Featured card: Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder

I'm Sahry (Primer)

Commander / EDH Competitive Cruel Control Mill Mono-Black Tokens

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Creature (28)

Instant (2)

Land (33)

Artifact (13)

Planeswalker (1)

1x Liliana of the Dark Realms

Commander (1)

Sorcery (15)

Enchantment (7)

"Fascinating...These creatures display the paradox of tenacity and purposed self-destruction I have sought to breed into my thrulls." - Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder

Mono Black Mill

Boy does it feel good to finally be putting the finishing touches on this deck. Mr. Sahr here has been a pipe dream since highschool when my friends said he wouldn't make a good commander, well I sure showed them. This deck is a combination of cruel control, protecting yourself, and milling the opponents out. You can win many other ways of course, in case they are running a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth or something of the same nature. Mind you, this isn't the easiest deck to play and every card is in here for a reason. Mr. Racecar here requires tons of practice play, and you should consider that before jumping straight into this deck. Also, don't play this deck if you want to make friends. If you sit down at a table with this deck, your only intent is to win, no matter the means.

Playing the Deck

Since this deck has way too much going for it and different niche card synergies and really random two card combos, I'm going to separate this section into Early, Middle, Late, and When to Win. Just because how mono black works in EDH, you can technically win in the "Early Game"; and while those wins are few and far between, you should still note that this deck can win stupid early. Also, games with this deck can go for HOURS! I have taken literal 20 minute turns with Sahr and Smothering Abomination on the field, just to come up empty handed and a boardwipe to follow on the next players turn. That being said, lets get into the breakdown.

Early Game Show

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder is a very interesting commander. With him being a 5 drop 2/2, his stats are well below premium and his ability doesn't do much to help him. His biggest drawback is the fact that you can only have 6 thrulls on the board and still have him. I used to run Conspiracy to be able to have more than just 6, but it was far too narrow and too expensive to keep in.

When playing with Sahr, always remember that you can't have more than 6 thrulls on board. There are only 2 creatures in this deck (Butcher of Malakir and Razaketh, the Foulblooded) that will kill him upon cast, and both of them benefit greatly off of 7 or more thrulls. The entire deck has to be full of sacrifice outlets just so that you can keep your commander on board. The number one thing to watch while playing this deck, is the amount of thrulls on board. Keep poor Sahr alive!

Opening Hand

Just for you to keep in mind while you read through this section, my playgroup still allows the old partial paris mulligan for EDH. Some games we play with the 'correct' method, but not often.

For your starting hand, you want around 3-4 basic swamps, and some 1-2 drop artifacts like Sol Ring, Altar of the Brood, or Mana Vault and a cheap sacrifice outlet. Make sure you ALWAYS keep a hand with these cards:

- Smothering Abomination. Drop him after you have played Sahr and a sac outlet and just start drawing a dumb amount of cards.

- Reanimate. This one is for the dumb Sheoldred, Whispering One on turn two.

- Leyline of the Void. Do I really need to explain this one?

Now that we got the positives out of the way, lets focus on the negatives in Endrek's life. These are the cards you reaallyy don't want to keep and should try to get rid of if you can:

- Cabal Coffers. This guy is a major powerhouse, but he blows early game. The only time this card is keepable is if you have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth there as well.

- Yawgmoth's Will. This card will just sit in your hand the entire game and you will regret keeping it. This is definitely a card to tutor for, not to draw.

- Almost any card over the age of cmc 6, depending on the people you are up against.

How to Play the Early Game

How the early game shakes out, is usually how the rest of the game will shake out. Someone ended up having 7 useable mana on turn 2 or 3? They probably win. At least, that is normally how it goes in EDH, not with this deck though. This deck prides itself on punishing your opponents and out racing them. If someone happens to have 7 useable mana on turn 2 or 3, that is your target. You have to learn to hold grudges while playing mono black, never forget what they did to you. Even if it was just a 1/1 thrull, they killed YOUR creature and for that they need to pay.

