theindigoeffect and MrNoodlesworth, thanks for your suggestions!!

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is a great anti-creature card that snuck by me. I may try to squeeze it in somehow, but I can’t lose any more mana-generating lands because my mana base is already so tight, and I’m not sure what else to cut for it.

MrNoodlesworth, I think you’re right about Gibbering Descent . It’s tough losing a discard outlet, but this is the best card to cut for Tergrid. I think I’ve only triggered madness once with it, and it usually comes around when I have already achieved a good board state, and by then it is not as helpful as I would like it to be. So I’m going to cut it for Tergrid for now.

I’m not cutting Planar Void because it is a great early game neutralizer. Once Tergrid hits the board the Void isn’t as useful, but by that point the Void has screwed up a lot of my opponent’s plans. Plus if Tergrid is removed I can fall back on Void.

Waste Not is very useful for its low mana cost and I definitely wouldn’t cut it.

Zazen, for the longest longest time I treated planar void as an “instead” effect and never looked twice. With Tergrid and planar void out, I can choose Tergrids trigger first can’t I? Been playing since 93 and still learning to read cards lololol. Also, amazing deck build btw. IMO and with all the tinybones testing I have done since he was spoiled, your build style has been the most consistent by far.

Also never take waste not out. The value is fantastic for a 2 mana enchant. I have wanted to like Gibbering and have tried and tried but it just hasn’t served me well personally with tinybones on a competitive level.

Oh and to touch on the tabernacle question. It is fantastic but yes it is a hard fit on a tight mana base. No big deal if Urborg is out but I have had several times where I had it out and wished it was a swamp. It does it’s job but every time I have played it, especially in Tinybones, it doesn’t last long. I think it’s fine but not necessary.

MrNoodlesworth, I really appreciate your compliments! I have spent a great deal of time refining this deck and I am very pleased with its current form. I think a lot of people get stuck in the 8-Rack trap when choosing Tinybones, which only dilutes and slows down the deck in a competitive setting. Or they choose squishy creatures with abilities that are relatively under-valued.

And you’re absolutely right about Planar Void . As the owner of the triggered effects, I get to choose which to resolve first, the Void or Tegrid. Below I’ve attached a link to a handy explanation that summarizes this issue in a different but relevant context. However, the same cannot be said about Leyline of the Void , which is a replacement effect. So there’s no chance to make a decision to take a card with Tegrid if the Leyline is in play. I’ve also been playing for over 20 years now, and I didn’t know this distinction until another user pointed this out to me last year lol. We are always learning!

And I share your sentiments about the Tabernacle. I’m leaving it as a maybe for now.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-questions/how-does-planar-void-interact-with-death-triggers-that-move-the-card-out-of-the-graveyard/

@Zazan I can’t even be mad. I sure have treated it like leyline and never looked twice. Like you said though, always learning and that’s a good thing. It was 5am my time and I’m texting my judge friend to clarify and tell him the epiphany I just had over planar void lol. Makes me even more excited about Tergrid though to be honest. I even threw Rankle in there with her for fun and turns out it’s great back up. At its worst, people see Rankle and burn removal or counters on him because around here he is hated THAT much.

Anyone reading this and interested in Tinybones. This list is the best as far as a current cedh strategy goes. Just saying and yes my opinion. I have some things changed for my style and play group, city of brass/mana confluence and tainted to go with praetors grasp but this list is so much better than creature based.

Keep testing the tabby and let me k ow what you think in the end. For now it’s a give or take and fine if you want to run it and fine if you don’t. Think it will stay that way.

MrNoodlesworth, the best epiphanies happen at 5 am after staying up all night lol! I had a similar realization when it dawned on me that the build should be almost creature-less.

And you’re right about Rankle, Master of Pranks and City of Brass , etc for Praetor's Grasp . It really depends on your meta, and if spending the mana on the card will be worth it, from a cost-to-benefit analysis.

Thanks again for the compliments and I will definitely keep you updated regarding Tabernacle and any future changes!

