— About Chainer —
And why you might want to play him...
In Chainer's story, dementia casters like himself use their own fears and nightmares, learning to control them and manifest them into the real world. In his last moments during a massive battle in the Cabal's capital, Chainer uses the Mirari to pull nightmares from all the other dementia caster's minds, too. He then tried to pull them all into himself to fight his friend Kamahl to keep Mirari, but Mirari went overboard, distorting Chainer's body while merging it with the nightmares. Thus Chainer's ability to reanimate from anybody's graveyard, do so repeatedly by not tapping (at the risk of dying due to the life spent), and the final ability that they leave if he leaves. This background is the theme for this approach to a mono-black control deck with Chainer as the commander.
In sticking to this theme (nightmares, horrors, fears, madness, etc.), I like to use things that are on-theme when possible, even if loosely, but I don't devote so much to the theme in a Vorthos way that the deck is less functional. For example, Suffer the Past seems a more on-theme form of graveyard removal than Withered Wretch, though the latter is more easily recurrable. Sifter of Skulls is more on-theme than Pawn of Ulamog. Slum Reaper is more on-theme than Merciless Executioner. Exceptions: Functionality is still important, so not-exactly-nightmarish stuff like Disciple of Griselbrand, etc. are completely acceptable to help make the deck work. He can be rationalized as a cultist in Chainer's team. However, the flavor of individual cards is not nearly as important as the theme of the mechanics and win condition goals.
Commander Analysis Why play Chainer?
Let's lead off with a description of Chainer from GloriousGoose who has experience with Chainer and shifted to a creature-light Erebos deck for mono-black control. (I've linked his deck in Acknowledgements.)
All of this is accurate, but let's go into more details of these strengths and weaknesses.
TODO
Deck History
I think I first put this deck together after reading through jmdt's still-excellent retired MTG Salvation Primer All Your Graveyards are Belong to Me, except that I omitted certain sacrificed-based stax and discard at the time. I didn't want to lean on Grave Pact effects at the time and still don't want to overdo them. I've seen them used one too many times to pin the rest of the board down while the player waits to draw a wincon. Example: Grave Pact, Attrition, and Reassembling Skeleton to keep the rest of the table from having creatures — 100 minutes later everybody else is still around 40 life. On the other hand I'm totally fine with someone dropping Grave Pact and using it to clear the way in order to try to close out the game in a turn or two. I even omitted Sheoldred originally, though I just recently added her to the deck again, as I'm recognizing the value of resource denial to the survival of a MBC deck.
Since the original list, it's has changed numerous times, of course. The biggest changes involved two aspects: 1. removing wincons I got bored of, and 2. trying out cards I thought might be interesting.
I think the first wincon I removed revolved around Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I first replaced Living Death to try to nerf it, because it was just too easy to loop that with plenty of mana and XHD. Same thing with just directly looping Gary with Chainer (especially with two doublers out). So eventually Gary got the axe entirely. Exsanguinate was soon to follow because even if I didn't tutor for it, if I had it in hand and enough mana it became, "And now the game's over." That occurred too often for my tastes; I was leaning on it and wanted more challenging win conditions.
Philosophy
TODO?
— Decklist —
Commander (1)
Mana (11)
Cards (10)
Sacrifice (9)
Utility (9)
Land (29)
Utility Land (7)
— Piloting Chainer —
Intro/Concepts
TODO
Opening Hand / Mulligans
TODO
Early Game
TODO
Mid Game
TODO
Late Game
TODO
— Card Choice —
Mostly ramp as this deck isn't concerned with color fixing much and tools for ensuring land drops are few, but Chainer is a little obsessed with lots of .
A nice group of -cost mana rocks. Most of them can tap for , some of them ETBT^. Some additional options are Star Compass and Thought Vessel. I haven't run the latter so I have an easy way to discard some reanimation targets by drawing over 7, but if you've got somebody running Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur in their deck (or other hand size manipulation), or you can't rely on your graveyard due to Rest in Peace, then removing your hand size limit can be useful.