The early game is where you need to decide who is the weakest and strongest among the group. Since most of our mill is targeted, we want to focus the person who hates card advantage, has tons of reshuffle effects (ex. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth), and has the highest chance of combo-ing off. Now I know there is that guy in your group that has a 'do nothing' deck and just wants to draw cards, that's perfect. Let him draw himself near death and then hit him with some mill while his library is low.

Once you find your biggest perceived threat and first victim, try to figure out what their win-con is, or how many reshuffle effects they have. This is the best person to hit with an early Sadistic Sacrament. You don't have to kick it; Hell, just cast it on turn three. Once you figure out his deck, take out the stuff that will conflict with yours and then focus him, hard.

This player will hate you, he will use horrible names and might even concede, but you will never stop pressuring him. Now, most of your pressure comes into play in the mid game, but this is just about setting up your target.

Now if for some reason you messed up and the person you planned on targeting is not the biggest, baddest, and strongest deck in the game then you gotta make a choice. Either split your mill or switch targets. If you split your mill, it will be a longer game but you will keep both players oppressed. If you switch targets then you have one person that hates you for targeting them and another person that hates your for leaving their deck half empty.

Mid Game Show

The mid-game starts the moment Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder sticks on the field for a turn cycle. This is when you take off, because your opponents have either overlooked his power, or because they have no removal. Either way, they are fucked. If your hand is garbage, that's great! Your opponents will expect it, but if your hand is absolute nuts, then make sure to show them how badly they messed up.

Teaching Your Opponents About Mono-Black Mill

Lets get down to the nasty bits, the stuff you are here for and the stuff your opponents wont forget. Here is the list of every card that mills, sorted by cmc, and an explanation and some tips on using them:

- Altar of the Brood. Damn is this a good card. With Sahr and this Altar on the field, you will be milling your opponents quickly without worry of accusations of focusing someone. If you cast Smothering Abomination, you get 4 mill triggers on cast from Sahr, then an additional one from the Abomination himself entering. This card is only more useful if you cast Dread Summons, where you mill an additional X where X is the amount of zombies you get. Since this card is the most "do nothing = win the game" card ever, there isn't many tips I can offer you. Just that, if you play it on turn one, you will be focused the rest of the game; Regardless of the altar is destroyed by the next player in the turn cycle. Playing a turn one Altar of the Brood is worse than playing Sol Ring and Mana Vault on turn one. Remember that when it is in your opening hand.

- Altar of Dementia. This card can be really strong but not in the way most people would think. Sure you can sacrifice your entire field to make Nantuko Husk one big boi and sacrifice him to Altar of Dementia, but that isn't where most of this card's strength comes in. Most of the time you will be sacrificing thrulls to it to keep your count under 7 to keep Sahr alive. This sustained mill over time really makes a big dent and it shows late game.

- Dread Summons. This card is fantastic, both as a finisher and as a way to get some early game bodies on board. I mainly use this card as a 5 drop but if you can pump out some mana then save it and use it as a finisher. This is one of the cards you can cast and say, "I win."

- Mesmeric Orb. Now I'm going to be honest, this isn't the best card to make friends with. It is also one of the cards I have the fewest experience with. Even though you will be milling yourself with this card, you will be milling a lot less than everyone else due to all the mana doubling effects in the deck. Mesmeric Orb probably wont stay on the board for long due to it punishing everyone for playing the game. This is also a really good card against those annoying mono-artifact decks that use Unwinding Clock.

- Mindcrank. This card is a lot of fun. Not for the others at the table, but for you, the mill player. The main goal with this card, is to play it and watch everyone else do the work for you. In the likely chance that your opponents don't like that idea, it can be used to add insult to injury after they cant block your 38/38 Nantuko Husk. A really good combo with this card is a well timed Exsanguinate, they lose life and library!

