Hello and welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table. The time has come to talk about Judith, the Scourge Diva. For 25 cents, you can pick up your own copy of Judy or brew around the copy your drafted in your Double Masters 2022 events.
Let’s get a look at that text box. For 1BR, you get a 2/2 Human Shaman that says:
“Other creatures you control get +1/+0.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, Judith, the Scourge Diva deals 1 damage to any target.”
Let’s talk about the cards that I think deserve to see play with Judith.
What you want is a bunch of creatures to cast or return from the graveyard to play. The more creatures you bring back, the more creatures die, and the more triggers you get from Judith. Nether Traitor loves a good death loop. A creature you control dies, pay B to return Nether Traitor to play, bring back another creature, sacrifice Nether Traitor, then sacrifice the other creature and pay B again. Lots of triggers.
Gravecrawler is great if you’ve got zombies in the deck. Use these deaths to pump Juri, Master of the Revue, sacrifice them to Lyzolda, the Blood Witch for value. Tymaret, the Murder King can dance between the graveyard and your hand, netting value along the way.
You need sacrifice outlets. Mayhem Devil belongs in this deck. Judith needs creatures to die and the best way to be in control of when those creatures die is to have sacrifice outlets. Thermopod can hit for 5 with Judith out and is a Phyrexian Altar for just red. Use this slug to your advantage. Obviously, Phyrexian Altar is worth an inclusion. I recommend it, but it’s a pricey card. Altar was just reprinted in Double Masters 2022, so it’s the lowest it’s going to be for a while. Goblin Bombardment is also a great pick for doubling down on pinging.
Mahadi, Emporium Master is one of my favourite cards from the new Commander Legends set. As long as your creatures keep hitting the yard, you’ll be able to fuel up on mana. It’s incredibly efficient and is what I always wanted out of Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge. Stock up on treasures so you can pay for Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton’s resurrections.
Raphael, Fiendish Savior makes extra little guys for each time a nontoken creature is put in your graveyard from anywhere. With Judith on board, you get 3/2 Devils that ping when they die with lifelink! They might not be nontoken creatures so they won’t trigger Judith, but they definitely still sting!
Go all in on big damage with these speedy elementals. These creatures die the turn you play them and swing in hard for an extra +1/+0 and ping an extra one when they go when the Diva’s singing. Lightning Skelemental has added value in smacking two cards out of a players hand when it connects for combat damage, which with 6 base power and trample, is very likely to happen.
Pair with Phyrexian Reclamation or Thunderkin Awakener for swings every turn. Olivia, Crimson Bride is also a great choice to pair them with since they’re not likely to get exiled as they die every time.
I know he makes token copies of them instead, but Feldon of the Third Path can bring back the swinging lightning boys for more damage. They won’t trigger Judith, but they still get the +1/+0 buff.
Put this on Mayhem Devil or give it to Judy and watch your dying creatures take down your opponents creatures too. Giving Judith deathtouch and lifelink makes her a very powerful threat and keeps your life up with every nontoken kicking the bucket. It’s not the flashiest but will definitely make the table fear you.
Judith being a 3 mana commander and a bunch of good pieces mentioned in this article also being odd, we’re off to a good start to include Obosh as a companion. Each ping becomes two damage. The Lightning elementals end up doing 12 to 14 damage. Something to consider for anybody thinking about Judith as a commander.
Yawgmoth and Mikaeus and two non-token non-Human creatures plus Judith (and a way to offset the life loss – maybe even a wincon that gains life like Gray Merchant of Asphodel) = combo. Don’t deck yourself!
Step 1: Sacrifice creature 1 to Yawgmoth, targeting creature 2 with the -1/-1 counter.
Step 2: Creature 1 returns with a +1/+1 counter thanks to Mikaeus giving it Undying.
Step 3: Sacrifice creature 2 to Yawgmoth targeting creature 1 with the -1/-1 counter, negating the +1/+1 from undying.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3. Step one will now negate the +1/+1 counter on creature 2.
I could have made it easier by including Murderous Redcap instead of two creatures, but this shows that it can work with more than just one little guy.
That does it! I love Rakdos and this is right up my alley. I have a Lyzolda, the Blood Witch deck that I really love and sometimes toss Judith or Tymaret, the Murder King in the command zone instead. Lyzolda is more of a token build, but Judith still gets some pings out there and the +1/+0 helps the tokens become swarm rather than just an aristocrats strategy!
I hope you enjoyed this entry! Thank you so much for reading.
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Hello and welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table.
This time, let’s talk about a Commander I have a soft spot for: Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. Sitting at a single quarter for a copy, Sidisi used to be about $6. I built a deck for her back in 2015 with a ton of really cool cards and synergies. I was headed to my friend’s place after a show and had the deck in my car which was broken into. All my decks, Meren, Zur, and the Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck were gone.
I haven’t revisited her because it’s a painful memory, and now with the reprint of the Sultai self mill Shaman Sidisi, it’s the perfect time for an article on her.
