Go for the Throat

Instant

Destroy target nonartifact creature.

Discussion (51)

Popsics on MTG Casual Mono Black Vampires

1 day ago

Cut 2xFeast of Blood and 1xElixir of Immortality

Added 1xGo for the Throat and 2xBlade of the Bloodchief

Cyberbolt21 on Mono Black Midrange Recursion (Budget Friendly)

4 days ago

jwong14 thanks for the suggestions, Go for the Throat and Whip of Erebos will be good additions. The last thing I really need to add is some graveyard return combos for Liliana, Waker of the Dead and just graveyard interactions in general. This I really need to practice on, I never tried out graveyard interactions setups, I know they can be very powerful from the experiences I've had playing against friends and on MTG Arena. Do you know which cards are good fundamentals for it?

jwong14 on Mono Black Midrange Recursion (Budget Friendly)

4 days ago

Well, off the top of my head Lord of the Accursed is a really good tribal zombie card. Drana, Liberator of Malakir is also a very good bomb, and can be used if your going to go wide with zombies. Mutilate is a pretty good budget card that can be used very efficiently if you have a lot of lands. I would say that Go for the Throat is one of the best, if not the best cards for mono black removal. If your looking for deathtouch lifelink, then Death Baron and Whip of Erebos is probably the way to go. I think that splashing in some white might be good, because Bond of Discipline is a really good card (or maybe its just cause I normally play gruul midrange) and its able to completely shut down your opponent if you have some pretty high power creatures. I hope that this could also help but to be honest, I mainly just remember these cards from playing at FNM or such, if you really wanna learn how to play mono black, then honestly going to your LGS and asking around is usually the best bet. Thats how I got started, and what I still do. Most of the time, people are really friendly, but I would look into if your LGS is open. If nobodys there you can also ask the owner (but remember to buy a pack or two).

Azeworai on Tinybones the card thief

1 week ago

Ah, I have piloted a mono-black discard deck for quite the number of years. I have Chainer, Dementia Master at the helm myself, as he is a rather powerful card when everyone's hands are empty, thus he reigns unanswered. Therefrom, a great amount of methods may be used to win.

Tinybones is less of a finisher itself, more so a value engine. As such, I would recommend possessing a lower curve to take advantage of the card draw and more potent finishers within the deck to hent for victory. Also, having card draw outside of the commander would grant a better backup plan. A discard deck's goal is to empty each opponent's hand and win by going unthreatened. If no players have cards to discard, Tinybones cannot provide draw.

The changes I would make are more instants so you kill things once they resolve as opposed to waiting a full turn, swifter discard in the early game to make your commander more effective, stronger finishers for the sake of ending the game betime, and just cutting some cards.

So, first, there are some things I would remove.

1. Murderous Compulsion may go with the discard theme, but it's conditional removal at sorcery-speed.
2. Bad Deal is ironically a bad deal, as it is six mana for two cards gone.
3. Assassin's Strike is just egregious. A six-mana sorcery to kill one thing and they discard but one card. Begone.
4. Unnerve is fine but not great. Being a one time effect at four mana, I dislike it, though Xantcha is a great character in the art.
5. Haunting Hymn is six mana, which is far too late for discard effects to be effective. You want discard early, as it makes it far more difficult for decks to catch their footing.
6. I have the same reason for Tasigur's Cruelty.
7. Cabal Conditioning has an identical reason.
8. I have a shortlist for this category, being creatures without long-game value; Burglar Rat, Liliana's Reaver, and Banshee of the Dread Choir have discard stapled to them, but don't do much else whilst lacking much in terms of evasion for Larceny.
9. Scythe Specter is slow and other cards just do its job better, and Herald of Anguish is slow and lacks fodder for its second ability.
10. Necrogen Spellbomb is just crap. Two mana for one card from a single player's hand is awful. Don't play this.
11. Awaken the Erstwhile neglects the game plan of having more cards than your opponents whilst lacking the option of going back. I'd just add a stronger finisher.

Alright. With that out of the way, I may suggest other cards.

So, early game discard. Mind Rake and Delirium Skeins are each great, for they take card from every player in the first few turns of the game.

Let's add some better kill spells: Snuff Out, Victim of Night, Go for the Throat, Hero's Downfall, Drag to the Underworld, and Murderous Rider.

Wraths are a cruciality for slower strategies such as this, for aggressive strategies such as Alesha or Tymna. You should add any of Massacre Girl, Damnation, or Massacre Wurm.

Upon card draw, you have none outside of the Trinket Thief, Rankle, and Geth's Grimoire. I'd add any of Phyrexian Arena, Sign in Blood, Underworld Connections, and Dread Presence. Necropotence may seem as if it negates the strategy, but it is always worth it.

Lightning Greaves just seem great.

Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual allow for turn one Pit or Mists, easily providing much value with your commander on turn two.

Expedition Map allows you to assemble your land combos with Cabal Coffers and Urborg. Always nice.

Nirkana Revenant is an option for the sake of late-game ramp, giving much for Torment of Hailfire.

Now, for the finishers I have many. Do note that these are meant to be played when people haven't any cards in hand, hence lacking answers for these once on the field. Sheoldred, the Whispering One grants value from each player's bin whiles eating at their board. Abhorrent Overlord offers a swarm of flyers to end the game. Grave Titan is much the same. Archfiend of Despair goes well with Tinybones's second ability. Though I am not too fond of it, Archfiend of Spite offers much. Geth, Lord of the Vault hents the opponent's graveyards to swarm the board. Kokusho, the Evening Star is a massive threat that harms upon death. Kothophed allows for a quite a bit of card draw. Lord of the Void is always fun. Lastly, Gray Merchant of Asphodel does so much every time it hits the field.

