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Liesa, Shroud of Dusk

Welcome to the #1 Liesa deck on TappedOut! This deck was originally Kambal, Consul of Allocation, but once I saw Liesa I fell in love. An orzhov angel is already super cool, plus she's the missing fourth sister from Innistrad, which is one of my favorite planes. The deck title is a reference both to her lore and the deck's gameplan. From her wiki: "Liesa, Bruna, Gisela, and Sigarda were angelic sisters who pre-existed Avacyn. The four archangel sisters defended humanity: Sigarda, who protected the living, Bruna, who protected the dead, Gisela, who fought monsters, and Liesa, who consorted with them." The masochism part comes from Liesa's two abilities and the more general theme of Orzhov where everyone's pain is your gain.

This deck will focus on a staxy/control state to slow your opponents down as you win through a game of ping and drain. I want to say this deck is around a power level of 8, but power levels are very much up to interpretation.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts, please share them. Now, onto the deck.

Liesa, Shroud of Dusk is a 5/5 flying lifelink for 5. That's pretty good. She makes any player lose 2 life when they cast a spell. That's really good, her lifelink mitigates 5 spellcasts on your behalf over 2 turns! You use life to pay for commander tax instead of mana... VALUE LEVELS: ABSURD

In all seriousness, this isn't gonna be winning any games pre T5, but it's a very good commander for the slightly longer games.

The two big upsides (besides her main ability to drain 2) is that she has lifelink, and that you pay commander tax with life. I've found this deters people from wasting removal on her, since she'll be back next turn for the same you used the first time. Cheating mana costs, especially without access to ramp, is always insanely valuable.

This section of cards is dedicated to punishing your opponents for having the audacity to play Magic the Gathering. If there's an action someone can take in the game, you want to make sure it's a painful ordeal.

Aura of Silence taxes anyone wanting to play artifacts or enchantments by . It also has removal stapled onto it which is a bonus

Authority of the Consuls has some incidental life gain along with shutting down fast creature strategies

Blind Obedience is similar, but it has extort, and shuts down fast artifact ramp too

Bloodchief Ascension synergizes really well with Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, because if an opponent plays a spell, you get a quest counter. Once stacked, it punishes spellslinger decks and sacrifice heavy decks. It also gains you life

Bloodforged Blade to turn attacks away from us

Erebos, God of the Dead prevents your opponents from gaining life, while having a slew of other useful things stapled on, like indestructible attacking and card draw

Ghostly Prison is a classic combat tax. It speaks for itself

Grand Abolisher punishes anyone wanting to play stuff or activate stuff on your turn by, well, not letting them

Indulging Patrician synergizes well with Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, more or less guaranteeing your opponents lose 3 life each of your turns

Kambal, Consul of Allocation is a better Liesa, Shroud of Dusk for noncreature spells, as it gains you life

Loyal Subordinate is a second Indulging Patrician

Luminarch Ascension admittedly can put a target on you, but it's a heavy punishment if opponents don't try to deal with it. As you've seen though, you won't let them deal with it for free. Mana sinks are always amazing late game

Martial Impetus to turn attacks away from us

Painful Quandary has been a pet card of mine for a long time now. I've been trying to find a place where it really fits, and this is that place. It triggers on every cast just like your commander as well!

Parasitic Impetus to turn attacks away from us

Sanguine Bond goes infinite with Exquisite Blood and works well by itself, hurting opponents whenever you gain life

Sphere of Safety is another Ghostly Prison that gets better with each enchantments you have (hint: there's 20 of them)

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose punishes your opponents for letting you gain life, which can happen fairly easily in this deck. For instance, Liesa, Shroud of Dusk :)

Vizkopa Guildmage is a global Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose effect

Wound Reflection will double any damage any of your opponents take, including from each other. Very good for all of your punishment

This section is dedicated to cards that are really there to mitigate any punishment Liesa, Shroud of Dusk decides to bless upon you (it hurts so good!)