For 1BGU, Sidisi sits at 3/3 with a enters the battlefield AND attack trigger for you to mill three. With many, many Sultai cards being able to make great use of the graveyard, this is already incredible. However, whenever one or more creatures are put into your graveyard from your library, you create a 2/2 black Zombie token.
That means mill, but also graveyard tutors like Buried Alive, Gravebreaker Lamia, and, of course, Entomb.
Let’s shore up some spice for this Naga mamma!
You make a lot of Zombies in a Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck. Zombies tend to die a ton. This means with Archghoul of Thraben is either you draw a Zombie or surveil 1 for each Zombie that dies!
Archghoul and Sidisi on the board, a Zombie token dies, you look at the top card – it’s a Gravecrawler! Send it to the graveyard, make a new Zombie token, spend a black mana, play the Gravecrawler. Do you have Tormod, the Desecrator? Boom, another Zombie token.
I expect this card to be one that people forget triggers for, to be honest. Try it out!
This card is so much better than people realize. In a deck that builds a crazy graveyard, Split the Spoils allows you to Fact or Fiction with five permanent cards from your graveyard. Your opponent picks a pile for you to bring back to hand and the other pile goes to your graveyard.
This means that unless your opponent gave you a 5-0 pile split, you’re probably going to get at least a Zombie, not to mention likely two or three permanents back to hand from your yard.
People read exile at the beginning of this text box and don’t realize that the cards go to hand or graveyard, none stay in exile! Try this one out!
Put creatures back on top of your library for you to get more Zombies and to avoid decking yourself. But more importantly, set yourself up to play that Aboleth Spawn from your graveyard by putting it on top, swinging in with Kagha or Sidisi, getting a Zombie and then just casting it from your graveyard. There are lots of moving parts here, but I think they are worth it!
You will have no shortage of sacrifice-worthy creatures in your Sidisi decks and chances are, Sivriss’ ability will make you one more. Best case, this is draw three with a Zombie token or it could even be mill three, take away nine life, and get a Zombie token. If you have Tormod, the Desecrator, if an opponent doesn’t pay three life, that’s an extra Zombie token!
Self-explanatory include here. It’s just a new card and it counts all players, not just you, for token creation for creatures milled. It’s basically another Sidisi with an activated ability to mill you or an opponent instead of attacking with your Commander. Solid lil guy!
Fill up that graveyard! Doom Whisperer lets your surveil twice per two life. That’s a hell of a deal. Turn your life into Zombie tokens and let them swing at your opponents. Taigam skips your draw step in favour of card selection. Now you don’t have to worry about milling yourself out of a game. This is the same reason to run Underrealm Lich, a more resilient version of this effect and more insistent one as it replaces all of your draws. Underrealm Lich sees play in 52% of Sidisi decks on EDHREC, so I’m not including it in my list, but if you’re reading this attentively, consider this a B-B-B-BONUS.
I have always really liked Taigam, but never figured out how to make him feel right as my commander. He is a very interesting card, but the control style he leans to is difficult for me to get on board with.
This artifact is built for token decks. Exile a token to reanimate a creature from your graveyard for 2B? Sign me up immediately. Mill yourself into a Massacre Wurm? Looks like that Zombie I just made is being sacrificed to the Lord of Murder and bringing back the Wurm to wreck face. Incredible card that has over-performed in all the decks I’ve seen it in. Truly remarkable!
This is a nice little bit of tech for those Sidisi, Brood Tyrant players looking to play with +1/+1 counters. Moss-Pit Skeleton gets back on top of your library every time a +1/+1 counter is placed on a creature you control. That means a guaranteed Zombie token when you buff Sidisi with Unspeakable Symbol and go slapping. I saw NeoRoyal at CommandFest playing this and I thought that it was fun tech for this niche version of the deck.
You’re filling up your graveyard, might as well use it. I love Araumi of the Dead Tide. Araumi is one of my fave commanders to pull out and drudge with. Encore is a lot of fun and the ability to make use of fallen creatures while eating up no longer relevant lands and artifacts to get the job done is worth a play-test at least. Try it out!
That does it for today’s edition of A Seat at the Table. Check in again soon while I continue to cover Double Masters 2022 legends!
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Hello and welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table. .
This week, I’m taking a closer look at Varina, Lich Queen.
Varina is a 4/4 Zombie Wizard for 1WUB that makes you cycle through your deck like crazy if you’ve got a board full of Zombies. Let’s look at that textbox:
“Whenever you attack with one or more Zombies, draw that many cards, then discard that many cards. You gain that much life.
{2}, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.”
Given the popularity of Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver and The Scarab God, we know that Zombies are a very beloved tribe in Commander, but they both beat out Varina by a lot on EDHREC. Why is that? Varina offers card draw like Wilhelt and something to do with the graveyard like Scarab God. Hell, she even looks really cool and offers up a whole other colour! So why aren’t more people playing Varina?
There’s an abundance of cards to pick from in a Zombie deck and tech like Rooftop Storm with the non-stop parade of Blue/Black Zombies means that Esper isn’t exactly considered the Zombie colours. Varina is here to mesh the Blue/Black Zombies of Innistrad and the White/Black Zombies of Amonkhet. This was expressly stated by the designers.
