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The Magic Chest 20: Volrath's Dungeon
Most enchantments that give the opponent the option to pay life to destroy them are too unreliable to base a deck on. AEther Storm, for example, has a very useful effect: no summon spells may be cast, but it can be destroyed for 4 life, which makes the ability mostly useless. Volrath's Dungeon is different, though. It can be used as often as you want during your own turn and it'll only give your opponent a chance to destroy it during theirs. Most of the damage has already been done by then and the five life payment becomes a bonus. By itself, Volrath's Dungeon isn't that strong, because each time you use it, it costs you a card. There are several possible tactics that can be used to get the most out of Volrath's Dungeon. One interesting possibility is in combination with Grafted Skullcap or Oath of Scholars. The extra cards drawn this way should give plenty of food for the dungeon. Another possibility is using cards that give card quantity advantage, but not necessarily card quality. Cards like Skyshroud Sentinel, Howling Wolf, Yavimaya Elder and Gaea's Bounty. One problem with that idea is that most of those cards are less than optimal if you don't have a Dungeon in play. Because the Dungeon can be destroyed by paying life, it's probably not a good idea to build a deck around it. That's why I ended up with a deck that can make good use of the Dungeon if it is in play, but it plays perfectly well without it. Ashen Ghoul: The basis of the deck is the old Buried Alive deck with Ashen Ghouls and Nether Shadows. Discarding them to an early Volrath's Dungeon is usually not a bad deal, because you get them back later on in the game anyway. Once you get four total in your graveyard, you can keep getting the bottom one out. Nether Shadow: Not as fearsome as Ashen Ghouls, but they're necessary to get the Ghouls going. Buried Alive: It'll take too long to get enough creatures in your graveyard without this. Dark Ritual: For a first turn Buried Alive or a second turn Volrath's Dungeon. Peat Bog: For a second turn Buried and a third turn Dungeon. This deck doesn't need a lot of mana in play, so two uses should be enough. Death Spark: Another card that can be reused from the graveyard and it's even splashable. Hammer of Bogardan or Shard Phoenix are probably stronger, but they take too much commitment to red. Also, Death Spark is useful even if you don't have any red mana available. You can get it back from the graveyard after discarding it to a Volrath's Dungeon without red mana. Krovikan Horror: These are great with Volrath's Dungeon, because you get them back almost immediately. The ability is quite useful for picking off small annoyances. If you don't have any, you can always use Cuombajj Witches. They don't come back, but they make good, cheap blockers. Crypt Rats: Useful against weenie decks. This deck'll suffer a bit from it as well, but there'll be plenty of creatures coming back. Goblin Bombardment: Duplicates the Krovikan Horror ability, so not necessary. Diabolic Edict: To get rid of all those pesky White Knights and other creatures bothering you. Carnophage: For some early pressure. Duress: A good way to get your important spells through against a blue deck and to slow down a combo deck. Wasteland: Slowing your opponent's mana development means your Dungeons will be more effective. Cremate: A good sideboard card against opposing graveyard decks. It gets rid of anything from Nether Spirit to Shard Phoenix. Because it's such a cheap cantrip, you'll never regret drawing it. Necrosavant: It's a bit too expensive for the deck at 6 mana, but it's useful to have a big creature available if the smaller ones can't cut it. Only one is needed, because it can be fetched with Buried Alive if necessary. Shattering Pulse: You really want a way to get rid of Phyrexian Furnace and other annoying artifacts. There are a few enchantments that are pretty bad as well, like Planar Void, but you'd have to splash a third color to deal with those or have Nevinyrral's Disks. Use 'em if you have 'em. The deck:
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