Could you make a potential upgrades section after playing with this deck? It looks so fun to play and just want to see if theres better options after playing it.

can you guys explain the 1st win condition to me? I don't get the part where it says cause your opponent(s) to lose 1 life via extort, Orzhov Guildmage, Exsanguinate, etc.?

Snagdurkle - I'll add upgrades soon!

MasterMan123 - The idea is to lower your life to 1 (or 0 if you have Phyrexian Unlife out), and play a card like Repay in Kind. Whichever option you choose, it will result in your opponent having 2 or 1 life (or 0 if you have Phyrexian Unlife!). At this point all you need to do is make your opponent lose a single life, which is easily accomplished through a variety of cards - Orzhov Guildmage or Exsanguinate being a couple of examples. I hope that clears it up! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

I don't comment much on this site, but for this deck...I have to share.

When I saw how cheap this deck was (money-wise), I knew I had to give it a shot. It's not degenerate like the Mikaeus "I go infinite with everything" deck. It's creative, it's inexpensive, and most importantly...it works.

I was firmly in the "You get what you pay for" camp, so when I bought this deck, I was expecting a neat idea...but not much more than that.

When I broke it out against some friends, I was 100% shocked. The deck, even in its incredibly inexpensive state, is awesome. It fundamentally changed the way I play magic. I stopped caring about getting attacked! So you hit me? Great, I'm getting ready to swap my life with yours! It really drives home the "Your life is just another resource to use in your victory" with me.

Case in point: Played a pod game against Sigarda Good Stuff, Memnarch Control, and Mono-black Ob Nix planeswalker

Once Selenia hits the board, it's pretty certain that she'll not only be safe, but will be on board when the right time comes. Mid-game rolls around, I've got plenty of mana. We're all at 40 life. With a little bit of politics, I learn the control player has no counterspells (he didn't counter a nasty card from the black player with a little bit of encouragement by me).

During my turn, with a Children of Korlis on board and a Tainted Sigil in hand, I put Selenia's effect on the stack 19 times, going down to 2 life. I activate Repay in Kind with no counters, sucking everyone down to 2 life with me. I then throw out Tainted Sigil, activate it and Children of Korlis's effect to go from 2 life...to 154.

One-hundred and fifty four life, while sucking everyone else down to 2! What?! But this wasn't a one-trick pony. This, or something along those lines, happened in every game I played with the deck (four) yesterday. All with a $20 deck.

It's absolutely incredible. It's the most fun I've had in magic because nobody knows it's coming. Nobody knows these cards even exist. OP, if I could give you +100, I would, because you've given EDH players something awesome that doesn't break the bank.

(Oh, and if anyone out there wants to make the deck EVEN MORE awesome, get a Vedalken Orrery! )

Slamtrain - Oh man, I wasn't expecting such feedback! I'm happy that somebody put the deck to the test, even happier that you stomped with it. I've had similar results with shredding multiple optimized decks easily. There was a lot of thought put into this during the conceptual stage, so I guess I'm happy to hear it paid off.

Anyway, thank you for your kind words. I would have never expected someone to say they had fun and would suggest the deck to others, much less actually dedicating the time to building it. It's simply more than I could ever ask for.

You have my gratitude, may you continue to drain the life out of every scrub that lives.

This is the type of deck building creativity I wish I had. Totally want to buy it and try it!

I'm relatively new at Magic, and I was looking for a cheap EDH deck to build so that I could finally play with friends, BEST $20 EVER SPENT. It's so consistent and there so many ways to juggle your life total until you can switch life for the win. Great build, seriously an extremely fun deck to play.

Awesome list! Do you plan on including more upgrade options besides mana acceleration?

Jarrend - I've been extremely busy recently, but I plan on going far more in-depth with the upgrades section once I have a chance to sit down and list out the cards. My apologies for the current state!

Exquisite Blood? For a combo Exquisite Blood + Phyrexian Unlife + Selenia, Dark Angel

Nvm

You probably don't really need to run it or anything, but Martyrs' Tomb is another way to drain yourself, and a very inexpensive one at that.

Awesome deck, dude. Really creative, really sweet.

Hey, I'm a bit of a scrub when it comes to EDH but I want to get into it for my B Day and I was wondering has anyone taken this to game store with at least semi competetive meta. I mean the deck looks really cool but Im not sure if its strong enough. Also I have a grand toal of about $70 to spend so if there are a couple of upgrades needed I should be able to pick em up. Thanks guys +1 from me. PS How should one play around counterspells in this deck?

TravisLazuli - Hey man, let's see if I can address these questions!

How does this deck perform in a competitive meta?