With that said, let’s take a look at some inclusions to Varina that will hopefully get you to build her after drafting her in Double Masters 2022. More specifically, let’s take a look at some cards that don’t necessarily slot neatly into the more popular Zombie builds – excluding the regular Esper removal suite as well.
Bone Miser is a creature version of one of my favourite enchantments, Waste Not. Except this time, rather than caring about what your opponents discard, you care about what you discard. That means you’re in control. It’s a big beefy Zombie so it attacks for lots, and when you discard, you get to decide what you’d like to discard. Remember that Varina makes you discard in combat, so discarding a land with Bone Miser during combat means you’ll lose that mana if you change phases. Don’t be afraid to use your generals ability and make some more Zombies.
As a die hard aristocrats player, I can tell you that these are my favourite cards in any Varina deck. Anytime a Zombie enters will trigger both of them and I can safely assert that the only reason we don’t hear about Wayward Servant more is because it requires the entering creature to be a Zombie. We’d all know about it if Varina were more popular because this guy can take games!
Shout out to Backgrounds in general! Folk Hero is just a solid include because you can draw a card whenever you cast a Zombie or Wizard for the first time a turn. That’s pretty good! Haunted One is here to end games, though. Undying makes sure your non-token Zombies or Wizards have a shot at coming back and it’s gravy if they’ve got a good ETB. Varina doesn’t have a tap ability but she’s got 4/4 that gets turned into 6/4 if she swings. Cowards will prefer the Springleaf Drum, but I say send her in for the kill!
One of White’s only way to generate Zombie tokens… and not just any Zombie tokens: 4/4 Vigilant Zombie Warrior tokens. Oketra is a Zombie herself, so she will trigger Varina; she is resilient and comes back to hand when she dies, and she’s got Double Strike meaning Haunted One! Haunted One! Haunted One!
You want more Zombies don’t you? Tormod doesn’t get the respect I think he deserves. Toss him in Kethis decks! Tortured Existence and Tormod is a “one mana per Zombie” making machine! In this deck, you are going to be shockingly aggro. Varina loves turning Zombies sideways and Tormod just makes more of them. These aren’t the lumbering Zombies, these are the speedy ones that go for the throat.
This is pretty self-explanatory. Give your tokens evasion. Wonder sees play in The Scarab God if it’s pretty dependant on the God’s activated ability. That said, Varina can get Wonder in the graveyard as a surprise for combat. Surprise unblockable army is very powerful. Aven Wind Guide isn’t a surprise, but you can chuck it to the yard early to Embalm later, or you can play it for alpha strike turn. Either way, these are bigger swings than people expect.
Read the card and read Varina and tell me this isn’t a one-sided board wipe every turn. This card won me a game this weekend at CommandFest Montreal in my Anje Falkenrath deck and is partly what inspired this article! Shout out to a great card!
Returning stuff to your hand to pitch is useful. Master of Death can see some Wilhelt play (rather, should see play), but doesn’t make it beyond 22% of the Rotcleaver’s decks on EDHREC.
Haunted Crossroads gets your cards back to the top of your library, so if you’re in danger of decking yourself before it’s time (see LabMan), or if you just need something back, you’ve got some utility here.
Phyexian Reclamation is one of my favourite enchantments in the game and the way Varina keeps pumping up your life, this card is a winner to keep getting threats to hand.
This is a fun lil card that doesn’t see much play anywhere. It steals a creature based on toughness. At its base, four mana to steal something with toughness 2 or less isn’t great at sorcery speed. But turn that into Varina discarding Welcome to the Fold during attack step, Madness casting for something important, or just sneaking away a blocker? You’ll have the table mesmerized.
Each card you discard drains any target. Swing with five Zombies, looks like you can take out that Oracle of Mul Daya and your other opponents’ dorks. Gain life, too? Don’t mind if I do!
You cycle through your deck like crazy, so it is very likely that if combat damage doesn’t close it out, this is a solid backup wincon.
Another wincon on the table! Considering you’ll be gaining a ton of life through out your attack steps, I think Reservoir is a classic kill that people will see coming, so might distract from the real plan of Lab Man or combat damage. The looming threat of activation when someone does something at the table to threaten you is also very enticing!
And that does it!
I picked ten this week because I really, really, really like Varina and hope more people play her! Thanks for reading.
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Welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table.
This week, I tackle Three King’s Loot owner, Greg Thibault’s favourite Commander: Shattergang Brothers!
With the latest printing in Double Masters being about a quarter, Shattergang Brothers will surprise newer players with its flavour and utility. There’s a fine like and a balance to strike with Shattergang Brothers. Let’s see how we can make these bad boys shine.
Liquimetal Torque is one of the best mana rocks Wizards of the Coast has printed in recent memory. Especially for mono red decks or Rx decks that have to pack a ton of artifact removal. This turns your non-overloaded Vandalblast into a single target removal spell of any nonland permanent. The Coating lets you hit lands, too – but it won’t let you tap it for mana.
