The Frolicsome Shenanigans Of Athreos's Apostles

Commander / EDH Cleric Demons Sacrifice WB (Orzhov)

MTGBurgeoning

Land (36)

• 1x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 5x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shattered Sanctum
• 1x Shineshadow Snarl
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Creature (39)

• 1x Edgewalker
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Luminous Broodmoth
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 28x Shadowborn Apostle
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Taborax, Hope's Demise
• 1x Teysa Karlov
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Instant (5)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Rally the Ancestors
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Utter End

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Life Insurance
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Remembrance
• 1x The Meathook Massacre

Commander (1)

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Damn
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Farewell
• 1x Immortal Servitude
• 1x Secret Salvage
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Artifact (5)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Thrumming Stone

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ATHREOS, GOD OF PASSAGE

{1}{W}{B}

Legendary Enchantment Creature - God

Indestructible

As long as our devotion to white and black is less than seven, Athreos isn't a creature.

Whenever another creature we own dies, return it to our hand unless target opponent pays three life.

5/4

We want to assemble the pieces of the Athreos, God of Passage and Shadowborn apsotle engine in order to drain the life from our opponents, both figuratively and, unfortunately, literally. The goals of this deck are the following: Cast Athreos, God of Passage, accumulate multiple copies of Shadowborn Apostle, ensure that at least one opponent is struggling with their life total, gather any pieces necessary to complete the engine, win the game. Aside from winning the game, these goals are in no particular order. Let's explore what this engine offers:

Creatures (39)

Shadowborn Apostle: There are 28 copies of Shadowborn Apostle in the deck, and that's a bit on the light side. It is challenging to fit other pieces into the deck when one card and its multiple copies are so important. The text on Shadowborn Apostle allows us to circumvent the singleton rule of EDH/Commander by including multiple copies of the same card: "A deck can have any number of cards named Shadowborn Apostle." When we tap {B} and sacrifice six creatures named Shadowborn Apostle we can search our library for a demon creature card and put it onto the battlefield. This is not a demon tribal deck. However, we do have some demons in the deck. One variation of this engine is to continue to sacrifice the Shadowborn Apostles in order to fetch-out demons, have the Shadowborn Apostles return to our hand because of a down-on-their-life-total opponent won't pay 18 life to keep them in the graveyard, cast the Shadowborn Apostles, lather, rinse, repeat. This will put some demons onto the battlefield for us. Most likely, however, they will not be enough to directly knock-out our opponents. However, what these demons can do is what makes them so valuable.

Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: Obee-Nix-Kenobi! This demon from Magic 2015 is very valuable in this deck. Ob Nixilis, Unshackled is a 4/4 flier with trample and whenever another creature dies he gets a +1 +1 counter. Note this text closely. "Whenever ANOTHER creature dies." It's not "whenever a creature we control dies." It's not "whenever a nontoken creature dies." Any creature from the battlefield. Ours. Our opponents'. Fetching-out another demon by sacrificing six Shadowborn Apostles will put six +1 +1 counters on Ob Nixilis, Unshackled regardless of whether or not an opponent pays three life for each Shadowborn Apostle dying if Athreos, God of Passage triggers. Additionally, whenever an opponent searches their library, that player sacrifices a creature and loses ten life. On average, how many times per game does an EDH/Commander player search their library? With an opponent's trigger on the stack, fetching-out Ob Nixilis, Unshackled in order to see an opponent sacrifice a creature and lose ten life feels good. It feels really good. How can feel any better? Let's activate and sacrifice Field of Ruin and destroy a nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each opponent then searches their library for a basic land, sacrifices a creature and loses ten life. Ob Nixilis, Unshackled can do some malicious things in this deck!

Razaketh, the Foulblooded: It just got real. Razaketh, the Foulblooded is an 8/8 flying trampler that costs {5}{B}{B}{B}. His beefy body aside, we also can pay two life, sacrifice another creature and search our library for a card and put it into our hand. Demonic Tutor on a stick! We're planning to send many, many Shadowborn Apostles to the graveyard, so sacrificing one and paying two life in order to Demonic Tutor is not a hardship. We'll need to utilize some tutors in order to gather pieces for our engine, and Razaketh, the Foulblooded provides this service in addition to an evasive beater. Auto-include.

