Keen Duelist
Set Price Alerts

Combos Browse all Suggest

Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Keen Duelist

Creature — Human Wizard

At the beginning of your upkeep, you and target opponent each reveal the top card of their respective libraries. You each lose life equal to the converted mana cost/mana value of the card revealed by the other player. You each put the card you revealed into your hand.

multimedia on Rakdos, Lord of Riots Demon Tribal

7 months ago

Hey, with Rakdos as Commander then consider some effects that make an opponent lose life without attacking? Rakdos can't be cast without first an opponent losing life and effects that cost no additional mana as well as being repeatable are nice since you want to use your mana on your turn to cast Demons or draw. Get repeatable value while also making your opponent or each opponent lose life.

Cryptolith Fragment  Flip is ramp and an enabler for Rakdos. Plague Spitter is a hidden gem, repeatable 1 damage to each creature at your upkeep can wreck opponent token strategies especially Spirits who are flying blockers against Demons and opponent's green mana dorks. Lower mana cost options, less than 4 mana, are better since they can potentially be cast before Rakdos.

With Rakdos as Commander and playing Demons you need less ramp because he's a source of ramp for Demons. For this reason I would make draw more important then ramp. Still play some ramp, but more draw lets you draw Demons to cast using Rakdos mana cost reduction.

For more draw my advice is make cards with repeatable effects a priory for upgrades. Draw spells that are a single effect are fine too, having both is best. Seize the Spoils, Big Score and Unexpected Windfall is loot (draw and discard) and ramp with treasures, that's really helpful for Demons to get three effects with one card.

If you're interested I offer more advice in another comment. Would you like more advice?

multimedia on Liesa, Liesa, they so flying...

7 months ago

Hey, you're welcome. Nice, those are good changes to make :)

Think bigger when it comes to your gameplan and card quality? Gideon's Avenger and Vampire Scrivener are low power level creatures who need other cards to make them good and to fit with the deck's strategy. Their game impact is very low. Vampire Scrivener being a five drop 2/2 flier is worse because it doesn't do anything for five mana. Which is not good when you have other five drops like Liesa, Stinging Study, Liesa, Forgotten Archangel, casting + equipping Sword of Feast and Famine, etc. can impact the game for five mana right away.

Your best attacker and life gaining is Liesa since she has flying, lifelink and she's your Commander meaning she does Commander damage. If you need a blocker then give Liesa vigilance which is what Loyal Unicorn does and it's a good card to keep for this reason. I don't think attacking with lots of creatures or building creatures to be attackers should be your game plan here. Liesa as attacker yes, but instead the creatures you play should support the life gaining strategy for value, draw, protect Liesa, make Liesa a better attacker, be sacrificed to keep Leisa alive, etc. Creatures with lifelink are preferred since if they get to attack they might gain life, but think of that as a bonus.

Liesa, Forgotten Archangel is your second best attacker/life gaining and her other abilities are excellent. Markov Purifier is a good example of a quality budget support creature with Liesa since he can be repeatable draw and if you get to attack with him then he might gain life, but you really play him because of his repeatable draw not because he may do combat damage to gain life.

You have a lot of budget filler creatures here who you don't need to play because they aren't helping gameplay enough to take up a deck spot. As a lesson in Commander deck building try to limit to only quality creatures here. This is not about adding/upgrading creatures, except a few that are in the precon, but instead about choosing only the quality creatures you're currently playing.

What we are looking for in creatures is how they interact or support with the deck strategy. If they're good enough support keep them, but if not then cut them. Even budget filler creatures such as Infantry Veteran can be quality, Veteran is not quality.

This list I've made below is not a knock on your deck building, you're using cards you have available to you, that's great and everyone has this same start. This advice is to how to improve the cards that you play to fill in the rest of the deck spots to have a full deck. Filler cards can also be quality, but you first have to know which cards are not as good as others so that you can improve them within budget.

I have reduced the creature base down to 11 of the quality creatures your currently playing. We are looking for good impact from creatures to make when they are played the first turn which means they have some kind of helpful abilities. Less high end creatures because both Liesa are your best high end creatures who are five drops.

If you're still interested I can continue with advice in another comment. Shall I continue?

ThinMargin on Liesa, Liesa, they so flying...

7 months ago

multimedia great feedback! All of those cards were on the maybe list for me for sure. The deck was feeling a little creature heavy.

There are a few mechanics I would like to keep though. I am using Gideon's Avenger and the Vampire Scrivener to counter up and give them life link with one of the 3 enchants I have for that. Makes them good blockers or attackers and a tempting removal burn to keep Liesa out longer. They fit in line with the punishment theme of Liesa. If I had something that did both, that would be better. If Liesa is out, each combo costs me 4 life. It is a side road I need to consider if I can get my Loyal Unicorn out and haven't found my Victory's Herald .