- Bitter Ordeal. This card, although it has fantastic art by the wonderful Daarken, is extremely narrow and doesn't work how you think it does. You can't mill someone and then cast this card because a permanent has to be on the field. Meaning, you have to put some creatures in the gravy for this to be effective. Damnation can be a really good way to tick up those gravestorm triggers. Another good way to get gravestorm triggers is to make a ton of tokens and sacrifice them.

Now since this card doesn't just mill, you get a choice of what is removed from their deck. Target their reshuffle effects, combo pieces, and win cons. Make them hate to finish this game, make them hate you.

- Sands of Delirium, our second mill card with X in it. Although this one is more targeted, it is still very effective. My best experience with it is; cast what you want to, then spend any extra mana on this rock. The deck only runs 2 instants and they are both 1 drops, meaning that you can dump all of your mana but 1 and still have responses. I rarely use this card to try to one hit someone, because when you do, people realize that they are next and try to win before you get another turn.

- Undercity Informer is quite the powerhouse for an uncommon. With all of the thrulls and excess mana you will have, this guy can put in some real work. What is really nasty is, is when someone doesn't have many lands left in their deck. Either they have ramped themselves to their own demise or you gave them a proper spanking with Bitter Ordeal, 1 mana and 1 creature is all that is needed to deck them. Since this rarely happens, I usually use him to just get rid of a few land drops from my targets before he is killed.

- Extractor Demon. I had constantly looked over this card because I thought his ability only triggered when he died, boy was I wrong. This disgusting bulk rare from conflux will put so much work in, you wont believe it. Even if he dies, you can bring him back to finish the job for 3 mana!! You don't need anything else, just this crazy demon, some thrulls, and a sacrifice outlet.

- Geth, Lord of the Vault. This man is both a reanimator and a mill rock in one ability. The fact you can swoop up your opponents dead Sol Rings and mill them for 10 at the same time is insane! Geth is also our third mill spell with X in it, meaning this guy can hurt enough to be a finisher. Also, if you happen to mill a creature like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, you can fetch him out of your opponents graveyard before his shuffle trigger resolves. Geth would likely be the commander of this deck if Sahr didn't play the crucial role of breeding filthy arm monsters.

Putting the Cruel in Cruel Control

Although this deck has a pretty hefty mill package, the deck is first and foremost a control deck. Denying your opponents the creatures, their library, and their choices. You don't allow your creatures to stay dead, you don't allow them to have a graveyard, all while slowly grinding away their life total and their library.

Before I start to break down some of the key control cards, I want to explain to you the 'lock'. Butcher of Malakir + Dictate of Erebos + Grave Pact + any sacrifice outlet. If you have two or more of these effects on board, then you have assembled the lock. Your opponents don't get creatures and you stay happy, its a win/win. Sure it can be disrupted, but what good would this deck be if you didn't have to worry about a single thing?

Now, I'm not going to explain every single card and how it can control some aspect of the game. Instead, I will explain some of the biggest and give you some tips to using them:

- Withered Wretch. This card is one of the only ways you can keep your opponents graveyards empty so you can cast an Exhume. This creature is also the best way to get rid of the cards that have annoying reshuffle effects when they hit the graveyard. The best time to play this is when you notice your opponents' graveyards are getting full or when you are about to mill a ton of cards. Withered Wretch also does an amazing job at denying reanimator decks, keeping everything out of their gravy. Don't be afraid to spend an entire turn dumping mana in this guy to empty the graveyards, it will pay off later.

- Sadistic Sacrament. I talked about this card a bit already and a lot of the explanation of why it is fantastic was talked about when I explained Bitter Ordeal. That being said, this card is dumb. Completely neuter an opponent for the rest of the game or just make them concede on the spot. While this card has a completely nuts kicker, it is best to cast it when you have 3 mana open; stop the threat before your opponent is able to draw into their cards. Remember, you aren't playing fair; if you can completely ruin someone's game before it even starts, then that is one less person to worry about in the long run.

