I'm Counting on the Dead [Competitive]

Commander / EDH* Aggro BG (Golgari) Competitive Counters Infect Voltron

grimcase21

Land (31)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Gilt-Leaf Palace
• 1x Inkmoth Nexus
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Thran Quarry
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Demonic Embrace
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Wild Growth

Creature (23)

• 1x Allosaurus Shepherd
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bramblewood Paragon
• 1x Brawn
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Daemogoth Titan
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Death's Shadow
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1x Grim Flayer
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Phyrexian Crusader
• 1x Phyrexian Dreadnought
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Walking Ballista

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Collective Brutality
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Duress
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Unmarked Grave

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Veil

Commander (1)

Instant (19)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Berserk
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Wild Shape

Artifact (7)

• 1x Belt of Giant Strength
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Torpor Orb

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Sideboard

Creature (13)

• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Destiny Spinner
• 1x Ebondeath, Dracolich
• 1x Gilded Goose
• 1x God-Eternal Rhonas
• 1x Grief
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Hunted Horror
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Mesmeric Fiend
• 1x Rotting Regisaur
• 1x Shakedown Heavy
• 1x Tireless Tracker

Instant (7)

• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Hatred
• 1x Infernal Grasp
• 1x Invigorating Surge
• 1x Not of this World

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Cabal Therapy
• 1x Culling Ritual
• 1x Dread Fugue
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Final Parting

Artifact (7)

• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Winter Orb
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Hydra's Growth
• 1x Pernicious Deed

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Will update description, since it is horribly outdated The Ozolith

Introducing the Troll Himself

• Working to make this a primer deck.

Today is a special day, it's time to celebrate the completion of this deck. Commanding the semi-elf ball, Varolz, the Scar-Striped is designed to pummel your foes into oblivion. It's not your standard voltron deck, as it doesn't rely on any of its equipment as normal voltron decks are accustomed to. The direction of this deck relies heavily on it's primary ability, scavenge. We abuse this unique ability with creatures Death's Shadow, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Hunted Horror which gives this deck quite the power spike.

The way I built this deck is very specific as it is built around 3 different cards Ad Nauseam, Hermit Druid, and Tainted Pact. What this means is that this deck is the converted cost of the deck is very low, and there are no duplicates (including lands). What's the payoff you might ask, you get a 5 mana spell that can draw like 20 cards without losing a significant amount, an instant tutor, and a creature that mills your entire deck to find your scavenge targets for the game winning turn.

• If a creature is in a graveyard, then you scavenge it without a second though. It makes it easy on your head**

• Tabs I need to add: mulligan, rating of cards for this deck (on how I see it)

Card Explanation/Breakdown (in the process of completing)

Outstanding Cards

• Ad Nauseam - the design of having a very low mana curve is beneficial for two reasons, makes the deck consistent and makes this card explosive at the cost of some life. RATING: ****

• Tainted Pact - using the idea that commander is a singleton format I tried to break this card with playing all singletons. The effect is that it becomes an almost better demonic tutor as it because an instant tutor for {1}{B} (works great with Berserk). RATING: *

• Hermit Druid - The basic land count is 1 Forest, and this is deliberate. Since our combo is a bit fragile, if we mill over and they kill our commander, we just killed ourselves. It also replaces the mana used on the activation. You can make it mill over everything, just use one of fetch lands.

• Phyrexian Dreadnought and Death's Shadow, the core of the combo that brings this deck into the competitive realm.

• Berserk: does way too much for 1 mana, can even regenerate through the destroy effect.

Tutor Package

Creature

Fauna Shaman

Fauna Shaman

Prime Targets (on what to search for)

• Bramblewood Paragon: trample enabler for +1/+1 counters, Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

• Death's Shadow: 13 counters

• Dryad Arbor: mana screwed (edited) but you cannot scavenge due to it not having a converted cost

• Elvish Spirit Guide: excellent target to search for after you ditch Phyrexian Dreadnought because you can exile the Elvish Spirit Guide to scavenge the Phyrexian Dreadnought.

