it’s the third entrant in the Shandalar Deck Series. If you have missed them so far, allow me to get you caught up to speed. I have been taking the decks played by the foes in the 1997 Microprose game Magic: The Gathering, with a campaign called Shandalar, and then modifying and updating the lists.
This game initially began using 4th Edition cards and a few powerful restricted cards, but expansions added all of the cards from Beta, Arabian Nights, the promos, and a chunk from Legends and The Dark.
The first thing I do is give you the initial deck, just as a reference. Then I will modify it with cards in the game to better streamline it. Finally, I will update the deck idea for modern times.
The beauty of this project is that you do not need to have played to game to see some of the most old school casual decks out there. Some of the early casual favorites are here, from Howling Mine–Island Sanctuary to Circle of Protection: Green and Force of Nature. You’ll even see some old school combos in today’s decks featuring Lord of the Pit and Tawnos’s Wand.
As such, this article series is more than an update for decks for those who have played this amazing computer game. It is also a walk through the decks of yesteryear and a chance to see some updated versions of those decks from long ago.
Without further ado, let’s get to the meat of the article.
The Warlock
One of the earliest foes you will face is this lowly servant of the Black Archmage. The Warlock features some obviously card combinations but the power of two of the cards included can kill you, even though it is supposed to be a chump deck. Let’s take a look.
Initial Warlock Deck
23 Swamp
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 El-Hajjaj
4 Pit Scorpion
2 Frozen Shade
4 Murk Dwellers
4 Drain Life
4 Dark Ritual
4 Howl from Beyond
3 Terror
4 Tawnos’s Wand
I really like this deck. It is a great early example of consistency in deck building with lots of 4x cards included. Among those are a play set of Dark Ritual and the ultimate Dark Ritual creature of all time, Hypnotic Specter. That can simply end games.
The theme of this deck is simple. It wants to play creatures that have 2 or less power, and then use Tawnos’s Wand to make them unblockable. The deck is looking for creatures that have value when they hit, like Hypnotic Specter, which forces a random discard, or Pit Scorpion which gives a poison counter. El-Hajjaj will give you life. Murk Dwellers will become a 4/2. Frozen Shade can be pumped and Howl from Beyond makes any creature big post-Wand.
Then the deck finishes with 3 Terror and 4 Drain Life. It is a very elegant deck. You know what it wants to do. It is one of the better examples from the game because the concept isn’t overpowering, but the execution is very modern.
I really respect it. It’s not running anything clunky, like Carrion Ants, which we could be easily fixed. There are no Throne of Bones or anything cluttering up the deck. There are even enough lands.
The deck is so good, in fact, that there is no modification that can be made. I mean, you could add Demonic Tutor and Mox Jet, but not at this level of deck. There are not any major cards to add from the expansions. Therefore, there will be no modified Warlock deck, just an updated one.
Updated Warlock Deck
24 Swamp
2 Cabal Coffers
4 Tawnos’s Wand
4 Hypnotic Specter
2 Frozen Shade
4 Throat Slitter
4 Bone Dancer
4 Diseased Vermin
4 Woebearer
4 Cabal Executioner
4 Consume Spirit
The modern day deck is just downright nasty. This deck is making my casual juices water. Cabal Executioner and Throat Slitter can kill opposing creatures. Bone Dancer reanimates a dead opposing creature, Woebearer Raises Dead one of your own. Hypnotic Specter does its discard thing. Finally, Frozen Shade can deal some damage, with Consume Spirit and Cabal Coffers as back up to make and abuse a lot of mana.
There is a ton of card advantage built into this deck. Twenty of your creatures will cause your opponent to lose cards or you to gain them when they hit. That will build up quickly.
I pulled the unfair Dark Ritual, because no one wants to lose to Hypnotic Specter + Dark Ritual in the early game.
Other cards I considered were Diseased Vermin, more specters, and all of the cards from the original deck, especially Murk Dwellers.
This deck really wants to go to Blue, allowing you to add Crafty Pathmage, Ninja of the Deep Hours and Mistblade Shinobi. Ninjutsu loves this deck.
This is very interesting deck, and it is all made possible by the Warlock deck from Shandalar. Enjoy this baby!
