Valgavoth's Exile Engine

A mono-black Standard Brawl deck commanded by Valgavoth, Terror Eater that uses heavy Treasure ramp, hand and graveyard disruption, and a Bloodthirsty Conqueror + Enduring Tenacity infinite-drain combo to close out games.

• Valgavoth, Terror Eater (Commander): every card that would hit an opponent's graveyard is exiled instead, and you may cast those exiled cards using mana of any type. Deep-Cavern Bat, Tinybones, Duress, and Extract a Confession all feed this engine, so every discard spell becomes a future threat of yours.
• Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator: exiles cards from hands and graveyards and turns that attrition into 2/2 Nightmare bodies, doubling down on the exile theme and giving you blockers while Valgavoth waits in the command zone.
• Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber: because Valgavoth is a Demon, the Annex drains each opponent for 2 and gains you 2 every end step instead of just drawing a card, turning your commander into a repeatable clock and stabilizing your life total.
• Bloodthirsty Conqueror + Enduring Tenacity: the Conqueror gains you life whenever an opponent loses life, and Enduring Tenacity drains an opponent whenever you gain life, looping into infinite life loss for an instant kill. Enduring Tenacity even returns as an enchantment when it dies, so it is very hard to answer permanently.
• Mana engine: Greedy Freebooter, Fanatical Offering, and Patchwork Banner generate Treasures and mana of any color, letting you realistically slam an 8-mana commander around turn 5-6 or cast whatever huge nonblack card Valgavoth rips from your opponent's graveyard.
• Grievous Wound: enchants the opponent so they cannot gain life and every point of damage is amplified, meaning the Conqueror loop or a single Valgavoth hit ends the game immediately.
• Defossilize: rebuys your dead creatures straight onto the battlefield, so blocks and Treasure sacrifices become pure value.

Keep 2-4 land hands that contain at least one ramp piece (Greedy Freebooter, Fanatical Offering, Patchwork Banner) plus one piece of interaction (Duress, Deep-Cavern Bat, Bitter Triumph, Fell). Mulligan any hand that is only expensive threats and lands. A one-land hand is only keepable with a one-drop and a second land source already visible. Do not mulligan below five unless the six is completely unplayable.

• Early (turns 1-3): Land, then deploy Deep-Cavern Bat, Tinybones, or Duress to tear apart their hand and start exiling cards. Drop Greedy Freebooter to bank mana and hold up cheap removal like Fell, Candy Grapple, or Long Goodbye against aggro.
• Mid (turns 4-6): Convert spare permanents into Treasures with Fanatical Offering, resolve Patchwork Banner, and start draining with Unholy Annex. Resolve Grievous Wound to shut off lifegain, and if you draw both combo pieces, deploy Enduring Tenacity first so it survives as an enchantment. Cast Beseech the Mirror to tutor up whatever piece you are missing.
• Late (turn 6+): Resolve Valgavoth, Terror Eater from the command zone. It is a 9/9 flying ward threat that turns the entire enemy graveyard into your second hand, and Defossilize keeps returning your creatures so their removal never truly runs you out of resources.

Mass removal and graveyard hate (anything that exiles your graveyard) shut off Defossilize and your recursion plan, and exile-based sweepers blank Valgavoth's engine. Fast aggro can race you before your 8-mana commander lands, so lean on cheap removal and lifegain from the Conqueror. Counter-heavy blue control can counter Valgavoth itself, so save Duress for their counterspells. The Bloodthirsty Conqueror combo is fragile to instant-speed removal, so treat it as a bonus line and grind with Valgavoth plus Unholy Annex as the primary plan.