Instant (2)
Sorcery (13)
Enchantment (11)
- 1x Animate Dead
- 1x Black Market
- 1x Dark Prophecy
- 1x Dauthi Embrace
- 1x Greed
- 1x Phyrexian Arena
- 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
- 1x Retribution of the Ancients
- 1x Revel in Riches
- 1x Underworld Connections
- 1x Unspeakable Symbol
Artifact (18)
- 1x Arcane Signet
- 1x Bloodthirsty Blade
- 1x Cauldron of Souls
- 1x Charcoal Diamond
- 1x Coldsteel Heart
- 1x Distorting Lens
- 1x Glaring Spotlight
- 1x Hero's Blade
- 1x Liquimetal Coating
- 1x Liquimetal Torque
- 1x MImic Vat
- 1x Mind Stone
- 1x Netherborn Altar
- 1x Nim Deathmantle
- 1x Profane Memento
- 1x Sol Ring
- 1x Squee's Toy
- 1x Star Compass
Creature (19)
- 1x Blood Artist
- 1x Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
- 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- 1x Grim Haruspex
- 1x Hex Parasite
- 1x Midnight Reaper
- 1x Mogis's Marauder
- 1x Morbid Opportunist
- 1x Pawn of Ulamog
- 1x Sangromancer
- 1x Scuttlemutt
- 1x Shadow Alley Denizen
- 1x Shambling Swarm
- 1x Sorceress Queen
- 1x Tetzimoc, Primal Death
- 1x Thrull Parasite
- 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- 1x Xenic Poltergeist
- 1x Zulaport Cutthroat
Land (36)
- 1x Arcane Lighthouse
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 1x Desert
- 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- 30x Swamp
- 1x Thespian's Stage
- 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Commander (1)
"Wail! Wail!
For a sun hath set.
Which no returning morrow
Shall ever call
From the darksome pall,
To beam upon our sorrow!
Moan! Moan!
O'er his dwelling lone,
As ye heap the clod above him:
Dead! Dead!
His soul hath fled
From the hearts that lived to love him..."
-Coronach, or Death-Wail by Charles Mackay
One of these days I'll figure out how to embed songs via HTML...
2022 Update
The original deck was dismantled 7 years ago. Always felt bad about taking it apart and have since traded or never acquired some of the cards listed in the original deck. Many of the cards here have doubled or quadrupled in price so this deck will be reincarnated into a more budget friendly deck using stuff on hand.
History
This is my rendition of Horobi, Death's Wail. I wanted something a little outside the box that could change how the game is played. Horobi is fun because it can turn the most mundane of spells into Murder. Equipment and auras meant to protect their creatures now destroys them. Removal spells end up being wasted since just targeting anything is enough to produce the same effect.
Horobi is a double edged sword so the deck is built around that fact. Building exclusively around his ability I feel is a trap seeing as most the time he will be in the command zone or will get picked off before the next turn. That being said I still wanted to include some targeting effects to get more value from his ability. To ensure that the deck runs fine without Horobi, I have chosen to run it as a typical reanimator deck with MBC.
General Strategy
Horobi has a habit of turning any targeted spell into Murder, this includes your opponent's spells as well as yours. However, you still have the advantage while they may have to think through their deck to determine what targets and what doesn't. This confusion can make for bad plays. If an opponent equips a creature it is destroyed instead as equipment targets the creature it's trying to equip.
It's important to know as well that you can remove counters from your creatures or remove counters from a target creature you don't control (Retribution of the Ancients or Hex Parasite) to Murder that creature with Horobi online. Likewise, with Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief you can give target creature - /- for and it is destroyed. The targeting lands like Desert or Urborg are simply pure value, you don't lose much to gain a removal effect. Also, cantrips and other similar cards will NOT work with Horobi as the creature is destroyed once targeted and is no longer a legal target once the spell resolves: i.e. the spell is countered. That is why Cauldron of Souls will not give your opponent's creatures persist as they are destroyed before the ability resolves. So Take that Capsize! No more buyback for you!
Step 1: Build Your Board
It's important to know not to cast Horobi until necessary. By that I mean if you have a Touch of Darkness in hand wait until you have 5 mana available to cast Horobi immediately followed by Touch of Darkness or if Cauldron of Souls is in play go ahead and cast Horobi. This is also where you drop your other sniping spells before Horobi hits the battlefield. Now if nothing is going on you can cast Horobi just to throw a wrench in the ring but know that he probably won't last very long. If you draw a tutor go ahead and pick your high value targets. Targets worthy of tutoring: Touch of Darkness, Cauldron of Souls, Cabal Coffers, Eldrazi Monument, or even Contamination assuming you have a recurring creature out. There are plenty of card draw engines in here too so you can nab Phyrexian Arena and co. if you're lacking in that department.
Contamination is there to mana screw your opponents and can be kept active via Bloodghast/Reassembling Skeleton/Nether Traitor/Bloodsoaked Champion. However, it will negate Cabal Coffers so be careful when using it. It can also act as a sac outlet for Kokusho, the Evening Star and works wonders with Black Market.
No Mercy helps to keep other players from taking advantage of Horobi's ability to wipe the board. Also keeps annoying commanders like Nekusar, the Mindrazer at bay (not that creatures will give us much problems anyways).
Gate to Phyrexia is here to deal with artifacts which black has problems with. Some artifacts can cause us problems but they can be easily dealt with using one of the many self recurring critters we own. This combos well with Liquimetal Coating which can turn say Asceticism, a planeswalker, or even lands into an artifact ripe for shattering.
Step 2: Accept Horobi's and All Other Creature's Fates
Things will die, this includes yours and everyone else's. Never presume that Horobi will last longer then a turn because the likelihood of him committing seppuku is pretty high. This is why the deck is built as a reanimator deck to take advantage of all the death. Don't be afraid to toss Horobi in the GY either because you can play around the commander tax. You can also use Mimic Vat to copy Horobi each turn for if the tax gets too high. There are many high value cards that work great on death. Looping Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star are great win cons and can net you a lot of life in the process.
Step 3: Attack or Use Alternate Win Cons
As has been observed by other Horobi users, commander damage is a viable way to end games. Horobi is a 4/4 flier for 4 cmc which is pretty darn good. If they lack targeting spells then Horobi can easily pick a player off.
Alternate Win Cons/Key Combos:
Looping Kokusho, the Evening Star/Gray Merchant of Asphodel with recursion spells. Or with Cauldron of Souls + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (without Horobi) and a sac outlet.
Horobi, Death's Wail + Karn, Silver Golem + Liquimetal Coating + a targeting ability/spell= dead enchantment/artifact/planeswalker/land
Gate to Phyrexia + Liquimetal Coating = dead enchantment/artifact/planeswalker/land
Cauldron of Souls + Horobi, Death's Wail / Touch of Darkness= plague wind
This deck is sort of my little baby so any suggestions would be wonderful! It's also an attempt to get the word out about Horobi so any +1's would help!
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| Date added | 8 years |
| Last updated | 2 years |
| Key combos | |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 1 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 30 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.91 |
| Tokens | Copy Clone, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure |
| Folders | Horobi |
| Votes | |
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