Homebrewed

Get back to the Past (Commander)

Chev Eldrid

14 Sep 2020 - 8 min read

For the eager, here’s the decklist! For the rest, here’s the breakdown!

There’s something wonderful about playing mono-color in commander. Nowadays there are so many “must-play” cards being added to the format (looking at you Arcane Signet ) that it can feel the more colors you play, the less room you have to add your commander’s unique package. Think about the infrastructure required to get a rainbow deck going compared to a color combination that’s less mana-taxing. Monocolor doesn’t exactly get rid of all the required cards, every color has them, but playing with less colors means there are fewer cards you feel compelled to play.

Of course there is a downside. Playing with only one color means you really are beholden to the restrictions of that color. Red can’t deal with enchantments, White doesn’t really draw cards, Green has a hard time losing games. Things have to be kept balanced! Joking aside, this week I want to take a look at my FAVORITE monocolor style, ever since I purchased the Sworn to Darkness C14 precon. Mono-black.

Welcome back to Homebrewed, it’s been a while. I have to fit article-writing in between relaxing on the beach and enjoying the California sun so it’s been tough you know? Don’t worry, it’ll be worth the wait, I promise.

As you might have picked up, The Hexdrinkers have been doing weekly game nights as a way to test out new strategies and build ideas in a real setting while also being able to stay close and of course, play Magic. The past couple weeks I’ve strayed from my typical rotation of Hapatra shenanigans, Eldrazi nonsense, and Coin-Flip insanity to a different deck: Toshiro Umezawa .

This incredibly unique commander from Betrayers of Kamigawa (In fact, isn’t he THE Betrayer? I’ll have to check with Eric…) really encourages a unique playstyle for Black. I mean yes it’s wrapped in murdering as many creatures as possible, but you don’t often see Black reanimating anything but creatures. Focusing on instants gets you at LEAST double the murder mayhem. Plus, Black has some real surprise cards that’ll have people scratching their heads as to why they were allowed to exist.

You’ll love this deck if: You’re a spellslinger trying to branch out of Izzet You love having answers to your opponents’ nasty creatures 90% of the time You like having multiple play avenues at any given time (Editor’s note: Don’t we all…?) You want to give green ramp a run for its money

Maybe this deck isn’t quite for you if: You’re looking to take advantage of Black’s creature suite You want the love and affection of anyone else at the table You prefer a more linear playstyle. Well. Ish. Okay so it’s linear in the “kill a creature, re-cast a kill spell, kill another creature, until the mana runs dry” kinda way. But there’s some surprising versatility there! …Although now I say that out loud it sounds kinda murder-y… Permanents are your friends

The best way I have to describe this build is Black Spellslinger. It wouldn’t be wrong to say you’re trying to cast at least one instant per turn once Toshiro hits the board, and squeezing every last trigger out of the recently deceased. Also an advance warning: the first few times you whip this out you WILL misplay. I’m still doing it. There are so many options at any given time that unless you give it your full attention, you’ll be leaving value on the table. And that’s a really good thing!! Honestly, most of my decks run a little on the janky side so having something more interesting is scratching an itch I didn’t know I had! With that - on to the build!

Kill la Kill

Funnily enough the core of this deck is also the part that’s most ripe for experimentation. Black is obviously rife with creature removal so your options for which pieces to run are almost endless. Here I’ve decided to highlight just a couple of my favorites. But hey! “Y’all do y’all”, as Julian would say.

Curtains’ Call is from that Commander 2016 cycle of cards that has Undaunted, aka they cost less for each opponent you have. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any others played outside of Sublime Exhalation but destroying two target creatures for (usually) 3 mana is a steal. This is also your first reminder that any kill spell that pulls double duty results in TWO triggers for Toshiro, so use that as you will. (Fun rules fact: You can target an instant you just cast to destroy a creature with the resulting Toshiro trigger. So something like Malicious Affliction can be cast from your hand to kill one thing, targeted with Toshiro’s ability, and then be cast from the yard to kill two more thanks to Morbid. Food for thought.)

Snuff Out along with Slaughter Pact (and to a lesser extent Deadly Rollick - cause it exiles) can be cast for 0 when you need them and boy oh boy, coming across one copy of these can be annoying enough but two?? That’s a potential of six free pieces of targeted removal per game.

