Diabolic Intent

Sorcery

As an additional cost to play Diabolic Intent, sacrifice a creature.

Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Discussion (51)

Hapix on The Scarab God's Arisen Horde

2 days ago

@multimedia, your comment is much appreciated! A lot of thought and play testing has gone into this deck (if I’m being honest though, this isn’t the first attempt as this is around the 8th iteration of scarab god due to play testing and not posting until now LOL).

I want to preface my response to your recommendations by saying that lowering the cmc of the deck is not really a priority as I usually have more than enough mana to do, but bringing down the amount of 5 drops and just generally increasing the tempo of this deck is on my radar. Furthermore, some inclusions (such as Consuming Aberration and Noosegraf Mob ) are in response to the meta of my table wherein they perform well (for example, one of my buddies plays an interesting Alesha, Who Smiles at Death homebrew that focuses on controlling the board state by altering base power/toughness of all creatures, Consuming Aberration on its own has saved my hide more times than one against Alesha lol).

Moving onto your recommendations:

“ Wonder > Grimoire of the Dead ”

Just the concept of Wonder alone is fantastic and it was even a part of the original iteration of this deck, but during playtesting (and this might just be me being unlucky) but it was often a mid-game dead draw and when I would have it in my graveyard, having a handful of flying zombies was nice, but not often game ending – hence non-inclusion. Grimoire of the Dead is slow AF and it the second eff is not easy to pull off, the only reason it is in the deck right now is I do not have a Rise of the Dark Realms , not sure what I will replace it with yet but I will take it out.

“ Windfall > Ancient Excavation ”

I like Windfall , it is a great wheel and I would like to include it. As it is right now Ancient Excavation is a card I keep in for the versatility of both self-mill and the basic landcycling, although I might swap it out for the Lim-Dul's Vault that you brought up later in your comment (I really like its’ effect tho).

“ Diabolic Intent > Exsanguinate ”

Diabolic Intent is a good card and that I plan to add in someday, but just to save $ I’m looking at Wishclaw Talisman as a budget alternative with some inbuilt politicking mechanisms. When it comes to Exsanguinate , it was a filler card I tossed in for play testing I’ll replace it with the aforementioned Wishclaw Talisman most likely

“ Relentless Dead > Noosegraf Mob ”

Relentless Dead is a card I used to have in here but I removed it since it felt slow and I just never really utilized the secondary eff I’m looking at getting a Gilded Drake in as a replacement. I agree though that Noosegraf Mob , as a six drop, is quite lackluster in comparison to the other high cmc cards. The potential value of 6 ETBs and/or death triggers is enough to keep him around for now, but if there is something I find I like more I’ll probably take mod out.

“ Graveborn Muse > Liliana's Reaver ”

Graveborn Muse I tested it out and saw myself dying to it more often than not, if I move further away from the zombie tribal aspect I might reconsider it. As for Liliana's Reaver , It isn’t to flashy but it works, no need to remove it rn but if anything better comes along I might.

“2 drop mana rocks > Commander's Sphere ”

Commander's Sphere is place holder card that I had socketed in while I was looking for some better mana rock options. Thanks for bring Arcane Signet to my attention, I’ll probably toss that or the signet in.

“ Arcane Denial > Countersquall ”

Arcane Denial isn’t a card I’d normally consider since the +2 for my opponent kind of hurts, but in a format like EDH with the 99 filling up a library, it seems pretty negligible so I’ll add it but won’t remover Countersquall since Its not that hard to get either {B} or {U} mana on demand. This though does touch on a different subject, I do want to add in some more counter magic, tutors, and removal (I’m looking at Arcane Denial , Swan Song , Pact of Negation , Mystical Tutor , Mastermind's Acquisition , Cunning Wish , Death Wish , Wishclaw Talisman , Victim of Night , Hero's Downfall , Murder , and Doom Blade but am stuck on evaluating which are the most beneficial inclusions).

