Xira, the Golden Sting

Legendary Creature — Insect Assassin

Flying, haste

Whenever Xira, the Golden Sting attacks, put an egg counter on another target creature without an egg counter on it. When that creature dies, if it has an egg counter on it, draw a card and create a 1/1 black Insect creature token with flying. (Dying is being put into the graveyard from the battlefield. Tokens enter the graveyard before they cease to exist)

Tokens

• Insect 1/1 B w/ Flying

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (2)

legendofa on BBEG Deck Ideas

7 months ago

For my breakdown here, I'm focusing on characters who are villains in their story arc and characters who don't have much specific backstory. Pretty much any legendary creature can be flavored as a villain in front of the right deck. I'm also not focusing on the Forgotten Realms sets, I'm broadening the net.

What's available:

{C}: Eldrazi or artifacts. Most of the artifacts are either hero-aligned or not an independent threat, like Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut. If you want a challenge, Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate, but I wouldn't, just for lack of depth.

{W}: Villains are oddly centered on Old Kamigawa. Konda, Lord of Eiganjo is a near-immortal emperor and master duelist. Hokori, Dust Drinker is destroying resources and the land. And, of course, there's the apocalyptic, unrelenting evil that is Hazduhr the Abbot.

{U}: Heidar, Rimewind Master is an elementalist fanatic. The manipulations of Orvar, the All-Form or Kami of the Crescent Moon could cause problems, as could a big sea creature like Tromokratis or Charix, the Raging Isle.

{B}: Pretty much everyone. It's easier to count the people who aren't outright villains.

{R}: Relatively few actual villains, but a bunch of manipulators, dragons, and angry people that could fill the role.

{G}: A bunch of wild animals and nature types. No scheming villains, but a good selection of rampaging monsters. Meng Huo, Barbarian King would be a unique choice (if you're willing to.proxy or drop $150+).

{G}{W}: Polukranos Reborn  ^Flip is the most (only?) villainous character in these colors.

{U}{B}: Lots of options, from the behind-the-scenes manipulation of Lazav, Dimir Mastermind to the illithid Captain N'ghathrod, Gisa and Geralf's necromancer army, whatever Umbris, Fear Manifest is, and a lot more.

{G}{U}: A few options, but lots of depth in them. Insane biologist Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and his magnum opus Experiment Kraj, nature's avenger Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, or maybe Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is flooding the area.

{B}{R}: A very deep and wide pool for villains. Vampires, demons, dragons, demon dragons, warlords, torturers...

{B}{G}: Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager joins the ranks of the big scary monsters. A more calculating BBEG would probably be one of the death lords like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. Vhati il-Dal or Old Rutstein or probably more storyline villains than BBEG material.

{G}{W}{U}: A very shallow pool. Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl, Rubinia Soulsinger, and maybe Falco Spara, Pactweaver or Katilda and Lier (mostly because of Lier) are the best options for an Archenemy villain. I'd throw Kros, Defense Contractor in, but goading is kind of limited when you're the Archenemy.

{W}{U}{B}: This color set will probably be either a cold, distant, merciless villain or a manipulative puppet master. Raffine, Scheming Seer and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic fall into the first category, and Sen Triplets and The Ever-Changing 'Dane in the second. Varina, Lich Queen is another option for a zombie army.

{B}{R}{G}: Big, angry, and violent, with some good dragons. Xira, the Golden Sting and Vazi, Keen Negotiator break out of this mold, but they strike me as more lieutenant-types, not arc villains by themselves.

{R}{G}{W}: Not much; these tend to be either heroic or big smashy monsters. Uril, the Miststalker could work.

{R}{W}{B}: Queen Marchesa is a classic, as you mentioned, and Edgar Markov is right there, too. Actually, this color set has some good depth and variety for an Archenemy. Some are more overtly villainous, and some are just very martial. My top picks would be Edgar, Licia, Sanguine Tribune, or Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.

{G}{U}{R}: Mostly either weird esotericism or "nature's avenger" types. I don't think any of these are outright villainous in-story, but most of them have loose or vague stories. With the right deck, this could be a unique and interesting villain. Riku of Two Reflections is my top pick.

Four-color sets in general: Any of them would work, except for a couple of the {R}{G}{W}{U}.

{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Use this color set if you want a truly apocalyptic feel. saluma mentioned Tiamat, which is a very good choice, and finding a way to get through Progenitus or O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami is a story of epic scale.

Gleeock on TypicalTimmy

1 year ago

As far as Xira, the Golden Sting goes, I think she is pretty darn open-ended. I usually have a strong grasp on Junding in various ways... but as a Timmy myself, my removal suite is usually more incidental & I don't usually gear toward control as much as I do to plopping out a fun boardstate build.

I am trying to make mine removaltastic with creatures that can continue that train (easy in Jund). IMO there are better commanders for express swing-wide strategies so I decided I would lean into polymorphing with my commander-supplied 1/1 or supplied in various other ways. Though I have another Jund deck that successfully random cheats into all the Dragon Broodmother sudden swarm creatures you can imagine.

Anyway, since I am trying to ride the removal, card draw, & timmy-morph my bugs... I am not doing much for the swarm strategy & I am avoiding small buildup creatures. I imagine if you wanted to go that direction you could consider the efficiency of "egg countering" some of your own efficiency sac fodders such as Sakura-Tribe Elder or Patron of the Arts - then you would draw a card & replace those bodies.