Archfiend of Ifnir

Creature — Demon

Flying

Whenever you cycle or discard another card, put a -1/-1 counter on each creature your opponents control.

Cycling (, Dicard this card: Draw a card.)

Discussion (50)

darthvander on Varina, Lich Queen

3 weeks ago

Awesome video and write up. Is there any reason you don’t run Archfiend of Ifnir

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 8: Rakdos …

3 weeks ago

Brothers, sisters, and assorted non-binary siblings, welcome to the riot! You like throwing waves of frothing, hasty lunatics at your opponent AND profiting when said lunatics die? We got you! You like watching the world burn and don’t mind getting caught in the flames? We got you! You like anarchy? The purge movies? Gender reveal parties? We got you! Rakdos is the proud home of those who take pleasure at the expense of others, the sort of people who like to mix Skittles and M&Ms in the same party bowl. If that sounds fun, then just you wait: in the house of red and black, that sort of misbehavior is only the appetizer.

Haste and sacrifice. Vampirism and burn. Discard in both barrels. This is a beautifully synergistic color pairing that belongs in the same league as peanut butter and chocolate. Heath Ledger’s joker undoutably played a rakdos deck: things like Havoc Festival, Last One Standing, and Sire Of Insanity are all up the clown’s alley. There are a number of themes we can cover here, but as usual we’re settling for three: Discard, WAAAAGH, and Pain. As always, please bear in mind that the point isn’t a discussion of the competitive but rather as a celebration of the thematic.

Discard

This is both red’s primary draw resource and a uniquely black removal technique. Combining those aspects makes for a deck that both ruins opponent’s hands and digs through your own cards at shocking speed. Granted, you won’t have a big hand, but who cares? Suddenly you've got an overpacked graveyard at your black-hearted beck and call. Red self-mill and black reanimation, people, with just a naughty touch of haste. Discard a pile of hate and then pitch said pile straight into combat. You won’t be sorry.

A regular teddy bear, Chainer’s second coming is a real treat for anyone who left their graveyard hate at home. Haste on a stick is only a perk: suddenly your graveyard is only as full as you want it to be, and probably full of friendly, group-huggy things like Ravenous Chupacabra or Combustible Gearhulk. Yes, the table will certainly love you and your unending, undying deck of unbearable hellbeasts. Undoubtably.

Ok, this guy is horrifying, as you would expect of the king of Grixis. Anyone not running tokens is going to be mighty twitchy about seeing this guy hit the field, and who needs a hand anyway? Rakdos evidently loves empty hands, and rewards you for ensuring that particular misery has company. Consider, if you will, the fulsome, vicious suite of cards tied to poking those who discard. Consider Experimental Frenzy. Consider all the madness cards you could play (or, you know, just play Anje Falkenrath instead). And, if you get tired of the simple gains synergy can win you, you can always Demonfire someone.

THIS. This is neat. Leave aside the look on the face of that certain someone who steals everything on the board. Pay no mind that Seize the Day and all it’s red cousins can make Blim an unholy terror. Forget that you can pass off Demonic Pact, Grid Monitor, and whatever other obnoxiousness you can think of. None of that matters, no. This, for all you glorious nutters out there, is an excuse to finally play Nuisance Engine. That’s the takeaway here.

WAAAGH

Anyone can run tokens or big creatures, but only in Rakdos do you find the conjunction of boardwide haste and sacrifice. Harnessing right, proper WAAGH energy means not just drowning opponents in a tide of zippy little shits but also capitalizing on all that death to cause even more mayhem. Did you ever want to hold a bundle of fireworks, light them all at once, and watch whatever you point them at turn into a smoking, shredded pile of giblets? Here’s the lighter, fellas.

Treasure tokens. Nuff said.

There are a number of nasty combos here that I’d rather not spread. I’ll just say that long ago, I played many, many depressing games against a Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund deck. There was self-milling involved, and Living Death. Evidently, someone decided what the deck needed, rather than burning, was fewer moving parts. That someone deserves a long, interesting life in all the worst ways.

This guy makes me laugh. The idea of ruining the table’s carefully laid plans to off you and instead throwing them into combat with each other is absolutely hilarious. It’s like a Fog designed by someone with pyromania-by-proxy syndrome, and that second block of text the equivalent of throwing gasoline on an already burning house. Get a Conjurer's Closet in there and watch the fun.

Pain

Forget destroy effects. Those are too easy. Direct damage. -X/-X. -1/-1 counters. Life loss. All of the nastiness you can fling at opponents and creatures is under the umbrella of this color pairing. If you like blasting the unholy hell out of your opponents and their minions, this is the arsenal you’re looking to plunder. Stuff like Blasphemous Act, Toxic Deluge, or Orcus, Prince of Undeath will leave a smoldering crater of a battlefield, across which you’ll doubtless be stepping with appropriate gribbliness. Or launching that demonfire we talked about. Whatever works.

Ah, the original Mr. Stop-Hitting-Yourself. I’ve had my eye on this guy for over a decade. Do I own the deck? No. Do I intend to? Again, no. But the prospect here is so, soooo satisfying to think about. To hell with infinite combo fruitwaffles. Damned be those green jackasses ramming X cost spells down the table’s collective throat. Kaervek’s mean, but keeps it clean. Like, nuclear fire sterile clean, and the best part? It’s all self-inflicted!

