Cabal Stronghold

Land

{T}: Add {C}.

{3}, {T}: Add {B} for each basic Swamp you control.

Combos

• Cabal Stronghold + Prismatic Omen
• Cabal Stronghold + Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

MilesHiles on The King in Black

1 week ago

Welp I'd be hard pressed to say I did not read the part of Cabal Stronghold that says "basic Swamp". That is absolutely coming out. Thanks for the heads up!

MilesHiles on The King in Black

1 week ago

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I think I will probably go to add Mind Stone in addition to Charcoal Diamond since Venom costs 5 the deck has a higher curve as is. Cabal Stronghold is in the deck basically as a second Cabal Coffers option that taps for other mana. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a pretty key part to making both work but the deck has a lot of search to cover the gap most of the time. I like Volrath's Stronghold but that'll be a late add since it's a higher cost card and this deck is jank at best. I tried Imp's Mischief before but didn't make good use of it. I like the card but haven't found what I want to pull for it. I probably won't add a Nim Deathmantle combo since I already run one in another deck. Helm of Obedience sounds like a fun two card combo maker though and I'll definitely be looking to add one in.

Rythven-Fang on Galleries of the Infinite

2 months ago

Profet93

Like some of these a lot, kind of took out some of the more dead "combos" that were filler.

Also Cabal Stronghold was always kind of meh to me, so making me go back and look at it made me look at my mana base all around and change it up. It's probably better now.

Beespair on Rule the Galaxy [Kaervek, the Punisher]

2 months ago

Profet93

Isochron Scepter is great, can make an instant occur way more times than I normally could and the instant imprinted can change depending on the playgroup.

I agree with what you said about Cabal Ritual, never really had the chance to play it in the games I played with the deck, but the graveyard does not often stay with 7 cards in it. Switched it for Sign in Blood, as you've mentioned, more draw could help and at the same time I like cards that can do more than one thing in EDH.

Vampiric TutorGC is not really a budget issue, as I'm proxying the deck, but I have friends in my playgroup that don't and I try to keep it to cards they would normally have. I'm already justifying Imperial SealGC because of its name and Word of Command because it's a fun card to use and it's mostly the lack of printing that justify it's high price.

I removed these cards from the deck:

Agatha's Soul Cauldron: Although fun and a cheap crime, I rarely get useful activated abilities, the +1 to toughness was it's biggest use IMO.

Cabal Ritual: As you've mentioned, the threshold wouldn't really happen often.

Languish: Yahenni's Expertise is just more fun, same CMC and the 4 to 3 difference doesn't change much of the purpose behind the card.

Ulcerate: Cheap removal, but I already have a lot and this one was the weakest IMO.

Cabal Stronghold: As you've mentioned, 17 basics is too little.

Swamp: Removed one swamp to fit an additional non-basic land. Cabal Stronghold is gone, no need to keep that many basics.

I then added these cards:

Isochron Scepter: So many cool options, just neglected it when deck-building because I've been too tainted by the Dramatic Reversal combo and I only think about it in this situation.

Sign in Blood: One more card draw, can also burn enemies and with this deck's recursion can be re-used.

Yahenni's Expertise: Just a cooler Languish.

Buried Ruin: Nice recursion on stuff I can't normally recur because it's colorless.

Deserted Temple: As you've mentioned, crime, politics, ramp with Cabal Coffers.

Sudden Spoiling: Cool tech against control and protected creatures.

I did not add Helm of Obedience, felt like the 4 CMC is a bit too high. I will try it in the deck to see if I want to change something for it.

I did not add both flash cards because I can cast stuff from the graveyard at instant speed if needed with a crime. There's also not much I'm thinking of that I would really want to get that is not an instant. I might be missing some situations though.

Beespair on Rule the Galaxy [Kaervek, the Punisher]

2 months ago

Profet93

Thanks for all the suggestions! Never seen Yahenni's Expertise before, it is really good, will definitely remove Languish for it.

Might change Ulcerate for Sudden Spoiling, not just for the effect but split second is really good at fighting other control decks, as you said, super useful tech.

Good point about Cabal Stronghold, definitely changing it for Buried Ruin.

Never thought about Helm of Obedience with Dauthi Voidwalker, super cool combo, I'll definitely include it in the deck.

I'll take a look at what to remove for the other suggestions, they are all definitely top choices and I completely agree should be in the deck.

Hybrow on Heart of Black Coal - Ayara ETB trigger EDH

6 months ago

Hey Profet93, thanks so much for the view and suggestions

Jet Medallion I originally had in deck, but found that the ramp didn’t help in my {B} {B} {B} commander, and quite a few of the spells I play over and over don’t have any colorless costs, so I swapped it out for Bontu's Monument, which had the bonus of doubling my commanders ability.

Bubbling Muck – I don’t love the one-time use of it. Would take the space of something that I can use again and again in this deck.

Cabal Stronghold – I think this is a carryover from before I had a coffers. I could easily swap it out for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I actually have one sitting in a binder not getting used.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx – Of all the lands, this is the one I like the most. I checked and there isn’t one in my binder, but I do have sitting in a for-fun The Colossal Dreadmaw deck. Would probably swap out Castle Locthwain. The draw is nice but find I don’t generally need it.

Deserted Temple is ok, but I don’t have mana doublers and other than coffers (and I guess now Nythos there isn’t really anything I need to untap.

Thespian's Stage and Vesuva – I am not a huge fan of the copy lands, V in particular enters tapped, which I hate. And they are both dependent on me having something that is worth copying, which isn’t always the case.

Contamination – If I had a different playgroup, this would be an automatic add, but my friend group doesn’t love playing mass land hate. A Strip Mine is fine, but something that shuts down another player completely, we generally don’t play just to keep everyone having fun. Infernal Darkness is kinda the same thing, so going to pass.

Imp's Mischief I just checked, and I do not own one, but am going to have to add it to my next buy list. Mono-coloured decks have some real blind spots and having a quazi-counter available would be great.

Skullclamp is going to go on a sidelist for this deck for a while. My mono-red Purphy relies on it for draw, but so far with Ayara hasn’t really needed the extra draw very much.

Carnival of Souls – I did have this one in an early build of this deck, but with my wincon being Plague of Vermin this wouldn’t work, and I feel like in a 4-player game I am going to lose more life than I can afford.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I have already added the two lands.

Craeter on Ratica Apocalyptica

6 months ago

enraged Hey m8 super appreciate your suggestions! I've been busy IRL but need to set aside some time soon to do some deck updates. I'll strongly consider your suggestions, the hard part is often finding the appropriate cards to cut. Takenuma sounds great on the surface, although it does impact value from Cabal Coffers and Cabal Stronghold. It could be worth testing out tho.

Profet93 on Shadowborn Demons | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

6 months ago

If you're running extra planar lens, I recommend using Snow-Covered Swamp to make the benefit one sided.

Cabal Stronghold is a solid budget land ramp option - to be upgrade to Cabal coffers when $ permits.

Syphon Mind is a solid budget card draw option.

Reliquary Tower - For all ur draw/recursion

While mono black excels in omni tutors, you don't need to use many or the expensive ones to get some benefit. Budget options like Insatiable Avarice and Beseech the Queen can get you what you need. Mausoleum Secrets is also a powerful contendor