Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker Binary v1.4

Commander / EDH Combo Control Devotion Mono-Black Primer Reanimator

tacosalad

Creature (33)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Augur of Skulls
• 1x Big Game Hunter
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Cadaver Imp
• 1x Coffin Queen
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dusk Legion Zealot
• 1x Dutiful Attendant
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Marsh Flitter
• 1x Mindless Automaton
• 1x Nezumi Bone-Reader
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Pilgrim's Eye
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reaper from the Abyss
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Skirsdag High Priest
• 1x Soldevi Adnate
• 1x Tattered Mummy
• 1x Thief of Blood
• 1x Thoughtpicker Witch
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Artifact (15)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Culling Dais
• 1x Desecrated Tomb
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Feldon's Cane
• 1x Genesis Chamber
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Mask of Avacyn
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x MImic Vat
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Unstable Obelisk
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Infernal Tribute
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Underworld Connections

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Morbid Curiosity
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

Land (34)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x High Market
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 23x Swamp
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (1)

• 1x Malicious Affliction

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms

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Maybeboard

Instant (4)

• 1x Costly Plunder
• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Vona's Hunger
• 1x Vraska's Contempt

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Revel in Riches

Creature (4)

• 1x Dire Fleet Hoarder
• 1x Doomed Dissenter
• 1x Fell Specter
• 1x Skyscanner

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Walk the Plank

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Why I Built This Deck

When I first starting building an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck, I had selected Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker as one of the many creatures in that shell. As I played her, I realized that Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker just wasn't doing enough to justify the steep mana cost. So, into the trade binder he went.

After about a year, I stumbled across Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker again, while trolling through my binders. I looked at him and thought... Hmm. Wonder if he would make a good general? I fired up my deckbox inventory and started filtering on some 1 power black cards and realized that he indeed would make a fantastic general, and there were many different strategies that could come alive.

One thing I noticed was that there are tons of examples on the web for using Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker with a Shadowborn Apostle shell. This looked too obvious and linear for my preferred style of game. You see, most of the time, I play with decks that run blue. So, I'm a control nut at heart, and this build allows me to play a mono black 'blue' deck.

Reasons to play Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

1. You want to punish opponents for playing the game. Shirei is a fantastic general for controlling the game.

2. You enjoy salt.

3. You enjoy being the only one with creatures on the battlefield.

4. You enjoy variance in your games.

Reasons to not play Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

1. You hate playing control.

2. You are impatient. This is not an agro deck.

3. You like attacking with creatures often.

General Strategies for this deck

The overall strategy of the deck is a control shell that keeps your opponents creatures and other permanents off the battlefield, and keeps their hands empty of cards forcing them to top deck any answers to the nasty puzzle you create with your board state.

There is also a very strong token sub theme that just so happens to be able to out token most dedicated token decks, giving you tons of creatures that are sacrifice fodder for mana, chump blockers or an overwhelming strike at an opponent.

Black Control Shell

The control shell revolves around a couple of parts.

1. Grave pact effects: We run both Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos. Additional cards that help here are Killing Wave and Butcher of Malakir. Sacrificing your own creatures is fantastic for keeping your opponent's board clear. It's even better when you have It That Betrays on the battlefield.

2. Discard effects: One of the most frustrating strategies in this list are the many discard effects, keeping your opponent's hands nearly empty most of the time. Examples Augur of Skulls, Nuzumi Bone-Reader and my favorite, Sadistic Hypnotist. Pairing Sadistic Hypnotist with Thoughtpicker Witch is just cruel and unusual punishment. Having those two alone on the battlefield has been reason enough for pods to scoop and shuffle up a new game. Another crazy good card of note is Altar of the Brood. With all of your creatures leaving and re-entering the battlefield, the Altar triggers tons of times each turn. Especially if you have some of the token generators online.

3. Card Advantage: Mindless Automaton and Grim Haruspex are creatures that draw tons of cards. Infernal Tribute is a good enchantment to force Grave Pact triggers and net you some cards. Skull Clamp is a powerhouse for use with most of your creatures, or tokens. A recent addition is Necropotence. I've been testing it, and it has been just crazy good in this deck. It's very rare that you don't have a full hand.

Token Sub Theme

Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, combined with a few creatures will crank out a ton of tokens that you can use for fodder for Grave Pact effects, card advantage, or just tons of annoying beaters and blockers. Altar of the Brood makes your token sub theme even more worth while.

Skirsdag High Priest gives you a nice 5/5 flying Demon each turn. Marsh Flitter is an all star! Getting two 1/1 Goblin Rogues on everybody's turn is devastating. That's 8 tokens each round in a 4 player pod. Think about that for a minute. 9 Grave Pact effects (Tokens + Flitter) on your turn, with only two non-token creatures in play, a Grave Pact effect and a sacrifice outlet. Ogre Slumlord is just as good, as the flitter in mid-late game when you have a board of non-token creatures doing stuff. He generates a ton of rats with deathtouch, helping to convince you are not a good opponent at which to swing.

Late game, Abhorrent Overlord makes a mess of 1/1 flying Harpies, not to mention that he is a pretty good beater.

How It Wins

There are a few different ways to win with this deck.

A simple method is with Gray Merchant of Asphodel, whom can be sacrified and returned from the dead a number of different ways.

Ping of death: I have killed an opponent with just Triskelion and Perilous Myr.

Token Swarms are pretty common. With all of the Grave Pact triggers flying around, your opponents will most likely have a very limited number of blockers.

Big Beaters: There are a few in the deck that can swing away in a pinch.

Milling: Altar of the Brood is a powerhouse. There's a reason Junk Diver is in the deck. You really want to keep this on the battlefield, if possible.

Salty Rage Quits. Yes, it happens, and when it does.... secretly enjoy it.

Change Log

2/15/2014

Rune-Scarred Demon -> Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Diabolic Tutor -> Demonic Tutor

Aetherworks Marvel -> Dusk Legion Zealot

Perilous Myr -> Tattered Mummy

Soot Imp -> Pitiless Plunderer

9/3/2018

Helm of Possession -> Desecrated Tomb Swamp -> Cabal Stronghold Phyrexian Totem -> Jet Medallion

What's Next for Shirei?

This is one of my favorite decks to play, as there are so many different lines of play and ways to win the game. As each set comes out, I evaluate new cards to see how well they will fit in.

If you have some suggestions for great cards that you thing would make a good addition, please drop a comment.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.41
Tokens	Bat 1/1 B, Copy Clone, Demon 5/5 B, Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Goblin Rogue 1/1 B, Harpy 1/1 B, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Morph 2/2 C, Myr 1/1 C, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Rat 1/1 B, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Mono Color Deck Thoughts