I'll Help You... Help You Die!

Commander / EDH*

nciviero

Land (37)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 5x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shadowblood Ridge
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Vivid Meadow

Removal (9)

• 1x Bounty Hunter
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Kaervek the Merciless
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Parting Thoughts
• 1x Shivan Harvest
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Vindicate

Give Tokens (14)

• 1x Akroan Horse
• 1x Alliance of Arms
• 1x Benevolent Offering
• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Curse of Shallow Graves
• 1x Genesis Chamber
• 1x Goblin Spymaster
• 1x Hunted Dragon
• 1x Infernal Genesis
• 1x Plague of Vermin
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1x Tempt with Vengeance
• 1x Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor
• 1x Varchild's War-Riders

Draw (9)

• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Marchesa's Decree
• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Vampiric Rites

Ramp (7)

• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Misc (4)

• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Hissing Miasma

Commander (1)

Payoff (14)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Blood Seeker
• 1x Dingus Staff
• 1x Disrupt Decorum
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Netherborn Phalanx
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Suture Priest

Board Wipe (5)

• 1x Deadly Tempest
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Descent of the Dragons
• 1x March of Souls
• 1x Mogg Infestation

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This deck is all about giving our opponents creatures and then punishing them for having the audacity to have creatures.

Mathas as a commander acts as a kind of red herring, he packs a group hug / politics ability that may be able to obfuscate our intentions for the free tokens. Mardu seems to have the best payoffs for giving our opponents lots of creatures.

The deck is pretty high variance as there is a fairly limited pool of cards that work with the main game plan of the deck and they synergise in a few distinct ways: cards that care about creatures entering the battlefield, cards that care about creatures being on the battlefield, and cards that care about creatures dying. I’ve decided to generally forgo the use of tutors to mitigate this because I’m aiming for this deck to be a medium power level, just a little stronger than a precon.

Minor Subthemes:

Life Gain: filling everyones board with creatures is a risky move, life gain can help mitigate the extra damage from the tokens. Also there are some pay life effects so my life total is a valueable resource to be harvested and spent. Vampires: There are a few vampires in the deck, not neary enough to include vampire synergies, but enough to make path of ancestry a playable mana fixing tapland. Pillowfort: disincentivizing oppinents attacking me seems somewhat important if I’m giving them creatures. In many case I want to keep their creatures around which makes blocking not great. Sacrificing Creatures: Some of the payoffs for the main strategy hurt everyone based on how many creatures they have, so sometimes I’ll want to clear my own board to reduce the blowback on my end.

Highlight Cards: Forbidden Orchard: mana-fixed land with a drawback that is actually beneficial for the gameplan of the deck Plague Of Vermin: probably the best asset for filling everyones board. With Soul Warden, Soul’s Attendant, or Suture Priest out I can dig really deep into my life total and replenish it instantly Rites Of The Raging Storm: a creature etb and death trigger each turn with creatures that can only hurt my opponents Descent Of The Dragons: a multi-functional tool. It can clear out powerful creatures and turn symmetrical token creating cards heavily in my favour.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.41
Tokens	1/1 B Creature Minion, Dragon 4/4 R, Elemental 1/1 R w/ Haste, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Goblin 1/1 R, Goblin 1/1 R for Goblin Spymaster, Gold, Knight 2/2 W w/ First Strike, Elemental 5/1 R, Myr 1/1 C, Plant 0/2 G, Rat 1/1 B, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 W, Survivor 1/1 R, The Monarch, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Awesome Ideas, EDH