Need to sacrifice an artifact but don’t have one on board besides the Torque and you’ve got a bunch of token creatures? Turn one of those lil’ guys into an artifact to sack to the Brothers so you can force an artifact edict for all of your opponents.
Are you already sacrificing a clue for that edict effect, but an opponent doesn’t have an artifact to sacrifice? Turn their Commander into an artifact! Bye bye, big guy! Maybe they only have one artifact that they really want to keep – turn another piece on their board into one and give them a real decision to make.
Unsurprisingly, these cards are great inclusions in this deck and are on the cheap end… for now. I fully expect Torque to go up over time.
These creatures fall under a category I’m calling Double Up, specifically Double Up – Enchantments. There are a bunch of enchantments out there to play, but more often than not, they’re things you want to keep around like Riveteers Ascendancy or Vicious Shadows. Enchantments aren’t as represented as Artifacts in the sense that there aren’t thousands of cards that create enchantment tokens. That’s why I’ve targeted this bunch of cards, even including the truly meh Forlorn Pseudamma (at least it has Intimidate!) Which is quite literally scraping the bottom of the barrel.
On the flip side though, I love Felhide Spiritbinder. Combine it with Cryptolith Rite and Seedborn Muse for an efficient way to use this Minotaur Shaman that’s ready to copy ANY creature on the battlefield AND make it an enchantment creature token. It feels like magical Christmas land to think about it all but imagine: untap step, trigger, target Dockside Extortionist, then sacrifice it as an enchantment to Shattergang Brothers to get rid of Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, and an opponent’s Doubling Season! It’s open-ended possibility. Yes, it costs five mana to create an enchantment creature token and then sacrifice to the Goblin Bros, but you knew coming into this deck with one look at the Commander that they’re hungry for mana. The flexibility this gives you is amazing. You create a create, hopefully with a relevant ETB or ability, and then sacrifice it before it goes away to edict for a creature or artifact. Chef’s kiss. No notes.
Pharika is a cheap to cast God that smacks face well and makes good blockers if you’ve got the disposable creatures in your graveyard. This inclusion is mostly a surprise to your opponents. It’s got its applications, but make no mistake: Pharika is in the deck for the enchantment creature token creation.
I think this card is nifty. You create and control the auras and attach them to any creatures you can target. If the creatures go away before you can pop them to the Shattergang enchantment ability, then you’ll have a Treasure for mana or to sacrifice to the Gang – not to mention, you’re pinging that creature’s controller for one. I think this card has a lot of fun baked into it and hope to see it more, especially in an enchantress build with Constellation going wild.
Mahadi is a stupid good card. Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge gets an upgrade (depending who you ask) – Mahadi doesn’t care if the creatures that died were tokens, this Cat Devil is paying you for all of them.
In this deck, a turn with Mahadi out looks like this: Sacrifice a creature to Shattergang Brothers’ ability, four creatures have died. Go to combat, maybe more die. Maybe you can activate the ability more than once or you’ve got Illusionist’s Bracers or Battlemage’s Bracers on them. Many, many creatures die. Mahadi sees all of them and gives you four Treasures minimum in one activation as long as each opponent had a creature. Then you can use those Treasures to pay for or be sacrificed to the Brothers to edict away your opponents’ artifacts.
I think Mahadi is an all-star anyway and recommend getting the etched-foil versions while they’re under a buck, because that won’t be forever.
Now, we arrive at Double Up – Artifacts.
Tireless Provisioner turns your land drops into versatile fodder that you can use for card draw, life gain, or more mana, but they can also be sacrificed to the Brothers to get rid of your opponents trinkets.
Combine the Provisioner with Academy Manufactor (HOW IS THIS A REAL CARD?!?!) for some token making shenanigans.
Loyal Apprentice loves helping out the Goblin Twins when they’re hanging out together by creating a Thopter every time you go into combat. Artifact creatures have two types that can get tossed to the Brothers and they make for excellent attackers and blockers in the air.
Oni-Cult Anvil only needs one artifact to go to your graveyard on your turn to make an artifact creature that you can use next turn to keep the cycle going. Good luck keeping creatures and artifacts! Also, when the Brothers aren’t around, the anvil still allows you to drain the table for one.
This section is reserved for the “duh” picks for the deck. Tergrid allows you to take the things that get sacrificed.
Dictate of Erebus and Grave Pact turn your Shattergang Brothers creature sacrifice ability into a double creature edict. That’s not all! Artifact creatures being sacrificed to the Brothers as an artifact still trigger Dictate and Pact as creatures, so you’ll edict for an artifact and a creature. Solemn Simulacrum, get in the bin!
Mayhem Devil lets you send 4 damage for every time you edict all of your opponents with the Gang-Gang abilities. Even when you’re not activating the abilities of your Commander, just using Treasure tokens gets you a ping from this bad boy. Bootleggers’ Stash, thank you for being here.
LET’S DOUBLE UP!
That does it for another edition of A Seat at the Table. Thanks for stopping by and see you at Commandfest Montreal!
