Crypt Ghast
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Legality

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

Crypt Ghast

Creature — Spirit

Extort (Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay . If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.)

Whenever you tap a swamp for mana, you may add to your mana pool (in addition to the mana the land produces).

Balaam__ on

1 week ago

Sanguine Bond/Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose are perfectly viable cards to build around, but with what you currently have here they’re all but useless. It’ll be Turn 4 or so before you can capitalize on them with Crypt Ghast or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse—and that’s only if they aren’t countered or otherwise removed, which is highly probable to happen. I’d recommend either building specifically around life gain/loss or else replacing them.

Tux_Yo on Mono Black Zombies

1 month ago

I like your deck, I just wanted to point out that Damn isn't in your commander's colour identity since it has a white mana symbol for the overload (this isn't the case for Crypt Ghast though since the mana symbol there isn't actually part of the card's colour identity but is reminder text of what extort is). If you were going to use it for solely single target removal a couple of good replacements that you can cast for free are Deadly Rollick or Snuff Out. If that's outside of your budget Infernal Grasp or Tragic Slip both work. If it was for mass removal there is Toxic Deluge or Mutilate which both get around indestructible.

multimedia on Gisa, Zom Zom Queen *Work In Progress*

2 months ago

Hey, well done so far, but I think you overestimate needing so many buffs (anthems).

All the artifacts for anthem effects is overkill, you have tutors that can get the better anthem. Adding more repeatable draw sources can do more for gameplay than anthems because more reliable draw helps to draw the better anthems. Coat of Arms, Eldrazi Monument and The Immortal Sun are much better than the other artifact anthems here.

In my opinion anthem effects to be worth playing need to also have card quality for the mana cost. Instruments of War and Hall of Triumph are bad cards, only providing a small anthem effect nothing else for their mana cost isn't good enough to take deck spots. Obelisk of Urd is subpar, but at least it can be mana cost reduced even to 0 with Zombies. Bad Moon is only 2 mana, but there's greater two drops that have much better card quality. Heraldic Banner can be a mana rock, but even so you can do better for a three drop.

Adaptive Automaton is a creature who Gisa can sac and who can be a Zombie lord (anthem), but it's a bad card compared to all other Zombie lords who provide another good repeatable effect. Icon of Ancestry and Vanquisher's Banner aren't worth it since there's too many nonZombie creatures here. You can get more reliable repeatable draw from other sources.

You have Crypt Ghast, Cabal Coffers and tutors to get them, you don't need Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power mana effects. These cards are better in mono white, red or blue because these colors can really use the mana ramp. Liliana's Mastery is a very low budget five drop for Zombies, not needed here.

There's several cards in the maybeboard to consider adding main deck if you have them. Areas to focus on improving with cards from the maybeboard are early game ramp, repeatable draw for only you, reanimation and more Zombie evasion.

Other cards to consider adding from the maybeboard.

Some cards to consider cutting:

Good luck with your deck.

soul_knightmare on Braid's killing spree

2 months ago

Recommended Includes

Mind Stone, Fellwar Stone, Arcane Signet for more ramp and remove three basic lands. You can run 37 or less

Skullclamp, Reassembling Skeleton, Treacherous Blessing, Victimize, Gray Merchant of Asphodel for more card draw and recursion and remove Cordial Vampire, Xathrid Necromancer, Bloodcrazed Paladin, Undead Augur, Maskwood Nexus, and Doomed Dissenter. They are all different tribal cards and you can't rely on seeing Maskwood Nexus every game.

If looking for long term updrades you can never go wrong with Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Black Market Connections, Bitterblossom, Crypt Ghast, and Pitiless Plunderer

Tur on Hidden Power - Mono-Color - …

2 months ago

Hello everyone! This will be a forum post for a "Commander - Hidden Power" series. My goal is to show relatively inexpensive cards which are often overlooked by commander players in semi-competitive and casual play. (This post is not designed for competitive play.) If you enjoy the topic, please upvote the post or provide positive feedback and I will consider creating similar posts.

The powerful cards I plan on discussing are mono-color cards which are strong with big mana in commander.

