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Horobi and the Wailers ~100$

Commander / EDH Bracket 2 Budget Casual Mono-Black Multiplayer

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Death trigger (11)

Protection (7)

Ramp (7)

Edicts (6)

Draw (9)

Land (36)

Reanimation (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: Horobi, Death's Wail

Multitarget (9)

Tutors (7)

Horobi and the Wailers

we be jammin' creatures into yo' graveyard


This is a black death trigger deck with played with the asymmetrical boardwiping commander Horobi, Death's Wail. The deck trives when it can play some mana ramp and get some extra draws, before playing a couple of death trigger cards and strategically casting Horobi to destroy your opponents creature board state and reap sweet death triggers. Then, if you are if your opponents have decent target capabilities of their own, kill Horobi as well to keep your own creatures alive. The reanimation category is included to keep returning Horobi from the graveyard, and should probably not be used for other creatures, except for in emergencies. After playing this deck for a while, I can verify that this deck is capable of exterminating literal heaps of creatures. However, this deck is not very strong due to its fringe commander and low budget, so players are adviced to play this deck with the upmost thought and tact.

Horobi, Death's Wail and his effect on the stack might be a bit of a challenge to understand. As far as I've understood, Horobi's effect is always added to the stack right after a target effect is cast and a target is chosen. This means that a targeted creature is always destroyed right before any target effect resolves, which means that effects that grant a target creature indestructible, for instance, will resolve just too late to have any effect. All targets will die! This also means that if Horobi is targeted, every player has the chance to cast all their instant target creature spells and effects in response to still trigger Horobi's effect. Then, even if Horobi is targeted again at the very end, and he dies before the rest of the stack has resolved, all the previous Horobi destroy effects will still be present in the stack, and all targeted creatures will die! My best tip is to view Horobi and his triggers as separate entities, and to remember that the stack resolves first-in-last-out.

The budet is ~100$ total, max 5$ per card (with exceptions). I use Cardkingdom prices

Suggestions are welcome :)

I have really tried to not add too many staple cards into this deck, but I think this deck really could use haste effects and target protection, which makes the boots pair pretty much a perfect fit. Removing $ expensive cards to not go over the budget limit.

OUT: Mari, the Killing Quill and Massacre Wurm

IN: Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves

I believe in this card! Really might open doors to be able to res on instant speed. And creatures seem more precious than lands anyways.

OUT: Soul Exchange

IN: Strands of Night

The deck does work pretty consistently now, but it is very hard to pilot, and games become very grindy when you constantly remove players creature state. Ive decided that the most important resource for this deck are the creatures. You must be able to attack and do some damage after youve cleared the board, since the wincon is combat damage. Therefore Im adding some undying effects to potentially save my dear creatures on the board for longer. The reasoning for the selection is: interaction is fun, its better to pay 1 mana to keep a creature, than to pay the whole cost to cast a new one.

Some mana intensive cards and a conditional tutor are removed.

OUT: Skeletal Scrying, Promise of Power, Fated Return, Mausoleum Secrets, and Kuro, Pitlord

IN: Undying Evil, Feign Death, Supernatural Stamina, Undying Malice, and Not Dead After All

Major update part 2. I already changed my mind.. Didnt even try the new changes in a real game - but still some things really bothered me during playtesting.

The main idea here is that this is a jank deck, and must make an real attempt to stay true to its core theme, which is killing creatures. Deck categories such as ramp and draw are necessary, but all categories that does not synergize with the commander, og the core theme of creatures dying, have been reassessed.

The anthem sub-theme / category is a cool black flavored addition, but it does not align with the theme, and has been removed. Additionally, it is a strategy that needs a lot of creatures / tokens to fully manifest. This is not a mass creature / token themed deck.

The specter sub-theme / category is another cool black flavored deck part. But this is another example of a deck part that does not align with the theme. Discard is a cool subtheme, but as a budget jank deck, I dont think we can afford to have isolated sub-themes. The specters have been removed.

The lifegain category is no more, death trigger cards have been moved to that category, and "good stuff" cards have been removed to focus. The good stuff category would consist of: Nightmare Shepherd, Qarsi Revenant, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. The previous spies category has also been removed. This is not a real control deck, this is a destroy all creatures deck! The spies category would probably consist of something like: Shimian Specter, Glasses of Urza, and Cabal Conditioning.

A large tutor category has been added. Transmute cards offer $ cheap cards that can get multitarget pieces for 3 CMC. These allow us to find multitarget cards with CMC 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Some other $ cheap tutors are also included.

The creature recursion category has been renamed to reanimation. The category has some minor changes, but the strategy involving these cards stay the same: get Horobi back onto the board from the grave.

The edict creatures are back. These are really good with the death trigger cards, which is a large category!

