Moldborn Apostles

Commander / EDH

Roland_Deschaingun

Creature (45)

• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Herald of Anguish
• 1x Kuro, Pitlord
• 1x Lord of the Void
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Overseer of the Damned
• 1x Poison-Tip Archer
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reaper from the Abyss
• 1x Reef Worm
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 26x Shadowborn Apostle
• 1x Silent-Blade Oni
• 1x Skirsdag High Priest
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Instant (3)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Tragic Slip

Land (32)

• 1x Desert of the Mindful
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 5x Forest
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Island
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 1x Strip Mine
• 15x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Wasteland

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bloodbond March
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Liliana's Contract
• 1x Nantuko Shrine
• 1x No Rest for the Wicked
• 1x Path of Discovery

Commander (1)

Artifact (9)

• 1x Blade of Selves
• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Credit Voucher
• 1x Cryptic Gateway
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Thrumming Stone
• 1x Traveler's Amulet

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Discovery / Dispersal
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Secret Salvage

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Sideboard

Artifact (2)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Ashnod's Altar

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Exsanguinate

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Maybeboard

Creature (17)

• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Blood Speaker
• 1x Bramble Sovereign
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Eater of Hope
• 1x Extractor Demon
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hollowborn Barghest
• 1x Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
• 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Progenitor Mimic
• 1x Shadowborn Demon
• 1x Sower of Discord

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Aluren
• 1x Carnival of Souls
• 1x Casting of Bones
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Hall of Gemstone
• 1x Mortuary
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Vampiric Rites
• 1x Vernal Equinox

Land (3)

• 1x Mirrorpool
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Winding Canyons

Artifact (6)

• 1x Azor's Gateway  ^Flip
• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Minion Reflector
• 1x Soul Foundry
• 1x Soul Separator
• 1x Sunset Pyramid

Instant (4)

• 1x Bone Harvest
• 1x Footbottom Feast
• 1x Gravepurge
• 1x Necrotic Wound

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes
• 1x Victimize

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UPDATE: Dismantled for a Savra, Queen of the Golgari base - blue wasn't doing terribly much, and this lets us turn our sacs into selective board wipes, with cards like Deathgreeter actually netting us life.

A deck full of 7-mana tutors on bodies is merely ok, so this deck aims to make the strategy a bit more robust, and to really break things in the mid-to-late game.

Consider the Shadowborn Apostle . The nut draw, played straight, is only bringing a card out on turn 4, having drawn 6 apostles and 3 lands with space for one other card (say, an inconveniently-drawn Demon). And what then? Griselbrand isn't there to help you get more apostles out, and you're still only on 3-4 mana.

Like only rats and Shadowborn Apostle s can, we play on some duplicates synergies.

Bloodbond March + Shadowborn Apostle does away with time to repopulate the board with more apostles, letting one repopulate the board with X+1 apostles for repetitive 2-mana Demon tutoring and sacrifice effects.

Shadowborn Apostle + Thrumming Stone pretty obviously combos to dump as much of our deck's stock of apostles as we please, by and large, and can take off as soon as T6, since the apostles are quite cheap.

Nantuko Shrine + Shadowborn Apostle only makes sense if we're already committing to Bloodbond March and B/G, but it's an incredible source of bodies to sacrifice for other aristocracy/degeneracy.

Ogre Slumlord + Shadowborn Apostle is another Nantuko Shrine on the sac end, with the upside of giving deathtouchers for the extra cost.

Archfiend of Despair + Poison-Tip Archer + Shadowborn Apostle can burn everyone for 12 minimum, and only keeps going from there; other aristocrats staples like Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist make sense here, too.

Mausoleum Secrets + Shadowborn Apostle work together to power out finding non-demon creatures (like the above Ogre Slumlord for bodies, Posion-Tip Archer for drain, Skirsdag High Priest for extra Demons you might use to Cryptic Gateway out the Demons stuck in hand, or Sylvan Safekeeper to hold over your combo piece creatures, if Rune-Scarred Demon and Razaketh, the Foulblooded are indisposed.

Bow of Nylea is great both as a way to give our little guys more teeth and as a way to respond to a Demon we need being answered while we don't have the mana for Muldrotha, the Gravetide to hard return it. Maybeboard cards like Footbottom Feast are there for a similar reason, but have less all-around utility, and aren't permanents we can bring back if they themselves get removed. Mastermind's Acquisition , meanwhile, can be of use to answer an inopportune exiling of a piece we needed, or as a tutor to find some missing element. Credit Voucher can similarly unbrick a hand of Demons we can't play.

The decision to go with Muldrotha, the Gravetide is due to the fact that we don't really need a commander in play to win - Golgari commanders like Izoni, Thousand-Eyed are big mana sinks for a deck that relies on powering out wins from the deck. That said, our combos each risk disruption, and the biggest hurt is if we end up with lots of mana but little to do with it all in the late game; being able to bring back Bloodbond March and all of our apostles, and then sac to tutor another demon, for a low, low 6 mana, is too good to pass up. Plus, it introduces a few other combos:

Doom Whisperer + Muldrotha, the Gravetide makes the Demon even crazier than it is in Standard, its ability now becoming "Pay 2 life: Scry 2 and draw up to 2 cards", in effect.

Muldrotha, the Gravetide + No Rest for the Wicked + Shadowborn Apostle means we can loop out a Demon each turn for 1BBB, even if we cannot find Bloodbond March or Thrumming Stone for some reason.

Speaking of, the former combo becomes Bloodbond March + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Shadowborn Apostle , tutoring an extra Demon every turn for BB even with no apostles in hand.

Other improvements? We may be able to capitalize on Muldrotha and our synergies if we can enable instant-speed casts from our graveyard with cards like Winding Canyons , or double up on our tutored Demons' ETB effects with duplication from cards like Mimic Vat .

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Key combos	Shadowborn Apostle + Thrumming Stone Ogre Slumlord + Shadowborn Apostle Bloodbond March + Shadowborn Apostle Nantuko Shrine + Shadowborn Apostle Archfiend of Despair + Poison-Tip Archer + Shadowborn Apostle Mausoleum Secrets + Shadowborn Apostle Doom Whisperer + Muldrotha, the Gravetide Muldrotha, the Gravetide + No Rest for the Wicked + Shadowborn Apostle Bloodbond March + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Shadowborn Apostle
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 26 - 1 Rares 11 - 2 Uncommons 34 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.04
Tokens	Copy Clone, Demon 5/5 B, Energy Reserve, Fish 3/3 U, Kraken 9/9 U, Rat 1/1 B, Squirrel 1/1 G, Whale 6/6 U, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Mul