Rune-Scarred Demon: The addition of this demon is more straight-forward. When Rune-Scarred Demon enters the battlefield, we search our library for a card and put it into our hand. This is another Demonic Tutor. The 6/6 flying body attached to Rune-Scarred Demon is a great addition.

Harvester of Souls: This is a 6/6 demon with deathtouch, but not flying. What's up with that?! No flying!!? Seriously!? Okay, well, Harvester of Souls is a biggun at 6/6. This flightless demon is included due to its ability to draw us a card whenever another nontoken creature dies. We have a lot of nontoken creatures in the form of our Shadowborn Apostles and each time one of them dies, we will draw a card. Even if Athreos, God of Passage is under our control, the creature hits the 'yard in order to trigger Athreos, God of Passage, so if an opponent does not pay three life and a Shadowborn Apostle is returned to our hand, we netted two cards because of the Harvester of Souls's death trigger. Drawing cards is awesome!

Vilis, Broker of Blood: Here we have another 8/8 flying demon, but without trample. I suppose not all demons can be as big and as trampley as Razaketh, the Foulblooded. Anyway, Vilis, Broker of Blood provides some interesting abilities. We can pay {B} and two life in order to give target creature -1 -1 until end of turn. Additionally, whenever we lose life, we draw that many cards. Basically, each time we activate Vilis, Broker of Blood's ability we will draw two cards. Similar to Harvester of Souls, Vilis, Broker of Blood will ensure that we have a fistful of cards in our hand.

Zulaport Cutthroat: Zulaport Cutthroat can be one of the pieces to our Athreos, God of Passage engine. Whenever Zulaport Cutthroat or another creature we control dies, each opponent loses one life and we gain 1 life. It's Zulaport Cutthroat's text that makes him so valuable, as "EACH OPPONENT LOSES ONE LIFE" is the key. This is not Blood Artist. We do not have to target one player. Every opponent is greater than target opponent. Zulaport Cutthroat also dances around hexproof and shroud. Blood Artist just stays on the battlefield clutching his easel if our opponents have hexproof or shroud. Additionally, Zulaport Cutthroat forces opponents to LOSE LIFE. Blood Artist deals damage. Understandably so, this is meta-specific, but Glacial Chasm is a thing and Zulaport Cutthroat side-steps it with ease. I prefer Zulaport Cutthroat in this spot for all of the reasons above, including his awesome flavor text.

Syr Konrad, the Grim: Syr Konrad, the Grim takes the action of creatures hitting graveyards to additional levels. When any creature dies, or a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield, or a creature card leaves our graveyard, Syr Konrad, the Grim deals one damage to each opponent. I do wish "each opponent loses one life" as opposed to "deals one damage to each opponent." That would probably make Syr Konrad, the Grim unstoppable. He also has a built-in mill option. Tap {1}{B} and each player mills the top card of their library. This addition from Throne of Eldraine can serve as another key cog to our Athreos, God of Passage engine.

Luminous Broodmoth: This insect can play a pivotal roll in our Shadowborn Apostle engine. Whenever a creature we control without flying dies, we return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a flying counter on it. As our flightless Shadowborn Apostles hit the graveyard, Luminous Broodmoth returns them with a flying counter firmly affixed to the card. This allows us additional opportunities to sacrifice and recur our Shadowborn Apostles with or without the presence of Athreos, God of Passage: REMINDER: Death triggers stack, so stack accordingly based on the state of your game and board!

Teysa Karlov: My heart belongs to Teysa. It seriously does. Seems like a good title for a country song. Anyway, if a creature dying causes a triggered ability of a permanent we control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time in the presence of the great Teysa Karlov. More damage. More life lost. More life gained. More treasure tokens created. DOUBLE triggers for Athreos, God of Passage. If an opponent is hemming and hawwing about paying three life for a creature to stay buried in our graveyard, I can't imagine there will be a lot of deliberation from that same opponent if they have to pay six life to keep the creature underground. Teysa Karlov speeds-up our end-game engine by doubling every death trigger we have. That's our end game. Our Shadowborn Apostles are going to die, and we hope that Teysa Karlov will be there to watch it happen.

Edgewalker: You think you know me...Edgewalker reduces the casting cost of our Shadowborn Apostles from {B} to free. How disheartening it must be to watch Shadowborn Apostle after Shadowborn Apostle get returned from our graveyard to our hand by an opponent not paying three life, then to see us cast them for free and continue the process of sacrifice-recur until the game is over. Edgewalker can be a piece to our Athreos, God of Passage engine.

