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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 |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Helldozer
Creature — Zombie Giant
(Black)(Black)(Black), Tap: Destroy target land. If that land was nonbasic, untap Helldozer.
Fuzzy003 on Are Lands Just Too Boring?
2 years ago
I have a friend who runs a majority if not all non-basics in a lot of his decks. Always happy to see him cringe when I play something like Collective Voyage and he just gets to shuffle his library while every player except him puts land on the table.
Looking at some of the cards above makes me want to make a deck of non basic hate... maybe even add something like Helldozer...
trippy_mcfly on
2 years ago
Cool deck. I'm here to offer some suggestions after you pointed me here from your other deck.
Tergrid, God of Fright  Flip is a powerful commander and generates insane advantage in 4-player games. Let's take a look at this deck and see what it is doing, and then streamline it. I see three main objectives of this deck:
1 - RAMPING.
This is pretty much a primary objective of any commander deck, since if your only source of mana is playing one land per turn, you're going to fall way behind. Your main ramping plan for this deck is to double lands, using Cabal Coffers, Cabal Stronghold, Caged Sun, Crypt Ghast, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, and Nirkana Revenant. This is super cool and probably a pretty strong plan. We want to try to maximize this plan. How can we do that?
All of these cards want you to load up on basic swamps, which you did. We want to make sure we are playing a basic swamp every turn. Solemn Simulacrum is definitely a worthwhile add. Liliana of the Dark Realms is very helpful and I'm happy to see her in this deck. Often times Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a worthwhile add for decks with Cabal Coffers. I think it is worth it here. Although you yourself don't have many non-swamps that will benefit from Urborg, you are likely going to be stealing people's lands with Tergrid, and counting those as swamps will be helpful for you.
How else can we keep getting swamps onto the battlefield to power up this strategy? Card draw. The more cards in your hand the higher the chance you will have a swamp to play every turn. Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood are great for this. Disciple of Bolas is solid too. Dread Presence loves swamps and is a must-add. I would add Phyrexian Arena, which is great card draw for you. Necropotence, one of the craziest cards in the game, is also a worthwhile addition. Not as good but worth consideration are Yawgmoth's Bargain and Null Profusion. Two other well-known card draw machines in black are Dark Confidant and Bolas's Citadel. You have some costly spells in your deck, so they might be a bit of a liability. If you want to include them, Sensei's Divining Top pairs very well with them.
Just because you are mainly ramping with land doubling doesn't mean there isn't room for other ramping as well. You have Black Market, which I have never personally tested, but is probably decent. Black has some explosive, single-turn ramp with Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Culling the Weak. These cards would do well in letting you get out expensive plays ahead of schedule, mainly Tergrid. Artifact ramp is also great in any deck. I would add Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Jeweled Lotus, and Jet Medallion. I would consider adding even more artifact ramp as well. Getting down Tergrid as early as turn 1 or 2 is just so good.
2 - SACRIFICE AND DISCARD.
Once you have Tergrid out, sacrifice and discard become powerful effects that let you take control of your opponent's permanents. This is insane advantage and if left unchecked for very long will win you the game. Syphon Mind while Tergrid is in play not only puts you up 4 cards in comparison to each opponent (since they each went down 1 and you went up 3), but also could net you 3 more cards if they discard permanents that then go onto your field. That's insane. Let's take a look at all the cards you have that enable Tergrid:
SACRIFICE:
Archfiend of Depravity - A one-sided, almost board wipe that repeats every turn? Pretty solid. Getting the creatures onto your field with Tergrid? That is nuts. The one issue is that some commander decks won't have that many more than 2 creatures on the field when this comes down, and if they do, then this card and/or Tergrid become a big target, but if you survive the turn, this and your commander will put you ahead so far.
Butcher of Malakir - Similar to Archfiend. If this guy sticks around for a bit, you're going to be at such an advantage. It costs 7 which is a bit high and very vulnerable to something like Mana Drain, so I wouldn't be super upset if you cut it, but it is great with Tergrid.