So I've been play testing the deck with some friends and I seem to have way more success in a 1v1 then in a 4 player game. In your opinion am I suppose to be targeting one person at a time or splitting up all the discard?

Do you tend to get focused in 4-player games?

Yeah for the most part that's how it seems people don't really like discarding their hands so I was trying to figure out if I am suppose to be a plague or focus down one person hard and I know its situational just trying to figure out what to do.

Hey Nyrmak and theindigoeffect, you bring up really important points about how to distribute discard effects in multiplayer games. The trick is reading the room and knowing which players to antagonize and when. If you attract too much hate, one or more players will gang up on you and it will be difficult to handle them all simultaneously.

Ultimately the goal is to use as little mana as possible to kill each player. To do that you want each player to have 0 cards in hand, so you can do 10 damage to each player with Tinybones for a single activation cost. Unless other players are constantly drawing cards with card effects, organically each player should eventually run out of cards in hand as they play lands and spells.

Once you trigger Tinybones once, each player will suddenly realize you are the biggest threat on the table. So ideally you want to set up the board to lock it down before you pull the trigger. Ideally you’ll want to start the game or tutor for permanents that make each player discard every turn, including Anvil of Bogardan , Bottomless Pit , Necrogen Mists , Chains of Mephistopheles , Oppression , Words of Waste , and Liliana of the Veil (although she is easier to remove). Other non-permanent options for making each opponent discard are Vicious Rumors , Delirium Skeins , and retracing Raven's Crime . All this discarding during each player’s turn will allow you to draw lots of cards with Tinybones. Once each player is down to only a few cards in hand, that’s when you target individual players with the most cards with discard spells to get them down to 0 cards. Once your opponents are forced to top-deck every turn, it will usually be too late for them to escape.

Obviously this is easier said that done, but that’s what makes this deck so fun to pilot!

Zazen said it perfectly. You have to keep yourself safe while reading the room. Poke at your enemies a little each time but not enough to get focused down. Tinybones is a mono black control deck that is extremely strong and can go under the radar at first. The truth is, once people understand what tinybones and this deck is capable of, you will be focused the rest of the night. Discard is not just disruption but it’s your form of protection by removing threats before they even get a chance. It’s hard to play my tinybones deck anywhere where they know me these days. He is really that good for mono black. Still my favorite though lol.

I love the lay out, the thought put into the deck and the execution. As a weird thought and suggestion, I built tinybones for a friend and put many of the same cards in (on a casual kitchen top bases) but came up with using Teferi's Puzzle Box to A. Keep opponents off balance and B. Once they were out of cards, well it was a decent lock out, especially with you drawing from TinyBones. Don't know if it would work as well here, as the build I had was more for pain upon draw. Needless to say, this still looks wicked. Nice job

Hey BlackGtitan, thank you for your compliments and for sharing your experience! I’m glad you enjoy the deck.

While Teferi's Puzzle Box is not an ideal fit for this deck since it throws off my own plans too much, it would be a better fit in a pain-upon-drawing build designed to take advantage of it, as you suggested. Cards like Underworld Dreams would deal lots of damage.

What’s up Zazen. Looking at any strixhaven cards at all? Sedgmore witch may have a spot with chain of smog but I am not seeing much personally. Wandering archaic was on my list at first but not now. Doesn’t make sense when they have empty hands.

Hey MrNoodlesworth, hows it going? I have gone through all the latest spoilers for Strixhaven and Commander 2021 and unfortunately I haven’t found anything worthwhile for this build. The deck seems solid as-is.

Since you last commented I’ve had the chance to play about a dozen games and the deck has done awesomely - I’ve won almost every time. The only time I lose is when I make a piloting error (I chose to discard/remove X instead of Y, etc). My meta is more landfall and creature-heavy lately, so I brought in Tainted AEther to help with that, and it’s very effective when I can stick it. Also Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip has been a beast. If I have a discard outlet in play and Terg isn’t removed immediately, I will generate so many resources that I am pretty much unstoppable after that. Thanks again to you and theindigoeffect for the suggestion.