Dark Ritual
This is as close as I get to running Sol Ring, but unlike SR, this can mean a turn 1 drop like Necropotence / Oppression, or getting something out a couple turns earlier than you otherwise would have (and that includes casting and activating Chainer), or squeezing out a Chainer activation when you're short on .
Pitiless Plunderer 1/4
Combined with any other free sacrifice outlet, this is basically like having a second Phyrexian Altar. Triggered abilities like this (in contrast with the Altar) also allow you to gain value from using some other sacrifice outlet's ability (discard/mill being important) when that's the priority.
Solemn Simulacrum 2/2
Good old Sad Robot. Ramp + card + repeatable.
Crypt Ghast 2/2
Nirkana Revenant 4/4
These two are easily recurrable and even having one in play causes your Swamps to tap for instead of just , which is fantastic for the CA^ of Chainer's ability or even X-spells like Exsanguinate. They each have a win condition, too. Ghast's Extort can kill the table with an XHD + Living Death loop if you can make at least per loop (probably with Phyrexian Altar and reanimated creatures). Revenant can just be pumped up huge to hit somebody in the face, be used to mill them with Altar of Dementia.
Bubbling Muck
Probably the most obscure of the swamp boosters. It's cheap and generally single use. Early on it's a bit like a slower Dark Ritual because you need to have at least 2 swamps untapped (casting this with from a third swamp or a mana rock) to get more than what Dark Ritual provides. Early-/mid-game it can still enable landing a big thing early to accelerate, such as disruption. Then late-game it can enable an explosive turn (with YawgWin if you used Muck earlier).
Whether it be draw, looting, rummaging... you need access to more cards passing through your hand than the normal draw per turn.
Skullclamp
Well, we're killing creatures pretty much all the time. On purpose. Drawing cards as part of that for a half mana per card is awesome. And it's pretty much free if you're sacrificing them to Phyrexian Altar if the Clamp doesn't kill them.
Grim Haruspex 3/2
Nontoken stuff dies a lot under my control. Also I like drawing cards. I don't think I've ever used the morph, though.
Erebos, God of the Dead 5/7
Indestructible card draw that's recurrable with Chainer, and screws with True Conviction or that Uril wearing an Armadillo Cloak. Also makes a decent alternate commander if you want to tuck Chainer in the 99 to avoid telegraphing the deck's main plan too much.
Smothering Abomination 4/3
TODO
Necropotence
Since I'm not running "no max hand size" effects, I have used this to go over 7 cards to pitch one or two on the discard step and reanimate in response to the trigger.
Disciple of Bolas 2/1
TODO (bursts > trickles)
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician 2/4
TODO
Vilis, Broker of Blood 8/8
TODO
Tutors
Demonic Tutor
In contrast to one point above, since the commander of this deck doesn't draw cards, you may sometimes need to use a tutor early to land a milling element like Mesmeric Orb. They can be recurred early with Shrouded Lore, or later with XHD / YawgWin, and that's okay.
Vampiric Tutor
Another staple tutor, in most decks the fact that this puts it on top of the library usually isn't an issue, and less so if you have other card draw online. But in this deck with all its milling it lends a certain flexibility between drawing the card or milling the card. So with an assist from something else, it can be a second Demonic Tutor or a second Entomb.
Entomb
Probably the best tutor in the deck when Chainer is on the battlefield (or other recursion is online). Pretty good target for another tutor if you think the instant speed is going to be pertinent soon. XHD can be a good first target for Entomb or other tutors if nothing else is pressing.
The 3 life per activation on Chainer is a lower ceiling than the mana. Some work needs to be put in to replenish it.
With one of the loops this can payoff for indefinite lifegain, but that doesn't kill opponents. So he's mainly a sac outlet to keep my life afloat.