We really can’t talk red-black without discussing demon himself (hehehe). This guy’s been piloting one of my decks for years, and for good reason. The lord of riots likes to pass out rewards for smacking people. Do you like to be rewarded for smacking people? I do. Rewarded with free things... Eldrazi things. Eldrazi things that tutor more things (Conduit of Ruin), reanimate more things (Artisan of Kozilek), or… well, you can always go for broke and just ruin someone else's things (Void Winnower). Run artifacts, like Hangarback Walker. Run X drops, like Maga, Traitor to Mortals. Run anything you like. Run everything you like. Just have fun running them for next to nothing.

-1/-1 counters, magic’s analogue for injury and agony. We really shouldn’t talk red-black without talking about Wither, the Everlasting Torment of a keyword that was a precursor to the dark days of Infect. It’s safe to say we all have opinions, for good or ill, about Infect’s place in commander. That said, if you want to play with -1/-1 counters and aren’t fond of green or dealing with those opinions, Scorpy’s first line of text makes this guy an overwhelmingly safe bet. Rocking crap like Black Sun's Zenith is the easy answer: let’s make this fun, discard a crapload of cards, and watch your opponent’s boards melt into obscene card advantage while your Archfiend of Ifnir giggles in the corner.

And for my personal favorite...

There is an unfortunate element of “screw you in particular” to Xantcha: declaring open season on somebody’s life total sends a particularly unpleasant message. This is another commander that, laying aside the card advantage, doesn’t bolster your deck, which makes for an interesting challenge. I’ve said it before, one hallmark of a good deck is the capability of functioning without its commander… though if you build this hateful beast, I suggest you pack lots and lots of ramp. Just ‘cause.

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Gruul!

Prior Articles:

Dimir

Azorius

Green, with links to the other mono-colors

GrimlockVIII on Muldrotha "Super Budget" The Gravetide [Updated!]

4 months ago

Yo, since you kind of have a cycling/discard sub-theme going on, would it be possible to fit in Archfiend of Ifnir by any chance, or is there not enough stuff going on for him to work?

I dunno, I just like the guy lol.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on ⇜⊰· Venenum Divina 1.0 ·⊱⇝

5 months ago

Archfiend of Ifnir ?

BlackoutX on Kathril, Aspect of Nightmares

5 months ago

Stitcher's Supplier instead of Crystalline Giant , It's cheaper to play and doesn't care about being removed, chances are you will dump something with a keyword immediately making it better.

Valentin, Dean of the Vein  ^Flip instead of Nullpriest of Oblivion , cheaper to play with the same keywords while also stopping creatures from staying in the graveyard and potentially making your blockers. You may even play the flip side in this deck so that's added value.

Gurmag Swiftwing is worth considering since you don't have many first strikers.

Tortured Existence is amazing in this deck especially if you decide to run cards with cycling like Pale Recluse or Archfiend of Ifnir

Unearth is just good

Orange+ on Scarred by Death/Double Kill (Transformative EDH)

9 months ago

Hey man, great to see that you've added your take on Horobi, Death's Wail EDH :)

It looks like this deck has quite a few cool mechanisms that I haven't considered. But there's also a few things I'm unsure about.

Like Archfiend of Ifnir. You realise that this effect, and the effects of other "each creature" effects don't trigger Horobi, Death's Wail? The only other cards I can see the -1/-1 counters synergize with, are Necroskitter and Contagion Clasp. But I guess it fits with a -1/-1 theme, if thats what you are aiming for?

Just in case, I would also like to point out the anti-synergy between the auras like Demonic Vigor and Horobi, Death's Wail's effect because of the fact that auras target their creature when cast. But you probably already know this and is planning to use the auras before casting Horobi, in that case, you are all good :)

You could possibly swap Manalith for Darksteel Ingot.

Other than these observations I really like Grimoire of the Dead. That looks like a ton of fun! I am also curious that you chose the more mana expensive Bone Harvest over Raise Dead, and I am wondering if this is a trade I should do in my own deck. Bone Harvest does definitely have more value, and is way better than Raise Dead later in the game.

Thanks for sharing.

7thZombieman on Discard Nitro

10 months ago

Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension / Leyline of the Void + Helm of Obedience / Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Cinderhaze Wretch These are some solid combos for discard tribal, and usually a quick closeout for a game.

I'd leave the Painful Quandary in and opt out Oppression. Every time I've played Oppression, its fucked me in the long run. Library of Leng is better than Anvil of Bogardan in my opinion, since it only applies to you. Definitely include that Sangromancer, crazy value in a discard deck. Mind Rake > Mind Rot just cause of the overload cost. Some cards to think about adding in Imp's Mischief, Rankle, Master of Pranks, Syphon Mind, Mind Twist, Archfiend of Ifnir, Banshee of the Dread Choir. Good lookin deck though! Hope these suggestions can help you out

skeletonkey8 on Toxic Relationship: Hapatra EDH [PRIMER]

10 months ago

how does Archfiend of Ifnir interact with your strategy? is it just when you have a big hand you get too discard?