Why use Muldrotha, the Gravetide?

I've been using Sidisi, Brood Tyrant for about two years now (!shameless plug alert! Sidisi Deck Tech, the deck is fun to play, however it's too slow and inconsistent for a competitive, or even semi-competitive meta. I was fine playing my ok power level deck, however it would be nice to play a graveyard based strategey that was both fun and increadibly powerful, I think Muldrotha is that deck. When Muldrotha was spoiled, I thought to myself, "hmmm, this would be a great card for my Sidisi deck," but I started hearing rumors and whispers on the wind/the internet of just how versitle, powerful, and broken Muldrotha is as a commander, so then I thought to myself, "hey, why don't I just use Muldrotha as the commander?"

Ways to build Muldrotha

There are a couple of ways to build Muldrotha, all of which revolve around your graveyard.

  1. Mid-Range value- this is probably going to be the most popular way to build him/her/it?, since Mid-Range is one of the most popular archetypes in commander, because the archetype is positioned well in a multiplayer meta. Muldrotha's competition for this spot would be the other value generating Sultai commanders, one beingDamia, Sage in Stone, but Muldrotha's value would come from repeating abilities from the graveyard instead of through raw card draw, however Tasigur, the Golden Fang already controls that deck building space, and generic graveyard value is already taken up by Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, so where does Muldrotha fit in the Sultai mid-range value space, well just in very specific gimmicks. Muldrotha's most prominent gimmick is repeating self-sacrificing effects, similar to how a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck would operate using cards like Sakura-Tribe Elder or Fleshbag Marauder, however Muldrotha can get all permenants, not just creatures, finally finding it's unique edge in the meta. In conclusion a Muldrotha mid-range value deck would operate similarly to a Meren deck, but giving you access to all permeant types, not just creatures. My problem w/ this build is the fact that Meren is already powerful, it doesn't need , and you sacrifice some of a Meren's deck most powerful cards like Contamination and Nether Void, however I do think that this is a valid and powerful way to build Muldrotha, and I did incorporate some of this strategy in my version of the deck.

  2. Stax- oh yes stax everyone's least favorite strategy to play against, but unfortunately for everyone, it's one of the most powerful strategies in commander. I hate playing stax and fighting against it, so I'm not going to say much about this strategy, but just know that this is a way to build Muldrotha.

  3. Combo- Probably the most powerful and one of the most popular archetypes in commander. A competitive Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck is similar to how a combo Muldrotha deck would work, just without the Food Chain combo.

So how did I choose to build Muldrotha?

I decided to have combo be the win condition, but make it mostly a mid-range value deck. Making this a pure combo deck would make it too competitive, and it would lose out on some of the unique, fun, synergies available to Muldrotha. Making the deck pure mid-range value would make it too similar to other decks that frankly do mid-range value a little better and it would be too slow w/ no solid way of winning.

It was incredibly difficult to narrow the deck down to just 100 cards, since there are so many awesome cards that work great in this kind of strategy, so what cards did I end up using?

LANDS

Barren Moor, Lonely Sandbar, & Tranquil Thicket- These are in the deck just for the Life from the Loam cheese, which is cycle, dredge 3, get Loam back, cast it, get the cycle land back, and repeat as much as you'd like.

Breeding Pool, Overgrown Tomb, & Watery Grave- The shock lands are a necessity for any deck that can run them, they are cheap price wise for how powerful they are, and being able to fetch them is important for any multicolored deck.

Cephalid Coliseum- One of the lands that are highly synergistic w/ Muldrotha, you can keep sacrificing this than play it again using Muldrotha, which feeds both the graveyard and our hand, plus Threshold is relatively easy to achieve in this deck.

City of Brass & Mana Confluence- Great lands that should be played in any multicolored deck, the 1 life cost is so miniscule in a format that starts you at 40 life.