The Witch
Another of the early foes you will face also runs a powerful card that can easily ruin you. This makes facing the early Black foes much more dangerous than the other colors.
Initial Witch Deck
23 Swamp
2 Wall of Bone
4 Drudge Skeletons
4 Will-O’-The-Wisp
3 Scavenging Ghoul
2 Greed
4 Unholy Strength
3 Weakness
2 Drain Life
2 Dark Ritual
3 Throne of Bone
4 Nevinyrral’s Disk
3 Clay Statue
3 Diabolic Machine
Like the Warlock, the Witch’s deck is very simple. It wants to play regenerators, and then it wants to drop Nevinyrral’s Disk. Once it does that, it wants to clear the board, regenerate its creatures, and then beat you down.
Unlike the Warlock deck, however, this deck needs some help. Greed sucks in his deck, as does Unholy Strength and Throne of Bone.
This deck needs a focusing on its primary goal. Let’s do that.
-4 Unholy Strength
+4 Walking Dead
Adding these regenerators to the deck makes it much stronger.
This deck needs some serious mana, and mana problems are the bane of its existence. It needs 25 lands at least. Greeds are bad because the AI doesn’t use them well, and they die to the Disk. That ends up being double bad.
-3 Weakness
+1 Scavenging Ghoul
+1 Clay Statue
+1 Swamp
Again, this is an attempt to strengthen the deck. Weakness is good versus opposing regenerators, but you should be able to out flank them post-Disk. The Ghouls are virtual essentials because they can regenerate mana free.
I’d like to remove the Thrones. All of the colors have a low powered deck with the lucky charm for that color, but in this deck, they are particularly poor in form. However, there really isn’t a better option for where to put them, so I am leaving them in.
I would add Khabal Ghoul if I thought the computer would play it right (wait until post-Disk, drop it, make a 4/4, 5/5, or some such.) Instead, I’ll wait and include Khabal Ghoul for a different deck.
Modified Witch Deck
26 Swamp
2 Wall of Bone
4 Drudge Skeletons
4 Will-O’-The-Wisp
4 Scavenging Ghoul
4 Walking Dead
2 Drain Life
2 Dark Ritual
3 Throne of Bone
4 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 Clay Statue
3 Diabolic Machine
Updated Witch Deck
22 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Cabal Coffers
4 Nevinyrral’s Disk
4 Scavenging Ghoul
4 Darkling Stalker
4 Deity of Scars
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
2 Drain Life
4 Screeching Harpy
4 Consume Spirit
2 Mortivore
2 Restless Bones
Okay, I admit up front, I really took this deck into some interesting territory. The basic idea is still here — play regenerators, drop Disk, and pop it. However, I moved the deck into new territory.
Korlash is a great addition. Instead of being one of these crappy 1/1 regenerators, he can give you some lands, give you a nice sized body, and he regenerates. Deity of Scars similarly gives you a big beater along with mana free regeneration.
Screeching Harpy gives you a creature that can fly over defenses for 2 damage, or block opposing flyers as needed .
I kept Scavenging Ghoul because I like the mana free nature of its regeneration.
Darkling Stalker was ideal for this deck. With a pair of Coffers and Korlash, having a Shade is great, and it can save itself with regeneration, a nice plus.
Mortivore adds yet another beater for the later game.
Restless Bones is a bit outside the box. Giving a creature swampwalk may come in handy occasionally, but with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth out, you can get a hit it with Korlash, Deity of Scars or a Mortivore for serious damage. Plus, it regenerates too.
I tossed in 6 Drain Life/Consume Spirit spells as finishers and creature removal. This deck ends up rather interesting, and although still on theme, it has really amped up the theme, much like the Updated Warlock Deck above.
The Vampire Lord
The Vampire Lord is the first of three opponents with a similar theme (the others are Arch Angel and Elementalist). The goal is to drop a five mana creature on turn 2 with Mana Vault (and in this case, turn three with Dark Ritual).