Yeah tainted aether is great and very meta dependent but good choice for what you need it for. I am going to playtest the Sedgemoor witch a bit. The pest tokens for a little life gain and goes infinite with chain of smog, I figure why not. Just for the hell of it. Other than that you doing good? My goal is to help you keep this primer alive forever lol. It’s the best primer for a reason.

MrNoodlesworth, I’m hanging in there, thanks for asking. Been extra busy lately with work and personal stress, but somehow I find time to squeeze some games in here and there. How about you?

I appreciate your enthusiasm with my primer! Tinybones is my favorite commander and I want others to see his full potential. I think he should be considered top-tier.

Let me know how it goes with Sedgemoor Witch , that’s an interesting infinite combo with Chain of Smog . For anyone who missed it, the goal is to target myself with Chain of Smog, discarding my hand but choosing myself over and over, creating infinite tokens. What did you swap for the Witch?

I took out soul-guide lantern for the witch. I like the little extra the witch gives me since my hand is empty most of the time and those little life gaining pests aren’t bad. Not real pay off with it, just more protection and a good stall piece. Still just a test for now and to early to tell if it’s worth it with or without the combo. New Lili might end up being better.

Hey guys I've been playing the deck a ton in real life, but I am having an issue with an insane amount of planeswalkers in my group that I can't really deal with. What would you guys recommend/substitute out for planeswalker removal I was thinking maybe like Elderspell or immortal sun, but immortal sun seems kinda high cmc for the deck any help would be greatly appreciated!

Murderous Rider and Hero's Downfall are both good options in place of dismember/force of despair

zAzen7977

Why run duress if above you said you added tainted aether to dea with the creature + landfall heavy decks in your meta? Or is this just to bait the counterspell or something? I've never liked duress, but I can potentially see it's use in more competitive pods where it gives you information as well. Thoughts?

MrNoodlesworth, how’s it going? How are you liking Sedgemoor Witch ?

Hey Nyrmak, dealing with lots of Planeswalkers is tricky, my playgroup runs very few. Profet93 is right, Murderous Rider and Hero's Downfall are the best options, and The Elderspell is an option too, but only shines when your Liliana is in play. I would also target the Superfriends player really hard with discard spells, to preempt the casting of Planeswalkers. Once one hits the board, you’ll be racing against the clock to remove it.

I run Duress because first and foremost, I need cheap efficient discard spells to trigger Tinybones, and there are very few options. Duress gives me information to help plan future turns. It discards a non-creature card, so it covers a gap that my anti-creature tech goes not reach ( Tainted AEther , etc). If I could run two Thoughtseize I would, but this is second best next to Inquisition of Kozilek , (which doesn’t help with high mana value cards). It also discards Planeswalkers. If I trigger a counterspell so I can’t discard an important card, that’s an added plus as well! Another option is Divest for a creature-heavy meta.

Sedgmoor is fine and a good help creating the blockers and lifegain when needed but really that’s it. I have been testing the new Lili in that spot and by far more productive. At the end neither are necessary but new Lili is a new easy win on with a card that is already a staple in the deck so her over sedgemoor for sure. Terrible ad naus hit but can work around that.

Hey MrNoodlesworth, I just picked up a Professor Onyx , I’m going to give her a shot. Instead of dropping Soul-Guide Lantern , I was contemplating dropping Painful Quandary because lately I’ve drawn it and been unable to cast it, but it has helped in the past. I’m hesitant to add Onyx (6CMC) without dropping another high CMC card (like you said, it’s a big hit with Ad Naus). The Lantern is a cheap one-sided 2-for-1 graveyard hater/card-drawer and brings down CMC, so I don’t really want to cut it. What are your thoughts about that?

Anyone else have any experience with Onyx?

Hello! This deck is awesome! Have you considered running Illusionist's Bracers , Wound Reflection ?