EDH Ob Nixilis, Unshackled

ive been told that the activated abilities count as well in edh.

They do count towards color indication ... sorry.

actually, you can play crypt ghast in any edh deck as long as it has black, the commander color identity only counts colored mana symbols in the oracle text of the cards in your deck. because the white mana symbol on the crypt ghast is only in the reminder text of the card And not the oracle text, white is not part of crypt ghast's color identity and as such he can be played in a mono black EDH deck. have fun with your crypt ghast bro.

always good to get another confirmation thanks

http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php (Core EDH rules, even Wizards sends you here) - Deck Construction

It explains that if the mana SYMBOL is in the card rules text, it is part of the color identity. And Oblivion, reminder text IS part of the rules text it just would be too crowded to print it every time. (Case in point: "Dies" Dies is a simpler way to say sent to the graveyard, ANY other form of removal is not dies, though many cards such as commanders go to the graveyard THEN go somewhere else).

But, back to the point at hand. Look at Deck Construction. Now look at examples if you need proof. Elves of Dark Shadow has a black mana symbol in its cost. Oracle 'text' says add a black mana, not a symbol. However, that is exactly the kind of banned card they intended with the rules.

You are free to kitchen-table it with other people but rules as standing, it would be illegal. Extort cards, ALL extort require black white+

The keyword itself is not a color but the activated ability implied in it *IS* colored. For example again, Penumbra creatures create black tokens but that is allowed. But the keyword yields an ability that IS colored. (Note: You CAN counter the keyword with any activated ability counter. And any abilities involving colored mana symbols are indeed identity).

I post all of this for your benefit. I have been disqualified from two (different) card shop EDH tournaments before someone explained it to me. Don't make the same mistake unless your table is okay with you playing with the custom rule.

every rule and judge we looked at/ talked to said extort could be in a mono deck and that rule reminder text isn't a part of the card's own rule text

Mureaux - Elves of Deep Shadow has a black mana symbol in the RULES text. Extort has a B/W mana symbol in the REMINDER text. The RULES texts is part of the color identity of the card. The REMINDER text is not.

The keyword is the only part of the ability that is a part of the card, and the reminder text is printed as exactly that: a reminder as to what a new keyword does. if Extort were to be printed in a new set down the road, it would not have any mana symbols on the card at all, as the second printing of a keyword loses the reminder text in most cases.

As a level 1 Judge, I would not have disqualified you from a sanctioned tourney at my shop for running Crypt Ghast in a mono black deck, but I would have to penalize you for running Elves of Deep Shadow in a Mono Green deck.

ha i was right!

Yeah, nice job!

The the reminder text doesn't apply to color identity. I got that wrong myself!

A similar case was proposed to me - the double strike ability does not make a creature have the first strike ability. Even though the reminder text says first strike, the appropriate Archetype does not affect it.

ty. it needs more work and thats gonna take some time. ive got the basic idea using life manipulation i can kill my own creatures or an opponents to trigger some things but at this point id say good for a rough draft.

Very much agreed!

"plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities" - is extort not a characteristc-defining ability?

Apparently not. It's probably an exception, because Wizards did not think of commander when they designed extort.

extort is a keyword. keywords do not have colors. reminder text is not part of the color identity of a card.

Cool, thanks for the extra info. That part was giving me hmmms.

ty. sad part is its an EDH deck i never really wanted to play edh but everyone i know mt brother, my gf and several of our friends all play so i had to start. my gf actually bribed me with a nicol bolas pw to play my first game lol. i didnt have my own deck on the 4th of july so i had to use vaans mindseize premade which got a lot of board hate.

I might agree with that...only because some of the cards, he has in the deck, are very high mana.
However, I have never played EDH...so, not sure.

its a hard decision once i start playing it i will have to see where it goes you might be right.

I can see some real easy cuts, like Pharika's CHosen and Squelching Leeches. Nighthowler is...OK here, but probably better as land.

for nighthowler take a look at dying wish. the other 2 i can easily agree with but also i do have some mana producers other than lands

i took our the leaches and the chosen for 2 swamps the leech could have been nice with the night howler but i still have korlash and nightmare

Dying Wish + Nighthowler is cute, but it seems super narrow. I would rather bestow Nighthowler on another dude and cast wish on that guy, then you get to keep your howler, but even then, its a 2-3 card interaction that is totally dependent on the graveyards being full to be effective. Also, it doesnt exactly work against what your general is doing, but it doesnt progress it either.

TL:DR: There are better tricks in Black.

You mean like Gravecrawler or Tenacious Dead and any sacrifice card. =).

Again, congrats! : )

ty. i didnt think this one would get to the hot pages.

Don't be so down on yourself!
It is a good idea for a deck.
Plus people love standard.
Plus people are interested in new M15 cards.
And, finally, the deck has a lot of potential.

Keep me updated on how it plays!

I agree with Jessie. Great Work!

ty much appreciated.

I do not play Commander...so interested in what is considered banned.
Example, Sol Ring is banned in normal play...what about Commander?
Is there a list?

i know that there is but let me see if i can find it. i usually just ask doomrunner00 lol

http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resources.aspx?x=magic/rules/100cardsingleton-commander

Thanks, variable!

They ban stuff more due to the fact of spirit of the format. Such as things all games warp around like prime time and gizzelbrand. So i don't see this lasting long as a commander for sure maybe even in the format all together.

Oh well ... it's still awesome.

for one person at the table yeah lol

Well ... if you're playing multiplayer, everyone is aiming for you! :)

that depends on where the board hate is lol. i used the mindseize premade deck against vaan and 2 other people. i was on course to win but my brother decided that he was going to drop my life to 10 with sorin and then hope our friend would kill me which he did and then he failed to kill vaan by making the mistake of not killing his sorin markov and doing the damage directly to vaan...bad idea.

vaans vampire edh is still undefeated 5 for 5

I'm just saying almost every black deck will run him no matter what and every other deck will race to steal him because let's face it edh is a game of searches.

http://www.mtgvault.com/vaan104/decks/vampire-edh/

its mean but it is beatable i guess i proved that but i decided to take out what i thought were more serious threats cuz he only had 16 life. once our friend failed to kill him in that turn my brother got a tutor and then put out the card that saved him.

there are two separate ban lists for EDH. One is Wizards list, which governs multiplayer, and is considered the default ban list. the other is www.dualcommander.com. This one is the governing list for 1v1 EDH tournament play.

your playgroup likely uses the Wizards list, but any single player tourney with prize support is likely going to use the Dualcommander list (alternately known as the "French ban list"

And original Ob Nixalis is worse than this guy in EDH, theres not a chance this gets banned.

Good I guess. I don't often play EDH.

he just likes to copy me lol

Thank you. I added all of those cards i think it makes a vast improvement on it.

Awesome :) can't go wrong with expedition map as it can otherwise find cabal coffers anyway !

i also added urborg tomb of yawgmoth since ive added some nonbasic lands to the mix. and thats just one of many uses i can see for expedition.

I'll have to look into those maybe tomorrow its been a rough night so i havnt been in the mood for magic.

Sorry to hear that variable! I hope you feel better soon.

Dang ... I must respond to all these evil black decks! My chivalrous blood boils!

White knight

Diabolic Edict :)

You have brought this on yourself. Unleash the dogs of war. And by that I mean Konda's hound dog. :)

BTW, just got a new computer, so it's time to put it through it's paces and create some decks with it! Man, am I ever so tired of typing all of my s*** on a phone, even if it is a Samsung.