Archfiend of Ifnir

Creature — Demon

Flying

Whenever you cycle or discard another card, put a -1/-1 counter on each creature your opponents control.

Cycling (, Dicard this card: Draw a card.)

Discussion (50)

wallisface on lol wut (One With Nothing Control)

1 week ago

Feels hard to both control the board and get a large hand.

Feels like in a controlly deck maybe Archfiend of Ifnir fits better? It doesn’t insta win like the Horror, but also doesn’t require you pitching a massive hand all in one turn just to get your creature killspelled.

Maybe some madness cards could be good too?

ShreddedByCrows on [DC] Aristocratic Cycle

1 week ago

Hey @Senomar!

Thanks a lot for your input. I was quite busy those last weeks so I couldn't really pay attention to what was happening there, excuse the late answer.

Since I made it up with this first testing version - smthg like 3/4 months ago - the deck has faced several changes...

You are right about the curve; it was just too high, slow and inconsistent for the format. On the beginning, I wanted to stay on a midrange / tribal approach with a creature-heavy decklist that used Varina as an engine to put pressure on the opponent by creating dozens of zombies, adding a loot effect to ensure better late game options, but I must admit that it felt really casual. Some cards like Anointed Procession or Endless Ranks of the Dead that didn't bring on any kind of direct impact on the game when you cast them for such an high-cost proved to act like horribly weak tools against competitive DC lists I had the chance to confront to.

The idea of building up a control archetype revolving around Varina's ability to create an army in the late game you're suggesting seems neat, I may consider some changes in the upcoming week in order to see if it could be more viable than the actual list I'm running (both come quite close to each other, in terms of deckbuilding... the hardest part of it will be to find room for considering more lands).

I completely abandoned the previous statement of the decklist: every creature that didn't immediately synergize with Varina and every slower card have been cut. However, I think this tribal strategy could work nicely in an EDH (not competitive though) pod.

As you can see atm, even if it's still not great, I focused my objectives on a Cycling strategy. Transmute Artifact searches mostly for Fluctuator , but could be used to get any other needed artifact. I also tried Reshape and Fabricate for more consistency, but I felt like I didn't need all those pieces, as they relatively slowed me down when I preferred less specific tutors.

The main issue that's restaining the list is that even if you're able to cycle between 10/20 cards really quick, there's no valuable point at doing so. Varina's ability (token creation) is slow without great mana generators. And I didn't find something anything interesting as a combo/interaction that synergized with the initial idea of looting and that would provide me access to a large amount of mana.

Rooftop Storm is becoming clunky now, but it still got its powerplays. The obvious combo with Gravecrawler , Wayward Servant and Phyrexian Altar (I may reconsider Ashnod's Altar and Plague Belcher to fluidize its potential, if I manage to find them places).

Hollow One and Archfiend of Ifnir impressed me so far. You have less control on the board with this iteration than before, and they help greatly against aggressive decks. If they are too slow or not useful, you can just cycle them away. Archfiend of Ifnir is a bit overcosted though, if I discover cards that oils same kind of synergies at the lowest cost, I could replace it.

I tried the ''Decree Circle'' but none was good enough. Decree of Pain was slow and clunky, bad in most cases. Decree of Justice has nothing to do there, and wasn't worth the few times I was able to cast it. Decree of Silence is obviously the best Decree I can play in those colors. It was a blast against Control / Combo archetypes and a poor card when you face an aggressive / midrange deck. However, I liked its potential with Academy Rector and I want to give more playtest time (I could even consider Solemnity ).

Some cards underperform and are cuttable but I want to test them a bit more as I don't know what to replace them for. In this category >

• Bolas's Citadel / Mana Severance > unreliable combo that eats too much LP for DC (even lifegain through Varina considered)

• Rebuild > I like when the cycling cards are playable on their own. This one is poor as we play a lot of artifacts. I never got in a situation where this was helpful. Could be nice with cards like Mycosynth Lattice , but I sincerely doubt about it being a convincing argument.

• Vizier of Tumbling Sands > not a bad card on its own, but I got through situations where as good as the other cycling cards.

I certainly forget some factors, I will try to keep editing the list more seriously this weekend.

BX223Hunter on Nekusar, cuz someone in our playgroup had to

3 weeks ago

Thinking of cutting Omniscience and Leyline of the Void for Ashiok, Dream Render and Fell Specter

Would also love to add in Archfiend of Ifnir , Anvil of Bogardan , and Psychic Possession but not sure what to cut if they are worth while.

UnafraidStephen on Varina, Queen of the Dead

1 month ago

Archfiend of Ifnir isn't a zombie but its absolutely brutal as a repeatable one-sided board wipe in Varina and is what I'd consider a must-have for the commander.

Ashen0ne on Death

1 month ago

Hey buddy! Decent start so far. I never liked how expensive the cost for gorgons was though lol Below are a few ideas that came to mind that might help with Hapatra and your death theme.

Some Creatures to consider:

Devoted Druid Archfiend of Ifnir Ammit Eternal Channeler Initiate Fume Spitter Obelisk Spider Runic Armasaur Sadistic Hypnotist Seshiro the Anointed Soul Snuffers Wickerbough Elder

Instants:

Abrupt Decay Beast Within Crop Rotation Grim Affliction Heroic Intervention Nature's Claim Splendid Agony Shred Memory ’s Transmute ability can serve as a budget tutor

Sorcery:

Black Sun's Zenith Diabolic Intent Eldritch Evolution Victimize Sylvan Scrying Triumph of the Hordes

Artifacts:

Contagion Clasp Eldrazi Monument Viridian Longbow

GnorberGnom on Nekusar Owling Mine

1 month ago

Sangromancer
Archfiend of Ifnir
Master of the Feast
Prosperity over Skyscribing
Lore Broker

Daedalus19876 on Toxic Relationship: Hapatra EDH | *PRIMER*

2 months ago

Inkmoth: Thanks for the comment! Honestly, I've found Archfiend of Ifnir surprisingly good, mostly because he can be cycled if unneeded (and reanimated post-cycling if you need him back).

Necropotence and Skullclamp are the other main ways to proc his effect, apart from the ones you identified (and are both very frequent targets of tutors), though I'm probably adding Faerie Macabre in the near future as well. I'll consider cutting him, though :)

Got any other thoughts on alterations to the list? :D

Inkmoth on Toxic Relationship: Hapatra EDH | *PRIMER*

2 months ago

Daedalus19876: Sick list dude! +1 from me!

My only suggestion for the slot you need is Archfiend of Ifnir . You only have Mox Diamond and Survival of the Fittest to proc its effect. I know about the Generous Patron combo, but you need both of them out and Survival/Full hand for it to work.

Unless I missed other discard outlets, I really don't see this working as effectively. Hope this helps ! :D