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Hello and welcome back to another edition of A Seat at the Table. With Double Masters 2022 having such a huge gap of value in the rare slot ranging from hundreds of dollars to 25 cents, I thought why not find some silver linings and build around some of the less expensive legendary creatures that saw a reprint in 2X2.
This time, Kaervek the Merciless gets the build-a-beast treatment while a copy from this set will run you just under a buck.
So what does he do?
For a whole seven mana (5BR), Kaervek the Merciless is a 5/4 Legendary Human Shaman whose powerful ability can take over a table:
“Whenever an opponent casts a spell, Kaervek the Merciless deals damage equal to that spell’s mana value to any target.”
Of course, this only does stuff as long as your opponents cast spells, but as a Kaervek player, you learn quickly that players need to cast spells. It’s your job to nudge or force them to. By this I mean you can go group hug or you can go hard in the paint as a punisher deck. Do you want to offer favours to your opponents like “if you cast a spell, I’ll snipe their Commander” or do you want to pressure pressure pressure?
Let’s take a look at some of the tech I’ve chosen for this edition of A Seat at the Table.
Allow me to toot my own horn about one of my favourite cards. It was shortly after Prosper, Tome-Bound released and artist/content creator Sheepwave and I were in a Spelltable pod on Twitch when I slapped this bad boy on the field and everybody had a reaction. Sheepwave took to Twitter and posted a pic of the card saying something to the effect of THIS CARD IS NOT OKAY! Then in the coming weeks, Uba Mask saw a bit of a spike.
That said, I think it’s an excellent card to smack onto the table. With the possibility of losing their card to exile, it will force them to play their spells. Of course, this means the Mask and Kaervek will be targeted, but that’s where you want to play…
Your opponents won’t be too happy to feel like each of their spells costs them life, creatures, or planeswalkers with Kaervek. When they swing at Kaervek, it’s time for a little judo so you can flip that momentum onto them instead. My favourites of this bunch are Deflecting Swat because it’s free, Wild Ricochet because now you flip the script double, Wyll’s Reversal because possibly the same for one less, and Bolt Bend because Kaervek is a 5 power creature meaning it’ll cost you R most of the time.
Don’t like choosing between a creature or a player? Why not both!
With Toralf, God of Fury, give excess damage to any other target. That means if an opponent plays a Solemn Simulacrum, you can ping their Tymna and then their Oracle of Mul Daya. Screw that Abzan player!
(Note: the Abzan player is a fake player in this case, it’s just hype – look at how much damage is getting slung around!)
This reminds me of one of my favourite tribal decks, helmed by Sevinne, the Chronoclasm.
You really want to put the hurtin’ on somebody? Threaten the table with a Brash Taunter while Fiery Emancipation is out. Keep Kaervek safe with Lightning Greaves and Darksteel Plate (Look! Bonus picks!) and wait for somebody to cast even a one mana spell. Here’s how it works.
Your opponent casts a one mana spell, Kaervek triggers targeting Brash Taunter. Since it’s a source you control (Kaervek), that damage is tripled to three. Then Brash Taunter, taking three damage, gets to deal three damage, but because it’s ALSO a source you control, Fiery Emancipation triples that again, meaning a single one mana spell cast by your opponent can be mirrored out to make nine damage.
1 becomes 9, 2 becomes 18, 3 becomes 27, 4 becomes 36, and 5 becomes 45, aka game over even if they’ve managed to stay above starting life total.
Remove the ability to gain life and pressure your opponents’ life totals so they’re less likely to cast things, or if they do, your Kaervek triggers can take them out on the stack before their spell even resolves. Pretty simple and self-explanatory.
These work in this deck from what I understand. I have chatted with pals who are judges and they agree. If we’re wrong, please let me know, but I’ve done the requisite research and it looks right.
Here’s rules text from Gatherer regarding Mindslaver:
You choose which spells the other player casts, and make all decisions as those spells are cast and when they resolve. For example, you choose the target for that player’s Shock, and what card that player gets with Diabolic Tutor.
The wording here says that the other player casts the spells in the end. So if you control your opponent and they’ve got some sort of way to generate a ton of mana and you’ve still got Kaervek out, have fun! Every spell you make that player cast nets you a trigger that can be slung anywhere you want.
That does it for another edition of A Seat at the Table. Thanks for stopping by and see you at Commandfest Montreal!
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Hello and happy Double Masters 2022 era! I hope you all opened good stuff whether cracking packs or drafting.
It isn’t lost on me that there a massive gap between money spent and the cards in the rare slots. We can’t all open Dockside Extortionist!
That said, you can make the best out of your Double Masters bulk by taking an inexpensive legend and turning it into a new deck.
Let’s talk about a legendary Vampire who was overshadowed by its original face Commander. That’s right: Edgar Markov’s precon came with two other new legends and one of them was reprinted for the first time in Double Masters 2022.
Mathas, Fiend Seeker is a very fun Commander. I have a Mathas deck myself that I affectionately have dubbed Mathas “Everything Feels Like a Curse but Isn’t One” where I play stuff like Polluted Bonds and Vicious Shadows.
