+1 for sure, this is actually really cool. I love the combo annihilation feel of the deck, and the price cap - even I can afford this! You did a swell job on this and I hope to build and test it locally soon.

Thanks Scarrux156! This is in its infant stages so keep checking back. I'll be making regular updates and adjustments after playtesting every few weeks.

I wish there was a way to edit comments because I misspelt Skarrux156....

Mesmeric Orb? You want a big yard, and it's pretty much the best self mill card in commander.

Unfortunately it seems to have jumped in price lately.

Awesome deck +1. One question: How does the Jarad/Phyrexian Devourer combo work? I'm just not seeing it...

Never mind...I'm guessing the exiles and sac effect of Jarad go on the stack before the devourer can sac itself...gotcha

hosshughes you are correct. The bury trigger goes on the stack and you can respond to it and continue to exile cards until he is big enough to wipe the table then sac to Jarad.

Dear Squirrel_of_War,

I apologize in advance for the ensuing novel, but I just wanted to offer some pointers on a couple aspects of the deck I feel could be improved with a little more black for douchebaggery and more efficiently costed, budget green cards. Looks like a super cool idea!

I PROMISE it's worth a good read, you'll find at least a few goodies in here.

Well, would you be willing to get a Fecundity? I picked a set up at my LGS for under 3, so one should be less than a buck. It's one of the better options for draw in green, and I feel like it will put in decent work considering all the sacrificing you'll be doing, not to mention since it's more of a group hug card that there's a big chance it won't get countered or removed.

In addition, find as many cheap ways to regen your creatures as possible, so when they do hit the board,they aren't going to get Doom Bladed or burned to death.

Overseer of the Damned Is decent too in multiplayer. Assuming you can change out a few cards you're not too sure about keeping with more cheap removal, it can definitely help you.

Look into some dredge cards! Some are pretty cheap and fill your yard pretty fast when they're put into it.

Hypergenesis might just be the best budget way to cheat out things. My only suggestion would be to drop small things first, since your opponents will take advantage of this to drop HUGE creatures, enchantments or lands. Then, at last, in the best case scenario, drop an uncounterable Dictate of Erebos and Grave Betrayal, then watch the world burn before you. At least until someone plays Naturalize (Which you should include as well if you aren't already planning on it. Artifact and enchantment hate is a must).

Choice of Damnations is a killer if left uncountered, and is super flavorful. Love this card in my deck.

Siege Behemoth helps with big swings and is a target for a removal or counterspell; that is a plus! It puts this in your graveyard for reanimation and leaves your opponent(s) one relevant spell-in-hand less!

Disciple of Bolas helps early on with some lifegain and some card draw to put you ahead early with potential to draw into some bombo pieces.

Nezumi Graverobber Could see some light play as potential removal target (after you hit someone with either a Bojuka Bog, Relic of Progenitus, etc) to save your more valuable pieces. If not, you get recursive fatties until you get a combo on board!

Another later-game play without appropriate ramp, but Lim-Dul the Necromancer is just too damn flavorful to go unmentioned at $1.99 on Amazon.

Kuon, Ogre Ascendant (The essence, more or less) can get you really far with Lim-Dul and an Overseer of the Damned on board. You get tokens to sac each other player's turn, not to mention any creature you want )most likely to sac to Jarad) for $.66 and 2 mana!

Maybe a King Macar, the Gold-Cursed with a way to tap your creatures down (It's easy enough to find something on Gatherer that'll tickle your fancy) basically reads "Inspired -- Whenever King Macar, the Gold-Cursed becomes untapped, tell target opponent 'nope' and take whatever you don't like away from them, then laugh uncontrollably."

Greel, Mind Raker says hi to your buddy Necrotic Ooze (especially with Devoted Druid and Quillspike in the 'yard). No hand for you!

Chainer, Dementia Master has been mentioned, and I am here to second it tenfold. If you can get it on board and steal something huge for 3 life just to swing in and sac it to Jarad next turn, why not?

Painful Quandary and Greel are cute together, and it alone deters opponents from taking out things of yours at the expense of their own life, assuming they're playing budget too and aren't playing lifegain-sisters-combo.

One word in multiplayer environments: Sanguimancy

On a similar note, Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a tank, but puts a bit of a bullseye on your back in the next several turns.

Maybe (HEAVY emphasis on maybe, since it can sometimes be a suicide mission if you can't be too political about things and make a truce with someone beforehand) a copy of Horobi, Death's Wail? Blue and red players will totally thank you or piss you off, depending on your current relationship with them.

Ghoulcaller Gisa is a champ in the event that it isn't time to get Jarad out to perhaps get an infinite wall of zombies from the infinite/infinite Ooze, then recur him? Just an idea at an alternate wincon.

Golgari Charm gives you all the utility you could want at any point in the game.

