Budget Athreos's Angels and Extorts

Commander / EDH* Angels Budget Demons WB (Orzhov)

jackofhats

Creature (32)

• 1x Angel of the Dire Hour
• 1x Angelic Arbiter
• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Desecration Demon
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Divinity of Pride
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x False Prophet
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Guardian of the Gateless
• 1x Indulgent Tormentor
• 1x Kingpin's Pet
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Pilgrim's Eye
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Reya Dawnbringer
• 1x Seraph of the Sword
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
• 1x Thrull Parasite
• 1x Tithe Drinker
• 1x Treasury Thrull
• 1x Vampire Hexmage
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Voracious Hatchling
• 1x Wall of Reverence

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Sorin Markov

Land (34)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 14x Plains
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 14x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Vault of the Archangel

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Curse of Exhaustion
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x One Thousand Lashes
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Pariah
• 1x Pillory of the Sleepless
• 1x Story Circle

Artifact (6)

• 1x Crystal Ball
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Norn's Annex
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Instant (7)

• 1x Celestial Flare
• 1x Devouring Light
• 1x Divine Offering
• 1x Erase
• 1x Reciprocate
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Unmake

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Chainer's Edict
• 1x Gift of Estates
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Revoke Existence
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Unburial Rites
• 1x Undercity Plague
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

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Sideboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Glaring Spotlight

Instant (2)

• 1x Bile Blight
• 1x False Cure

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Gatekeeper of Malakir

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Temporal Extortion

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The purpose of this deck is to eeb away at the opponent's life total with Athreos's triggered ability on top of creature abilities like extort and certain demon abilities in the late game. This makes it easy for the turn 8 fatty angels and demons to swing away at what life total might be left.

Card draw in the form of Indulgent Tormentor and Bloodgift Demon, with Read the Bones, Sign in Blood, and Dark Prophecy to help dig until the former two can make an appearance.

Many of the creatures in this deck are 4+ CMC fatties, some of whom won't see play until turn 7 or 8. That means that we have to keep our opponent's creatures in check until we can start pumping out some hurt of our own, and this period is endured through low cost removal (exiles and sacrifices). Celestial Flare and Devouring Light take out attackers while they're charging; Reciprocate revenges troublesome creatures who get through; Gatekeeper of Malakir, Diabolic Edict, Chainer's Edict, and Geth's Verdict look to indiscriminately thin their ranks; and target removal can be dropped with Pillar of Light, Tragic Slip, Unmake, Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring, and Ashes to Ashes; with some fun cards thrown in for prickly commanders such as Banishing Stroke, Pillory of the Sleepless, and One Thousand Lashes.

Turns 1-3 ----

Blind Obedience should ideally make an effort to slow your opponent down while making up for any lost life by extorting your removal in conjunction with some other extort weenies such as Thrull Parasite, Tithe Drinker, Basilica Screecher, and Syndic of Tithes.

Turn 4-6 -----

By turn four, you should be able to start getting out some of the beefier defenders such as Wall of Reverence, Seraph of the Sword, Erebos, God of the Dead, or Desecration Demon. The card draw demons also become within casting range at turn 5 and 6 if they've come up, and that'll be sure to speed up your game by increasing your chances of mana every turn and making the expensive angels more feasible. Don't be afraid to Read the Bones to scry away nonland cards: late game angels will help level the playing field in your favour with Angel of the Dire Hour, stopping your opponents momentum in one combat phase. Other late-game angels who specialize in momentum-stoppers include Angelic Arbiter, or Resolute Archangel if your extort / wall of reverence hasn't been able to keep up with potential early game life loss.

The reason why I've chosen Athreos, God of Passage as my commander is because his triggered ability either punishes opponents or allows me to replay fallen creatures for me to extort again. As far as the beefier creatures go, opponents are generally pretty quick to pay the 3 life. This this isn't always the end of the game for them, though, with grave snatching cards such as Disentomb, Raise Dead, Treasury Thrull, and the more expensive Reya Dawnbringer.

If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations, I would be glad to hear them, as I don't even have all of the cards to build this one yet.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	9 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 2 Rares 27 - 1 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.83
Tokens	Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Spirit 1/1 WB, Zombie 2/2 B