"Chains and Things"

Commander / EDH Combo Discard Mono-Black Reanimator Stax Suicide Black Theme/Gimmick

Asgeren

Ramp (14)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Soldevi Adnate
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum

Sac Outlets (11)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x High Market
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Soldevi Adnate
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Single Target Removal (7)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Faceless Butcher
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Withered Wretch

Stax/Slowdown (7)

• 1x Contamination
• 1x Koskun Falls
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Tainted AEther
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

Card Draw (13)

• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Necrologia
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Rager
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Recursion (11)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Coffin Queen
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Petrified Field
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed

Discard (7)

• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Ill-Gotten Gains
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Syphon Mind

Boardwipes (6)

• 1x Crypt Rats
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Havoc Demon
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk

Graveyard Hate (3)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Withered Wretch

Commander (1)

Lands (35)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x High Market
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Petrified Field
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Strip Mine
• 23x Swamp
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Wincon Pieces (10)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Priest of Gix
• 1x Sengir Autocrat
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Tutors (5)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Vile Entomber

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Sideboard

Other (2)

• 1x Feldon's Cane
• 1x Thran Foundry

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Maybeboard

Other (2)

• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Crypt Ghast

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{B} Retro Chainer Deck {B}

Named after my favourite B.B. King song and inspired by my Volrath deck, this "Chains and Things" Reanimator deck became possible to efficiently turn old-school with the re-release of Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Zulaport Cutthroat as win conditions.

- To give it that sweet old horror-movie retro feel.

{B} STRATEGY {B}

This is in essence a classic combo deck. Assemble your combo, depending on your starting hand - protect it and stay alive until you can kill everyone :) Since we only use old-school cards we are a bit restricted and we'll need stax/slowdown to make up for it - luckily most of the best stax pieces are of the old school.

• So, against creature based decks Tainted AEther, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Koskun Falls, No Mercy, Smokestack and Maze of Ith are all your friends.

• Against spellslingers, combo and storm based decks Mindslicer, Oppression and especially Contamination is very good. (But be careful with the last one as it will draw hate and make you a target.)

• For draw and control decks we also use Oppression, Mindslicer, Ill-Gotten Gains in addition to Chains of Mephistopheles to kill off them gaining a big hand.

• And other graveyard decks hate Dauthi Voidwalker and Withered Wretch. (Bojuka Bog also can work, but is a bit more tricky)

So there are many bases covered, to put a stick in the wheel of our opponents strategies, while we succeed with our own.

{B} NOTABLE CARDS {B}

• Mindslicer - Great to use before you play your final combo piece, to prevent any interruptions so you can ensure that your combo goes off.

• Faceless Butcher - There's a trick to this card since it's 2 abilities are put on the stack separately, so if you can sac it before the 2nd ability resolves, with an instant sac outlet like for example Altar of Dementia, then you permanently exile someone's creature :)

• Coffin Queen Back-up free reanimator once a turn, a lovely little combo is; reanimating Wurmcoil Engine saccing it to Soldevi Adnate netting you 6x{B} + two critters every turn.

• Sengir Autocrat This sac fodder card is key to get a hold of, for combo or to feed the stax cards, it is very important. (Wurmcoil Engine also works for this :)

• Necropotence This might seem like a nonbow with Chainer, BUT the cards DO go in the graveyard before being exiled, and thus can be reanimated by Chainer beforehand :)

• Contamination Now this card is quite famous for being oppressive in games. You should be careful about playing it - I only play it for a couple of rounds if I'm far behind or if I can see someone is about to go off. Playing this just because you have it in hand will lead to bad games in my experience, and not necessarily make you win more often.

{B} SOME COMBOS {B}

• Chainer, Dementia Master + Sengir Autocrat or Wurmcoil Engine + Phyrexian Altar + Zulaport Cutthroat = Kill Everyone!

• Corpse Dance + Priest of Gix + Zulaport Cutthroat + Ashnod's Altar = Kill Everyone!

• Chainer, Dementia Master + Sengir Autocrat + Phyrexian Altar + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Priest of Gix = Kill Everyone!

• Chainer, Dementia Master + Phyrexian Delver + Phyrexian Altar + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Priest of Gix = Kill Everyone!

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Priest of Gix + Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed + Ashnod's Altar + Living Death = Kill Everyone!

• Chainer, Dementia Master + Priest of Gix + Zulaport Cutthroat + Big lead in life + Any free sac outlet = Kill Everyone!

• Chainer, Dementia Master + Sengir Autocrat + Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod's Altar + A lot of life = Big Mana.

• Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple = Big Mana becomes really big mana!

• Starting hand with Swamp + Dark Ritual + Entomb + Animate Dead = Voila! Turn 1 big beastie like Havoc Demon or Harvester of Souls for the lulz x)

{B} WHY PLAY THIS DECK? {B}

Because you're a retro, metalhead, comicbook, cartridge videogame, VHS tape, nostalgia driven bastard who likes to blow up the board multiple times, while messing with your opponents game with a cool old bordered deck that no one expected anything of ;)

{B}{B}{B}{B}{B}{B}

Top Ranked	Achieved #70 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #59 position in Commander / EDH 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Discard 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Reanimator 1 year ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 1 Rares 19 - 1 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.31
Tokens	Serf 0/1 B, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders	My decks, Old-School EDH, Old School, Commander, Decks to play, Competitive, Reference Decks