"Not necessity, not desire - no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything - health, food, a place to live, entertainment - they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied."-Friedrich Nietzsche
By the power of misguided humans, I bring you a demon-themed EDH deck. This is my first EDH deck built... ever, so I'd really appreciate some help and stuff.
As of around 08/03/2013 and the recent release of M14, this deck is now focused on Shadowborn Apostle and Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker.
So how does this work? Well, pretty easy. You get a few Shadowborn Apostles out in a couple turns, along with Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, go up to 6, sac and get a nice demon out on the field, already waiting to get another.
Each Apostle is a 1/1, meaning with Shirei on the field they come back to the battlefield every End Step. By your next turn, you can sac them again for yet another demon creature.
I've found through playtesting that you can sometimes throw down a lower-cost demon before you even ready the battlefield for endless sacking, which is nice, but it also means this deck is not as fast as I want it to be.
Shadowborn Apostle - You want to get these guys on the field ASAP. Six of them to be precise. Before you can, it's totally possible to poke for slowly larger and larger amounts of damage too.Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker - Protect this dude. Without him on the field, this strategy is moot. Whispersilk Cloak allows for protection and to deal slow Commander damage.
Blood Artist, Deathgreeter, Rotlung Reanimator, and Skirsdag High Priest - All four of these guys add to the sacking of the Apostles. Blood Artist and Deathgreeter allow for lifegain (and lifeloss, in Artist's case), while Reanimator constantly churns out zambies. High Priest can allow for a/some fairly powerful demon(s) to get on the field as well.
Reaper from the Abyss,
Shadowborn Demon
, and Grave Pact - I like Reaper more, because his destroy ability is persistent as opposed to Shadowborn's which is a one-time deal. Each time you sac your Apostle's, Reaper readies his scythe. Grave Pact is especially vile, because it works for each and every Apostle lost.
Ravenous Demon
, Demonlord of Ashmouth, and
Demon of Death's Gate
- All these guys need additional sacrifices if you're going to use the Apostle sac method. Demonlord can come out early and sac an Apostle if you really need a more powerful creature (there's always more Apostles!) and Demon of Death's Gate can come out by turn 3 if you want it. Ravenous Demon is only viable if you've got the Apostle-Shirei board setup, otherwise you start suffering.
Bloodgift Demon, Seizan, Perverter of Truth, and Harvester of Souls - I like the first two more, because they can come out earlier. These guys can aid with card draw by turn 5, or just serve as overkill when you've got the board set up.
Sign in Blood, Promise of Power - Sign in Blood seems a little too small-minded for an EDH deck in my opinion, and I would love to know of something better to replace it with. Promise of Power is much more expensive, but much better, and also allows for another demon later in the game.
Rune-Scarred Demon, Demonic Tutor, and Diabolic Tutor - General card search n' stuff.
Howling Mine, Phyrexian Arena, and Thrumming Stone - All allow for more chances to get enough Shadowborn Apostles as early on as possible. Thrumming Stone is especially potent.
No Rest for the Wicked
- This deck suffers from board wipes. No Rest serves as a counter (albeit one-time) to this.
Elixir of Immortality and
Feldon's Cane
- I actually don't like having this here. I'm sure there's a better way at returning my un-Shirei'd Apostle's back to the library of field.
Rogue's Passage - For when you need to strike! Still, it only affects a single creature at a time, which is not very satisfying.
Desecration Demon, Lord of the Void, Stonghold Overseer, and
Withengar Unbound
- These guys are just cool in mu opinion. Withengar could be brought about using either Whispersilk Cloak or by attaching it to Overseer. TBH however, Stronghold Overseer doesn't add too much to this deck and I'd like to see him replaced by something more useful.
Again I'd love to get some help with this deck! I love demons and I'd love even more to have a decent (or even great) EDH deck that can stand up to my Magic-club friends!
Thanks!
