[Primer] Nightmare by Design

Commander / EDH Cyfearix

SCORE: 151 | 120 COMMENTS | 22290 VIEWS | IN 65 FOLDERS


krackhour says... #1

Interesting deck, I bet it's fun to play! I always give credit to unique and different. I like the deck the way it is, but a few cards that come to mind for this deck are Attrition , Geralf's Messenger , maybe even a Black Market. Seems like you already kind of have those bases covered with other cards... +1 from me! Nice deck : )

March 8, 2017 6:21 a.m.

Cyfearix says... #3

krackhour Thank you for the praise! It is a ton of fun to play. I have ran Attrition and well a very good card I figure I have enough sac effects. It may very well end up back in though. I've never seen Messenger and will be looking for a spot for that. Black market I ran for awhile and am debating on putting back in. Thank you for the comment and like!

March 8, 2017 12:10 p.m.

krackhour says... #4

Bulletproofcats , you are most welcome! Good on ya for the originality and creativity of the deck, I see so many people who copy decks or like cards solely because someone else does. The cards I mentioned weren't really suggestions, just cards that popped in my head when I looked at this deck.

March 8, 2017 12:20 p.m.

Cyfearix says... #5

krackhour I'm always open to suggestions! That how you become a better player, I am trying to add a few more instants and possibly a couple Stax options as I don't plan on attacking much if at all. That's the problem though. I got it where I love it and it's so hard to try and make it better without second guessing lol. Again thank you friend! Happy deck building

March 8, 2017 2:40 p.m.

krackhour says... #6

In that case, what do you think of Scuttling Doom Engine , Anvil of Bogardan , Necromancy , Culling the Weak , maybe even a Blood Pet , Hecatomb , Priest of Gix , Laquatus's Champion , Silent Arbiter , always thought Tortured Existence was a cool card, but I'm not sure if it'd make sense in this deck, something to consider at least.

March 9, 2017 1:48 p.m.

krackhour says... #7

Oh yea, these too maybe even: Nekrataal , Abyssal Horror

March 9, 2017 1:57 p.m.

Cyfearix says... #8

krackhour I never knew about Anvil of Bogardan Thats for sure going in. I have tested Doom Engine, Hecatomb and Necromancy and I don't know if its that I didn't like them or if they just felt underwhelming when I drew them. Silent Arbiter is my favorite card in all of Magic! I have been struggling to find a spot for him though! I need to get him in the deck for sure. Nekrataal is actually useful for this, I must have passed over him. All in all good suggestions! I am trying to avoid creatures or cards that hit only 1 opponent. 1v1 would have a few of your suggested card amazing though! I thank you for taking time out to help!

March 9, 2017 4:16 p.m.

krackhour says... #9

Yup, Absolutely! My pleasure

March 9, 2017 5:22 p.m.

CChaos says... #10

Mono black EDH deck? +1

When I rebuild my own deck (Volrath the Fallen) I'll pull some ideas from this deck.

I recommend Sheoldred, Whispering One for this deck.

March 11, 2017 9:47 a.m.

Cyfearix says... #11

CChaosthank you friend! I had ran Sheoldred for awhile and am constantly debating throwing it back in. I'm actually looking at making Volrath also! Happy deckbuilding

March 11, 2017 11:41 a.m.

Very cool. I love using chainer in my Sheoldred, Whispering One deck. I have considered making him the commander but im pretty fond of shelly.

March 22, 2017 12:19 p.m.
March 22, 2017 12:21 p.m.

Cyfearix says... #14

bradtheimpaler13, I have ran Corpse before and found that the recursion from Xiahou for entomb and buried alive suited me better. I would much rather tutor or entomb Xiahou then hit corpse. I do appreciate the suggestion though! I must say I like you Sheoldred deck!

March 22, 2017 9:02 p.m.

Hipparchos says... #15

A well written Primer, good job! :)

April 7, 2017 8:49 a.m.

Vasseer says... #17

Is there a reason why you play Slum Reaper over Fleshbag Marauder, 1 mana seems more valuable than +1/+1?

April 12, 2017 8:25 p.m.

Cyfearix says... #18

Vasseer actually no, and thank you for pointing it out! I'll be changing that now

April 13, 2017 5:37 a.m.

Sgt.Pickles says... #19

Very cool deck... if I could, I would upvote twice because it looks like you put ALOT of effort into this deck and that description. Great work! :)

April 14, 2017 1:31 p.m.

Cyfearix says... #20

Sgt.Pickles thank you so much friend! I have definitely put maybe a little too much effort into the deck! I love it and it's a blast to play! I'm glad I'm getting nice comments like yours, and from people that have played against it. Happy deck building!

April 14, 2017 3:12 p.m.

Sgt.Pickles says... #21

Thanks man :) Well I try to spread good things around... makes for a better place eh? I'm a mono black player so I really relate to this deck lol.

April 14, 2017 5:58 p.m.

Vasseer says... #22

First I'd like to say that this is almost certainly one of the best Chainer decks I've seen (though most chainer decks are not very good). Buut... (also, I did read the description for each card before commenting)

Nether Traitor seems quite bad. In general the card is bad, it's body is totally irrelevant and Reassembling Skeleton is basically always better if you're just sacrificing it. There are a few decks that can justify both but you would need a lot more to make it work.