Conjurer's Closet can be anywhere from adorable to downright cruel depending on what you put into it (Shriekmaw is okay to force someone to sac. Anything that ramps or puts lands in your hands upon entering the battlefield. Acidic Slime to get rid of whatever you're worried about, Balustrade Spy to fill your 'yard or anyone else's. Big Game Hunter for fatty removal. Bloodhunter Bat for some life drain. Cadaver Imp for pseudo-reanimation. DEFINITELY Corpse Connoisseur if you go heavier on the reanimation route so you can put out what you want, when you want. Earwig Squad to take big threats out of combo decks. Fertilid and open mana for mana ramp and deck thinning. Fleshbag Marauder for removal if you have extra creatures lying around. Hag Hedge-Mage could get annoying with her dual relevant abilities. Loaming Shaman helps a ton against other decks that rely on graveyard interaction and it lets you shuffle back in your own threats if you're starting to get low on cards. You get the point, it's easily abusable).

Skinrender -- Ooze friend!

Bow of Nylea UTILITY BEYOND UTILITY.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier is on the rise as far as price and popularity. Grab her before she gets to be too much!

Sewer Nemesis is just an overall solid card for a deck like this. It benefits from having a big graveyard, it gets bigger with each spell you cast, and you potentially fill your 'yard with more creatures.

Nath's Elite because it can help when you can swing for lethal but the opponent has a lot of blockers.

Gift of the Deity is a phenom for a pseudo boardwipe.

Viscera Seer to put things in the graveyard, enable synergies I'll list later and scry to help draw quality with Fecundity.

Masked Admirers, nothing special. Not a huge fan of the card, just extra card draw.

Hydras are cool, budget hydras are even cooler. To kick things off, Lifeblood Hydra is awesome given the mana. I'll take a decent sized creature, not to mention lifegain and card draw when it dies!

Hooded Hydra a personal friend, and gives you sac fodder if and when needed.

Genesis Hydra is a way to potentially cheat out a bomb. Get it while you can, it's sitting pretty at $2.00 for now. There's a good chance it will drop after rotation with the new core set, but who knows for certain? Still a great addition for that price

Scourge of Skola Vale fits a sac-for-benefit-when-paired-with-__ theme. The buff is an added bonus.

Soulflayer because delve is a sweet mechanic to thin your graveyard of the creatures you don't want, and his ability is sweet.

Centaur Chieftain could be cool to give your things a boost and trample for a turn (or multiple if he's... "in the closet" *painfully laughs at my awful pun).

Deity of Scars is another Ooze buddy with Devoted druid in the graveyard for instant speed regen.

Body Snatcher told me to tell you hello, and he's doing well. Give him a ring when you can!

Ambuscade Shaman may deserve a consideration here over a few cards you have, as it can be quite nice for being an efficiently costed enabler to abuse Gisa.

Whip of Erebos is a beautiful card in any black deck, and does well with the budget theme too. Reanimation and lifelink can go miles with the whole "I need more life than my opponents to win with Jarad" idea.

One of my personal favorite cards in black for EDH is Grave Betrayal. It's slow and never good to draw into early on in the game, but it's a beaut when it hits the field. It will do SO MUCH WORK for you. (If you can splurge a little, it combos incredibly well with Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos and a sac engine AHEM Jarad AHEM. I've never been against damaging my opponents, scrying with a Viscera Seer, then getting a wave of creatures in multiplayer for the next turn)

When and if that lands, and all else goes wrong, Champion of Lambholt can be such an OP card (Even better with Gisa or other token triggers).

A bunch of the cards I listed are more synergistic with the concept of your opponents creatures dying to get value out of it (i.e. Dictate + Grave Betrayal/Lim Dul), but I've tried to tweak it appropriately to fit this deck's theme like Gisa or Viscera Seer to proactively trigger the Dictate.

You should also look into some ramp like Burnished Hart, Explore etc and if you can buy a few cards above $2 to make it just a bit more competitive, Asceticism is a MUST and Maralen of the Mornsong should be a serious consideration. You'll most likely be gaining life at some point in the deck, so there's a chance you can expend some life in the process. :)

Lastly, look into a Ghost Quarter to get rid of any problematic land.

Those are just some suggestions for the black portion, seeing that's my favorite color in the game. Best of luck with the deck, looks like a super solid idea! +1 from me for sure. :)

One last suggestion, Lotleth Troll. It's got a super relevant pump that let's you put your baddies in the grave for reanimation! Would love to hear about the outcome of the deck if you take anything I've suggested into mind!

@TwerkForSubway thanks for the novel! I really appreciate other players feedback. It took a little while to read but there were some great suggestions in there.

There were a couple that were already in the deck:

Ghost Quarter

Lotleth Troll

I added a few of your suggestions:

Fecundity

Whip of Erebos

Dictate of Erebos

Golgari Charm

Conjurer's Closet

Chainer, Dementia Master

I added a few that I had on my maybe list:

Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief

Life's Finale

Butcher of Malakir

Illusionist's Bracers (not on the maybe list but decided it fits well)

There are still several of your suggestions that I really like and may try to include after I do a bit of testing with the new build.