Initial Vampire Lord Deck
22 Swamp
4 Sengir Vampire
4 Sorceress Queen
4 Carrion Ants
4 Vampire Bats
2 Uncle Istvan
4 Animate Dead
4 Weakness
4 Dark Ritual
2 Terror
3 Mana Vault
3 Howling Mine
The goal is to power out a Vampire, and then ride it to victory. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things getting in the way of that.
For example, what is the Howling Mine doing here? This deck does not feature Icy Manipulator or Island Sanctuary. It does not have Mana Flare or a bunch of mana from another source to play all of its cards drawn. I’m not sure why there are Howling Mines in here at all.
It’s very difficult to figure out where to take this deck. I like the Vampires, Mana Vaults, Rituals, Bats, Terrors and Animate Deads. Each of those cards fits the theme of Vampires. How far do we continue the theme?
I am not a fan of Carrion Ants over Frozen Shade. I suspect they are in here to use Mana Vault over. The problem is that the AI almost never untaps the Vault, so it doesn’t get used later. Therefore, the mana in it is not reliably used. If I add Frozen Shades instead, that would not be a mistake.
Here are the cards I question — Sorceress Queen, Carrion Ants, Uncle Istvan, Weakness, Howling Mine.
Maybe they kept Howling Mine because of its flavor (Howling?). Let’s push flavor in this modification.
-4 Carrion Ants
+2 Howl from Beyond
+2 Drain Life
Drain Life like a Vampire, rar!
-4 Sorceress Queen
+4 Will-o’-the-Wisp
One of the forms a vampire can take is that of gas or moonlight, hence the Wisp.
-4 Weakness
+2 Terror
+1 Mana Vault
+1 Drain Life
This is just a chance to shore up the theme.
Modified Vampire Lord Deck
22 Swamp
4 Sengir Vampire
4 Will-o’-the-Wisp
4 Vampire Bats
2 Uncle Istvan
2 Howl from Beyond
3 Drain Life
4 Animate Dead
4 Dark Ritual
4 Terror
4 Mana Vault
3 Howling Mine
Updated Vampire Lord Deck
24 Swamp
4 Sengir Vampire
4 Mana Vault
4 Dark Ritual
4 Drain Life
4 Skeletal Vampire
2 Ascendant Evincar
2 Mirri the Cursed
2 Baron Sengir
2 Soul Collector
4 Ambition’s Cost
2 Vampiric Link
2 Terror
I wanted to have enough vampires to fit the theme. We have 16 creatures of the night here. I pulled the ancillary creatures like Vampire Bats or Sengir Bats and such. I also purposefully did not add the family (Grandmother Sengir, Veldrane of Sengir, Irini Sengir) to the deck. I didn’t want to push the theme too much.
With the Dark Ritual and Mana Vault, you still have the basic theme of dropping a vampire as early as we can. 32 cards in this deck make mana, and that’s a strong commitment to getting them out when you can.
We have creatures from all casting costs. Feel free to Dark Ritual out a Mirri on the second turn. We have various vampires with strong effects, from Baron Sengir to Ascendant Evincar and Soul Collector. I also included the original Sengir Vampire, plus Skeletal Vampire brings some bats to the party and the Ascendant Evincar will pump them up for more damage.
Vampiric Link is a very in-flavor addition to the deck, but it’s not that powerful. If you’d prefer to add something else, I’d totally understand it.
The deck also features Drain Life, Terror and Ambition’s Cost. The lifeloss on the Cost is not bad with the Drain Lifes and Vampiric Links. Terror adds to your removal, and you can use Vampiric Link as “removal” in a pinch. It’ll send a Darksteel Colossus elsewhere for a while, at least.
The Undead Knight
You knew this deck was going to be here. Weenies and Bad Moons play well together. What you may not have expected is the accompanying cards. Some are not good.
Initial Undead Knight Deck
22 Swamp
4 Black Knight
2 Drudge Skeletons
2 Scathe Zombies
2 Frozen Shade
2 Lost Soul
3 El-Hajjaj
2 Nightmare
3 Unholy Strength
4 Bad Moon
2 Fear
2 Spirit Shackle
3 Howl from Beyond
2 Marsh Gas
2 Terror
2 Flying Carpet
1 Obsianus Golem
Obsianus Golem? Marsh Gas? These are not great additions. The basic concept is undead and knights. So, let’s push that theme.