- Smokestack. Now this deck is not Stax, but it is a grindy control deck that uses it. The card is really good, especially if you have a bunch of thrulls that need to go before you can cast creatures. The main difficulty with this card is knowing when to stop placing counters on in. You don't want too many soot counters to where if there is a boardwipe before your turn, you take too much of a hit. While at the same time needing enough counters on it to make a difference. I'll leave it up to you to find your comfortable spot. A free tip if you have never played with this card; You can have the triggers placed onto the stack in such a way that you sacrifice before you place a counter on it. This means that for the first upkeep you have it, you sacrifice nothing and everyone else has to on their turn. Also, this isn't a card you want to slap down late game because it will be too ineffective. If you can, tutor it up and play it early, or board wipe when the first round of sacrificing will take place. Also, if you decide to play Smokestack, make sure you don't have a token player that will laugh at your soot counters.

In addition to the control, there are a few cards that are just to soak up some counterspells. You toss out these red herrings to better the odds of winning the game that turn. These are cards that you don't really have a strategy around but they still help if they resolve: Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Sheoldred, Whispering One, and Gate to Phyrexia. These cards are great on their own and don't really fit into any specific combo in the deck, but they usually draw out a counterspell if the table can produce one.

Ramping in Mono Black

One of the most interesting things about this deck is it's ability to mana ramp, not the easiest thing to do in mono black. Every mono black deck runs a Crypt Ghast, but Sahr takes it a bit farther. To be able to cast big spells with big mana, we gotta dedicate a bit of the deck to ramping.

The following are mana ramp cards that add an additional whenever you tap your mana: Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant, Liliana of the Dark Realms's Ult, and Caged Sun. Alone, these cards don't add much; but together they will let us cast our entire library in one turn, put a million on one of our X cost spells, or let us dump mana into things like Withered Wretch.

While the cards Magus of the Coffers and Cabal Coffers are extremely powerful, they are rarely cards you want to keep in your opening hand. That's why Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is so powerful in this deck, it is needed and will more than likely have an impact on how the game turns out. Don't worry about the "benefit" it will give to your opponents, they will either forget about it or use it for one turn.

There are many other cards in the deck that help to add mana (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Tower) that I'm not going to go into depth about. Instead I want to touch on the utility lands and why they are important and necessary to the deck. Most decks that include pricey lands only do it to "finish out" the deck, they usually aren't essential and you could probably skip buying them. Not with this deck, the pricey lands are very important.

- Lake of the Dead. While this card might seem to go against what we want (tapping swamps for big mana), this card allows us to get a little boost out of our lands. Remember that you can tap the land you plan to sacrifice before you end up activating Lake of the Dead. Normally, you don't want to activate it's secondary ability all of the time, only in situations where you need the little boost. Don't do it often enough to where you put yourself at a major disadvantage.

- Phyrexian Tower. I always forget that this card is a land because it's ability feels like it would fit on an artifact. Phyrexian Tower enters untapped, taps for 2 mana as long as you have a thrull on board; and if for some reason you don't, then it still taps for a colorless! The strength of this card is ridiculous. This land will get you ahead the second you play it and since there isn't any land destruction in my playgroup, good ol' Phyrexian Tower is here to stay.

- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I would love to say that this card, and the $25-$30 price tag isn't needed; but sadly, this is one of the most important cards in the deck. Seeing as every one of our mana doubling effects require "Swamps", that means that all of our non-basics don't help us as much as they should. Although this card can sorta give help to our opponents, it is negligible at best. If you plan on building this deck, make sure you pick up this card before any of the other non-basics.