• Kalonian Hydra: "slow" finisher

• Mesmeric Fiend: hand disruption

• Phyrexian Dreadnought: 12 counters

• Sylvan Safekeeper: protection

Situational Targets

• Corpsejack Menace: setting up a big turn

• Dark Confidant: card draw

• Deathrite Shaman: graveyard hate

• Hermit Druid - the all in one combo

• Merciless Executioner: removal

• Phyrexian Crusader: threat to scavenge on

• Reclamation Sage: enchantment/artifact removal

• Viridian Corrupter: artifact removal/threat

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

• Thrun, the Last Troll: Against control/heavy removal

Tips/Notes

• The ditch and search works well with scavenge

• Can search for answer to anything you need, combo or disruption

• can use it to regen Varolz, the Scar-Striped

• After it dies, can scavenge it

Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

Mwonvuli Beast Tracker

Scavenge

• Death's Shadow: B for 13 counters

• Phyrexian Dreadnought:<> for 12 counters

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

Scavenge onto

• Phyrexian Crusader: quick, fast, with a bit of protection

• Thrun, the Last Troll: anti-control

• Kalonian Hydra: the big beatdown

Utility

• Brawn: trample

Tips/Notes

• Works around discard effects eg. mind twist

• Works around tuck effects eg. vendilion clique

• can use it to regen Varolz, the Scar-Striped

• After it dies, can scavenge it

Non-creature

Buried Alive

Buried Alive

Prime Targets

• Death's Shadow: B for 13 counters

• Phyrexian Dreadnought:<> for 12 counters

• Brawn: trample

Less Ideal

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

Tips/Notes

• Searches for your unholy trinity with 1 card

Chord of Calling

Chord of Calling (realistic targets)

Scavenge

• Death's Shadow: B for 13 counters

• Phyrexian Dreadnought:<> for 12 counters

Utility

• Sylvan Safekeeper, protection

• Mesmeric Fiend: get those removal, board wipes, counterspells in their hand

• Bramblewood Paragon: trample enabler for +1/+1 counters, Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

• Hermit Druid - the all in one combo enabler

• Viridian Corrupter:artifact removal

• Reclamation Sage: artifact/enchantment removal

• Deathrite Shaman: graveyard hate

• Dark Confidant: draw (kinda weak though)

Crop Rotation

Crop Rotation

• Wasteland/Strip Mine: Remove that Maze of Ith

• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Get that swampwalk for Filth and some mana fixing

• Shizo, Death's Storehouse: unblockable unless they have non-black/artifact creatures

• Pendelhaven: for Plague Stinger

• Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers: weak buff for Varolz, the Scar-Striped and Thrun, the Last Troll

• Gaea's Cradle: just absolutely broken

• Dryad Arbor: sac for regen, or anti-edict tech

• Cavern of Souls: name warrior for Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Merciless Executioner, and Bramblewood Paragon

• Command Beacon: get that commander back

• Rishadan Port: Lockdown for temp or for maze of ith

Demonic Tutor

Demonic Tutor

• searches for anything, disruption, combo, mana you name it.

Entomb

Entomb

• Death's Shadow: B for 13 counters

• Phyrexian Dreadnought:<> for 12 counters

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

• Brawn: trample

Green Sun's Zenith

Green Sun's Zenith

On 1CC

• Birds of Paradise: mana

• Deathrite Shaman: mana/graveyard hate

• Elves of Deep Shadow: mana

• Elvish Mystic: mana

• Fyndhorn Elves: mana

• Joraga Treespeaker: mana

• Llanowar Elves: mana

• Sylvan Safekeeper:protection

On 2CC

• Bramblewood Paragon: trample enabler for +1/+1 counters, Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

• Fauna Shaman: Survival of the Fittest on a stick

• Hermit Druid: the all in one enabler

• Priest of Titania: insane mana dork in an elf shell

On 3CC

• Elvish Spirit Guide: if you're desperate, however you should never really look for this

• Force of Savagery: G<><> for 8 counters

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• Mwonvuli Beast Tracker:

Scavenge

• Death's Shadow: B for 13 counters

• Phyrexian Dreadnought:<> for 12 counters

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

Scavenge onto

• Thrun, the Last Troll: anti-control

• Kalonian Hydra: the big beatdown

Utility

• Brawn: trample

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• Reclamation Sage: artifact/enchantment removal

