Paragon of Open Graves

Creature — Skeleton Warrior

Other black creatures you control get +1/+1.

{2}{B}, {T}: Another target black creature you control gains deathtouch until end of turn. (Any amount of damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (35)

Hypersayia9001 on Kill, Kill and Kill some more.

1 month ago

@Basshunter: Thanks for the input. There are a few things I feel the need to justify keeping in though.

The primary reason I have Paragon of Open Graves and Hero's Blade is so I can easily buff up Sarevok, causing his ability to drain extra life when it triggers. Death-Priest of Myrkul is somewhat expensive, but when he's out, I just got to pay a mana at the end of each turn to ensure I maintain a consistent fuel supply for Cultist (and a lot of my token generation is zombies anyway so... bigger dead dudes.). Similar vein, Palace Siege allows me to sac something to Cultist then play it again on the same turn, which goes real good with Gray Merchant of Asphodel for life gain and Doomed Dissenter for a free Zombie token, if I just don't sac Gravecrawler to play it again cause it cheap.

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and Squelching Leeches are mostly there to be big beefy bois if I need them, but yeah, of the suggestions you've made, I'd probably swap them for Black Market Connections and Priest of Forgotten Gods to net me some more card draw. Ophiomancer, Grave Titan and Phyrexian Altar are also on my radar.

Not a fan of Skullclamp, at least in this deck. I'd need either altars or Yahenni, Undying Partisan out to actually get consistent value out of it, otherwise I'd need to pay for another sac outlet.

Basshunter on Kill, Kill and Kill some more.

1 month ago

its a really nice deck idea, but in my opinion, you got

1. too much stuff in your deck that doesnt fit to the theme like Squelching Leeches, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Paragon of Open Graves, Infernal Scarring, Grasping Shadows  ^Flip, Hero's Blade and maybe some others..

2. you are really high cmc for a sac-deck. maybe upgrade to a lower cmc and faster deck..i.e. change Diabolic Tutor with Diabolic Intent, Death-Priest of Myrkul, Stir the Sands or Palace Siege is expensive too - and they dont even fit very well to the theme. You can change your reanimation-spells to low cmc like Reanimate or Animate Dead aswell

3. To get rid of the fuel-problem, get some cards like Black Market Connections (awesome here), Blight Mound, Ophiomancer, Grave Titan ...

4. Upgrade sac-outlets: Phyrexian Altar, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Viscera Seer, Skullclamp

So all together you should fit the theme more, search for cheaper cmc cards that do the same and get some more token-stuff

legendofa on Skeleton Deck

1 year ago

Skeletons are my favorite tribe, but they're pretty underpowered compared to most others. How closely do you want to stick to Modern mono-black?

I would start by cutting the Harsh Scrutinys for lands. They're the narrowest discard effect, and the scrying doesn't do enough to make up for that, in my opinion. My next cut would be two Tragic Slips for more lands. They're good removal if you hit the Morbid, but I'm not sure this deck will do that reliably, so they will give -1/-1 more often than not. Then cut the Coat of Arms for one more land and a Paragon of Open Graves. This should give you 22 lands.

If you're building this on Cockatrice, how high-power do you want to go?

Exlixer on Skeleton Deck

1 year ago

I appreciate the input, I was trying to make this a monoblack skeleton tribe deck for goofs and laughs. A buddy of mine suggested Death Baron but I'm not quite sure about adding it. Maybe Paragon of Open Graves seems like it'll help.

For the boost then if I can't get Coat of Arms out and Bad Moon isn't overly helpful, what else could I put? My friend suggested Stoneforge Masterwork but I'm apprehensive about it.

I'm also worried about the land issue as well, however with everything being 1-2 drops anyway, would I have to worry that much about it?

legendofa on Skeleton Deck

1 year ago

Skeletons! Yes!

I think this deck needs more lands. You want to have mana to cast your Skeletons and mana to regenerate your Skeletons, and 16 lands is barely enough to support one of those. There's almost no chance of getting the Coat of Arms out at any reasonable time. Get up to the 22-24 land count, and you'll have more success.

I would also suggest more support. As much as it hurts me to suggest a Zombie, Death Baron is the best at what it does, and the next best option is Paragon of Open Graves. This will let your bone army go toe to toe with bigger creatures, threatening them instead of just surviving and regenerating.

Finally, this deck probably needs a backup win condition. Even with a pile of Bad Moons, your damage output is pretty low, and having another way to apply pressure will help.

