The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage is a medieval grimoire that is believed to contain powerful magical and mystical knowledge. The book claims to have been written by Abraham von Worms, a Jewish man who lived in Germany during the 14th century. The main idea behind this text is the prospect of achieving communion with one's Holy Guardian Angel. One of the key features of The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage is its emphasis on the summoning of spirits and demons for assistance in accomplishing certain tasks. However, it is important to note that the book also provides guidance on dealing with these entities and maintaining control over them. The main idea here is that these spirits can be used as tools, but one should always exercise caution and respect when working with them.
When it came to looking for actual upgrades, there were actually some pretty surprising positives to add. Some like Toxrill, the Corrosive and the aforementioned Umbris seemed like really easy fits. I was incredibly surprised at a few options going through the list such as K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth and Hell's Caretaker both being horrors, which fit excellently in a deck like this. Phyrexian Obliterator is often seen as just an unblockable 5/5 most of the time, but now that it also mills your opponents it makes them think twice before letting that damage through. Mindslicer is also a great way to rip through hands and fill graveyards, making it an all-star in a deck such as this.
Since this is such a mill-heavy strategy, I also included Relic of Progenitus in the list in case an opponent is playing an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or Kozilek, Butcher of Truth somewhere in their 99. All this said, yes, the pirate captain incarnation is certainly a nod to Davy Jones, but one that fits within the existing universe and is in keeping with the well-worn Dungeon Master tradition of using other media as an inspiration for elements of your campaign.
The main idea here is that these spirits can be used as tools, but one should always exercise caution and respect when working with them. The book outlines a rigorous and lengthy process for achieving the desired state of communion with one's Holy Guardian Angel. This process involves both physical and mental exercises, as well as prayer and fasting.
Unstable Mutation: Mind Flayarrrs
This was actually a fairly hard to write article for a strange reason – Mind Flayarrrs is a pretty good deck out of the box. Normally the game plan of the precons are just plain bad. It’s some variant of “slow put out more and more creatures, and swing at your opponents”. There’s also usually a sort of frustrating lack of cards that “ought to be in the deck”.
Credit: Wizards of the Coast
Dauthi Horror is a perfect example of a card that ought to be in the deck. And it is. Normally I’d expect to Wizards to skip over a 2 cost horror and focus on things that cost 5+ or do something absurd, but it’s right here. Along with Phyrexian Revoker and Ravenous Chupacabra and Spellskite, cheap or utilitarian horrors that are good on their own and bonused from their commander. Crazy.
Playing this deck out of the box is fairly straightforward. You want to get out a couple of horrors, and then Captain N’ghathrod and then use your evasion abilities to start slamming through with horrors and milling your opponents out.
Okay there’s something I need to get off my chest. Captain N’gathrod is this guy:
Billy Nighy, Davy Jones, Copyright Disney 2006
I think that’s kind of um, lame. Why can’t Wizards come up with their own IP? Or you know, do more universes beyond. This seems like the worst sort of meeting in the middle, a kind of “it’s obvious what this is but we don’t have to pay for it.” Also the timing is about perfect for Wizards to license Pirates of the Caribbean, since nobody really cares about it anymore and it’s just become another tired franchise being endlessly extended. A sort of Endless Evil if you will. And he’s not really a mind flayer. I mean granted, there is a similar look, but Davy Jones is an octopus man. Mind flayers have tentacles, one assumes, because historically they used them to drill through sapient creatures brain boxes to get at the sweet cerebrum therein. As the mind flayers evolved to become more psychic these little tentacles thingies probably because vestigial largely, but it’s perfectly logical. Okay, I’ll grant you this is probably more thought than TSR ever put into mind flayer evolution. And there is a mind flayer (2 sort of) one from Stranger Things which is from D&D and then one from Baldur’s Gate and it’s not a pirate or any of this stuff.
FromTheShire: Quick side note here, Davy Jones isn’t a mind flayer but Captain N’ghathrod is an established Ilithid (Mind Flayer) character in D&D, which is kind of the point of this set. Mind Flayers as a race date way back to the 70’s when D&D was owned by TSR and Gary Gygax, well before the Pirates movies, and is now owned by Wizards of the Coast. There is absolutely a ton of established lore about them as one of the most iconic monsters, including about their life cycle, history of piloting Spelljamming ships, and how they use their powerful and dexterous tentacles for many things, among them eating brains. All this said, yes, the pirate captain incarnation is certainly a nod to Davy Jones, but one that fits within the existing universe and is in keeping with the well-worn Dungeon Master tradition of using other media as an inspiration for elements of your campaign.
Credit: Wizards of the Coast
Captain N’ghathrod aside, horrors and nightmares are neat. I like the distinction they appear to be drawing, that horrors cause mill, and nightmares cause exile (generally). Umbris, Fear Manifest is a nice similar commander, who causes a similar kind of effect, slots nicely into the deck, and is also both a horror and a nightmare.
While exile can lead to your opponents’ win conditions or best cards disappearing from the game, graveyards are graveyards to most players. Cards that go into them are not usually coming back, except in higher-level competitive decks. This archetype is not suitable for those games. There are risks to milling your opponents, and when you are considering who to attack, you probably want to avoid decks that contain black or white reanimation, or red spell re-casting (Flashback, Underworld Breach) but don’t spend too much time obsessing over who exactly to mill.
