Is EDH too expensive for you? Wanna play a fun deck that doesn't cost a fortune? Then allow me to introduce you to....Poor Man's EDH. For under $75 you can own a cool, powerful, and fun EDH deck that isn't too limited. After making a Zo-Zu deck, I wanted to try my hand at some more mono EDH decks, and Shirei has been a deck I've been toying with for a long time now. I honestly thought I'd never find that under $75 budget for it, like with Gonti, but thankfully I have. It's close, but we got the Shirei cigar. Enjoy Mono-Black Weenie Sacrifice!
On the plane of Kamigawa, spirits roam free. In the pitch-black night, they wander aimlessly, haunting the Honden and occasionally interacting with Kamigawa's living. Shirei is one such spirit. A spirit simply wandering, taking care of lesser beings he finds. A peasant near death? Shirei is there. A nezumi in the dark swamps? Shirei is there. A small insect simply following it's instinct? Shirei is there. In a quest to seek out this spirit, you have lost everything. All you have left is the clothes on your back. Starvation sets in, dehydration cripples you. As you lie on the ground, weak and losing hope, you seem a glimmer. A white cloth stands above you. Shirei is there. As you stare into his eyes, you smile, because you know Shirei has chosen you. Now...it is time to show the world how the weak shall inherit the planes.
Shirei's path is victory is a path less traveled. He relies heavily on being on the board. Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker plays a huge part in this deck. When Shirei is on the board under your control, any creature that is sent to your graveyard with one or less power to the field at the end of turn. It may seem insignificant, but these one power creatures are the key to your victory. Your one power creatures all have little effects, like Black Cat making an opponent discard a card or Marsh Flitter adding Goblin Tokens to your board. However, they are small and easy to kill, which is exactly why they are in your deck. You see, Shirei comes with plenty of cards that sacrifice your creatures. Cards like Vampiric Rites and Phyrexian Plaguelord sacrifice off these one power creatures. Which causes Shirei to return them at the end of turn. In other words, you will be constantly setting a multitude of little effects on a turn by turn basis. In other words, your deck is always active.
Now of course, you're going to need a lot of these one power creatures to pull this strategy off. Thankfully, there is an immense number of ways for you to draw cards. Creatures like Harvester of Souls and Grim Haruspex draw cards when a creature dies, the previously mention Vampiric Rites and Infernal Tribute sacrifice creatures to draw cards, and cards like Phyrexian Arena and Read the Bones draw cards for a small amount of life. in other words, getting a constant supply of cards is no issue at all for you.
Among all these cards lies a new and powerful card that can easily perform the role of a sacrifice outlet while keeping your opponents at bay: Bontu, the Glorified. As a menacing 4/6 with menace and indestructible, he can't attack or block without a creature dying. Thankfully, as discussed earlier, you can make your creatures die easily, and even better, Bontu can sacrifice creatures to drain all of your opponents! While this takes a bit of mana, there is a powerful card you can use in combination with Bontu to produce a sacrifice engine that can surely drain out the game in a hurry with all this little creatures. Black Market is an enchantment that gets a charge counter when a creature dies. When your upkeep comes up, you get a black mana for each charge counter on Black Market. In other words, when you sacrifice a bunch of creatures, next turn you get a vast amount of mana, fueling Bontu to sacrifice even more for drain! Remember, you can easily amplify this drain with Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, meaning in a few turns with a few creatures, you can drain the entire opposition with the greatest of ease! Shirei can be a powerhouse deck, and is worth the investment, especially if you add in cards like Erebos to prevent life gain and Cabal Coffers for even more black mana, so why not let Shirei take care of things? It's what Shirei does best.