-1 Golem
-2 Flying Carpet
-2 Marsh Gas
+4 Cyclopean Mummy
+1 Lost Soul
The Mummies are great additions because they are both undead and a two powered, two drop. That makes them fit very well in the aggro Bad Moon deck. This would be a great deck for Dark Ritual, but so many other Black decks run them, I need a few that don’t.
I’m not a fan of cards like Scathe Zombies in this deck. For example, I’d rather run the 2/1 swampwalk Lost Soul over the 2/2 ability-less Zombies. However, they fit the theme, so I don’t want to push too much.
The problem is that I cannot simply print the best Mono-Black Aggro decklist available. That would be something like this:
Best Mono-Black Aggro Deck I Can Come Up With for Shandalar
22 Swamp
4 Bad Moon
4 Unholy Strength
4 Dark Ritual
4 Black Knight
4 Cyclopean Mummy
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Erg Raiders
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
2 Stone-Throwing Devils
4 Hasran Ogress
Or perhaps it would be something similar. Anyway, I cannot build that deck. I have to stick with this one. Themed — Undead, Knight, Aggro. No Erg Raiders, no Devils, and no Ogresses.
-2 Fear
+2 Hypnotic Specter
If Shades count as undead, then Specters should too.
-3 El-Hajjaj
+2 Walking Dead
+1 Unholy Strength
El-Hajjaj doesn’t meet the theme. It might be good in a deck with Bad Moon and Unholy Strength and Howl from Beyond, but it is not on theme.
Modified Undead Knight Deck
22 Swamp
4 Black Knight
4 Cyclopean Mummy
2 Drudge Skeletons
2 Scathe Zombies
2 Frozen Shade
3 Lost Soul
2 Walking Dead
2 Nightmare
4 Unholy Strength
4 Bad Moon
2 Hypnotic Specter
2 Terror
2 Spirit Shackle
3 Howl from Beyond
Updated Undead Knight Deck
22 Swamp
4 Black Knight
4 Cyclopean Mummy
4 Unholy Strength
4 Bad Moon
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Fallen Askari
4 Cadaverous Knight
2 Eastern Paladin
2 Western Paladin
2 Ihsan’s Shade
4 Knight of Stromgald
I wanted more Knights too. Fallen Askari and Cadaverous Knight fit the bill, as do the Paladins, Shade and Stromgald knights. Then add undead with the Mummy, Cad Knight and Specter plus the Shade and Paladins.
If you really wanted to push the theme with just creatures that are both undead and knight at the same time, you could do this:
Undead Knights — Really
24 Swamp
4 Unholy Strength
4 Bad Moon
4 Cadaverous Knight
2 Eastern Paladin
2 Western Paladin
4 Stromgald Crusader
4 Shadow Rider
2 Marauding Knight
4 Headless Horsemen
4 Sanguine Guard
2 Ihsan’s Shade
For this section I’ve had five decks listed, so now I’m moving to the next one.
The Nether Fiend
This deck is supposed to be one of the tougher Black foes you face, but, unfortunately….not so much. The Warlock can drop a Ritual into a Specter and just win. The Witch can Nevinyrral’s Disk and win. The Vampire Lord can drop a 2nd turn Sengir off a Mana Vault and just win. Even the Undead Knight can drop a bunch of cheap creatures, Bad Moon them up, and overpower you.
This makes the Black foes a bit more menacing than the other color’s foes.
However, the Nether Fiend bites off more than it can chew, and the result is a foe that is usually laughably defeated. Let’s take a look at this unfortunate foe.
Initial Nether Fiend Deck
21 Swamp
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Nether Shadow
4 Lord of the Pit
3 Erg Raiders
4 Black Knight
3 Frozen Shade
2 Junun Efreet
3 Xenic Poltergeist
4 Animate Dead
2 Soul Net
4 The Hive
2 Kormus Bell
It’s obvious that the deck wants to run Lord of the Pit and then support it with Nether Shadow, The Hive and Kormus Bell. Then it uses things like Soul Net to gain life and whatnot. What this deck needs is a SERIOUS overhaul, because a lot of these cards…suck.
