athreos edh

Commander / EDH

Owlteeth

Creature (40)

• 1x Aegis of the Gods
• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cartel Aristocrat
• 1x Corpse Augur
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Crypt Rats
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Divinity of Pride
• 1x Doomed Dissenter
• 1x Doomed Traveler
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Healer of the Pride
• 1x Imposing Sovereign
• 1x Indulgent Tormentor
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Overseer of the Damned
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Phyrexian Plaguelord
• 1x Pious Evangel  ^Flip
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Teysa, Orzhov Scion
• 1x Thrashing Wumpus
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Xathrid Necromancer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 10x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shambling Vent
• 16x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Artifact (7)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Library of Leng
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Venser's Journal
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Reprocess
• 1x Skulltap

Commander (1)

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Circle of Despair
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Shadows of the Past
• 1x Vampiric Rites

Instant (2)

• 1x Altar's Reap
• 1x Costly Plunder

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip
• 1x Hidden Stockpile

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Its been a while since I have been on here, but I'm trying to get back into playing magic more regularly. I felt like none of the decks I have really do what I want, and Athreos, God of Passage seems like fun. Right now I want to have a more controlling build that gets value out of sacrifice effects, like Attrition or Ashnod's Altar, using Athreos, God of Passage and Dark Prophecy style effects to grind out value from it, but I feel like I am not focusing enough on one strategy. I feel like it would be good to remove as much extra "fluff" as possible, and get more value from the creatures, relying less on enchantments and spells. I also realize that the Blood Artist effects are not helping me enough, as right now I have too many creatures that I don't want to be sacrificing, like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat. I thought they would be good, as I would be saccing a ton of stuff, but right now so many for my creatures have effects that I need on board that I don't sac anything.

Card Roles

Sacrifice

• Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - I like ayli, she is a 2 CMC lifegain MACHINE. That said, she really isn't that strong due to the amount of life loss I have built in to this deck. I want to change her out, but I don't know what for.

• Carrion Feeder - Not only is it one of my only 1 drops, but it can get out of hand VERY fast. with enough creatures on board, my opponents will be facing a 21/21 plus Athreos will be asking them if they want to give me those creatures back for next turn, or if they want to split 10 Lightning Bolts across their faces.

• Cartel Aristocrat - I don't know how I feel about this one. sure the sac is free, but it doesn't help me in any other way. I have other 2 drops to play that can actually develop my board, whereas this one really doesn't do much except sac. I added it because I felt short on sac outlets, but I don't know if I really need to be this concerned. Definitely one of the cards I would like to cut.

• Dimir House Guard - An amazing card. not only is it hard to kill, but it is a sac outlet that costs me no mana or life, and it can tutor for a bunch of stuff. Grave Pact, Whip of Erebos, Corpse Augur, and Crypt Ghast can all be hit by it. that gives me a way to tutor for control, stabilization through lifegain, card draw, and ramp all with one card. I can even tutor Debt to the Deathless if I need a win-con to close the game out fast. This card will not be leaving the deck any time soon.

• Phyrexian Plaguelord - Good for killing indestructible creatures. That's about it. I don't want to cut it, as I really need a way to deal with the occasional indestructible nonsense, but I really feel like it is a dead card most games. If there is a better option for this, PLEASE let me know.

• Pious Evangel   - I do not like him. I added him for the flipside and the drain, but like I said above, I realize that it is not needed. This makes him a 5 mana investment to sacrifice one other thing. I NEED to replace him, I just haven't figured out what for.

• Sadistic Hypnotist - while it is a full 5 CMC, I think the effect is very worth it. late in the game I need to have a way to stop dangerous spells, and my only way of doing that in orzhov colors is discard (I guess technically Mana Tithe and Dash Hopes are options too, but lets be real here).

• Teysa, Orzhov Scion - she is really here more for that creature generation off her second ability, but it does help us nicely that she has a way to make use of her tokens to kill off things.

