Consumed By Dementia

Commander / EDH* Combo Control Mono-Black Multiplayer Primer Reanimator

Creshinibon

Basic Lands (26)

• 26x Snow-Covered Swamp

Bitterbloosom (1)

• 1x Bitterblossom

Card Draw (3)

• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Counterspell (1)

• 1x Withering Boon

Discard (3)

• 1x Mind Twist
• 1x Persecute
• 1x Syphon Mind

Grave Recursion (2)

• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Victimize

Life Gain And Drain (3)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Sangromancer

Mana Acceleration (5)

• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Sol Ring

Panic Buttons (1)

• 1x Platinum Angel

Removal (11)

• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Barter in Blood
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Innocent Blood
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Spine of Ish Sah

Sacrifice Outlets (4)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Disciple of Griselbrand
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Viscera Seer

So As not to die to Spot Removal (2)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Sweepers (5)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Consume the Meek
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk

Tutors (5)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Utility Lands (10)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scrying Sheets
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Value On A Stick (11)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
• 1x Hex Parasite
• 1x Marang River Skeleton
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Thoughtpicker Witch

Walkers (2)

• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Sorin Markov

Win Conditions (4)

• 1x Blade of Selves
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star

Commander (1)

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Using And Understanding Chainer, Dementia Master

First, let us look at Chainer, Dementia Master, line my line.

1. Name: Chainer, Dementia Master. To start, his name is just sounds awesome. His part in the lore and story of magic is pretty cool too, well worth reading.

2. Type: Creature - Minion Legend. Very meh, but he's a legend, so can be our commander.

3. Ability 1: All Nightmares get +1/+1. Again, very meh, but remember, creatures he reanimates are nightmares, so this is relevant.

4. ability 2: , pay 3 life: Put target creature card from a graveyard into play under your control. That creature is black and is a nightmare in addition to its creature types. This is the reason to play Chainer over other commanders in mono-Black. You can choose ANY creature, in ANY graveyard, and put it onto the battlefield under your control, for ONLY 3 mana and an almost negligible payment of 3 life. yes, the three life adds up, but with all the life gain and ways to find it in this build, the 3 life, very simply, is not a problem. This can also all be done at INSTANT speed. So if someone tries to blow Chainer or a combo piece off the board, you can combo off in response.

5. When Chainer, Dementia Master leaves play, remove all nightmares from the game. This looks like an ouch moment. But if Chainer is on field, and you DON'T have a sacrifice outlet of some sort on field, you are doing it wrong or someone blew up your sacrifice outlet in response to you activating it. Normally, if he is about to leave play, you can just sacrifice all your creatures in response so they go to grave to be reanimated, instead of to exile to sit and rot.

Playing And understanding The Deck

Why Mono- Show

Mono colored generals are generally weaker than their two and three, and even five colored contemporaries, due to only having access to a comparatively very limited range of cards. That said, Black is the least limiting of the five colors when it comes to these card pool size limitation, not due to an access of black cards printed, but due to the versatility of the color itself. There is very little that black, with the aid of an artifact or two, cannot do, and it is the unparalleled best for reanimator and board control strategies. It has card draw to rival, and with certain cards (Necropotence), maybe even best that of blue, it has creature threats to rival, and sometimes overtake that of green, it can even rival, if not overtake green in mana acceleration, as well. It can remove threats more efficiently than white with more consistency, at least (I'll admit one cannot simply be better than swords into plowshares, but this is a singleton format), and can rival reds damage output, given time. Of course, mono-has its weaknesses. All of this is done at the expense of your life total, often at the cost of large chunks of life. Necropotence is the perfect example of this. Black has very few ways to get rid of artifacts and enchantments, which is where artifacts can start to supplement that weakness. Mono- can often be slow. Of course, that said, suicide black decks exist and is extremely fast, but at the cost of obscene amounts of life. Black also gives access to tutors, to allow you to find your combo pieces, answers, or threats. This also helps Mono- be more versatile. All taken into account, black has extreme control and combo potential, and that is why I chose Mono Black. Beyond that, Flavor reason are also appealing; black has a very rich flavor surrounding it.