Command Beacon- Sac this to get a Muldrotha w/ commander tax out of your command zone, then play this land out of your graveyard w/ Muldrotha, works similarly to Titania, Protector of Argoth

Command Tower- Best land for any multi-colored commander deck, an auto-include.

Exotic Orchard & Reflecting Pool- Usually just redundant Command Towers.

Ptismatic Vista- an auto-include in any multi-colored deck running a decent amount of basics, it's especially good in this deck, since it can be used over and over again, like the fetch lands, using Muldrotha.

7x Forest, 2x Island, & 6x Swamp- The deck wants to use a lot of basics, so you reuse your fetch lands over and over again & use Sakura-Tribe Elder over & over again.

Glacial Chasm- One of the most powerful cards in the deck, this will keep you alive while you assemble your combo, and this card's cumulative upkeep can be negated by just playing it again from the graveyard once you don't pay for it, resetting the age counters, even the ETB sac can be negated by just playing the land that you sacrificed from the graveyard using Muldrotha.

High Market- A sacrifice outlet on a land, allows you to sacrifice a creature which allows you to play it again using Muldrotha.

Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta, & Verdant Catacombs- Fetch lands are arguably the best lands in magic, combos well w/ Muldrotha & Ramunap Excavator.

Morphic Pool, Undergorwth Stadium, & Rejuvenating Springs- Will almost always come into play untapped, a great new land coming out of Commander Masters (Battlebond).

Strip Mine & Wasteland- Recurable land destruction, just brutal.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth- Goes in every multicolored deck running .

INSTANTS

Entomb- Ends up being a 1 mana tutor if you have Muldrotha on the battlefield, just get whatever card you need.

Frantic Search- Feels like a "free" card since it costs you no mana, discards cards to your 2nd hand and draws you 2 cards, it's just amazing in this deck.

Memory's Journey- Protects you from losing the when going for the self mil win and you get disrupted.

Vampiric Tutor- Auto-include in any deck, one of the best cards in commander, second only to Demonic Tutor.

CREATURES

Birds of Paradise- One of the best cards in commander, turn one ramp is both incredibly rare and incredibly powerful.

Caustic Caterpillar- Self-sacrificing enchantment/artifact destruction attached to a creature, it being a creature makes it easy to tutor for in this deck, because of cards like Buried Alive and Jarad's Orders.

Deathrite Shaman- He's right up there w/ Birds of Paradise on the power level side, and it gives the deck some much needed graveyard hate, especially since this deck run Mesmeric Orb.

Dosan the Falling Leaf- The deck runs no instant speed removal, so this ends up being a one sided effect, benefiting you.

Eternal Witness- This a graveyard based deck w/ ways to abuse ETB triggers (by sacrificing the ETB creature then playing it again using Muldrotha), so you better believe that this deck runs one of the most popular & powerful ETB cards in commander.

Fauna Shaman- Most of the combo pieces in this deck are creatures, so that's usually what you'll grab w/ her, and remember discarding in this deck really means, "put this card into your second hand."

Glen Elendra Archmage- One of the few ways to counter spells using a permanent, luckily it's a pretty solid way to counter non-creature spells, also this card + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is pretty silly.

Gravebreaker Lamia- Is the perfect card for the deck, it can tutor up combo piece into the graveyard to be cast using Muldortha, and it makes the spells cheaper to cast which can be incredibly useful, and it being an enchantment/creature makes more flexible to cast using Muldrotha, since you can chose one or the other for your once per turn permanent type.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed- In the deck for multiple combos (see combo section).

Mindslicer- The deck runs a ton of sacrifice outlets, so killing this thing shouldn't be too difficult, and once you do, you get to put all the cards in your first hand into your second hand and all of your opponents get to discard their hands into their graveyards.

Mirror-Mad Phantasm- Unfortunately there isn't too many efficient ways to mill yourself in this deck, but this little guy gets the job done beautifully, just use 2 mana to keep milling yourself an absurd amount until you are sufficiently satisfied.

Mulldrifter- Evoked card draw that has an ETB that can be abused.