Drag to the Underworld is nothing special, but due to its recent printing it might not show up as high on usage charts. I’m here on its behalf to remind you that with Toshiro out this will just cost double black and be a very cost efficient removal spell

Outside of instants, might I also suggest the following for your death triggers? Turns out Black’s pretty good at wiping things out at sorcery speed too…

Boardwipes are a critical part of any EDH build, and here they pull double duty. One-sided wraths like In Garruk’s Wake will clear the way for your army of darkness and give Toshiro a bounty of triggers, while more symmetrical wipes like Damnation will still allow Toshiro to “see” everything else dying which you can utilize for some more instants. What more could you want! Feed the Swarm is Black’s first foray into targeted enchantment removal which has been one of Black’s weaknesses since the beginning so while it can destroy creatures, it’ll probably be used for the other mode more often than not.

The Other Spells

When you’re not raining hellfire, sometimes you need spells that do OTHER things. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes you’ll want these even more than kill spells.

Succumb to Temptation is one of the only Black draw spells at instant speed outside of Wretched Confluence . Can you believe that?? Either way, I cannot think of a game I haven’t cast this twice and been all the better for it.

Withering Boon and Imp’s Mischief fall flatly in the category of “Wait, Black can do that???” An Essence Scatter for an additional 3 measly life? Of course! I’ve found people will expect the Spanish Inquisition more than the mono black player to have a response to their creature. Imp’s Mischief is the same deal; not necessarily a counter, but at least it’ll redirect someone’s malicious intent… or steal a game-winning spell. Either way, use it!

Death by 1000 Pings

Toshiro gives each creature death fantastic utility - but this is Black! He shouldn’t be the only one out there basking in the misery of others! That’s where the squad comes in. Pick your favorites. I know there will be Blood Artist or Bastion of Remembrance fans out there but for me I’ve gotta go with these guys:

Syr Konrad, the Grim and Massacre Wurm have each won me games with this build. Sometimes from wiping out solid boardstates flinging fast and furious instants or a well-timed In Garruk’s Wake , but in every case, the pings really add up. As for Reaper from the Abyss …well taking down an extra creature per turn is icing on an already scrumptious cake.

But for what we’re really trying to accomplish, those guys are just the beginning. Let me introduce you to our real game-winners.

Literally the dynamic Duo, Revel in Riches has an alternate wincon that is easily achievable in just a couple turns. Even if it gets taken out, odds are you’re up on mana from when you cast it. Black Market is an older flavor, but even more potent in the mana generation department once it really gets a fat stack of counters, something we’re happy to assist and provide. Some games I’ve been able to cast my entire hand without touching my landbase.

Big Mana

This is a pretty typical package, but for those of you that don’t know, Black can pull off some absolutely heinous stuff when it comes to mana generation. Mostly it’s due to two key cards and their variants: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers . We run both along with Expedition Map . Basically, with both are on the field all your lands become swamps and then you can just tap two to activate Cabal Coffers to add mana equal to your entire land count to your mana pool. This is, how you say, broken. And your friends will hate it. I’ve also added Coffers’ little brother Cabal Stronghold and Manascape Refractor for redundancy. Most games, you’ll end up with more mana than you know what to do with, which is perfect for a game-winning Torment of Hailfire .

Oh and if you’re really feeling it, toss in a Thespian’s Stage or a Magus of the Coffers for good measure. You’ll thank me.

Final Shoutouts

While most cards fit nicely into boxes, there are a couple I want to give special attention to for their continued support in this deck’s ability to wreck face.

Primal Amulet is a fun way to trick opponents into thinking you probably can’t cast anything with the one mana you have open and then BAM! Heartless Act . But what’s even better is when you flip it…Yes, you read Primal Wellspring right. In a deck with such a high instant count this gets exponential quickly as it doubles our Toshiro triggers as well. I quickly realized why there’s been a greater push for land destruction in EDH. Sangromancer brought me back from the brinks of Hell in a couple games. Not only does murdering everything kind of paint a target on your back, but to utilize things like Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence you’re going to be losing a fair bit of life. Given a few turns, Sangromancer can turn all that around. Gravebreaker Lamia is not only Entomb on a stick, but also makes our Toshiro triggers that much more efficient and attainable. Oooo boy.

Conclusion

And that’s it! A powerful Black commander that can bring the hurt consistently and provide a greater challenge to pilot than what I usually bring to the table. I highly recommend giving Toshiro a look and drawing a few sample hands. You won’t look back…

For the full list, pop over here!

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