Overview:

This deck revolves around Bane, Lord of Darkness, leveraging Shadowborn Apostle as a core engine to tutor Demons and enable multiple alt-win conditions. The strategy combines creature sacrifice synergies, tribal synergy enhancers, and clone effects to generate value while threatening wincons like Liliana's Contract, Mortal Combat, and Near-Death Experience. While focused, it lacks fast mana and robust interaction, balancing consistency with fragility.

Primer:

Core Strategy:

1. Apostle Engine: Deploy 25x Shadowborn Apostle with cost reducers like Edgewalker and K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth. Use Thrumming Stone to ripple through the deck and sac six Apostles to tutor game-ending Demons (Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Rune-Scarred Demon).
2. Wincon Diversity:
   • Demonic Victory: Liliana's Contract with 4+ Demons (enhanced by Maskwood Nexus/Arcane Adaptation).
   • Graveyard Bomb: Mortal Combat with 20+ creatures in the yard.
   • Life Manipulation: Near-Death Experience/Stunning Reversal + Necropotence life payment.
   • Handsize Trickery: Triskaidekaphile with draw engines.
3. Value Recursion: Remembrance to recover sacrificed Apostles, Nightmare Shepherd for token cloning, and clone effects (Undercover Operative, Vizier of Many Faces) to copy key Demons.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands, 1-2 Apostles, and a key enabler (Edgewalker, Thrumming Stone, or Necropotence).
• Avoid hands lacking Apostle synergy or color fixing.

Key Tips:

• Use Bolas's Citadel to chain Apostles off the top.
• Maskwood Nexus turns all creatures into Clerics/Demons, enabling Edgewalker discounts and Liliana’s Contract.
• The Golden Throne protects against loss while enabling sac outlets for Apostle recursion.

Avoid Traps:

• Gallifrey Stands lacks Doctor synergy and is a dead card.
• Overcommitting Apostles without protection risks graveyard exile.

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Foldsto graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void).
• Relies on fragile board states (Apostle clusters, key enchantments).

Moderate:

• Slow recovery from stax (Rule of Law, Hushbringer).
• Limited interaction for non-creature threats.

Minor:

• Artifact land vulnerability (Vandalblast).

Most Important Cards:

• Thrumming Stone
• Edgewalker
• Shadowborn Apostle
• Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• Remembrance
• Necropotence
• Maskwood Nexus
• Rune-Scarred Demon
• Skullclamp
• Bolas's Citadel

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Turn 4-5 Demon tutor possible with Thrumming Stone/Apostle chains, but lacks fast mana for earlier explosive turns.

Resilience: 4/10

• Recursion via Remembrance/Nightmare Shepherd helps, but overreliance on graveyard and enchantments makes it vulnerable to common disruption.

Consistency: 8/10

• 25 Apostles + 10+ tutors (Razaketh, Rune-Scarred Demon, Varragoth) ensure engine reliability. Thrumming Stone provides redundancy.

Interaction: 3/10

• Minimal instant-speed answers. Relies on Demon abilities (Vilis) and reactive tech like Stunning Reversal.

Rating Justification:

This deck sits between Optimized Casual (5.0) and High-Power Casual (5.5). It consistently assembles its engine by turn 5-6 but lacks the speed (sub-T8 wins) and interaction to compete with true combo decks. While redundant, its critical weaknesses to graveyard hate and stax cap its ceiling.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5