GrimlockVIII on Bubonic Mischief

2 years ago

Tbf you can easily circumvent that with anthems like Bad Moon and Paragon of Open Graves , but I also understand that you might wanna avoid relying on single cards to give your rat colonies a flimsy crutch like that.

SenseiKreese on Skeleton Tribal

3 years ago

Thanks, I'm surprised how well it performs in a casual setting. I think it needs more creatures, but I'm not really in the habit of buying Magic cards at the moment since COVID has kept the local clubs kind of out of it. I definitely could fit Paragon of Open Graves, and there's probably other newer Skeletons that I'm unaware of. Out of the game basically since Magic Origins.

StopShot on Alesha, Who Smiles at Extra Combat

5 years ago

Hmmm, I could think of a few ways to up-tune this deck if you'd like your combat phase to be a little spicier.

Akroan Hoplite I would swap for Eidolon of Countless Battles as it's power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you have, not just the attacking creatures.

Archetype of Aggression has three power so it can not be recurred with your commander. Since most of your creatures have 2 power giving them trample is not the greatest keyword ability you could give them. Instead I think Goblin War Drums could give your creatures more of an edge and damage output instead.

Armored Transport is alright, but Everdawn Champion would be a good upgrade as you can also use the champion to block without it dying, and it doesn't die to artifact removal.

A better card for Ashmouth Hound would be Benalish Cavalry as it has one more toughness and it decreases the blocking creature's power as well. This makes the Cavalry better as it is much more likely to survive in combat unlike the Hound.

Attended Knight is alright, but a stronger inclusion would be Blade Splicer as it puts more power on the board for the same mana, and if the Splicer dies, recurring it multiple times produces bigger tokens than the Knight.

Battle-Mad Ronin can be a 3/3 for 2 mana, but when it's not blacked it doesn't do a lot of damage to your opponent, and sometimes you are forced to attack with it when it would not be preferable to do so. War-Name Aspirant would be more preferable, as you get a 3/2 with an added ability that makes it harder for your opponent to block it. It also doesn't have to attack each turn so you can use it to block if needed.

Capashen Knight is alright, but if you're short on mana to pump into him he can be rather ineffective. A reasonable replacement would be Knight of Grace which should easily be a 3/2 first strike if you or another player have a black card or creature on the battlefield. Having a constant 3-power first strike creature would be the equivalent of paying 4 mana into the Capashen Knight every turn. Plus the Knight of Grace has one more toughness and hexproof from black so it's much harder to remove as well.

Devoted Retainer's Bushido can make it a 2/2, but Isamaru, Hound of Konda would be a strong inclusion as it's always a 2/2 which means it would deal more damage to your opponent when not blocked.

Dragon's Eye Sentry can be a sizeable 1 mana defender, but I think this deck would enjoy Snubhorn Sentry more as most of the time it will be a 3/3 for one mana that can also attack.

Kiln Walker is a standard 3 mana 3/3, but a better card to run would be Nighthowler as having just 3 creatures in any graveyard makes it just as big all the time rather than when only attacking. In commander graveyards tend to fill up fast so the Howler will always be larger and larger as the game drags on.

Paragon of Fierce Defiance, Paragon of New Dawns, and Paragon of Open Graves do provide anthem effects, but since their anthems are limited by color of creatures you won't always get the paragon you need to buff up your whole team. Instead I would recommend running Angel of Invention, Ravos, Soultender, and Drana, Liberator of Malakir as they all can pump up your creatures regardless of color restrictions.

Pulse Tracker has a unique effect however you may want to switch it out for Vicious Conquistador as it is the same exact card, but with 1 more toughness, which will help it last longer in combat.

Rogue's Gloves does provide card draw, however; you may enjoy Mask of Memory more as the equip cost is cheaper, and drawing two cards then discarding one card can be more advantageous than drawing just one card.

Legion's Initiative only really buffs the attack of half your creatures which can be not as helpful if you don't have any red creatures out besides your commander. Leonin Sun Standard may prove better as it can pump all your creatures multiple times if needed.

Orcish Oriflamme can provide increased attack power for your creatures, but it's nowhere near as good as Glory of Warfare which provides more attack power, and it also provides more toughness when you need blockers.

You might also want to touch up on your mana-base a bit. Path of Ancestry works exactly like Nomad Outpost as it produces the same colors, but you can also scry with your commander off it. Command Tower and Ash Barrens also provide excellent mana fixing that you might want to look into. Other lands you may want to consider obtaining would be Wind-Scarred Crag, Tainted Peak, Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat, Graven Cairns, Fetid Heath, and Rugged Prairie.

I hope you find these card suggestions useful to you.