Nighthowler

Enchantment Creature — Horror

Bestow {2}{B}{B} (If you cast this card for the bestow cost, this is an Aura spell with enchant creature. This becomes a creature again if this is not attached to a creature.)

This and enchanted creature each get +X/+X, where X is the number of creature cards in all graveyards.

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

TheVectornaut on King of the Skull Servants

2 weeks ago

As a fellow enjoyer of Grass Looking Greener (mostly Lightsworn but also some Zombie/Vampires, PK+Paleos, and Skull Servants), I do think the idea is interesting. You're always going to be in a bit of a battle between thematic consistency and power level. For instance, a grave-counting creature like Wight of Precinct Six or Nighthowler would fit the idea of King growing with more guys in the yard, but they would also be disappointingly weak right now since you don't have a lot of mass self-mill at the moment (Stitcher's Supplier and Overlord of the Balemurk are the first things that comes to my mind). On the subject of getting what you want in the GY, it probably is best to have a few more ways of getting specific targets buried at least. With Entomb off the table in modern, I could see Unmarked Grave being the best cheap option instead of or in addition to Buried Alive. This only negatively affects Maha who I already think is worse than reanimator staples like Archon of Cruelty or Sire Of Insanity. Fewer legendaries also makes Persist a great choice. There's also Lively Dirge if you want to stick to the low mana value plan and can afford to pay more mana. Finally, I'm partial to Burning-Rune Demon as a way to extend into more reanimations while being a reasonable threat in its own right. I think it would be cool to run more skeletons for the theme too, although most aren't that helpful. Cards like Reassembling Skeleton or Persistent Specimen could be sac fodder to a Victimize or Hell's Caretaker. Another one that I know can be good in black reanimator is Emperor of Bones, although he has some unfortunate anti-synergy with other cards in the deck like Twilight Diviner. Death Baron is always an option if you find the Corpses of the Lost backup plan doesn't have enough oomph.

Some final notes: It may be more consistent to focus on just the Xu-Ifit negated reanimations. That would involve going up to 4 Death's Shadow and adding in some similar options like Moonshadow or Yargle and Multani. The EDHRec page for Varolz, the Scar-Striped could be a place to start. That all said, having the more powerful effects of non-negated creatures may still be worth the inconsistency of the two plans not always meshing whan you need them to. You do want to have the best options available in either case though. My first cut suggestions would be Gloom Sower, Avatar of Woe, Inkwell Leviathan, and lastly Maha, Its Feathers Night. Finally, I second cutting some lands and would suggest Bitter Triumph as a replacement for Cast Down that comes with a Cabal Therapy option built-in.

wozislightning on Tappy Mill 2.1 (Phenax EDH)

3 months ago

Thank you for the suggestions! Psychic Corrosion and Mortivore were actually in the original list.

The corrosion was cut for Memory Erosion, mainly because the consistent card draw effects that you mentioned are large targets for my playgroup, so they rarely stick around. At that point, Memory Erosion often got more value over time.

Mortivore was cut for Nighthowler. The regenerate clause basically never came up (either cant be regenerated wraths or exile effects) and bestowing a Nighthowler to recover after some creature removal or wraths proved to be stronger in the long game.

Unstoppable Plan is an interesting one. At first glance, it looks like a "win more" card, but given that you can react to it on the stack makes it significantly better (tapping your creatures in response to the trigger, so you don't just tap all your creatures and have it removed with nothing left to block). Unsure of what to cut, but definitely worth testing in some capacity.

I've got some thinking to do!

NV_1980 on commander mill

8 months ago

Hi opencorners! Please consider adding some more mana-options to the deck. Right now, all you have for that are lands and compared to the average commander deck, this will make your deck painfully slow. Options I'd recommend include Arcane Signet, Dimir Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Thran Dynamo and most especially Sol Ring. Dark Ritual can also be extremely useful at times.

You could also do with some more card-advantage (draw) to increase the deck's speed. Notion ThiefGC, Phyrexian Arena, Ponder and Preordain could all be great additions for this.

Aside from this, I'd recommend giving the following cards a shot (I've tried to keep them budget):

• Breach the Multiverse: strong mill-spell that's potentially game-ending in terms of the sudden advantage you can gain (especially if you play against multiple opponents).
• Freed from the Real/Pemmin's Aura: allows you to untap your strongest millers (when Phenax is around) for next-to-nothing cost, and use them to mill again.
• Memory Erosion: quite deadly against decks that try to overwhelm you with the amount of spells that can cast per turn (this card is the death of prowess and storm decks).
• Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker: great mill potential with every successful attack.
• Nighthowler: a second Wight of Precinct Six.
• Sphinx's Tutelage: an incredibly effective mill card as it's triggered by your draw (which makes having more draw in your deck even more beneficial).

