Asps! Very Dangerous! (Hapatra)

Commander / EDH* BG (Golgari) Counters Multiplayer Ramp Tokens

noshadowkick

Creature (27)

• 1x Ammit Eternal
• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Carnifex Demon
• 1x Channeler Initiate
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Creakwood Liege
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Dusk Urchins
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Generous Patron
• 1x Hornet Queen
• 1x Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• 1x Midnight Banshee
• 1x Necroskitter
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Regal Force
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Seshiro the Anointed
• 1x Skinrender
• 1x Soul Snuffers
• 1x Undead Gladiator
• 1x Wickerbough Elder
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Artifact (9)

• 1x Contagion Clasp
• 1x Contagion Engine
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Slate of Ancestry
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine

Land (36)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Desert of the Glorified
• 1x Desert of the Indomitable
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 7x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Hissing Quagmire
• 1x Ifnir Deadlands
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Instant (4)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Grim Affliction

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Driven / Despair
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Beastmaster Ascension
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Flourishing Defenses
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Nest of Scarabs
• 1x Parallel Lives
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library

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Maybeboard

Artifact (3)

• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
• 1x Viridian Longbow

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Evolutionary Leap
• 1x Flourishing Defenses

Land (1)

• 1x Forbidden Orchard

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This Hapatra list began it's life as an all in -1/-1 counter deck with just about every synergistic creature and spell I could think of, down to the level of cards like Defiant Greatmaw . After several games I decided this was not the route I wanted to go. If Hapatra died my game plan was completely dead in the water and I can't stand games where I can't interact with the board. So I decided to dial back the -1/-1 counter theme to try and make the deck more interactive by adding some additional token production that does not rely on Hapatra and giving the deck more utility. Weaker cards like Serrated Arrows were cut for Golgari token staples like Bitterblossom and Creakwood Liege . I've been pleased with the results so far and, while I'm still refining the list, it's working a lot better for me. The list has three main paths to victory.

• Midrange Token Explosion: This is the most common way to win and where I think Hapatra really shines. At 2 mana she can easily be dropped on the same turn as one of the mas -1/-1 counter effects like Black Sun's Zenith or Archfiend of Ifnir to make a buttliad of sneks out of nowhere. The deck has many ways to turn 15 snakes into massive damage such as card:Beastmaster Acension or the almighty Craterhoof Behemoth .
• Aggro Token Explosion: The Aggro win doesn't happen often but when it does it's spectacular. A turn two Hapatra into a turn three card:Amit Eternal or Devoted Druid + card:Oran Reif, the Vastwood into a turn four Triumph of the Hordes can kill an opponent in no time. In larger multiplayer games this usually means we are enemy #1 and we get ganged up on, but the LULZ are real.
• Resource Denial/Stax: The deck only has a few stax pieces but they are potent and if played correctly can shut opponents out of a game enough to give us time to overwhelm the board with slithering beats. Dictate of Erebos , Smokestack , and the nefarious Sadistic Hypnotist are the pieces. I've found the piloting the deck successfully takes careful planning and timing. We want to build our resources, try to manage the board, recur our dead creatures, and strike with an overwhelming army of sneks when the time is right.
I hope to put together a primer once I'm more comfortable with my card choices. The list is far from perfect so please fee free to comment and give suggestions!

Card Choice Discussion

Lands

• Cycling Lands: Desert of the Indomitable , Desert of the Glorified , Tranquil Thicket , card:Barren Moore, and Ash Barrens all give us great discard fodder for Archfiend of Ifnir and can help dig through dead draws later in the game. They also synergize really well with Life from the Loam .
• Geier Reach Sanitarium : Looting on a land is great value when we often want to discard cards (Archfiend) and have a nice recursion suite to get back anything we may want to use later on.
• Fetch Lands: Verdant Catacombs is a no brainer, but two additional “off color” fetches are included to increase the value of Life from the Loam . Also, fetchlands are “sweet tech” and help us “thin our deck”, or something like that.
• card:Shizo, Deaht’s Storehouse: Hapatra can’t walk through walls on her own, but Shizo helps her connect to keep the tokens coming.
• Forbidden Orchard : This may be the best land in the deck. If there were five functional reprints of this land we would run them all without hesitation. Don’t think of the 1/1 spirit tokens as creatures for our opponents, think of them as future snakes.
• card:Oran-Reif, the Vastwood: Most of our tokens are green and we can make a lot of creatures in a single turn. If we make 5 snakes in a turn this adds 5 additional power to our board for the low cost of tapping one land. The additional toughness is often just as relevant as the additional power as it makes our tokens able to eat a -1/-1 counter and stay on the field.
• Westvale Abbey  : Sometimes going wide just won’t work. Maybe you are facing down a Silent Arbiter or a Crawlspace or a tapped Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist . Having the option to cash in 5 snakes for a massive indestructible flying demon is great utility. It’s also great wrath insurance.
• Ifnir Deadlands : Removal/token production on a land is pretty great. There are also a few other deserts in the deck so sometimes you can get this off a few times in a game.
• Scavenger Grounds : This land is staple grave hate and is a teensy bit better than usual in this list because of the other deserts.
• Pendelhaven : Not going to lie, this land is pretty low impact, but sometimes that extra +1/+2 can make a difference. Sometimes Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons has to put her first -1/-1 counter on herself and this land can help her connect on the following turn. Pendelhaven can also… make our faerie rogue tokens a bit scarier for opposing planeswalkers? Ok… it’s basically just in here because it’s neat.
• Color Fixing Lands: Command Tower , Overgrown Tomb , Woodland Cemetery , Hissing Quagmire and Llanowar Wastes need no introduction. City of Brass and Mana Confluence are included to increase the chances of a turn two Hapatra. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth should literally be in every single deck runs black cards.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.33
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Experience Token, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Insect 1/1 B, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, Snake 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G w/ Deathtouch, Spirit 1/1 C, Worm 1/1 BG
Folders	Decks I Want to Build, maybe