Necromantic Selection

Sorcery

Destroy all creatures, then return a creature card put into a graveyard this way to the battlefield under your control. It's a black Zombie in addition to its other colours and types. Exile this.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (47)

DreadKhan on bungo

11 months ago

I'm not super familiar with Zombie decks (and have zero experience with Crime decks), but I think I can spot a few cards that you could probably cut for something better. Brain Pry seems like it'd be embarrassing to cast, I'd cut this unless you want actively bad cards (I keep them in some decks so I know when I'm drawing truly awful, but it's very suboptimal). Crippling Fear seems pretty small when there is Kindred Dominance and even Necromantic Selection, either of these is a much bigger, beefier effect. Diabolic Tutor is not a very good card IMHO, if you have access to large amounts of mana potentially (and you do from multiple sources) Diabolic Revelation is a much bigger, better effect, I like to run it with Emergence Zone. Gravestorm is a pretty uneven card if your Commander isn't out, I'd cut this for Phyrexian Arena, your Commander comes out late and resolving Arena on turn 3 feels amazing, if you miss 2 or 3 free cards you might not even be able to cast Gisa. I feel like I'd run Sadistic Hypnotist over Cabal Therapist, even at 5 mana the effect is so much stronger. I might be missing something with Hunted Bonebrute, it's not a Zombie, and Hunted Horror exists, offering a much stronger political play. I usually like Keen Duelist, but your MV might not be high enough to support this kind of effect, in general you should be regularly walloping your opponent with huge MV stuff to justify this. I guess if you throw in Kindred Dominance and/or Necromantic Selection Duelist gets a bit better, but your MV probably needs to be closer to 4 or this will just give free cards to opponents unless your Commander is out (and people are going to be wiping you a lot I suspect). Unless you throw an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in I don't know if Oblivion Sower is good enough, ymmv. If you already have it by all means keep it in, but I feel like Urza's Incubator is not a very good card in here? You have a lot of {B} mana requirements, and your zombies aren't especially big overall, I'd switch this for Sceptre of Eternal Glory if possible.

This is a bit out in left field, but can you imagine if you have Zombie Trailblazer out with your Commander and an Amulet of Vigor? That's infinite, right? Not sure if you want infinites or not, just wanted to mention it (because it'd be a sweet combo because you'd still need Haste or your Altar of Dementia, so it'd still be a 'look out next turn!' thing at 3 cards).

Generally I'd say discard effects are a lot less powerful the less of them you use, but I get that you want to commit crimes in here, perhaps you could look into repeatable removal sources? Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief is a budget card that can commit a crime for BB, and if you have extra mana you can also pump Drana while killing off Blockers. You might also try out Transmogrifying Wand, this can commit 3 very useful crimes, 2/4 vanillas are about as useful as floppy carrots in Commander, especially compared to 3 of the best creatures on the board (which you can reanimate I guess, since it's a Destroy effect). There is always good old Royal Assassin, this is SO MUCH better than Urza's Glasses in practice, and it's only BB more to make a gigantic impact on the board.

Here's some stuff you might consider adding, Night's Whisper is a very good low-to-the-ground card draw effect, as is Sign in Blood, both can help you get your Commander out on time more consistently. Sign can even be used to finish off a vulnerable opponent in a pinch. You also might be curious about War Room and Bonders' Enclave, both are lands that can draw, very useful with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

Sorry if I missed some synergies, I like the idea of this deck but am a bit agog at how much this Commander can do if properly supported, Ward seems like major overkill! Have fun out there!

jamochawoke on We killed 1/3 of Europe

1 year ago

The deck is fun but honestly it's missing some of Black's power. That being explosive mana ramp, hand control, field wipes, and targeted removal. Since you're aiming to give your rats Undying anyways I'd at least run 1 wrath like Damnation, Decree of Pain, Mutilate, Killing Wave, Life's Finale, Necromantic Selection, or the ultimate end game finisher Overwhelming Forces where you don't even have to hit your own creatures and draw a card for each kill.

