Commander of the Week
Or Commanders Rather: Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist and Vial Smasher the Fierce
Hello again, I’m sorry it’s been a while. The last few weeks have been busy and I haven’t gotten round to building any new decks up until recently. I had been meaning to come up with a deck for one of the four color commanders, but they all seem to build themselves, Yidris with his Storm, Atraxa with her Infect, Saskia, with her ummm... Aggression etc. The partners however do trigger some thought. There’s probably a good combination for all of them. But I found that these two really know how to work together. They both cost three mana and combine to form Grixis colors, Vial Smasher deals damage to an opponent at random equal to the converted mana cost of the first spell you cast each turn. Ludevic is a bit more political, giving them incentive to send that damage elsewhere in exchange for card draw.
Vial Smasher - Random Damage
The vial smasher side can be mainly what you would use for any other rakdos deck; ways to deal massive damage, no matter the cost. I have used lots of cards that deal such damage, cards like Vicious Shadows, Stalking Vengeance, Warstorm Surge. Big mana costed creatures and other spells combined with Vial Smasher’s ability mean even more damage the random target makes it even more fun. I’ve found that creatures with Evoke such as Spitebellows, Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter are very good with vial smasher as it takes into account their mana cost rather than the evoke cost when you cast them (or at least I think it does). Rakdos, Lord of Riots also makes creature spells a lot cheaper but doesn’t change their actual mana costs meaning they deal lots of damage for a potentially efficient cost.
Ludevic - Drawing Cards isn’t always a good thing
Ludevic adds a little political group hug to the deck, allowing players to draw cards if someone other than you has lost life on that turn, which gives them incentive to point that damage at someone else. Though in grixis drawing cards rarely leads anywhere pleasant: Creatures that deal incremental damage such as Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Psychosis Crawler and Fate Unraveler combined with wheel effects such as Windfall, Whispering Madness and Reforge the Soul could be devastating to your opponents. Sangromancer could also avail herself of these wheel effects netting you a fair bit of life. Don’t forget that Tainted Remedy or Erebos, God of the Dead to make sure they can’t scrape their way back too.
Other ways to drain them dry
There are many effects that can drain each opponent and put you back on a healthier looking life total. There have been fewer of these effects of late. Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Kokusho, the Evening Star and Exsanguinate are very good examples of efficient life drain spells that are very hard to prevent. Maga, Traitor to Mortals is another good one, but it doesn’t net you any life and it costs a lot of black mana. If you find that an opponent is getting too big for their boots and has tons of life. there is always Repay in Kind (or Sorin Markov’s -3 ability if you want to be that guy) which will bring everyone to the lowest life total among players giving you a chance to swiftly finish them.
And Finally...
This Partner combo still only forms a three color combination so the land base shouldn’t differ too much from grixis decks in the past. Crumbling Necropolis, Halimar Depths, Reliquary Tower and Leechridden Swamp are all good lands to have in here. I try to use the relevant Pains, Shocks, Fetches, Temples and Check lands, where available, on top of some utility lands in any commander mana base, which seems to work. I’ll try to post my version of this deck on here shortly. Until Next Time, Happy Deck Building.