I have built my own version of the deck, it is more Infernal Tribal than Demon Tribal. Though I do have a few other cards that work well with this deck. 1) Ob Nixilis, the Adversary - Wants a demon or devil on the field to fully use the +1, and whatever he casualties will be replaced by Raphael at the end of turn. 2) Burn Down the House - A board wipe that can also make 2/2 Lifelinkers with Raphael. 3) Dream Devourer - A demon that allows you to get your creatures out 2 turns earlier by foretelling them. 4) Demonlord Belzenlok - The ETB Card Draw has no downside if Raphael is on the field as you just gain the life back immediately. 5) Zurzoth, Chaos Rider - Makes devil tokens if your opponents draw out of turn and then makes it so that your devils draw and discard on attack. 6) Westvale Abbey - Especially if going the token route, A 9/7 Flying, Lifelink, Indestructible, Haste is powerful, especially if you sacrifice them in response to a damage based boardwipe. 7) Cadaver Imp - Being an Imp still means that Raphael boosts it and this is a cheaper Graveshifter. 8) Black Market Connections - Ramp, Card Draw, or Shapeshifter for some life. You should have plenty of life to pay for all 3.
I can't believe I forgot about Westvale Abbey, what a classic that should have totally been in here lol. I really like Dram Devourer and Black Market Connections. They both play into the tribe and The contract alt win condition. You're right BMC would be a welcome include as we'd likely negate all the life lost with it. Thanks for watching and all the suggestions!
Your content, flow and organization is really good and hope you keep it coming. Your channel is one that I just recently found and feel the way you dig into flexing up and down with budget/power level really suits someone like me and probably a lot of others. It's clear with the effort you put in that you're very intentional in how you go about suggesting different styles of win conditions, play patterns, etc. I've got a playgroup that has many different skill levels and it often rotates frequently based on who can or cannot show for the week, so I tend to adjust my decks up or down to meet the table where it's at. Your videos are not only fantastic at giving insight into that space, but they are a nice balance of both meta and off-meta commander decks. Makes it easy for me to pivot creatively as well, using the line of thought and direction you put together. So a genuine kudos and thumbs up from me. I've liked, subbed and am looking forward to seeing more. Not necessarily suggestions of commanders to review but ones I like to play and figured I'd share: - Higher Power/cEDH: Korvold, Kamahl/Tymna, Magda - 6-8 Power: Isshin, Zurgo, Ur-Dragon/Tiamat - Precon/Battlecruiser: Gishath, Captain N'gathrod (upgraded), Xanathar, Henzie "Toolbox" (upgraded), Perrie the Pulverizer (upgraded) - Active Projects: Elminster, Raphael Cheers!
Hey thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you've enjoyed the content and found it helpful. I plan to keep the videos coming weekly as long as I can. Right now Life's Origin and Wilson & Flaming Fist are on deck to release in the coming weeks. I'm currently testing out Isshin. I figured double attack triggers were pretty powerful, but I'm actually really impressed with how much he snowballs if he goes unanswered. I'd like to try Korvold at some point, but I think I'd be focused out of the table xD he has a bit of a reputation now. I have tried Elminster as another viewer had suggested it previously. It seems like people built him as an extra turns deck, but I went just as a flying tribal / control deck. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a bit of a solitaire commander. If this is good or bad depends on your pod, but most players I've played with don't like sitting around watching you play. Sort of the same reason I stopped playing Veyran and Evelyn. He's cool but that's a caveat to consider. Thanks again for watching! Cheers!
@@MadHatterYT thanks for the quick reply! Couple quick thoughts for you before I finish break :) Korvold, I agree he 100% has a rep, but if you're playing it at the right table I feel everyone else should be just as threatening, and the "oh no Korvold!" vibe should level off, at least it does for me. Elminster, I appreciate the caveat you mentioned as I want to avoid solitaire and hadn't considered that before. Wondering if a polymorph angle could work to make it a bit more splashy and fun, but if it pans out as another solitaire direction like you mentioned I'll probably drop him. Isshin is pretty nuts. I'll be interested to see where you take him because I feel he has a ton of variety in both power level and style of play.
