Welcome.



Here's my version of Obedient Dead.

My deck list:
Creatures:
2 Fume Spitter
2 Nantuko Shade
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Vampire Nighthawk (where are the 3 others?)
2 Bloodhunter Bat (Since there's only 1 Nighthawk this guy will do)
3 Liliana's Shade (When 4 swamps just isn't enough)
1 Nekrataal
1 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Grave Titan (3 Creatures guaranteed as he enters the field)
1 Massacre Wurm (will kill all those pesty small goblins or tokens and dump your opponents life down 2 at a time)
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Griselbrand (Liliana's demonic servant; the best card for the deck)

Instants:
4 Murder
1 Tendrils of Corruption (Lategame removal that will turn things in your favor)

Sorceries:
2 Innocent Blood
1 Mire's Toll
2 Sign in Blood
1 Mutilate (The only reliable boardwipe for this deck)
2 Rise from the Grave (Why not bring back something you just killed or if you're vs blue mill)
1 Corrupt (Can win the game by itself or remove that one biggie that's threatening to kill you next turn)

Enchantments:
2 Crippling Blight

Artifacts:
2 Jet Medallion

Lands:
25 Swamp (Yes, you need those)

Total: 60 Cards (playing with more than 60 doesn't make your deck any better)



Above: A quick overview from the ingame deck editor showing the heavy cost cards of the deck. If you notice at the top of the screenshot you can see the mana curve.



Above: The Boss and best bomb in this deck. He has flying, is a 7/7 with lifelink and most importantly can feed your hand 7 cards if you can pay 7 life. An entire hand at instant speed and this is why he is such an insane card for this deck.
Sometimes people will kill him before you get to attack with him and when that happens you can trigger his ability dropping you down 7 but giving you 7 cards before he's dead. In one game vs the black/white Orzhov deck I used him to get 7 cards and thereby got dropped down to 1 life on my opponents turn. My opponent had 21 life and I had 1 life at the start of my next turn, but he had 1 card left in his hand and I had 9 after my draw. I ended up winning the game eventhough Griselbrand was exiled and I didn't get any life from his lifelink. I simply added life with some other spells and killed the biggest threats on the board. From there I beat him down using one of his own creatures that I pulled from his grave onto the field using Rise from the Grave + some other mid size creatures from my deck that I now could cast from my hand.

Never underestimate the advantage of having more cards in hand than your opponent!

Obedient Dead, strategy options: The deckbuild I have chosen is mostly for 1 on 1 FFA but ofcourse you can use it in other game modes. This is just where it's at it's best. Which is why I don't use a card such as Underworld Dreams, which is a great card but works best in 2 Headed Giant or 3 and 4 player games.

To support Griselbrand it is never bad to have multiple cards that makes you gain life and the great thing about Obedient Dead is that the cards you can pick here doesn't just give you life but also drains your opponent or kills his creatures. This combination can really turn the game in your favour when you're behind and have been dropped down to a critical low life total. With a deck that is slightly on the slow side such as this build you want to have that reach.

Lets look at the lifegainers in Obedient Dead that I have included on my deck list.



The Creatures:
1 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Bloodhunter Bat
1 Griselbrand



There's only one Nighthawk to play and no matter what build you prefer he's a no-brainer. You will always want to play with Nighthawk in a black deck. I would play 4 in this deck if it was possible without blinking twice.
For 3 mana you get a 2/3 flyer which is ok by itself, but lifelink and deathtouch combined makes this an awesome card for your deck. He can block everything that doesn't have first strike and it will almost certainly die. When your opponent doesnt have blockers big enough to kill him he will keep swinging in dropping your opponent 2 down and lettting you gain 2 life getting you ahead of him 4 life on just this 1 creature.



I use Bloodhunter Bat because it has flying and also drains your opponent for 2 life at the same time adding to your life total. The good thing with the bat is that your opponent has to counter your bat to avoid the drain, but after he has been cast he is just a 2/2 flyer. You can however block most things with him which will buy you time to build up your board.



