Gearing Up for Griselbrand

I put together a mono-black deck in preparation for running Griselbrand as my commander. I haven't picked him up yet, but once the prices settle down for Avacyn Restored I will.

There are quite a few new demons in Avacyn Restored that could work well in a mono-black deck along with a few new enchantments. I'm looking forward to playing some sealed or draft to see what comes up.

Back to the new deck. I didn't have enough demons to fill out the creature spots, so I put in some vampires to round it out. After three games, it was obvious that the vampires are very strong. I'm not building a vampire deck, but if you want to put the hurt on someone that's certainly a way to go. This won't come as a surprise to anyone, but Drana is a beating.

At 8 total mana, 4BBBB, casting Griselbrand will take some work. Without a good way to dodge removal, he'll probably get wiped out right away. But, at least I'll get to draw 7 cards most of the time before he goes. Without any blue in the deck, it feels like I am stuck with the cards I draw. I'll need to take a look at a solution for that, too. There's nothing worse than a handful of nothing.

New cards that I'm looking at for the deck:

1) Griselbrand

Legendary demon commander?!

2) Demonic Rising

I often find that I am in the situation of having exactly one creature in play at the end of a turn. This would also open up other possibilities as generating a creature every turn gives me something to sacrifice.

3) Harvester of Souls

There is a good chance that this will result in an in-theme way to end up drawing a lot of cards.

4) Homicidal Seclusion

Again, this turns my one creature in play into a bigger threat. Not the strongest option, but new and interesting.

5) Killing Wave

The alternate artwork for this card is great! Plus, I like that it causes players to make tough choices - in-theme for demons.

6) Unhallowed Pact

Creatures die all the time in commander. This is worth testing out.

7) Cavern of Souls

Not strictly necessary, but would give me protection for casting my demons through counterspells.


Oh, and speaking of vampires, check these cards out:

Exquisite Blood - Good lord. And it's splashable at only one B in the casting cost.

Dark Impostor - This guy is just killing creatures outright - and removing them from the game. I like the flavor of the card, though.


That's it for now. I'll post a decklist soon when I have a chance to make some changes. Thanks Chris for playtesting.