-2 Kormus Bell. This always winds up getting this deck killed. It loses a bunch of its creature to Pyrotechnics or Nevinyrral’s Disk or Pestilence or Fireball or Wrath of God or Holy Light or Earthquake etc.
+2 Khabal Ghoul — This is the perfect deck for this guy.
-2 Xenic Poltergeist. I assume this is to animate your Bell, Net or Hive to sacrifice to the Lord of the Pit, but it’s really janky.
+2 Necropolis of Azar
Here is what Necropolis of Azar does:
2BB
Enchantment
Whenever a non-Black creature goes to the graveyard, put a Husk counter on Necropolis of Azar.
5, Remove a Husk Counter: Put a Black Spawn token into play with swampwalk and a random power and toughness each between 1-3.
Now, this Astral card allows you to recycle creatures, which is great for the Lord of the Pit. Kill a Hive token or a Mishra’s Factory, and make some tokens for the Lord of the Pit. As opposing creatures die, you might get even more tokens.
-1 Xenic Poltergeist
-2 Junan Efreet. These are awful, and the upkeep hurts the mana base way too much. Too many times I’ve seen the poor AI upkeep this and not help itself.
+2 Tetravus
+1 Terror
The deck needs some removal, and I am starting to give it some. Tetravus is the perfect creature for this deck. Not only will it give you multiple creatures for the Lord of the Pit, but it will also work well with Necropolis of Azar. Now, I don’t know if, in 4th Edition world, you remove the counters off Tetravus and then put them back on again, it will put counters on the Necropolis of Azar or Khabal Ghoul. Sorry, my rules fu is not that strong. Still, I think we can all see the advantage in having Tetravus in this deck. It’s a great Animate Dead target, another flying beater, plus it works with both Necropolis and Lord of the Pit, even if it doesn’t outright combo with the Necropolis and Ghoul.
-3 Frozen Shade. I don’t know why every Black deck has to roll with either Frozen Shades or Carrion Ants. They aren’t that good. Plus, this deck wants to do a lot with its mana already, and this creates a tension with things like Necropolis and The Hive.
+2 Terror
+1 Erg Raiders
I do like the early beats this deck can offer, allowing it to develop and build into a nice powerful deck. Black Knight and Erg Raiders can keep defensive decks on the defense or counter aggro decks, while it slowly builds towards a solid deck.
Modified Nether Fiend Deck
21 Swamp
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Nether Shadow
4 Lord of the Pit
4 Erg Raiders
4 Black Knight
2 Tetravus
3 Terror
2 Necropolis of Azar
4 Animate Dead
2 Soul Net
4 The Hive
2 Khabal Ghoul
Updated Nether Fiend Deck
24 Swamp
4 Nether Shadow
4 Ashen Ghoul
4 Lord of the Pit
4 Rend Flesh
2 Sengir Autocrat
2 Krovikan Horror
2 Phyrexian Vault
2 Tetravus
1 Sol Ring
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Knight of Stromgald
4 Black Knight
4 Dread Return
Unlike some of my other updates, this one is just for making the card selection better, and not for going off in new directions. The name of the creature is Nether Fiend, and he looks like an imp. Therefore, I am not worrying about The Hive or maybe Breeding Pit or any of that. I want to focus on Nether Shadow, and then add its best friend Ashen Ghoul and cousin Krovikan Horror. I stopped there and did not keep moving into the recursion theme with Necrosavant or Nether Traitor and such, but you certainly could if you wanted.
Instead of Animate Dead, I went with Dread Return, which can be used twice, doesn’t drop the power, and cannot be disenchanted. I still included a small number of early drops because I like the idea of early pressure to allow you to set up.
We have just a couple of sacrifice outlets besides Lord of the Pit, because this should be about the Lord, and less about Fun Tricks with Nether Shadow. I just have the Vault for card drawing, the Horror which is both self-recursion and a sacrifice outlet, and Dread Return’s flashback.
I liked Tetravus enough to include it here, but perhaps you would prefer Pentavus or Thopter Squadron or something. The Autocrat also makes a bunch of Serfs fattened and ripe for the slaughter. The Lord will happily feast on some peasants.