Do I really need to repeat myself? If you don't remember what he does scroll up and read! He is awesome I tell you, but ok.. Here are a few words on his lifelink.
He doesn't have haste and comes into play mid- or lategame (most of the time you will cast him for 7 or 8 mana) so the lifelink will only count once you're attacked by something worth blocking or your next turn at combat(unless your opponent has Fog Bank in play lol).
Midgame scenario: If you within the first 3-4 turns have Griselbrand on hand + Rise from the Grave you have the option of discarding him and reanimating him which means you can play him on turn 5 or earlier if you have Jet Medallion in play. There's nothing wrong with casting Griselbrand from your grave, however.. this means that he will be more vulnerable to removal spells and that you just used atleast 1 extra card from your hand to get him into play. It is nice to have this option nonetheless. Just dont do this if you are playing vs a deck that has a ton of removal spells (Golgari Green/Black is 1 of them).
Lategame scenario: Playing Griselbrand late in the game is the safer way to go. Your opponent will most likely have just 1 card or zero in hand and will be sweating at the thought of not drawing that one card he needs to get rid of your Demonic Boss.

Moving on now..

Instant:
1 Tendrils of Corruption



Tendrils of Corruption is the only instant with lifegain I have included. This card is very sweet and can swing the momentum in your favour depending on how you use it. I almost never play it on my turn unless I'm playing vs a deck that has counter spells. The spells in this deck are dominated by sorcery speed spells. There are only 5 instants that you can throw on your opponents turn, which means that people don't expect you to do much on their turn and if they do it is Murder they are fearing not a lifegaining spell.

Sorcery:
1 Corrupt



Sometimes topdecking Corrupt late in the game is all it takes to win. If not it can buy you 1 or 2 turns + remove your opponents biggest creature. It also supports Griselbrand very well since it costs 6 to cast you can play it 1 or 2 turns before casting Griselbrand so you have enough life to feed your hand 7 fresh cards right away.

A black deck without removal? No f***ing way!! Removal = cards that can remove permanents such as kill spells, sac spells and bounce spells(the blue version of removal).
With Obedient Dead you have many different card types that can remove stuff you don't want in play and these are your tools to your enemy's destruction.

These are the cards:



Creatures:
2 Fume Spitter

This guy might seem as though he's not even a guy and therefore shouldn't be in this deck. WRONG!! He's the only 1 drop creature worth playing here and can stall your opponent by a well placed block + sac. If you see a Soul Warden in play and he's down just sac in response to a creature spell and kill that warden. The -1/-1 counter he can leave behind is a nifty little tool to kill small creatures such as the warden, provides damage control and can even stop a persist creature from returning to the battlefield(If I remember right only 1 deck has creatures with persist).

1 Vampire Nighthawk



Nighthawk has deathtouch and that's why he's on the list. No further info needed on him.

1 Liliana's Specter



This little flyer forces your opponent to discard a card from his hand. Discard is also considered removal, which I failed to mention earlier.

1 Nekrataal



He is an assasin waiting to ambush creatures(the non-black ones). 4 mana for a 2/1 seems bad right? Well he will kill anything that doesn't have Hexproof or Shroud and playing 1 creature that kills another is very good. He does have first strike which means he can block and kill anything with toughness 2 or less and escape without receiving any damage.



This means you can block an Acidic Ooze eventhough it's a 2/2 with deathtouch and he'll survive combat leaving the Ooze dead and buried.

1 Phyrexian Obliterator



4 mana for a 5/5 is already good by itself but hey lets add some trample because 5/5 for 4 isn't evil enough and since you just asked for it with your cocky attitude we'll put something special on our wicked looking guy.

Attack with him if you're ahead and often your opponent will be forced to take the damage. Otherwise he can just stay back and block if your opponent is dumb enough to attack you with a big creature. Try and taunt him into attacking and it might work. Then..



