Dude, this is one sexy deck.

A couple of thoughts. Depending on mana, Bloodgift Demon could be an improvement on Graveborn Muse. 5/4 flying is a big plus for the one mana, and also adds an extra power to Volrath if you pitch it. Myojin of Night's Reach works well with your theme of creatures that ruin lives if they are hard-cast. Reiver Demon too.

Another idea I had was Goryo's Vengeance and Whip of Erebos. These two work wonders when someone (including you) busts out a wrath effect. Let Volrath go to the bin, then use one of these to bring him back for cheap, pitch a creature and swing big. Goryo's has the benefit of surprise, and can be cast after Damnation or Toxic Deluge without too much trouble. Also, cast it in response to Kozilek or Ulamog's graveyard trigger and swing with them for two mana! The whip is reusable and can eek out that last bit of damage with a fatty. The lifelink would be really useful, as the deck isn't full of chump blockers and the creatures you do have need to be turned sideways as much as possible. Getting buckets of life from attacking means you can have at your opponents even if they have threats on the board.

The last thing I'd say is Extraplanar Lens. You've already got the Snow-Covered Swamps in here. Cabal Ritual is only 1 net mana unless you have threshold, and even then it's only 2 net mana. Also it's a bombo with the Eldrazi Legends. The lens is only one CMC more and can produce big mana.

Seriously wicked deck though. +1

@PayOneLife Just an FYI since you mentioned Whip of Erebos bringing back Volrath.

Because of the way Whip of Erebos's effect is phrased, if you use it to bring back your commander, and you don't have a way to make him leave the battleflied before the whip's exile trigger resolves (sac outlet or something), then your commander will be forced into exile when the trigger resolves (cannot return to command zone).

This is because when the trigger resolves there is both a triggered ability and a replacement effect that is trying to send your commander into exile, and there's only one replacement effect set up by the rules to put your commander back in the CZ. The CZ replacement effect tries to replace Whip's delayed exile trigger, and gets replaced in turn by Whip's "exile it instead of putting it anywhere else" clause, locking your commander in exile.

Cheers dude, I hadn't come across that one. Bummer.

Thanks, PayOneLife!

Bloodgift Demon is very cool. He ends up falling into a rough patch that exists between value cards and big beaters for me though. 5 mana in this deck is sort of the dead zone. It's too expensive to net value, while not being expensive enough to give value to Volrath or to get the most out of cheating into play. Reiver Demon is just slightly underwhelming in use. I have had more success with Dread Cacodemon

Myojin of Night's Reach is awesome. Unfortunately her best feature is non existent if she is cheated into play :(

I feel that Hypnox gives me what I would want from Myojin, plus 11 CMC and 8/8 flying body. No, hypnox doesn't get its cool ability if it's cheated in either, but an 8/8 flyer > 5/2 on the ground.

I don't like reanimation effects that exile. I ran Whip for a while, and tested Goryo's as well. The trick to this deck is getting creatures back to the hand, rather than from graveyard to play. In the hand they can be cheated in, fed to Volrath, cast (even flashed into play), or simply discarded again. The little bit of graveyard reanimation that I do run is repeatable and doesn't exile, which I've found to be the best.

Extraplanar is good, but my mana base is sort of split. I don't feel that 24 Snow-Swamps are enough to make genuine use out of Extraplanar Lens. It was actually replaced by Crypt Ghast whom I can recur form the graveyard, feed to Volrath, and doesn't exile one of my swamps. (He also effects all of my "swamps", so he works better with Urborg).

All in all those are some solid suggestions; most of which I have had sleeved up at one point but ended up unsleeving due to some small synergies or just my own preferences along the way. Good choices all around for mono-black or other Volrath builds though.

With an expensive boss, Everflowing Chalice can work better than you would expect. If you had 4 mana and thats it, the chalice would come in w/ 2 counters and the next turn you could cast your boss. Not the fastest ramp but big bosses can't usually be cheated out. Late game the chalice can come out huge of course.

Have you thought about Baleful Force?

are there any updates from origins? just curious.

I am testing out Kothophed, Soul Hoarder and he seems like an excellent addition so far

I am also interested in Dark Petition, and Shadows of the Past

@sonnet666

According to the EDH rules committee, the effect which allows you to put your commander in the command zone if it goes anywhere else is not technically considered a true replacement effect by the comprehensive rules, and as such, is not limited to a single application to an event.

If Whip of Erebos would exile your commander, and you choose to send it to the command zone, the whip's replacement effect will occur- and when it does, you may choose again to put your commander in the command zone instead. The whip's replacement effect will not occur a second time.

I was thinking of whip solely for the life gain even if you never use its tap ability. I run it in my thrax deck and rarely ever use it for anything but lifegain, which still ends up netting me 20-40 by the time someone does something about it. Another consideration, Homicidal Seclusion

I can understand why Necropotence is a no-go in your deck, but what about the more expensive but also highly broken Yawgmoth's Bargain? At 6 converted mana cost, it can easily be played the turn after your commander drops, at which point it immediately starts wrecking face. There's obviously negative synergy with Chains of Mephistopheles, but otherwise I see no downside to running it. And it opens up the door to a number of viable, very nasty combos, including a few alternate win conditions if I remember correctly.

By the way, how is Chains working out for you? I tested it in the stax version of my Zur deck and it didn't do a whole lot. It had to be paired with Anvil of Bogardan before it even began to merit a slot in the deck. I'm wondering if you had better luck with it.

@NarejED: Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned in EDH, and I think every other format.

And I think you're missing an end tag somewhere, linksdeity; everything south of the card list is bold.

@Kerrus:

Interesting, I checked the comp rules, and you are correct:

903.11. If a commander would be exiled from anywhere or put into its owners hand, graveyard, or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event. This is an exception to rule 614.5.

I think this is a recent change, and was probably included because of Whip of Erebos. The rules minutia I was quoting was about a year old...

@Ruffigan. Whoops, sorry. I go by Gatherer for all my info on card legality. According to them, it's legal. I guess the site hasn't been updated yet.Took this screenshot a minute ago as proof.

nope its still banned

@NarejED: Yeah, Gatherer isn't always on top of the EDH list. The official list is located here.

yoshiman95, I have considered Homicidal Seclusion, but I tend to have at least a couple of utility creatures out at a time, not to mention big beaters. Still an awesome card!

NarejED, Chains of Mephistopheles is in the sideboard. It's been great against an Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck that's a part of my regular playgroup. If Yawgmoth's Bargain was legal it would be sleeved already :)

Ruffigan, nice catch on the bold html spill, got it fixed!

Like it - very flavourful! +1 :)

Could Necrotic Ooze play a part?

Been staring at Volrath a while and wanting to build a deck for the guy. He's a neat card with tons of practical value and I'm happy someone did it!

Ooh, shiny...

Every time I get a notification for this deck it just gets danker and danker.

Quite possibly one of the best edh decks here on tappedout.

With all the crazy new eldrazi being spoiled in Battle for Zendikar I think you should take a look and see if there is anything worth swapping out.

Definitely the new Ulamog, it lets you exile enchantments and artifacts.

This deck is simply amazing.

i think the new ulamog deserves a spot in here. definitely.

i was also thinking Conduit of Ruin might be a good thing too. casting him gets you one of your 8 colorless creatures. it's a fantastic tutor.