DreadKhan on Maralen's Merry-Go-Round of Death

1 year ago

Have you thought about using an Emergence Zone? Casting Maralen on the end step before your turn sounds amazing, you tutor first and can grab your Opposition Agent! Teferi's Puzzle Box is pretty interesting with Maralen out, especially if you can skip your draw step somehow (I like Necropotence). In a meta where people love Najeela and Winota I don't think I'd want to go without Make an Example in mono-Black, this removal will always hit the most important thing on each opponent's board, and if they choose poorly they'll lose more. I wonder if Necromantic Selection is more impactful/hits the table sooner than In Garruk's Wake? If you're really far behind keeping your board is probably a lot worse than stealing the best creature you wiped. I'm also not sure if Decree of Pain is better than Wake, it's modal (with both modes being potentially relevant), and it's a tad cheaper, the sheer card advantage is probably better in a cEDH deck with more fast mana though. Any reason you're not on Lightning Greaves? I find this is a reasonable choice in a deck that cares about it's Commander, I guess you're still open to Instants, but if you can't give Maralen Flash somehow it seems good, maybe I'm missing something?

Are you skipping staples like Mana Crypt and Mana Vault because they are too pricey? If you still want playable ramp in mono-Black, there are a few options that you aren't running yet. I think your average MV is high enough to look at Dream Devourer, this makes your spells easier to cast, and even if you lose the Devourer you can still cast the spell. I'm not sure it really fits, but if you need to cast big value stuff then Magus of the Coffers is good help, and it tends to impact the board sooner than Nirkana Revenant fwiw. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth isn't ramp but it works with lots of Black cards that care about swamps. Cabal Ritual is a bigger Dark Ritual, especially if you've Milled yourself a bit.

I think I liked this deck so much it inspired me to look at my copy of Maralen, and I think I've thought of a deck for her at last, I think it'll be my sweaty try-hard win con in my Sisay, Weatherlight Captain deck, thanks for the inspiration, hope some of my ideas are helpful!

Gidgetimer on Are you able to bring …

1 year ago

DFCs only have the characteristics of their front face while in a zone besides the battlefield (or stack if they are MDFCs cast as the back face). This means that it won't be a creature card in the graveyard and can not be brought back. If Necromantic Selection only said "creature" instead of "creature card" you could bring back anything that was killed by it. The addition of the word "card" means that it has to be a card with the type "creature" while in the zone it is being brought back from.

Tunde on Are you able to bring …

1 year ago

With O-Kagachi Made Manifest  ^Flip on the battlefield and I cast Necromantic Selection, can I choose to bring it back since it died when it was a creature? Or is it not a valid choice since it isn't a creature in the graveyard?

DreadKhan on Rune-Scarred Demon or Sidisi, Undead …

2 years ago

DemonDragonJ honest question, but would you seriously play a 5 mana 6/6 Flyer with no other abilities in Commander? And it's got a subtype that doesn't have oodles of payoffs/synergies, it's not an Elf/Goblin/Zombie? Probably not, we want more than just a body usually, even if a cheap 6/6 would be worth 'a card' in an average meta, there are still much better cards. So, if that 5 mana card probably isn't worth it, does the card get better when you tack on a Demonic Tutor for full cost? 7 mana for both effects sounds like a bad card to me, one that I'd expect to pay under $1 for, not one that's closer to $10. As noted, it's hard to cast early (and most people want tutors in decks that are fairly competitive), while also being hard to follow up with another spell as it's 7 mana, so whatever you tutored could end up discarded depending on your meta, and if it's a 'has an effect next turn' type card then you're going to be waiting 2 turns to get actual value. Why wouldn't you just run something that actually changes the board state for 7 mana, like Necromantic Selection? You get a wipe and you get back the best body, that's usually better than a 6/6 flyer in my book, ymmv and if it does you can certainly run Rune-Scarred. I feel like it's a lot easier to build around board states happening where you care about a Wipe Plus vs care about a 6/6 Flyer.

Out of curiosity, why run Rune-Scarred Demon over Burning-Rune Demon? You get access to 2 cards, lots of decks care a bunch about the graveyard, it's quite possible to dig out two cards where both are good wherever they end up, and it's less mana for the same 6/6 Flyer, why run Rune-Scarred and have to wait yet another turn hoping for another land drop?