Gatekeeper of Malakir - This guy only costs three and steals a creature if Tergrid is on the field. Love it.
Phyrexian Obliterator - If someone is dumb enough to deal damage to this guy, then you're getting a lot of their permanents! I don't love this card for you. People will just leave it alone and then you just hit someone for 5 each turn or leave up a blocker, which is a bit slow.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - Similar to Archfiend. If this guy sticks around for a bit, you're going to be at such an advantage. It costs 7 which is a bit high and very vulnerable to something like Mana Drain, so I wouldn't be super upset if you cut it, but it is great with Tergrid.
Torment of Hailfire - Expensive and liable to be countered but if it resolves then you will get a ton of value!
Dictate of Erebos - I like it. Let's say you have 10 mana. Cast Tergrid, then somebody goes to kill him. Flash this card in. Now, you at least get 3 of your opponents creatures on the way out!
Grave Pact - I like this as well. You can't flash it in, but if you put this card on the field, then people will have to kill this before Tergrid comes down or else end up giving you their creatures.
The Eldest Reborn - Immediate impact with Tergrid on the field, pretty good value on its own. Definitely a keep.
DISCARD:
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer - You need to flip her first, but once flipped she is great.
Syphon Mind - Great.
Torment of Hailfire - Expensive and liable to be countered but if it resolves then you will get a ton of value!
The Eldest Reborn - Immediate impact with Tergrid on the field, pretty good value on its own. Definitely a keep.
... and that's it. We need more cards that are busted with Tergrid! The following would be great adds to your deck: Smallpox, Dark Deal, Liliana's Triumph, Plaguecrafter, Soul Shatter, Mire in Misery, Innocent Blood, Vona's Hunger, Death Cloud, Burglar Rat, Demon's Disciple, Fleshbag Marauder, Elderfang Disciple, Liliana, Waker of the Dead, Bottomless Pit, Fraying Omnipotence, Rotting Rats, Cunning Lethemancer, Merciless Executioner, and a personal favorite: Smokestack.
Notice that all of these cards are typically even trades (ex: I play Elderfang Disciple, going down 1 card, everyone else goes down 1 card.) These aren't great on their own since it costs you mana to do so, and, in the case of discard and sacrifice, the opponent gets to choose an asset that they are least upset to get rid of, making them actually below-even trades. However, they become insanely busted with Tergrid. (ex: I play Elderfang Disciple, going down 1 card in hand for a measly 1/1. But, I get a Carpet of Flowers, basic plains, and Birds of Paradise on my field? Now that's an amazing play). Therefore, the ones that are recurring are better, since they give you more chances to make sure they resolve while Tergrid is on the field. (ex: I play Cunning Lethemancer and my opponent kills Tergrid. Later in the turn I play Tergrid again, albeit for 7 mana now due to commander tax. Next turn, with the Lethemancer trigger, I get some great value!)
Here are some other cards that work well with Tergrid, although they only target one opponent: Sudden Edict, Hellish Rebuke, Pharika's Libation, Diabolic Edict, Duress, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Chain of Smog, Despise, and Divest.
Notice that in the absence of Tergrid, these cards are negative trades. They set you and an opponent back by putting you both down one card. The other two opponents are left untouched. Seeing them early in the game is not particularly helpful since you'd rather spend the early game ramping. They are great and slowing down whoever is winning, but at the expense of your own board. There is a trade-off here, since these can be leveraged politically. "Each opponent discards a card"" can give you tons of value with Tergrid on the field but makes you 3 enemies. "Target opponent discards a card"" gives you not as much value in general but you can leverage this to make someone else the common enemy or make a deal with a player ("if you don't attack me next turn I won't target you with my Duress"). Things like Duress can also target specific cards, which is an added benefit for you and an added detriment to the opponent.
I would run some from each category, probably with an emphasis on maximizing Tergrid value.