Dictate of Erebos seems fantastic here, pact is great, dictate is often > pact

Mindcrank wtf, maybe I'm missing something but I absolutely cannot figure out why you would want to play this card, it actually just helps your opponents and I can't see any combo with it. I guess it gives you more stuff to chainer, but I would honestly rather play Chimney Imp than this card (Actually Chittering Rats might not be bad). (If you cast exsanguinate for 20 and still need mindcrank to win, you need to rethink your deck)

Library of Leng again wtf, this card has two effects that have both been printed on lands (Reliquary Tower and Nephalia Academy) and don't even seem like effects this deck wants. Why is this here? (Note that with necro you can just discard your creatures and reanimate them with chainer in response to the exile trigger to keep them so it's not even insane there)

Dark Depths I mean if you're already playing stage and map... Hardcasting Marit Lage is a real thing too.

Despise is usually worse than Duress I can see an argument for it over that, but it over Thoughtseize, Mind Twist, or Hymn to Tourach seems strictly incorrect.

Night's Whisper tends to be a bit better than SiB as it can't be misdirected which in my experience comes up more than the life loss.

Sensei's Divining Top given that you already play fetches and with all this tutoring, top seems very good.

Darkness - A black fog existing does not mean you should be playing it, going down a card to gain a bit of life is not a good trade. Hence why mono green decks don't play fog.

Rune-Scarred Demon I guess I could understand not playing this for the same reason as Sheoldred, but Sheoldred is significantly worse than this card..

If you're playing Contamination you are clearly open to no fun allowed options - Infernal Darkness is basically contamination but for the first 5 turns of it being in play the overall cost is lower than maintaining it with chainer activations.

Skullclamp - You're playing a sacrifice deck, but are not playing the best sacrifice deck card ever printed, just blanked or intentional?

This deck is missing the absurdly broken Chainer card that is Laquatus's Champion. Now this card may seem garbo at a glance but it's true power surfaces when you have an altar in play, he becomes a 1 card + lots of mana combo to kill people. Step 1) Chainer him into play. Step 2) Resolve the life loss trigger. Step 3) Sac him, put the life gain trigger on the stack. Step 4) Respond to the trigger by going back to step 1, repeat until the chosen player is dead. It gets even better when you have Exquisite Blood in play and you actually get to not die while doing it! (This combo may be awful, 100% worth testing though, also chainer make Laquatus's Champion so 10/10 flavor)

April 15, 2017 2:03 a.m.

Cyfearix says... #23

Vasseer Thank you again for reading through my explanations. Now as for you suggestions, everything but Chittering Rats has been in the deck at some point.

Nether Traitor's body is irrelevant as he won't be around to block or attack. Is ran Reassembling Skeleton over him for awhile and since I always have a creature dying Traitor is cheaper to bring back.

Dictate of Erebos was also in the deck along with Butcher of Malakir. Decided I didn't need all that.

Library of Leng is there as a just incase. If I have Necro out and need my cards it allows me to put them into my hand and not exile the rest. and I don't need Chainer to waste mana keeping a creature. Don't want to replace the lands I already have.

Mindcrank over anything else because it doesn't require anything after its cast. I don't need to dump mana into Chainer into it. I have Mindslicer for that.

Dark Depths is a card i have never really liked, plus 30 mana is better used else where.

Despise will be switched out for Thoughtseize I was using it in another deck and slipped my mind on putting it back it.

Night's Whisper will probably find its way in as I want to run both.

Darkness being able to tutor for it and cast in response to being dealt lethal has saved me quite a few times.

Rune-Scarred Demon ran for a long time. decided I had enough tutor effects. I do side board it though.

Infernal Darkness I figured I have the tutors to pull and stick Contamination I don't need a second one.

Skullclamp was omitted because of Necro, I have it side boarded though.

Laquatus's Champion I decided against this as that is really mana intense and its a dead card IMO if I draw it.

All in all you are right that Chainer isn't that best at all. I liked that challenge of it. Also never played the deck 1v1 as I know Ill be murdered. But I don't mean to come off rude! I am always playing this deck and all your suggestions are in the side board. They will be rotated in and possibly permeant as the deck evolves! Thank you again! and happy deck building

April 15, 2017 1:10 p.m.

PookandPie says... #24

No Oblivion Stone or Nevinyrral's Disk in the maindeck seems like a mistake. I love Chainer and have had fun playing him for the last couple years, but the inability for mono black to handle artifacts and enchantments is beyond the pale.

Your only maindeck answers to artifacts or enchantments that win on the spot are Thoughtseize and Praetor's Grasp, which can't even save you from it if someone Enlightened Tutors the card for them to topdeck (or add literally any other tutor if they cast both in the same turn). I don't think relying upon Thoughtseize is viable to stopping Rest in Peace. As for Praetor's Grasp, that requires you to have 1BB before anyone else gets 1W or 1WW, which makes it an iffy way to stop it at best (because if they go first or draw better ramp than you, then...).

O-Stone or Disk is a reliable thing you can tutor into after the fact in order to stop cards from blocking your major path to victory because, like you said, this deck doesn't attack ever. Some of your creature deterrents border on, "Too cute" so I'd recommend dropping Darkness since you have more reliable ways of repeatedly stopping attacks (and Darkness is really only good for the surprise factor- I'm not huge on Holy Days in Commander, especially multiplayer. Actually putting the problems into the bin for you to utilize is better than a Holy Day in black).

April 23, 2017 8:02 p.m.

Cyfearix says... #25

PookandPie I see what your saying! I have been thinking about O Stone actually. Think I should replace Obliterator or Grasp?

April 23, 2017 8:51 p.m.

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