What is Dead May Never Die – Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos EDH Deck Overview
Lore: Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos and the Phyrexian Invasion
Brimaz was once the noble leonin king of Oreskos on Theros, a steadfast protector of his people. However, during March of the Machine, he fell victim to the Phyrexian invasion, his body and mind twisted by the corrupting Phyrexian oil. Now, as Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos, he serves Elesh Norn’s grand vision of a unified, compleated Multiverse, spreading Phyrexian perfection through incubation and relentless conquest.
This deck embodies Brimaz’s transformation, utilizing Incubate to create phyrexianized tokens that can be proliferated and turned into creatures at an accelerated rate. Alongside sacrifice synergies, recursion, and control elements, the deck steadily builds a Phyrexian army that overtakes the battlefield.
Deck Mechanics and Synergies
1. Incubate – Creating the Phyrexian Army
Incubate is the deck's primary way of generating value, allowing you to store creatures as artifact tokens that can be transformed at the right moment. The key cards enabling this strategy include:
- Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos – Incubates whenever a nontoken creature or artifact dies, scaling based on the creature's power.
- Essence of Orthodoxy – Every Phyrexian you cast Incubates 2, doubling down on the token generation.
- Progenitor Exarch – Allows for flexible Incubation, either setting up multiple smaller tokens or a large single one.
- Norn’s Inquisitor – Gives each Incubate token an additional +1/+1 counter when it transforms, making them stronger.
- Phyrexian Awakening – Incubates 4 while making your Phyrexians more resilient with Vigilance.
- Sculpted Perfection – Buffs all Phyrexians and continuously generates new ones.
These cards ensure a steady flow of tokens, preparing for a powerful board presence.
2. Proliferate – Spreading Phyrexian Perfection
Proliferate enhances Incubate by allowing you to increase the number of counters on your tokens, making transformation more efficient. Important synergies include:
- Filigree Vector – Places extra counters on multiple permanents while drawing cards, making it a strong engine piece.
- The Monumental Facade – A land that allows repeatable Proliferate interactions.
- Karn’s Bastion – A repeatable Proliferate effect that helps expand the board over time.
- Metastatic Evangel – Combines with Proliferate to create additional creature buffs and combat pressure.
- Scheming Aspirant – Drains opponents' life whenever you Proliferate, turning the mechanic into direct damage.
By stacking Proliferate effects, your Incubate tokens grow faster, making them harder to deal with and accelerating their transformation into creatures.
3. Sacrifice and Death Synergies – Fueling Brimaz and the Graveyard
Since Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos Incubates whenever a creature or artifact you control dies, the deck is designed to maximize death triggers:
- Keskit, the Flesh Sculptor – Converts tokens and creatures into card draw while triggering Brimaz.
- Phyrexian Ghoul – Can become a massive beater by sacrificing transformed Incubate tokens.
- Victimize – Turns one sacrificed creature into two revived ones, generating multiple triggers with Brimaz.
- Infected Defector – Dies into an Incubate 3 token, a natural synergy with sacrifice effects.
- Tiller of Flesh – Generates Incubate tokens whenever you target a creature with spells, increasing board presence.
Sacrificing creatures fuels Brimaz, ramps up Incubate production, and allows powerful recursion plays, making the deck more resilient.
4. Control and Board Wipes – Managing the Battlefield
The deck includes multiple control elements to keep opponents in check while advancing its own strategy:
- Phyrexian Censor – Slows down opponents by limiting non-Phyrexian creatures from coming in untapped.
- Excise the Imperfect – Efficient removal that also provides Incubate tokens, ensuring you stay ahead.
- Despark / Mortify / Hero’s Downfall – Flexible removal spells for various threats.
- Rout / Phyrexian Rebirth – Board wipes that either leave behind Incubate tokens or can be cast at instant speed.
These cards ensure that the deck can outlast more aggressive strategies and keep opponents from running away with the game.
5. Closing the Game – Phyrexian Overrun
Once the deck has built up an army of Phyrexians, there are several ways to push for victory:
- Massacre Wurm – Punishes opponents when creatures die, turning your sacrifices into direct damage.
- Terror of Towashi – Menace + lifelink with graveyard recursion ensures continuous pressure.
- Scytheclaw – Turns any creature into a major threat by halving opponents’ life totals.
- Grafted Butcher – Provides menace to all Phyrexians and can return from the graveyard to buff the board.
- Vraan, Executioner Thane – Deals incremental life drain whenever creatures die, making sacrifice effects deadlier.
With a critical mass of transformed Incubate tokens and well-timed Proliferate, the deck can swing in for massive damage or grind down opponents through incremental life loss.
Final Thoughts: The Perfected Legion
This Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos deck embodies Phyrexia’s relentless expansion. Through Incubate, it builds an unstoppable force, while Proliferate spreads corruption across the battlefield. Sacrifice mechanics keep the engine running, feeding Brimaz’s ability, while a mix of control spells ensures opponents cannot easily counter your board presence. This is a fun, cohesive low-budget deck that keeps costs down by avoiding expensive mana bases and including affordable synergy pieces. It makes use of recent commons/uncommons from March of the Machine, ONE, and MH3, and relies more on interactions and synergy than raw power.
By combining Phyrexian tribal themes, token generation, and graveyard synergies, the deck creates an evolving battlefield that steadily overwhelms opponents. Just like Phyrexia itself, it adapts, multiplies, and eventually, compleats everything in its path.
“Perfection is inevitable.”
