The Fifth Horseman

Commander / EDH* Competitive Midrange Mono-Black

Azurel_The_Ceaseless_Brewer

Artifact (22)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring

Instant (6)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Creature (20)

• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Basal Thrull
• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Cuombajj Witches
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Dread Presence
• 1x Faerie Macabre
• 1x Guardian Beast
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Horror of the Broken Lands
• 1x Lurching Rotbeast
• 1x Mindblade Render
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Night Incarnate
• 1x Plague Engineer
• 1x Ruin Raider
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Street Wraith
• 1x Twisted Abomination
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Sorcery (17)

• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Drown in Sorrow
• 1x Duress
• 1x Evincar's Justice
• 1x Fortuitous Find
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Mire in Misery
• 1x Morality Shift
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Yahenni's Expertise

Commander (1)

Land (30)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 13x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ugin, the Ineffable

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Maybeboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Crypt Rats
• 1x Dregscape Zombie

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Oppression
• 1x Pestilence

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Damnation

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Beginning of the End

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The Blackest Night falls from the skies, The darkness grows as all light dies, We crave your hearts and your demise, By my black hand, the dead shall rise!

— Black Lantern Corps Oath

Deck Overview

Deck Archetype Show

This is a midrange list that can be considered a mix between an adaptive & layered combo deck. If there is a certain stax piece out it can pivot to other lines to win. It is layered in that sac outlets like Ashnod's Altar can be interchanged between combos.

Deck Strengths Show

Syr Konrad is best as a meta call. So far it does well vs slower dork heavy decks.

Deck Weaknesses Show

Syr Konrad is weak to very fast Flash-Hulk variants or decks that can win on average Turns 2-3. It also struggles with decks that can run Rest in Peace and Stony Silence .

Game Plan

In order to bring forth the Apocalypse on your opponents, you will need constant set up turns 1-4. Barring early fast mana into Cursed Totem or Chains of Mephistopheles , here hands with just ramp and tutors are the basis. Since Mono-B is best at clearing creatures, it may be good to keep a hand that also has one board wipe and ramp, but this will vary depending on pod dynamics.

Once you have established this foundation, it will be imperative to have Syr Konrad on the battlefield asap. Although casting Konrad on turn 2 is possible and has been done in testing, it will most likely happen turns 3-4. Now that you have completed the summoning ritual, it is time to decide how you will release your wrath. Assembling Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb is best as the first part is fairly innocuous.

Win Cons

Primary:

Morality Shift + Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre in deck and Syr Konrad on field: Thanks to Konrad's inclusive wording, reshuffling creatures back into our deck with Eldrazi can re-trigger Konrad. Ideally if there are 20 creatures in deck when Morality Shift is cast, that is enough to deal 40 to each opponent. Incidental life loss from opponents lands, Sylvan Librarys, or even failed Mana Crypt flips can make up for creatures we may have drawn.

Secondary:

Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith and Syr Konrad on field: This is the easiest to assemble and win with. By constantly untapping Basalt to itself you can mill yourself and any creatures in deck, including an Eldrazi with a reshuffle effect ( Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre here). Sending creatures to the graveyard, as well as reshuffling them into deck, will trigger Syr Konrad allowing you to infinitely ping your opponents.

Tertiary:

Mindcrank + Konrad and any life loss to opponents: Although this has the least amount of pieces, it is non-deterministic, similar to Selvala, Explorer Returned or certain dredge lines in Gitrog. This can also synergize quite well with Mesmeric Orb as it can lead to large amounts of mill to trigger Konrad.

Honorable Mention:

Ashnod's Altar + Myr Retriever + Scrap Trawler + Konrad. This line is hardest to resolve as it has more pieces than the prior ones but is included as by recycling Retriever and Trawler to each others effects you can generate infinite death triggers for Konrad.

Single Card Discussion

Notable Inclusions Show

Evincar's Justice : A decent board wipe for cedh that hits most things that has good synergy with Konrad and Mindcrank .

Crucible of Worlds : This can help grind by making land drops due to fetches or milling lands through Konrad activations or Mesmeric Orb . You can also recycle Blast Zone to get rid of stax, or Buried Ruin to get back one of many artifact combo pieces.

Chains of Mephistopheles : A powerful stax piece in the right pod, this does not hurt Konrad much and can even help trigger him and Mindcrank .

Cuombajj Witches : Useful sleeper pick for repeatable creature removal. With proper usage & threat assessment with opponents, you can clear x/2s as well like Tymna, Najeela, or Laboratory Maniac. Helps trigger Konrad & Mindcrank as well.

Cursed Totem : Great stax piece in the current meta. Here it barely hurts us while stopping many Flash-Hulk piles, Najeela, & mana dorks until we find a board wipe.

Scrap Trawler / Myr Retriever : These creatures can be used to recover Basalt Monolith , Mesmeric Orb , & Mindcrank if they are destroyed, wheeled away, or milled by Syr Konrad.

Notable Exclusions Show

Ad Nauseam : In a non-Morality shift build this might be reasonable, otherwise you would rather keep your creatures in deck. This is also not a storm deck so you only need a few cards in hand to win rather than an abundant amount.

Demonic Consultation : Exiling even just 6 as cost is too risky as you either need a certain amount of creatures in deck for Morality Shift or just an Eldrazi for Mesmeric Orb lines.

Honorable Mentions

Thanks goes out to Cinestra for reviewing my ideas & providing me with the awesome Mindcrank , as well as the others of the CEDH Discord who help me playtest.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.59
Tokens	Spirit 2/2 C