Taborax, Hope's Demise: This demon from Zendikar Rising checks a lot of boxes for what this deck wants to do. It has a very manageable mana value of {2}{B}, which becomes just {2} if Edgewalker is under our control because Taborax, Hope's Demise is ALSO a cleric. Taborax, Hope's Demise flies and has lifelink it has at least 5 +1 +1 counters. Most importantly, whenever another nontoken creature we control dies, we put a +1/+1 counter on Taborax. If that creature is a Cleric, and it WILL BE, we may draw a card. If we do, we lose 1 life. The "may" clause from the card-drawing trigger is significant, as a lot of black spells force the card to be drawn. With this option, we can be mindful of our library size and life total. Tabby's got a place in this deck!

Recursion (4)

If for WHATEVER reason, our opponents decide to pay three life to keep our Shadowborn Apostles in the graveyard (how dare they!), then we have some other ways of bringing them back:

Rally the Ancestors: This instant from Fate Reforged can return every Shadowborn Apostle from our graveyard to the battlefield for the cost of {1}{W}{W}. There's a caveat, however. We must exile these creatures at the beginning of our next upkeep. No problem! Here's the trick: If we can get Shadowborn Apostles off of the battlefield before the beginning of our next upkeep, then we are not forced to exile them. We can cast Rally the Ancestors in order to fill our battlefield with Shadowborn Apostles. Then, we can sacrifice them to one of our many outlets prior to the beginning of our next upkeep in order to prevent their exile. This is the bottom line: We can return all of our Shadowborn Apostels from our graveyard to the battlefield for {1}{W}{W} and, with some creativity, prevent their potential exile. This deck is built in order to sacrifice these Shadowborn Apostles. Preventing their exile should be easy.

Thrilling Encore: This card slot was once occupied by Faith's Reward until Thrilling Encore made its dazzling debut. We can make our opponents feel foolish for paying three life for each creature card sent to the yard when we control Athreos, God of Passage by casting cards such as Thrilling Encore. For {4}{B} we can return to play under our control all creature cards that were put into the graveyard from the battlefield this turn. Grave Pact is a thing, right? I prefer the ability to return all players' creatures to the battlefield under my control under this scenario. It's also a great benefit after a board-wipe. Picture the girl from Poltergeist saying, "Theeeeeyyy're baaaacck."

Immortal Servitude: Here is another version of Rally the Ancestors, except it's a sorcery and it costs more. Okay, so maybe it's not a version of Rally the Ancestors but it's still graveyard recursion. For {X}{WB}{WB}{WB} we can return each creature card with converted mana cost {X} from our graveyard to the battlefield. Let's be honest, {X} = {1} in this deck, as we are going to return our Shadowborn Apostles.

Rise of the Dark Realms: Best. Artwork. Ever. Rise of the Dark Realms is a hefty sorcery that costs {7}{B}{B} and returns all creature cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under our control. ALL OF THEM. This is our ultimate graveyard recursion spell because we get EVERY CREATURE IN EVERY GRAVEYARD. A LOT of players have black in their EDH/Commander decks, but why is Rise of the Dark Realms not one of the 100 most played sorceries as per EDHREC.com over the past two years? {B}{B} is not difficult to obtain in any combination of colors in a deck (as long as it has black, of course) and {7} isn't burdensome either. Under various circumstances it can be a game-ending spell. In other scenarios you net multiple graveyards' creatures. PLAY THIS MORE!

Card Advantage, Tutoring & Ramp (11)

Bolas's Citadel: This legendary artifact from War of the Spark permits us to look at the top card of our library at any time. We may play lands and cast spells from the top of our library. If we cast a spell this way, we pay life equal to its converted mana cost rather than pay its mana cost. Additionally, we can tap Bolas's Citadel and sacrifice ten nonland permanents and each opponent loses ten life. That's a lot of text! Knowing what's on top of our library is good. Being able to play it if it's a land (if we have an available land drop) is really good. Casting spells from the top of our library by paying life is absurdly good! We start the game with 40 life. More than 2/3 of the spells in this deck are three converted mana cost or less, including our 28 Shadowborn Apostles for {B} each. We should be able to generate value from this artifact. Additionally, the sacrifice outlet is another way to get our Shadowborn Apostles into the graveyard, triggering Athreos, God of Passage and also making our opponents each lose ten life. This artifact is a very powerful inclusion to this deck.