@@michaelhoward6790 Tbh the solitaire vibe could have been a bit of my unfamiliarity with the playstyle of azorius control / flyers. I was stumbling a bit as a played learning what to hold on to. I've played two games with him so far. G1 I got dovescape out early which shut down two decks (tho I think one of them would have been fine imo he just didn't want to play into tokens). G2 was like scry, scry, top reorder, stumble into making a ton of tokens, repeat. Feedback from my opponents both games was all the scrying kind of dragged the games on, but otherwise they appreciated it wasn't extra turns and weren't too salty. I'm not familiar with polymorph deck playstyles, but really it was the constant scrying that dragged things on for the most part. You could probably avoid this pretty easily, but it might be a disservice to the deck since his passive wants you to scry so much. Really hard to say without testing it out more.
I noticed you didn't include black market connections, I feel like that is insane in this deck, you get a demon every turn, mana advantage and some card draw and your lfielink will offset the life loss pretty easily.
Planeswalker like Tibalt, Rakish Instigator, Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, legendaries as Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, or creatures like Scavenger Drake and cards with conditions cost (sacrifice a creature).
I think this is a heartless summoning deck. You'll get full or almost full benefit on pretty much every creature and the drawback is more or less cancelled by the commander itself.
Nonbo with some of the other ramp pieces in the current list. I guess if people want to run it they should probably avoid the myr and use some more non-creature rocks
@@TeaRanosaur I like the myrs and other mana dorks to keep the creature count up. If anything then they can be used as blockers. No issues with replacing them with rocks tho, just preference. I think that's a side-effect of demon tribal. They're all pretty powerful creatures just like dragon or angel tribal.
But why isn't pestilence demon not even mentioned, i mean with Raphael it is a lifegain engine which negates most ways the deck loses life for one black mana
That's a solid suggestion! It would be an amazing card in this list. I've never seen that card before or it probably would have made it in the video lol. Even at 8cmc I'd say its worth it.
![[MTG Arena - Historic Brawl] Raphael, Fiendish Savior](/img/1.gif)
Hey I built this a few weeks ago, and you gave me some great cards to consider I'd never even seen before. Thank you! +1 fan
Glad the video was helpful! Thanks for watching!
I have built my own version of the deck, it is more Infernal Tribal than Demon Tribal. Though I do have a few other cards that work well with this deck.
1) Ob Nixilis, the Adversary - Wants a demon or devil on the field to fully use the +1, and whatever he casualties will be replaced by Raphael at the end of turn.
2) Burn Down the House - A board wipe that can also make 2/2 Lifelinkers with Raphael.
3) Dream Devourer - A demon that allows you to get your creatures out 2 turns earlier by foretelling them.
4) Demonlord Belzenlok - The ETB Card Draw has no downside if Raphael is on the field as you just gain the life back immediately.
5) Zurzoth, Chaos Rider - Makes devil tokens if your opponents draw out of turn and then makes it so that your devils draw and discard on attack.
6) Westvale Abbey - Especially if going the token route, A 9/7 Flying, Lifelink, Indestructible, Haste is powerful, especially if you sacrifice them in response to a damage based boardwipe.
7) Cadaver Imp - Being an Imp still means that Raphael boosts it and this is a cheaper Graveshifter.
8) Black Market Connections - Ramp, Card Draw, or Shapeshifter for some life. You should have plenty of life to pay for all 3.
I can't believe I forgot about Westvale Abbey, what a classic that should have totally been in here lol. I really like Dram Devourer and Black Market Connections. They both play into the tribe and The contract alt win condition. You're right BMC would be a welcome include as we'd likely negate all the life lost with it.
Thanks for watching and all the suggestions!
Thank you for making this vidya. You went a different way than I'm trying to go, but I'm still paying keen attention. 👀
Your content, flow and organization is really good and hope you keep it coming. Your channel is one that I just recently found and feel the way you dig into flexing up and down with budget/power level really suits someone like me and probably a lot of others. It's clear with the effort you put in that you're very intentional in how you go about suggesting different styles of win conditions, play patterns, etc.
I've got a playgroup that has many different skill levels and it often rotates frequently based on who can or cannot show for the week, so I tend to adjust my decks up or down to meet the table where it's at. Your videos are not only fantastic at giving insight into that space, but they are a nice balance of both meta and off-meta commander decks. Makes it easy for me to pivot creatively as well, using the line of thought and direction you put together.
So a genuine kudos and thumbs up from me. I've liked, subbed and am looking forward to seeing more.
