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
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (47)

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

6 days 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 month 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 month 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 months 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 …

3 months 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 …

3 months 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.

SirHipHopHippo on Wings of the Sphinx

6 months ago

Cast Through Time for Wondrous Crucible

Boneyard Parley for Rise of the Dark Realms

Wizard's Spellbook for Portal to Phyrexia

Necromantic Selection for Kindred Dominance

DreadKhan on unthinkable apocalypse

6 months ago

I'm not certain the Commander has enough explosive power to consistently win vs 2 decks, but I have very good results in 1 v 1 with my Rakdos deck, and it often has spare cards by the end of the game, be it wipe or removal, because the deck just runs so much of those, with lots of the removal hitting more than 1 target (I love stuff like Phyrexian Purge, Fire Covenant, Make an Example, and Volcanic Offering can each be a terror of a card, and a deck running all of them has lots of pinpoint removal that will clear lots of stuff out. Ashes to Ashes and Reckless Spite also exist fwiw, and if you aren't certain you'll have creatures out, Tergrid's Shadow can do a bit of work, as can Plaguecrafter or Demon's Disciple, cards Sedris can recur for 2B even. Another value card is Dredge the Mire, which can cheat in the 3 worst creatures in people's graveyards, note certain creatures will kill you if you control them, so check before playing! Necromantic Selection not only clears the field, it also gives you back the best thing, this is extra juicy if you use some sort of Indestructible creature(s) that won't die. If you consistently have a fairly big creature, or one with Deathtouch and Lifelink, Chandra's Ignition is one sided by definition, one of many cards that shines brightly with Basilisk Collar (which is also very good with Jaya Ballard, Task Mage or even good old Banshee, Jaya's 6 damage wipe really is amazing if you've got Collar on her, though it'll kill her too). If you expect to have multiple opponents, Goad is a very strong effect, Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant is potentially pretty solid, lots of card draw. There is also Kardur, Doomscourge that will force everyone's hand. Spectacular Showdown is a great card if you've actually got a board of your own to finish people off, keep in mind that on your next turn, you not only won't have been attacked by any pre-existing creature, everyone else will have swung for the fences with Double Strike, and they will likely have nothing left to defend with, making your Double Strikers very effective. Another Goad source that is great with a creature heavy board is Agitator Ant, which is hilarious a lot of the time. If you're using Goad effects, War Tax can let an opponent have a way around them, if there is a tax to attack Goad fails, and War Cadence is absolutely devastating with Goad, even a tax of 1 to block can make blocking impossible for weenie decks, and you can use either on anyone's turn.

As you've got access to Blue, there are a few non-Rakdos tricks you can use, the most hilarious I know of is Mass Diminish, note that it lasts until your next turn and have a good laugh. There is also Sudden Spoiling, which is powerful but lasts for that turn, or Polymorphist's Jest, which is similarly a 1 turn solution. I use Mass Diminish more aggressively, to make a player hyper-vulnerable to attackers (and make them unable to counter attack), getting two casts is just savage. Visions of Duplicity can create some chaos with it's two casts, Cultural Exchange is obscene if someone else has better creatures. Bident of Thassa is glorious if you want both of it's effects, forcing people to attack is incredibly mean, and this doesn't require you to run a weenie like Goblin Diplomats, but that's also a fun card fwiw. If you're going to run Oriq Loremage, you might slip in a huge creature to Unearth, something like Dragon Tyrant can be huge and not break the bank, Double Strike and Firebreathing are really good together, and you won't have to pay the upkeep with Unearth, he's dead before that matters.

I was looking at your land count and average Mana Value and I think you probably are running too few lands at this point, it's very tempting to cut them, but 30 is probably too few for a MV that is over 2.5. You might get away with adding 2 mana ramp, but I'd still aim for at least 36 lands (or MDFCs that count as a land, you probably already have the best two MDFCs in those colours, but people also run Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip) to ensure you can consistently cast stuff. There is a smattering of ways you can run less lands/ramp, but these all come with downsides, but in Grixis you can run 4 solid Bounce Lands, Dimir Aqueduct and Guildless Commons should be in here as well if you want a lower land count, these let you hit another land drop when you draw them. You might also run stuff like Thran Dynamo or Worn Powerstone to help you hit higher MVs sooner, ramping by only 1 mana feels bad compared to hitting a land drop most of the time, there is also Gilded Lotus, but hitting 5 mana can be rough. Coalition Relic can charge for 1 turn, Skyclave Relic is super versatile/rugged, and Everflowing Chalice can be huge if you want, 6-10 mana is absurd but sometimes comes up. Cantrips like Ponder and Preordain are also good at digging for a land, but I know in Talrand it stings pretty bad when you Preordain and don't find a land and I needed one. As for some cards to remove, I'll take a look, but if I'm trying to build a deck that can handle attention, I look first at cards that will hurt only 1 player, unless that card will almost certainly end that player, either right away or in a few turns.

A few to consider removing (I may be missing why you have them in, so user discretion is advised or something): Archive Trap, Outpost Siege, Palace Siege, Ponder, Preordain, Haunting Echoes, Cruel Ultimatum (this seems insanely hard to cast, and hits only 1 player, unless you can copy it I'd run Captive Audience if I want to hose one player hard), Cranial Extraction, Cormela, Glamour Thief, Kess, Dissident Mage, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, Lobber Crew, Loyal Subordinate, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Obeka, Brute Chronologist, Phenax, God of Deception, Runo Stromkirk  ^Flip, Spear Spewer, and Thermo-Alchemist.Some maybe cards include Angrath, Captain of Chaos, and Cryptolith Fragment  ^Flip (for another land, maybe a better rock, there is Thought Vessel, but fixing is sweet in Grixis).

Hope some of this is helpful!