For every point of damage he is dealt by your opponent he will make him pay. He can even take more than 5 damage which some people don't consider. If a creature without trample(this is important) attacks and you only block with Phyrexian Obliterator all damage equal to the blocked creatures power will be dealt to your Obliterator and after combat damage your opponent will be forced to sacrifice several permanents. This can be so devastating that it makes players ragequit! I still remember me blocking a highpowered creature and my opponent losing all permanents in play. Good game right there or should I say bad game for him ;)

1 Grave Titan



Grave Titan has deathtouch which is very good and it supports his ability which makes him great. You want to play him agressively, attacking and putting pressure on your opponent with this guy. Deathtouch makes sure that anything in your titans path will be removed except for a few creatures that can dodge deathtouch(creatures with regenerate f.ex).

1 Massacre Wurm



Massacre Wurm often has several targets that will die as he enters the battlefield. Sometimes you can attack first hoping for him to block and then give all his guys -2/-2 killing creatures that normally would survive. This guy is probably the worst nightmare for goblins and once the wurm is on the table anything that you kill will drop your opponents life down 2.

Instants:
4 Murder



Murder is the staple of this deck. Kills stuff, need I say more? Oh sorry, I should have said it murders stuff and white soldiers might come to investigate. Playing less than 4 = *facepalm and me removing you from my list of friends.

1 Tendrils of Corruption



Tendrils is a pretty good card. Murder is cheaper and initially better to use, but having an extra removal spell is good enough, especially since it pumps your life up.

Sorceries:
2 Innocent Blood



This card will work wonders in your deck I tell you. Well.. it has the potential when played the right way. Innocent Blood on your starting hand or on 1 of your first 2 draws is what to hope for. Since you want to wait a couple of turns before you can cast your bigger drops this card puts you at a somewhat laidback mode. With Innocent Blood you can just wait until your opponent plays his first creature and for just 1 mana it is gone ;)
The biggest weakness of this card is if you're up against a deck with many smaller creatures and/or tokens. Then you don't get as much out of this card as you would like, but hey it's just one mana so no biggie.

1 Mire's Toll



Mire's Toll is one of my favourite cards and NO, DON'T PLAY THIS ON TURN 1!! Facepalm* if you do and I'll force you into playing Magic Tactic's(probably the worst magic game ever made).
Ok, enough rage..
Once you have enough swamps down you will be able to see his entire hand if you play Mire's Toll. A deck such as Celestial Light has a bunch of surprise* removal he can throw + spells that shuffle into his library after being cast. You can get a look at his entire hand mid-/lategame and remove that 1 card you don't want him to throw next + you will know what the rest of his hand looks like and plan ahead.

1 Mutilate



Did someone say boardwipe? Ok, I'll take it. Any card that can kill all creatures is a good card and should be played. This card is even better than Day of Judgement and Damnation. It bypasses indestructibility which the other boardwipe-spells don't and it also ignores regen just like Damnation. Any creatures that have shroud or hexproof will still be affected since boardwipe doesn't target individual creatures. A very good card when playing vs hexproof stuff(Azorius white/blue) and big bombs such as the ones in Mana Mastery(the rainbow deck).

1 Corrupt



Sometimes it is necessary to play Corrupt to remove a creature. You should only do this if you're under pressure and you need to buy time late in the game. Tendrils of Corruption has the exact same effect as Corrupt when you use it on a creature so it is pretty obvious which way you want to play these cards.

Enchantments:
2 Crippling Blight



Look at that cripple over there.. he he (evil laugh). Crippling Blight is not just removal! Often you want to keep your opponent from blocking something like your Nighthawk or Nantuko Shade and then you even get the benefit of having his creature hit for 1 less every turn if he wants to attack with it (which he should since it can't block anymore *evil laugh). :)

Most cards in the deck have already been described. Here are the rest of the bunch. Let's take a look at the remaining cards from the deck list.

