Immortal Servitude

Sorcery

Return each creature card with converted mana cost X from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	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
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

ChasingTurtles on My Shadowborn Apostle Deck

2 years ago

Putnamto RatzvdP I'm newish to MTG and want to build something like this. My plan is using Bloodbond March, Immortal Servitude, aaaaand trying to use Secret Salvage. Or is adding Salvage trying to do too much? The plan is to get one Shadowborn Apostle into the graveyard then exhile it with SS, bringing out ALL SA from the library, and discarding all but one at the end of my turn. Then bringing them back with Bloodbond March next turn. Then bring out the demons.

Also, I have 65-75 cards in my deck but I think that might be okay with this kind of deck?

Thoughts?

wallisface on HELL DRAIN + KILL (Modern Mardu Sacrifice FFA)

2 years ago

I quite like this brew. Sone thoughts:

• You probably want to use more fetchlands for Mayhem Devil to profit from.

• I would suggest ditching both Immortal Servitude and Rally the Ancestors. Firstly, ditching them means you can easily get away with running only 22 lands. Secondly, Rally is particularly bad as you have no easy sac outlet (Priest will be summoning-sick). I would say, 99% of the time, running Unearth will be much stronger for you. After that, i think you need more interaction/killspells, but if you’re desperate for additional recursion, Persist, Undying Evil, or Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip are all better than Servitude/Rally in this deck.

• As mentioned before, I think your deck needs more ways to interact with the opponents boardstate. The Sac & discard you have are good - but they all let the opponent choose what’s going. A few copies of Infernal Grasp, or a playset of Lightning Bolt, could help you in sticky situations

wallisface on I'd Advise Against That

2 years ago

Yeah i think it’s going to be a really uphill battle trying to play this as a control deck. I’ve been thinking of some alternate ideas that i’ve put below for you to consider - note I haven’t played/built any of it so don’t assume I know anything here :)

• The big issue I see with Persistent Petitioners is it takes ages to cast em, and it takes ages to draw enough of them to be relevant. One possible solution would be to mill yourself loads, and then bring a truckload of them into play all at once with the likes of Immortal Servitude or Patriarch's Bidding. The likes of Dakmor Salvage could be useful here in helping you achieve getting the 5 land you’d need for this, while Glimpse the Unthinkable can help fill your yard pre-reanimation, and help finish milling your opponent post-reanimation. The problem with this brew-concept is that it’s creating a LOT of different moving parts, which might make the deck too clumsy to operate effectively. I’d need to see/write a list to get my head around how viable this is.

• my other idea, which feels stronger (in my head), would be to only run around 3ish Persistent Petitioners, and otherwise play the deck as a go-wide creature-token generating deck (you’ll prolly need to go Esper for this). The combo here would be to run Mirrorweave, which can immediately turn all your tokens into Persistent Petitioners and let you mill out the game for an easy win. But, if you haven’t drawn the Persistent Petitioners, Mirrorweave can still work great with your tokens, turning your opponents stuff into identically weak tokens and making their attacks/blocks super unfavourable.

wallisface on X=0 {(Budget)}

2 years ago

I feel like a few copies of Profane Tutor could be good for finding an Immortal Servitude or Fecundity?

Icaruskid on Black Bolt | Athreos, Shadowborn [PRIMER]

2 years ago

Hey thanks GreenHamma!

I tried this deck without any tutors except Rune-Scarred Demon and Razaketh, the Foulblooded, added some redundant pieces like Cruel Celebrant, and added more draw too. It still had a whiff rate I didn't like. So I'm shooting for a tuned 80%.

I did see Aetherflux Reservoir as a popular win condition. I've played it in other decks before so I thought I would try something different here. I think it fits in the same spot as Mortal Combat for me. What do you think about either of these? I kind of like having a free win card in the deck.

Carnival of Souls is too aggressive for me. I see how it is appealing but the downsides are costly.

Peer into the Abyss I had not even thought of here. It makes sense in the same way Ad Nauseam does but what's interesting is that 1/3 of the cards I would eventually discard at end of turn would be Shadowborn Apostles. So if there is a Immortal Servitude effect in hand that is bonkers! I might have to try this out to understand it better. Funny how I'm OK with this kind of half life risk but not Carnival of Souls. :D

Tzefick on None

2 years ago

I really like the Shadowborn Apostle concept, so count me interested.

However Enchantments don't tap, with the experimental exception of Flowstone Embrace . I think it wont matter if you remove the tap cost. Pulling out multiple demons already seems very unlikely.

Now, to look at the strength of this card. What does this do better than Shadowborn Apostle ? It just requires creatures and not specifically Apostles to work, which means you can fuel it with tokens. However it costs 4 MV as initial investment and either 5+ turns of sacrificing or 10 MV in costs + 5 creatures to get 5 summoning counters to summon a Demon of MV 5 or less (as most Demons are MV 5+ and a few below which we generally don't care to fetch.)

It would seem this is largely inefficient at summoning Demons. And when you have, you still need to worry about the upkeep sacrifice. Shadowborn Apostle s have the benefit of fetching any Demon regardless of cost, and they are redundant (so you can easily replace them). They are also quite cheap mana-wise, only costing 7 black pips to fetch a Demon, given you have them in hand. The Apostles being redundant and being creatures you can also utilize a slew of cards that synergizes very well with the plan - like Remembrance , Secret Salvage , Immortal Servitude .