Thanks for the comment and +1!

Always happy to help! Love the budget concept and I might build it myself if you find the deck has some success and/or is fun to play. Just keep me in mind!

P.s. Just thought of Victimize from the black 2014 precon. Should fit nice since it's cheap and dirty. ;)

please explain Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord + Phyrexian Devourer

The Combo:

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord + Phyrexian Devourer

You exile cards from your library until Phyrexian Devourer's power goes above 7, at this point his bury trigger will go on the stack. The trick is you constantly respond to the bury trigger until his power is high enough to nuke the board, then you use Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord's ability to win. Phyrexian Devourer's bury trigger only triggers once, the first time the power is greater than 7, so you are free to pump him up as long as the trigger never resolves.

i'm pretty shure (sorry i'm not so good in English) that it does not use the stack

It does. This is a viable combo; it's just a little weird since it uses an old card that wasn't phrased too well.

Phyrexian Devourer uses what is called a "game state trigger." It goes on the stack if the appropriate game state is reached and doesn't trigger again unless the ability leaves the stack. Here's the rule in question:

603.8. Some triggered abilities trigger when a game state (such as a player controlling no permanents of a particular card type) is true, rather than triggering when an event occurs. These abilities trigger as soon as the game state matches the condition. They'll go onto the stack at the next available opportunity. These are called state triggers. (Note that state triggers arent the same as state-basedactions.) A state-triggered ability doesnt trigger again until the ability has resolved, has been countered, or has otherwise left the stack. Then, if the object with the ability is still in the same zone and the game state still matches its trigger condition, the ability will trigger again.

Example: A permanents ability reads, Whenever you have no cards in hand, draw a card. If its controller plays the last card from his or her hand, the ability will trigger once and wont trigger again until it has resolved. If its controller casts a spell that reads Discard your hand, then draw that many cards, the ability will trigger during the spells resolution because the players hand was momentarily empty.

I still think this needs something along the lines of Pharika, God of Affliction or Sapling of Colfenor + Gift of the Deity for a guaranteed board-wipe with no loss of your own unless they wanna blow a card to exile it, which you can just sac in response (Pack Rat is good, but I don't think it earns a spot over any of the mentioned cards, as well as Temur Sabertooth), but I love where this is going. Noxious Revival can help as well, since it grabs not just creatures, but anything you'd want.

Those are good suggestions but they are just a bit too expensive for this build. Mossbridge Troll, Spearbreaker Behemoth, Thornling, Temur Sabertooth, and possibly Necrotic Ooze, Lotleth Troll, Reaper of the Wilds and Pack Rat will survive a board wipe. Spearbreaker Behemoth and Temur Sabertooth can also save other creatures from death. With Gift of the Deity being a 5 mana board wipe, I would probably just play Decree of Pain for 8 to draw the cards in addition. Thanks for the great suggestions!

Been looking to make another commander deck, always on a budget, and this might be it. Too bad I cannot +1 more.

2 additions I'd put into mine are:

Sidisi, Undead Vizier: another tutor for Necrotic Ooze (or anything) that can put a creature whose ability you want Ooze to have into the graveyard.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel: I love this guy and getting the devotion to do a bit of damage/life-gain shouldn't be too hard.

And I noticed you have almost no ramp, though many aren't expensive, do you find you don't need them? Or it's more of wanting more reanimation spells, etc. than ramp?

Why haven't I seen this before? Awesome deck! Although you foiling it seems to have increased the pricing on the site a bit :P

Well hello Sleazebag! I had no idea you've never seen this deck before. I hope it's cool that I linked your deck in my description. I recently decided to list the actual cards I use rather than just the cheapest versions because as I'm sure you know all too well the site doesn't always have the correct pricing. I'm actually going to be updating the deck fairly soon with all the cheapest printings and some new cards to see if I can get it back down below $40! Thanks for making such an awesome super cheap budget deck. I was actually starting to spend waaay too much money on cards because I was building so many EDH decks but you got me into budget building. It's much more satisfying than winning with expensive cards and it's fun and challenging to build.

For some reason you don't get an alert when someone makes a deck based on yours. So I kinda just stumbled over it :P

Spiritmonger should really be in here, here's my Jarad deck,

Jarad Commands the Dead

Commander / EDH* Atony1400

SCORE: 4 | 1 COMMENTS | 444 VIEWS

Spiritmonger doesn't quite fit in here. He has some decent abilities but I don't feel he impacts the main goal of the deck much. I honestly don't know what I would take out for it either...

Ah, ok. I was questioning your choice of Pack Rat,

Yeah, Pack Rat is only awesome when he is dead and Necrotic Ooze is on the battlefield. Then I can make copies of Necrotic Ooze!