Strefan is my main deck, the one I enjoy playing the most. He's a vampire that cares about pinging everyone at the table to generate blood tokens to then cheat out big vampires into play.
You can ping everyone with stuff like Faith of the Devoted which you can use when you discard a card through blood tokens. Cards like Throne of the God-Pharaoh and Sanctum Seeker are also good ways to drain each opponent as long as you swing with at least one creature each turn. Creeping Bloodsucker is just really good as you can get that effect triggered every turn.
You can also throw in cards like Champion of Dusk, Pointed Discussion, and Night's Whisper to draw some cards and lose some of your own life to generate a maximum of four blood tokens on your end step along with the other effects.
You then use those blood tokens to cheat out big vampires like Anowon, Butcher of Malakir, Necropolis Regent, Patron of the Vein, and Crossway Troublemakers through Strefans attack trigger.
I also throw in lords like Bloodline Keeper, Captivating Vampire, Markov Baron, Stromkirk Captain, and Thirsting Bloodlord to pump them up even more.
I've also thrown in Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood for the effects they provide and the combo they create.
And finally, my favorite card in the deck: Markov Enforcer! If you can cheat them in with Strefan, they can fight without worrying about dying as Strefan gives them indestructible. Cards like Nirkana Revenant and Bolas's Citadel can help you get more vampires out during your second main phase to trigger more fights for Markov Enforcer!
would anyone be interested in some posts about decks I've made and their tech? I build most of my decks all by myself and I'm pretty proud of them. I'm still somewhat new to the game so my decks are probably somewhat straightforward but I'd still like to share :3
My latest paper deck isn't the most original, but it's a blast to play. We're doing a theft!
Gonti is an incredibly fun card, but they're a bit slow in today's environment. Lobelia here offers the same kind of gameplay but a taste of EVERYONE's decks, as well as free casting of the stolen spells, though requires a bit of effort to build around to have artifacts to keep feeding her. Gonti still has a place of honor in the 99 though.
Because we're in black, and it makes people slightly less miffed, most of our theft in the deck is from the opponents' decks or graveyard, cards they aren't actively using or used resources to deploy. But to add some spice, the deck as at least one card capable of stealing from most zones, so that nowhere is safe from being yoinked.
As a result of stealing from the graveyard, we also have some reanimation package, nothing groundbreaking here. Note that not ALL our reanimation can target other people, the stuff that can only target our graveyard tends to be repeatable, to sac and bring back Lobelia, as she can easily run out of good cards to cast and need to be killed and brought back for a new batch of larceny.
Wincons are important in any deck, and if ideally this deck prefers snagging an opponent's wincon and using that as OUR wincon, in practice sometimes opponents aren't cooperative in their deck choices. As a result, we have a few finishers of our own to turn the very act of thievery into a threat, and also Rise of the Dark Realms which DOES steal all opponents' entire graveyard as part of winning the game.
Another important things is generating artifacts to fuel Lobelia. Here, we mostly morph our generic choices around that fact to have a critical mass of them. It's not really difficult to do so in a world of treasures and clues and food and blood.
The theft itself is exactly what you'd expect. Though the benefit of being mono-colored is that you can dig a bit deeper as far as fun cards for the theme.
Even our interaction package has a tendency to nab things along the way!
All in all, I'm very happy that I assembled this one in paper, so far it's been a blast, and keeping secret the cards stolen face down by Lobelia or others can lead to very funny moments. The big advantage of these kinds of decks is that every game is fundamentally different, since you'll be stealing from different decks every time.
Gifts from the Grey Havens: Círdan, the Shipwright Politics
Archidekt Decklist | Art by Filipe Pagliuso
Welcome to a short deck tech for one of the latest commanders to come from the Lord of the Rings sets, Círdan, the Shipwright! An excellent pick interested in making any game much more exciting. However, before we go over the deck, let's go over Círdan.
Eyes As Keen As Stars
Círdan (pronounced Keer-Dan), is a 3/4 with Vigilance for 3GU. When he ETBs or attacks, everyone secretly votes for a player. Players draw a card for each vote they receive and no votes gets you a Show and Tell. This can either be great or disastrous! If the wrong person gets no votes, they may end the game and if you get votes, you just may draw a card and not get a really cool expensive permanent. With this build however, we always win the voting game and here's how.
An Offer You Can't Refuse
This deck is focused on two things: card draw and leveraging favor from our opponents. The deck achieves this with traditional group hug cards that mostly either draw cards or ramp for others.
There is also a few other effects we can achieve such as Regrowth, copying spells, and token generation, but those are less important. The main purpose of these cards is make people like us, trust us, and most importantly, listen to us. This in turn let's us convince others to vote as we ask and help us in turn when we call for aid, however, a key part of every single one of these cards is we always get the most benefit.