To wrap up, thank you very much for your input it has been really helpful in reevaluating this deck. I sure do have some tinkering to do, haha. The nature of deckbuilding in EDH to me is everlasting and I hope I can continue to improve and refine my decks with recommendations and insight from other kind folks, like you, on this site :D

One last question, a friend is considering selling their Mana Vault to me at a discount, is this a card that I should seriously consider including or not?

Cheers!

multimedia on Expensive afterlife

3 days ago

Wow, lots of good card here. It's not every day I see a Candelabra of Tawnos :)

I don't think you're taking enough advantage of having a sac outlet in the Command Zone. Grimgrin's no mana cost sac is his strongest ability.

• Undead Augur > Walking Corpse
• Midnight Reaper > Graveshifter
• Diregraf Captain > Gravedigger
• Plague Belcher > Ingenious Infiltrator
• Relentless Dead > Tattered Mummy

These Zombies give you value when another Zombie dies, when one is saced by Grimgrin.

Some other upgrades to consider:

• Brainstorm > Divination
• Ponder > Scour All Possibilities
• Phyrexian Altar > Ashnod's Altar
• Necropotence > Gruesome Fate
• Diabolic Intent > Grave Betrayal
• Buried Alive > Witchbane Orb
• Reanimate > Return from Extinction
• Animate Dead > Finale of Eternity
• Cyclonic Rift > Kindred Dominance
• Counterspell > Exclude
• Sidisi, Undead Vizier > Risen Executioner
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel > Necromaster Dragon
• Apprentice Necromancer > Graveshifter
• Carrion Feeder > Stronghold Assassin

Black is too important of the color to have in the early game because the majority of Zombies are black not blue. 10x Island is a lot I suggest cutting lots of Islands and replacing them with other playable Dimir dual lands.

• Underground River
• Morphic Pool
• Sunken Ruins
• Flooded Strand
• City of Brass
• Tainted Isle

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Cards to consider cutting:

• Divination
• Scour All Possibilities
• Gruesome Fate
• Return from Extinction
• Exclude
• Defile
• Walking Corpse
• Tattered Mummy
• Graveshifter
• Gravedigger
• Ingenious Infiltrator
• Stronghold Assassin
• Necromaster Dragon
• Argentum Armor
• Door of Destinies
• Grave Betrayal
• Finale of Eternity
• Kindred Dominance
• Ashnod's Altar

Good luck with your deck.

squadcarxmar on Alive and Dead

5 days ago

I don't know what your budget it is or how optimized you want this deck but immediate suggestions are a few tutors at the least. Diabolic Tutor is the cheap everyone goes for until they get better ones. Beseech the Queen isn't bad either. There's also Diabolic Intent , Demonic Tutor , Dark Petition , Vampiric Tutor , Diabolic Revelation , and more.

If you are playing with death triggers and things dying some good options are Debtors' Knell , Sheoldred, Whispering One , Black Market , and whatnot. Also, you have white! Use Swords to Plowshares ! I'd keep Merciless Eviction as it is a wonderful board wipe but also consider Hour of Revelation . Other good cards are like Anguished Unmaking , Utter End , and Vindicate .

multimedia on The Scarab God's Arisen Horde

5 days ago

Hey, nice version of Scarab, great first attempt.

Some upgrades within the budget to consider:

• Wonder > Grimoire of the Dead
• Windfall > Ancient Excavation
• Diabolic Intent > Exsanguinate
• Relentless Dead > Noosegraf Mob
• Graveborn Muse > Liliana's Reaver
• Arcane Signet or Talisman of Dominance > Commander's Sphere
• Arcane Denial > Countersquall

Wonder can give all your creatures flying including Scarab. It's great with Buried Alive and Entomb to tutor for it and put it into your graveyard. Grimoire has a powerful ability, but it's painfully slow, needing four turns before you can sac it. Scarab's ability can be used on your opponents' creatures in their individual graveyards and Windfall is a wheel which makes all players discard their hands and draw cards filling up their graveyards with potential creatures to exile. Windfall is one of the best blue cards in Commander.