Sangromancer 3/3
TODO
The Haunt of Hightower 3/3
TODO
Whip of Erebos
TODO
We want lots of cards in graveyards.
Fleshbag Marauder 3/1
Plaguecrafter 3/2
Slum Reaper 4/2
TODO
Ravenous Chupacabra 2/2
TODO
Noxious Gearhulk 5/4
This thing is probably my favorite ETB removal creature. Duplicant is really good for exiling, but if you just want to destroy something so that you can steal it and gain life at the same time then this is your machine.
Meteor Golem 4/4
TODO
Attrition
TODO
Discard
Mindslicer 4/3
I may like drawing cards, but I like dumping my opponents' cards into the graveyard more. This monster can survive a lot of combat, too, because most folks don't want him to die. Good for attack trigger stuff like Sword of the Animist.
Sadistic Hypnotist 2/2
TODO
Withering Boon
TODO
Oppression
I've run this alongside other discard enchantments like Bottomless Pit and Necrogen Mists in Daxos, the Returned and it works wonderfully. This is my favorite of the three because when players have stuff in their hands they want to keep, they start hesitating and holding back cards. It also helps that a lot of our operations here are through activated abilities.
Mill
Doom Whisperer 6/6
TODO
Altar of the Brood
TODO
Altar of Dementia
TODO
Mesmeric Orb
TODO
Mindcrank
Landing this early could do some good milling work just from opponents hitting each other or pinging themselves with fetch/shock lands. It synergizes with combat, and later on with things like Pestilence Demon. I sometimes wish it were symmetrical so that the life I spend could self-mill. But that would be busted and we've got Doom Whisperer and Vilis for life-to-cards bustedness.
NB: This forms a two-card player-eliminating combo with Bloodchief Ascension, so you might get targeted by other players if this lands and they assume the other part is also in your deck. Assurances that it is not may be necessary (please don't lie).
Mass Removal (Wipes)
Kagemaro, First to Suffer */*
TODO
Pestilence Demon 7/6
TODO
Demon of Dark Schemes 5/5
TODO
Oblivion Stone
TODO
Massacre Wurm 6/5
TODO
Value / Recursion
Living Death
TODO
Yawgmoth's Will
TODO
Animate Dead
Two mana is dirt cheap for reanimation. Sometimes you get that early mill going and something super tasty like Crypt Ghast or Doom Whisperer end up in the yard, but Chainer isn't out yet. Unfortunately, removal of the aura also removes the creature, but this is all about asymmetric advantages so just make it count.
Necromancy
Being able to optionally cast at instant speed is very nice. That doing so also results in sacrificing the animated creature can synergize with some elements such as Smothering Abomination, but mostly is just vastly preferable to the creature being exiled.
Dawn of the Dead
TODO
Sacrifice outlets are not required for a Chainer deck, but they're pretty handy for enabling card advantage.
Honorable Mentions
Stuff from other groups that are able to put stuff I control in the graveyard with some extra offort:
Skullclamp, Smothering Abomination, Disciple of Bolas, Slum Reaper and the like, Noxious Gearhulk, Necromancy, Eldrazi Monument
Sacrifice Abilities
Viscera Seer 1/1
It's nice to have a 1-drop creature sometimes. And as a scry 1 sacrifice outlet in a loop that produces a net gain of tokens, you could see your whole deck. Pretty good outlet prior to a board wipe, too.
Phyrexian Altar
Probably the most broken sacrifice outlet in this deck, if not EDH overall. The extra it can make is a combo enabler, or at least grease on the gears. It's principle function is a zero-cost instant sacrifice, though, and the mana is a really, really nice benefit.
Phyrexian Tower
TODO
Fallen Ideal
TODO
Tokens / Sacrifice Enablers
Bloodghast 2/1
Reassembling Skeleton 1/1
Ophiomancer 2/2
TODO
Abhorrent Overlord 6/6
TODO
Pawn of Ulamog 2/2
TODO
Wurmcoil Engine 6/6
TODO
Pretty much everything else.
