Black is a color which loves to do one thing above all else: kill things. With Kothophed in play those kill spells are suddenly cantrips, and disruption becomes complete value. The primary win con is to control board state until a massive life loss spell, then go for the kill with a strong flier.
The deck is built to try to capitalize on that with stacks effect (Pox, Smallpox, and of course smokestacks) and plenty of removal. The card draw from Kothophed helps to keep you at greater relative card advantage to your opponents. So, while they slowly run out of resources- you're at worst breaking even, if not getting ahead. This strategy is snugly fit inside a classic mono-black shell of big mana, life loss spells, and good old reanimation.
While the deck can win through direct life loss, this is meant to soften them up so the demons can go in for the kill. Kothophed himself is a 6/6 flier right on curve- I've won many a game just through commander damage. The many large demons are really the finishers, equiping nightmare lash to an already large flier is a frightening thing, especially if you can add in hexproof or shroud with boots or greaves.
The demons have different effects that help net advantage and disrupt. Indulgent Tormentor is a classic to get cards since that 3 life keeps adding up and rarely is anyone in a position to sack. Archfiend of Depravity, and Ob Nilixis, Unshackled put pressure on the opponents and keep with the theme of constricting resources, also netting cards if Kothophed is in play. This is all normal monoblack.
There's a good amount of rocks to get our demons out earlier and fuel life loss spells. Monoblack tends to not use a lot of mana rocks but, since there's a few effects tied to land destruction effects, it's a good idea to have a few.
Since Kothophed's ability comes with a (not optional) life loss clause- it pays to include lots of life gain. Venser's Journal is probably my favorite because you can sit back with it and pretend you're not a threat. It also doesn't draw as much removal as say Whip of Erebos, which is best used offensively. I regularly end games with 60-80 life- the cushion being great to soak up non-commander damage. Hit me with the 7/7, I'm just going to gain 20 life on my turn when I swing with these life linking demons.
Alhamarret's Archive
get's it's own paragraph because it's so bonkers. So two big themes for this deck are card draw and life gain and it gets so out of control when you can refill your hand on a whim and you have so much life you're throwing around chainer activations like confetti.
Ideally, this is a late game deck. Net up as much card advantage as possible while disrupting (and slowing down) your opponents. Once you can produce 10-15 mana a turn, it should just come down to wrapping up loose ends for your win. Kothophed doesn't seem immediately threatening to a lot of people, after all if takes 4 hits to kill someone with mander damage and no one really think about how often that second ability triggers (besides it hurts you too!). So let them think that. With Kothophed in play, you're always going to work out better than an opponent after a pox- unless you've got a massively larger board state (but, you're probably winning then anyway, right?)
I've had this deck described as "suicide black"- I've never really thought of it that way- but the notion is apt I guess. Demons barter in blood and souls, there's certainly a danger inherent when using Kothophed since his effect is mandatory and includes ALL permanents owned by other players (this is why we've got a larger than normal amount of strip mine type effects). For example, I played a six player game with an unfinished version of this deck and cast Mutilate. This resulted in my taking 23 life loss and going down to 7. I had everything I needed then and won in three turns, finishing up at 60 life. To make this work, you cannot be afraid to hurt yourself a little.
Sometimes your demon masters may ask too much- so as an out in case Kothophed's ability would kill you (or if you need it for anything else, sac effects are super useful) Disciple of Griselbrand, Viscera Seer and Ashnod's Altar. It doesn't happen too much but some safety precautions are never bad.
It certainly needs some tweaking but I really enjoy this effective, and super flavorful, deck. It has a win/loss ratio that's really hard to refute- but, almost anything can be improved on. There's a few odd choices in demons, but I feel this is getting too long already. Overall, I'm really proud of it as one of the only decks I've built entirely from scratch.
Update: Some changes have been made. The deck has more reanimation elements now, rather than creatures that can bring themselves back o token producers(nether traitor got cut for example). While the goal is still to be a control deck, there's great potential for aggressive plays
Update: Removed reanimation elements. I've shifted more to the spell based denial I'm fond of. Updated and replaced some creatures. My paper version was changed to Erebos but, I've changed it back after a few months. That evolution made a number of changes I'm trying to reconcile.