Understanding The Deck Show

First of all, This deck is built for a meta where the game starts on turn 4-6, depending on the day... with the exception of the lone Krenko, Mob Boss player. The rest of the Meta includes one or two voltron decks, an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger aggro player, A Meren reanimator deck, Simic Blink (Ezuri, Claw of progress), Brago blink, one sheer agro featuring Kaalia, and 2153164326 battlecruiser strategies, and a lone mill player featuring Phenax. My build is built to withstand that meta. My playgroup is also very anti infinite combo, stax, and land destruction (I don't blame them). If an infinite combo does go off, One is simply ejected from the pod, and may play again next game, no hard feelings. but that's no fun. And beyond that, I would say my meta is about 75%. Generally, I am usually targeted, regardless of the deck I am playing, so I have tweaked this build to withstand heavy aggro, and assume a temporary state of near invulnerability on demand if need be, utilizing Glacial Chasm, along with multiple ways to reset the board. I expect to be playing archenemy in a sense. So I would say I built this deck to be about 82.5%, maybe 85%. It could be more competitive, but I like about the current power level. I don't want to win every game. I just want to win my "fair" share. The goal of this deck is to be an efficient and consistent Combo/Control deck that can finish a game out of nowhere, against an entire table if necessary.

Why "Chainer, Dementia Master over (x) or (y)?

I chose Chainer to be the commander for a very simple reason: His Ability is easy to activate at a low mana cost. If I have a Sacrifice outlet on field, This allows me to loop cards such as Kokusho, the Evening Star and Gray Merchant of Asphodel to win the game, or cards such as Fleshbag Marauder to kill opponents board, as many times as I have Mana. As for the other Mono-Black Commanders:

Anowon, the Ruin Sage: Go to Google, type in "MTG Vampire Tribal EDH" to find a place for him.

Ashling, the Extinguisher: Lets be real. You will almost never get to hit a player, and you're painting a target on your back, and there is no utility to be founder here. maybe as a spot in the 99, but I chose card:Phyrexian Obliterator in that slot.

Balthor the Defiled: An excellent all in combo general, but sadly, the effect is not as repeatable as Chainer's, and it (ew) helps others. unless you can just win the game on the spot with his activation.

Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: If you want Mono-Black voltron, this is fine. I just happen to think that if I wanted to build Mono-black voltron, Volrath the Fallen is better. Also, this isn't a voltron build.

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder: An excellent build around control general, and if I didn't want an easy access to a combo finish, along with at will reanimation, this would be my commander.

Geth, Lord of the Vault: Unless you want some sort of mill subtheme, I'm 87.895% certain Chainer is just better- Geth's abilities may be cool, but they seem overcosted, and cannot target your own Graveyard.

Iname, Death Aspect: Spirit tribal in Mono-Black is probably not possible with the current support, but you can go for it if you wish.

Lim-Dul the Necromancer: awesome ability. good at making you a target. And gets blown up by removal easily and soon is too expensive to cast. Great General, but I prefer Chainer's ability.

Maga, Traitor to Mortals: Great control commander, but I have to problems with Maga. A) Maga's ability says "target" and not "Each," and b) I don't gain life from the ability.

Marrow-Gnawer: Probably the best Mono-Black token commander, and can potentially rival Krenko in token generating power depending on build (By blowing up Krenko so he can't produce Tokens, but take you victories where you can). But he is not for this strategy.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: Yes. This deck usually finishes with the non-infinite combo/loop of Gray merchant or Kokusho, but it is "non-infinite" for a reason. I want there to be more to the deck than tutoring for card:revillark and win. however, he was far to good not to be 2nd in command of the deck.

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen: Interesting ability, great for some mono-black aggro/voltron general. I would still use Volrath the Fallen.

Sheoldred, Whispering One: Greet the 3rd in command of the deck. As a general, not enough utility, and paints too much of a target on your back, and is too expensive for my liking.

Toshiro Umezawa: Possibly the best build around Mono-black Commander. There are many cool lists for him, but he is not for this type of deck. Also, his lore is interesting too, so you do get flavor bonus points for using him.

Volrath the Fallen: If you are asking me, easily the best mono-black voltron commander in the game, and would be fun to build around.

Card selection and Strategy

Strategy

There are two clear routes to go with if one is building Chainer, Dementia Master. The First is Reanimator Aggro. His ability lends itself very well to reanimation and graveyard manipulation strategies, and this will be part of any Chainer Commander deck. The second Strategy, and how I build my build functions, is more control based. Instead of utilizing graveyards to beat in my opponents faces, I have chosen to control the board. If there are too many creatures, Damnation. If I want to control the board, and there aren't too many creatures, card:Chainer, Dementia master + Fleshbag marauder will clear my opponents creatures, and I win by looping Kokusho, the Evening Star or Gray Merchant of Asphodel with Chainer and a sacrifice outlet to drain the table and gain an absurd amount of life.

Early game

Set up your mana ramp, find necropotence, and make sure to stop any stupidly fast aggro from taking over the board.