Exiles one whole graveyard, which is a middleground between exiling all of them or exiling target cards from one (which can be more mana-intensive). This one also has some flexibility in repetition through reanimation or through Constellation triggers. If an opponent's graveyard is more dangerous to you than helpful, just don't even miss the few things if any that could've been useful. Disrupting them is more important.
Faceless Butcher 2/3
TODO
Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed 3/2
TODO
Shrouded Lore
TODO
Lightning Greaves
TODO
Crucible of Worlds
TODO
Eldrazi Monument
TODO
Lands
Blast Zone
TODO
Bojuka Bog
TODO
Buried Ruin
TODO
Deserted Temple
TODO
Glacial Chasm
TODO
Volrath's Stronghold
TODO
Phyrexian Tower
TODO
Just for the Mana
Ancient Tomb
The can definitely accelerate you, getting things going earlier (e.g., turn 1 -cost mana rock or milling artifact). You'll have to be careful of the life loss, which Urborg can mitigate. Nice interaction with Vilis, but that's more because Vilis is insane.
Cabal Coffers
TODO
Cabal Stronghold
TODO
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
TODO
Thespian's Stage
TODO
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Because Swamps matter.
Swamp
— Changelog —
Most Recent First
Cute stuff
Meat 'n' Potatoes
New year, new deck, apparently.
There are 42 cards different from the previous decklist in the OP, and there were some intermediate versions of the list between then and now. Usually I do the Out and In lists to align with each other to indicate what the actual swaps were. This time I really don't think going through every single swap here is going to be useful, so this is going to be a little general. I'll go over the line of thought behind this particular rebuild, mention some stuff that was removed, and mention a bunch of stuff that was added. Old and current decklists can be found below in spoilers.
Focus and Foundation
While doing some writing for the OP this week I went back to where I started and read jdmt's primer again. There's a lot that I could literally copy to my version because a lot of things that make for a successful Chainer mono-black control deck are just not going to change in principle, even though some pieces may change. I'd gotten a bit too specific and varied with my roles/categories for cards and distilled that to the following, to ask myself regarding card choice: "Does it get me cards, mana, life, or creatures in graveyards? If not, does it support those or is it a 'this could be fun' card?"
I still like to pick for Horror creature type or art if possible. Examples: keeping Slum Reaper instead of swapping it to Merciless Executioner, or using the Torment printing of Mutilate instead of others. The expression of the Chainer theme is primarily going to be through mill/discard (both attacking opponent "minds") and combat. I'm not dead-set against life-draining effects as a possible wincon anymore, but I also don't want to lean on it out of convenience. I should have to work for it, just like I have to work for mill/combat.
Except for Exsanguinate, Gary, and Kokusho, this is looking quite a bit closer to a typical Chainer list. There'll be more details about that in the OP eventually (yes, I'll be going for Primer).
Cuts and Noteable Swaps
I had a lot of "this could be fun" and "what if" cards (Praetor's Grasp and Mirage Mirror are good examples), and some cards that were okay in the overall plan but too slow or didn't quite fit how I like to pilot this. In addition, I've been moving away from making sure to have dedicated combos (such as looping Gonti or easily making infinite mana) and some cuts were found there.
I took Sheoldred out for Fleshbag Marauder — not only does Sheoldred come down much later, but I can't control the timing and I don't really want to telegraph like that. It's more my style to recur something like Noxious Gearhulk or Slum Reaper at instant speed. In the right situation she can be a good lightning rod by I don't think I need that. Memory Jar and Myr Retriever were cut because the artifact recursion is a pain for its cost and timing in how it mills. Myojin of Night's Reach is still a great way to protect a turn late-game, but you have to cast it from hand so Mindslicer is back again because it just fits Chainer so well.
