Hi!

Interesting idea. I use your commander with apostles, but I'm looking for something else

This gives you a few more lines of play than apostles. If you're in a more cutthroat environment you'd want to add Contamination , Smokestack , and discard (like Black Cat ). I tend to slow play my threats until I can lock out the board and then look for a finisher. Since they're reprinting Tomb of Yawgmotth, I'm now considering adding Kormus Bell for some backhanded mass land destruction, but that might just be too mean.

Hi there! Fellow Shirei player here (Let 'em Die [Primer: Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]).

Isn't Westvale Abbey  ^Flip just fun in here? I like your idea for Blasting Station. And Genesis Chamber I hadn't considered before but I like it. I'd be worried it would help my opponents out though. How has that worked for you? Does Koskun Falls help you much? I usually don't have a problem with having enough chump blockers...

I might recommend Smothering Abomination or Harvester of Souls instead of Underworld Connections. Also, Falkenrath Noble and maybe Gray Merchant of Asphodel are both other options for the lifedrain strategy. Maybe add Necropede as a way to bring your high-powered guys down to 1 and as a means of removal.

Crypt of Agadeem can help you recover if you lose a bunch of creatures to the grave. Killing Wave and Living Death are good boardwipe options too, but you've got Oblivion Stone which works as well.

If you want more controlly options, Hex Parasite is good for killing Planeswalkers etc.

Hi SmokeyBear, thanks for taking a look at the deck and I appreciate your feedback. I'll address all of those card choices as much as I can:

Hex Parasite is already in the deck, and I couldn't agree more; the card is amazing.

Blasting Station, Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, and Koskun Falls: all new additions and I haven't had much chance to test them. My hope is that a Ghostly Prison effect will be enough of a deterrent to deflect agro to other players. Blasting Station should let me treat my creatures like bullets in a machine gun, doing 1 damage at each end step as they re-enter the battlefield and I sacrifice them again (I was/am also considering Spawning Pit). Abbey is just for fun.

Underworld Connections is not a card I'm in love with, but the reason I choose it is to give me early card draw when I'm trying to build my board. I've found Harvester of Souls is hard to cast early (I replaced him when Haruspex was printed), but I am considering Smothering Abomination.

I treat gravepact effects as sweepers, and I actually don't need or want more mass removal (especially at sorcery speed). Falkenrath Noble and Grey Merchant of Asphodel are both amazing, but they don't recur easily with Shirei and I already have Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat for that effect. Perhaps I should play-test Gary.

Crypt of Agadeem was in the deck when I first built it, and I just found it underwhelming. I may try re-adding it at some point, but I don't like my swamp count dipping too low.

Genesis Chamber is obscene. No one, except maybe the jackass playing Norin, benefits as much from this card as you do. Once you get two or three creatures entering the battlefield every turn the myr just pile up. Then you can use them as fodder, in a swarm attack, or just fire them off with Blasting Station.

Fume Spitter is just better than Necropede in every way. I prefer to increase my utility options rather than adding multiple copies of a marginal effect.

Fair points on all of those. Be careful with Blasting Station: if you sac all of your creatures when they re-enter at the end step, then you have to go a whole turn without them, because they won't come back again till the following end step.

And yeah, the Falkenrath Noble and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are harder to recur, that's why I use Fume Spitter, Necropede, and Plagued Rusalka, as well as alternative means of graveyard recursion. So far I think my balance of high-powered creatures isn't too much.

Having given it some thought I'm sold on both Smothering Abomination and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Going to yank Pentavus and Underworld Connections for them at some point.

Considering Tree of Perdition as a fun ticking time-bomb. As much as I dislike tap effects on my creatures the ability to reduce an opponent to killing range is very powerful.

Tree of Perdition and Gray Merchant of Asphodel have both proven to be fun and powerful additions to the deck, and together they can set up a very quick kill.

Koskun Falls proved to be a weak addition to the deck, so it was replaced with Bitterblossom. Will Aetherworks Marvel be strong enough to take that slot? I feel like it's very similar to Jar of Eyeballs, seeing fewer cards but putting one straight into play.

