Ernest the Curtailed

Commander / EDH* Combo Control Lifegain Tokens WUB (Esper)

triproberts12

Creature (29)

• 1x Ajani's Pridemate
• 1x Angel of Invention
• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Cliffhaven Vampire
• 1x Cloudkin Seer
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Drogskol Reaver
• 1x Epicure of Blood
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Gold Myr
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Leaden Myr
• 1x Ministrant of Obligation
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Patron of the Kitsune
• 1x Remorseful Cleric
• 1x Sacred Cat
• 1x Silver Myr
• 1x Skyscanner
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Tome Raider
• 1x Visionary Augmenter
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Weaponcraft Enthusiast

Land (37)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Azorius Guildgate
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 7x Island
• 1x Meandering River
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 10x Plains
• 1x Skycloud Expanse
• 1x Submerged Boneyard
• 7x Swamp

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Greed
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Righteous Cause
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x True Conviction

Artifact (7)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Call to the Feast
• 1x Cleansing Nova
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Entreat the Angels
• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Lingering Souls
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Queen's Commission
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Sworn Companions
• 1x Vindicate

Instant (5)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Despark
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Secure the Wastes
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation

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While I was never a fan of New World Order, card design has gotten a little wordy. If Ernest Hemingway could get where he did with an average sentence length of ELEVEN WORDS, we can do the same. Every card in this deck has a paper version with rules text eleven words or shorter. Yes, it is infuriating how many lovely cards like Grave Pact are 12 words, but those are the rules.

There are very few commanders to fit our bill, given how wordy most legends are, so Ertai seemed liked the best choice. A lot of the simpler cards in Magic say "create a token" or "destroy the thing," so a controlling build is where we want to be. We also gain access to Aphetto Alchemist / Fatestitcher + Freed from the Real + Gilded Lotus for infinite mana. We already want to run the first 3 for double Ertai activations, and Lotus is great for enabling our big X spells, combo finishes, and 3-color manabase.

A lot of our choices have strictly better options, so being on the back foot, we're going to be scumbags and play the only 2-card combo available to our theme- Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood . That puts us in a life-gain subtheme, of which there are a lot of nice, cleanly templated cards like Patron of the Kitsune and Drogskol Reaver . This deck doesn't even need the combo to drain out the table. Any of our life-gain triggered burn combined with a soul-sisters-backed burst of tokens can do the job. Or we just Army of the Damned or rip an Entreat the Angels .

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 26 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.44
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Morph 2/2 C, Sacred Cat 1/1 W, Servo 1/1 C, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB, Vampire 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B