Venom, Evil Unleashed

Gameplan

Venom is a mono-black deathtouch beater that threatens to trade up with anything in combat and headlines a +1/+1 counters package. Cast Venom early, jam attacks where deathtouch makes blocks miserable, and lean on black's removal/recursion to grind out the table. Even after Venom dies, the graveyard ability keeps growing another creature, so the deck never runs out of pressure.

Key Cards

• Hatred — Pumps Venom's power for one massive deathtouch swing that can be lethal or remove a key blocker.
• Whip of Erebos — Lifelink plus reanimation keeps Venom recurring and stabilizes your life total.
• Cathars' Crusade — Floods the board with +1/+1 counters every cast, turbocharging Venom's counter theme.
• Quietus Spike — Deathtouch already wins fights, but the equipment turns any connection into halving an opponent's life total.
• Reyhan, Last of the Abzan — As a partner-flavored counters synergy piece in black, it preserves and redistributes +1/+1 counters Venom places.
• Grave Pact — Combines with deathtouch and sacrifice value to grind opponents' boards to nothing.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana and tutors like Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, and Vampiric Tutor to find your equipment or pump spell consistently. Lean into a Voltron line with evasion and protection (Whispersilk Cloak, Lightning Greaves) so Venom's deathtouch closes faster, or pivot toward an aristocrats engine with Bitterblossom, Dictate of Erebos, and reanimation. Round out the curve with efficient removal and recursion so the deck never stalls in grindy games.