#jstache

+Ankh of MIshra+Obsidian Fireheart+Burning Earth+Manabarbs

Another method is to run damage doublers:

+Grafted Exoskeleton: Technically this is a damage quadrupler, since we only need 10 damage from Zo-zu instead of 40 to kill someone+Dictate of the Twin Gods+Furnace of Rath+Gratuitous Violence+Quest for Pure Flame

There are also a couple ways to directly increase our clock:

+Armageddon Clock: It’s slow, but since we’re punishing mana, removing counters will be painful for our opponents+Sulfuric Vortex

We’ll want to encourage (or force) our opponents to play lands if they want to do anything. Land hate/destruction effects help us accomplish this.

+Omen Machine+Static Orb+Storage Matrix+Winter Orb+Magus of the Moon+Blood Moon+Impending Disaster+Boom // Bust+Decree of Annihilation+From the Ashes+Ruination+Wildfire+Storm Cauldron+Tectonic Instability+Price of Glory+War’s Toll

Since we’re hardly running any creatures, we can hate pretty hard on them as well.

+Cursed Totem+Ensnaring Bridge+Meekstone+Torpor Orb: This is the reason I’m not running any ETB land destruction. This effect too powerful to pass up.+Silent Arbiter+Smoke

Artifact mana is useful in this deck since most of our effects are symmetrical. We want to play Zo-Zu on turn 3, so we’re not going to play any that cost 3 mana.

+Fire Diamond+Gilded Lotus+Journeyer’s Kite+Sisay’s Ring+Sol Ring+Star Compass+Thran Dynamo+Ur-Golem’s Eye

I added in a few goodstuff cards to round out the deck.

+Basilisk Collar: The lifelink makes Zo-Zu’s effect asymmetrical+Mind’s Eye+Nevinyrral’s Disk+Oblivion Stone+Perilous Vault+Scroll Rack+Sculpting Steel+Sensei’s Divining Top+Godo, Bandit Warlord+Mad Prophet+Rummaging Goblin+Viashino Heretic+Possibility Storm+Stranglehold+Chaos Warp+Insurrection+Reforge the Soul+Shattering Spree+Vandalblast+Wheel of Fortune+Strip Mine+Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle+Wasteland

I didn’t go too in depth for a lot of my card choices, so if you have any questions let me know.

-Abhorrent Overlord -Demon of Death’s Gate -Lord of the Void -Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis: Yes, he controls the board, but he does it very slowly. We can do better. -Ob Nixilis, the Fallen -Reaper from the Abyss

The other four demons fit our plan well. Griselbrand would be perfect, but he’s Griselbanned, so Rune-Scarred Demon (RSD) will be our weapon of choice. There are only four actual demons in the deck. The ideal order to grab them is RSD > Harvester of Souls > Pestilence Demon, with Shadowborn Demon there as a panic button if we need something dead.

Now let’s talk combo. Thrumming Stone is a great card for this deck, but the first card I want to grab with RSD is Conjurer’s Closet.

Closet + RSD can tutor us a card every turn. It’s also worth noting that Grey Merchant interacts extremely well with the Closet. Ideally, we’ll have 6 Apostles by turn 5, when we cast Shirei. We can both tutor for and cast the Closet on the next turn if we hit all of our land drops.

We’ll obviously want to keep this going without being disrupted. In a perfect scenario, Shirei and a Shadowborn Apostle can keep Contamination up indefinitely, which should stop most opponents from getting in our way. This should usually be the second card you grab with RSD.

Now we get to the fun part. Conspiracy is the third card to grab with RSD, as it lets us tutor up a package of useful non-demon creatures. Remember our goals? These all help us accomplish one or more of them.

+Blood Artist: Part of the “combo.” Normally, his effect is too small to be worth running, but he represents tons of damage every turn with our Apostles and Shirei. +Butcher of Malakir: Does an excellent job controlling the board when we’re sacrificing 6+ creatures every turn +Crypt Ghast: Makes tons of mana, and extorting all of our Apostles is a solid plan. +Magus of the Coffers: Even more mana +Nirkana Revenant: EVEN MORE mana, attached to a huge beater

There are a couple random utility cards that I haven’t mentioned yet.

+Phyrexian Altar: With this and Harvester of Souls in play, we can tear through our deck with ease +Scroll Rack: We never want to draw our Demons. With Scroll Rack, we can put them right back. +Skullclamp: Turns any expendable Apostles into cards +Necropotence: Because why would we ever want less than seven cards in hand? +Exsanguinate: This deck can make a lot of mana. Why not put it to good use?

I took out the unconditional tutors since we have RSD, and the Sanguine Bond combo since it’s pretty slow to set up, but to be honest, you could take out some Apostles to play them if you wanted to. As for Profane Prayers, it only hits one target, so it got the boot as well.

The only nonbasic lands I added were Vesuva (second Cabal Coffers? Yes, please) and Terrain Generator for some ramp.

I should mention, I didn’t do anything fancy to figure out the number of Apostles. I just put in the non-land, non-apostle cards I thought were necessary and filled in the rest.

Here’s the full list: Shadowborn EDH

If you get a chance, let me know how it plays. I loved working on the deck, so I hope it functions in a game as well as it does on paper. Good luck!