Diabolic Intent is another tutor that can search for any one card. Exsanguinate is a fine card, but Torment of Hailfire is better and I don't see a need for both. Relentless Dead is a good two drop Zombie and there's not a lot of two drop options. Mob is lackluster for a six drop compared to the other six drops such as Titan and Mikaeus. Graveborn Muse is very good repeatable draw with Zombies and Scarab's upkeep trigger can gain you life that you loss from Muse. Reaver is fine, but not as impactful as Muse.

Whenever you can play a two drop mana rock in place of a three drop then this change can speed up gameplay. Arcane Signet is new in the ELD Brawl precons which right now can be hard to find, but you can buy it as a single online for less than $10. Arcane or Talisman of Dominance can make black mana the turn you play it which can be helpful with so many low mana cost Zombies. The single draw from Sphere is nice, but there's lots of three drop Zombie Lords here that would be a better three drop play then Sphere.

Denial is a two drop hard counter with only one in it's mana cost making it good with a heavy black manabase.

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Others upgrades to consider:

• Lim-Dul's Vault > Pull from Tomorrow
• Dark Ritual > Vanquisher's Banner
• Ponder > Consuming Aberration
• Animate Dead > Havengul Lich
• Murderous Rider or Hero's Downfall > Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

These last upgrades to consider are cutting high mana cost cards and replacing them with low mana cost cards to speed up gameplay. The five drop spot has a lot of options with Scarab as the go to play having lots of other five drops can hinder gameplay since you don't really want to play them over Scarab and having a hand full of five drops doesn't help. Good luck with your deck.

skroes on Aristocratokens

1 week ago

Bankrupt in Blood seems bad to me. Better off with cards like Costly Plunder or Altar's Reap . Both are instant speed and less taxing for a sac outlet.

Can always run stuff like Diabolic Intent and Angelic Purge aswell as strong one time outlets.

w3ncy on Korvold's Treasure Trove

1 week ago

Following this as I am also brewing something.

Suggestions: Goblin Bombardment , Dance of the Dead , Eldritch Evolution , Chord of Calling , Diabolic Intent , Murderous Redcap

SideBae on A Treasonous, Toxic Temptress Treasures Trinkets!

1 week ago

1. I agree with the previous comment: Llanowar Elves , Elves of Deep Shadow , Deathrite Shaman , Elvish Mystic , Fyndhorn Elves , Birds of Paradise and Arbor Elf are all good enough to run. I suggest running at least four of them, if not more.

2. Outside your enchantments, you seem rather light on card-draw. Including the Diabolic Intent from the Maybeboard would begin to solve this problem, as would running other tutors like Demonic Tutor , Diabolic Tutor , Dark Petition , etc. Other ways you can combat this are by running things like Night's Whisper , Sign in Blood and Sylvan Library . Thought that last one is expensive nowadays, you can combo it with Underrealm Lich and get three cards a turn (the replacement effect means you never actually 'draw' a card).

3. Veil of Summer is an excellent second-order counter to include in a green deck.

4. You may have luck with Pox / Smallpox killing your opponents' creatures. As far as I can tell, Smallpox is a lot better in that it doesn't decimate you the way Pox does (thus it's easier to build around), but Pox can be funny, too. Innocent Blood is similar.

5. Nature's Claim is a very efficient piece of spot removal you may want to run in addition to your Krosan Grip .

6. Depending on whether you want to be a dork (and how blue-heavy your meta is), consider Choke . Carpet of Flowers and Tsunami are similar.

7. Windgrace's Judgment and Casualties of War are good multi-for-ones.

Good luck!

Sorin_Markov_1947 on A mighty saccing

1 week ago

Diabolic Intent is perfect for this deck, but it's not standard legal... You may just have to not have a tutor in this deck if you think Mausoleum Secrets isn't working.

Creeping Chill is used in dredge decks to essentially get 12 free damage and life, but even dredge players will mulligan a hand that has a CC in it, because a Lightning Helix for 4 mana isn't great.