My prized Phage EDH deck. My main wincon is getting Phage out, but my backup plan is casting a huge X spell like
Torment of Hailfire
through making a ton of mana or from infinite mana by
Magus of the Coffers
and
Umbral Mantle
. This combo can also make magus as big as you want and can take someone out aided by the unblockable effects in the deck.
Another way you can get a kill or two is playing
Endless Whispers
and having Phage die. An opponent of your choice will have Phage ETB under their control and subsequently die. A couple caveats to this way of killing an opponent is that:
1) Once the opponent dies, Phage will be exiled so you have to cast her again. Usually not a problem considering the amount of mana you can produce, but it can set you back a couple turns trying to get her on the field again.
2) This will not work if you have a
Torpor Orb
in play, which is unfortunate considering it is the best/easiest way of getting her on the field. This is the biggest setback, but the look on peoples' faces when they finally realize what Endless Whispers actually does when it's too late is priceless.
The main ways of getting Phage on the field without dying are:
Torpor Orb
. This is the best way to get her on the field because you don't need to jump through any hoops, and it is very effective on its own.
Sundial of the Infinite
. In response to her etb trigger, end the turn and it will exile the stack. This way isn't preferred because you don't have an opportunity to protect her at sorcery speed with things like lightning greaves or swiftfoot boots.
Platinum Angel
is pretty obvious, and getting to 7 mana is not difficult for this deck.
Command Beacon
is another obvious inclusion.
Apart from these cards, the backup plan for getting her on the field is by getting her in the graveyard from the stack, then returning her to hand by
Disentomb
,
Raise Dead
,
Phyrexian Reclamation
,
Memorial to Folly
, and
Mortuary Mire
. You can counter Phage yourself with either
Withering Boon
or
Thrull Wizard
. This also makes it so if your opponents kill/counter Phage, you can send her to the graveyard and easily recur her to your hand.
Once Phage is on the field, it's as easy as protecting her and making her as unblockable as possible. Unfortunately, my options for that in mono-black is limiting. The best card I have for the job is
Whispersilk Cloak
, followed by
Trailblazer's Boots
,
Rogue's Passage
, and
Key to the City
. I have some cards that grant fear, such as
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
,
Fear
, and
Cursed Flesh
. The other option of making her unblockable is to simply kill the opponent's creatures, so 2-for-1s like
Ashes to Ashes
and
Curtains' Call
Work nicely. A nice costed
Black Sun's Zenith
can also potentially clear the way for phage while keeping her alive, and
In Garruk's Wake
accomplishes the same thing. There has also been times where I was able to wipe the entire board and then cast Phage and give her haste all in the same turn due to the amount of mana I can produce.
My mana acceleration package is pretty standard.
Extraplanar Lens
,
Crypt Ghast
,
Caged Sun
, and
Nirkana Revenant
all give me an additional mana when I tap a (snow-covered) swamp. This paired with
Magus of the Coffers
,
Cabal Coffers
,
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
, and
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
can net me all the mana I need. A
Liliana of the Dark Realms
ultimate can also just make things insane.
The rest of the deck is just ramp, tutors, and goodstuff. This deck is still fairly new so I haven't gotten sufficient time to test everything and see how the cards perform. One thing that tends to happen is I end up with a lot of mana, but nothing to do with it aside from killing myself with
Erebos, God of the Dead
's draw ability. I am considering adding in a
Staff of Domination
or any other mana sink, preferably a repeatable draw engine.
This deck has been a TON of fun so far, and can be pretty explosive. It's always funny seeing how people react to reading Phage, especially if they've never seen the card before. The deck isn't super competitive but can win its fair share of games, and it plays unlike any deck I've played before. Definitely my favorite commander at the moment.