This is a deck idea I've had for a while, but I'm only just now putting the finishing touches on the concept.
The idea is to have one creature on board- one huge beatstick, with lifelink and deathtouch, and often, a power of 10 or higher.
This deck is basically fueled by 2 types of cards: big beaters who hate sharing- like
Xathrid Demon
or
Demonic Taskmaster
- and buff-type enchantments, a la
Homicidal Seclusion
,
Deadly Wanderings
, and, to an extent,
Cathedral of War
,
Rogue's Passage
, and Lightning Greaves.
The rest is mostly meant to either be icing on the cake, or to protect your fatties.
Demonic Rising
not only gives Xathrid something to sacrifice, but it can be used to help protect you after you attack, save you from sacrifice effects, and if all else fails, ensures you have a beater if something goes wrong. Reassembling Skeleton plays a similar role, though it's more useful early on, before your deck takes off. Both cards play VERY nicely with Dictate of Erebos.
Finally, let's talk about the generic effects-
Doom Blade
is Doom Blade. You know what it does, how it works, what it's for, all that jazz. There are plenty of alternatives here- I just decided to go with the most iconic one. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx will not do a lot before you get some enchantments out, but afterward, it can fuel pretty much any effect you need going off, and speeds up the process of setting up quite nicely.
Phyrexian Arena
gives you extra draws, which is necessary if you want to get all your pieces assembled, and the same goes for Diabolic Tutor.
Finally, the odd piece out: In Garruk's Wake. Sure, you can use something more... utilitarian, like Damnation, but when you have everything set up, you ARE going to have the mana to cast this. And really, doesn't a boardwipe designed to overwhelm the opponent, but selfishly protect your one creature suit this deck nicely?
