I assume you're thinking Glenn Hughes rather than Franz Ferdinand? I'd say his Billy Pricket is probably the closest we'll ever see that on him, or at least I hope so. I just can't take someone with a mustache like that seriously. 😂
It's funny, thinking back to the beginning of Psych, when James would make a production out of fake shaving his beard in full sight of the producers because he hated it so much. He certainly seems to have no problem shaving every day now to maintain that pornstache.
Have you liked Voodoo Doctor in that Shaman deck? I've been using that slot for Abusive Sergeants but they haven't impressed me.
I have actually! In about half my games, I don’t use them til late game to heal up minions. I rarely use them on myself, so I find I get more value out of them than early Abusive aggression or late game clear.
I have a challenge for you. I challenge you to make a mono-red commander deck with Zo-Zu the Punisher at the head. Think you can handle it? :D
Challenge Accepted
Zo-Zu is pretty straightforward. Winning with Zo-Zu alone is pretty much impossible and it takes a long time, so the main thing we need are ways to increase our clock.
+Ankh of MIshra+Obsidian Fireheart+Burning Earth+Manabarbs
Another method is to run damage doublers:
+Grafted Exoskeleton: Technically this is a damage quadrupler, since we only need 10 damage from Zo-zu instead of 40 to kill someone+Dictate of the Twin Gods+Furnace of Rath+Gratuitous Violence+Quest for Pure Flame
There are also a couple ways to directly increase our clock:
+Armageddon Clock: It’s slow, but since we’re punishing mana, removing counters will be painful for our opponents+Sulfuric Vortex
We’ll want to encourage (or force) our opponents to play lands if they want to do anything. Land hate/destruction effects help us accomplish this.
+Omen Machine+Static Orb+Storage Matrix+Winter Orb+Magus of the Moon+Blood Moon+Impending Disaster+Boom // Bust+Decree of Annihilation+From the Ashes+Ruination+Wildfire+Storm Cauldron+Tectonic Instability+Price of Glory+War’s Toll
Since we’re hardly running any creatures, we can hate pretty hard on them as well.
+Cursed Totem+Ensnaring Bridge+Meekstone+Torpor Orb: This is the reason I’m not running any ETB land destruction. This effect too powerful to pass up.+Silent Arbiter+Smoke
Artifact mana is useful in this deck since most of our effects are symmetrical. We want to play Zo-Zu on turn 3, so we’re not going to play any that cost 3 mana.
Deck Doctor: tjraiderfan's Shadowborn Apostle list
Check out this deck. I am not on too much of a budget but less is more of course. I like the thrumming stone shadowborn apostle combo. The commander is flexible. I didn’t see one I liked but he isn’t bad. Churning most of the deck should make the two unlimited combo’s set up easy. Let me know.
This deck has some sweet combo potential. Let me introduce you to Shirei.
I’d use him as the commander. He’ll get along nicely with Shadowborn Apostle.
-Abhorrent Overlord
-Demon of Death’s Gate
-Lord of the Void
-Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis: Yes, he controls the board, but he does it very slowly. We can do better.
-Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
-Reaper from the Abyss
The other four demons fit our plan well. Griselbrand would be perfect, but he’s Griselbanned, so Rune-Scarred Demon (RSD) will be our weapon of choice. There are only four actual demons in the deck. The ideal order to grab them is RSD > Harvester of Souls > Pestilence Demon, with Shadowborn Demon there as a panic button if we need something dead.
Now let’s talk combo. Thrumming Stone is a great card for this deck, but the first card I want to grab with RSD is Conjurer’s Closet.
Closet + RSD can tutor us a card every turn. It’s also worth noting that Grey Merchant interacts extremely well with the Closet. Ideally, we’ll have 6 Apostles by turn 5, when we cast Shirei. We can both tutor for and cast the Closet on the next turn if we hit all of our land drops.
We’ll obviously want to keep this going without being disrupted. In a perfect scenario, Shirei and a Shadowborn Apostle can keep Contamination up indefinitely, which should stop most opponents from getting in our way. This should usually be the second card you grab with RSD.
Now we get to the fun part. Conspiracy is the third card to grab with RSD, as it lets us tutor up a package of useful non-demon creatures. Remember our goals? These all help us accomplish one or more of them.
+Blood Artist: Part of the “combo.” Normally, his effect is too small to be worth running, but he represents tons of damage every turn with our Apostles and Shirei.
+Butcher of Malakir: Does an excellent job controlling the board when we’re sacrificing 6+ creatures every turn
+Crypt Ghast: Makes tons of mana, and extorting all of our Apostles is a solid plan.
+Magus of the Coffers: Even more mana
+Nirkana Revenant: EVEN MORE mana, attached to a huge beater
There are a couple random utility cards that I haven’t mentioned yet.
+Phyrexian Altar: With this and Harvester of Souls in play, we can tear through our deck with ease
+Scroll Rack: We never want to draw our Demons. With Scroll Rack, we can put them right back.
+Skullclamp: Turns any expendable Apostles into cards
+Necropotence: Because why would we ever want less than seven cards in hand?
+Exsanguinate: This deck can make a lot of mana. Why not put it to good use?
I took out the unconditional tutors since we have RSD, and the Sanguine Bond combo since it’s pretty slow to set up, but to be honest, you could take out some Apostles to play them if you wanted to. As for Profane Prayers, it only hits one target, so it got the boot as well.
The only nonbasic lands I added were Vesuva (second Cabal Coffers? Yes, please) and Terrain Generator for some ramp.
I should mention, I didn’t do anything fancy to figure out the number of Apostles. I just put in the non-land, non-apostle cards I thought were necessary and filled in the rest.
Here’s the full list: Shadowborn EDH
If you get a chance, let me know how it plays. I loved working on the deck, so I hope it functions in a game as well as it does on paper. Good luck!
Hey guys, my name is Jacob North and I'm a student at NC State. I've been playing since Innistrad, but I didn't get into commander until Avacyn Restored. The first edh deck I built was a Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord deck that has slowly morphed into the Karador deck I play today. I'm a Nuts and Bolts Spike/Timmy. (Read this article if you're not sure what I'm talking about.)
Here are the two decks I'm currently playing irl:
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Krenko, Mob Boss
Some of my favorite Magic stuff:
-Color: Black
-Block: Zendikar
-Non-Commander Format: Cube
-Creature: Stinkweed Imp
-Sorcery: Life from the Loam
-Instant: Cyclonic Rift
-Artifact: Trading Post
-Enchantment: Rancor
-Deck Archetype: Reanimator
-Player: Travis Woo
Also, I'm on the Woogerworks Cockatrice server a lot, so hit me up if you ever want to play. Thanks to web-brand for the opportunity to write about my favorite format!