Debt to the Deathless is a nice late game finisher, or early game life gain. Always nice to have an spell in the deck

Duelist's Heritage is a really fun card that is good both offensively and defensively. You can do the obvious and give Liesa or maybe you Serra Ascendant double strike, but you can also politic opponents turn by giving an attacking creature double strike if its swinging at someone else

Exquisite Blood works cohesively with the deck in general, with the added bonus of going infinite with a several cards, like Sanguine Bond, Vizkopa Guildmage, and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Nighthawk Scavenger is here for easy lifegain and maybe taking out a threat. Having a creature that is usually a 4 or 5/3, or that can get up to an 8/3 is superb for gaining life. How often have you seen a fetch, some artifact or creature cracked for land, and some instants or sorceries in a graveyard before turn 3? Often. Very often.

Resplendent Angel will get you a creature every turn Liesa attacks, and sometimes even on your opponent's turns

Serra Ascendant is the ultimate chad T1 play, but is a good source of life at any point in the game

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse punishes opponents for drawing cards while rewarding us for doing the same

Ok the fun parts are over. Onto the kind of boring (but necessary) parts of the deck.

This is how you refill your hand to keep the pain coming

Alhammarret's Archive doubles the, albeit few, card draw spells we have and also doubles the life we gain

Bolas's Citadel has extra bone-hurting juice when combined with Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, but it's such a good effect it doesn't matter a whole lot. Also has a good ability to finish off low opponents

Court of Ambition is a fun new monarch card, with added punishment

Demonic Tutor staple tutor

Enlightened Tutor staple tutor

Necropotence staple card "draw". Will never not be good

Night's Whisper some direct draw

Phyrexian Arena incremental draw over time

Read the Bones some direct draw

Sign in Blood some direct draw

Twilight Prophet is a fun card that I love. A Phyrexian Arena that drains your opponents? Yes yes yes yes yes

Well of Lost Dreams works well with your commander as well as with the many sources of incidental lifegain throughout the deck

This is how you deal with your opponent's stuff when they aren't dissuaded or straight-up stopped from your taxing effects.

Anguished Unmaking a staple, it can hit any nonland permanent; RIP Avacyn, though you kind of deserved it for what you did to Liesa

Austere Command is just good for everything. Only downside is it doesn't exile

Despark is a very mana efficient removal spell for high value targets that are cmc or more

Farewell is the hotter, buffer older brother of Austere Command. Only drawback is you have less creature flexibility

Generous Gift is worth giving an opponent a 3/3 for instant speed universal removal

Grasp of Fate is 3 Oblivion Rings for the price of one

Imp's Mischief redirect anyone? Unfortunately, only works on spells with one target (I remembered this the hard way when trying to steal a Karn's Temporal Sundering)

Kaya's Wrath is another 4-drop wipe but it gains us life

Lightning Greaves good for protecting Liesa, Shroud of Dusk as well as giving any lifelinker you have haste

Path to Exile cheap removal with no death trigger

Swords to Plowshares can you tell I have a thing for exile effects?

Teferi's Protection a must-have in any deck that runs white. Only thing it doesn't protect you from is library and hand shenanigans

Toxic Deluge a nice boardwipe that gets around indestructible

This is the ramp section. Most of it is pretty no-brainer

Arcane Signet is early ramp

Archaeomancer's Map is a white Cultivate that can do work throughout the game

Crypt Ghast good early, good late, and has extort. Works extra well with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Fellwar Stone is early ramp

Land Tax the OG Keeper of the Accord

Mind Stone is early ramp

Orzhov Signet is early ramp

Smothering Tithe another staple. Punishes your opponents for drawing cards

Sol Ring is early ramp

Talisman of Hierarchy is early ramp

Tithe super good in the opener in you didn't go first and you cast on opponent's endstep. Pretty decent and cheap ramp in general

If you liked this deck, please consider leaving an Upvote and leaving any feedback or suggestions you have!

Looking for more proactive drain and pain pieces, similar to Indulging Patrician and Loyal Subordinate or passive pain like Painful Quandary

Also is it pronounced Lee-esa or Lie-za?

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Revision 46 See all

(1 week ago)

+1 Ghoulish Impetus main
Top Ranked
  • Achieved #1 position overall 3 years ago
Date added 3 years
Last updated 1 week
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

10 - 0 Mythic Rares

45 - 0 Rares

20 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.98
Tokens Angel 4/4 W, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, City's Blessing, Elephant 3/3 G, Monarch Emblem, Treasure
Folders Uncategorized - Decks i want to have xD, Decks to Try, Favorite Decks, Refs, Primers and Reference, Reference Decks for Future Builds, Edh decks, Commander, Cool Decks, Other Decks
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