Magic: The Gathering - Commander Deck Overview 10

It's been a couple weeks since the last installment in this series. I have several decks in the works, because this game is an addiction. Building decks always leads to noticing new cards synergies and can result in an endless chain of deck adjustments to redesign them to work better all at once.

First, a look back:
Commander Introduction
Commander Deck Overview 1
Commander Deck Overview 2
Commander Deck Overview 3
Commander Deck Overview 4
Commander Deck Overview 5
Commander Deck Overview 6
Commander Deck Overview 7
Commander Deck Overview 8
Commander Deck Overview 9

This mono-black deck includes 3 possible commanders. All are CMC 6, so there is no casting cost advantage for any of them. Kothophed is a high-risk, high-reward commander option. Card advantage is good, but in some games the life loss could be crippling. Nefarox is a fairly average flying creature, but if any creature attacks alone it gets a boost to its power and toughness, and if that creature is Nefarox himself, the defending opponent sacrifices a creature. Visara is similar to Nefarox, but she gives up the combat boost to take choice away from the opponent and force the sacrifice of a targeted creature. The best commander depends on the number of players and the number of creatures they bring to the table, but generally Kothophed relies too much on life gain effects to keep his draw from killing his controller, and Visara is too much of a hate magnet. Nefarox is thus probably the best General option in the deck.

The rest of the deck includes a lot of demons, monsters, and evil people out to maim and kill. Destroy each opponent's stuff, force opponents to sacrifice creatures, siphon life from opponents, and devour anything that remains. I don't have a lot of experience building mono-black decks, and have only a few decks so far incorporating black for specific effects, so I am still exploring what works best in this deck. Part of the delay over the past couple weeks since the last entry is the shuffling of cards between a few experimental decks as I narrow down what works.

Remember, you can only build good decks after you build some truly terrible decks to learn from experience what works and what doesn't. I haven't figured out yet where this deck lies on that spectrum. Build, play, refine, play, refine, update, play, refine... it's a never-ending cycle. Keep on keeping on, and have fun!