Of course, I'd add more ramp and reanimation. Mind Stone, Arcane Signet, Charcoal Diamond, and Lake of the Dead are great for ramp. Animate Dead, Reanimate, and Dread Return are fine ways to get stuff from anyone's yard, save for the Return.

That shall be all from me. Do enjoy your day!

WalkingIllusion on Elenda, the First Vampire

4 weeks ago

Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are the best removal in the GAME, regardless if you don't get the death trigger with Elenda YOU RUN THESE TWO CARDS IN EVERY DECK THAT IS WHITE!

So when you run black you run multiple tutors otherwise you are playing the color wrong, you have vampiric tutor which im proud of you that you have it in the deck but please consider one to two more tutors Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent, Grim Tutor or worse case scenario at least Diabolic Tutor...

You could run more blood artist triggering cards like Falkenrath Noble, Bastion of Remembrance, Vindictive Vampire or Zulaport Cutthroat.

You don't need Exsanguinate or Debt to the Deathless to go infinite as stated above by you and players can respond to the stack if you are playing against good magic players. You could just sac a creature and get a blood artist trigger to go off with sanguine bond/exquisite blood combo then if they respond to the trigger you can just do it again and win; easier and better in EVERY way... those two spells are horrible filler. Bishop of Binding, Pitiless Pontiff, Sorin Markov, Syphon Mind, Go for the Throat, Mortify are cards that I feel like they fall in the same category as being filler.

Other interesting cards you might want to consider. Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Aetherflux Reservoir, Return to Dust, Drana, Liberator of Malakir, Bloodcrazed Paladin, Captivating Vampire, Kindred Dominance, Living Death, Phyrexian Reclamation, Generous Gift, and Grand Abolisher.

That's all I got for you on the top of my head, gl on your deck!

smilodex on Greven cEDH

4 weeks ago

Really cool list! Plying Greven is so much fun, if you one shot an opponent out of nothing with Hatred and stuff. Sadly he isn't a top tier cEDH commander, but he has so much flavour. But if you really want to play him on a cEDH table you need a bit more interaction:

• Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast/Burnout/Trickbind instead of Not of This World
• Deadly Rollick/Deflecting Swat instead of Filth
• Toxic Deluge/Anger of the Gods
• Despark/Grasp of Fate instead of Go for the Throat
• Claim the Firstborn/Mark of Mutiny instead of Vengeful Firebrand
• Lupine Prototype instead of Inferno Hellion

Artatras on The Scarab God / Zombie Tribal / Mill / Token

1 month ago

First things first, good choice! The Scarab God is an extremely fun and powerful commander, so I believe you're gonna do well in the tournament. Your decklist seems pretty solid, especially considering the budget restrictions. A couple of general advices would be to include as much mana ramp as possible as your commander's ability is very mana intensive, and as many instants as you can considering you can use the Scarab's ability at any time. This way, you'll be able to play a very interactive game. Here are a few specific considerations:

I'm not a huge fan of Bontu's Last Reckoning. I don't know if you have tested it enough, but having to basically skip two turns to have the board cleared is a terrible deal. If the better boardwipes are out of budget, you can consider Crux of Fate, Decree of Pain, Languish and Life's Finale (which has nice synergy with your commander, although it costs a bit too much mana).

Walk the Plank is also a little suboptimal, as it's sorcery speed (which is a nonbo with your commander). There are plenty of instant speed removal spells to choose from, like Cast Down, Dismember, Go for the Throat and Victim of Night.

I'm also not a fan of symmetrical draw effects like Howling Mine, because giving extra cards to your opponents is very dangerous. Maybe a more traditional draw spell would be more appropriate.

I think you are aware, but Yawgmoth's Bargain is unfortunately banned in our format.

Personally, I would include a slightly more prominent token subtheme to get the most value out of your commander's first ability. You can consider cards like Dread Summons (good for milling your opponents' creatures AND create some tokens), From Under the Floorboards (even when you are unable to cast it for its madness cost, three 2/2s for five mana is an ok deal) and Open the Graves.

Awaken the Erstwhile is amazing in this deck, as it fills every graveyard with -hopefully- creatures to copy as well as provide some 2/2s.

Every graveyard-based deck should have a decent number of free sacrifice outlets, and while I see you included some, I think you are still missing the best one for this kind of deck: Altar of Dementia. Apart from the amazing utility of being able to sacrifice a creature in response to an exile removal spell, it has the huge benefit of fueling your (or your opponents') graveyard for your commander. At some point during the game, depending on your board state, it can even become a win condition. Ashnod's Altar is another one I would include.

Considering your commander's ability is at instant speed, I would include Vedalken Orrery (if it's not our of budget) and Leyline of Anticipation to be able to play your spells on your opponents end steps, in case you didn't use the Scarab's ability.

A couple of auto includes, I think, should be Living Death and Havengul Lich for when you don't have the God available.

Rooftop Storm is rather expensive at six mana, but is basically an Omniscience for all your zombies.

Good luck for your tournament and keep updating this list!

Optimator on Mermaider

1 month ago

Owned:

Loyal Subordinate - Sepulchral Primordial - Ruinous Path (lol I have ten) - Go for the Throat - Virtus's Maneuver - Vona's Hunger - Ashes to Ashes - Murder - Murderous Cut - In Garruk's Wake - Grisly Spectacle - Extinguish All Hope - Nightmare Unmaking - Yawgmoth's Vile Offering - The Eldest Reborn - Fated Return - Exhume - Indulgent Tormentor - Kothophed, Soul Hoarder - Underworld Connections - Sign in Blood - Damnable Pact - Syphon Mind - Liliana's Contract - Promise of Power