The Deck
This was my first completed paper deck brew and has undergone a lot of changes and alterations as I've grown to understand the peculiar set of strengths and weaknesses of a Silumgar, the Drifting Death commander brew. This iteration of the deck brew aims to solve many of the problems that previous iterations have had and focus on cards that specifically synergize with Silumgar and the main strategy of controlling and overwhelming the board with dragons.
The Commander
Ever since I discovered Silumgar, the Drifting Death when I was initially perusing the legendary creatures of Dimir, I was struck by how this commander in particular brings so many valuable things to the table that are desirable for a commander.
- He is hard to remove. In addition to being hexproof, Silumgar is strikingly difficult to kill by combat due to his whopping 7 toughness.
- He is evasive. Having a commander with flying has been indispensible whenever I've had to play the mini-game of Planeswalker whack-a-mole against my opponents.
- With his triggered ability he can effectively act as a miniature board wipe on a stick as long as you have enough dragons in play.
- Since his ability shrinks creatures it is great for removing indestructible, hexproof, and shrouded threats.
On the other hand, once I started deck brewing I realized that there are also a number of challenging obstacles that the deck has to overcome in order to best take advantage of Silumgar's strengths.
- Since the deck is redless, brewing around dragon tribal is made much more difficult.
- While blue and black complement each other well, they also step on each others' toes a lot and, short of counterspells, struggle to remove problematic permanents such as artifacts and enchantments.
- The deck is naturally week to decks that seek to pump their creatures through +1/+1 counters and anthem effects.
- Silumgar is expensive to cast from the command zone once and since the deck relies on him being in play to take advantage of many of the spells contained within, if he is successfully removed even a couple of times the deck shuts down.
The challenge of brewing this commander comes from finding ways to work around the weaknesses of the deck while highlighting its strengths.
Making Dragons
Being locked to only blue and black, the deck's access to good dragon creatures is somewhat limited. Earlier brews of this deck tried to solve this problem by including many of the changelings from Lorwyn block and Modern Horizons but too many of these wound up feeling unimpactful in the absence of Silumgar. In this iteration the only dragons I've chosen to include are Steel Hellkite, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Keiga, the Tide Star, Boneyard Scourge, Shimmer Dragon, and Scourge of Nel Toth. Since dragons are typically high on the mana curve, each of these cards had to be either highly synergistic with other cards in the deck or strong enough as a stand alone threat to make the cut.
That said, 7 dragon creatures does not a dragon tribal deck make. If that was the end of the story, the deck would be a non-starter. Fortunately, blue and black have access to almost all if not all of the creature type changing effects in the history of magic. To the end of making all of my creatures into dragons the deck include one of each of Conspiracy, Xenograft, Arcane Adaptation, and Artificial Evolution. Each of the enchantments changes the creature type of all creatures I control as well as all creature spells I own with the notable difference that Conspiracy overwrites types while the other two add a type. Artificial Evolution is an interesting piece of tech for the deck that can change a creature type in a piece of text on a permanent I control or can be used reactively to interrupt tribal synergies on my opponents' boards potentially.
Additionally, since the true dragons cost quite a bit of mana, I've also included in the deck a small suite of recursion effects to help recur dragons from the graveyard cheaply. Since the deck wants a go-wide strategy for Silumgar's effect, Hell's Caretaker and Whisper, Blood Liturgist felt like must-includes in the brew. The deck also includes one of each of The Cauldron of Eternity, Ever After, and Beacon of Unrest.
Improving on Silumgar's Effect
In order to take advantage of Silumgar's effect when the board isn't under the influence of a type-changing effect or there aren't a lot of other creatures in play the deck runs a variety of shrink effects to turn Silumgar's attack trigger into a board wipe even when my board is light on bodies. Polymorphist's Jest and Sudden Spoiling both allow me to do this at instant speed while Mass Diminish can do the effect twice at sorcery speed. Curse of the Swine is also helpful in this respect as it provides a scaling board snipe that leaves behind small enough bodies for Silumgar to easily be able to destroy. The best of the shrinking effects in the deck, however, has to come from Vedalken Humiliator. This card is effectively a two-card combo with Silumgar as long as I can achieve Metalcraft as their attack triggers combine to wipe any opponent's board of my choosing of every non-buffed creature they control on every one of my turns.