Middle Game

You should have one of your mana-doublers out, along with necropotence. now it is time to make a judgement call: Is the board too dangerous for you to start assembling your combo, or does the Kaalia of the Vast player have 10 angels, demons, and dragons, While the Omnath, Locus of Rage Player have 233423523636 lands and Omnath on field? If the first option, drop your bombs. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Sheoldred, Whispering One, and maybe Archfiend of Depravity should be ready to hit the field. If there is a white player at the table, play around boardwipes. If the second option, Damnation, Black Sun's Zenith, and card:Glacial Chasm + platinum Angel + Lightning Greaves all come to mind. Just fine a way to blow up the board or make yourself untouchable.

Late Game

Chainer should come down, A sacrifice outlet, preferably Phyrexian Altar should be on field, along with sheoldred or Mik, and Kokusho, the Evening Star and or Gray Merchant of Asphodel should be in hand and ready to cast. You should be able to float 12+ mana on demand, at least. Chainer should usually come down, followed by either of the two finishers, and then they should be looped. Don't play one if the loop cannot be achieved. the loop doesn't necessarily have to kill the table either, but it should bring you up to 40+ life at the least, in most cases. With kokusho, Aim to have Blade of Selves equipped and Mik on field for maximum hilarity. With the gray merchant, aim for 10+ devotion, which should not be hard to achieve. If you cannot assemble the combo, or someone has infinite life, find Sorin Markov.

Card Selection

Lands Show

26 card:Snow-Covered Swamps fit the bill. Not only do they have the best art for swamps, they also give access to scrying sheets.

Cabal Coffers: This deck is mana Greedy. This Card helps us with that.

Glacial Chasm: This is a hidden gem I found in a gatherer search. The cumulative is brutal, yes, but this is a land you play as an "Oh S@#$!" panic button. and the life loss isn't great, but with 4 tutors + Liliana Vess, you'll be able to find you combo pieces and or Exsanguinate before it kills you, or maybe even Platinum Angel.

Lake of the Dead Mana-ramp, but at the cost of a swamp. or three. great short term, but horrible long term.

Maze of Ith: Sometimes people play voltron.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Devotion is easy to come by here.

Phyrexian Tower: Mana-Ramp Attached to a sacrifice outlet attached to a land. what's not to like?

Reliquary Tower: I'll play glacial Chasm, necropotence for thirty, win next turn, Thank you, thank you very much.

Scrying Sheets: Knowing what's on top of your library and maybe even getting card advantage is pretty nice.

Strip Mine: sometimes people play eye of ugin. Sometimes people are using gavony Township.

Volrath's Stronghold: A great ability for a land.

Creatures Show

Hex Parasite: A fine creature regardless of its use with glacial chasm. Also randomly snipes planeswalkers.

Thoughtpicker Witch: Works with Ophiomancer or Bitterblossom to control the top of opponents libraries.

Viscera Seer: Scry and Sac, just fine by me.

Blood Artist: Life gain is great in any deck, moreso in this deck, as we use our life as a resource at all stages in the game.

Disciple of Griselbrand: Sac and life gain translates to win and win.

Marang River Skeleton: A perfect early game blocker.

Fleshbag Marauder: a repeatable innocent blood effect that doesn't effect you, loops with chainer, bonus points if Mik is out.

Merciless Executioner: See above.

Ophiomancer: Works with thoughtpicker witch to control topdecks of opponents.

Royal Assassin: A great effect, and dissuades attackers.

Stinkweed Imp: A great blocker, can be recurred if necessary.

Crypt Ghast: the best mono-Black mana acceleration has to offer.

Phyrexian Obliterator: great blocker, dissuades attackers, can be targeted by sorin to get rid of troublesome permanents you control.

Sangromancer: Life gain is good.

card:Solemn Silumcrum: Great card, can probably find a slot in just about any deck, and sad robot works exceptionally well in a chainer loop.

Archfiend of Depravity: Board control, and worth it even if it paints a target on your back.

Bloodgift Demon: Card draw is good, can sometimes be political.

card:Endrik Sahr: A nice guy to have around, and I feel it helps play attrition and control better and more smoothly, and improves board presence.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel: Preferred Win condition #1, but always fine to have. loops with chainer + sac outlet, add Mik for maximum power.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier: See demonic tutor. Now imagine if it had flashback, but could be flashed back multiple times.

Shriekmaw: Blows things up.

Kokusho, the Evening Star: Win con #2, add Blade of selves for maximum hilarity, and bonus points if you Mik on field.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: Second in command, works well with almost every card in the deck, just a great card. Also known as Mik.

Nirkana Revenant: Mana doublers are good, but I would rather have crypt ghast- still this gets the job done and can beat face if need be.

Abhorrent Overlord: A great fodder generator on a nice body. I'll take it.

