Big Black Mana Life Drain EDH

Commander / EDH* Mono-Black

raxies94

Removal (12)

• 1x Consuming Vapors
• 1x Defile
• 1x Gatekeeper of Malakir
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Sever the Bloodline
• 1x Tendrils of Corruption
• 1x The Eldest Reborn
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Tragic Slip

Draw (7)

• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Damnable Pact
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Shadows of the Past
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Underworld Connections

Utility (5)

• 1x Bloodhusk Ritualist
• 1x Mind Sludge
• 1x Nihil Spellbomb
• 1x Relic of Progenitus
• 1x Sudden Spoiling

Big Mana (4)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Magus of the Coffers

WinCon (10)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One

Ramp (8)

• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Dreamstone Hedron
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Wide Removal (6)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Consume the Meek
• 1x Deadly Tempest
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Steel Hellkite

Tutor (3)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon

Commander (1)

Burn (7)

• 1x Consume Spirit
• 1x Corrupt
• 1x Drain Life
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
• 1x Palace Siege

Land (36)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 30x Swamp
• 1x Temple of the False God

Other (1)

• 1x Ghastly Conscription

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Maybeboard

Other (30)

• 1x Altar of Shadows
• 1x Bond of Agony
• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Death Cloud
• 1x Dread Cacodemon
• 2x Dreamstone Hedron
• 2x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Gonti's Machinations
• 2x Hedron Archive
• 1x Herald of Leshrac
• 1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x No Mercy
• 2x Nyx Lotus
• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Pestilence
• 1x Promise of Power
• 2x Read the Bones
• 1x Soul Burn
• 2x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Worst Fears

Utility (12)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Bottomless Vault
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Defile
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 2x Stuffy Doll
• 1x Subterranean Hangar

Burn (2)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Falkenrath Noble

Draw (1)

• 1x Ancient Craving

Tutor (1)

• 1x Liliana Vess

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This is a deck that I threw together out of some black cards that I had, though I had to order a few of the more expensive cards, including the commander. The idea came to me as I was looking through my cards, noticing how much you could damage and debilitate your opponent if you have enough swamps/black mana.

The win condition of the deck is typically to chip away at your opponents and build your mana base and card advantage, then use either a big damage effect or the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine bond combo. The combo is obviously the strongest win condition, and I could focus around it more, but by not building the entire deck to support only the combo, the deck can have a bit more flexibility in how the deck can win (and it keeps the budget down a bit, as the best tutors cost a bit).

The deck is noticeably light on creatures, and honestly, it doesn't usually feel like they're needed. As much life as you gain using the deck, you'll have enough cushion to withstand some damage while you search for single target removal or board wipes. Additionally, you don't particularly care if your opponent removes your creatures, as they are not going to be the primary win condition of the deck.

Choosing a commander was a little difficult, as there are quite a few choices for mono black. Ob Nixilis, the Fallen is one choice as is Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath (included in the deck), but Erebos had several advantages that put him above the others. His stickiness, low cost, and draw ability all make him more suited to being the commander. Blocking the opponents' lifegain is just a bonus. Erebos' devotion minimum is pretty easy to reach, so you'll probably have an indestructible blocker for a decent amount of time. Erebos is also cheap enough that if he is removed someway it's not a huge burden to bring him back. Drawing into either Exquisite Blood or Sanguine Bond is pretty important, so Erebos' draw ability is a huge boon

Typically, I try to tutor Exquisite Blood or Sanguine Bond (whichever is currently more impactful) before I start cutting loose with the heavier damage spells. Things like Drain Life and Corrupt usually need to be saved until the later parts of the game, as those are going to be the alternative win condition if you can't find the other piece of the combo.

The main hate cards we have to watch out for are going to be enchantment hate cards. Luckily, that usually seems to be the type of removal that other players have the least of. Of course, being mono black, we don't have anyway to remove artifacts or enchantments. I haven't had to worry about enchantments usually; a lot of them seem to focus on impacting creatures, and again, the deck just doesn't really care about that. Zero artifact removal is a fair bit risky though, but being mono black we'll just have to accept it. One strategy I've noticed that the deck has a trouble with is milling. The deck draws so much anyway, that we're practically helping our opponent win. Additionally, there's virtually no graveyard recursion in the deck at the moment, so losing either Exquisite Blood or Sanguine bond can really hurt.

I think the main thing the deck needs is more and better board wipes. Unfortunately being on a budget means I can't easily acquire some of the better options. Hopefully I'll be able to trade for a few of them.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.89
Tokens	Demon 5/5 B, Emblem Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, Manifest 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B