When you’re playing this out of the box you don’t have a lot of choices really. The deck runs minimal ramp and interaction, and basically no tutors or anything like that. The problem with the deck is there’s really little ability to close out the game. Once Menace isn’t good enough, you have no payoff for all the milling you’re causing. The deck lacks sufficient reanimation or graveyard activity punishments.
There’s a couple of known cards, and I’ve used in various decks before, some of which are game-ending combos.
- Bloodchief Ascension
- Mindcrank
- Syr Konrad, the Grim
- Dreadhound
Throwing all of these in gives a baseline for your opponents not wanting to be milled. The other thing we want is a positive payoff, and the easiest one is to use reanimation cards.
Captain N’ghathrod does this on his own, but many of the best reanimation cards don’t require you to reanimate out of your graveyard. This means potentially stealing the best or most utilitarian creatures from your opponents.
Between your commander reanimation and some targeted ways it ought to be possible to grab some big beefy creatures or else some things that will give you some nice utility.
Credit: Wizards of the Coast
The other important step is to add a bunch more ramp, and some actually bigger creatures, and better removal and interaction, while cutting out the worthless ETB lands and focusing on core lands that are worth having.
Here is the cut list:
1 Forgotten Creation
1 Mind Flayer
1 Sludge Monster
1 Dark Hatchling
1 Dross Harvester
1 Nihilith
1 Woe Strider
1 Psychosis Crawler
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Plague Spitter
1 Fractured Sanity
1 Hex
1 In Garruk’s Wake
1 Syphon Mind
1 Extract from Darkness
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Curtains’ Call
1 Memory Plunder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Reflections of Littjara
1 Black Market
1 Choked Estuary
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Nephalia Drownyard
1 River of Tears
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Port of Karfell
1 Rogue’s Passage
1 Tainted Isle
1 Temple of the False God
1 Grell Philosopher
1 Psionic Ritual
1 From the Catacombs
And here is the add list:
1 Island
1 Deadly Rollick
1 Reanimate
1 Animate Dead
1 Agadeem’s Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Necromancy
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Go for the Throat
1 Snuff Out
1 Hero’s Downfall
1 Watery Grave
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Dreadhound
1 Elder Brain
1 Faceless Devourer
1 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Thrummingbird
1 Toxrill, the Corrosive
1 Umbris, Fear Manifest
1 Yarok’s Fenlurker
1 Frantic Search
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Liquimetal Torque
1 Fractured Powerstone
1 Mana Drain
1 Fierce Guardianship
1 Force of Negation
1 Force of Will
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Urza’s Incubator
1 Phyrexian Totem
This leaves you with a more consistent package of ramp that means you’ll get out N’gathrod on turn 3-4, start slamming away with menaced horrors, and ramp from opponents artifacts or utility creatures, combining with your ability to ultimately force out huge threats, and get out one of your graveyard punishers like Bloodchief Ascension or Mindcrank so that you can actually credibly mill out an opponent, or else kill them via life loss.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at [email protected].
Surprisingly, in the game's nearly 30 years now we've never really had much support for horror tribal. In fact, the only other real card I can think of that fits this mold is Umbris, Fear Manifest which dropped just last year. It wasn't in its own commander deck, though, and was instead relegated to being openable in Innistrad: Crimson Vow set boosters. With the Mind Flayarrrs precon, we finally get some genuine support for this largely unsupported tribe. Let's check out the base precon!
The main idea behind this process is that by purifying oneself and dedicating oneself to spiritual pursuits, one can establish a connection with divine forces and receive guidance and assistance from them. However, it is worth mentioning that The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage has been met with both fascination and skepticism. Some view it as a valuable source of occult knowledge, while others dismiss it as purely fictional or superstition. The main idea here is that belief in the book's teachings and practices is subjective and depends on each individual's personal beliefs and experiences. Overall, The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage offers a unique perspective on magic and spirituality. Its main idea revolves around achieving communion with one's Holy Guardian Angel through the summoning of spirits and the purification of oneself. Whether one chooses to accept or reject its teachings, the book continues to intrigue and inspire those interested in the realms of magic and mysticism..
Reviews for "The Symbolic Language of Abramelin the Mage's Manuscript"
1. Jane - 2/5 - I found "The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage" to be extremely confusing and hard to follow. The language and concepts used were very complex, making it difficult for me to fully grasp the content. Additionally, I felt that the book lacked a clear structure, which made it even harder to navigate. Overall, I was disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to those who are new to the subject matter.
2. Mark - 1/5 - As someone who was interested in the occult and mystical teachings, I was excited to read "The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage." However, I found it to be incredibly tedious and overly verbose. The author seemed to go on never-ending tangents, making it hard to stay focused on the main teachings. Furthermore, the instructions provided were not well-explained, leaving me confused and frustrated. Overall, I was highly disappointed with this book and felt it did not live up to my expectations.
3. Sarah - 2/5 - I struggled to connect with "The Divine Book of Abramelin the Mage" due to the archaic language and the author's heavy reliance on biblical references. The text felt outdated and didn't resonate with me on a personal level. Additionally, the practical instructions for performing rituals and spells were vague and difficult to follow. While I appreciate the historical significance of this book, I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for accessible and contemporary magical teachings.