Pure, Unadulterated, HATRED

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Voltron

Podma101

Artifact (19)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Fireshrieker
• 1x Haunted Cloak
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Trailblazer's Boots
• 1x Vorrac Battlehorns
• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Essence Harvest
• 1x Phyrexian Purge
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Victimize

Creature (19)

• 1x Anger
• 1x Ball Lightning
• 1x Blood Celebrant
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Chainer, Nightmare Adept
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Lightning Skelemental
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Rekindling Phoenix
• 1x Rotting Regisaur
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Wall of Blood
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Instant (8)

• 1x Act of Aggression
• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Fists of Flame
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Rush of Vitality
• 1x Temur Battle Rage

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Aggression
• 1x Blessing of Leeches
• 1x Oversold Cemetery
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Price of Glory
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol
• 1x Vampiric Link

Commander (1)

Land (36)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 9x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sanctum of Eternity
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 10x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

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Sideboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Vedalken Orrery

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Eternal Thirst
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Greed
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Tortured Existence

Instant (7)

• 1x Butcher's Glee
• 1x Devour in Shadow
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Psychotic Fury
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Vendetta

Artifact (11)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chariot of Victory
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Forebear's Blade
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Ruby Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Vengeance
• 1x Tenza, Godo's Maul
• 1x Thought Vessel

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Seize the Day
• 1x Shenanigans

Creature (11)

• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x Shambling Remains
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Yargle, Glutton of Urborg

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You aren't trapped in here with your friends, they are trapped in here with you. Use everything at your disposal: your creatures, their dead bodies, your friend's creatures and their dead bodies, their blood, your blood, so on and so forth. Kill. Them. All.

Philosophy

This deck wants to live on the edge. A lot of players learn at a certain point that life, just like mana, is a resource, and the only life point that matters is the last one. Well, this deck aims to ride that idea all the way to the winner's pile... of bodies. While you need to be mindful of just how much life you are spending, every drop you spill should bring your opponents that much lower.

Every time Greven attacks, you get to sacrifice one of your other creatures to draw cards EQUAL to its POWER, and lose life EQUAL to its TOUGHNESS. Now, last time I checked, cards like Greed don't potentially net me more cards than I spent life to get. But wait, there's more. Greven gets +X/+0, where X is the AMOUNT OF LIFE YOU'VE LOST THIS TURN...

The man is already a four turn clock to kill someone, with built in evasion. Losing just two life a turn makes that a three turn clock. Losing a meer six life a turn brings it down to two. See how tempting it is to just keep giving that sweet, sweet life?

Now that you are ready and willing to just spill a little more each turn, how do we do that? Well, obviously Greven's trigger helps us get there. And boy howdy do we have some fine specimens. Ball Lightning and Lightning Skelemental draw us SIX CARDS. EAT YOUR HEART OUT BLUE. Better yet, we should. They only pump Greven by one. That's okay, because over here we have Rotting Regisaur. Oh, you know, draw a whole extra hand, AND bash in someone's face for 11? Yum.

But, the deck is a little more refined than that, and we have plenty of other ways to not just get creatures to play with, but to spill our blood, and even stuff some of it back in.

Semi-Staunched Bleeding

Life is a resource, yes. And we want to spend it like the world is ending. BUT, let's not go and spend it all in one place. Being calculated works to our advantage. Cards like Chainer, Dementia Master and Treasonous Ogre let us spend life as we choose to, while generating value as well. Similarly, Unspeakable Symbol and Phyrexian Reclamation utilize our life to hit harder and progress in the game. We even have access to some awesome removal spells in the form of Fire Covenant and Phyrexian Purge that let us remove potential blockers AND pump Greven for the kill.

One important card to mention is Wall of Blood. Pay seven life with its ability, and sac it to Greven on attack. You will ultimately lose 16 life, but you'll draw seven cards and one shot an opponent if you connect. If you have lost life to other sources that turn, be sure to do the math.

Another huge piece for this strategy is K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth. Any time we cast a black spell, just pay a little life to save a little mana and hit a little harder? Yes, please.

Reverse Bleeding

Sadly, we only start the game with 40 life. That, in my opinion, is simply not enough. So, we need to "borrow" some from our friends. Simply put: lifelink. Greven already hits hard, and if he connects, we will get back all of the life we lost this turn from our various bleeding techniques, plus an additional five life. Loxodon Warhammer, Shadowspear, and Whip of Erebos are fantastic equipment that give us lifelink. Vampiric Link can give us a slightly more fragile way to reabsorb our blood, and Rush of Vitality and Essence Harvest give us a quick blood transfusion when we need it.

Bash, Smash, Crash

Now all of this bleeding and healing is great, but if Greven does not manage to introduce his fist you your friend's face, its much ado about nothing. So we need to help Greven out. The artifacts in the deck give trample, first strike, haste, outright unblockable (in a few different flavors). Fists of Flame is hilarious, because it not only gives Greven trample, but will buff Greven for the COMBINED power and toughness of the sacrificed creature, in addition to any other draw you've had (minimum two).

Card of note here is Aggression. This obscure little number is fantastic, seeing as if we aren't attack, we mind as well be dead. Trample and first strike on an enchantment is amazing.

Suit Up

Greven must live. It is possible to win otherwise, but it's better to not be in that situation. As such, there are a handful of ways to keep him sticking around. Darksteel Plate is a classic, as are Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves.

Deck is literally fresh out of the creative oven, and is VERY open to suggestions. If you do make one, try to point out a card that can be removed as well. OnTheFence cards were really hard to cut, and would be the first cards considered to slot into the deck if a card doesn't perform. Possibly cards are there because I am still considering them, but not in love with them.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WUG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 1 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.20
Tokens	Elemental 0/1 R