A Hellish Crusade | Edgy Specter Tribal

Commander / EDH Aggro Discard Primer Theme/Gimmick Tribal UBR (Grixis)

Deadpoo111

Creature (26)

• 1x Abyssal Specter
• 1x Blazing Specter
• 1x Blizzard Specter
• 1x Doomsday Specter
• 1x Dread Specter
• 1x Entropic Specter
• 1x Fell Specter
• 1x Guul Draz Specter
• 1x Headless Specter
• 1x Hollow Specter
• 1x Hypnotic Specter
• 1x Liliana's Specter
• 1x Needle Specter
• 1x Nightveil Specter
• 1x Reaper of Night
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Scythe Specter
• 1x Sedraxis Specter
• 1x Shimian Specter
• 1x Shrieking Specter
• 1x Silent Specter
• 1x Tainted Specter
• 1x The Haunt of Hightower
• 1x Thief of Sanity
• 1x Urgoros, the Empty One *f-pre*
• 1x Whispering Specter

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Liliana's Caress
• 1x Megrim
• 1x Raiders' Wake
• 1x Waste Not

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage *f-pre*

Land (37)

• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 6x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 9x Swamp
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Specter's Shriek
• 1x Specter's Wail
• 1x Whispering Madness
• 1x Windfall

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Artifact (18)

• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Door of Destinies
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Geth's Grimoire
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Obelisk of Urd
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Specter's Shroud
• 1x Sword of Body and Mind
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1x Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1x Sword of War and Peace

Instant (2)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Terminate

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"I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade."

-Morticia Addams

Hoodies and Eyeliner: Introduction

What's up homies! Have you ever asked yourself: "How can I express my edginess in Magic: the Gathering?" If so, then this is the deck for you! Totally creep out your opponents with an army of hooded edge-lords! Who are these edge-lords you may ask? SPECTERS! The original edgy creature!

Rebellion...and Stuff: Our Commander

Who's going to lead our goth army? Why look no further than Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ! This 4/4 flyer for only 4 mana also makes every opponent discard when it enters the battlefield! This early flying body and later planeswalker allows us to keep parity with our opponents while we set up our board. I also really enjoy his discard ability because it doesn't make you a target. Now, I don't think I have to say this but Nicol Bolas, the Arisen is probably the best planeswalker in the game. His ability to draw cards, remove planeswalkers, reanimate whatever I want, and then kill an opponent? YES PLEASE! One of the downsides people tell me is the cost to transform him, but with our extensive number of mana rocks, Bolas can transform by turn 5.

I Only Feel Darkness: Why Not Morophon

As soon as Morophon was spoiled I considered the possibility. As such, I wrote a pros and cons list for him and came to my conclusion which will be at the end:

Pros:

Morophon is a Specter, Bolas is not

Morophon provides actual tribal boosts that do matter and make the deck faster

Morophon is in every color, but is also colorless meaning I could literally just switch Bolas for Morophon and go about my day

Morophon opens up FIVE COLOR Specter tribal and while all specter creatures are in grixis, the generic tribal support cards gained would be enormous boon and new space to explore

Morophon combos with Jodah, Archmage Eternal and Fist of Suns MAKING FREE SPECTERS

No color cost means Sol Ring actually accelerates our commander more than one mana.

Morophon is cool and a really neat design that I enjoy seeing

I think Morophon is better for the Specter Tribe in simple advantages, even when talking about curves but that raises the question, what do specters need? Cost reduction? Buffs?

Cons:

Morophon costs 7 mana, meaning two things, 1) I'm probably going to cast him once per game and if he's removed I might cast him one more time? Other than that, I'm not going to spend 11 mana on a buff and a cost reduction 2) My opponents will get their commanders out first and enable any removal they have before I can do anything

The Nicol Bolas, the Ravager Flip I use as my commander was given to me by one of my closest friends, Jason Albert. I cherish it and love it. If I stopped using him as my commander I'd just feel incomplete

I feel that Nicol Bolas, the Ravager Flip is better than Morophon for a few reasons, 1) He comes out way faster than Morophon 2) He's a great blocker, especially on turn 3 when I can usually get him out 3) He works in tandem by affecting every opponent immidiately, and if I have any discard outlets out, BAM synergy. 3) I cast Bolas a few times every game. I can already cast him twice by the time I cast Morophon once. 4) Bolas has a built in win condition whereas Morophon does not, I've managed to kill a lot of players with Bolas's ultimate and I've got to say, I never get tired of it.