I feel like if this is supposed to work instead or in tandem with Apostles, you should make it stronger than it is. As it is, it is very slow and not very powerful in terms of cheating costs.

just an idea Show

The Darkmoor Coven

Enchantment

At the beginning of your upkeep, if you don't control a Demon you lose 4 life and put two Summoning counters on The Darkmoor Coven.

, sacrifice any number of non-Demon creatures: Put a number of Summoning counters on The Darkmoor Coven equal to the mana value of the sacrificed creatures.

Remove X Summoning counters from The Darkmoor Coven: Search your library for a Demon with mana value X or less and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

---

I removed the sacrifice on upkeep as it would clash with the active and basically just force you to use the active to sacrifice your board to get better value. Instead it drains you and provides a passive means to put counters on it. If you already have a Demon the passive generation stops and you have to acquire the counters through actively sacrificing non-Demon creatures.

The first active ability is quite efficient at putting counters on the Coven. At first I had it just sacrifice a single creature to get its mana value in counters, but then it would still be largely inefficient compared to just playing Apostles. And you still have to get creatures with a high MV to get the counters to summon big demons. I was trying to find the good middle ground between being playable in a Shadowborn Apostle deck AND in a non-Apostle deck. As it only counts the MV, it also means sacrificing tokens is worthless - which makes it less broken.

You can only sacrifice non-Demons to avoid that in the face of removal, you just sacrifice your Demons and then summon some more. You can use it to "save" the value of non-Demons you control, but the deck is most likely designed around fetching Demons to do the heavy lifting and win condition so the non-Demons are mostly there as fodder. But nothing is to stop you from running good ETB creatures that can then be sacrificed to fetch powerful combat demons, say a Gray Merchant of Asphodel .

Spirits on Undying Persistence

3 years ago

Forgot my friend Erebos, Bleak-Hearted , definitely one of my fav's and fits your indestructible/god theme too. Phyrexian Arena is a good 6 power draw.

Last couple topics,

I made an assumption and grouped Draw above Damage, and Deathtouch above Token.

Deathtouch 16%, Control 16%, Damage/Life 15%, Recursion 8%, Token 6%, Draw 6%, Discard 2%, Ramp 2%, Land 29%

Further on Card Advantage (which includes draw):

I know why your doing it and the thought process behind it, but here's an alternative perspective.

Your cards like Blood Divination , Costly Plunder , Pitiless Pontiff , Bone Splinters , Final Payment , Severed Strands , Spark Harvest are usually paired with LTB effect (like your damage/life and afterlife abilities), more along lines of Grave Pact (Also Dictate of Erebos , Butcher of Malakir , Dark Prophecy , Nightmare Shepherd , Etc.) or Reveillark / Academy Rector types.

The issue is Blood Divination why not Necropotence ( Greed ) for CMC1 less, and no sacrifice, let's you refill your hand anytime, Grim Haruspex /Etc. Why Spark Harvest / Bone Splinters over Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile or Mortify or even Bloodchief's Thirst / Generous Gift if your after planeswalkers.

So how are creatures getting into the graveyard, if your not sacrificing them along with other effects, a value engine!! Skullclamp is a necessity, Viscera Seer is strong, Phyrexian Altar (this card is cEDH level though), more things like Priest of Forgotten Gods & Ayara, First of Locthwain . Why sacrifice a deathtouch creature to LTB damage/life when you can Corpse Knight instead and get the value up front? Yahenni, Undying Partisan , Village Rites is ok because its CMC1 and Instant, you don't need tutor in battlecruiser/low (up to power 5), but cards like Diabolic Intent which also feed into things like Mausoleum Secrets are value. Ashnod's Altar , Doom Foretold , Razaketh, the Foulblooded , etc.

Key is value in / value out. Don't waste the value out just to enable your recursion. Value-in, Value-out, then recur. More Immortal Servitude (battlefield), less Soul Salvage (hand). Reanimate / Animate Dead (anyone's graveyards), Unburial Rites , Victimize , Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip, Revival / Revenge , Command the Dreadhorde , Blood for Bones .

Luminous Broodmoth / Lurrus of the Dream-Den could be some cool interaction with the graveyard.

Topic Interaction:

Kinda touched on it, in previous. Control 16% is quite a bit, inline with power level. If you replace Ashen Rider , Bone Splinters , Final Payment , Severed Strands , Spark Harvest . Some should become the "sac outlets", like Skullclamp / Viscera Seer and some just better interactions (Instant speed whenever possible). Anguished Unmaking , Utter End , Swords to Plowshares , Merciless Eviction , Plaguecrafter / Demon's Disciple (Better Fleshbag Marauder unless your utilizing the Zombie part), Shriekmaw , Path to Exile , Generous Gift , Deadly Rollick , Dire Tactics , Hagra Mauling  ^Flip, Unmake there's lots.

Burglar Rat : If you like him! Elderfang Disciple , Yarok's Fenlurker , Rotting Rats (with Unearth).

If you want to jump on a teams chat or anything when you have some time happy to help, just discord chat me, hopefully something that helps you focus this deck to a 4-5

Breakaway on Mono Black One Drops

3 years ago

How about Immortal Servitude to bring everything back for 4 mana? It might work better than Aid the Fallen, Call of the Death-Dweller, Forever Young.