• Viridian Corrupter: artifact/infect threat

On 4CC

• Brawn: use regen on Varolz, the Scar-Striped to sac Brawn to get trample

• Corpsejack Menace: double those counters

• Thrun, the Last Troll: anti-control, scavenge onto it for a big threat

On 5CC

• Kalonian Hydra: the big bad boy of the deck

Jarad's Orders

Jarad's Orders

In Hand

• Bramblewood Paragon: trample enabler for +1/+1 counters, Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

• Elvish Spirit Guide: ritual for a G mana

• Kalonian Hydra: threat, and good on the mana curve

• Mesmeric Fiend: get those removal, board wipes, counterspells in their hand

• Plague Stinger: infect threat

• Sylvan Safekeeper: protection

In Graveyard

• Brawn: trample enabler

• Death's Shadow: B for 13 counters

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

• Phyrexian Dreadnought:<> for 12 counters

Best combo on curve after casting Varolz, the Scar-Striped

• Elvish Spirit Guide + Phyrexian Dreadnought

Survival of the Fittest

Survival of the Fittest

Prime Targets (on what to search for)

• Bramblewood Paragon: trample enabler for +1/+1 counters, Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

• Death's Shadow: 13 counters

• Dryad Arbor: mana screwed (edited) but you cannot scavenge due to it not having a converted cost

• Elvish Spirit Guide: excellent target to search for after you ditch Phyrexian Dreadnought because you can exile the Elvish Spirit Guide to scavenge the Phyrexian Dreadnought.

• Hermit Druid: the all in one enabler

• Kalonian Hydra: "slow" finisher

• Mesmeric Fiend: hand disruption

• Phyrexian Dreadnought: 12 counters

• Sylvan Safekeeper: protection

Situational Targets

• Corpsejack Menace: setting up a big turn

• Dark Confidant: card draw

• Deathrite Shaman: graveyard hate

• Merciless Executioner: removal

• Reclamation Sage: enchantment/artifact removal

• Viridian Corrupter: artifact removal/threat

• Hunted Horror: BB for 7 counters

• Thrun, the Last Troll: Against control/heavy removal

Tip/Notes

• This card is broken if hits the field in this deck, number 1 in the deck to enable what this deck does

• end with Elvish Spirit Guide so you can scavenge that Phyrexian Dreadnought. It would go something like, activate ditch something, get Phyrexian Dreadnought, ditch that get either Death's Shadow, Brawn or Filth unless you are tapped out then you always get Elvish Spirit Guide to use the mana on scavenging Phyrexian Dreadnought.

Tainted Pact

Tainted Pact

• use it as a draw card, to find what you think you need. Else it's a superb way to get Berserk to finish

Vampiric Tutor

Vampiric Tutor

• get anything you need, for example a combo piece or an accelerator for mana

Worldly Tutor

Worldly Tutor

Main targets would be

• Bramblewood Paragon: trample

• Deathrite Shaman: mana/graveyard hate

• Death's Shadow: scavenge target

• Dosan the Falling Leaf: against control

• Fauna Shaman: more tutoring

• Hermit Druid: ultimate setup

• Hunted Horror: scavenge target

• Kalonian Hydra: Big threat

• Merciless Executioner: edict

• Mesmeric Fiend: clear the way from the hand

• Phyrexian Dreadnought: scavenge target

• Plague Stinger: threat

• Priest of Titania: mana

• Reclamation Sage: artifact/enchantment removal

• Sylvan Safekeeper: protection

• Thrun, the Last Troll: sticky threat

• Viridian Corrupter: artifact removal/threat

• Walking Ballista: threat

Disruption/Removal

• Deathrite Shaman: graveyard hate, mana dork, its the creature planeswalker that does it all!

• Dosan the Falling Leaf: say no to blue, makes it a bit easier to get your gameplan on. No instant tricks from your opponent.

• Merciless Executioner: creature edict, that can be scavenged, is a warrior for Bramblewood Paragon to get a counter. Can be searched with the many creature tutors I have in here (ex. Chord of Calling for instant tutor on the board).

