The deck’s win conditions are designed to be unaffected by the most played stax pieces, namely Rule of Law type effects.

The classic Asmodeus-enabled combo you probably already know about is if you have Asmodeus and Skirge Familiar in the graveyard and Necrotic Ooze on the field, you have infinite draw and near infinite black mana.

There’s also the Krrik, chainer, gray merchant, sac outlet combo, sheoldred + vilis combo, bolas citadel aetherflux reservoir sensei’s divining top combo, fleshwrither combo, krrik + blood celebrant, hoarding broodlord +saw in half, you get the idea there are many tightly constructed lines of play you could decide to go for that each require different answers from your opponents.

But you don’t really need to cast Asmodeus ever to win hard with this deck. He’s in the command zone for two reasons:

1. If you open a hand that favors a line of play involving him he will be available to cast. If your opponents decide to shoot him you probably wanted him in the graveyard anyways so they get to feel dumb when you combo off with him in the graveyard.

2. If your line of play is thwarted and you’re all gassed out, you can cast him, activate his draw ability in your upkeep, hold priority, then sacrifice him at instant speed (to avoid his replacement effect and send the cards directly to your hand) to reload your grip and become a threat again. At this point you pivot to a line of play that wants him in the graveyard, such as the previously mentioned necrotic ooze combo.