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Earlier this week, Andrew Lubich wrote about a Pestilence deck that, to me, looked simply awful. You see, I have a Pestilence deck that I've been playing in multiplayer for over two years now, so I consider myself somewhat of an authority on the subject. Pestilence is without a doubt one of the best multiplayer enchantments ever, just behind the unchoosable-this-week Pernicious Deed.
However, the main routes that people generally use to counter Pestilence's symmetry aren't that effective. Creatures with protection from black stay around, sure, but how useful is Cemetery Gate? Splashing white weakens your mana base and your ability to even use Pestilence. I think that breaking the symmetry is better done by making your opponents lose more life than you each time you activate Pestilence, or by gaining life to offset what you lose.
There are many different ways to abuse Pestilence - and the first one I discovered was Treacherous Link. I was browsing the singles at my local card shop when this card caught my eye and I immediately saw a combo with it and Pestilence. It turned out to be a decent combo, but only if your opponent had creatures without protection from black. Since then the deck has been through many changes, as I've found better cards and tweaked it to improve its performance. Here's what it looks like now:
| Pestilence Featured by Dave Almansor on 2005-05-15 | ||
Artifacts 3 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Panoptic Mirror 1 Powder Keg Creatures 1 Bane of the Living 1 Crypt Rats Enchantments 1 Necropotence 4 Pestilence 1 Yawgmoth's Agenda |
Instants 4 Dark Ritual 4 Diabolic Edict 4 Terror Legendary Artifacts 1 Mirari Sorceries 2 Corrupt 1 Decree of Pain 1 Demonic Tutor 3 Drain Life 3 Syphon Soul Basic Lands 21 Swamp Lands 3 Cabal Coffers | Stats: Average mana: 1.87 Average creature mana cost: 3.50 Average creature power: 2.50 Average creature toughness: 2.00 Deck Composition: Creatures: 3.33% Sorceries: 16.67% Basic Lands: 35.00% Artifacts: 8.33% Enchantments: 10.00% Legendary Artifacts: 1.67% Instants: 20.00% Lands: 5.00% |
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Most of the cards in the deck should be fairly obvious.: Pestilence, Terror, and Diabolic Edict, and several singletons are there for creature removal. The Disk takes care of anything your other removal can't deal with. Rats are there in case you need more than one damage at a time, and the Bane of the Living kills protection from black creatures nicely. Panoptic Mirror and Mirari make Demonic Tutor and Corrupt even better.
Yawgmoth's Agenda is simply amazing in this deck - played late game it lets you replay most of your library, one card a turn. One card a turn is fine for this deck, since during your turn you can Drain Life or Corrupt your opponents, then use your instant-speed removal on their turn to take care of their creatures.
The deck is a very controlling deck. You should never play the role of beatdown. The first few turns just build up your hand and mana, although if you can Ritual out an early threat Disk, Necropotence, or similar threat then go for it.
One important thing to remember is that when you get a Disk on the board, you can afford to sit back and wait for a while. People will be reluctant to have their board cleared, so use the time to build your hand. Disk will also destroy any of your important permanents, however, so the safest route is to hold them in your hand until you've used the Disk and need another threat. I generally sit back and wait for my opponents to kill each other, since my abundant removal makes them hesitant to attack me. If anyone turns their attention toward you, teach them a lesson and destroy all their creatures. There have been several occasions where the entire table decided to take me out first, and those games were immensely fun. It's a struggle to survive against several decks all trying to kill you, but with the amount of mass removal and life drain in this deck it's certainly doable. If you can survive to the late game you should be in control of the game, hopefully with a Pestilence and one of your other powerful artifacts or enchantments on the board. From there it's not too hard to keep the board clear of threats and ping your opponents into oblivion.
This is my pet deck (and possibly my favorite deck of all time), so I encourage you to give it a try, especially if a lot of the players in your group play creature-focused decks.
This deck does have some problems with non creature-based strategies, which is one of the limits of playing monoblack. However, you do have some useful tools in the Disks and Powder Keg, which clear opposing artifacts and enchantments nicely. Counters can potentially wreck your strategy, but that's why politics is so important in multiplayer. Although my deck is laden with threats, I never do anything to another player unless that player directly attacks me. This makes you seem more like you're protecting yourself, and so people are more content to leave you alone while they fight amongst each other. Overall the deck is very powerful, if somewhat slow to get started.