I think Aetherworks Marvel could be a nice addition. Shirei can definitely get enough energy for it to be used every turn. My only problem is this: it taps. Thus, you can only use it once a turn, instead of on each of your opponents turns. Since Shirei is typically full of small cheap creatures, cheating one out for free isn't as big of a deal as it is in other decks. It's definitely nice though, just maybe not as impactful here as in, say, Meren.

Agree totally SmokeyBear15. Weaponcraft Enthusiast will also be fighting for a spot.

!! I hadn't noticed that one yet! A 0-powered creature that comes in with two tokens for 3 mana? Sweet! I have no idea what I'd take out of my build, but that ain't a bad addition at all! I think that Marsh Flitter still wins, since it has flying and can be a sac outlet for the tokens it makes. But dayum!

Marsh Flitter is better, but I want both. Thinking I'll put Spawning Pit in place of Bitterblossom and Enthusiastically replace Junk Diver. Unless of course they spoil something else amazing...

Dude Spawning Pit is the bee's knees. I approve. Was worried until I saw you still have a Myr Retriever and Scarecrone for some artifact recursion.

So yeah; Master of Marionettes. Given the other two changes I'm planning, I almost certainly want to try this as well.

Still waiting on pre-order delivery to make the official changes. I ordered one other card which I'm going to test as a substitute for Helm of Possession: Panharmonicon doubles all of my token generation, and since the deck is moving that direction I think it deserves a shot.

Talk to me about Genesis Chamber. I've thought about it before. Try to convince me? What did you take out or leave out for it?

There's just no way for anyone else to benefit from this card as much as you. It rarely gets targeted because people like getting a few pieces of free fodder, and it's really easy to get on the board early at 2 mana. You'll be running plenty of sac effects to take advantage of the myr you get, and later it becomes a terrific token swarm producer. I tried Lightning Coils as well, but didn't like being forced to attack aggressively every turn and upkeep triggers are less versatile...

As for things I avoid/removed from my deck: Almost every creature with a tap effect instead of a trigger (and Hell's Caretaker is now on the short list of cards I will replace if something really useful gets printed). Cards with high CMC so I don't see dead cards in my opening hand. Cards that provide a redundant effect which does not include a sacrifice outlet, recursion, ramp, or draw.

...multiple versions of token production and drain effects are also prioritized as my win conditions.

I have my own personal Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker EDH deck, if you would like some ideas for your own deck here is my list http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/05-09-16-shirei-shizos-caretaker-edh/ Please leave your comments on what I should add and take out!

I also have a Shirei deck, and I have tried out so many combinations. And out of all of them I'm still not a huge fan of Yawgmoth's Will since it exiles all cards that get put into the graveyard that turn meaning you can't sacrifice creatures with Shirei.

IF you want some ideas you can check my list out http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/shirei-fully-foiled-edh/

MtgMaster02: that's a good looking deck list, and must have taken quite a bit of effort to collect all the foils.

Regarding Yawgmoth's Will: I find the loss of a single turn of sacrifices worth casting five or six cards out of my graveyard to rebuild my entire board state.

I love my deck, and it has taken a while for all the foils.

Yawgmoth's Will is just something I find wrecks the idea of being able to sacrifice 1/1'selling or value that turn. Most of the time I'm wanting to draw cards or do something sweet on my turn by sacrificing creatures. But Yawgmoth's Will I find ruins it . Especially if someone takes your turn i. e Mindslaver they can sacrifice you're board and have it exiled.

I just don't like the risk.

They can do that with Bojuka Bog too, but we're both running it. I find myself facing board wipes a lot more often than Mindslaver (perhaps that's a meta call). Yawgmoth's Will helps me recover so I can sacrifice all my weenies for profit on my opponent's turns.

Yeah, my meta likes taking my turns. And they don't run Bojuka bog. And they can't exile your stuff with Bojuka Bog because it comes back at end step. So they wouldn't have a chance to use it. Also, you can still sacrifice them on your opponents turn. I just prefer to be able to get that extra value on my turn. Especially with cards like Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Pawn of Ulamog and Sifter of Skulls So I drain them more and I get more Eldrazi Scions.

Personal Preference though.