Thrumming Stone: This card is all about ripple 4. Ripple 4 sounds like an awesome band name. Anyway, this mechanic from Coldsnap slots perfectly in a deck with as many copies of Shadowbown Apostle as we have. Whenever we cast a spell, we may reveal the top four cards of our library and then we may cast spells with the same name as that spell from among the revealed cards without paying their mana costs. Our goal with Thrumming Stone is to cast a Shadowborn Apostle, trigger ripple 4, and hopefully reveal at least one other Shadowborn Apostle, cast it for free and trigger ripple 4 again, putting onto the battlefield as many copies of Shadowborn Apostle as possible. There are 28 copies of Shadowborn Apostle, which is nearly 1/3 of the deck. There is a possibility that we whiff and ripple 4 into four non-Shadowborn Apostle cards. This is a chance I'm willing to take, and so should you!

Remembrance: This rare enchantment from Urza's Saga not only has some of the most emotionally-driven artwork in Magic: the Gathering's history (closer to traumatizing, seeing a bloody and deceased angel), but it is also an amazing card for this deck. Whenever a nontoken creature we control dies, we may search your library for a card with the same name as that creature, reveal it, and put it into our hand. When one dies we replace with another from our library. This is Shadowborn Apostle recruitment! Teysa Karlov approves.

Skullclamp: Shadowborn Apostle has toughness of one. Skullclamp gives equipped creature +1 -1. When a creature equipped by Skullclamp dies, we draw two cards. We can equip Skullclamp onto a creature we control for {1}. So, basically, tap {1} to equip Skullclamp onto a Shadowborn Apostle, watch it die, draw two cards, and possibly get the Shadowborn Apostle back through an Athreos, God of Passage trigger or reap the benefits of other death triggers. There are no spells in this deck that buff our creatures' power and/or toughness. No Glorious Anthems. No Coat of Arms. No Cathars' Crusade. Skullclamp provides amazing card advantage in this deck. It is unsurprising that Skullclamp is the third most-played equipment via EDHREC.com over the last two years.

Secret Salvage: This sorcery from Aether Revolt is our mass recruitment resource. We exile target nonland card from our graveyard and then search our library for any number of cards with the same name as the exiled card, reveal them, and put them into our hand. The targeted card is Shadowborn Apostle and should NEVER be any other target. We can easily bring a dozen or two Shadowborn Apostles to our hand if we're ready to rev our engine to victory. With so many copies of Shadowborn Apostle at our disposal throughout our deck, our opponents will not always be able to pay three life. Advantage, us.

Phyrexian Arena: One life for one card is one of black's most consistent themes throughout Magic: the Gathering's history. With Phyrexian Arena, we have this swap in enchantment form. At the beginning of our upkeep, we draw a card and we lose one life. This is card drawn at the beginning of our upkeep, and we will still draw a card during our draw step. DISCLOSURE: Dying to your own Phyrexian Arena is possible. It hurts. It hurts a lot. Be careful!

Demonic Tutor: The best tutor in the game. {1}{B} in order to search our library for one card and take it into our hand (old school text!). Old school or new school, Demonic Tutor searches for any card in our deck and puts it into our hand. No restrictions. No limitations. No conditions. Just win baby!

Diabolic Intent: Diabolic Intent is Demonic Tutor #2 in our deck, except as an additional cost we must sacrifice a creature. With 28 copies of the sacrificial lamb known as Shadowborn Apostle, this should never be a problem. Tutoring is good, right?

Phyrexian Altar: Phyrexian Altar is one of the most important cards in our deck. With Athreos, God of Passage and some Shadowborn Apostles under our control, we can sacrifice a Shadowborn Apostle to Phyrexian Altar for {B}, triggering Athreos, God of Passage, targeting an opponent with a too-low-to-pay-three-life life total, return the Shadowborn Apostle to our hand and then use the {B} generated by Phyrexian Altar to cast the recently returned Shadowborn Apostle. We can repeat this loop until we reach our desired outcome. This is just the tip of the combo-iceberg for this card in our deck!