Before we move forward, let’s take a look at what Mathas, Fiend Seeker does.
“Menace
At the beginning of your end step, put a bounty counter on target creature an opponent controls. For as long as that creature has a bounty counter on it, it has “When this creature dies, each opponent draws a card and gains 2 life.””
With one look at Mathas’ text box, it becomes pretty clear that he needs your opponents to have some creatures and for your opponents’ creatures to die to really benefit from that second ability. The more your opponents’ creatures die, the more that Menace becomes relevant.
Because you have to choose a creature an opponent controls to gain the ability to give its controller’s opponents to gain advantage, Mathas, Fiend Seeker is a political Commander. You’ll have people pointing fingers at each other and suggesting creatures they think are going to die next or promising to use their Generous Gift on a problem creature if you put a bounty counter on it. This is flavourful as hell and brings a fun dynamic to the table.
While you could shut the life gain down with Erebos, God of the Dead and Tainted Remedy, I think there are more fun ways to lean into the mayhem that you’ll sow.
Here are a handful of cards I think will really shine in a Mathas, Fiend Seeker deck.
Starting with a card that you can get for cheap soon thanks to Double Masters 2022, Forbidden Orchard is a card I’d assume would be a staple of any Mathas deck regardless of theme. Not only does it fix your colours in a colour combination not known for its mana, it also provides your opponents with creatures and remember saying something about opponents having creatures die being a pretty important part of gaining anything from Mathas’ ability. Pick this up now, though. I cannot recommend this card enough in 3+ colour decks regardless of theme. There’s always someone who will offer a favour. In my experience, there’s a lot of fun to be had by partnering with the opponent with a sacrifice outlet by giving them a Spirit token for them to sacrifice after you put a bounty counter on it. Just make sure you’ve got Vicious Shadows on the board and then you can target the player with the Reliquary Tower and Consecrated Sphinx.
Are you really looking to make a friend? Why don’tcha marry ‘em!
Wedding Ring is a card I’m embarrassed to say I paid way too much for when it came out considering it hasn’t gone into all the decks I thought it would. But the one deck it did make the cut in was Mathas, Fiend Seeker’s Everything Feels Like a Curse but Isn’t One. If your partner decides to pop one of the creatures you’ve marked with a bounty counter on their turn, as long as it wasn’t theirs, you’ll draw two cards and gain four life. But if your partner becomes wise to this and decides to save their removal for your turn so they can benefit from it, not only are you getting them to use their instant-speed removal, but you can probably convince them to do it while you’ve still got a main phase to play with and they’ve just given you a card. You’ll either get somebody generating you a ton of value or basically a minion with a cannon pointed at the creatures you target on the board.
Most of the time, the other opponents get jealous, but who will they come for first? Probably the one putting in the work to destroy. It’s classic Jerry Springer where the guy cheats on his girlfriend but when she comes out she attacks the other woman when she should be coming at the guy. Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
Sometimes, you need your counters to serve multiple purposes. With Nils, you turn your bounty counters into taxes should their controllers wish to send some hurting your way. Each end step, you can even make them bigger, but I don’t think that’s the best thing to do. Stack those bounty counters instead, because when Nils is gone and they swing at you, a well placed Terminate means you’ll get to draw three cards and gain six life if you piled on the bounty counters this way.
I didn’t want to give too much away earlier, but Mathas having Menace is a bigger deal with you’ve got this Background on the battlefield. What better way is there to have a creature with a bounty counter die than to have it attack into someone’s deathtoucher or bigger creature? With a bounty counter on it, the likelihood of the attacked player not blocking and killing the bounty hunted creature drops significantly because no one can resist the siren’s song that is drawing cards and getting rid of something an opponent controls. If you can force a situation where you can get two bounty counter having creatures to smash into each other to send them to their graveyards, that’s just chef’s kiss, baby. Well done.
Finally, I’m ending with a card that I have a really soft spot for. Combat Calligrapher was in the Silverquill Statement precon with Breena, the Demagogue and it creates flying Inkling attackers that can negate your opponents life gain from the bounty counters going off. But it also creates Inkling creatures for your opponents if they attack someone other than you. This means that every time there is a combat scenario, your opponents will likely take two extra damage per Inkling created.
What’s more is as long as the Calligrapher sticks around, those tokens your opponents create can’t attack you or planeswalkers you control. But that doesn’t matter since you’ll be putting bounty counters on them and your opponents will be very tempted to smash into each other for that sweet, sweet card draw.
Yeah, yeah. Thematically, it fits and mechanically, it destroys any creature with a bounty counter on it. However, the bounty counters it puts on other creatures do not carry the rest of the ability granted by Mathas at end steps. Just a heads up. This wasn’t originally on my list, but I figured I’d cover it since it’s a rare from Tempest that hasn’t had a reprint and sits at $5. I think it might see a reprint on The List as a nod to Mathas being in Double Masters, but that’s a bet that I won’t put much on. I also didn’t want to include it primarily because it’s like the first card people find when building Mathas while searching bounty counters on scryfall.com and I wanted to provide you with some cool stuff.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back next time with some more to claim that seat at the table.