The categories now consist of: (default) draw and ramp, multitarget to combo with Horobi, tutor to get multitarget cards, death triggers to synergize with creatures dying, reanimation to get Horobi back CMC cheap from the grave, and edicts as an additional way to trigger death trigger cards.

Hope this version lives longer than three days! :)

Major update! This deck is a tad bit boring to play atm, and I wanted to give it an overhaul to see if I could make it better and more fun. I havent tried these changes yet, but will soon, and I might do more changes if this version doesnt work as intended.

Board wipes are out. We shouldnt need those when we have a Horobi, Death's Wail as commander.

A lot of the creature recursion on permanents are out, and Im trying to rely more on single use creature recursion to use with Horobi. Strands of Night is kept just cause its basically the same cost as casting from command zone, and saccing swamps just kinda feel on theme in black (perhaps even more red themed, but also a bit black, as sacrificing stuff for more power is very black - think off pay 1 life draw 1 card type stuff).

Ive found some more death trigger cards, and added those. Removed Butcher of Malakir as Im focused on triggers when opponents creatures die, not my own (this isnt aristocrats!).

More draw cards are added. Focus on those that are attached to creatures! I want a bigger board presence, and more of a battle cruiser feel, so creatures have been heavily prioritized in this version! Promise of Power stays as it can be used to get a creature in addition to drawing when the 9 is payed.

Edicts are out. These are really nice, but they are so quickly spent. I feel like I need more value for my cards. Thats why Glasses of Urza is removed as well. I cannot afford to play cards that have such a little impact.

Some budget choices are made, such as removing Detection Tower.

Multitarget effects have been maxxed! Well, at least the Hex Parasite and Cauldron of Souls are back, but Touch of Darkness is still outside budget limits. Kuro, Pitlord might be an interesting addition, as it packs a lot of power with Horobi! It can also deal with indestructible creatures, so removal like Cannibalize are not strictly needed.

As a matter of fact, the whole removal category has been removed. This in favor for more ego / solitaire playing, and in favor of a faster and stronger battle cruiser theme. To enable this further, an anthem category has been added. Im not sure how flavorly black this is, but with cards like Bad Moon, and Ascendant Evincar, it is at least somewhat on theme. Again, this is not an aristocrafts deck, we want to keep our creatures on the board!

Most of the indestructible theme is gone, with the exception of Fated Return which can act as an impact card with Horobi in certain scenarios.

Ramp cards have been repriortized to ease access of mana, to make Inversion Behemoth easier to cast. Palladium Myr and Thran Dynamo were considered, but ultimately is too $ expensive for the value they bring.

Tutors are out, they are $ expensive and slow, and I would much rather just try to draw a lot. This might change in the future, as tutors are quite black flavored..

The specter category has grown, just because I wanted a subtheme, and since discards might help in a control setting and are quite black flavored. I still have my doubts about how good they are in commander though, so the category might be short lived. But again, they might really come in handy for control purposes (imagine opponents have an empty board, and getting low on cards on hand, while we keep hitting with specters that force discards. Might be good).

Lifegain category has been added as many of the draw effects drain life. Cards like Hex Parasite and Kuro, Pitlord are also life dependant, so preventing self destruct is probably a good idea. In this category, Ive also been able to throw in a couple of good stuff cards, just to get an edge on the battlefield. These are cards such as Qarsi Revenant and Kamber, the Plunderer.


1x Horobi, Death's Wail *CMDR*

# board wipe
1x Deadly Tempest
1x Nightmare Unmaking

# creature recursion
1x Dread Return
1x Haunted Crossroads
1x Palace Siege
1x Phyrexian Reclamation
1x Strands of Night
1x Victimize

# death trigger
1x Butcher of Malakir
1x Falkenrath Noble
1x Harvester of Souls
1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Morbid Opportunist
1x Ogre Slumlord
1x Overseer of the Damned
1x Sangromancer
1x Syr Konrad, the Grim

# draw
1x Bloodgift Demon
1x Clackbridge Troll
1x Dread Presence
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
1x Promise of Power
1x Read the Bones
1x Sign in Blood
1x Staff of Nin
1x Syphon Mind

# edict
1x Demon's Disciple
1x Fleshbag Marauder
1x Gravelighter
1x Merciless Executioner
1x Plaguecrafter

# land
1x Barren Moor
1x Detection Tower
1x High Market
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Scavenger Grounds
27x Swamp (3ED:300)
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Temple of the False God
1x Underdark Rift
1x Witch's Cottage

# multitarget
1x Bloodthirsty Blade
1x Inversion Behemoth
1x Jade Monolith
1x Mogis's Marauder
1x Nefashu
1x Retribution of the Ancients
1x Tetzimoc, Primal Death

# protection
1x Daring Fiendbonder
1x Fated Return
1x Gift of Doom
1x Nightmare Shepherd
1x Swiftfoot Boots

# ramp
1x Burnished Hart
1x Charcoal Diamond
1x Liquimetal Torque
1x Mind Stone
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Wayfarer's Bauble
1x Worn Powerstone

# removal
1x Cannibalize
1x Feed the Swarm
1x Introduction to Annihilation
1x Invoke Despair

# specters and spies
1x Abyssal Specter
1x Glasses of Urza
1x Hypnotic Specter
1x Shimian Specter

# tutor
1x Demonic Bargain
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Profane Tutor
1x Rhystic Tutor

Cauldron of souls is also kinda spiking in value. Trying to keep my cards under 5$, and thus swapping it out for a budget card. Very happy I found another multitarget creature ability! Although it is far from equally strong..