Mystic Snake- Another one of the few counterspells attached to a permanent, you are only going to be able to use Muldrotha's ability on your turn, so you're probably only going to use this critter from the graveyard to protect your combos when attempting to go off.

Plaguecrafter- Gives the deck a self-sacrificing way to put pressure on the creature side of your opponents' board.

Protean Hulk- In the deck to grab Mikaeus, the Unhallowed & Walking Ballista, which is a combo win con if you have an infinite sac outlet like Ashnod's Altar or Altar of Dementia.

Ramunap Excavator- The deck's already built around recurring lands from the graveyard using Muldrotha, so this naga is just a redundant version of that effect.

River Kelpie- This card will help you draw cards like crazy, even without the combo potential, speaking of which, the combo w/ this is River Kelpie + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + infinite sac outlet + Thassa's Oracle, basically you just keep bringing River Kelpie back an infinite amount of times allowing you to draw an infinite amount of cards, which nabs you the self deckout win.

Sakura-Tribe Elder- Self-sacrificing ramp, exactly the type of card this deck needs.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier- A self-sacrificing tutor on a creature, just perfect for this deck, especially for finding the combo pieces.

Spore Frog- This deck does about the same thing a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck does w/ this creature, which is giving you one Fog effect for each round around the table.

Sylvan Safekeeper- Gives protection to your creatures, which is desperately needed, especially since the deck doesn't run Swiftfoot Boots & Lightning Greaves and has very few counterspells, this card also gives you a gimmick to nab an extra mana in your mana pool by sacrificing a tapped land then playing it from the graveyard untapped as your land for the turn.

Thassa's Oracle- used to win once we've milled ourselves (see combo section for more details).

Triskelion- Strictly in the deck for the mike and trike combo (Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion).

Viscera Seer- An infinite sacrifice outlet attached to a creature, a utility that this deck is in desperate need of.

Walking Ballista- In the deck to be searched up w/ Protean Hulk for the Walking Ballista + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + infinite sac outlet combo.

SORCERIES

Buried Alive- The most powerful tutor in the deck, you're usually going to throw your combo pieces in the graveyard to be played using Muldrotha, you can cheese your way around the 1 creature clause by reanimating one of the targets using Animate Dead or Necromancy, if you are going for the mike and trike win, you can have Mikaeus, the Unhallowed be your creature and Triskelion be your artifact.

Demonic Tutor- The best card in commander, goes in every deck.

Diabolic Intent- This deck wants to sacrifice creatures anyways, so it's well worth the price for a redundant Demonic Tutor.

Jarad's Orders- Put one creature into your hand and another into your second hand, the targets are probably going to be Mikaeus, the Unhallowed & Triskelion.

Life from the Loam- A great way to self mil and ensure land drops, you can dredge as many times as you'd like if you have a cycle land in your first or second hand (your graveyard).

Traverse the Ulvenwald- Delirium should be relatively easy to achieve in this deck, and the deck has a huge range of creatures and lands to pick from, and remember to use this in a pinch if you have to, sometimes a basic land can be the best card for your current situation.

ENCHANTMETS

Animate Dead & Necromancy- They're great in any graveyard based deck, however they're mostly in the deck to get around Muldrotha's 1 creature per your turn clause, allowing you to basically put two creatures from your graveyard into play.

Carpet of Flowers- Great ramp attached to a permanent for just one mana, if you've never played this card just because you're afraid of your opponent's not having Islands, then you are a fool, even if there is just one Island on the field, than you just got yourself a Birds of Paradise, seems good to me, oh and also there is always someone playing , or your meta is full of bad players who don't use .

Elephant Grass- A one mana Ghostly Prison/Propaganda + hate against black for some reason, the cumulative upkeep is negated using Muldrotha.

Exploration- A card that's great in most decks, however it's easily abuseable in this deck where you can play a land like Strip Mine from your hand, then activate it, then play it again from your graveyard, there are all sorts of cute gimmicks you can do, so have fun.