Some combo-related cuts: Rings of Brighthearth, Deathgreeter, Dross Harvester, Corpse Dance (for XHD), some token sources, and Gonti. With Rings gone I also cut the fetchlands and probably a few other activated abilities I'd been holding on to. Gonti always gave good value and might see his way back in soon as a value/CA piece instead of win condition.
I added some mana rocks and such to get things going a little earlier, changes to draw and improved a couple tutors, improved the suite of removal cards, added some recursion to back up Chainer, and added some mill pieces that can drop early.
Mana/Life: Several -cost rocks, Dark Ritual, Nirkana Revenant, Ancient Tomb, and Cabal Stronghold have joined, with Thespian's Stage replacing Vesuva. Also some other stuff like Sangromancer and interactions between other new things.
Draw/Tutors: Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are back alongside Entomb. While I still have Grim Haruspex for some triggered draw and kinda want to test Dark Prophecy or re-test Harvester of Souls, the new draw options in Yawgmoth and Vilis are quite powerful alongside Necropotence. That may not seem like a bunch of card draw slots, but milling makes up for it I think.
Removal: Fleshbag Marauder, Ravenous Chupacabra, Meteor Golem, Attrition, Pestilence Demon (Whip of Erebos's new friend), and testing Demon of Dark Schemes for Massacre Wurm because I don't need four creatures that do mass P/T minuses, it flies, and it can reanimate stuff.
Recursion: Animate Dead, Necromancy, and testing Dawn of the Dead. Reassembling Skeleton for self-recursion on certain sacrifice outlets with valuable effects. Demon of Dark Schemes can function as a backup Chainer, too. I still think Sepulchral Primordial could be good value to re-introduce some day. Also I'm testing Shrouded Lore since it has early-game potential.
Mill/Discard: Mindslicer, Altar of the Brood, Mindcrank, and Doom Whisperer primarily. I keep wanting to test Mind Slash because it's really fitting, but we have to see about these other tests first. And one of the powerful plays available now is an early Doom Whisperer, then pouring around 20 life into it to just mill 20 cards from my library and follow-up with Living Death, especially if there's not much in opponent graveyards yet.
Sangromancer will hopefully be a boon with the additional removal and discard, and The Haunt of Hightower is being tested for its synergies with removal/discard/mill as well as Altar of Dementia and Disciple of Griselbrand. I look forward to letting it get big, then sacking it to Dementia and reanimating it in response to Dementia's ability on the stack. Sounds good?
Demonic Tutor
Final Parting
Increasing Ambition
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
Sepulchral Primordial
No Mercy
Fallen Ideal
Dark Deal
Mindslicer
—
Burnished Hart
Darkness
Claws of Gix
Viscera Seer
Ambition's Cost
Nirkana Revenant
Defense Grid
Nevinyrral's Disk
Cavern of Souls
Homeward Path
Swamp
Beseech the Queen
—
Liliana of the Dark Realms
Abhorrent Overlord
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Aetherworks Marvel
(or Vedalken Orrery)
Mind Slash
Oppression
Myojin of Night's Reach
Plaguecrafter
Wayfarer's Bauble
Myr Retriever
Dross Harvester
Vampiric Rites
Infernal Tribute
Pitiless Plunderer
Pawn of Ulamog
Agent of Erebos
Geier Reach Sanitarium
Crypt of Agadeem
Vesuva
So yeah, massive set of changes in this, and some different toys to test.
I'm trying to refocus on variance in games by taking out some tutors for card draw. I'm actually fine with Demonic Tutor staying but it's needed in another deck where it's easier to cast there than Beseech the Queen is here. Final Parting would have been kindof like a black pseudo-Intuition so I can't say it'll never see play in the deck again. I considered Corpse Connoisseur — we'll see if I end up wanting that or Vampiric Tutor for those moments I need to save my hide. Also trying Liliana of the Dark Realms in place of one of the other tutors since tutoring for swamps is harmless. I have a feeling she'll be pretty redundant to the actual ramp and fetches but that emblem is on my bucket list. I also need to test how well ramping goes without Solemn Simulacrum at some point.