3 - DRAIN AND GAIN.
Blood Artist and other cards gain you one life and drain your opponent one life. This is cool and certainly an interesting archetype of a deck. It doesn't synergize with Tergrid particularly well. I personally would not use this strategy at all in this deck and maximize the Tergrid plan. However, Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond is an awesome combo and an unexpected way to finish the game for you while people are busy dealing with Tergrid. If you want to keep this, I would trim some of the other cards, such as Exsanguinate and maybe Underworld Dreams.
So, now that we know what the 3 objectives are, and have maybe cut the third, we have a bit more of a plan. I've suggested adding some card draw and mana rocks for ramp, and tons more Tergrid synergy. What are the cuts? I would say anything that doesn't fit in with the objectives, so basically any card I haven't mentioned already, unless it gives great value on its own. I'll go through some:
Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are incredible cards and provide great value. Diabolic Tutor, Scheming Symmetry, and Shrouded Lore are worse tutor effects and should probably be moved to the maybe board. Sudden Spoiling is interesting and stops somebody from comboing off on their turn so is probably worth it. Reanimate is good value and should probably stay, same with Animate Dead. Demonic Vigor protects creatures but not Tergrid, unless you want him going to your hand. This is risky but probably fine. I could see him getting countered and then removed from your graveyard which puts you back majorly, but I could also see you avoiding commander tax. Worth looking into. Undying Evil is strictly better since it has instant speed and keeps him on the field. We might also want to protect him with Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots
Coffin Queen is too expensive and vulnerable. Drana, Liberator of Malakir is cool for aggressive strategies and can help you close out the game but is out of place in this deck. Falkenrath Noble is an overcosted Blood Artist. Gonti, Lord of Luxury is a value creature that if you can get his ETB many times, which your deck can't really do. Grave Titan isn't worth it in this deck. Gravedigger is fine but might be a bit slow. Helldozer is probably not worth it unless you want to pick on somebody lol. Korlash, Heir to Blackblade is not worth it. Massacre Wurm might not be worth it. Nighthowler isn't worth it. Opposition Agent is always a good add. Phage the Untouchable is too slow and vulnerable. Sepulchral Primordial might not be worth it. Skirsdag High Priest is probably not worth it. Syr Konrad, the Grim is not worth it. Wight of Precinct Six is not worth it. Tainted Strike is not worth it. Lashwrithe is not worth it. That's about 15 cuts right there.
Props to you for building Tergrid and having an interesting ramp strategy. I think if you go more in on the Tergrid plan by cutting unrelated cards for cards that ramp or are good with Tergrid then your deck will be a lot more reliable. After all, the most fun part of this deck is going off with Tergrid!
Hope this helps.
Grind on
The Panther King of Control
3 years ago
Cool deck.
Bane of Progress
seems good considering how few artifacts and enchantments you play.
But
Crucible of Worlds
might be worth including.
Depending on how much LD you want to run,
Wasteland
,
Dust Bowl
,
Shivan Harvest
,
Helldozer
might be playable.
Also
Opposition Agent
is a must as it shuts down most land ramp and fetch lands.
Optimator on
Giant's Deck
3 years ago
It looks like the spoilers that I put the non-Boros giant suggestions aren't working. So weird. I'll try to reconstruct what I suggested.
So I know you had your heart set on Brion as your commander, but I wanted to list all the good giants with , and in their colors, as there are a bunch that are excellent. Brion doesn't bring much to the giant-tribal table other than a small-ish lifelinking Giant body and occasional face-damage. You may want to use Iroas, God of Victory or Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas as your commander if you're dead-set on staying Boros colors. If the idea of fully exploring Giants in Magic's history is the goal, and being the most Giant-y deck, having more colors or all five colors will give you a greater creature spread and significantly help with the deck's function.
