Combos Browse all Suggest
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 |
Rules Q&A
Soul Spike
Instant
You may remove two black cards in your hand from the game rather than pay Soul Spike's mana cost.
Soul Spike deals 4 damage to target creature or player and you gain 4 life.
lagotripha on
Horde of the damned (budget aggro zombies)
1 year ago
My experience with budget mono black points to this being most of the way there - there are ways to reach FNM viability that won't work in tournament play due to scouting+decklist availability.
Carrion Feeder + Undead Augur is an incredible engine for black zombies - sac+discard outlets are great for the tribe thanks to tokens and recursion. Being able to sac gravecrawler to pump 2 creatures, draw cards and get tokens from headless rider is incredible value. This gives you legs that a lot of aggro strategies lack, creating a spectrum of options from pure 'make zombies smash face' to 'disrupt hand, set up cryptbreaker, draw lots'.
Mono-black's biggest advatnage is a large pool of 'good enough' cards, which become very strong when they answer meta threats. Its quite difficult to tell the difference between gravecrawler in aggro, gravecrawler in midrange with extra hand disruption/card draw, and gravecrawler/undying combo. That unpridictability wins games, if you read the FNM meta right.
The downside of this is choosing what to put in your 75 cards. Stuff like a single Bump in the Night/Soul Spike, a single Ratchet Bomb or Pithing Needle has an ovesize impact due to your opponents having to play around them. Pick carefully, and don't be scared putting options maindeck - worst case, they are gravecrawler discards. Look at how you win the matchups you expect, and build to that rather than trying to maximise damage or speed - a single duress can buy a couple extra turns hitting face in the right hand, and if everyone has the same few creatures in their hand you can reliably hit them with the cheap disruption.
If you want to spend on the deck, stick to format staples - thoughtsieze etc. Most everything else has budget cards that match its performance, especially if you need to switch up your plans to keep your edge anyway.
Balaam__ on
Block This, You Filthy Casual
1 year ago
Thanks for posting, IHATENAMES. Hunted Horror could be feasible if we get the Filth+Evil Presence combo up and running, otherwise those two 3/3’s with protection from black make me nervous in a mono colored deck.
I had considered Gurmag Angler but it’s a no go; the pricey Delve cost means an early game play isn’t viable, as we’d likely have to exile Filth to pay for it which is not good. First-Sphere Gargantua is too costly and without a lot of ramp or fast mana it’ll likely never see play. Getting it into the graveyard for the Unearth cost is doable, but I don’t think it’s worth cutting anything for. Soul Spike is intriguing, I had not seen that card before. That one might be good sideboard material. Thanks for the suggestions!
Bazzul on
Belzenlok, Godo's Ugly Cousin
3 years ago
CyborgAeon you are indeed correct about the "go off in response" mechanic provided you have enough non-land non-creature cards in your hand (which is always true for the first go-off in response). However, there is small window where removal could be used if Skirge Familiar and Bone Miser enter the battlefield at different times (this happens in the first attempt). At this stage you must kill your own Skirge Familiar with Soul Spike (if the interruption exiles). In response, you can get enough mana to cast graveyard recursion: Ever After, Living Death
I do think Dread is still needed. Mainly because you are very often interrupted mid combo (by countermagic for example). You need a way to attempt to survive and combo off in the following turns. To do this you must have Skirge Familiar and Bone Miser in the graveyard/battlefield and have a card on top of your library. The eldrazi only help with the latter.
I would swap the following cards for your combo:
OUT (7 cards):
1x Cinderhaze Wretch 1x Endling 1x Lotus Guardian 1x Makeshift Mannequin 1x Necrotic Ooze 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
IN (5 cards):
1x Bone Miser 1x Nightmare Void 1x Extra Shuffler 1x Ever After (extra attempt) 1x Living Death (extra attempt)
I really like your combo and definitely choosing it over the ooze combo is a matter of preference. I have to say that in my meta having a creature based win (second attempt) is very valuable because of the decks I'm used to play against. Also the instant speed win through Makeshift Mannequin has been handy at times.
Anyways I'm for sure gonna buy the extra cards and give it a try in my play group. I do think your combo deserves a mention in the description (or even another decklist). I'm a bit busy these days so it might take a while for me to add it. However, if you have time to make a playlist I could also mention it and link it in the description!
Thanks for the innovative approach!
Flooremoji on
Meme Dream (Manaless)
4 years ago
I just want the opening hand kill with quad Chancellor of the Dross and double Soul Spike
Bazzul on
Belzenlok, Godo's Ugly Cousin
4 years ago
Lord0fHam Regarding your 1st question, there are two more combo finishers besides Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion . They are listed in the Maybeboard ( Repay in Kind + Lich or Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood + Soul Spike ). Although these combos are not graveyard based per se, they are very mana intensive and Skirge Familiar is pretty much mandatory to execute them. The Main combo line requires Skirge Familiar to be revived with Dread Return so it's hard to avoid being graveyard dependent. I think Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion is the most resilient of the combos since multiple cards can execute the combo in case you get countered ( Ever After , Living Death , or even Twilight's Call ).
Regarding you second question the deck doesn't have a good way to protect itself from being interrupted (due to being mono black and having the 4cmc+ condition). That being said, there are two scenarios
-Interruption before Belz's ETB: simply ramp until 8 and try again...
-Interruption after Belz's ETB: Discarding Dread provides you multiple chances to revive the duo in the following turns. Basically you can attempt a win one per turn for the following 2 turns (sometimes even more because Ever After goes to the top of your library if it resolves..) More details are given at the end of the "combo" section of the primer.
Finally, there is Geode Golem , which allows you to pay for Skirge Familiar directly, if interrupted, simply do the main combo line.
king-saproling on
Sidisi, lands kinda matter?
4 years ago
You might consider these for speeding up the deck: Lotus Petal , Fellwar Stone , Blood Pet .
Mirror of Fate could be neat here. It lets you reuse cards exiled by Yawgmoth's Will. You can even recur the Mirror itself this way. There is a wombo combo here alongside Will + Bolas's Citadel + Tendrils of Agony . Not that you need another combo haha. But it could be fun to switch things up if you get tired of Glacial + Dreams, or wanna keep your opponents on their toes.
These cards seem like they might have a home here or in a similar build: Necropotence , Soul Spike , Spinning Darkness , Blood Tithe , Sorin's Vengeance , Sovereign's Bite , K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth , Skirge Familiar
Flooremoji on Scheming Symmetry
4 years ago
sylvannos: Why not just go for the gold with 4x Chancellor of the Dross , 2x Soul Spike ;)?
I don't like Scheming Symmetry , as you are losing a card for the tutor, not putting into your own hand is really painful. I do agree that it could be fun with some of the listed cards, but I don't think it will work as a two card combo, I thinnk it would need to be more "1 card combo", but I might be wrong. I do sort of hope it finds it's way into a storm list or somthing.