Carnival of Souls
Set Price Alerts

Combos Browse all Suggest

Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Big Apple Highlander Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Freeform Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
PreDH Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Carnival of Souls

Enchantment

Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, you lose 1 life and add (Black) to your mana pool.

Icaruskid on Shadowborn Demons | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

6 months ago

Profet93 Thank you for all the ideas!

This deck needs 5+ mana as fast as possible so Extraplanar Lens and the Snow-Covered Swamp automatically makes any game easier. I love that. And before that addition, Liliana of the Dark Realms was there to make sure I hit all my land drops, add to the combat damage win condition, and promise big mana that the deck thirsts for if unanswered. It's probably a flex spot now that I have enough low cost artifact ramp though. I might try Carnival of Souls there. It's lower cost and I like the suicide black theme.

I'm on the fence about Jet Medallion. I have one but it doesn't produce black mana so it's not ideal for pumping out Apostles or activating them. It does help get Shirei out faster but if I'm hard-casting demons where it would be useful I'm already losing.

Secret Salvage is a house in my Athreos, God of Passage > combo build but it doesn't help much here except to rebuild after a board wipe. I think the proactive route with Eldrazi Monument might be better in the more casual pods that I'm trying to run this in as it's permanent protection from board wipes and it makes the Apostles a threat themselves with flying and the +1 power buff.

Still tinkering and I appreciate the angles you are providing. This is a fun deck to try out all the ideas!

Profet93 on Shadowborn Demons | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

6 months ago

Icaruskid +1

Glad to see some suggestions from the previous comment went through.

Not a serious suggestion, but I found Secret Salvage which is a fun card.

Jet Medallion > Charcoal diamond - if ur budget allows

Carnival of Souls - I wonder how this card would work in this deck. Prob not but worth noting for cool potential interactions.

What is the point of PW Lili?

Winding Canyons - Not an entirely serious suggestion, but cool with lili contract or just preventing ur shadowborns from dying to wipes?

Speaking of instant speed interaction, why don't you run at least one instant spell?

Hybrow on Heart of Black Coal - Ayara ETB trigger EDH

7 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 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.

Profet93 on Heart of Black Coal - Ayara ETB trigger EDH

7 months ago

Hybrow +1, great description.

Jet Medallion - Ramp

Bubbling Muck - Ramp. Given you're not running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, this ramp will most liklely be onesided

Im unsure if you have enough basics to warrant cabal stronghold. Best case scenario: Turn 5 you have 4 basic swamps and stronghold to break even. While it's nice to have in the later game, I wonder how impactful it really is at that point. Would you not be better served by another utility land such as Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Thespian's Stage, Deserted Temple or even a Vesuva? Nykthos seems like an easy ramp choice, stage/vesuva can copy coffer or other utility land, temple can untap coffers or be a political tool. I feel that rather than spreading your "land ramp" between coffers and stronghold, you should just go all in on coffers. It's easier to chase one rabbit than two if you get what I'm saying. How has stronghold been playing for you? I've found it more impactful in primarily budget decks with an overwhelming amount of basic lands.

Contamination - Mild stax (they can use dorks or rocks to bypass it) that shuts off their land mana production, including both sides mass mana producing lands (cradle, nykthos, lake of the dead, serra sanctum, etc...). With all your token generation, it seems like a shoe in. Not to mention it's synergy with reassembling skeleton and other cards that u can recur from ur grave easily. Should contamination be too much/rude, Infernal Darkness is a similar effect that doesn't shut off mass mana producing lands and can be easily kept for 1-2 turns while you get your set up. Both can be probably used to make the blue player float all their mana in an attempt to cast a counterspell during the current phase - aka, counterbait.

Regarding Problem 1/protecting your commander, I would go with the versatile tool, Imp's Mischief - It redirects targeted removal, draw, extra turns and can "counter" counterspells. Most spot removal in EDH is cheap so you probably wont lose much life and with all your lifegain, this potential concern appears heavily mitigated.

You have a lot of token generation, so perhaps Skullclamp might be worth considering. It is nice to use on ur commander as well given it's the lynchpin of your deck.

