Intended for play against other casual decks (see on the left)
Black mana symbols = power, for around 20 euro (Mainboard). This price doesn't include Nykthos and Whip, they were cards I had lying around. They do improve the deck slightly, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx gives so much mana, you can consider using
Stromgald Crusader
as a manasink. Whip of Erebos gives a nice recursion mechanic so you can easily get Gray Merchant of Asphodel out of your graveyard and your big desecration demons will enjoy the lifelink.
Very powerful midrange deck in most casual games due to Desecration Demon being a huge threat, and Gary steals from ALL players in the game if doing a free-for-all, almost ensuring victory once he resolves.
Gameplan:
Build devotion with defensive creatures like Gifted Aetherborn and Vampire Nighthawk. Deathtouch will discourage enemies from attacking, and almost always 1-for-1 opponent creatures. While they stall, you can build up your devotion and get a card engine running with Underworld Connections. When playing against a control deck, Dark Prophecy will keep you in the game with drawing cards and provides 3 devotion. Almost always play Gatekeeper of Malakir for its kicker cost to make your opponent lose board presence. Gray Merchant of Asphodel dropping at turn 5 or 6 should then secure your victory. Desecration Demon is another scary big flyer to take care of remaining HP or act as a removal magnet. Casual environments usually have a lot of problems dealing with the big body.
Removal:
Together with Gatekeeper, there are 12 cards that remove enemy creatures. Victim of Night for targeted removal (hits more than Doom Blade), Tragic Slip to combo with deathtouch trades and sacrifice triggers, and Bile Blight against token decks (make sure to put 2 more in if you want to stop tokens, eventually along with Ratchet Bomb, exploding it at 0 charge counters). Duress is a nice card to remove their answers and get hand info (you have plenty creature hate but no real defenses against being controlled).
Improvements
You can add more recursive black creatures like Nether Traitor and Geralf's Messenger to make your devotion a little more sticky.
When going casual, you can consider Dark Ritual to get these out asap, and/or Hymn to Tourach which is one of the best discarders in the game.
Hypnotic Specter or Shimian Specter may also be interesting additions if you want to make discarding a main theme of your deck.
