Ayli's Death and Friendship

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Primer Storm WB (Orzhov)

loudbliss

Artifact (29)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Chromatic Sphere
• 1x Chromatic Star
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Conjurer's Bauble
• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Feldon's Cane
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lodestone Bauble
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mishra's Bauble
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Nihil Spellbomb
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Urza's Bauble
• 1x Voltaic Key

Land (32)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x City of Traitors
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Ebon Stronghold
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Peat Bog
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Plains
• 1x Scrubland
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Whispers

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Cruel Tutor
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Duress
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Commander (1)

Instant (16)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Orim's Chant
• 1x Pull from Eternity
• 1x Rain of Filth
• 1x Silence
• 1x Slaughter Pact
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Creature (9)

• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Memnite
• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Phyrexian Walker
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Skirge Familiar

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Welcome to my Ayli’s Death and Friendship Deck Guide.

This is an Orzhov approach to the competitive mono black storm Ad Nauseam decks that are normally considered some most competitive in the format (T1.5). It's very fast and completely linear, based around being able to cast the Ad Nauseam, find Aetherflux Reservoir and then win via storm. Most common wins are turn 4, with turn 1 wins possible.

From the go, I'd like to acknowledge Nakhla's Sidisi's Reign Of Filth as the main reference for this deck and the Primer structure; be sure to check it out if you haven't.

Introduction

Why Orzhov / Why Ayli?

Silence. That sums it all. I really wanted to protect the combo and there were some black cards I could do without, especially the reanimator suite. Being able to take out the black cards that weren't central to the main plan I was able to add other white cards I felt were more helpful like Angel's Grace, Disenchant, Enlightened Tutor, Orim's Chant, Pull from Eternity, Swords to Plowshares and Children of Korlis. Each of these cards do something that is central to our strategy, whether it's tutoring for a win condition, protecting the combo, protecting our life total, returning key exiled cards or removing permanents that may be stopping us.

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim was the choice as Commander because it's the cheapest one in the colors. Having a CMC of 2 enables useful cards like Diabolic Intent and Mox Amber. Compared to other Orzhov generals, her two abilities are not completely useless for the deck if for some reason the game goes long.

Limitations

Mana base

As for potential mana base tradeoffs, I haven't felt any disadvantage running two colors instead of monoblack. We run the same land ramp suite but cut down on Swamps to run 7 etb untapped dual sources plus a Plains. We also have access to mana fixing from some artifacts. We don't have strong White requirements so the current white sources have proven to be enough.

Stax

Stax pieces are the main limitation for this type of deck. Monoblack overcomes this with well played discard cards and knowing how to play around some stax cards, if possible. We do the same but we also have access to Disenchant and Swords to Plowshares. I feel it's important to remind that we can play those cards twice with Yawgmoth's Will.

Praetor's Grasp and Erebos, God of the Dead

My group has adapted by incorporating these two cards against me. The deck has no way to remove a non-creature Erebos, God of the Dead nor to retrieve a face down exiled card with Praetor's Grasp (Pull from Eternity only hits face up cards).

Finding Ad Nauseam ASAP

The deck needs to find and cast Ad Nauseam as soon as possible. We only have 5 tutors that can fetch it and draw is very limited in this color pair. For that reason we run almost every single cheap way to draw we can find. That's why suboptimal Night's Whisper makes the cut in my deck, as well as "draw a card at the beginning of next upkeep" artifacts.

Lifeloss

Try not to lose life from anything that's not Ad Nauseam. Life is our main resource for casting Ad Nauseam and drawing as many cards as possible. This deck has been exhaustively optimized and has a CMC of 1.28 which is the lowest among black-based storm decks in the Tappedout Tier List.

Play/Don't play if

Play this deck if:

• You like winning fast
• You're tired of being targeted
• You don't want to care about what others are doing
• You're happy always winning the same way

Don't play this deck if:

• They play Erebos, God of the Dead as Commander
• There will be three Stax players in the table (and maybe two)
• You like interactive games
• You like long games
• You like attacking
• You dislike losing life

Top Ranked	Achieved #65 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.28
Tokens	Thopter 1/1 C