Not necessarily suggestions of commanders to review but ones I like to play and figured I'd share:
- Higher Power/cEDH: Korvold, Kamahl/Tymna, Magda
- 6-8 Power: Isshin, Zurgo, Ur-Dragon/Tiamat
- Precon/Battlecruiser: Gishath, Captain N'gathrod (upgraded), Xanathar, Henzie "Toolbox" (upgraded), Perrie the Pulverizer (upgraded)
- Active Projects: Elminster, Raphael
Cheers!
Hey thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you've enjoyed the content and found it helpful. I plan to keep the videos coming weekly as long as I can. Right now Life's Origin and Wilson & Flaming Fist are on deck to release in the coming weeks.
I'm currently testing out Isshin. I figured double attack triggers were pretty powerful, but I'm actually really impressed with how much he snowballs if he goes unanswered. I'd like to try Korvold at some point, but I think I'd be focused out of the table xD he has a bit of a reputation now. I have tried Elminster as another viewer had suggested it previously. It seems like people built him as an extra turns deck, but I went just as a flying tribal / control deck. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a bit of a solitaire commander. If this is good or bad depends on your pod, but most players I've played with don't like sitting around watching you play. Sort of the same reason I stopped playing Veyran and Evelyn. He's cool but that's a caveat to consider.
Thanks again for watching! Cheers!
@@MadHatterYT thanks for the quick reply! Couple quick thoughts for you before I finish break :)
Korvold, I agree he 100% has a rep, but if you're playing it at the right table I feel everyone else should be just as threatening, and the "oh no Korvold!" vibe should level off, at least it does for me. Elminster, I appreciate the caveat you mentioned as I want to avoid solitaire and hadn't considered that before. Wondering if a polymorph angle could work to make it a bit more splashy and fun, but if it pans out as another solitaire direction like you mentioned I'll probably drop him. Isshin is pretty nuts. I'll be interested to see where you take him because I feel he has a ton of variety in both power level and style of play.
@@michaelhoward6790 Tbh the solitaire vibe could have been a bit of my unfamiliarity with the playstyle of azorius control / flyers. I was stumbling a bit as a played learning what to hold on to. I've played two games with him so far. G1 I got dovescape out early which shut down two decks (tho I think one of them would have been fine imo he just didn't want to play into tokens). G2 was like scry, scry, top reorder, stumble into making a ton of tokens, repeat. Feedback from my opponents both games was all the scrying kind of dragged the games on, but otherwise they appreciated it wasn't extra turns and weren't too salty. I'm not familiar with polymorph deck playstyles, but really it was the constant scrying that dragged things on for the most part. You could probably avoid this pretty easily, but it might be a disservice to the deck since his passive wants you to scry so much. Really hard to say without testing it out more.
I noticed you didn't include black market connections, I feel like that is insane in this deck, you get a demon every turn, mana advantage and some card draw and your lfielink will offset the life loss pretty easily.
I totally agree its a great card in this list! Thanks for the suggestion!
What cards do you think also synergize with Raphael? Do you have any suggestions for commanders to build around in the future? Let me know!
Planeswalker like Tibalt, Rakish Instigator, Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, legendaries as Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, or creatures like Scavenger Drake and cards with conditions cost (sacrifice a creature).
I think this is a heartless summoning deck. You'll get full or almost full benefit on pretty much every creature and the drawback is more or less cancelled by the commander itself.
Nonbo with some of the other ramp pieces in the current list. I guess if people want to run it they should probably avoid the myr and use some more non-creature rocks
@@TeaRanosaur I like the myrs and other mana dorks to keep the creature count up. If anything then they can be used as blockers. No issues with replacing them with rocks tho, just preference.
I think that's a side-effect of demon tribal. They're all pretty powerful creatures just like dragon or angel tribal.
No herald of Slaanesh?
But why isn't pestilence demon not even mentioned, i mean with Raphael it is a lifegain engine which negates most ways the deck loses life for one black mana
That's a solid suggestion! It would be an amazing card in this list. I've never seen that card before or it probably would have made it in the video lol. Even at 8cmc I'd say its worth it.
Demon of dark schemes can be an extremely powerful reanimator and it fits the tribe.
Great suggestion thank you!
lyzolda the blood witch is great for card draw and a sac outlet, but isnt a demon if youre going for tribal.
Master of cruelties actually isn't a one shot as it won't assign any combat damage
Good catch! Thanks for pointing that out, I missed the last line.