Finally, I wrapped up the deck with some Rend Flesh for creature removal, and Sol Ring and Demonic Tutor to give you some power.
Enjoy!
The Necromancer
Each Archmagi has a master henchmen that is supposed to be so nasty that you don’t even win ante when you defeat them. You knew this deck was coming, and you’ve been waiting for it, so here goes.
Initial Necromancer Deck
22 Swamp
4 Scathe Zombies
4 Zombie Master
4 Bog Wraith
2 Wall of Bone
4 Lost Soul
2 Cosmic Horror
2 Unholy Strength
2 Bad Moon
2 Necropolis of Azar
2 Animate Dead
4 Evil Presence
2 Drain Life
2 Raise Dead
2 Dark Ritual
This is supposed to be one nasty mother and it’s very…inconsistent. Why is Cosmic Horror here?
The only other zombie during this time was Drowned, from The Dark. I don’t think we want to splash Blue just to get a second Zombie, especially since that Zombie already has regeneration.
It’s obvious that this deck wants to get a large number of swampwalkers, and then Evil Presence one of your lands, and start swinging. It has maximized Zombie Masters, Bog Wraiths and Lost Soul. It also is rocking Necropolis of Azar for its swampwalking tokens.
I also agree that this deck should be packing Bad Moons. Since Zombie Master does not pump power/toughness, and you are trying to be unblockable, it makes sense to maximize your p/t.
-2 Dark Ritual
+2 Swamp
This seems like a deck that can benefit from more lands.
-2 Cosmic Horror
+2 Bad Moon
We should be increasing the deck’s value, not decreasing it. Cosmic Horror bogs it down. Bad Moon is great for it.
-2 Wall of Bone
+1 Demonic Tutor
+1 Contract from Below
This is supposed to be the second most powerful mono-Black deck that we are rocking. Let’s add a few power cards. Not many, but a few.
-2 Unholy Strength. It fits a bit, sure, but I want to add some real creatures, not walls or Cosmic Horrors.
+2 Sengir Vampire. Vampires are undead, which fits the Necro theme. They are also among the best creatures running, so we should be looking at making the deck a bit better, and they do so.
-2 Raise Dead. They do fit the deck, but I needed to find space for this next card badly
+2 Cyclopean Tomb. This is just the perfect card for this deck.
The result is a tweaked deck that focused more on the mission, adds some mana, and gives you a nice pair of finishers.
Modified Necromancer Deck
24 Swamp
4 Scathe Zombies
4 Zombie Master
4 Bog Wraith
4 Lost Soul
2 Sengir Vampire
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Contract from Below
4 Bad Moon
2 Necropolis of Azar
2 Animate Dead
4 Evil Presence
2 Drain Life
2 Cyclopean Tomb
Updated Necromancer Deck
18 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Barren Moor
4 Bog Wraith
4 Stalker Hag
4 Evil Presence
4 Bad Moon
4 Dirtwater Wraith
2 Cateran Slaver
2 Mystic Compass
4 Expunge
4 Dance of the Dead
2 Syphon Mind
2 Consume Spirit
This deck hones in on the swampwalk theme, instead of the Zombie Master theme. We’ve seen hundreds of zombie decks through the years, so I wanted to focus on this instead. Some great swampwalkers like Stalker Hag and Dirtwater Wraith have been printed down through the years. Bad Moon joins the deck from before.
I also added a pair of Mystic Compasses as needed backup to making swamps, replacing the expensive Cyclopean Tomb, but if you have Tombs, run with them instead. You’ll also note the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth here as well.
I decided to go with Expunge as the creature kill of choice since there is little card drawing and I felt the cycling would help. For the same reason, I added 4 Barren Moor. The only real card drawing is a pair of Syphon Mind, which can be quite powerful in multiplayer. I kept the Animate Dead concept but moved it to Dance of the Dead in order to add power to the creatures. I didn’t think the upkeep would be too much of a problem. Animate Dead would make a Bog Wrath 2/3, but Dance makes it 4/4. I know which I’d prefer if an Evil Presence was on an opposing land.