The House Always Wins
Whether it be via Círdan or one of our many "hugs", we always get the better of the effect in any of these deals. The deck includes a multitude of cards that get stronger based on cards drawn and these are our main wincons. Referred to as "Maro", these cards have their P/T determined by the cards in your hand, which will often be 7/7 at minimum. With the help of cards that uncap our maximum hand size, this can grow to even greater numbers.
Besides this, we also have cards that grow stronger based on the cards in your opponent's hand, punishing them for accepting our gifts whether it was willing or not. Such cards are my favorites, like Realm Seekers and Wolfcaller's Howl. Either way, using Whispersilk Cloak will allow these beefy creatures to slip in and take out anyone low on life, they're also excellent to allow us to easily trigger Círdan's effect repeatedly without fear. You can also copy them with a couple of spells in the deck for a hoard of dangerous creatures.
However, we also want to draw cards for a second reason and that's our two other wincons: Laboratory Maniac and Psychosis Crawler. The deck has some redundancy for Lab Man and Psychosis Crawler will be a huge threat immediately upon hitting the table, but our goal is to combo them with the below card...
Enter the Infinite. A normal person would cast this with Omniscience and if you want to add that to the deck, it's a sweet include, but no, we just pay 12 mana (14 - 16 mana for an instant win with the Lab Men). That ramp is all for this and it's still not easy, but it's always impressive when it does succeed. Now that the win cons are out of the way however, what do we do up to then?
Way of the Shipwright
Early game we want to do three things:
Ramp
Make allies
Set up group hug pieces
Simple stuff really. Play your hugs, get people on your side, and use that tongue of yours to get them to repay you in kind. Some people won't and that's okay. For now.
Mid game is where things get fun! We slap down Círdan and begin playing our more powerful creatures... and begin showing our true colors, but only a little. Show your hand to those who refuse to be your ally so other's know what's coming, but assure them they'll be fine as long as they listen. However, don't try and become a big threat, that will make everything go south fast.
Late game is where we are playing our Maros, if we didn't get them out for free thanks to Círdan, as well as trying to close out the game. Others may try to stop you or win themselves, so keep mana open for counters and removal. Your group hug cards are still useful too! Make an instant board with Sylvan Offering, draw tons of cards off Ingenious Mastery, or make a copy of your Maro with Replication Technique. This is also where you'll be wanting to pull off your finishing combo or use Rite of Replication on a non-legendary Maro to close out the game and win.
Círdan's Advice Corner
Before we close out this little guide, I'd like to offer some tips and tricks regarding a few... weirder cards, along with advice on voting.
Eon Frolicker
Well, this is a card. But, heck is it fun! Give someone an extra turn and in exchange gain protection from them. If you use Eon on someone, it's because someone else is going to win next turn via a combo and you don't have an answer. This will give someone else a chance to answer it and a reason for them to love you until you need to duel it out. Alternatively, dangerous but useful, you can use it on someone who you think will win next turn with a card that requires you to be targeted. They will either wait to win now or will take everyone else out, leaving just you two. Eon Frolicker is not easy to use, but it can cause some crazy events at the table.
Illusion of Choice
This will always make you a happy player when it's drawn. Illusion of Choice is an excellent combo piece that turns Círdan and the other 3 voting cards in the deck into the best possible outcome for you every time. It's preferable to use it when you can cast one of your other voting cards and attack with Círdan, but you can also just use it with Círdan to get something beefy on board or take an extra turn with Plea for Power.
Some quick advice on voting with Círdan as well. Always vote for the most dangerous person at the table. It's better they draw 1 card than Show and Tell. Tell others you're voting for them too and why, this may cause that person to vote for you, but it also lowers the chance of anyone getting a Show and Tell since the other players may vote for each other. Additionally, only play your other voting cards when either option will benefit you.
Replication Technique (and other cards like it)
40% of the group hug cards in the deck allow you to pick someone in specific rather than affect the whole table. They typically give you the same benefit or increased benefit when you do so. Use these to curry favor with the players lagging behind or to get out of trouble with someone who's a threat to you. People like it when you signal them out specifically for hugs and it also allows you to help others deal with the current big threat in the game. Play smart with these and you'll be rewarded politically!
Idle at the Grey Havens
There's a few cards I can't afford, purchase, or find in my collection currently but are great choices if you have them:
Expropriate (The ultimate poltical wincon)
Staff of Domination (Infinite mana with Kydele, allows you to win with Ingenious Mastery + Lab Man)
Omniscience (Get this out with Círdan and it's game over)
Westward We Sail
That's it! Thanks for reading my first deck tech. I've been playing this deck for 7 years now (originally used Edric, Spymaster of Trest) and every game with it can get wild. Just make sure people understand you're not here for CEDH and you'll be in for a fun time. The recent change to Círdan has really breathed new life into this deck for me and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Hey everyone! It’s been a long while, but today I’ve got an update on my very best commander deck: Aminatou, the Fateshifter. When I first bought her precon not quite a year after it came out, I quickly stuck her into my collection and stripped the deck for parts. After a while though, when my old Vona deck grew old, I started looking into a new angle. Thus, the first iteration of Aminatou (or at least my version of it) was born.