• Reclamation Sage: creature artifact/enchantment removal, that can be scavenged. Can be searched with the many creature tutors I have in here (ex. Chord of Calling for instant tutor on the board)

• Viridian Corrupter: Similar to Reclamation Sage but only for artifact removal. It also duos as a threat with the infect mechanic. Can be searched with the many creature tutors I have in here (ex. Chord of Calling for instant tutor on the board)

• Walking Ballista: pew pew the board with enough counters. Works well with Corpsejack Menace and Solidarity of Heroes. Combed with Tainted Strike, can ping infect to your opponent getting over blockers.

• Liliana of the Veil: Amazing planeswalker that does what you want against control. Being a discard outlet it ditch your combo pieces (Phyrexian Dreadnought, Death's Shadow, Hunted Horror) and a edict effect it does wonders for this deck.

• Dismember: should just read, pay {1} and 4 life to -5/-5 a creature at instant speed

• Nature's Claim: the 4 life they gain in negligible when the upside is you taking out something as important as Sol Ring or Humility.

• Putrefy: A recent edition that is a simple removal instant spell for artifact/creature

• Collective Brutality: has mainly 3 uses, the instant/sorcery discard, and ditching the combo pieces. Really good card that does a lot.

• Duress: Cheap discard to makes sure the way is clear.

• Inquisition of Kozilek: cheap discard to make sure the way is clear

• Maelstrom Pulse: an almost catch-all removal spell for something that you need gone

• Thoughtseize: cheap discard that clears the way for you commander

• Torpor Orb: stop that Gilded Drake and other things!

Mana accelerators

The army of Dorks

They make enough mana to scavenge themselves, sacrifice them first then use the floating mana to scavenge them to varolz. They also make turn 2 commander possible in this deck. Very important.

• Birds of Paradise

• Elves of Deep Shadow

• Boreal Druid

• Elvish Mystic

• Fyndhorn Elves

• Llanowar Elves

• Priest of Titania

• Deathrite Shaman

Others

• Elvish Spirit Guide - The important thing about this ritual is that you find it at the end of the chain of Survival of the Fittest. With your commander on the field and Survival of the Fittest you cycle through your combo getting Phyrexian Dreadnought and end with Elvish Spirit Guide so you can use the mana to scavenge the dreadnought onto the commander. With Jarad's Orders you find the same 2 pieces, and do the same thing.

• Chrome Mox: I picked it over Mox Diamond because of the low land count.

• Lotus Petal: Just that little bit of acceleration so you can get something like a turn 1 Dark Confidant

My Meta

The reason why this deck is very cutthroat is because the meta I play in is very competitive. The decks that I play against are full grixis control with Thraximundar, reanimator with Tasigur, the Golden Fang (the evil kind that wins with turn 2-4 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, and hopes to lock you out), mono blue counters with Baral, Chief of Compliance, Kaalia of the Vast (no introduction necessary) and token/elf ball with Selvala, Explorer Returned.

As an additional note, my group has banned all fast mana (cheap mana rocks that make more than the converted cost) that don't have significant drawbacks Such as Sol Ring, Ancient Tomb etc. It got so one sided that it wasn't fun at the end of the day, with turn 2 acidic slime or other ridiculous things.

As you can see, not very fun but this after talking with them but this deck takes the number 1 spot IMO.

Play this deck if...

• You want to beat all those blue players who durtle all the time
• you like fast, efficient, consistent, combo decks (it's really more of a modern/legacy deck expanded to 100 cards)
• you want a voltron deck that doesn't revolve around equipment
• you enjoy feeling powerful with a tempo deck
• want to break your slow edh meta
• put pressure on your opponent

Don't play the deck if...

• you need blue in your edh deck and like saying no
• you like playing infinite combos
• you don't like one shot your opponent
• you like more reactive (control) vs proactive decks (aggro) -you don't like winning by infect

Date added	9 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 5 Mythic Rares 57 - 14 Rares 16 - 12 Uncommons 13 - 4 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.96
Tokens	Centaur 3/3 G w/ Pro Black, Clue, Food, Thopter 1/1 C
Folders	Commander, Decks that are neato, cool decks