- Volrath's Stronghold. I didn't think this card would make that much of a difference when I first picked it up, boy was I wrong. This card is the single best reanimate spell in the deck, not only because it is reusable but because it can generate mana when you don't need to bring something back. The only downsides to this card is that you "lose" a draw when you activate it's ability, and that it isn't a swamp. This card is a real powerhouse when you have something like Smothering Abomination on the field where you draw more than one card per turn. Although this card is an absolute powerhouse, I wouldn't say you should tutor it up that often. The only time when I would say it would be a needed card to tutor up is when you have a Dread Summons on board and aren't sure it would kill everyone. That way you can play it and put a creature on top so you don't deck yourself.

- Westvale Abbey . This card is stronger than it looks at first glance. When you have cards in the deck like, Smokestack and Smothering Abomination, that require you to sacrifice at least one creature per turn, you might need an emergency way to create tokens on your upkeep. It usually isn't worth transforming him into Ormendahl, Profane Prince because you lose out on the token generation, but you definitely can if you feel safe enough to survive a board wipe. While this card isn't pricey, I can see why someone might not want to spend the $3-$4 on him. While this land is extremely powerful in this deck, it is alright to pick up this piece last.

End Game Show

The end game is usually where you swing some big fatties, or you combo off and cast your entire deck; not with Sahr. Sahr doesn't care when your opponents want to combo off, and he doesn't care about big fatties. Your wins will usually come out of nowhere, and they will be exciting. Casting Torment of Hailfire with 44 on is the most satisfying end to a long and grindy game. The biggest part about winning with this deck is how your opponents feel after losing to a mono-black mill deck, with Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder as the commander.

Winning Quickly

The easiest way to win in a somewhat timely manor is to completely forget about mill. If this is your strategy, then focus on getting out cards like Zulaport Cutthroat and Fallen Angel. Next step is to make dudes, either with Sahr or some self-mill then reanimate shenanigans. The games where this is a good strategy is when you either don't have time to play a control game, or when there is a deck that can combo off really quickly and milling them will either only help them or not slow them down in the slightest.

Another quick way to win is to get control stuff out really early. I find that a turn one or two Smokestack is enough to make everyone at the table concede. If you cant get something out that fast then try fetching up Razaketh, the Foulblooded and just winning with all of the tutors he gives you.

If you don't like long grindy games and you prefer the more aggro style deck, then this deck is not for you. While it can be aggro, it is not this deck's strong-suit and you are better of playing with the Boros losers.

Winning Through Control

While normally you want to try and either deck your opponents or cast big mana spells, for some reason you need to cripple your opponents, like never walk again cripple. Either they exiled your mill rocks or destroyed your lands, but no matter what they did, they will pay.

A great way to cripple an opponent is to neuter his deck. Just make sure to hit them with a kicked Sadistic Sacrament and a ton of Bitter Ordeals. The biggest damage you can do to a deck is to hit what the deck is centered around. If they are playing Animar, Soul of Elements, you wanna hit that player's big boy creatures and his infinite combos. If they are playing Kess, Dissident Mage, then you wanna hit their instants and sorceries that the would use often. Make them hate to finish the game, make them hate you.

If you can't exile someone's entire library then you are probably going to want to stop them from having access to creatures. You are going to want to play all of the Grave Pact effects. This will stop them from hitting your creatures with targeted removal and it will stop them from having creatures for as long as you have a sacrifice outlet on board.

Pressing the "I Win" Button

One of the biggest problems I have with EDH games is that they go on for an eternity if you are playing control, and this deck is no exception to the rule. There have been many times where this deck has taken twenty minute turns and sometimes I hate it. Sometimes you just need to end the game and move onto the next.

When you want to end the game is mostly up to you, seeing as anyone who challenged you is already dead. I would say do it when you aren't having fun anymore. The thing about control decks is that they are only fun to the people playing them, and if you aren't having fun with this deck, then its probably time to move onto the next game. If you are still having fun, then keep on torturing those opponents because they deserve it.