Not a serious suggestion, but I wonder how Carnival of Souls would work with this deck, do note it activates on any creature, not just yours.

77hi77 on

1 year ago

Profet93 fantastic, thanks so much! I'll let those suggestions ferment in my mind for a bit, my next cards shopping spree is coming up.

This goes to show you my ability to spot combos, I had that full Blood Artist + Reassembling Skeleton + Carnival of Souls + Ashnod's Altar combo in the deck! I took out Blood Artist because, as well as she fits in the way the deck plays, I wanted it to be more demon focused. The deck has always had some non-demons in there, maybe I should reconsider putting her in there. That's the case in all my tribal decks, I do my best to be strict about the tribe unless I can justify breaking it thematically (in my Rakdos the Defiler deck, there are devils and tieflings that serve the demons, so they're allowed).

Thanks again, your suggestions are really helping me out! I'll report back as I update the deck!

Pheardemons on Mishra's Relentless Horde

2 years ago

Profet93 Thank you for the suggestions and kind words!

Carnival of Souls I don't think is a good and for here since I make so many tokens. The lifeless is negligible with Mishra's lifegain, but it's one of those I would probably need to won the turn it came down.

I do agree and like Dockside Extortionist, but not for Black Market Connections. I understand the ramp aspect, but all three modes of Black Market Connections works for this deck. I'd rather find another cut for it. I'd probably have to sit down after work and think about it.

Anger is relatively new because of the mountain aspect. Plus the lack of discard. He's good in general, but he really hasn't shown up a lot as of now. I do agree I probably want a couple more haste options. I have liked Roar of Resistance, but i have tried to add another haste option.

I have playtested the deck since I posted it on here. I just haven't updated the description so it looks like I just built it. What're two other potential options you'd think about taking out for Dockside Extortionist and/or a third haste option (right now Hammer)

Profet93 on Mishra's Relentless Horde

2 years ago

This deck is very well put together, it's hard to provide any meaningful suggestions.

I think you should put Dockside extortionist in > Black Market Connections. I know you are testing it but I think the treasure token value from dockside outweighs any benefit from black market connections, especially a 3/2 token. Your avg cmc is 3.77 with about 10 ramp pieces. If you were to increase your ramp, it could help you apply the pressure.

At the risk of being too much lifeloss, Carnival of Souls?

How has Anger been playing for you? You don't have a lot of mountains so I wonder, would a Hammer of Purphoros be potential swap?

Profet93 on Drivnod's Desecration

2 years ago

How important is making colored mana for gravecrawler? Energy Refractor and Prismite are 2 slots dedicated to making colored mana for gravecrawler if you have ashnod's out. Perhaps there is a combo I'm missing?

One niche suggestion is Carnival of Souls. It triggers on opponents as well so be careful but it can host a variety of combos....

Zulaport Cutthroat/Blood Artist + Reassembling Skeleton + Carnival of Souls + Phyrexian Altar/Ashnod's Altar

Carnival of Souls + Gravecrawler + Carrion Feeder + Zulaport Cutthroat/Blood Artist

^ Perhaps Carrion could swap would viscera seer to add to your zombie count. Although, scry is more helpful and viscera can block.

Ayara, First of Locthwain - Another drain effect that has draw built in. It's devotion is helpful for gray merchant. It also combos as such

Ayara, First of Locthwain + Carnival of Souls + Gravecrawler + Carrion Feeder

Karn is mostly just a suggestion to remove artifacts consistently. THe one sided null-rod is just a bonus. Not to mention it can recur your exiled artifacts. Since it's a PW, they will be force to remove it, either with a removal spell that they could have used on something else or combat damage in which you want creatures to block and die anyways.

Infernal darkness is mostly to stall for like 1-2 turns. It's very effective when you are in a winning position. It also forces blue players to counter it or else they are out of luck (unless they have artifacts, which Karn could deal with). It's not an entirely serious suggestion but worth mentioning.

Regarding your draw point, both Corpse Augur and Grim Haruspex are solid options as their mana cost is low. Grim Haruspex is particularly effective in your deck.

Load more