The next multiplayer enchantment I'd like to talk about is Death Pits of Rath. Almost everyone in my group plays creature decks, and I play mostly anti-creature decks. Several people in my group think my decks are often annoying, but I prefer to play controlling, destroying decks instead of creatures most of the time. That's not to say that I don't use creatures in my decks, but they're generally just there to get rid of opposing creatures. With Death Pits of Rath in play any creature suddenly becomes dangerous - especially those that can deal damage to other creatures without entering combat.
| Death Pits of Rath Featured by Dave Almansor on 2005-05-15 | ||
Creatures 4 Prodigal Sorcerer 4 Rootwater Hunter 4 Zuran Spellcaster Enchantments 4 Death Pits of Rath 4 Propaganda |
Instants 4 Brainstorm 4 Dark Ritual Sorceries 4 Syphon Mind 4 Syphon Soul Basic Lands 11 Island 9 Swamp Lands 4 Underground River | Stats: Average mana: 1.73 Average creature mana cost: 3.00 Average creature power: 1.00 Average creature toughness: 1.00 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 33.33% Lands: 6.67% Creatures: 20.00% Sorceries: 13.33% Instants: 13.33% Enchantments: 13.33% |
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Propaganda is your early defense here. If you can get it out (or a few pingers, in a pinch), that's normally enough to make would-be attackers look for an easier target. If they do decide to attack you, Syphon Soul is there to keep you alive and you can also most likely take out some of their creatures without any risk to your own.
Once you get a Death Pits of Rath out, your little 1/1s turn into killing machines, allowing you to wipe out any opposing creatures quickly. Syphon Mind and Brainstorm are your card drawing, letting you find a Death Pits quickly. If you can get the combo out you're in a good position to win. Once the board is clear you can ping people to death at their end of turn - and with twelve pingers, you can survive a few removal spells.
Another enchantment that I feel is very overlooked in multiplayer is Island Sanctuary. It's a great defensive enchantment that can also serve as a win condition. In fact, it did just that in what a few people have called "my most annoying deck ever." I built it with the intention of basically screwing everyone over and showing how evil a white deck can be.
| Island Sanctuary Featured by Dave Almansor on 2005-05-15 | ||
Artifacts 4 Gilded Lotus 2 Isochron Scepter 2 Panoptic Mirror Enchantments 3 Humility 3 Island Sanctuary 2 Land Tax |
Instants 3 Disenchant 3 Enlightened Tutor 2 Orim's Chant 4 Swords to Plowshares Sorceries 4 Armageddon 4 Wrath of God Basic Lands 24 Plains | Stats: Average mana: 1.68 Average creature mana cost: 0.00 Average creature power: 0.00 Average creature toughness: 0.00 Deck Composition: Instants: 20.00% Sorceries: 13.33% Basic Lands: 40.00% Artifacts: 13.33% Enchantments: 13.33% |
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The ultimate goal of this deck is to put Armageddon on a Panoptic Mirror with the Sanctuary in play and slowly, oh so slowly, deck your opponents. The Lotuses are there so that after you 'Geddon you can still play spells in case you didn't have time to fully set up. Everything else in the deck is there to help you find your combo or survive until you have it. You have no offensive capability at all, so you may seem like an easy target during the early turns, but that's why you have things like Swords and Wrath to protect yourself. It's a pretty straightforward deck to play-do whatever you can to stay alive until you have a lock.
One word of caution to the reader, however: this deck can be a safety hazard for you-the first time I ever played it, I got viciously kicked in the shins by the guy sitting next to me after 'Geddoning during my upkeep for six turns in a row.
Bonus Section
While not the most powerful enchantment, Common Courtesy is a lot of fun if your group doesn't mind using Unglued cards. Since people have to ask you to play their spells, you get a limited amount of control, as well as a single Counterspell if someone decides to do something that would be bad for you. Here's the deck I used it in:
| Common Courtesy Featured by Dave Almansor on 2005-05-15 | ||
Creatures 2 Morphling Enchantments 4 Common Courtesy 2 Future Sight |
Instants 4 Brainstorm 2 Chain of Vapor 4 Counterspell 2 Evacuation 4 Recoil 4 Repulse Sorceries 1 Demonic Tutor 1 Merchant Scroll 4 Probe 2 Wash Out Basic Lands 12 Island 8 Swamp Lands 4 Underground River | Stats: Average mana: 1.80 Average creature mana cost: 5.00 Average creature power: 3.00 Average creature toughness: 3.00 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 33.33% Instants: 33.33% Lands: 6.67% Sorceries: 13.33% Enchantments: 10.00% Creatures: 3.33% |
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As you can see, most of my decks have black in them. I like black more than the other four colors because of the power and versatility it offers. However, I hope I've given you an example or two of how any color, with a little creativity, can make an evil deck.
Dave Almansor
crazyd @ gmail dot com