Winning Through an Iona on Black

If you ever sit down and suspect someone of being that guy, then you have found your target. Iona, Shield of Emeria is a mono deck's worst nightmare, and she be the only lady Sahr isn't a fan of. The best way to combat this winged bitch is to not let her touch down in the first place. Mill the hell out of that player, tutor for Sadistic Sacrament if you have to, and get rid of her.

If Iona, Shield of Emeria ever resolves then your game just got a lot harder. Since your Smothering Abomination has devoid, it is best to hold him in your hand until Iona has resolved. Play him and then draw cards until you find your All Is Dust. Once you get that winged ape off of your board, you need to show that player how big of a mistake the just made.

Sometimes, its just better to let the other people at the table take care of her. Iona is still a threat, and the best part about her being dead is that you can reanimate her and hate on the person who owns her.

Beating a Sigarda

Sigarda, Host of Herons is not as big of a problem as Iona, but shes still a problem. Most of what was said about Iona goes for Sigarda as well with a few differences since we have access to black mana. We have Damnation and Murderous Cut in here for a reason. Hit a bitch with one of those and you are as good as new.

Oof, Aura Shards

Well mono black can't have everything, and it just so happens that Aura Shards is one of those cards that we don't have answers to. And since you aren't going to have friends at the table, it is one of those cards that are extremely difficult to win against. Best advice is to hit the / player with a Sadistic Sacrament, even if they aren't your target for the game. It means making another enemy but for the peace of mind, it's worth it.

Tips and Tricks

-Learn all of the rules about sacrificing permanents, they will come up in your games.

-Remember that a lot of our reanimate spells can hit your opponents graveyards.

-Don't be afraid to tutor for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. It is needed to win games and an extremely powerful card.

-The lockout is usually a game winner, you just have to keep it protected. If you think it will be disrupted somehow, cast the 2-3 parts of it in the same turn, and then sacrifice your creatures. This usually ensures the survival of the combo. Another good use for this is to cast it before you combo off, just to soak up counterspells.

-With Smothering Abomination it is easy to draw your entire library, and if you are in the process of combo-ing off then draw your library untill there is 1-3 cards left, then sacrifice Smothering Abomination. Then just get out your altars, if they aren't already, and then cast your entire library.

-If you turn 1 Altar of the Brood, you have made yourself a target. From this point on, even if you get no mana or if the Altar is removed, you will still be focused down. Either keep the pressure up, or cast it a little later in the game.

-Racecar loves to be the target of hate spells and removal, protect Sahr by keeping him in the command zone until either mana isn't a problem, or you need him.

-Just experiment with the deck to see which road you like the most.

-All Is Dust says to sacrifice, not destroy. While this gets around indestructible, it still doesn't kill Blightsteel Colossus. This is also the only way for us to deal with planeswalkers, besides combat of course.

-Don't be afraid to sacrifice creatures that help you win the game, you can always get them back.

-If you can, always respond by sacrifice a creature that is being targeted by something; you never know when the little boost from the sacrifice outlet will make a difference.

RTFC.

Disclaimer

While this deck is cruel in nature and isn't good for making friends, it is never okay to be salty or bring outside shit into the game. Getting into the mindset of the deck is one thing, but being a dick because someone won the last time you played with them is not okay.

This will wrap it up for now, there might be new additions to the deck, but who knows. Any suggestions are welcome, and give me your honest opinion. Is there something I missed in the description? Let me know and I'll see what I can do about adding it in.

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Final Major Revision — April 4, 2018

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Took out the trash, and bit the bullet. Added new and stronger cards and added more utility lands. This will likely be the last major revision to Sahr.

Major Overhaul — Jan. 28, 2016

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Casual

92% Competitive

Revision 18 See all

(4 years ago)

+1	Dark Confidant	main
+1	Necropotence	main

Date added	9 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Butcher of Malakir + Dictate of Erebos + Grave Pact
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.34
Tokens	Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Thrull 1/1 B, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Zombie EDH, Bookmarked, Interesting Decks, Interesting Decks, commander, Copies, cEDH
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