I love Morophon but honestly whenever I play him, I feel like a sellout ya know? I get that he's the answer to all of our prayers and I will be playing him for other tribes but especially for Specters I feel that he's unnecessary

Conclusion: Morophon, the Boundless represents a new horizon (haha original joke) in every tribal deck and answers the prayers of players like me. It makes no color restriction and lets you play whatever colors and create your own restrictions. While it is truly a fantastic card, I prefer Bolas for now. I'm quite happy with how the deck plays and am content to wait for new specters to come out. However, at some point in time, probably over the next few months, I will be exploring a five color specter deck with Morophon.

IT'S NOT A PHASE: Specters

Well this is where it gets a little awkward. As of July 3rd 2019 there are only 23 Specter cards in Magic: the Gathering. As a deck that focuses on this creature type we're in a tough spot. This is only made worse by cards like: Dread Specter , Tainted Specter , and Shrieking Specter which are essentially unplayable. We are running them anyway because we're desperate, but as soon as Wizards makes more Specters, I'm windmill slamming them into this deck. When faced with our low count of creatures, I immediately thought of Changelings. These creatures have every creature type and would be affected by all the tribal buff effects like Cover of Darkness . However, none of them really helped me make opponents discard. Originally, the deck ran clone affects to copy our specters but with upgrades and the new Headless Specter I was able to take all of the clones out. The 23 specters are actually a good number to have. Sure, the deck wants more and I pray to my Bolas shrine every night that WOTC will print more, but our current number will make do, especially with all the discard payoffs and the fact that we can suit up one specter to win the game.

I Don't Need Friends, I Have the Voices in my Head: Tribal Synergies

This wouldn't be a tribal deck without a few Lord effects. One of my favorite's is Cover of Darkness because it gives our Specter's evasion as well as being an early play. Obelisk of Urd , Shared Animosity , and Door of Destinies provide big buffs for our hooded gang of misfits. I've also found that Kindred Dominance is a game ending board wipe that, with the proper ramp, can be cast on turn 5. Finally, as a win condition, it's hard to find a better card than Kindred Charge . The ability to double your specters closes out games faster than your opponents can say "Specters are the best tribe."

I Only Like Death Metal: Discard

No true Specter deck would be complete without Specter's Wail , the original edgy sorcery, and thanks to our high density of Specters, our opponents will rarely have a hand over 4 cards. To help us win the game, I'm using the classic discard payoff suite: Liliana's Caress , Megrim , Raiders' Wake , and Fell Specter . These cards can put out a lot of damage and quickly too. Waste Not and Sangromancer provide incredible discard payoffs and amy game with Waste Not is bound to be a great one. On another note, Dream Salvage has easily become my favorite card because it can essentially be Ancestral Recall if you've played swung with a few Specters this turn. Beyond that, the card just keeps getting better and better as we attack with more of our Specters or cast a wheel. Geth's Grimoire is probably the best card advantage ever and I couldn't find a better draw engine if I tried. Specter's Shroud is used mostly for flavor, but it's surprisingly versatile! I've equipped Bolas with it, and even some of my copies of my opponent's creatures. The card really shines when you have one or more discard payoff cards out.

You Don't Understand Me: Control

A deck with the colors blue, black, and red wouldn't be caught dead without some way of making creatures go away. Nicol Bolas, the Arisen is the main source of removal that I use. His -3 ability will take out most threats while fueling his -4 ability. I also run Terminate , Go for the Throat , Doom Blade , and Cyclonic Rift . Other than that, Kindred Dominance is our only true boardwipe. This is because it's a one-sided boardwipe alongside Cyclonic Rift . I'm not going to say that this is a lot of removal, but Bolas can usually cover the bases that these cards don't.

Please pardon my dust as the primer is being completed and feel free to leave a suggestion for the deck or even tips on my primer. Thank you!

Top Ranked	Achieved #13 position overall 6 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Primer 5 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 45 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.41
Tokens	Boar 2/2 G, Human 2/2 G, Morph 2/2 C, On an Adventure, Wolf 2/2 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Competitivo, Grixis ideas, Alex's Paper Decks, My Decks, Beautiful Creations, Research