OUT: Cauldron of Souls

IN: Inversion Behemoth

Hex Parasite just keeps accumulating value. Gonna swap it out with a card Ive been wanting to playtest for a long time :)

OUT: Hex Parasite

IN: Massacre Wurm

This decks price has gone way above ~100$, so Im cutting come expensive cards. Adding some specters for flavor

OUT: Touch of Darkness, Mari, the Killing Quill, and High Market

IN: Hypnotic Specter and Abyssal Specter, and Swamp

Im gonna try to make the deck a tad bit stronger just by adding some value cards.

OUT: Necrosynthesis, Shadows of the Past, Blood Beckoning, and Raise Dead

IN: Shimian Specter, Haunted Crossroads, Phyrexian Reclamation, and Swiftfoot Boots

I want to add some boardwipes again, cause they can really come in handy, and they do trigger the death triggers even though those permanents will die at the same time. Additionally, Id like to test out Urza's glasses just to get a feel if it is fun to play or not. (I will use it to see wether players have creature targeting spells).

OUT: Blessing of Leeches, Dark Ritual, and Star Compass

IN: Deadly Tempest, Nightmare Unmaking, and Glasses of Urza

Im trying to make the deck a bit better so that it will be a tad more challenge to beat by my playgroups good decks. This is still just a medium power deck, but it might be more fun to play if it tries to do less things better (instead of trying to do too many things).

Spectres are flavorful, but not very good, and also not very fun actually. Ive from time to time managed to get a lock on players in 3-man pods with spectres (getting them down to topdecking), but the deck is just so slow to beat down life totals, so these situations just become an endless waiting game. This isnt great, and I dont need this deck to be a control deck. Also, as I mentioned, they arent very good either. They need to attack and hit to be useful, which makes me have to choose which player to be the unfortunate one every turn, as well as leaving me open to attacks. Discard is best against players with few cards, so to maximize effect you should in theory focus one player. This isnt optimal for a fun game.

The looking at opponents hand category is also going away. These cards did work pretty well, and I especially liked Glasses of Urza, but they just dont have enough effect in a multiplayer situation.

Im primarily adding more ramp and draw effects, as per recommandation from a player in my playgroup.

OUT: Agonizing Memories, Duress, Glasses of Urza, Inquisition of Kozilek, Persecute, Abyssal Specter, Dreamstealer, Guul Draz Specter, Hypnotic Specter, Kheru Mind-Eater, Shimian Specter, and Night Dealings

IN: Burnished Hart, Worn Powerstone, Mind Stone, Clackbridge Troll, Sign in Blood, Staff of Nin, Butcher of Malakir, Blessing of Leeches, Jade Monolith, Profane Tutor, Rhystic Tutor, and Gravelighter

Single use creature targeting effects are out. Main category is now death trigger effects. The idea is that you gain much more advantage from killing creatures with Horobi if you get triggers from it. A collection of other cards are also removed. Some because they dont work too well (Journeyer's Kite), some because they dont fit the new theme (Nightmare Unmaking), and some because they are expensive (Phyrexian Reclamation).

OUT: Deadly Tempest, Nightmare Unmaking, Haunted Crossroads, Phyrexian Reclamation, Sign in Blood, Ashes to Ashes, Darkblast, Scale of Chiss-Goria, Squee's Toy, Tooth of Chiss-Goria, Jade Monolith, Commander's Sphere, Journeyer's Kite, Scour from Existence, Order of Yawgmoth, and Swamp

IN: Falkenrath Noble, Ogre Slumlord, Sangromancer, Syr Konrad, the Grim, Promise of Power, Demon's Disciple, Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner, Plaguecrafter, Nightmare Shepherd, Agonizing Memories, Duress, Glasses of Urza, Inquisition of Kozilek, Persecute, and High Market

Just changed the description. The following text is not correct (Horobi's ability uses the stack just like everything else).

