Doomsday [Primer]

Commander / EDH Combo Doomsday Pile Primer UB (Dimir)

SniperFrog

Land (30)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Vault of Whispers
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Founding the Third Path
• 1x Mystic Remora

Instant (25)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Consider
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Dream Twist
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Gush
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mental Note
• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Occult Epiphany
• 1x Otherworldly Gaze
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Predict
• 1x Rain of Filth
• 1x Remand
• 1x Repeal
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Thought Scour
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Vision Charm
• 1x Winds of Rebuke

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Breakthrough
• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Scheming Symmetry
• 1x Tome Scour
• 1x Unearth

Commander (1)

Artifact (17)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chromatic Sphere
• 1x Chromatic Star
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Conjurer's Bauble
• 1x Darkwater Egg
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Shriekhorn
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

Creature (12)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Dregscape Zombie
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Hedron Crab
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Malevolent Hermit  ^Flip
• 1x Narcomoeba
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Street Wraith
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Undead Butler
• 1x Zulaport Duelist

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Sideboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Rain of Filth

Creature (1)

• 1x Undead Butler

Land (1)

• 1x Castle Locthwain

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Maybeboard

Creature (16)

• 1x Alchemist's Apprentice
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Barrier of Bones
• 1x Clattering Augur
• 1x Combat Courier
• 1x Dogged Detective
• 1x Dusk Legion Zealot
• 1x First-Sphere Gargantua
• 1x Gnawing Vermin
• 1x Hapless Researcher
• 1x Merfolk Secretkeeper
• 1x Merfolk Windrobber
• 1x Merrow Witsniper
• 1x Minister of Inquiries
• 1x Scorn-Blade Berserker
• 1x Snapcaster Mage

Land (3)

• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sorcery (15)

• 1x Compelling Argument
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Echo of Eons
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Hard Evidence
• 1x Hunt for Specimens
• 1x Mana Severance
• 1x Mind's Desire
• 1x Mnemonic Betrayal
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Ransack the Lab
• 1x Solve the Equation
• 1x Start the TARDIS
• 1x Strategic Planning

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Dress Down
• 1x Shark Typhoon

Instant (9)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Curate
• 1x Dazzling Lights
• 1x Disrupt
• 1x Dream Salvage
• 1x Misdirection
• 1x Quicken
• 1x Startle
• 1x Tainted Pact

Artifact (9)

• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Conjurer's Bauble
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Ghoulcaller's Bell
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Noble's Purse
• 1x Pentad Prism
• 1x Wand of Vertebrae
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman

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Doomsday Piles Counter: 90

The Point of the Deck

Doomsday. One of the coolest cards I've ever seen. So I decided to build a deck that makes a ton of different piles for any given situation using this magnificent card. There are several things that make a Doomsday pile good, but the most important part is the card you're opening the pile with. Having something in your hand that can cycle is incredibly important, which is why we have so many of these or similar effects that make the likelihood of us not having a pile opening card very low. The best part is that most of these effects can be used in our piles as well, which gives us a TON of options when it comes to finding the right lines.

Doomsday holds a special place in my heart and I hope this deck convinces some of you out there to give it a shot. This deck is made to go off on three lands, hopefully with protection. There is a combo control cEDH deck hidden here somewhere, but it isn’t what I’m looking for. This deck is supposed to be a massive glass cannon that probably has a more consistent fail rate than win rate. That being said, I am still open to suggestions to make the deck more consistent at winning.

Some hands don’t work and the real skill in piloting the deck is probably knowing the best mulligans, but that can probably be said of any deck. Look for hands with fast mana, doomsday or a way to find it and some lands. Openers usually come along on their own.

The Openers

Our openers are the most important part of the deck and they’re what makes it able to function. All sorts of openers can be good in different situations, but the best are the ones that can be used in piles as well. The opener determines what sort of piles we can build, along with the other things in our hand. Not all piles are built equally, and some cards see a lot more use as parts of piles than others. We’ll take a look at all of our openers in the next section and try to lay out a few piles for each of them so you can get a feel for how it works.

Free Openers

So these openers aren’t very fun, but they’re excessively powerful, enabling some of the cheapest piles around. They are key pieces of the classic Lab Man piles of yesteryear, but now play a pivotal role in allowing us to go off early.

Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith Show

These are about as good as we can ask for, one card for two life. Piles with these can enable cheap protection: Thassa's Oracle in hand. Opener - {U}{B} Gitaxian Probe

Careful Study

Unearth

Force of Will

Any Card

Any Card Or cheap piles of both colors: Opener - {B}{B} and 2 life Gitaxian Probe

Gush

Unearth

card:Supplier

card:Oracle

Any Card

Gush Show

Which brings us to Gush. This is a sick card, but it can make some draws a little awkward. It’s a big reason we are running so many fetches because the Islands matter a ton. Gush opens up new possibilities for protection piles as it draws two cards, giving us an opportunity to get an extra card and keep digging. Piles utilizing Gush are some of the most powerful. It can enable cheap piles with protection:

Opener - {U}{B} Gush

Pact of Negation

Thought Scour

Any Card

Thassa's Oracle

Unearth

Or resilient piles with multiple winning lines or mana fixing as required:

Opener - {U}{B} Gush

Lotus Petal

Thought Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Dread Return

Unearth

It’s worth noting that the Dread Return requires three creatures in play. As you’ll see in most piles, I default to this card as one of the extra cards milled in the off chance there are the requisite creatures on the board.

Draw for Turn Show

It’s important to talk about the totally valid line that is Turn 1 Doomsday off a ritual. Casting Doomsday in situations like this allow you to get off some early wins. Imagine we Doomsday on one and have the second land in hand: Opener - {U}{B} Draw for Turn Thought Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Narcomoeba

Unearth

Any Card

Any Card It can also find us protected piles like this:

Draw for turn opens, Thought Scour in hand

Pact of Negation

Cast Thought Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Dread Return

Unearth

Any Card

Openers that sit in Play

These allow for some pretty great piles and if you have multiples, you can sometimes find entirely free piles floating around. For the sake of brevity, I will combine our ‘eggs’ into one category and use them interchangeably, though there’s an argument for Darkwater Egg to have its own section.

The Eggs Show

Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere, and Darkwater Egg all operate on the same axis in the deck. They can allow piles that fix my colorless mana while also providing value on the turns after you’ve gotten them on the battlefield. A weakness of the fast mana is that a lot of it is colorless. Some of my favorite piles can go off on turn two or three with little trouble after fixing off one of these bad boys. Openers - Chromatic sphere and Darkwater egg

Pact of Negation

Thought Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Dread Return (Three Creatures in play)

Unearth

Multiple piles similar to this exist and it might feel a bit redundant to continue to go over them, but it’s important to recognize our best piles, and you will notice that most of our more efficient piles are similar to this one.

As you will see in our next pile, the eggs can also be utilized in piles to fix our colorless mana, allowing us to do some pretty sweet stuff.

Sensei's Divining Top Show

Top is sick, but it presents a unique challenge since it is placed on top of the library after drawing, requiring you to set up piles that can get through more than one card at a time. The now boring Thought Scour pile is always available, but let’s look at a variation of it that utilizes our eggs to make the pile a bit more fun and let’s us go off with only colorless mana:

Opener - {3}Sensei's Divining Top

Darkwater Egg

Thought Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Dread Return

Unearth

Shriekhorn Show

This is one of my absolute favorites. Shriekhorn can do some pretty busted stuff in the right environment, and thankfully, we’ve built the perfect one for it. This is where we finally get a look at the proper Dread Return piles. I mentioned them above, but I think a deeper dive is in order.

Opener - {U}Shriekhorn with one creature in play

Thassa's Oracle

Fatestitcher

Dread Return

Narcomoeba

Pact of Negation

This pile puts Fatestitcher in the spotlight, utilizing his ability to untap our shriekhorn and find another one mana pile.

Just to cover the bases, it works with Unearth piles as well, though less efficiently:

Opener - {1}{U} {B}Shriekhorn

Thassa's Oracle

Deep Analysis

Unearth

Pact of Negation

Any Card

Conjurer’s Bauble Show

Conjurer's Bauble is unique in the way it allows me to draw a card for free when it’s already in play. I think it’s marginally better than Top as an opener, but Top does a better job in situations outside Doomsday. Pile with it are too similar with the Gitaxian Probe piles we saw earlier to go over again here, but I can share a fresh pile that uses both Bauble and Shriekhorn in conjunction with a little protection thrown in:

Opener - {B} Two Islands in play Conjurer's Bauble, card:Shriekhorn in play

Gush

Pact of Negation

Unearth

Activate Shriekhorn

Thassa's Oracle

Any Card

The Crab in the Room Show

Let’s talk about Hedron Crab. It’s not good. I know that. But it’s funnier than hell. It enables some pretty good Dread Return piles and I recommend holding lands in hand until the last minute in case this gem of a pile is on offer:

Opener - {1}{U}{B} Lazav, the Multifarious

Hedron Crab

Thassa's Oracle

Dread Return

card:Narcomeoba

Fatestitcher

This pile requires a creature in play or multiple landfall triggers, but it’s the literal funniest pile. It’s the reason why Lazav makes the cut over something like Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator.

