By now I am sure that everyone reading this has heard of EDH. If for some reason you haven't... welcome to the internet and welcome to the coolest alternative format for Magic the Gathering. I figured that I would introduce you to my favorite EDH list and give some explanations for card choices and such.

When deciding which EDH deck you want to build you are forced to make several decisions. First and foremost is what type of deck do you want to play? Personally I prefer Combo and Control decks. As we dissect my deck you will notice that there are quite a few elements of both. Secondly you need to decide which General you want to use. Some people decide by looking at the colors of the General and then pick the best one. While there is nothing wrong with this approach it isn't quite my style. What I like to do is find a General that seems like fun and build around him.

I play EDH almost exclusively as a multiplayer format. Because of this there are vast differences in the way that my deck looks and one that is tuned for 1v1 play. The biggest thing to remember about multiplayer is that you must play politics. A simple rule that I follow is that I will never draw first blood. All you do is make an enemy and expend valuable resources. Another rule that I follow is that you should always keep the board in check. When I say that the board must be kept in check, I mean that sometimes it is ok to break the first rule. I would much rather wipe the board and cause collateral damage than I would let a threat get out of control. Technically you will have drawn first blood. However, you will also have made a few allies in the process.

Personally my favorite EDH General is Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. Yes this is a mono black General and to be more specific it is Mono Black Control with a side of combo. I was in the market for a Mono Black Legend. As I scoured the internet I came across a Legend from Portal Three Kingdoms, Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed. I had all but settled on this general when I remembered that Ob Nixilis, the Fallen was a legend. I immediately stopped my search because he was exactly what I was looking for.

My next step is to search the internet for decks that people have made using Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. Typically what I will do is look for 8-10 different decks and break them down card by card. I try to figure out why the deck runs each card and why the other deck doesn't and vice versa. I usually do this by writing out each different card from all the deck lists. The end result is almost always over 300 cards. However it does show you all the possible cards that could make it into the final deck. I guess you could say it is a form of brainstorming. After separating them into functions I start the whittling process. This deck was very different though. With this deck I ran across an amazing list that I continued to turn back to. I copied this list card for card and began playing the deck. I quickly figured out elements and combos about the deck that I liked but I also found some cards that I didn't so much like. Now that I have the deck that I want to play, I started the cutting process and have come up with the gem that I currently have. I want to thank Tom Servo on the MTGSalvation forums for the original idea. Currently I have made 20 changes to the deck so it is rather different than the original but the current deck has the same play and feel, just tweaked to my liking. Oh yeah! You probably want a deck list.

So what do you think? As you can see the deck doesn't run very many creatures. For this reason each creature must be amazing to make my 99. The biggest and baddest creature in the deck almost didn't make it. Emrakul, the Aeon Torn is an absolute monster. The reason why he almost didn't make the deck is because this deck is extremely limited in how to kill him. So many decks play Bribery and other theft spells that I don't like to include cards in my own deck that outright beat me. In a mono white deck I don't run Iona, Shield of Emeria for the same reason. However Emrakul, the Aeon Torn is such an amazing card I decided to give him a spot.

As for my other creatures, they all serve a very specific purpose. I have them separated according to function so I am only going to go over the "Other Creatures." Duplicant is an EDH staple. It exiles any creature that you don't like. That is his function. The fact that he can attack is just gravy on your potatoes. Nezumi Graverobber and Withered Wretch are cards that all Black decks should be playing. The graveyard is a go to zone for most decks. Take this spot away and you can make them play considerably more fairly. This is also a bargaining tool when playing the game of politics. Let's also not forget how easily Nezumi Graverobber can be flipped. All you have to find is one empty graveyard and he can flip. Then you have access to your own recursion from any graveyard. Sundering Titan and Myojin of Night's Reach are there as insurance. Sundering Titan allows you to clean up the board should an opponents lands get out of control. It also allows you cripple a 5 Color player should he get out of control. All the while Myojin of Night's Reach is a win condition with a win condition attached to it. Note that this card says each opponent. It's another way to play politics.

Finally we come to Vampire Hexmage and Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed. Both of these allow for some very nutty combos. Vampire Hexmage is most known for the interaction with Dark Depths. However this deck has a very hard time dealing with Planeswalkers. This may be your only out. Then again a 20/20 indestructible creature with Lightning Greaves or Whispersilk Cloak attached to it wins games too. Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed lets you recur your threats. My favorite is recurring Profane Command over and over again each turn. His interactions with the deck are insane. Don't forget that this was going to be my general until I found Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. I think very highly of this guy.

The board sweepers in this deck are where the power comes from. There really isn't any need for spot removal in the deck when you can just wipe the board over and over again. This deck runs all the best board sweepers that Mono Black can run. I was running Overwhelming Forces for a while until someone informed me to look up the Oracle text. I hate it when spells get errata that make them significantly worse. Luckily for me All is Dust came along and I haven't missed Overwhelming Forces yet. I have Pox listed as a board sweeper here. However I typically use it as a combo piece which I will discuss later but it does help clean up the board so I feel that it is in the right spot.

Nevinyrral's Disk and Oblivion Stone are the only ways the deck can get rid of enchantments and artifacts so make sure to use these carefully. Timing is important because the number one card you don't want to destroy is Crucible of Worlds because the card is so broken in this deck. The rest of the Board Sweepers are rather self explanatory.

Other than the board sweepers card draw is the most important part of a Mono Black Control deck. This deck runs all the best draw spells that can be played in Mono Black with the exception of Night's Whisper. I chose Sign in Blood over it because of the ability to target with it. I also just couldn't find room for it. Like I said, the card draw is fantastic in this deck. I think I am going to leave it at that.