She started as an amalgamation of a flicker deck (based around her -1 ability) and an old superfriends angle I’d been working on for some time. This origin remains a visible part of the deck’s identity even today, with a total of eight ‘walkers and nearly half a dozen planeswalker support cards. Today, we’re looking into the absolute 15 must-have cards for building her yourself. Though these cards a numbered for the sake of this list, the number assigned is entirely arbitrary and not related to the card’s relevance to the deck relative to each other.
#1: Felidar Guardian
Card transcription: 3W, 1/4 Cat Beast. When it enters the battlefield, exile another permanent you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
Those of you who played Standard during the early days of Aether Revolt will recognize this cat as the pivotal partner of the Saheeli Rai infinite cats combo, which functioned by using Felidar Guardian’s enter-the-battlefield effect to essentially “reset” Saheeli, allowing her to -2 to create a duplicate Felidar, with each duplicate gaining haste and repeating the process. It does the former with Aminatou, using her -1 to flicker the Felidar and then Felidar flickering Aminatou in turn. Combine this with Panharmonicon or Oath of Teferi for infinite flickers as either Aminatou flickers something else before flickering Felidar (Oath) or Felidar flickers Aminatou and something else when it enters (Panharmonicon). Add in anything that draw cards and you can have infinite mana and draw with which to seek your win condition. Alternatively, these two with either Vela the Night Clad or Corpse Knight allows you to win on the spot if an opponent can’t stop you.
#2: Panharmonicon
Card transcription: 4, Artifact. If an artifact or creature entering the battlefield triggers a permanent you control, it triggers that permanent a second time.
Panharmonicon has gained a sort of infamy in EDH, and for good reason. It can double any enter-the-battlefield trigger, from Acidic Slime to Gray Merchant of Asphodel. As stated above, it’s a key combo piece for Aminatou.
#3: Oath of Teferi
Card transcription: 3WU, Legendary Enchantment. When it enters, exile another permanent you control until end of turn. and You can activate loyalty abilities of each of your planeswalkers twice each turn.
While much more niche to planeswalker decks, Oath of Teferi is an absolute powerhouse, though it must be included in a deck that already runs both blue and white. Activating each of your planeswalkers twice each turn is amazingly powerful in a deck that has both a planeswalker commander and seven others, and with Aminatou specifically it essentially functions as a second Panharmonicon.
#4: Rings of Brighthearth
Card transcription: 3, Artifact.Whenever you activate a non-mana ability, you may pay 2 to copy that ability.
While the constant cost of 2 mana for each ability being copied (which becomes more pressing once Oath of Teferi hits the board), some of those abilities are certainly well worth the cost. If you choose to run Basalt Monolith (which will not be appearing on this list), Rings of Brighthearth can essentially grant you infinite colorless mana, paying for all the planeswalker ability copies.
#5: Callous Bloodmage (honorable mention: Charming Prince)
Card transcription: 2B, 2/1 Vampire Warlock. When it enters choose one: Create a 1/1 Pest; You draw a card and lose 1 life; or Exile target player’s graveyard.
Transcription (honorable mention): 1W, 2/2 Human Noble. When it enters choose one: Scry 2; Gain 3 life; or Exile another creature you own until end of turn.
Charms have been historically appreciated for their flexibility, and modal creatures are essentially charms with repeatable effects in flicker decks. While both Callous Bloodmage and Charming Prince are amazing, our list will focus primarily on the latter. The Bloodmage’s token production is negligible, however the latter two options both have powerful options: drawing a card is always great and the third exiles an entire graveyard, severely hindering a reanimator deck (popular examples include Meren and Muldrotha) on its own. With the option to choose a different effect every time it enters, you have a one-card toolbox with a gadget for multiple occasions.
#6: Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
Card transcription: WUB, Legendary Planeswalker. It enters with loyalty equal to the number of lands you control. +1: Surveil 2. -3: Exile target creature. -6: Put an artifact from your hand or graveyard into play.
In the initial version of this deck, this variable slot was occupied by the 2nd Zendikar block Ob Nixilis. Dakkon, however, fills your needs at a lower mana value, has higher average starting loyalty, and can easily reanimate your artifacts (which, as you’ve no doubt noticed, there are quite a few that this deck loves). Even when you aren’t using his ult, his removal option is more powerful than Ob’s and gaining card selection rather than draw is a negligible difference.