Crab also opens some more tame piles like this:

Opener - {1}{U}{U} Hedron Crab landfall trigger

Thassa's Oracle

Otherworldly Gaze

Fatestitcher

Dread Return

Narcomoeba

That’s all our permanent based openers. Next we will take a look at our One Mana opening spells.

One Mana Openers

So these are pretty self explanatory and some of them have already been mentioned in some of the piles above. Particularly Thought Scour as it’s part of the most effecient pile around. Some make integral parts of some piles, but others can feel a bit anemic when outside opening piles.

Cycling Lands Show

We’ll start with the cycling lands Barren Moor and Lonely Sandbar. They pretty much do what it says on the box, draw a card for one mana. You can use these to open all sorts of piles and they usually get things done, though not spectacularly. Fetid Pools is worth mentioning here as well, seeing as it’s exactly the same for one more mana. It works in all the same piles as well.

Careful Study Show

Careful study does some cool things when you have keey pile pieces stuck in your hand, (Thassa's Oracle). It also can make piles with protection a lot easier to assemble, like this one, which provides protection while helping us get that pesky Oracle out of our hand. Openers - {U}{B} Careful Study

Unearth

Gitaxian Probe

Force of Will

Any card

Any Card

Consider Show

Consider pairs well with Lazav to make a build-your-own Thought Scour, but it really shines in situations where Thought Scour is seeing one too many cards like this:

Draw for turn Opens, Gush in hand one island in play

Watery Grave

card:Cast Gush

Pact of Negation

Consider

Thassa's Oracle

Unearth

Dream Twist and Otherworldly Gaze Show

Both Dream Twist and Otherworldly Gaze are functionally simlar, though Gaze edges out Twist in probably all situations. These are used as key pieces of some graveyard piles, while also providing great rates on piles like this: Opener - Otherworldly Gaze Laboratory Maniac

Deep Analysis

Dread Return

Unearth

Gitaxian Probe

Mental Note and Thought Scour Show

If you hadn’t already guessed, this is one of the best openers in the deck. Milling two and then drawing a card for one is bonkers with Thassa's Oracle, so this is likely to enable some of the best piles around. Check out this one:

Openers - {U}{B} With Unearth. {U} With Dread Return. Thought Scour, {U}{B}Mental Note

Thassa's Oracle

Fatestitcher

Unearth

Dread Return

Narcomoeba

Stitcher’s Supplier Show

Stitcher's Supplier is the best rate for three cards and also has a body for Dread Return piles, which makes him much more versatile than an Otherworldly Gaze. These piles are similar, but Supplier as part of a pile becomes an interesting proposition. Take a look at our little corpse boy at work in this pile:

Openers - {1}{U} {U}{B} {B}{B} Lazav, the Multifarious

Deep Analysis

Stitcher's Supplier

Unearth

Thassa's Oracle

Any Card While this pile isn’t very efficient, we can still see the power of Supplier in something a little more streamlined like this:

Opener - {1}{U}{B}{B}({U}{U}) Stitcher's Supplier

Pact of Negation (Mission Briefing in hand)

Deep Analysis

Thassa's Oracle

Unearth

Force of Will

Vision Charm Show

Vision Charm offers a dash of versatility to its slot, allowing us to phase out nasty stax pieces when needed while also providing some support in some more niche piles like this one, which is much cheaper with a creature in play: Opener -{1}{U}{U}{U}{B} Card:Vision Charm Opens

Laboratory Maniac

Narcomoeba

Dread Return

Fatestitcher

Cast Lazav

Deep Analysis

Zulaport Duelist Show

Zulaport Duelist is sweet and can open similar pile to Stitcher's Supplier, though his aren’t quite as good. Another great Dread Return opener as well. Opener - {1}{U}{U}{U}Zulaport Duelist

Thassa's Oracle

Otherworldly Gaze

Narcomoeba

Dread Return

Fatestitcher

Tome Scour Show

Tome Scour is a weird one. It sees five cards for one mana and on some boardstates it just wins the game. Let’s take a look at the pile for when you have no creatures on board:

Opener -{U}{U}{B} Tome Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Card:narcomeoba

Dread Return

Dregscape Zombie

Fatestitcher

That’s all the Openers at One Mana. Next we’ll take a look at our options at Two and what sorts of utility they bring us over something a little more efficient, but less exciting, like Preordain or Ponder.

Two Mana Openers

At Two Mana, these Openers need to provide a little more utility or see at least four cards. Something with a body that finds more than one card might be considered. Almost all these piles are derivatives of piles we’ve already mentioned, so instead of laying out piles in this section, I will touch on each cards utility and why they are included in the deck.