Arbor Colossus - great rate! Worth considering
Beanstalk Giant - ramp AND a giant body! Worth considering
Earthshaker Giant
- Worth considering
Garenbrig Paladin - playable, but probably wouldn't make the cut in a five-color deck
Gorm the Great - interesting choice, and nice at four mana, but probably not worth a slot
Marshdrinker Giant - odd removal piece.
Nylea's Colossus - good effect even without a ton of enchantment support. Worth considering
Outland Colossus - Worth considering
Rampart Smasher - watch out, Knights! Probably wouldn't make the cut
Skyshroud Troll - Regeneration is always nice, but the stats aren't great
Sunder Shaman - fucking awesome giant. One of the best reasons to consider running Green cards. Can't recommend enough.
Swarmborn Giant - kinda a weird one, but interesting nonetheless
Towering Titan - potentially awesome! Worth considering
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath - fucking incredible. Pretend you're terrorizing standard! That pricetag though :(
Valleymaker - very interesting utility. Potentially worth considering, but might not make the cut in a five-color deck.
Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig - Absolutely stellar Giant. three on-color might be hard to swing in a five-color deck, although any deck would probably lean Green due to ramp and utility. Very much worth considering.
Frost Titan - outstanding giant. One excellent reason to run Blue. Highly recommended, like all the titans. Too bad Prime-Time is banned! (Primeval Titan)
Galecaster Colossus - extremely strong Giant. better in Wizard-tribal decks, but is still really good on its own.
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - A real powerhouse. Highly recommended
Ruhan of the Fomori - Another excellent giant. Highly recommended
Skaab Goliath - Pretty decent. Might not make the cut in 5-color but worth considering]
Thryx, the Sudden Storm - Incredible! Ramp AND a flying body. A perfect reason to run Blue. Highly recommended
Bartel Runeaxe - this is a giant. Probably only worth running for the memes. Expensive too. A piece of Giant Magic history though.
Doomwake Giant - Pretty decent even without Enchantment support--lots of one-toughness support creatures out there.
Erebos's Titan - slightly recursive threat. Decent
Grave Titan - an utter powerhouse. One of the best giants. Highly recommended
Grixis Slavedriver - decent for a common. Probably not quite worth a slot.
Helldozer - pretty good! Three on-color might be hard but the payoff is huuuge.
Knight of the Last Breath - leaving behind blockers is pretty good. (Mana)-expensive though.
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger - Pretend you're terrorizing Standard!! Incredible Giant, but expensive.
Necrosavant - recursive creature, but you probably don't want to be sacrificing giants
Nightfire Giant - could be decent utility. Not the strongest giant but worth looking at
Tithebearer Giant - good for a common I suppose!
So as you can see, there are a bunch of fantastic Giants outside of Red and White colors. The stand-outs on a budget are:
Arbor Colossus - Beanstalk Giant - Earthshaker Giant - Outland Colossus - Sunder Shaman - Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig - Frost Titan - Ruhan of the Fomori - Thryx, the Sudden Storm - Helldozer
I should have a Frost Titan, Arbor Colossus, and Outland Colossus for trade.
Once you have the deck for a while, snagging Grave Titan - Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger - Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath- Towering Titan as upgrades would be well-worth it.
Optimator on
Giant's Deck
3 years ago
Some more giants that are worth considering:
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas - Kalemne is bae, but I'm biased.
Realm-Cloaked Giant - this card is mandatory.
Quarry Colossus - this one is passable.
Grasping Giant - I love this one--just put it in my Giant deck
Oathsworn Giant - Good utility if you are wanting to swing out every turn
Swathcutter Giant - I actually kinda like this one a lot.
Sentinel of the Eternal Watch -
Taurean Mauler - one of the best giants, sadly
Bonecrusher Giant - pretend you're terrorizing Standard!
Arbiter of Knollridge - gimmicky but fun.
Boldwyr Intimidator - I have one in my Warrior deck. Very funny card. Not exactly a powerhouse at 7CMC but the unblockable aspect could win a game here and there.