I will say, I often prefer 'do more' tutors like Primal Command (I literally play it in my Legacy Elves deck as a 'solve the problem' type card), but I'm not sure getting a 6/6 flyer for 5 more mana is really a great deal on that scale, especially when you could get either 2 cards or a Deathtouch creature for less mana. It might be overstating things to call Rune-Scarred a 'bad card', but I don't think it's an especially good one, and if I spend more than $2 for a card I expect some pretty impressive stuff at this point! What qualifies as impressive varies by format obviously, but even in Legacy there are budget cards that make the cut. What doesn't make the cut though, even in Reanimator decks, is Rune-Scarred Demon, there are wildly better things you can be doing, and Commander has almost all of them in it's card pool.

SilencedDax on Phylactery lich: a Rule 0 …

2 years ago

DreadKhan love your ideas!

The Nesting Grounds it's amazing to keep it safe!

I never thought about proliferate, that could be great with moving the phylactery counters around, althoug I think you'll have to commmit the deck to it to get a great benefit, maybe with some kind of +1+1 voltron strategy or something similar. I 'll think more about it.

Decree of Pain, Necromantic Selection, those kind of wanky junky black cards it's what i really like, like Last Laugh and Withering Wisps. About Phyrexian Scriptures, Damnation and other boardwipes are great!

I've never thought of Pestilence+deathtouch/lifelink counter! It sounds amazing!! To clear the board it is great to, and your lich the only thing alive, I'll look for similar cards. I knew the Blood combo you said, It's great and works amazing with the cards you said! In my playgroup we try to avoid it any combo so I cannot put it in, but I love it. Great synergy too with those amazing lands!

Great those ideas to prevent the lich to be stolen!

In my playgroup we have too some budget restrictions to try to balance deck, I'll try to fit the expensive lands in it!

I have though that we can include some zombie interaction like Call to the Grave that seems amazing and full of flavour 'cause liches are trying to escape dead.

And some artifact mutation like Biotransference or Liquimetal Torque and the other one that do the same on some great indestructible creatures.

Another ideas: Assault Suit to avoid sacrifice the lich, and Conjurer's Closet to put more phylactery counters, and other blink cards

DreadKhan on Phylactery lich: a Rule 0 …

2 years ago

Hope I'm not getting to carried away with this brainstorming, but here's what I thought up.

You could also use Nesting Grounds if you like the idea of putting your Phylactery Counter somewhere safer, but an Indestructible artifact is already pretty durable, and there are many of those kicking around.

If you end up using Proliferate for counters, you could look at Subterranean Hangar, it's a good 'land', but you almost want to run extra lands with it, it plays like a ramp source rather than a true land. Bottomless Vault also exists, but this is a much harder to use card that isn't as budget friendly. Both are good with Proliferate effects or big splashy effects, I gather you don't like Hailfire or Exsanguinate, but what about weirder stuff like one of the many big mana Wipe Plus cards that Black gets, stuff like Decree of Pain or Necromantic Selection, I think you can find others like Phyrexian Scriptures or even Damnation because it'll miss your Commander.

I feel Pestilence might be amazing, it's much better if you can give it Lifelink or Deathtouch, usually via a Counter that Nesting Grounds moved (Boot Nipper, Scavenged Brawler, Unbreakable Bond, Unexpected Fangs, Call of the Death-Dweller, Evolved Sleeper, or Void Beckoner, some of those seem solid actually), but even without either it's a great effect to clear out weenies, and your Commander keeps it around pretty consistently. Also very good with Pestilence is Exquisite Blood (paying B to gain 2 life and make 3 opponents each lose 1 sounds very playable), which combos with Sanguine Bond if you want a combo that has independently useful pieces. Blood and Pestilence and your Commander would be nuts with Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and I love how all of that is just stuff that you want to be doing anyway. Hangar and Vault are also useful with Pestilence.

I suspect you might want to look at some free sacrifice outlets to use incase your Commander is going to be stolen or hit by an Out of Time type effect in the event that you build around them more. Black has great outlets in addition to access to Altars. There is also Command Beacon to get Phylacter Lich back if people steal it.