Manabond- helps to accelerate Muldrotha out as quickly as possible, then you can get the cards back that you discarded using Muldrotha.

Mystic Remora- This enchantment is already arguably the best card draw spell in commander, however it's even more stupid in this deck, where you can basically ignore the cumulative upkeep cost and just keep playing it from your graveyard for one mana.

Pernicious Deed- One of the few ways a permanent can wipe the board, luckily it sacs itself too.

Seal of Primordium- Like Caustic Caterpillar, this is another self-sacrificing artifact/enchantment attached to a permanent.

Sinister Concoction- Creature removal on a permanent that mills you, puts a card in your first hand into your second hand, and is self sacrificing.

Sylvan Library- An auto-include in any deck, it's also convenient that it's a permanent.

ARTIFACTS

Altar of Dementia- This card enables you to mil yourself and provides the infinite sacrifice outlet for some of the essential combos.

Ashnod's Altar- An infinite sacrifice outlet that can get you some mana too.

Basalt Monolith- In the deck for the Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith combo to mil yourself and win w/ Thassa's Oracle.

Birthing Pod- Gives you a way to search up creatures and gives you a way to sacrifice creatures.

Expedition Map- A recurable way to search up the myriad of lands in the deck. Jeweled Lotus- Muldrotha being 6 mana can be annoying to get to at times, and this card helps tremendously to get Muldrotha on the field, plus any 0 drop cards are amazing w/ Muldrotha, since you can play the card right after casting Muldrotha. Whenever Muldrotha dies, it can really set you back to the point of easily loosing you the game, since 8 mana is way too much, however this card can really help mitigate this annoying problem that occurs in a lot of games.

Lotus Petal- A free way to net an extra mana each turn.

Mesmeric Orb- One of the best cards for any self-mil deck, but it's especially good in this deck for the Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith combo.

Nevinyrral's Disk- A board wipe attached to a permanent.

Sol Ring- It's commander.

Wayfarer's Bauble- A recurable way to ramp in this deck.

PLANESWALKERS

Ashoik, Dream Render- this deck can take advantage of all the modes on this planeswalker, exiling your opponents' graveyards every activation and keeping them from being able to tutor are both annoying abilities that your opponents have to deal w/, plus we can mil 4 cards into our second hand, which is incredibly helpful.

Oko, Thief of Crowns- was the scourge of standard & modern before quickly being banned, however he's still a power house in the eternal formats too, especially commander. Being able to elk commanders (symbol:loyalty-plus 1) is an incredibly powerful effect, and is one of the best ways to deal w/ a commander, it can potentially shutdown a deck that is highly reliant on their commander to work properly. His other 2 abilities aren't particularly exciting, but having a way to Elk a creature once on each of your turns is just too good of an ability to pass up on.

Cards that can be Reused from the Graveyard (without a sacrifice outlet)

Lands

Cephalid Coliseum, Command Beacon, Glacial Chasm, Fetch Lands, Prismatic Vista, Strip Mine, & Wasteland

Creatures

Caustic Caterpillar, Plaugecrafter, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Spore Frog, & Viscera Seer

Enchantments

Mystic Remora, Pernicious Deed, Seal of Primordium, & Sinister Concoction

Artifact

Jeweled Lotus, Expedition Map, Lotus Petal, Nevinyrral's Disk, & Wayfarer's Bauble

ETB Users & Abusers

Eternal Witness, Plaugecrafter, Gravebreaker Lamia, Mulldrifter, Mystic Snake, River Kelpie, & Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Infinite Sacrifice Outlets

Viscera Seer, Altar of Dementia, Ashnod's Altar, & Sylvan Safekeeper (just for lands obviously)

Combos

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion = Infinite Damage to all your opponents

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista + Infinite Sacrifice Outlet = Infinite Damage to all your opponents

