Sefris Initiative

Commander / EDH Casual Monarch Reanimator Venture Into the Dungeon WUB (Esper)

boymeetsghoul

Creature (37)

• 1x Aarakocra Sneak
• 1x Angel of the Ruins
• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Archon of Coronation
• 1x Archon of Emeria
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Champions of Minas Tirith
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Feywild Caretaker
• 1x Ghostly Pilferer
• 1x Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Likeness Looter
• 1x Looter il-Kor
• 1x Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
• 1x Midnight Pathlighter
• 1x Nadaar, Selfless Paladin
• 1x Radiant Solar
• 1x Raffine, Scheming Seer
• 1x Ravenloft Adventurer
• 1x Reidane, God of the Worthy  ^Flip
• 1x Rilsa Rael, Kingpin
• 1x Seasoned Dungeoneer
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Serra's Emissary
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Tomb of Horrors Adventurer
• 1x Toxrill, the Corrosive
• 1x Triumphant Adventurer
• 1x Troll of Khazad-dum
• 1x White Plume Adventurer
• 1x Windborn Muse
• 1x Witch-king of Angmar
• 1x Yuan-Ti Malison

Land (36)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 4x Island
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 4x Plains
• 1x Port Town
• 1x Raffine's Tower
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Shineshadow Snarl
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Emeria's Call  ^Flip
• 1x From the Catacombs

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Call of the Ring
• 1x Dungeon Delver

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Despark
• 1x Dire Tactics
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Hagra Mauling  ^Flip
• 1x Snuff Out
• 1x Soul Shatter
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vendetta
• 1x Void Rend

Artifact (6)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Teferi, Master of Time

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Maybeboard

Creature (28)

• 1x Angel of Sanctions
• 1x Ashen Rider
• 1x Baneslayer Angel
• 1x Barrowin of Clan Undurr
• 1x Battle Angels of Tyr
• 1x Blazing Archon
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Eccentric Apprentice
• 1x Firemane Commando
• 1x Gisela, the Broken Blade  ^Meld
• 1x Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
• 1x Hostage Taker
• 1x Imoen, Mystic Trickster
• 1x Liesa, Forgotten Archangel
• 1x Likeness Looter
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Loran of the Third Path
• 1x Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Palace Jailer
• 1x Ravenloft Adventurer
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 1x Solitude
• 1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
• 1x Windborn Muse

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Fall from Favor
• 1x Fly
• 1x Marchesa's Decree
• 1x Reprobation

Instant (1)

• 1x Stroke of Midnight

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Alrund's Epiphany
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Artifact (2)

• 1x Crown of Gondor
• 1x The One Ring

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Currently building a casual Sefris deck built around gaining the initiative. Budget issues mean a less than ideal land base and a few spells/creatures I can't get yet (Ledger Shredder, Phantasmal Image, extra turns spells, etc.). The deck is built around gaining the initiative and regaining it over and over with evasive creatures that loot.

Starting off, the deck has a suite of initiative cards: Seasoned Dungeoneer, White Plume Adventurer, Feywild Caretaker, Tomb of Horrors Adventurer, From the Catacombs, Ravenloft Adventurer, and Rilsa Rael, Kingpin. In the same vein, we also have a couple reanimateable monarchy cards.

I love getting a bunch of dungeon triggers, and they do synergize with the initiative and sefris (although they can prevent us from going into the Undercity!), so there are a slew of those as well. Nadaar, Selfless Paladin pumps our small evasive creatures. Midnight Pathlighter synergizes well with our game plan of evasive damage. Radiant Solar is rather expensive but can be reanimated, and makes a metric ton of dungeon triggers. Others include Triumphant Adventurer, Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker, Dungeon Delver, and Yuan-Ti Malison.

In case the monarchy and initiative is stolen from us, the deck is heavy on cheap evasive creatures, many of which can also serve as discard outlets. Selfless Spirit, Ledger Shredder, Looter il-Kor, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Reidane, God of the Worthy  , and Baleful Strix. Ghostly Pilferer draws cards from our opponents's commanders, and can discard to proc Sefris at instant speed. Yuan-Ti Malison doubles as a dungeon enabler. There are also a few bigger fliers that synergize with Sefris, like Doom Whisperer and Raffine, Scheming Seer. Call of the Ring draws us cards while making our evasive fliers unblockable by anything bigger, and lets us loot whenever we attack.

Ways to put cards into the graveyard during our opponents' turns. Teferi, Master of Time lets us loot during our opponent's turns as well, possibly getting four dungeon triggers alongside Sefris during a single turn cycle, and can also stop an attacker in a pinch. Doom Whisperer is a massive flying trampler that can complete a dungeon in a turn cycle as well. Troll of Khazad-dum and Angel of the Ruins improve our manabase while serving as both dungeon triggers and creatures we can reanimate. Finally, Archfiend of Ifnir can use our multiple discard triggers we have to shrink our opponents' boards, and can be cycled for a dungeon trigger if we don't have any looters out.

Cheap evasive creatures are not good at blocking, which makes us prone to dying to random fatties hitting us to retake the monarchy. To mitigate this, we have a slew of one-sided sweepers. Cyclonic Rift, Austere Command, Dusk / Dawn. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite doubles as a reanimation target.

Efficient removal can make use of the extra cards we're drawing, and are useful whether we're defending the initiative or removing flying blockers to retake it. Swords to Plowshares, Snuff Out, Hagra Mauling  , Vendetta, Anguished Unmaking, Despark, Stroke of Midnight, Dismember, Void Rend, and Soul Shatter. We're not a big fan of Pongify effects because they give our opponent another creature to regain Monarchy with that Sefris and co. can't block profitably. Not sure how good the 3-mana removal is without much ramp or flash creatures - they're hard to hold up while playing another card, but they can get rid of problematic noncreature permanents.

We have several reanimation targets that go well with our flying discard outlets, although we prefer them to advance our theme of taking/holding the initiative rather than winning the game on the spot. We're not a dedicated reanimator deck by any means. Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Toxrill, the Corrosive, Serra's Emissary, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite protect our board or weaken our opponents' so we can keep attacking with our evasive fliers or sit back on the initiative.

We're not dedicated to pillowforting either, although there are a few cards dedicated to holding back attacks - Archangel of Tithes, Windborn Muse, Witch-king of Angmar. The creatures fly, so they can retake the initiative in a pinch. Champions of Minas Tirith fit the theme too.

Finally, we have five mana rocks and 36 lands, plus Hagra Mauling, Emeria's Call  , and two land-cyclers.

Overall, the deck is pretty expensive on the mana costs without much ramp, although we have a bunch of single-target removal and ways to improve our hand. I'm making excuses that the masses of 6-drops can be discarded and reanimated in a pinch, but it does make the deck clunkier. We have a lot of single-target creature removal, and I'm not sure how good that is either.

Date added	3 months
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.69
Tokens	Angel Warrior 4/4 W, Dungeon: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Dungeon: Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dungeon: Tomb of Annihilation, Dungeon: Undercity, Faerie Dragon 1/1 U, Goblin 1/1 R, Human 1/1 W, Skeleton 1/1 B, Skeleton 4/1 B, Slug 1-1 B, The Atropal, The Initiative, The Monarch, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You, Treasure
Folders	Decks to Build