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Hello and welcome back to A Seat at the Table, the column where I talk to you about Magic: The Gathering’s most popular format Commander!
We’re rounding out the last of the Dead Three God creatures in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate: Bhaal, Lord of Murder.
Let’s cover some fun, rad cards to pop into your Bhaal decks. But before that, let’s find out what Bhaal actually does.
Beginning with the text shared by all three Gods:
“As long as your life total is less than or equal to half your starting life total, Bhaal, Lord of Murder has indestructible.”
Already, not going to lie, at 5 mana value for a 4/4, Bhaal can be a Jund beater that wears equipment and Aura’s well enough to go in for the kill.
For Bhaal’s secondary effect, it says:
“Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature and goad it.”
Now, we’re talking. This is wildly flexible, as you can buff your own creatures and goad them, making them the relentless beat sticks you need.
So what does Bhaal need? Non-token creatures to die. Whether the counters get placed on problematic creatures your opponents control to send them elsewhere, or stacked on Bhaal to get in for some boom-boom-pow, you will definitely need a fat stack of non-token creatures to hit the bin to make it happen.
I realized while writing this that there is no colloquial term for the re-animating ability most commonly seen on Skeleton creatures, so I’m lumping them here.
Gravecrawler is usually my go-to for this effect, but Bhaal isn’t going to be able to guarantee Zombies on the board unless you have a Curse of Disturbance out.
That said, one of my favourites in recent times, Death Tyrant, while expensive to reanimate, comes with a bunch of upsides considering your combat-focused Commander. Cards like Bloodghast, Bloodsoaked Champion, Falkenrath Forebear, Nether Traitor, Persistent Specimen, Tenacious Dead, and of course Reassembling Skeleton, all contribute to this plan nicely. Pair with death effects like Grim Haruspex, and a sacrifice outlet that nets mana, and you’ve got a stew going. Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker is slower, but triggers every end step, and as long as you don’t stack counters on your skellies, you’ll get them back without the mana investment. Even looping effects like Apprentice Necromancer and Doomed Necromancer make sure you’ve got a stream of death happening to appease Bhaal.
Blitz is unsurprisingly one of my favourite new mechanics. Henzie “Toolbox” Torre is popular for a reason. You get to draw off your creature dying, you get to smack fast, and you get a discount most times.
Some of you might have been confused why I didn’t mention Tenacious Underdog in the Skeleton effects section. Here’s why – Blitz! Toss Henzie into this deck if you’ve got lots of creatures with mana value 4 or greater. It’ll guarantee a death trigger and a card. I wouldn’t recommend adding Jaxis, the Troublemaker because Bhaal triggers off of non-tokens specifically. Double dip with Wave of Rats. Get top deck value out of Ziatora’s Envoy. Sneak cards from your opponents with Mezzio Mugger. Get rid of weenies with Night Clubber, make a Treasure, and draw a card with Riveteers Requisitioner, and make tokens off your four drops with Caldaia Guardian.
But the real sure thing from New Capenna is of course Riveteers Ascendancy! Instant speed sack outlets with the Ascendancy means you can go down the chain one link at a time per turn. So without further ado.
This one feels obvious. You have to be in control of your creatures dying in this deck to really impact the board. Instant speed sacrifice outlets come in many forms and belong in this deck.
Altars like Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod’s Altar, and Altar of Dementia all get you something for your troubles. Even if it’s milling yourself into one of your skeleton effects or fuelling your graveyard for your Gravewaker or Riveteers Ascendancy.
Creatures like Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder are cheap sack outlets that will allow you to goad that Hasty creature your opponent just put into play. Woe Strider is my top pick for this deck because not only is it a sacrifice outlet with a body and card selection, it’s can be Escaped back into play and that means it’s another non-token creature ready to die for Bhaal.
Finally, cards like Village Rites and Deadly Dispute don’t telegraph to your opponents that you can kill one of your creatures to send their haymaker elsewhere when they assume they have a clear path to you.
With the release of the Draconic Dissent precon deck this set, we’ve got a few cool Goad support cards. Death Kiss doubles the power of creatures attacking your opponents, turning that +1/+1 counter from Bhaal into +2/+2! Bothersome Quasit ensures that whatever gets goaded can’t chump block before the swing, and makes it so your opponents can get through with other goaded creatures. Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer not only benefits you from goaded creatures dying in combat, but if you stack Bhaal’s counters onto him, soon enough all your opponents’ creatures will have to swing anywhere but in your direction.
Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant is an incredible source of card advantage, but be prepared to pack the life gain because you’ll be drained quick… but with Bhaal’s first ability, that’s not always bad!
Death Tyrant makes you Zombie tokens and Kardur, Doomscourge drains your opponents when creatures die in combat. Vengeful Ancestor makes goaded creatures hurt their controllers, Popular Entertainer lets you goad creatures when you deal combat damage to a player as long as Bhaal is out. Geode Rager lets you goad a squad on Landfall. Disrupt Decorum is the OG realness.