Razzy I know would have been amazing as a giant beater, tutor, and sac outlet, but that tutor part is where he's getting benched for now. Torgaar was supposed to be a toolbox piece for bringing somebody's life down from too high or keeping mine afloat — but maybe if I was planning to need the manual override then my other life support wasn't doing too good. Sepulchral Primordial was basically redundancy with Chainer, and to magnify the effect of his ability. In their place, please welcome returning guest Abhorrent "Tokens for Days" Overlord and two brand new guests: Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief and Sheoldred, Whispering One.
I read an interesting opinion recently that Vedalken Orrery can also be a useful deterrent to attacks and we're going to test that in place of No Mercy. Enough tokens will be dying that I imagine Aetherworks Marvel would also be good and can do neat tricks with Volrath's Stronghold/Scroll Rack/Vampiric Tutor/Library of Leng, so this is actually a flex slot to switch between Aetherworks and Orrery.
Fallen Ideal is a die-hard sacrifice outlet but has no real benefit from the sacrifice, so now we're going to see what it's like to perform surgery on our opponents' hands with Mind Slash. Along the same lines of discard effects we're bringing in Oppression and Myojin of Night's Reach for Dark Deal and Mindslicer (not that 'Slicer isn't good — we're just going to try something different). Plaguecrafter buttons this up as teammate for Slum Reaper that can get a planeswalker or as a Liliana's Specter if our opponents don't have creatures (Specter was on the list for consideration, but I still want to lean more on removal than discard). I considered adding Bloodgift Demon in place of Doom Whisperer, but that Surveil 2 still needs testing.
Burnished Hart is out for Wayfarer's Bauble and Myr Retriever, but since that's two cards I figure Sudden Spoiling might be enough fog for this deck and cut Darkness.
While Claws of Gix has saved my bacon a time or two, I think Dross Harvester shows some promise for keeping my bacon out of the fire in the first place. Viscera Seer was very often underused by me because, while I wasn't a fan of the timing of the Scry 1 vs draw triggers, I was just always using other outlets. Perhaps the card draw of Vampiric Rites will prove more useful. In place of Ambition's Cost I'm adding the somewhat-similar Infernal Tribute, returning as my sacrifice-a-liability tool. The extra token production may change my mind about Seer someday regarding having card draw vs having scry combined with other card draw, so it's sortof a flex spot between the two, but as a sacrifice outlet it could also become Attrition if I figure I have enough card draw but want more removal.
Finally on the mana/tokens front we'll be trying Pitiless Plunderer instead of Nirkana Revenant and Pawn of Ulamog as back up for Sifter of Skulls, replacing Defense Grid. I may end up liking Smothering Abomination even more.
Somehow I didn't have any graveyard answers other than Chainer himself. I want something not too difficult to recur since an answer might be needed at instant speed. Withered Wretch can be mana intensive but is quite surgical and I've used him before, so we're going to try Agent of Erebos as a wholesale graveyard exile that can be re-used if I happen to get another enchantment on the field after him. Part of the reason for going for the wholesale exile approach is some recent experiences with enchantments and Bruna. Better to just nuke that whole 'yard.
Cavern of Souls and Homeward Path are out for a third booster land, Crypt of Agadeem, and a discard enabler in the form of Geier Reach Sanitarium. And I figured Vesuva is better here than in another deck where it would only have copied some colors or fetches, so I replaced a Swamp.
After doing some goldfish testing and realizing I could visualize if Demonlord Belzenlok did anything acceptable through a bit of programming, he's back out and I'm trying Harvester of Souls again. Might end up back to Bloodgift Demon, though. In the simulations, Belzenlok would most often get me 1 card at a time. Half of the frequency of singles I could get 2 cards. Half of that frequency 3 cards. Plus any lands exiled would stay exiled, and I like my lands. Maybe he'd work in a deck that can tolerate the land loss once some sort of value-engine blinking has begun (maybe Marchesa, the Black Rose), but most likely reanimating with Chainer and most likely only getting one card in hand makes it too costly.
