The Ruinous Powers Upgrade - Improving the Precon Commander Deck with $300 

Great videos! Just got done watching all 4 300$ upgrade videos, can't wait to start!!

Thank you guys!! Currently making this and it looks so fun!!

Only having negate def made me nauseous, but the point about not wanting to cascade into more counterspells was 100% reasonable. I wasn't hot on Abaddon bc I'm not big on cascade and loved Be'lakor's demon tribal, but you've convinced me to give him a spin myself, this is neat stuff. It'll also help me overcome my crippling addiction to running 4+ counterspells lol

Blood for the blood god does alot of work in my Abaddon deck , I use cards like Keen duelist and Twilight prophet I kinda lean into the high mana value a bit more.

I go into alot of the planeswalkers and enchantments that do damage on Upkeep and at the Mainphase, as well as Enchantments/creatures and a few other things that do damage to any Target when you caste from exile or a creature enters the battlefield like terror of the peaks. This works for most the targeted removal. Topper and scroll rack helps and alot of the cheap blue cards like brain storm and ponder to look for what I'll be drawing/Cascading into. Win condition besides getting a beefy board Idk what to go with yet. Was trying to think of a way to go Enter the Infinite, with Omniscience, but that likely won't happen, and I couldn't figure how how to Cascade into it all in one turn. Also just thinking of pumping the damage players are taking in general with the cards that double and triple damage Heartless Hidusgu seems interesting with something like Archgiend of Despair. Do half of everyone's health, than remove remaining health to all opponents. That will something I add.

I took blood for the blood god out as well. But in its defense the deck also came with a blasphemous act.

Great include in this deck is mind bomb - 1 island in best case scenario 9 global damage, worst case everyone else has lost card advantage

I've played my ruinous powers deck a few times now. I think the whole burn strategy is maybe not the best strategy. Also, the whole "benefit from casting cards from exile" too is not the best. I'm working on my own upgrade now which depends on combat damage, so I have mana left over to actually cast my cascade spells. To me, this isn't really a "cascade deck" the way I first imagined. While it would be nice to have cards that give you benefits when you do actually cascade, if you're not cascading because you haven't done enough damage or you don't have the mana after doing damage, then what's the point?

How do you feel about putting obosh in this deck? Abandon is odd converted mana cost

it was easier to say what to keep considering that you listed all the cards to be cut

Vial smasher doesn't work very well right?

I have built this deck and it kicks ass, what would be the next steps to improve it more? I have all fetches and shocks, what would I take out to add these? Also have Demonic Tutor, should I add this too?

I noticed there’s no armour for Abaddon. What do you use to protect him? I bought almost all these cards but have trouble keeping him alive lol

I want to build this deck and I really like the cards you added to it. But I can't build a deck without the wincon in mind and I can't figure out what is the wincon for this deck. What did you use for the wincon?

Currently doing this as I won the deck for a commander tournament last night, I was under the impression that if you cascade into something you have the option to pay any additional cost on the card like kicker for example! Wouldn't that mean you could overload off the cascade if you choose to pay the additional cost?

to be honest i am not a fan of Heartless Hidetsugu, it also damages us for half our health :/

Blasphemous act into Blood for the blood god are both in the Pre Con, and it would cost 2 reds and 2 black and the 8 colorless can be replaced for wiping 8 creatures off the battlefield. Blood also I'd an instant so when your opponent wipes you can likely cast it for 2 black, 1 red.

Love this deck but I think there's a few too many self ping for my taste. Creatures, mana rocks, pain lands

I'm not convinced about stormfist crusader's value. Abaddon only cares about damage done this turn, so only 1 mana instants are affected, and the only card in the deck that fits that is dark ritual. Edit: I'm an idiot, it only triggers on your upkeep, not everyone's upkeep.

Too bad Kharn doesn't say "the owner draws two cards", then it would be good.

I'll never take out Great Unclean One, he's won me two games with perfect lethal lol

So, $300 upgrade for Be’Lakor next?

instead of Negate run unsubstantiate. Has a lot more utility if you happen to cascade into it.

I love these balla upgrades, none of this budget shit

If Prosper is out and you top deck profane tutor it will whiff and just remain in exile

God, you're basically taking out all the cool warhammer chaos stuff and making the deck generic! This isn't an upgrade, it's a vivisection!

Improving the deck? No. Ripping the guts out and wearing its skin? Pretty much.

A ruinous powers deck without demons? CRINGE