Siegebreaker Giant - Pretty good for 5 mana IMO
Non-Boros Giants Show
One thing that's tricky with Giants is that they are traditionally commons and uncommons; usually rare large red creatures are Dragons. As such, many giants are pretty low-impact or poor deals for their mana (think of the classic Hill Giant). There are enough good ones to fill out a deck, though, but you gotta hunt for them.
Hexapod on
Screaming Bald Guys Tribal MK2
4 years ago
Solid theme! :p
Stone Giant would be better than Hill Giant.
Helldozer would work in here.
Would Necropotence fit the theme?
Balinor5 on
Mono B Zombies Sacrifice/Reanimate
4 years ago
Seems like Death Baron should be on the main board. I like to run Helldozer because he's fun and can take out nasty lands.
Westvale Abbey  Flip is also a decent card for decks that make lots of creatures.
Cabal Coffers is another good land in a straight black deck with lots of swamps.
SideBae on
Zombo's and God's
4 years ago
As a general rule, adding things to slow your opponents down is a good way to start taking a deck to the next level. Idk how much search your meta has, but Ashiok, Dream Render works wonders against enemy tutors while also providing a level of graveyard hate.
Liliana, Death's Majesty is well under $10 and should be strongly considered for any zombie deck.
Unholy Grotto is a utility land you might be interested in, as it provides some recursion for your zombies.
You also seem to be relatively light on card draw or selection. Ponder , Preordain and Brainstorm are all good cantrips, especially if conjoined with shuffle effects like Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse . Personally, I like Night's Whisper and Chart a Course as two-for-ones, but I see you're running Phyrexian Arena ; that is a solid permanent which produces card advantage. Graveborn Muse is also a similar consideration, although the life loss may need to be countered by a Whip of Erebos or the like. In a similar vein, something like Slate of Ancestry may work well with the token-producers you have; Curse of Disturbance seems a good consideration to add to the token-package. It's worth noting that a large majority of EDH games are decided by card advantage.
I'm not sure how well Crypt of Agadeem works; I've had poor results with it. You may want to just run a basic land instead.
The Undermine slot is likely better served with Sinister Sabotage . In a format with 40 life, making an opponent lose 3 life is equivalent to draining them 1.5 life in a 20 life format. In all likelihood, you may just want the ability to filter your draws or (ideally) to bin a zombie, then cast it from the graveyard with Gisa and Geralf without needing to worry about wasting a draw on it.
I've also not had good experience with 3-mana artifact mana-producers. I suggest Dimir Signet and Talisman of Dominance instead of Mana Geode and Chromatic Lantern . Chromatic Lantern really only becomes strictly necessary in 4- or 5-color decks, and since you're 2, it seems superfluous.
I also notice you're running Xenograft and Arcane Adaptation . I don't think these cards are necessary, especially if you cut Call to the Grave for something like Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos .
I always like seeing a list with Exquisite Blood in it; you should run Sanguine Bond as well, as these two together produce an auto-win. Also, if you put a way to grant lifelink (such as the aforementioned Whip of Erebos ), Sanguine Bond begins to act as a pseudo damage-doubler.
Depending on your meta and whether there are other creature-based black decks, Bad Moon may be a good insert as an anthem effect. Similarly, barring an over-abundance of artifact decks, you may want to include Ashes to Ashes as a two-for-one removal spell.
Since UMA came out, Entomb is only a few dollars; Buried Alive acts similarly. So I advise adding that, as well as reanimation effects like Animate Dead , Necromancy or Reanimate . Being able to produce a Grave Titan turn two is always a massive plus. But don't feel limited to just Grave Titan , though; things like Helldozer are good reanimation targets as well. If you just want big, black fatties, Massacre Wurm and Phyrexian Obliterator are two of my favorites (though they're relatively expensive).
Good luck with the zombies. The living dead are bosses.
| Have (1) | Va1mar |
| Want (1) | midget_overlord |