good creatures to play: Dockside Extortionist, Magus of the Wheel, K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, Crypt Ghast, Plaguecrafter, Dualcaster Mage.

Expanding on loot can help to draw and get creatures faster into your graveyard: Buried Alive, Magus of the Wheel, Cathartic Reunion, Thrill of Possibility, Tormenting Voice, Azra Oddsmaker, Sire Of Insanity, Seize the Spoils.

Expanding on fast mana and/or big mana producers helps to have more mana to cast more spells which can assemble combos faster: Dockside Extortionist, K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, Crypt Ghast, Mana Crypt, Dark Ritual, Rite of Flame, Cabal Ritual, Burnt Offering, Sacrifice.

If you're interested in any of these suggestions then I offer more advice in another comment that includes further explaining the combos, more card advice as well as cuts to consider.

Good luck with your deck.

Masterful on Necronomicon | Teysa Karlov | Primer

1 week ago

Housegheist Oketra's Monument and Bontu's Monument provide semi-useful value on top of a not-very-consistent cost-reducer. Oketra's only reduces 9 of our creatures' mana costs, as we only have ~15 white creatures, and quite a few of them have only colored mana in their mana costs. That means it's mostly just a token-maker when we cast creatures, which isn't a super efficient way of making fodder. I much prefer fodder that's self-sufficient and can build us a board from nothing. Bontu's reduces the cost of more creatures, but it's non-death trigger drain isn't super useful since we're not looking to cast a ton of creatures. We'd much rather have our creatures die and bring them back.

Consistent ramp that can always tap for mana tends to be better for our strategy, especially since we can play it earlier than turn 3. Furthermore, cards like Knight of the White Orchid and Loyal Warhound provide valuable self-sufficient fodder in addition to mostly consistent ramp.

Housegheist on Necronomicon | Teysa Karlov | Primer

1 week ago

Ever thought about Oketra's Monument or Bontu's Monument?

I_drank_your_milk on Shadowborn Apostle Combo

1 month ago

metalflame I play this deck on MTGO, so imperial seal is actually not very expensive at all. If I were going to play this in paper I would definitely replace that with something else.

Thrumming Stone actually does work with Bontu's Monument and Aetherflux Reservoir, as play is just an old term for cast.

The reason for 40 Shadowborn Apostle is so that I can consistently hit at least one off of Thrumming Stone when comboing off, fewer than 40 means the deck would be much less consistent. Also, excess copies can be played in the hope of getting up to six to find Rune-Scarred Demon or can be sacrificed to Ayara to draw cards, so it is not too big of a deal to have 40 of them.

Finally, thank you so much for the suggestion of Plague of Vermin, that card seems extremely good and I will definitely be testing it.

Zuacamole on

3 months ago

I would suggest cutting some lands for some more mana rocks. 41 lands is to many in my opinion. You could use Dimir Signet Talisman of Dominance Fellwar Stone Bontu's Monument

Also you can run counterspells Counterspell Negate Mana Drain Pact of Negation to protect your zombie hoard.

Black as gotten some good removal recently Infernal Grasp Murderous Rider maybe even Ravenform

You should have Wand of Orcus this card is a powerhouse in my zombie deck. The Scarab God can be fun in the 99 although I use him as my commander personally.

Phyrexian Altar to go infinite with Gravecrawler

Liliana, Dreadhorde General in the best Lilly for zombies in my opinion.

Living Death to clear the board. Just sacrifice your own stuff before you cast it for maximum profit.

Noxious Ghoul is another amazing way to clear the board

Shepherd of Rot can be good early or late game and does a ton of damage to everyone with enough zombies in play

Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is insane ramp the. Throw down Zombie Master and everything you control is unblockable.

Here’s the link to my list if you want to check it out. It’s a little more competitive but still very casual to play if you ignore the combos. Scarab God and his undead apostles

legendofa on Efficient way for black to …

3 months ago

Cabal Coffers, Liliana of the Dark Realms, and Nirkana Revenant can all accelerate in mono-black, but they all require a high mana and time investment, and they're not budget. Undead Warchief, Bontu's Monument, and Gravebreaker Lamia give you a discount. Outside of these, the most efficient and budget-friendly ramp is in green, if you're willing to splash another color.

GolgariGravedigger on The Scarab God

5 months ago

Scarab God is tough to build competitively especially if you're on a budget, and the good zombies are not very cheap anymore. It looks like you have a lot cards from Amonket and Hour of Devastation. I really love those sets personally but most of the zombies in them are pretty lackluster in commander. I would cut a whole lot of these guys especially 4+ CMC zombies.

I recommend adding a lot more card draw, mana ramp, and single target removal. 10-12 draw spells, 10-12 ramp spells, and 5-10 removal spells are recommended for most EDH decks. The best draw, ramp, and removal spells are not really budget friendly anymore since pretty much everyone is playing them. But, there a few sleepers out there that, in my opinion, are really powerful budget cards.

Card draw spells:
Necrologia is like a budget Ad Nauseam but you can only play it at your end step.
Read the Bones is a classic that let's you dig into your library.
Stinging Study gets you 5 cards in this deck.
Underworld Connections is like a budget Phyrexian Arena, and it can draw you an extra card each turn.
Village Rites gets you 2 cards for 1 mana and it's a 1 time use sacrifice outlet.

For mana ramp generally you want to go with 1 or 2 CMC mana rocks that enter untapped if you aren't playing green: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Dimir Signet, Mind Stone, Liquimetal Torque, Thought Vessel, Prismatic Lens, and maybe an Ornithopter of Paradise, it's a decent mana dork. Add Talisman of Dominance if you want to pay $7 for one.

Outside of those I like Power Tap. Target The Scarab God and get 5 colorless mana. Power Tap is a sleeper budget card IMO. Don't cut Dark Ritual or Bontu's Monument.

For Single Target Removal you want to stick to 2-3 CMC instant speed removal spells that can target as many different types of permanents as possible. A few cards I like are: Feed the Swarm
Power Word Kill
Heartless Act
Go for the Throat
Personally, I really like Imprisoned in the Moon and Oubliette. They decomission your opponent's Commander. And both cards ate cheap since they were recently reprinted.

Also Counterspell cards can be very powerful.

A few inexpensive bombs you can add:
Gray Merchant of Asphodel is amazing.
Army of the Damned is an absolute beast in this deck. Both of those cards can you win you the game.

There are a lot more really great cards out there you can add, but I just wanted to list a few to get you started.

ghostfire86 on Atheros God of Wifi

5 months ago

Ayara, First of Locthwain and Zulaport Cutthroat literally counter Carnival of Souls negative effects and it you run Bontu's Monument things get even better. You don’t drop it turn one, just when your ready to make your move or have stabilized.

Cloudstone Curio works amazingly here. Ive ran it since my original build and never have questioned its usefulness. You should reconsider and do some testing.