Consume Spirit adds to the small removal section. Evil Presence is great because it can also be used to nuke a special land. Maze of Ith is now a swamp, as is Kor Haven, Volrath’s Stronghold, Academy Ruins and other lands.
Well, let’s take a look at the Black Archmagi.
Azaar — Lichlord
Remember, this is supposed to be the most powerful deck mono-Black can muster. Here is the evil archmagi in all of his glory and power.
Initial Azaar Deck
22 Swamp
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Sengir Vampire
2 Lord of the Pit
3 Will-o’-the-Wisp
3 Bog Imp
2 Greed
1 Gloom
1 Mind Twist
4 Drain Life
4 Dark Ritual
4 Howl from Beyond
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Black Vise
3 Tetravus
Are you afraid? Of course not, not with cards like Bog Imp, Lord of the Pit, Howl from Beyond and Gloom. These are not some of the most powerful cards in the color. These are hardly going to put the fear of the Lichlord in you. We need to seriously overhaul this deck (which is true for most of the archmagi).
Let’s begin.
-1 Black Vise
+1 Demonic Tutor
Black Vise is a great card, but with Hyppies and Mind Twist, I’m not sure it fits this deck. On the other hand, Demonic Tutor is powerful and useful.
-2 Lord of the Pit
+2 Juzam Djinn
We already have a Lord of the Pit deck, and frankly, it’s not that great of a card to begin with. This should be a powerful deck, not a deck with high power creatures. Juzam Djinn is powerful, and great off a Dark Ritual, Black Lotus, or other acceleration.
-3 Bog Imp
+1 Swamp
+1 Contract from Below
+1 Juzam Djinn
22 Swamps plus Mox, Dark Ritual, Lotus and Sol Ring feels like it needs just one more Swamp to put it where I would want it. Contract from Below has obvious power. I wanted a 3rd Juzam Djinn.
This deck is not great at killing things. We need to change that,
-3 Tetravus
+1 Terror
+2 Nightmare
It’s a good time to add a pair of solid Nightmares. I also wanted another Terror. Without Lord of the Pit in the deck, Nightmare is simply better than Tetravus and the same mana cost.
-4 Howl from Beyond
+2 Oubliette
+2 Demonic Hordes
In the right deck, Howls are fine, but they are card disadvantage and they don’t seem like a great addition here. I wanted to add a couple more creatures, and the Hordes look like a great choice. They have a good size and they can destroy an opponent’s mana base in short work. I wanted a bit more creature kill, and I love Oubliette, giving Black a way to handle any creature you want, instead of just non-artifact, non-Black creatures.
Modified Azaar Deck
23 Swamp
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Sengir Vampire
3 Juzam Djinn
2 Nightmare
3 Will-o’-the-Wisp
1 Contract from Below
2 Greed
2 Terror
1 Mind Twist
4 Drain Life
4 Dark Ritual
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Oubliette
2 Demonic Hordes
Updated Azaar Deck
26 Swamp
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Sengir Vampire
4 Plague Sliver
2 Nightmare
4 Eyeblight’s Ending
1 Mind Twist
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Will-o’-the-Wisp
2 Syphon Mind
2 Jayemdae Tome
2 Consume Spirit
4 Reiver Demon
This deck begins almost identically to the original deck. There are Vampires and Specters and even a card better than Juzam Djinn. Plague Sliver is identical to Juzam Djinn in every way, but if someone is playing slivers, it hoses them. I like the Wisps for defense. I kept the Nightmares as well. I wanted some removal, so I went with the Endings and a pair of copies of Consume Spirit. I decided to retain the Syphon Mind idea from The Necromancer and added Jayemdae Tome to the deck as well. The classics are still good.
The only place I decided to go off the reservation was the addition of a full slate of Reiver Demon. I felt that these were simply too good to pass up. After that, I hewed very closely to the original design, even including Sengir Vampire when other creatures are better today.
At over 5000 words and 19 pages, I feel like I’ve gotten in my time this week. I continue to have a lot of fun with this series. Next week, it may be time for some Alara Reborn articles, or I may do one more of these before I switch over. We’ll see.
Until later…