Creatures:
2 Nantuko Shade



This guy is cheap to cast and is very versatile. If you play him turn 2 he can hit for 5 on your 3rd turn and since his ability works instant speed and your opponent doesn't know what you have in hand why not bluff a little and adjust accordingly.
If he's blocked you can pump him up forcing them to play an instant or lose their blocker. Often when he attacks early your opponent will let him through and now is the time to do as much damage as you can. In most cases it's best to pump for max damage(early/mid game) and wait until next turn to throw your murder or what other spell you're thinking about dropping.
Your opponent can't afford to ignore a creature like this if it keeps on getting through or removing 2 many of his creatures as he is forced to block perhaps.
Hint: Nantuko Shade combo's well with Crippling Blight by the way.

3 Liliana's Shade



I use 3 copies of Liliana's Shade. Liliana's Shade is a decent card, but there's no need to play 4 copies in the deck. The shade is great for securing a 5th swamp if you don't draw it. This means that I often play the shade on turn 5, NOT turn 4! "Hmm.. How come?" You might ask. The shade is a 1/1 for 4 mana meaning(yes you can pump with additional mana, I know) that this creature is alot worse than Nantuko Shade right? Since he only costs 2 and has 2 power instead of just 1.
I always use Liliana's Shade on turn 5 or 6 if I miss a land on the draw and don't have any left in my hand to play on the current turn. So the best scenario with your Shade is to have her down turn 5 when your hand is out of swamps and you only have 4 down. Your shade will trigger as it's enters the battlefield and you fetch a swamp out of your library and you always want to keep dropping lands when possible to build up for the more powerful spells in the deck.

1 Rune-Scarred Demon



He is big he has flying and he will let you find Griselbrand. Hmm.. what will happen next turn I wonder.
This guy is basically a flying tutor and unless he is countered and you don't missclick fetching a swamp you may very well have secured yourself another win. He costs 7 which is on the high end of the curve, but Grieselbrand is worth 8 mana so he's 1 way of securing Grieselbrand.
1 card I didn't include in the deck is Diabolic Tutor.



I have tried playing it before but I prefer playing spells that have an impact on the game right away instead of using one turn just to dig for what I think is best for my hand. It costs 4 and most often you won't be able to play anything else until next turn. A creature that does the same exact thing is much better in my opinion eventhough i costs 3 more mana.

This tutor stuff leads me to the next card..

Sorceries:
2 Sign in Blood



It's not a tutor spell but it's really good nonetheless. If you're playing the best 60 cards of the deck and you play this to draw 2 extra cards there's a good chance you get what your hand is needing. It is also a great card for adding to an unstable starting hand making it a hell of alot better. 2 lands on a starting hand will almost always signal for you to mulligan and try a new hand unless you have 1 or maybe both Sign in Blood among your cards in hand.

2 Rise from the Grave



Initially when I played this deck I only had 1 copy in my deck, but since the card is so much fun I decided to try playing 2 of them. 2 copies work better in my opinion. The reason being, you're playing alot of removal in this deck + the fact that you're playing some big guys that you can bring back if they don't make it to the battlefield or get killed quick.
2 of these spells is just perfect. Compared to Reanimate, which is played in Red/Black Rakdos, this spell doesn't drain your life so you don't have to worry about casting 2 of them on 2 big creatures and it can, just like Reanimate, target either graveyard, your own or your opponent's grave that is.
Works very well with Griselbrand if you're in a very long game. If Griselbrand is countered or killed after you played him you have the option of bringing him back next turn and with 2 Rise in hand he just keeps coming back and coming back again!

Artifacts:
2 Jet Medallion



Time to bring out the jewelry. Liliana may have left the building but she forgot her favourite gem. "Look at my shiny medallion, it gives me discount prizes on my other bling*."

Jet Medallion is the friend of your deck and will make any of your (black) spells 1 colourless cheaper to cast. Doesn't make all of your cards cheaper but almost all. Nantuko Shade and Phyrexian Obliterator are among the few exceptions.



That is all! Hope you enjoyed the material. This guide is an expression of my own opinion and there are other ways to play this deck. Thanx for your time, Aeonikus. :)