I will provide one card per mono-color identity. These cards will not include x-spells nor multi-color identity spells. (I.e. no Torment of Hailfire nor Zacama, Primal Calamity)

It is obvious that big mana is a huge part of semi-competitive play. Whether it is from ramping through creatures, artifacts, enchantments, instants, sorceries, or lands. Big mana is pretty fun. Mana doubling effects from lands are especially useful. In this article, I'll be focusing on mana doubling from lands, but other ways to generate big mana are always possible

Here are some common big mana effects for each mono-color identity:

This is not an all inclusive list as Mana Flare, Heartbeat of Spring, Keeper of Progenitus, Sword of Feast and Famine, et cetera would work just as well. In each mono-color identity the artifacts Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, and Extraplanar Lens can be used, however the black and green color identities have an advantage for mono-color double mana effects. Furthermore, green contains cards such as Seedborn Muse, Awakening, and Wilderness Reclamation which allow for more interactions.

Well, let us begin in WUBRG order!

White: Sacred Mesa

This card is relatively unused. According to EDHREC, Sacred Mesa is played in 1511/849227 (0%) decklists and is under one dollar. You'd be surpized how powerful this card is with double mana. Imagine making some number of pegasus at instant speed as either blockers or attackers for your next turn. (The upkeep cost can be paid by making a summoning sick pegasus during your turn.) Not to mention power and toughness buffing effects are ideal with Sacred Mesa, examples include Dictate of Heliod, Cathars' Crusade, Caged Sun, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

It is often compared to Luminarch Ascension because they have similar effects. Yes, it makes a 4/4 angel instead of a 1/1 pegasus.

However, Luminarch Ascension has many downsides:

  • You have to have four quest counters to use the ability. (That is, you have to not lose life during an opponents turn four times.) This creates a huge target on your life total and you'll see it surely chip away.
  • Bounce effects, such as Cyclonic Rift really mess it up. Welcome back to square one!
  • Common cards, such as Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider prevent quest counters from even occurring. Vampire Hexmage or Hex Parasite are also options to remove the counters.

Sacred Mesa is way more versatile and does not have such downsides. Not to mention is it only three mana, ideal for Sun Titan recursion.

Blue: Compulsion

It is very rare to see this wonderful card. According to EDHREC, Compulsion is played in 1000/945324 (0%) decklists and is under one dollar. Having an activated draw ability with very little downside on a blue enchantment is insane. Ideal when paired with Teferi's Ageless Insight or Thought Reflection. There are a few cards which have a similar effect, such as Triskaidekaphile or Kefnet the Mindful without having to discard a card, but having a two mana activation is much more versatile. I suppose that an argument could be made with Training Grounds, but that is too much just to make the Kefnet the Mindful ability more cost effective. Furthermore, discarding a specific card like Echo of Eons, Wonder, or a shuffle Eldrazi such as Kozilek, Butcher of Truth has some nice synergy. (In fact, it should be played in most bant enchantress decks, such as the commander Tuvasa the Sunlit. Replenish for life!)

Black: Chainer, Dementia Master

This is a wonderful card, but a little pricey compared to the previous two cards. According to EDHREC, Chainer, Dementia Master is played in 6344/983251 (1%) decklists and is approximately ten dollars. Yes, we all know that you can abuse Chainer, Dementia Master with Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star with sacrifice outlets such as Phyrexian Altar. Suppose we don't want to abuse this card into the ground is it still just good card? Yes. We can fill up or graveyard with Buried Alive or Entomb and get back a creature card, or we can grab a creature card from an opponents graveyard. It can also be used to interrupt graveyard combos, such as Aristocrats by using the ability on an opponents Butcher Ghoul with the undying trigger on the stack.

Red: Scourge of Kher Ridges

An extremely powerful and undervalued card. According to EDHREC, Scourge of Kher Ridges is played in 1005/912333 (0%) decklists and is under three dollars. If you're able to untap with Sourge of Kher Ridges and double mana, your opponents are going to have a rough time. As you can put multiple activations on the stack, it provides you with a very high on-board presence. Even within a response to removal. I've heard players complain that Scourge of Kher Ridges dies too quick to removal and my answer is "from your opponents perspective it needs to die before you're able to untap". Ideal with lifelink (and deathtouch) equipment such as Basilisk Collar or Shadowspear.