• Viscera Seer - the original 1 drop sac outlet. Great way to fix draws, and a good opening play for my deck.

• Ashnod's Altar - harder to kill than creatures, and it provides some much needed ramp. just an overall amazing card.

• Circle of Despair - one of my few sources of protection from spells that just happens to double as cheap sacrifice. I like that this is good against almost every deck. it lets me stop anything in it's tracks, while also punishing them for trying it if my commander is out.

• Vampiric Rites - harder to remove than a creature and it provides card draw. technically I can use it to stabilize off the lifegain, but it is almost entirely here for the draw.

• Reprocess - while I don't list any of my other card draw spells here, Reprocess deserves a special mention. it allows me to sac my entire board in one swoop, and then draw a SEA of cards. like, literally drowning in card draw.

Fixing and Ramp

• Burnished Hart - a sacrifice based way of fixing my mana. sounds good to me. by the time I actually use the ability, I will probably have Athreos down anyways, and then I might even get to reuse the hart.

• Crypt Ghast - an excellent way to almost double my mana. I mostly need black mana anyways, so this guy is a must. The obvious combo with him is Crypt Ghast + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth , so that even my Plains and my (terrible) duals can tap for both colors at the same time.

• Ashnod's Altar - This deserves a mention here as well due to how powerful the ramp off this is. it basically turns all my creatures into a single-use Sol Ring that I can get back with my commander.

• Sol Ring - Speaking of Sol Ring, Sol Ring is in here. Because its commander. It is almost a law at this point that commander decks run Sol Ring.

• Thought Vessel - while not particularly powerful, it allows me to have as many cards as I want in hand. as the game gets late, more and more people will refuse to pay 3 for athreos, hoping that I will just discard all of my guys. If I have no hand size, this means that they are out of luck. the mana ramp is just an added bonus.

• Black Market - In a sacrifice deck, this will quickly be giving me upwards of 10-13 mana a turn. tack on the fact that it triggers from ANY creature, not just mine, and it just blows out of proportion in only a few turns.

• Shadows of the Past - while this doesn't directly ramp, it does fix my draws, allowing me to find a land if I need one and a spell if I don't.

Draw

• Corpse Augur - this is just too powerful not to run. it can quickly get to the point where it just refuels my entire hand off one sacrifice.
• Erebos, God of the Dead - in addition to that nice "opponents can't gain life" thing, Erebos is basically an indestructible Greed on legs.
• Grim Haruspex - hey, did I mention my creatures die? like, a lot? this guy basically turns all of my sac outlets into the best sac outlet ever.
• Harvester of Souls - a bigger, beefier grimm haruspex. good for the same reason, but also for attacking and blocking. plus he has deathtouch.
• Mentor of the Meek - not great. I don't have enough small dudes to consistently trigger him and I want to swap him for something else.
• Skullclamp - if the clamp doesn't kill the creature, I can just sac it. this card is so good outside of sacrifice decks, and it's even better here.
• Altar's Reap, Costly Plunder, and Skulltap - basically the same card three times. This is just a helpful effect to have in a pinch. maybe I don't have any of the better draw effects and need to find something. Plus, it can be used to sacrifice something if I really need to kill off one of my creatures and have no other way of doing that.
• Reprocess - as I said above, this gets me way too many cards. its a 4 mana way to sac my board and draw just obscene amounts of cards.
• Dark Prophecy - its just like another Grim Haruspex, but it triggers off tokens, too.
• Necropotence - not technically drawing, but still. this is like the best card advantage engine ever printed, I couldn't leave it out.
• Phyrexian Arena - an exrtra card each turn is pretty good, even if it costs me a life.
• Vampiric Rites - a one drop that lets me both sac a creature and draw a card. its pretty good.

Protection and Lifegain

• Aegis of the Gods - I'm too poor to afford Leyline of Sanctity. I just figure that since this is a creature, Athreos will discourage people from killing it.

• Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - great for gaining life, but not as good as some other options.

• Divinity of Pride - not only does this guy end up being an 8/8 almost evey time I cast it, but it is lifelinking, AND it activates both of the gods in this deck by itself.

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel - not only is this guy one of my win-cons, but if played earlier in the game, he can gain enough life to stabilize against almost anything. with only one or two other things on board, I can use him to gain 12-18 life.

• Healer of the Pride - I thought I would like this dude. I don't. it doesn't benefit the deck enough to be useful. it is basically a slightly better Soul's Attendant and I need to cut it.

• Imposing Sovereign - just helps slow down my opponents. this is not a fast deck and takes all the help it can get to slow my opponents.

• Grand Abolisher - helps stop people from countering my stuff. I play with blue players, this is a must.

• Indulgent Tormentor - my opponents have to either take a bolt to the face or sac a creature. it just helps keep boards small. this isn't really card draw though, as most opponents realize that giving me cards is not a good thing to do.

• Ogre Slumlord - nobody wants to lose their huge dudes to a 1/1 rat, and this guy gives me an army of them. a great way of building up a pillow fort. but a deadly pillow fort. A pillow fort with knives taped on to it.

• Pestilence Demon - a wrath on a stick. there is also a stupid combo with Whip of Erebos that lets me gain a million life. remember that all the damage is done by the demon, so every single point of damage is lifelinked to me.

• Thrashing Wumpus - same as Pestilence Demon, just cheaper. The other thing to remember with these guys is that because I can activate the ability at instant speed, if I need to kill big things, I can just activate in response to each activation, and put the triggers on the stack before the creature itself dies.

• Xathrid Necromancer - this dude needs to go. I do not have enough humans to sustain him.

• Bojuka Bog - single target hate on graveyard. it is pretty strong, especially since I can't run anything like Grafdigger's Cage or Rest in Peace since I need access to my yard as well. it is also nice that it doesn't take up a spell slot.

• Shambling Vent - emergency blocker that gains some life. really just a last-ditch effort to stabilize long enough to build up some momentum and hopefully win.

• Venser's Journal - combined with some of the card draw effects, this little book can be a great source of life. I can easily get my hand up to 10+ cards if necessary, and the journal rewards me for that.

• Whip of Erebos - not only does it just grant blanket lifelink to my stuff, but it combos well with any of my Pestilence creatures.

Win Conditions

• Athreos, God of Passage - The main one, it is my commander after all. Eventually the ability on athreos forces my opponents to either let me do whatever I want and grind tons of value out of sacrificing, or they just eat endless streams of Lightning Bolts. as an indestructible creature, it is also good at attacking. if necessary, I can also sacrifice off all of my creatures, or even athreos himself in order to dodge something like Imprisoned in the Moon, Path to Exile, or something similar. overall, just a good creature.

• Carrion Feeder - just make it like a 27/27 and swing. simple.

• Crypt Rats/Thrashing Wumpus/Pestilence Demon - give them lifelink and make a massive lifeswing around the entire board.

• Kokusho, the Evening Star - swing for 5, swing for 5, oh they killed it? burn everyone for 5, get it back, repeat.

• Hangarback Walker - sac everything to Ashnod's Altar and drain with athreos, make a huge walker. sac walker to get a million tokens.

Strategy

The current strategy is to spend the early turns setting up the game, getting a sac outlet and a card advantage engine going, and then playing the long game and grinding value with athreos, steadily building up the board state.

That is the most specific I can be right now, but I really need to remove a bunch of cards. all of the Blood Artist effects need to go, along with a bunch of other useless cards, but I don't know what to replace them with.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Crypt Ghast + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 32 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.25
Tokens	Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Morph 2/2 C, Rat 1/1 B, Spirit 1/1 W, Thopter 1/1 C, Zombie 2/2 B