But my favourite of the bunch is Laurine, the Diversion. For two mana and sacrificing a creature, you goad any creature. But with Bhaal out, non-token creatures you sacrifice to this Human Rogue will goad two creatures. It’s a free for all… all but you!
Sometimes you have to goad a creature, but your opponents have creatures with Hexproof or have Lightning Greaves attached. Sometimes, you’ll play land into your Geode Rager and the opponent you really want to hurt has a Leyline of Sanctity out.
Let me introduce you to one of my favourite utility lands: Arcane Lighthouse. It won’t let you target players, but it will let you target creatures they thought were safe. Glaring Spotlight is a one mana artifact that lets you target creatures your opponents control as though they didn’t have Hexproof and has a “break in case of emergency” button to give your own creatures hex proof.
Go all out with Archetype of Endurance. No Hexproof for your opponents’ creatures, all Hexproof for yours. Bonds of Mortality for a green mana makes creatures your opponents control lose indestructible and Hexproof, while the absolute powerhouse Shadowspear does the same for all permanents your opponents control for one generic mana and comes down at one less mana value.
With all of these cards in each section, I reckon you can take this and run at your opponents with your new Bhaal deck charging at your enemies. Happy hunting!
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Continuing in my run through all of the Commanders I find interesting to build from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, it’s time for another of the Three Gods: Bane, Lord of Darkness.
Bane’s textbox has the same thing you can find on Myrkul, Lord of Bones and Bhaal, Lord of Murder:
“As long as your life total is less than or equal to half your starting life total, Bane, Lord of Darkness has indestructible.”
What makes Bane special is one of the more interesting text boxes on a legend in the set:
“Whenever another non-token creature you control dies, target opponent may have you draw a card. If they don’t, you may put a creature card with equal or lesser toughness from your hand onto the battlefield.”
Give your opponents a choice to either fuel your hand or call your bluff to see if you can plop something into play for free. Let’s see how we can make this work. Here are five cards I think Bane, Lord of Darkness players should give a shot.
In my experience playing against Bane and playtesting my own half-built pile, Bane is going to get removed and with White getting ramp like Deep Gnome Terramancer, you’ll be able to keep casting him so the Insignia becomes more and more relevant. By boosting your creatures P/T, you’ll be able to ease the restriction of what can come out of your hand if an opponent chooses to let you put a creature into play. This makes it more likely that an opponent will give you cards, but hey, your now beefy creatures can be sacrifices and give you a card, or let you play any creature from your hand for free? It’s all gravy to me.
This OG Theros block god is the real deal. Slam it into play and each creature you own can make its way back to your hand and then back into play if Bane is out. The creature that just died is sure to have the same toughness as… the same creature right? Strike a deal at the table. “Hey token deck player, if I play Plaguecrafter, will you let me have it twice to make that opponent with a Voltron commander and Loyal Drake sacrifice two creatures?”
Otherwise, you’ll be pressuring life totals with each non-token creature heading to the bin. That’s pretty good, but I wish you could do it twice and target two separate opponents.
Oh, wait…
Teysa Karlov, aka Deatharmonicon, doubles “die” triggers you control. Sure, there might be a token build in here somewhere with Underworld Hermit or Chasm Skulker or something, but having your Bane or Athreos triggers happening twice is beautiful. Pitiless Plunderer, one of the most absurd uncommons ever printed, triggers twice per non-token. Junji, the Midnight Sky, Ao, the Dawn Sky, and Kairi, the Swirling Sky each have devastating death triggers that when doubled can be backbreaking for your opponents. Teysa Karlov and Butcher of Malakir or Martyr’s Bond will make your opponents wide open.
So many clone effects are 0/0! Phantasmal Image, Spark Double, Glasspool Mimic, Phyrexian Metamorph, Undercover Operative – all strong contenders for slots to follow-up a Fleshbag Marauder play or if your Esper Sentinel gets sniped. Agent of Treachery out? Time to make a deal and get a copy going.
With Bane out, you need to give your opponents reasons to not fill your hand, but allow you to cheat a creature into play. Cards like Psychic Corrosion, Sphinx’s Tutelage, or Teferi’s Tutelage can slowly chip away at the entire table when you do draw. “Hey, you don’t like being milled, blame this guy for not letting me put a creature into play.”
Or maybe someone will say, “Next time, ask me, I’ll let you play the creature, I can’t be milled anymore.” Chip away at life totals with Psychosis Crawler and Queza, Augur of Agonies. Paired with Athreos or Kambal, Consul of Allocation, these effects will force at least one of your opponents to play into your plans.
Wizard Class maxed out, Chasm Skulker, Dream Trawler, Shabraz, the Skyshark, Body of Knowledge, Oneirophage, or Toothy, Imaginary Friend can make for beefy attackers. Ominous Seas lives up to its name forecasting to the table that Krakens are on the way. Minn, Wily Illusionist can make you an Illusion that will ultimately help you sneak stuff in anyway.
Approach of the Second Sun – Threaten to win if they keep giving you cards. Give them a real “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” scenario.
Here’s a hot list of honourable mentions.
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