Ashnod's Altar: We can sacrifice our Shadowborn Apostles to Ashnod's Altar in order to build-up an excessive amount of colorless mana and cast one of our game-ending {X} spells. It shouldn't matter which {X} spell we choose, as a half dozen or so Shadowborn Apostles should be enough fodder to win the game.

Black Market: Whenever a creature dies, we put a charge counter on Black Market. Let's read that description again. WHENEVER A CREATURE DIES, we put a charge counter on Black Market. Any creature. From anywhere on the battlefield. So what do we do with these charge counters? Well, they pile up and then at the beginning of our pre-combat main phase, we add {B} to our mana pool for each charge counter on Black Market. This is another way to juice-up our mana for a game-ending {X} spell. Or we can hard-cast some of our pricey demons. Options are good, and Black Market let's us choose!

Removal & Disruption (6)

Invariably, our opponents are going to cast spells to advance their board states and create obstacles in our path to victory. Yeah, I know. Who put the rusty razor blades in their granola? Let's explore the removal and disruption spells included in order to break through these barriers:

Merciless Eviction: This is our multi-modal exiling spell. For {4}{W}{B} we get our choice of exiling all creatures, artifacts, enchantments or planeswalkers. That's it. Exile all of something. No destruction. Nothing to the graveyard in order to be recurred at another time.

Grave Pact: Your creature has hexproof? And indestructible? Well, I guess targeting it for removal and/or destruction is not possible. When targeted removal for those shrouded, hexproofing and/or indestructible creatures fails, then we look to Grave Pact. Whenever one of our creatures dies, each opponent sacrifices a creature. We have a lot of sacrifice outlets in our deck, and with Grave Pact under our control, we should be able to manage the quality and quantity of our opponents' creatures. Teysa Karlov approves.

Utter End: For {2}{W}{B} we exile target nonland permanent at instant speed.

Anguished Unmaking: For {1}{W}{B} and the loss of three life we exile target nonland permanent at instant speed.

Path to Exile: If Swords to Plowshares is the best targeted creature removal in our format, then Path to Exile is #1B. For {W} we exile target creature and its controller searches their library for a basic land and puts it onto the battlefield tapped. Giving an opponent is a basic land is not optimal, but the swap is reasonable and justified if we exile a problematic creature from the battlefield.

Swords to Plowshares: Best creature removal spell in Magic: the Gathering's history. Exile any creature for {W} at instant speed. Yes, the exiled creature's controller will gain life equal to the creature's power, but this EDH/Commander! A one-time life-gain in exchange for the removal of a problematic creature is more than reasonable for us.

Alternate Win Conditions (3)

If for some reason we are unable to achieve greatness through our Athreos-Apostle engine, there are some alternate win conditions included:

Debt to the Deathless: UNDERVALUED. Generally the most played win condition cards in this type of deck are Exsanguinate and/or Torment of Hailfire. What about Debt to the Deathless? Once the converted mana cost of Debt to the Deathless reaches six, it out-drains and out-gains Exsanguinate. Who's casting either of these spells for a total of six mana? No one. Not ever. Not once. With Debt to the Deathless, {X} is doubled, and once {X} surpasses {2}, Debt to the Deathless outperforms Exsanguinate. Debt to the Deathless causes each opponent to lose life, just like Exsanguinate. Debt to the Deathless is an uncommon, just like Exsanguinate. Yet, Exsanguinate is played more often (through EDHREC.com) than Debt to the Deathless and costs more than four times as much to purchase.

Exsanguinate: Hahaha! Yes, we spent a paragraph bestowing the virtues of Debt to the Deathless and how it is superior to Exsanguinate even if it is deemed less worthy by the EDH/Commander community (as per EDHREC.com). Well, you can't have too much of a good thing. Actually, that saying is dangerously incorrect. Anyway, including Exsanguinate provides us with another win condition if our opponents are raging against the Athreos-Apostle machine.

Torment of Hailfire: Here is a different type of win condition. Although it's molded similarly to Debt to the Deathless and Exsanguinate, Torment of Hailfire forces each opponent to lose three life unless that player sacrifices a nonland permanent or discards a card for every {1} we jam into {X}. When we cast this spell, hopefully we either knock our opponents out of the game or leave them with just lands, no hands, a depleted life total and just a singular hope for a top deck draw. CAUTION: This spell is not uber-effective against token decks. So watch out!