Green: Kamahl, Fist of Krosa

Typically unseen in play. According to EDHREC, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is played in 4786/880991 (1%) decklists and is approximately five dollars. It is odd how unused Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is compared to Ezuri, Renegade Leader when they basically have the same effect. Overrun as an activated ability which is stackable multiple times. I agree that Ezuri, Renegade Leader is better in elf tribal decks, however Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is great in most big mana decks. Ideal for wide aggro. Tall aggro will gain the benefit of trample. If you don't have extra creatures you can animate your lands as 1/1 attackers, correction 7/7 attackers. (Pretty interesting because these attackers get around Cyclonic Rift, they're lands.) You can also get some payback by animating your opponents lands in response to a creature board wipe. (From that reasoning it can be paired with cards such as Ascendant Evincar and Crovax, Ascendant Hero to destroy opponents lands through animation.)

All in all, these are relatively unused cards which have a lot hidden power with big mana. If your deck is mono-colored and designed for big mana spells or abilities, think about giving these cards a chance. See if they work well for you and your playgroup.

TheoryCrafter on Mono-Black Liliana Tribal

5 months ago

Font of Agonies is a must for any deck relying on paying life to cast spells. I have it in my K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth deck and can kill a surprising number of creatures if both are kept on the battlefield long enough.

There's no guarantee you can get K'rrik on the battlefield soon enough to make a difference. That's why I recommend finding a spot for Defiler of Flesh to give you an increase in chances of having the ability to pay life instead of mana.

Also, Crypt Ghast, while legal in mono-black decks, can lead other players with the mistaken impression that it isn't legal due to the extort cost.

Tainted Remedy is very flavorful for a Liliana deck, but unless you add more cards that allow your opponents to gain life(including, but not limited to, Grollub and Triskaidekaphobia), or in a play circle where lifegain is well utilized, it's mostly a dead card. If you wish for an alternative I'd recommend Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose.

As for benefitting from Graveyard recursion, may I suggest Syr Konrad, the Grim? Get this on the battlefield with the Gravecrawler/Phyrexian Altar combo and it's an Insta-win.

Have you considered Liliana's Caress with all the discard in your deck?

That's all for now. Thank you for reading me out. I hope this helps. Happy Hunting!

legendofa on I'm gonna cleave you

6 months ago

Maybe some more big mana enhancements, like Crypt Ghast, High Tide, Dark Ritual, or Burnt Offering. You have a lot of 5-7 mana spells, and Rise of the Dark Realms is up at 9 mana. TheJerryCan's suggestion of Ashnod's Altar is solid.

Right now, this deck has only nine permanents below 3 mana. This might be contributing to the feeling of having no board presence; I would expect this deck to start establishing a solid board at turn 4 at the earliest. Gravecrawler, Champion of the Perished, Bladestitched Skaab, Nightscape Familiar, Stitcher's Supplier, Mire Triton, and Undead Butler are all low-mana options, and the last three help kickstart your milling.

multimedia on Infectious Invasion

6 months ago

Hey, good start. To help with deck building add 36 lands, even just basic Swamps to start, to see how many deck spots you have left to fill? How about the name Infectious Invasion?

Other areas to help improve gameplay are more ramp sources and more draw sources. Sheoldred is 7 mana you'll want ramp to consistently cast her as well as cast many high mana cost infect creatures. Dark Ritual, Defiler of Flesh and Culling the Weak are good, but consider more?

Black does well with mana efficient draw for the cost of life or a permanent. Weatherlight Compleated looks to be powerful, but slow and Phyrexian Rager is subpar, consider more draw?

Infect gives poison counters to players when any type of damage is done by the creature with infect, not just combat damage. Vindictive Vampire when it has infect gives each opponent a poison counter when a creature you control dies.

Good luck with your deck.

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