Also, it pains me to let go of my infi-chump blocker. Blinking Spirit is one of my favorite cards for watching peoples heads explode, it probably should have been blue, really. But I can see the sense in getting rid of a recasting creature in a Liesa deck. Good call.

What do you think of this:

I appreciate the help! Cheers!

multimedia on Liesa, Liesa, they so flying...

7 months ago

Hey, good start at using/upgrading the precon on a budget, nice Sword of Feast and Famine. Some improvements to consider for gameplay is getting more value especially draw from gaining or using life such as Greed. Pay 4 mana to get Greed on the battlefield then it's repeatable draw a card for 1 mana + 2 life as many times as you want.

Some cards that are in the precon to consider adding:

Usually if a card in the precon is more expensive price then others then it's a good card that's worth an extra look and a playest. You're pretty safe to include all the expensive price cards in a precon in your upgraded version. Stinging Study is instant draw five cards for 5 mana + 5 life which is a good return and uses extra life your gaining to draw cards.

Keen Duelist can be repeatable draw using life for no additional mana cost. Yes, opponent also gets to draw, but that's a price you have to pay because of lower budget. Inkshield is powerful effect to protect yourself from combat and potentially create a ton of fliers. Orzhov Signet can do a lot more for gameplay than many creatures here because it can help to cast Liesa.

A nice guide for casual Commander deck building is to include at least 10 ramp sources and at least 10 draw sources. I would include more of each, but start with 10. More ramp and draw can be examples of quality filler cards and that's where you should consider starting for upgrades.

If you're interested I offer more advice in another comment. Would you like more advice?

Good luck with your deck.

Guerric on Orzhov Aristocrats CMC-2

1 year ago

Unlife

It looks like a fun deck, and I will be keeping an eye on it as you develop it! You are right about Keen Duelist, it is based on your opponent's deck, so it's not as good for that reason. I've mostly just started putting it into my decks for the card draw. It's sort of like a budget Dark Confidant, but if you don't need the draw or play in a meta where many of your opponents are into big mana it's probably less good. After playing Daxos in standard on arena I had sort of forgotten about him until I was tweaking my Teysa deck, and he's been predictably awesome. Take care!

Unlife on Orzhov Aristocrats CMC-2

1 year ago

Guerric

Thank you, I've been enjoying designing decks with additional restrictions, it forces me not to just add the same 40 cards and change the last 15.

Daxos, Blessed by the Sun looks great, especially if I just start casting and sacing from yard even without a combo. Winds of Abandon is even better, I'd forgotten that card existed.

I'm not sure about Keen Duelist, I may be misinterpreting it, but it seems like I'd lose life to my opponents reveal, not my own, which even with lifegain I'd like to avoid for now.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

Guerric on Orzhov Aristocrats CMC-2

1 year ago

Unlife

First of all, I just want to say that this is a cool concept. If you're looking for a powerhouse aristo-enabler that's 2cmc it's hard to do better than Daxos, Blessed by the Sun. He gives you life on both ETB and on death, and can serve as a greater blocker to boot. You can also sac him with a full board to Ayli to gain a ton of life at once. He's a force in my Teysa deck, and I wish I had added him earlier.

You also have a great 2cmc board wipe in Winds of Abandon if you need it. Like with Cyclonic Rift we overload it to board wipe, but the cmc is 2 because of it's normal single-target version.

If you find you need a synergistic card draw piece, Keen Duelist is a pretty great black draw piece for 2cmc. You pay life for the card, but that won't hurt you at all since you'll never pay more than 2 life and will have some lifegain, but it might punish some of your opponents who are playing bigger pieces much more.

Great and fun idea!

bxli on

1 year ago

DemMeowsephs Yeah some prices have been going up like rockets, I guess there is more demand and people try to build more competitive decks.

  1. Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts is funny but yeah not really worth it in the deck.

  2. Keen Duelist is definitely a cheaper option that I will change eventually, it is too risky if you are playing vs high CMC decks.

  3. Gonti, Lord of Luxury is there just to slow/get information about the other decks, he have to go too yeah.

  4. Deathbringer Liege lets me tap and kill creatures everytime I make tokens with Felisa (Tokens are b/w) so I will leave it for now.

  5. Ashen Rider is not supposed to be casted at all but I combo her with Gift of Immortality so I can deny people. Also Gift works with Gray Merchant of Asphodel too.

I agree with the rest you just told me, specially with Coat of Arms , I will also change Blade of the Bloodchief for Sword of Truth and Justice

You are helping me a lot, I really appreciate it, If you prefer/want I can give you my discord user so we can talk through there anytime you want. Hope you have a nice day!

Load more
Have (0)
Want (3) Amaterasu312 , William_Wilde , II_Two_II