Hope this helped. In case you need some more insights, have a look at my own Phenax deck. Good luck with the deck.

batach31 on Mill Stealer

1 year ago

IN:

Blasphemous Edict

Toxic Deluge

Diabolic Tutor

Moonsilver Key

Kindred Dominance

Baleful Mastery

Haunted One

Dread Return

Aboleth Spawn

OUT:

Hunted Horror

Mesmeric Orb

Nighthowler

Ruin Crab

Consuming Aberration

Nihilith

Thing in the Ice  ^Flip

NV_1980 on Milling opponents get wins (I Hope)

2 years ago

Hi fellow Phenax player! I would recommend adding some more high-toughness creatures to use as milling engines when combined with Phenax. Charix, the Raging Isle is very good in this regard. Also, because you mill, lots of creatures will end up in graveyards. This in turn could fuel the toughness of creatures like Mortivore, Nighthowler and Wight of Precinct Six (which allows for even more milling). A card that's also worth considering would be Bloodchief Ascension, which can go infinite with Mindcrank.

jacobpmesser on Self Mill Goyf

2 years ago

4 Stitcher's Supplier 4 Hedron Crab 3 Satyr Wayfinder 4 Urborg Lhurgoyf 4 Cruel Somnophage 4 Souls of the Lost 2 Nighthowler 3 Grist, the Hunger Tide 2 Wonder 4 Unearth 3 Brazen Borrower 1 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant 1 Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip 1 Kazandu Mammoth  ^Flip

1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb

That's a good base. Take what works and replace what you don't like.

Exp. I've been playing iterations of this for years now and eight one drops are important. You need to start filling your gy ASAP. These are the two best. If you don't want to go into blue, there are cards like Gnawing Vermin but for me, m2 isn't enough. The -1/-1 is helpful so there is some leeway based on META. If I dabble in other colors, Shriekhorn is my go-to.

Satyr's spot can be removed but I play a low land count due to the two modal lands (Glasspool/Mammoth). Mire Triton is another favorite because Deathtouch and gainlfie. It's also a META call. I don't like others like Skull Prophet. If I were playing The Mycotyrant I'd consider it because it 'mills over time' (MOT) but once your opp sees what youre on theyd kill it before you get a chance to use it.

So, in this list I'm 12 goyfs. Eight can self-mill (SM) and the other is useful (Souls) in getting Wonder out of your hand. You can also sac Stitcher to it if you're a T1 Stitcher T2 Souls. Every card in this deck is a permanent besides Unearth so if you fetched at all, you could have a T2 6/6-8/8 Souls of the Lost and that aint to shabby.

I have always played at least 1-2 Nighthowler. It makes those Stitchers, Crabs, and Satyrs a threat and more often than not, takes two spells to kill it (when it's bestowed).

I view this deck as a sort of aggro deck and keeping with 99% creature theme, Grist and Brazen Borrower are my interaction. You can bring in whatever you want (obviously) but it's also provides fliers for Nighthowler, Grist has a built in win-con and protects itself. I always play a Boseiju, Who Endures and if I play more, -1 Unearth for Life from the Loam and if I'm really frisky, I'll add a few more legends, play more of the Channel Lands and another Life/Loam. I've got a oops all Channel lands were all the other lands are Modal and I play Amulet of Vigor with Shriekhorn and use Emry, Lurker of the Loch as a self-mill recur piece. It's fun.

Sidisi is a MOT that can help you go wide. Every time you mill, you get a zombie. I use this in near every build when I'm in color. I've tested Blossoming Tortoise but save that for a Mosswort Bridge version I play and if I can't get that going I want to be able to cast the top end. Shigeki, Jukai Visionary, Molderhulk, Aether Vial + Dryad Arbor help get me there. But just playing the new Squirming Emergence is so much easier than playing all those other cards.

You can find a way to bring in draw, life, other interaction, etc.. it's on you. There are times were I play Jace, the Perfected Mind or Visions of Beyond for draw. Spellstutter Sprite and a few spots for other faeries like Likeness Looter (flying faerie goyfs!).

But that's the base. Do what you want.. because you can literally do anything. I've got a junk list focused on recur with Unearth, Renegade Rallier, Necropanther, Athreos, God of Passage... a jund/grixis list that uses Ob Nixilis, the Adversary and Orcish Bowmasters (sac goyf to etb Ob Nix, Token Ob forces opp to draw 7 for -7 life. Bowmasters deals another 6 plus you get a 6/6 orc token (+2 more for paper Ob +1 if they can't discard). That's a 15 point swing, not including attacks. Another Grixis list that plays Kroxa, Flamewake Phoenix, Seasoned Pyromancer and Ox.

My favorite - game 1, I'm a mill deck that sideboard converts into self-mill game 2. It still deals with the gy but game 1 youre spell heavy and game 2 youre creature heavy.

Anyway, have fun.

griffstick on Card creation challenge

2 years ago

Since I made my wife a card I decided to make my own with the same art style.

Wild

Or

Create an creature/enchantment aura, that works like bestow but in reverse. Celestial Archon for example. The bestow cost is more than its casting cost. Well make an Aura Enchantment that has a mechanic that allows you to play it as a creature instead and the cost to do so is more because when it dies it attaches to a creature as an Aura. See its bestow in reverse.

• Boon Satyr
• Chromanticore
• Kestia, the Cultivator
• Herald of Torment
• Nighthowler
• Eidolon of Countless Battles
• Hypnotic Siren

Cards for examples

TheVectornaut on Commune with the Grisly, Filthy Gods

3 years ago

I have a fairly similar deck that uses Necrotic Ooze to get value out of abilities in the graveyard. I found I liked Splinterfright more than Nighthowler in most situations, and I have even run Nyx Weaver alongside it for more recurring mill. While not budget friendly, Fauna Shaman is a great way to pitch cards and find combo pieces like Jarad.