Additionally, the deck includes one of each of Spark Double and Strionic Resonator. Strionic Resonator can double Silumgar's triggered ability once while Spark Double can double it for every dragon I control.
The Non-Dragons
In order for the type-changing enchantments to be effective the deck needs to be able to reliably put bodies into play. Thopter Spy Network does a good poor-man's imitation of Bitterblossom while helping me toward Metalcraft and Whirler Rogue is a nice three-for-one that can make my attackers unblockable if necessary. Genesis Chamber also works well in the deck as it synergizes with cards like Shimmer Dragon, Inspiring Statuary, and Whirler Rogue to effectively become an asymmetrical effect.
Bladewing's Thrall is an all-star in the list on account of the fact that it can come back from the graveyard for free whenever a dragon comes into play making it a reliable target for sacrifice for Hell's Caretaker or Whisper. The deck also runs a copy of Reassembling Skeleton for the same reason.
To capitalize on all of the creatures dying the deck also runs one of each of Sifter of Skulls, Pawn of Ulamog, and Ogre Slumlord. Ogre Slumlord benefits the deck from all of my opponent's creatures that will be dying while the other two can produce Eldrazi Spawn and Eldrazi Scions that can help me to recast my commander if the board gets wiped.
Since the deck strives for Metalcraft I've also included March of the Machines in the deck as it can give me an army out of nowhere from the noncreature artifacts that the deck runs. It also allows Silumgar's attacks to destroy artifacts in addition to creatures. Especially of note is that fact that The Cauldron of Eternity becomes a 12/12 should this happen.
Since the deck runs a lot of noncreature spells, Shark Typhoon can help populate the board with X/X Shark (Dragons) with flying and, since the deck runs a lot of land-based ramp, the deck includes a Field of the Dead to put 2/2 Zombie (Dragons) into play on landfall.
Finally, the main win condition of the deck is Grave Betrayal which benefits the deck by turning all of the creatures that are going to be being wiped from my opponents' boards every turn into more bodies for Silumgar's ever-growing dragon army.
The Ramp
Whenever possible, I try to use land-based ramp. The "social contract" of EDH protects land based ramp more than any other type of ramp and it helps me strive for more Field of the Dragons triggers. As such the decklist includes Solemn Simulacrum, Burnished Hart, Wayfarer's Bauble, Scaretiller, and Dreamscape Artist. Dreamscape Artist is of particular note here on account of its ability to help me discard big dragons that might otherwise brick in my hand in the early game in exchange for land ramp.
The deck also runs Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge and Inspiring Statuary in order to give big discounts on dragons in the late game. In addition to the eldrazi spawners mentioned above the deck also includes a Ashnod's Altar to provide a free sacrifice outlet and generate big mana for the deck. Finally the deck contains a few rocks to round out the mana base with Sol Ring, Dimir Signet, Talisman of Dominance, and Arcane Signet.
The Card Draw
Since the deck turns a lot of creatures sideways the deck includes the (near) functional playset of Coastal Piracy, Reconnaissance Mission, Thopter Spy Network, and Bident of Thassa. Shimmer Dragon and Trading Post can help turn artifacts into card advantage if necessary. Baleful Strix is a useful rattlesnake that provides card draw and Tomebound Lich and Contraband Kingpin while not card advantage are very useful in terms of their ability to help churn through the deck to look for key pieces and answers. The deck also includes Final Parting as it can tutor for two cards at once. Lastly, since the deck includes both blue and black, I've made a point to include both Castle Locthwain and Castle Vantress as they are useful mana sinks that provide card advantage and selection when needed.
Removal
As far as spot removal, the deck focuses mainly on counterspells. I've chosen to include a Counterspell, a Countersquall, a Drown in the Loch, a Negate, and a Tale's End. Additionally I've included a Leadership Vacuum as an anti-meta choice for mutate decks and Pharika's Libation as a way to deal with enchantments in an emergency.
Other Utilities
Since the deck cannot run most haste enablers due to lacking access to red, I've opted to include flash enablers in the form of Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Leyline of Anticipation instead to provide a form of pseudo-haste for my dragons by allowing me to cast them before my turn. Lastly, the deck includes one copy of Blightbeetle as it is an innocuous little card that can help deal with the deck's inherent weakness to +1/+1 counter strategies. It is an anti-meta pick and can easily be switched out later or for different tables if necessary.
