Black
Recent Changes:
Out:
Zul Ashir, Lich Lord (Custom Planeswalker)
In:
Vampire Nighthawk (#2!)
Bloodline KeeperSever the Bloodline
Black has been a crowd favorite for a while now. So much so that
gravecrawler rarely gets to utilize his synergy, and more often gets played as a generic 2/1 for 1! My drafters are strange
The quest for a black 2 drops that blows my mind is ongoing, but I think I've settled into a few that don't actively make me sick. While many (5/10) are still custom, their reception has been warm.
The only problem right now is possibly
Volrath's Stronghold, which each time it gets drafted threatens to either hose out an aggro player with repeated
shriekmaws or
baleful strixs (Strixi? Strixies?) while at the same time beating control decks hand over fist. If not for
wasteland, this card would be a hard card to beat in my environment, and I find myself hate drafting cards that interact with it really well, and that's rarely a good sign. Nobody should feel a card like that is unbeatable enough that they don't really consider taking something to help their deck.
Duress got replaced with another
relentless persecution (
Addle but 1cc) which is fast becoming my favorite discard spell. I still don't think
cabal therapy is right for an environment with custom cards, but I see now why you guys have such fun with it. And this card only gets cast once!
My black killspell of choice has had a wording change from it's form above. Originally, just as all the
lightning strikes in red became
volcanic hammers, I swapped all the
doom blade expys to
soul reap (the only available sorcery speed 2cc black killspell. (I know! I was surprised too!), but this proved problematic, as in drafting
doom blade, it's less likely you'll run up against another black drafter as you're naturally cutting black, but
soul reap's nongreen restriction offers no such comfort. As well, the odd hybrid creature proved an equally devastating headache.
Kitchen Finks is one thing, but for a moment there I had double
dryad militant in as well.
Dark Feast has had the extraneous text removed, and is now just sorcery
murder for
, which I feel is much better.
Current Custom Cards:
Bumbling Famaliar
Flying
When Bumbling Familiar enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard.
1/1
A mainstay of my cube essentially since I started, this
entomb on legs reminds people that reanimator might not be the natural inclination with this card. It also plays well with
birthing pod in green, and can randomly grab the odd flashback spell when it isn't giving people free
bloodghasts
Dark Feast
Sorcery
Destroy target creature.
Mentioned above, I'm happy with how this card has been playing. I think it probably gives up too much of black's identity for it to crop up in a real magic set, but when I cube the less dead spells the better.
Note: I run three copies of this card
Lost Shepard
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may return target creature card in your graveyard to your hand
2/1
What with
gravedigger being the draft pick that it is, it's unlikely anything like this will ever be printed unless it goes straight to legacy like
baleful strix did. I had origionally intended for it to act like
snapcaster mage for creatures and have the creature need to be cast that turn, but I didn't want him anywhere further up the curve, and the additional complexity was a bit hard to word. He's been absolutely fine though, and can give control decks reasons to play creatures (He combines really well with
bone shredder )
Ah buffs from laziness. You're my favorite
Note: I run two copies of this card
Mesmeric Shambler
Creature - Zombie Soldier
When ~ enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card.
When ~ leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to its owner’s hand.
2/1
I like
mesmeric fiend as much as the next guy, but the single point of power is a strike against it for a non-evasive creature. I made sure to preserve the old wording of
Mesmeric Fiend instead of the new
Brain Maggot wording, as while the added complexity is somewhat annoying for the newer players, as the interaction is mostly harmless, and actually comes up enough to become accepted, unlike bouncing
oblivion ring which comes up way less, and is usually exiling something the player has a bigger connection to.
Relentless Persecution
Sorcery
Choose a color. Target player reveals their hand and choose a card of that color from it. That player discards that card.
One thing I love about my cube is that I can play cards which were so close to being awesome without much jumping through hoops. Addle costs 1 too much? Add in a custom card!
I definitely respect what FlowerSunRain does by the good old "sharpie erratta", (and encourage others to do so!) but most of these do require more sharpie than would be reasonable.
Plus this way I don't need to go shopping for an
alpha orcish oriflame if I want it
Note: I run two copies of this card
Stubborn Wight
Creature - Zombie
Undying
2/1
Man, if only we didn't have to wait until avacyn restored to get
butcher ghoul, what might have been? I did want a few zombies to exist as relatively easy ways to keep
gravecrawler and co around, and I've been experimenting with a few different ways to accomplish that. Regenerate (for either 1 life or
) were also on the table, as was unearth (in combination with something.
Dregscape Zombie isn't impressing anyone.)
He's been pretty good so far. As well, the control decks don't mind a hard to remove blocker that can trade reasonably well either.
If he proves too strong, I'll probably nerf him by making him create a
diregraf ghoul token when he dies, which provides a window to swing, less power, and vulnerability to bounce. For now he seems fine though.
Underworld Shepard
Creature - Horror
When Underworld Shepard enters the battlefield, each player exiles all creature cards from his or her graveyard, then sacrifices all non horror creatures he or she controls, then puts all cards he or she exiled this way onto the battlefield.
4/3
Essentially
Living Death on legs, this card has been in my draft for a while now, but hasn't seen play yet. I'll admit it's a lot of reading, but I can't really simplify it at all, as
living death is a sadly complex card to template.
Pod can be a hard deck to pull together over here, even with the 4 copies, though that may just be my slightly less experienced drafters.
Juzam Efreet
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life.
3/4
This is the card I show people when they get worried my custom cards are all going to be horribly designed, broken, or both. I'll admit black probably doesn't need it thesedays with
Master of the Feast and
Herald of Tormet really giving the black beatdown creatures a boost, but I keep him in anyways. Splashability and the base 4 toughness are both relavant factors, and I'll happily admit both it and
serendib efreet have gotten their fair share of killing blows on their controllers in their time in my cube.
Man black has a pile of custom cards! Ah well.
Next: Red!