Platinum Angel: Panic Button.

Sheoldred, Whispering One: 3rd in command, and although she might put a target on your back, she so strong she's almost always worth it.

Sorceries Show

Innocent Blood: great early game, great with archfiend of depravity.

Killing Wave: not my favorite, but can do some serious work.

Mind Twist: Discard pf the highest quality.

Black Sun's Zenith: Scalable boardwipes are fine, and this one can be used multiple times in some scenarios.

Demonic Tutor: I like tutors. Running 4 plus Liliana vess is not at all necessary, but I play to win, even if my playgroup is mostly 75%.

Diabolic Intent: See Demonic tutor.

Exsanguinate: Win condition #3, can be massive if mana doublers are out.

Victimize: Graveyard recursion with an extremely insignificant drawback. This usually just reads ": return two target creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield."

Barter in Blood: Amazing with archfiend of depravity, generally easy for you to break the symmetry.

Damnation: Bad aggro deck! Sit! Roll over! Play Dead!

card:Diabloic tutor: See demonic tutor.

Persecute: Absurd against monocolored decks, good against two colored decks, an overcosted Raven's Crime against quite a few tricolored and particolored decks.

Syphon Mind Perhaps the best discard effect in the deck.

Instants Show

Entomb: Fills graveyard, usually just instant speed one mana demonic tutor.

Go for the Throat: My choice of spot removal.

Withering Boon: Did you know that something, in my meta at least, that all but reads " counter target spell"?

Hero's Downfall: More spot removal, can randomly snipe planeswalkers.

Consume the Meek: Hate Tokens. Hate them all. Ignore your Bitterbloom.

Artifacts and enchantments Show

Phyrexian Reclamation: Mini Chainer on an enchantment.

Sol Ring: Pretty bad. Worst card in deck, I don't know why I run it.

Bitterblossom: Amazing card. With mik on field, it generates flying 2/2's with undying at your upkeep. it generates sacrificial fodder. It generates blockers. It does everything.

Blade of Selves: With Kokusho out, and this attached to kokusho, when kokusho swings ( In a typical 4 player), you get three more kokushos. then the legendary rule happens, and the three tokens all die. all opponents take 15, you gain 45. add Mik for hilarity. also works with Gray merchant of Asphodel.

Lightning Greaves: Giving your bombs hexproof is strong.

Swiftfoot Boots: See lightning greaves.

Ashnod's Altar: A sac outlet, can be great with exsanguinate, but otherwise phyrexian altar is strictly better, barring corner cases.

Necropotence; Remember what I said about Sol ring being the worst card in the deck? I take that back. This card is horrible. No, in all seriousness, this cards is possibly the best card advantage engine ever printed. Yes, you pay life, but its easy to gain it all back and more with this build. It is almost always my first tutor target, unless I suspect someone can blow it up. Beyond all of this, It adds three devotion for Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Abhorrent overlord.

Phyrexian Altar: The best sacrifice outlet in the deck. allows for longer loops, too.

Phyrexian Arena: Card advantage is something I approve of. You should too.

Grave Pact: Great if the game goes long, and makes brekes the symmetry of global sacrifice effects, such as Innocent Blood or even card:Fleshbagmarauder.

Nevinyrral's Disk: Apart from a frighteningly difficult to spell name, it also has a frightening panic button sweeper effect, generally used if the game needs resetting.

Gilded Lotus: not great, but I look at it like ": You may activate Chainer, Dementia Master's ability without paying mana once per turn. otherwise, just more mana.

Caged Sun; Mana doubler number three, buffs your creatures- Can't pass it up.

Spine of Ish Sah: This should just be Karn Liberated. But my playgroup doesn't like him too much... nor like combo... nor like control even... So I decided not to put even more of a target on my head.

PLaneswalkers Show

Liliana Vess; See vampiric Tutor, as that will usually be the only thing she ever does.

Sorin Markov: Life gain? No problem.

Closing Notes Show

This would be my first primer, so if there are any ways I can improve it, I am open to ideas. Also, I am looking for any and all feedback on my deck, as long as it is constructive. Also, if you are going to make a suggestion, please state which card should come in and which card should come out. Example: "You should take out Sol Ring becuase is doesn't really do much of anything. It is a wasted slot, that would be better filled by Defeat." Of course, try to keep the suggestion serious, I'm never putting Defeat into here short of my entire meta shifting to card:Grizzly BearandCo.dec. Don't forget to upvote if you enjoyed or liked the deck!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.55
Tokens	Copy Clone, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Harpy 1/1 B, Morph 2/2 C, Snake 1/1 B, Thrull 1/1 B