K'rrik Kracks [Primer (WIP)]

Commander / EDH Deathtouch Devotion Extort Lifegain Mono-Black Necropotence Primer Storm Suicide Black

BrickSkipper

Creature (16)

• 1x Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1x Blood Celebrant
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dread Presence
• 1x Gifted Aetherborn
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Nighthawk Scavenger
• 1x Nullpriest of Oblivion
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Thrull Parasite
• 1x Twilight Prophet
• 1x Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Witch of the Moors

Instant (12)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Cling to Dust
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Defile
• 1x Drag to the Underworld
• 1x Erebos's Intervention
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Rain of Filth
• 1x Skeletal Scrying
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Artifact (15)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Commander's Plate
• 1x Demon's Horn
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Manascape Refractor
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thought Vessel

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 25x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x War Room

Commander (1)

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Tendrils of Agony
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Font of Agonies
• 1x Greed
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Oubliette
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

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Maybeboard

Creature (13)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Chancellor of the Dross
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Massacre Girl
• 1x Murderous Rider
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reiver Demon
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Dead of Winter
• 1x Innocent Blood
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Shrouded Lore
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Artifact (12)

• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Netherborn Altar
• 1x Nyx Lotus
• 1x Staff of the Death Magus
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Land (8)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Instant (7)

• 1x Aphotic Wisps
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Force of Despair
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Heartless Act
• 1x Stunning Reversal
• 1x Sudden Death

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K'rrik has cracked it! The theory of relativity: B=2Life

Behold what can be accomplished with this new understanding!

#JustBlackThings #LifeIsAResource #NoFear

The primer below is a collection of my thoughts and what I've learned from playing the deck thus far. I'd love input from others who have played around with big black mana decks with success.

First Impressions

This deck is still being tweaked and developed, but it's a real trip to play. I wanted to start putting down my thoughts as I refine the list and hopefully get some input from others. Piloting this deck well is not easy, there are a lot of inflection points as you try to storm off. K'rikk allows us to lean in to all the things that black does best (read: cheating).

The way it's played out so far, this deck is trying to do one thing more than anything else: resolve Peer into the Abyss with K'rrik in play. From there we can usually storm off and find the win. This deck is able to bootstrap pretty darn well with K'rrik out and have massive, game defining turns by cheating on mana costs.

What we are looking for once we find a way get massive draw or the right tutors are the following win conditions:

• The infinite combo of Aetherflux Reservoir + Bolas's Citadel + Sensei's Divining Top .

• The ability to storm off enough that Tendrils of Agony or extort become win conditions (extort works brilliantly when you can pay life to activate it, by the way).

• Making large amounts of black mana and casting Exsanguinate or Torment of Hailfire where X = We Win. (And of course, Gary the Gray Merchant can pick up a game and carry it across the finish line on his shoulders.)

The rest of the deck is there to ramp, draw cards, and keep us at a high enough life total that we can pay life to crack the game in half.

Key Pieces

These are some cards that have stood out to me in playtesting thus far:

Necropotence - Our most consistent source of card advantage. Allows us to dig very deep into our deck to find answers, or once the time is right, a win condition.

Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire - The ability to repeatedly tutor is very potent, and once he's done his job, his deathtouch generally allows him to trade up for an important piece of an opponent's board. We are really leaning in to what black does best, and tutoring is one of those things. I like to grab Bolas's Citadel first so I can get immediate access to Varragoth's future Vampiric Tutor effects.

Peer into the Abyss - This spell has been the piece that has won me more games than any other. Fair warning: it's a good idea to goldfish a fair amount with this deck. Do your best to be familiar enough that once you've drawn half your deck it doesn't take you 5 minutes to find the line from there. Know your win conditions and the ways to get to them. Even with practice, this deck is difficult to pilot optimally.

Cabal Coffers or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - These two lands allow us to make big mana each turn if we can meet their conditions. Once we have one of these key pieces, we can go even bigger by copying their abilities with Manascape Refractor . I think it's probably reasonable to try out cards like Thespian Stage or Vesuva to go in even further on these effects (note that Nykthos is legendary however). I can also see running Nyx Lotus , but I don't really want too many mana sources that enter tapped. Fast mana and rituals have felt more useful in playtesting thus far.

Crypt Ghast (and our other creatures with extort) - The extort ability really does a lot for this deck. It allows us to whittle our opponents down, while gaining life, which is just as important of a resource as mana in this deck (maybe more so (life = card draw and mana production if our engine is going)). An important thing to remember is that you can pay life to activate the extort ability. In a four-player game, this means you end up gaining one life and draining the table without needing to spend any mana.

Gifted Aetherborn + Nighthawk Scavenger - These cards really overperform in this deck. They chip in for damage, gain life, and trade up with their deathtouch once we start getting attacked by big beaters (if you play K'rrik, get used to being the target). We also have a few other creatures with deathtouch, which is nice for our survivability if the game ends up being a bit grindy.

What I'm Working On

In the games I've played so far, this deck can sometimes dump its hand and not have a way to gas back up. I'm working on adding a bit more card velocity to the deck, and as I playtest will be trying to fit more draw and cantrips into the deck. I'd also like to utilize my graveyard for more card advantage, but I'm wary of splitting the focus too much. Still, spells like Reanimate and Animate Dead don't really need much support around them to be good.

Speaking of using the graveyard, I'm considering adding in a Gravecrawler + Carrion Feeder line, which goes infinite with K'rrik and Aetherflux in play. Having a bit more redundancy and alternate lines to win would improve this deck, certainly.

I'm also trying to find what the right number of basic swamps is, how many utility lands I can run, if fetches are worth it for some shuffling... basically the manabase is functional but still being tuned. So far I've liked the cards that care about the number of swamps on your board, but there are several more utility lands I'd love to fit into this deck. I'd love to hear suggestions from more experienced mono-black players out there.

This deck differs from the rest of my decks pretty starkly. It's borderline not OK for some casual tables... one to pull out for the high-power games. That being said I really love piecing together wins with this deck, and playing it has made me a better magic player.

Thanks for reading! I'd love feedback, this deck is mos def a work in progress.

Top Ranked	Achieved #20 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #14 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Primer 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Aetherflux Reservoir + Bolas's Citadel + Sensei's Divining Top
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.83
Tokens	City's Blessing
Folders	Decks I Like, General Decks of other People, EDH Decks