Protean Hulk + Infinite Sacrifice Outlet = Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista + Infinite Sacrifice Outlet = Infinite Damage to all your opponents

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + River Kelpie + Infinite Sac Outlet + Thassa's Oracle = Draw your entire deck then win w/ Thassa's Oracle

Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith = Mil yourself out, then cast Thassa's Oracle (most likely by casting it from your graveyard using Muldrotha)

  1. Combos- the deck is built to win using combos, the combos being Mike and Trike, and milling out then winning using Thassa's Oracle (see Card Synergies section for more details)

  2. Midrange out-value- this deck should be able to out value every deck in commander, as long as you don't get hit by graveyard hate, this is a good way to win if your combos get dealt w/ if an opponent uses a card like Bitter Ordeal

Battlebond Update:

Took out a Swamp for Morphic Pool, Morphic Pool is strictly better than a basic land in multiplayer commander.

Random Updates 1:

Took out Second Chance & Necropotence, since I didn't need another combo and the Second Chance combo was the weakest, and Necropotence was in the deck just to get your life to 5 or less. I replaced those two cards for Elephant Grass & Dosan the Falling Leaf, Elephant Grass gives you more defense against your opponents. Dosan the Falling Leaf protects you against instant speed hate when you're going off with your combos.

Ravnica Allegiance Update:

Replaced Fleshbag Marauder for Plaguecrafter since he's strictly better.

Random Update 2:

Replaced Smokestack for Manabond, I found that Smokestack is too slow, I would of added Manabond earlier, but I just didn't know that the card existed until recently.

Modern Horizons Update:

Replaced Drowned Catacomb, Hinterland Harbor, & Woodland Cemetery for Prismatic Vista, Waterlogged Grove, & Nurturing Peatland, the new pain lands are great and work especialy well in this deck, Prismatic Vista can be used repeatedly using Muldrotha.

Theros Beyond Death Update:

Replaced Corpse Connoisseur for Gravebreaker Lamia, Gravebreaker Lamia is better in just about everyway except for it not being able to cast itself from the graveyard, Gravebreaker Lamia just seems to be made to be played in this deck.

Replaced Laboratory Maniac w/ Thassa's Oracle, Thassa's Oracle is basically strictly better than Labman, 1st you don't have to find a way to draw to deck yourself, 2nd it costs 1 less mana (although the 2 is a little more awkward for a 3 colored deck that isn't very heavy in ), & 3rd you don't just loose the game if it gets killed by targeted removal, which can happen easisly happen when using Labman.

Replaced Deep Analysis for Oko, Thief of Crowns, Deep Analysis without Labman is just a mediocre card draw spell, I didn't have any planeswalkers before adding Oko, so I wasn't able to take full advantage of each permanent type available to be cast from the graveyard using Muldortha, and Oko is just a beast, since he's able to elk commanders, which can often shutdown entire decks.

Commander Legends Update:

Replaced Nurturing Peatland & Waterlogged Grove for Undergrowth Stadium & Rejuvenating Springs, pretty simple, the Battlebond lands are better than the Horizon lands. I haven't really used the card draw mode on the Horizon lands enough to make them better than the Battlebond lands.

Replaced Commander's Sphere for Jeweled Lotus, Commander's Sphere has been really mediocre, 3 mana is too much for a mana rock, and the deck really doesn't care about drawing cards. Obviously Jeweled Lotus is ridiculous in this deck.

Random Update 3:

Replaced Phyrexian Arena w/ Ashiok, Dream Render, Phyrexian Arena is a solid card, but I need more graveyard hate in the deck, Ashiok, Dream Render gives me graveyard hate, tutor hate, and puts four cards into my second hand, it simply does more than Phyrexian Arena.

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 3 years
Exclude colors WR
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

7 - 0 Mythic Rares

47 - 0 Rares

18 - 0 Uncommons

13 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.53
Tokens Elk 3/3 G, Food
Folders EDH, Favorites, the deck list
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