Massacre Wurm is too good to stay out for token control. Void Winnower would keep opponents from blocking with tokens, but not prevent a retaliatory attack. Also I figure the cast-prevention would put a target on me. I was initially worried about outright killing a player with Massacre Wurm, but if they have enough tokens for that to happen then they were getting ready to win anyway and there's a decent chance their stuff was not worth stealing to use against the other players. Or I just sac the Wurm before the -2/-2 trigger resolves and they don't die.
Deathgreeter
Helm of Possession
Mesmeric Orb
Darkness
Demonic Tutor
Final Parting
Increasing Ambition
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Nevinyrral's Disk
Mutilate
Nirkana Revenant
Sword of the Animist
Demonlord Belzenlok
Void Winnower
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
Doom Whisperer
Ambition's Cost
Font of Agonies
I decided I wanted to give this deck more opportunity to pull off its ultimate win condition if possible. Blood Artist afforded a strong temptation to simply machine-gun everybody to death, plus it would kill everybody in the process of a Gonti/Primordial loop anyway... unless I add Abyssal Persecutor to the combo. Anyway, Deathgreeter is back.ages ago wrote:I had chosen Deathgreeter to replace Blood Artist because I didn't want to end up leeching the table while trying to combo with Gonti or Sepulchral Primordial instead. However, most of the combos involve a sacrifice outlet and I usually have one out anyway. This means I can just soften people up (particularly as a solution to lifegainers) from the Blood Artist triggers if I'm going for a different win condition, while helping enable a combat win condition and being a backup win condition itself.
Ashnod's Altar and Bog Initiate were supposed to be a backup to Phyrexian Altar. Once I get a copy of Pitiless Plunderer, that plus any free sac outlet will serve the same redundancy better. So now I've got Helm of Possession and Mesmeric Orb (testing).
My weak tutors were just that, so I'm going back to good ones. Diabolic Intent may still be a good one to try but may also be a dead card at times. In place of Shred Memory comes Darkness, because surprising folks with a black Fog is still on my bucket list. Then Dimir House Guard, Fleshwrither, and Beseech the Queen are all being replaced by the classic Demonic Tutor, the deck-thematic Increasing Ambition, the badass Razaketh, and Final Parting because I want to try this option over stuff like Buried Alive.
Wipes — I had more wipes in the draw version — don't need that many for my group. Damnation is great, but I want to be able to hit other stuff with Nevinyrral's Disk (plus I used the older, more eldritch-horror art). All is Dust doesn't hit artifacts for the most part, and short Toxic Deluge I wanted another -X/-X solution so Mutilate is in for testing (also older, nightmare/Chainer themed art).
Land stuff — Expedition Map and Wayfarer's Bauble out for Nirkana Revenant and Sword of Rampant Growth to lean into the basic land mana production a little more. Can't wait to put the sword on Mindslicer or XHD.
Beatsticks — Arena-on-a-stick out to test Belzenlok's card accessing. Phyrexian Obliterator out for a different beatstick in the shape of Void Winnower now that devotion doesn't matter except for Nykthos. I removed Massacre Wurm because it can be a "surprise, you lose!" card if somebody has enough tokens, and I want to avoid having that kind option immediately available. It's why Exsanguinate isn't here. Torgaar replaces it so I can fiddle around with life totals to knock lifegain decks down or keep myself alive (20 life is quite comfortable, really). Abhorrent Overlord may someday see play again, but it forms a rather easy loop with just Chainer and Phyrexian Altar, so let's see if I can steal somebody else's ETB token producer for loops and see how Doom Whisperer fares.