Founding the Third Path - This card is crazy in this deck, pulling triple duty with upside, providing fixing, threshold, recursion and a four card mill effect to open some pretty sick piles. Loving this card so far.

Mission Briefing - I’m playing this over Snappy as a recursive effect that can also open some piles. It might be correct to play both of them, however.

Occult Epiphany - Perhaps one of the weirder inclusions, this is able to provide multiple bodies in an opener in the right situations. It also provides some utility in the fact it can get things out of your hand.

Predict - Sort of like Lab Man, Predict is a piece of the classic Doomsday decks of yesteryear. It should be replaced by something better, but this is something I want to preserve for the future generations.

Undead Butler - This one is just a two mana Supplier effect, nothing else. Two mana for three cards is a good rate, so it stays around.

Winds of Rebuke - Now this is the sort of card I live for. It fits the deck perfectly as some removal for stax pieces when we’re trying to go off, but it can also open piles and fix mana by bouncing our rocks. Very sweet find.

Flex Openers

These openers provide a lot of cool utility and I’ve found them to have the most interesting lines.

Repeal Show

Repeal Provides another answer to stax pieces, though it carries a price at times. Piles with Repeal opening look too similar to some of the pile mentioned above, so see the Gitaxian Probe section above for some inspiration.

Breakthrough Show

Breakthrough is wildly good in this deck. It provides a way to get stuff out of your hand and it also can see four cards at a scalable rate, providing opportunities to get some sick piles that include protection for our combo.

Opener - {2} or {3}{U}{B}Breakthrough, Oracle in hand

Unearth

Pact of Negation

Force of Will

Flusterstorm

Any Card

Frantic Search Show

Frantic Search is a tough one to really grasp sometimes. It can open piles for free, though they require three lands to be in play. It also can get your oracle out of your hand pretty easily.

Opener - Frantic Search, Fatestitcher in hand

Tome Scour

Thassa's Oracle

Dread Return

Dregscape Zombie

Narcomoeba

The Usual Suspects

These things aren’t really worth a closer look as they are mostly ubiquitous in the format at this point. I mention them here to make sure we are covering everything, but I won’t be going in depth on any of them.

We have all the usual fast mana, which I don’t think I need to really get in depth on here. We’ve all seen the four permanents on turn one turns, so I expect these cards aren’t new to anybody.

Next is the rest of our rocks, just more of the same as far as you should be concerned.

It’s probably worth talking about our Tutors for just a minute, though. We have all the one mana Tutors in our colors and the usual two mana guys. We want as many as possible so we can find our Doomsday consistently and early enough in the game to sneak under protection.

I decided I wanted a bit of advantage with cards like Dark Confidant and Mystic Remora. They also help us when we have lost our Doomsday for some reason or another.

Our protection suite is about what you’d expect as well, providing the best cheap counterspells to keep us in the game.

Alternate Win Cons

If you lose your Doomsday or you happen to have a poor draw, you can always fall back on our alternate wincons of Bolas's Citadel and Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation. Citadel also provides us with free piles if we are able to find a Doomsday once we have it in play.

In Conclusion

Thanks for checking out the Deck. I will be constantly updating our list of piles and growing the pile count until we hit 100 and beyond. Leave any suggestions below and we can see if they are able to get us some cooler, lesser known piles.

The deck is sweet and I recommend at least giving it a playtest and seeing what you can puzzle out with our puzzle box of a combo deck!

Piles that need added elsewhere

Breakthrough X=2 opens, Oracle in hand

unearth

Chromatic star

any card

any card

any card

Fixes mana with the star to cast unearth off a sol ring.

Thought Scour Opens.

Thassa's Oracle

Narcomoeba

Chromatic Star

Unearth

Dread Return

This is a 3 mana pile that can fix colors.

Draw for turn opens, one creature and egg in play, Thoracle and fetchland in hand.

Hedron Crab

narcomeoba

Laboratory Maniac

Dread Return

Fetchable land

Dream Twist or Otherworldly Gaze opens, Unearth in hand

Stitcher's Supplier

Narcomoeba

Thassa's Oracle

Dregscape Zombie / Fatestitcher depending on mana

Dread Return

Top Ranked	Achieved #28 position overall 1 year ago Achieved #25 position in Commander / EDH 1 year ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH UB (Dimir) 1 year ago
Date added	1 year
Last updated	5 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 1 Rares 21 - 2 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.60
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 W
Folders	Favorite EDH Decks, Doomsday, Commander Inspiration, Decks to try out.