Shadowborn apostle edh?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on July 20, 2013, 9:27 p.m. by Krayhaft
So this is the 667th thread in the edh subforum! What better way to dodge the mark of the beast than with a demon deck?
With m14's new Shadowborn Apostle , I'm thinking about going out and bulk-buying 40 of the little suckers, and building me a demons edh deck.
I'm thinking of having it be a grixis shell, since every demon in magic falls in those colors.
What would be a good general, and ratio of apostles to demons/other cards?
BossLeiser says... #3
Sedris, the Traitor King might be a good general to allow you to reanimate dead demons and Apostles if you have the mana (19 to get six back and use the Demon tutoring ability lol), which means Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers would be really nice.
July 20, 2013 9:48 p.m.
I love that guy, and plan on designing however many edh decks it takes till I figure out one that works. My grixis version is going to be led by Mishra, Artificer Prodigy after tutoring up Mycosynth Lattice .
July 20, 2013 9:48 p.m.
Jace the Firebrand says... #6
Thraximundar would be awesome since the apostle's effect is a sac effect. Otherwise, your general choice really doesn't matter all that much.
Outside of Grixis, you have Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper . You wouldn't have the blue, but you gain green which will help your ramping and color fixing. In addition, you could run Aluren and Genesis Wave . Could also go storm or combo off with a Glimpse of Nature .
July 20, 2013 10:13 p.m.
Possibility Storm is how Mishra, Artificer Prodigy is useful in any way.
July 20, 2013 10:13 p.m.
BossLeiser says... #8
Mishra is also useful because Mycosynth Lattice makes all of the Apostles artifacts, which makes it much, much easier to get six of them out at a time.
July 20, 2013 10:22 p.m.
Doesn't work that way. Mishra, Artificer Prodigy 's ability triggers when you cast an artifact spell, and Mycosynth Lattice doesn't make the Apostles artifacts until after the hit the battlefield.
July 20, 2013 10:24 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #10
From a practicality or playability standpoint, I don't think it's worth pursuing this concept because it would take a tremendous amount of deck space to make Shadowborn Apostle effective. By that time, you could have just played ramp and gotten there the normal way. Plus, Shadowborn Apostle is needlessly clunky - sweepers will basically reset your deck, and you'll be hemorrhaging card advantage.
July 20, 2013 10:59 p.m.
Curses!
Kaalia of the Vast or Teysa, Orzhov Scion I guess.
July 20, 2013 11:03 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #13
You could go for white and use Immortal Servitude , Faith's Reward , and Second Sunrise .
July 20, 2013 11:07 p.m.
I know it's not a practical approach, but I like the challenge of having a design limitation while trying to make a deck as good as possible. Also because with all my friends opening M14 product, I can nab lots of apostles on the cheap.
And thank you for the suggestions everyone! So far, I definitely want to do a U/B/x build right now, as grixis gives me more demons that are B/R, but esper gives me Immortal Servitude and Proclamation of Rebirth -style effects. Thoughts?
July 20, 2013 11:10 p.m.
Ninja'd by Epoch, it seems...I like white more now, but now I'm wondering if I should go esper or R/W/B.
July 20, 2013 11:17 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #16
Remember that you still need good Demons to make the deck work. Grixis would give you access to all of the Demons, but you'd lose on the white. Esper would give some control and allow you to regain your card advantage while RWB would give you access to some of the better multicolored Demons. I'd look at what's available to each as far as creatures go, although I'm partial to Esper.
July 20, 2013 11:21 p.m.
Gleancrawler makes me want to run B/G/W with Karador, Ghost Chieftain as the general
July 23, 2013 5:13 p.m.
TheLameSauce says... #19
Esper seems the optimum choice for creature graveyard interaction that plays well to the apostles. Ertai, the Corrupted , Sen Triplets , or maybe even Zur the Enchanter with some useful enchantments (I'm thinking Dark Prophecy and similar effects). Immortal Servitude and Havengul Lich should be auto-ins for this.
July 25, 2013 7:39 p.m.
I would make sure whatever you choose, you include W, just for the fun recursion of Immortal Servitude
July 26, 2013 1:07 p.m.
A couple things-
Any Shadowborn Apostle Deck is obviously going to have a lot of humans in it, meaning you should be sure to throw in Ravenous Demon Flip in it. Also, Immortal Servitude and Havengul Lich are ok, but Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker is way better since it automatically brings your apostles back to life during your end step every turn for 0 mana. You'll also want to put Rune-Scarred Demon in there so you can tutor for Shirei the first time you activate the apostle's ability.
Finally, this should go without saying: Thrumming Stone
I don't know how set you are on the demon theme, but there are also some pretty cool angels, like Angelic Overseer , which have human-based abilities. And if you go RBW, you not only have all the RB demons but also the RW and mono-W angels, not to mention Kaalia of the Vast and Tariel, Reckoner of Souls .
I have my own WB Apostle deck at Heaven and Hell 2, but I'm still fine-tuning it. Just be prepared for lots of failed experiments!
July 27, 2013 8:43 p.m.
"Just be prepared for lots of failed experiments!" is right.
Rotlung Reanimator , Cabal Archon and Ancestor's Prophet are all pretty sweet.
This is my favorite attempt thus far: Shadowborn Scion
July 30, 2013 9:25 a.m.
Has anyone figured this one out yet. I just picked up 31 of these guys and tried to fit them into my Kaalis deck. They ended up just being discard food for my opponent. You really need more to make it work.
August 9, 2013 11:07 a.m.
assassin54853 says... #27
Xathrid Necromancer Immortal Servitude Griselbrand Nuff' said.
August 9, 2013 11:20 a.m.
SevenSeasAgo says... #28
It's going to be hard to make a really nice Shadowborn Apostle deck. I actually made a thread yesterday Would You Allow Shadowborn Apostle? and a lot of people said it won't do so hot.
August 9, 2013 1:32 p.m.
hi i know you want to make a grix deck but i suggest going black green and having savra queen of golgari as commander suddenly so wiped the board clean of creatures and your badass demon comes in to play and owns your opponent and having gw makes your shadow deck more viable because of recursion cards this two colors offer
September 22, 2013 4:38 a.m.
Gotta be real careful of Meddling Mage and Pithing Needle though, and I was gonna say use Thrumming Stone but mtgpl4y3r beat me to the punch.
September 22, 2013 9:56 a.m.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker might make a good general if you don't mind mono black. He will resurrect your Shadowborn Apostle's automatically at no cost, when you sac them or they otherwise die. As long as you can keep him alive.
Demarge says... #2
You could look up Relentless Rats edh decks for inspiration.
July 20, 2013 9:48 p.m.