Vedalken Orrery is also one of those cards I would love to have in play every game. In its stead, Ambition's Cost is the last piece of the draw-only version that I'm leaving in for now because it's on-theme. And since I pay life to stuff a lot, I'm going to see how Font of Agonies does, replacing Vampiric Rites.
I had chosen Deathgreeter to replace Blood Artist because I didn't want to end up leeching the table while trying to combo with Gonti or Sepulchral Primordial instead. However, most of the combos involve a sacrifice outlet and I usually have one out anyway. This means I can just soften people up (particularly as a solution to lifegainers) from the Blood Artist triggers if I'm going for a different win condition, while helping enable a combat win condition and being a backup win condition itself. Falkenrath Noble could see a return to the fold since it's flying and is tutorable with Dimir House Guard and Fleshwrither.
Thought Gorger I tried a few times and it wasn't really doing what I wanted, but I did find myself wanting to tutor for one of the noncreature 4-drops, so Dimir House Guard is back.
Imp's Mischief probably won't be as useful with Defense Grid also here, as well as I spend the majority of the time reanimating rather than casting, so for the same reason I'm not too sad if a creature card ends up in the graveyard. Diabolic Intent usually has fodder here for the additional cost, as Demonic Tutor is in another deck (also, being ripped apart and eaten by Crovax is pretty "nightmarish"). Evidently I'm softening slightly on my tutor limitation.
Ice Cauldron is a hilarious effect and I finally got a chance to play with it, but there's nothing I really want to rattlesnake in this deck. Also, I don't want to explain how it works, apparently, so if I ever do try it in another deck, its usefulness better be worth all the explanation. In its place enters Dark Deal, which is more what I wanted out of Thought Gorger in the first place.
Finally, I'm going to test All is Dust instead of Ugin as a wipe that hits enchantments. I probably need better graveyard removal than Shred Memory anyway since that usually serves as a tutor,
but for the most part people are not going to recur their enchantments. Most often they'll be sacrificing creatures, too,
and I probably want them.
Most of these changes are a result of recent discussions in this thread with GloriousGoose and ProfessorWhen. Some cards leaving I still want to test, but the list was feeling way too heavy on testing slots.
Sadistic Hypnotist is a pretty easy change, and should be able to do a lot more work than Mesmeric Fiend. Furthermore in interest of putting cards in the graveyard, Memory Jar is in for Gemstone Array.
Shred Memory is in for Ravenous Trap because I won't be facing a Balthor Shift anytime soon, and there are some good CMC 2 targets if I want to Transmute. Expedition Map will be more helpful than Tortured Existence and is probably a better backup Urborg than Blanket of Night.
Defense Grid is replacing Warping Wail as a more proactive counter deterrent. It could also prevent some EOT shenanigans, but won't hinder Chainer or my sac outlets.
With my relatively recent interest in token producers due to a Meren deck with Grave Pact effects, Vampiric Rites is going to do better work than Infernal Tribute, though I'm probably going to miss Tribute a little bit.
Inventors' Fair was pretty iffy as an artifact tutor since it requires three to activate. Crypt of Agadeem was in to test as a third possible ritual-land. Since it was also a testing slot these are both back to Swamps for now. Still might test the Crypt, but I need to observe how many creatures I typically have in my graveyard. I suspect I just get a lot of mileage out of the first 3-4 I get and nobody stays there very long. Also, the artifact creatures don't help and they're the regulars.
— Acknowledgments —
Initially my list was heavily based on jmdt's still-excellent retired Primer All Your Graveyards are Belong to Me and its extended discussion. I learned quite a lot from that thread. Makes up for the Comic Sans in the OP.
I'm also appreciative of the insight and discussions in this thread, especially from ProfessorWhen, GloriousGoose, and benjameenbear.
I must also acknowledge that I've probably gleaned a fair bit from decklists and good discussions had in other mono-black or Bx threads by: GloriousGoose, toctheyounger77, bobthefunny, Outcryqq, and MrCoupon.