" You should probably try to run through a couple of stack scenarios with Horobi and target effects before playing a Horobi deck. If Horobi dies sometime during the resolution of the stack, target effects that resolve later will not kill their targets. This means that your opponents could respond to a target effect you have, with targeting Horobi, and only he will die. In such a case it's a good idea to keep some spare effects and mana to retarget what you want to die, so that it dies while Horobi is on the table. "

Found two cards that might support the deck in tough situations. Removing Needle Specter because it's a bit too expensive for it's value to the deck

OUT: Needle Specter and Morbid Plunder

IN: Diabolic Tutor and Feed the Swarm

Found another viable creature exile card

OUT: Entropic Specter

IN: Ashes to Ashes

Slight improvement

OUT: Liquimetal Coating

IN: Liquimetal Torque

The deck works fairly well at this state, so I'm tidying up the maybeboard.

Didn't realize that Needle Specter is a three cost, which makes it better than many of the other specters I play. It is a bit pricey, but I have one, so I think I'm adding it anyway. Also, I think the Sphere is a bit better than the Ingot.

OUT: Order of Yawgmoth and Darksteel Ingot

IN: Needle Specter and Commander's Sphere

I think these specter-like cards are a bit better than the others.

In addition, Im swapping some cards in the limited target category. I think it will be more advantageous to have more single target spell responses than to cram several targets into the same effect. This is because an effect targetting Horobi, as a response to my own creature target effect, will nullify my original creature destruction.

Cannibalize stays as it can remove indestructible stuff. Also, Darkblast is put in and Im hoping it will synergize well with my creature recursion theme.

OUT: Chilling Apparition, Headhunter, Swamp, Steal Strength, and Subtle Strike

IN: Dreamstealer, Fiend of the Shadows, Kheru Mind-Eater, Darkblast, and Scale of Chiss-Goria

In light of new found knowledge (described in the previous update), I'm gonna swap out the "target one creature and draw" spells, and some instant speed recursion.

Additionally I'm changing out of the indestructible theme. The main reason being that its boring cause they don't really interact with anything. They are expensive to cast, and they are pretty lame. A second reason is that since they are quite slow and defensive, they (being part of the combat damage based wincon) turn the deck into a slow semi-control deck. But because the deck can't handle any other kind of spell than creature, it's really bad as a control deck. Enchantments are especially viscious against the deck now.

So I'd rather play more efficient creatures and pressure players earlier. To keep it interesting I'm homing in on two mechanics (instead of just plain efficient creatures), which are "whenever a crearture dies" and "when this creature deals damage to a player" -effects. The first fits cause Horobi, Death's Wail kill a lot of creatures, and the second fits because I might (hopefully) be able to clear out blockers so that my creatures are free to hit players in their face.

Actually, didn't find enough good "whenever a creature dies" cards, so going full on "when deals damage to player" mode; Specter tribal is incomming!

Oh and also, I'm removing some impact cards that I don't feel like playing. Avatar of Woe doesnt have enough synergy, Grave Betrayal I don't feel like stealing creatures with this deck (I already have a deck for that - The Act of Treason ~200$), Sepulchral Primordial same reason, and Toshiro Umezawa cause I don't play enough interesting instants or sorceries.

OUT: Aphotic Wisps, Nighthaze, Dark Dabbling, Corpse Churn, Grim Harvest, Soulless Revival, March of the Drowned, Soul Stair Expedition, No Rest for the Wicked, Mortuary (quite advanced to use well imo), Darksteel Gargoyle (boooring!), Darksteel Juggernaut, Darksteel Sentinel, Manor Gargoyle, Phylactery Lich, Colossus of Akros, Creepy Doll, Avatar of Woe (still love the flavour and artwork tho), Grave Betrayal, Sepulchral Primordial, Toshiro Umezawa (might come back due to it being a very strong card), and Coldsteel Heart (a tad too expensive for this deck).

IN: Dirge of Dread, Clackbridge Troll, Promise of Power, Gift of Doom, Death Denied, Morbid Plunder, Wander in Death, Forever Young, Abyssal Specter, Banshee of the Dread Choir, Chilling Apparition, Entropic Specter, Guul Draz Specter, Headhunter, Hollow Specter, Hypnotic Specter, Okiba-Gang Shinobi, Order of Yawgmoth, Scythe Specter, Shimian Specter, Silent Specter, and Urgoros, the Empty One

Based on new insight into two rulings, I will make changes to the deck in the near future. The mechanics in question are:

  1. Spells fizzle when their target is removed due to Horobi. This affects spells that try to target a creature and then draw me a card afterwards.

  2. "If a Commander would be put into a graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the command zone instead". Which makes the instant speed grave recursion spells less meaningful. In contradiction with what I previously believed, graveyard hate will not be able to permanently remove Horobi from the game.

The price of my budget decks keep rising, so I'm marking the current price to see how the value evolves.

Current price (cardkingdom): 62-70$

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Revision 35 See all

(3 weeks ago)

+1 Lightning Greaves main
-1 Mari, the Killing Quill main
-1 Massacre Wurmfoil main
+1 Swiftfoot Boots main