Brains Desired, Not Required

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Combo Competitive Discard Dredge Exile Infinite Combo Reanimator Sacrifice Zombie

Azdranax

Land (31)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring

Sorcery (19)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Exhume
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Stitch Together
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Unearth
• 1x Windfall

Instant (16)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Shallow Grave
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Creature (19)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Eternal Scourge
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Misthollow Griffin
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Phyrexian Devourer
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Tormod, the Desecrator
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Trophy Mage
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Food Chain
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library

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Deck Concept

What started as a Skullbriar, the Walking Grave tribal zombie deck has turned into something much more sinister, and ultimately designed to keep up with or even exceed the pace of some of my playgroup's cEDH decks. This certainly isn't the type of deck to just pull out at the local game shop's Commander night, but it will definitely keep up with players who pull out the top Tier 1 and Tier 1.5 decks in competitive groups. Had I planned to build this deck in the first place, rather than by trial and error, I would have been well served to look at some of the original SBT competitive decks on the site, so I'll give what I think is the best among them a nod and refer you to check out SBT Combo as well.

With this Sultai-themed reanimator/dredge deck, the quicker you fill your graveyard, the faster your opponents will find themselves in one. With Sidisi, Brood Tyrant at the helm, the veritable swiss-army knife of complimentary creatures, zombie tokens, self-mill, dredge, and reanimation spells and abilities in the deck are designed to win the game by turn five, with fairly consistent results. As the deck's name implies, your only concern is making the deck go fast - so try not to concern yourself too much with what your opponents are doing when playing this deck...just find one of the killer-combo win conditions and go for the throat.

Combos and Play

There are several ways to kill your opponents quickly via combos and/or infinite loops with the deck, as well as multiple ways to find yourself reaching those win conditions. Even when you end up facing some graveyard hate, the multiple combo options available should give you plenty of flexibility to overcome one or two of the combos getting hosed. Below are some of the quickest and cleanest options to bring the game to an end.

Unfortunately with the removal of Flash, the easiest early turn kill lines possible are no longer possible, but Protean Hulk is still quite viable to find the kill combos needed with reanimation and sac outlets. Using the hulk death trigger to find creature cards like Gravecrawler, Carrion Feeder, Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Phyrexian Delver, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Triskelion and/or Walking Ballista can easily end the game with an infinite combo of death triggers or +1/+1 counter damage until all opponents are dead.

A turn-one kill possibility can still be completed with any mana sources totaling at least 4 mana, two of which must be , as it requires casting Buried Alive to drop Necrotic Ooze, Phyrexian Devourer, and Triskelion or Walking Ballista into your graveyard, then Reanimate necrotic ooze, resulting in an instant-speed +1/+1 counter-ping kill, which is limited to the remaining CMC of your library (the maximum number of players for this turn-one kill would be three opponents based on the total CMC of the deck and cost of cards involved in the combo). Obviously any reanimate spell option will work, so long as you have the additional mana to cast it. With all of the cheap draw and tutor spells available in the deck, this is the most consistent combo to find, as well as the most difficult to respond to for opponents, and is very consistently achieved on turns 3 through 5.

Another simple kill combo is achieved by getting Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion into play, again using counters to ping your opponents while utilizing the undying ability to bring back the Triskelion once he kills himself with his last two counters. If Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat is also in play, the same effect can be achieved with Walking Ballista by killing himself over and over.

Even without an obvious game-winning combo piece in your starting hand, there are plenty of draw spells and dredge spells to help you find a win condition quickly. The early utilization of spells like Brainstorm, Careful Study and Ponder can provide clarity on which combo-option to focus on developing. In the absence of a clear win-combo option possibility, your fall back plan is to use counter magic and defensive spells like Toxic Deluge and Praetor's Grasp to slow any early table threats that must be dealt with from your opponents. Utilize the dredge spells/abilities available, while saving cards like Entomb and Buried Alive for the noted combos, and keep an eye out for your opponents with available blue and white mana, as control and exile spot removal are normally your worst enemy.

There are several other potential combos you'll run into while playing the deck, including the Food Chain + Eternal Scourge or Misthollow Griffin option to loop cast your commander until the graveyard holds the key to victory, and many more, which gives it plenty of versatility and flexibility and makes it effective at setting the pace of the game, even in the scenario of a relatively weak opening hand. Overall, the deck is relatively simple and straight forward to play, consistently fast in achieving potential win conditions, and doesn't take a lot of strategy or concern about your opponents. I find when playing the deck, it's best to treat it like a sprint and race for the win. If you do, you should fairly quickly find the graves filled with what you need - plenty of potential winning combos.

Thanks for looking, and if you have an idea for the deck I've failed to include, feel free to add a comment/suggestion.

Top Ranked	Achieved #15 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WR
Splash colors	UG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.41
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Spirit 1/1 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Various Top Commander, EDH, Sample, Interesting Commander Decks, deck ideas, EDH Commanders, Cool Decks to Try, Carla cEDH