Lands (36)

Most spells require mana to cast them and lands are the best sources of mana (ground-breaking analysis there!):

Plains: There are six in the deck.

Swamp: There are 11 in the deck.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: It and every other land on the battlefield is a Swamp in addition to their other types. Providing opponents with potential mana-fixing is not optimal, and generally this practice is eschewed during the initial phases of deck-building as I generally prohibit group-hug cards in my decks. However, an exception is made for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in particular because of...

Cabal Coffers: This land provides greater benefits than the risks of providing our opponents access to {B}. Though Cabal Coffers can not tap for mana by itself, if we tap {2} and tap it we add {B} to our mana pool equal to the number of Swamps we control. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth turns all of our lands into Swamps. So, effectively, with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth under our control, Cabal Coffers reads as: "Tap {2}, tap Cabal Coffers: add {B} to your manal pool equal to the number of lands you control." This combination can generate a game-ending amount of {B} that can be utilized to cast any {X} spells from our deck and win the game.

Cabal Stronghold: Cabal Stronghold is a tamer version of Cabal Coffers. Unlike its predecessor, it can tap for {1}. Unlike its predecessor, we must tap {3} instead of {2} in order to reap the same benefits as Cabal Coffers. A less powerful version of something does not mean it's weak. Cabal Stronghold is still useful.

Crypt of Agadeem: There's a lot to like about this card, and a lot to dislike about it. At its worst, Crypt of Agadeem is a Swamp that enters the battlefield tapped. At its best, we can tap {2} and tap Crypt of Agadeem in order to generate {B} for each black creature card in our graveyard. Remember, we have 28 copies of Shadowborn Apostle in our deck, and it's reasonable to believe that a number of them will hit the 'yard and stay there. Crypt of Agadeem let's us gain value from their residence in the graveyard.

Phyrexian Tower: Phyrexian Tower can add {1} to our mana pool or we can sacrifice a creature to it and add {B}{B} instead. This is a sacrifice outlet and a bit of a mana-ramper. It does neither of these very well, as we can only sacrifice one creature at a time. However, it can help accumulate death triggers, and Teysa Karlov loves those death triggers, and we love her! Okay, I love her.

Orzhov lands: Isolated Chapel, Command Tower, Fetid Heath, Godless Shrine, Tainted Field, Silent Clearing, Vault of Champions, Brightclimb Pathway  , Shineshadow Snarl and Caves of Koilos.

Reliquary Tower: No maximum hand size. I dislike discarding down to hand size. I prefer to have an unlimited hand size. Reliquary Tower let's me have this.

Temple of the False God: A great land to play if we already have at least four other lands on the battlefield. A painful land to play if we don't. Odds are in our favor though!

Field of Ruin: This is Ob Nixilis, Unshackled's best friend! We can tap {2}, tap Field of Ruin and sacrifice it in order to destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Then each player may search their library for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield. It's fair that Field of Ruin and the destroyed nonbasic land get replaced by basic lands. It's not optimal to provide other opponents a free basic land. Ob Nixilis, Unshackled helps to ease the pain.

Westvale Abbey  : We can create tokens with Westvale Abbey  , but it is mana-intensive to do so and the return is disappointing: {5} and tapping Westvale Abbey   yields a 1/1 white and black human cleric creature token. Westvale Abbey  's second ability is much more enticing: Tap {5}, tap Westvale Abbey  , sacrifice five Shadowborn Apostles, er, I mean, five creatures and transform Westvale Abbey   and untap it. It transforms into Ormendahl, Profane Prince  , a 9/7 flying, indestructible lifelinker with haste. Assuming we are able to reap additional benefits from the death triggers of the five sacrificed creatures, this is an amazing return on our investment and an auto-include in the deck!

UP & UP Revisions

Making an appearance on MTG Burgeoning's UP & UP Series, this Athreos, God of Passage EDH decks gets some UPdates and UPgrades:

Plains is replaced by Shattered Sanctum.

Thrilling Encore is replaced by Damn.

Rise of the Dark Realms is replaced by The Meathook Massacre.

Merciless Eviction is replaced by Farewell.

Black Market is replaced by Life Insurance.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 29 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.53
Tokens	Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Treasure
Folders	MTG Burgeoning's EDH/Commander Decks, Burgeoning Commander Catalog