#7: Liliana, Death’s Majesty
Card transcription: 3BB, Legendary Planeswalker. 5 loyalty. +1: Mill 2 cards and make a 2/2 zombie. -3: Reanimate a creature from your graveyard. It becomes a zombie. -7: Destroy all non-zombie creatures.
While her ultimate is largely irrelevant, Lili’s -3 ability is a substantial boon, allowing you to reanimate creatures while dodging expensive or color-intensive mana costs. Her plus is also moderately relevant, creating a blocker for herself while also digging for something to reanimate.
#8: Omen of the Dead
Card transcription: B, Enchantment. Flash. When it enters, return a creature from your graveyard to your hand.
This simple common from Theros 2 is easy to skip over, and that’s where its power lies. For 1 mana as an instant, you can recur a creature back to your hand, and your various flicker cards can abuse it to grab more creatures from your graveyard. Because it’s so simple, seemingly low-power, your opponents often won’t think to remove it at first. It’s just an ordinary common, right?
#9: Omen of the Sea
Card transcription: 1U, Enchantment. Flash. When it enters, scry 2 and draw a card.
The blue omen is good for essentially the same reason as the black. It’s cheap, it has flash, and it provides a moderate benefit. Really, the only one of this cycle that isn’t worth playing in Esper is the white one.
#10: Oath of Jace
Card transcription: 2U, Legendary Enchantment. When it enters, draw three and discard two. and At the beginning of your upkeep, scry equal to the number of planeswalkers you control.
This deck will likely want to run most, if not all, of the Gatewatch oaths it can. Oath of Jace, however, is a particularly powerful card advantage piece. As you accumulate planeswalkers on your board, it can scry deeper into your deck, and when in doubt you can just flicker it to immediately draw three. Discarding the two isn’t much of a problem with the amount of recursion that naturally fits into the deck.
#11: Restoration Gearsmith
Card transcription: 2WB, 3/3 Human Artificer. When it enters, return an artifact or creature from your graveyard to your hand.
Restoration Gearsmith’s effect is simple recursion, much like what you have plentiful access to. What makes it significant, however, is its ability to grab both creatures and artifacts, allowing it to retrieve Mulldrifters and Panharmonicons alike.
#12: Cloudblazer (honorable mention: Mulldrifter)
Card transcription: 3WU, 2/2 Human Scout. Flying. When it enters, gain 2 life and draw two cards.
Transcription (honorable mention: 4U, 2/2 Elemental. Flying. When it enters, draw 2 cards. You can cast it for 2U to sacrifice it immediately upon entering.
Perhaps one of your best cards for draw (second to Oath of Jace), Cloudblazer’s ability to gain life as well helps buy more time with which to draw and play win conditions. Mulldrifter is nearly identical, but it trades the life gain for a cheaper casting option.
#13: Yorion, Sky Nomad
Card transcription: 3HH (Hybrid: WU), 4/5 Legendary Bird Serpent. Flying. When it enters, exile any number of other nonland permanents you control until end of turn.
While not a powerful combo piece like Felidar Guardian or a draw engine like Oath of Jace, Yorion certainly brings his own might to the table. On entering, you can use him to re-trigger the enter-the-battlefield effects of any permanent you control other than a land, and he can reset the loyalty of any of your planeswalkers. Since his effect also triggers on his own entry, you can flicker him to flicker your entire board at once.
#14: Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Card transcription: 3BB, 2/4 Zombie. When it enters, each opponent loses life equal to your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the total life lost this way.
As many of you who’ve played commander extensively know, Gray Merchant of Asphodel (or Gary) can be powerful even outside of mono black decks, making it the most versatile of the devotion cards. Besides Vela or Corpse Knight, Gary is your most reliable win condition, blasting each opponent from anywhere between three and eight life every time it enters and gaining you a bunch of life of your own. In a flicker deck, that difference adds up very quickly.
#15: Sanctum of Eternity
Card transcription: Land. Tap: Add one colorless mana. 2, Tap: Return a commander you own from the battlefield to your hand (only during your turn).
While it certainly feels weird finishing this list off with a land, Sanctum of Eternity deserves it. With the deck centering around Aminatou’s -1 ability, she’ll run out of loyalty very quickly; Sanctum allows you to bounce her back to hand before you spend her last loyalty counter, so you can replay her fresh to keep going.
She may have been a small child for the past four years, but Aminatou has grown a lot since I first built her deck. While the core identity hasn’t changed, she’s improved her approach significantly, and remains a blast to play even next to many commanders of today. So whether you want to have fun with my take on Aminatou or are simply looking to inspire your next brew, I hope to see you all on the battlefield.