I regularly play this deck with a group that runs generals like Kaalia of the Vast and Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. I've managed to beat many of the decks in this group with consistent results. Will it 100% out-perform an optimized $500+ setup? Most likely not, but it is surprisingly resilient in such an environment. It should do fine in a semi-competitive meta, so long as you understand how the deck functions.

Upgrades?

I really need to take the time to fill that section out, but if you're curious about upgrading (in no particular order):

How do you deal with counterspells?

Unless you plan to use the extremely niche Mana Tithe or Dash Hopes... Recursion, recursion and recursion. Reanimate and Beacon of Unrest type of cards are your friend, hence the inclusion of cards like Phyrexian Reclamation and Obzedat's Aid.

The goal with deck is to simply have as many ways to operate as possible, so no particular counterspell will shut down the entire process. I've been able to bounce back after facing a counterspell-centric deck, but I can't guarantee the same results. Basically, you should be fine unless you're being hated out by your entire group.

Ok Thanks man, great deck now I have to try and decide between this deck and that Mikaeus one. Anyways thanks alot. Great Job and keep up the good work.

First, this is an awesome deck idea. +1 for creativity. Here's a few cards I was looking at:

1 life: Blood Celebrant, Mischievous Poltergeist, Carrion Howler, Ethereal Champion

2 life (Secondary Commanders): Shadowcloak Vampire, Deepwood Ghoul, Soul Channeling, Martyrs' Tomb

3 life: Souldrinker, Unspeakable Symbol

4 life: Marrow Bats

Any life: Plague of Vermin, Minion of the Wastes

Bond of Agony also seems like an auto-include.

Angel of Jubilation will put that stuff to rest.

Persecutor + Erebos shenanigans? Even though it pushes the budget, I would do it just to see the look on their faces...

I wanted to thank you man, for the best deck idea ever. I honestly love this deck so fucking much, you have no idea. I was so happy to find a cheap, and fun commander deck that appeals to my way of playing (fuck everyone else).Basically due to a lack of availability of cards in Australia, this deck ended up costing me about $70, which I was okay with.

My first game (6 people) I became a massive threat way too early and ended up killed because people don't like my shenanigans :(.

My second one on one game, I was playing a guy running Borborygmos Enraged in an eleventy-billion dollar deck who thought he would destroy me (classic neckbeard). Basically, when he started to mana ramp, I played Grand Abolisher, and his face dropped. When I managed to get Wall of Blood, Phyrexian Unlife and Soul Conduit out using Liliana Vess (I altered the deck a little) he almost flipped the table as he stormed off.

Thank-you so much man, this deck fucking rules

I had a couple of suggestions which I ran for a less-budgeted version of the deck for people who were interested.Planeswalkers:Sorin Markov (already owned) : Life drain and gain basic.Liliana Vess (Already Owned) : After playing, two basic tutors - Very Good.

Creatures:Grand Abolisher : Opponents can't do anything during your turn ,

Tutors:Diabolic Tutor, Beseech the Queen

Other Spells:Dash Hopes : Cheap Counter, Beacon of Unrest : Graveyard return, Wrath of God : Cheap Board Wipe, Vedalken Orrery : Basically means you win, Sol Ring : Mana Ramp early on, Damnable Pact : Life loss card draw - Very Helpful,

Lands:Reliquary Tower - Don't throw out all your cards,Glacial Chasm - Protection basically,Godless Shrine, Orzhov Basilica, Caves of Koilos,

I really like what you've done, building a version of this deck for my friend that may get into MTG but doesn't want to buy a $300 deck.

The $0.25 may not allow for it in your build but I feel Bojuka Bog is worth mentioning for graveyard hate against certain playgroups.

I am learning some of the sequencing after having left magic for quite some time. I do apologize if this seems like a ridiculous question but can someone tell me what this means.

"You can activate Selenia's ability in response to itself activating the ability repeatedly before it fully resolves."

I am not quite sure what this means playwise....

Thanks

Hey Fejjie , that ability means that when Selenia, Dark Angel is in play, you can use it's ability to bounce it back to your hand, paying two life. While that card is being bounced to your hand, you can use it's own ability again to act before the original ability.

So basically in magic, when abilities are activated, they go on a stack, and the latest ability or spell activated comes into effect first. So in using Selenia's ability, you can use it over and over to burn your life total 2 at a time, and you can choose how much damage to deal. So say you start on 40 life, and use Selenia's ability 19 times, and bring your life down to 2.

Basically just tell people you're using it's ability to bring your life down to whatever number you choose

Unburial Rites

Interesting. Definetly written well enough to have me try this out.