EDH is a very slow format. Multiplayer EDH is even slower. Because of this you want to spend your early game building up a base board position. This deck is a reactive deck so building up your mana base is very important. It is almost irrelevant what your opponents are doing so focus on yourself. You don't want to paint a giant target on your chest so build up your mana base and don't do something stupid. Rushing out Ob Nixilis, the Fallen may knock out a player or two but you will not be able to fiend off the rest of the table. Resources are the name of the game. Once you get them this deck is almost unstoppable.

The decks Other Spells and Artifacts can actually be grouped together. These are the utility spells, combo pieces, win conditions, and unique effects. All the equipment in the deck is here for a specific purpose. The shroud artifacts are there to protect your win condition. Many times this is Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. However sometimes this may be Marit Lage or even Emrakul, the Aeon Torn. Ok so he doesn't need shroud but the haste or unblockablity is very helpful. The only oddball equipment here is Umezawa's Jitte. It is an absolute game breaker. It's like facing 2 Baneslayer Angel in a draft. It can absolutely turn games around. However it is just one of the reasons why it is included in this deck. It is also a Disenchant for your opponents Jitte. Yes the card is that powerful. As I stated earlier Crucible of Worlds is broken in this deck. The ability to put your opponent under a Wasteland or Strip Mine lock is not why it is broken in this deck. Ob Nixilis, the Fallen gets even nuttier when combined with recurring fetchlands. Besides that it is also your out to Pox and other land destruction effects. Just understand that this card is amazing in this deck and all EDH decks for that matter. Many people may scoff at Imp's Mischief. However if you haven't played it you probably don't understand how good it actually is. Take control of target spell is basically what it reads. You control what lives and dies, who draws what, what gets countered, etc. This card puts you in control of a very messy situation.

The lands in this deck are very much focused on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. The mass amounts of fetchlands help him be broken beyond belief. Many people may be thrown off by the inclusion of the Panoramas. The fact that they tap for mana is what makes them good. Many times you will want to save your fetchlands for Ob Nixilis, the Fallen and these allow you to do just that without missing a land drop. We already went over why Dark Depths is amazing and we already understand why the fetchlands are amazing. Lake of the Dead and Cabal Coffers offer some uncounterable acceleration. Deserted Temple allows Cabal Coffers, Maze of Ith, and Thawing Glaciers to become just that much better. Vesuva allows you to get another copy of your best land. Or it acts as a Strip Mine against your opponents Legendary Lands. What better way to get rid of a Tolarian Academy? Reliquary Tower is the nuts with Necropotence and Bojuka Bog is yet another way to remove your opponents' graveyard. The reason for using Snow-Covered Swamps is because of their interaction with Extraplanar Lens. Since you will be imprinting a Snow Covered Swamp only Snow Covered Swamps give you the effect. This is because we want to benefit our deck not everyone else at the table. I found this setup of lands to be the best. It covers all your grounds while maintaining a high amount of basics.

This deck is loaded to the brim with amazing combos. My favorite game winning combo is having Bloodchief Ascension on the board with counters on it and then cast Pox. You will either kill or maim everyone in the game and you will gain an obscene amount of life. Like I said this is my favorite combo in the deck. Assuming that your opponent has 40 life, 10 lands, 4 creatures, and 7 cards in hand once you cast Pox your opponent will be sacrificing 4 lands, 2 creatures, discarding 3 cards, and losing 14 life. This is a total of 9 cards going to the graveyard. So now your opponent will be at 26 life when Bloodchief Ascension triggers. They will then lose 18 life because of their permanents going to the graveyard. This will put them at 8 life with a crippled board position. You will probably have zero creatures in play and if you have to sacrifice the creatures that you do have they have served their purpose. The cards that you discard will be irrelevant because you have Ob Nixilis, the Fallen in your General Zone. You will also lose 14 life and go down to 26 life… however you will gain 18 life per opponent so…you actually gain obscene amounts of life. Ideally you will have Crucible of Worlds in play so the land loss will be minimal. Once the dust settles you will want to cast Ob Nixlis, the Fallen. If you have Lightning Greaves in play this is even more impressive. Play a fetchland from your graveyard, equip Lightning Greaves, and crush dreams. Many people will see the Bloodchief Ascension in play but few will see the destruction that will ensue.

Another combo that this deck has is Necropotence coupled with Scroll Rack. I will typically give 15 life. This will give you roughly 20 cards in hand. You get bonus points if you have Reliquary Tower in play also. When you activate Scroll Rack you will have the option to dig 20 cards deeper into your library with the cost of zero life. At this point it is irrelevant that Necropotence is in play. There will be little need to use it again. Once you sculpt the perfect 20 card hand you can use a tutor or fetchland to shuffle the cards away. Then wash rinse and repeat for another insane combo.

One final combo for this article. Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed is practically a combo by himself because he allows for several very crazy plays. As I said before I like to use him as a machine gun alongside Profane Command. Use either the -X/-X option or the Fireball option and the recursion option. This will burn your opponent or a creature you don't like and bring back Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed back to play. As long as you are in your first main phase still…you can do this over and over again until you run out of mana. Typically if you are using the Fireball function you will only do this once but the creature destruction function allows for this machine gun effect. The only other card that I ever get back is Bloodchief Ascension or Pox to start that combo over again.

It seems that this article has run on longer than I had anticipated. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading about my favorite EDH General and deck. I hope that I have both inspired you to play EDH and to think outside the box. In my next article I want to walk you through some action with this deck. I plan on playing a few games over the next couple of weeks so I will bring some of my experiences to my article. Until next time, "Though Wisdom is good in the beginning, it is better in the end."

-ImAChampion