A Nekusar build that doesn't seek to immediately combo out, but to instead use his abilities to impact the game in various ways. It's not the most overpowered Nekusar deck, so you don't have to worry about having a giant target on your head in group play. The deck has several subthemes, including-
Discard reward/punish- With players drawing a plethora of cards each turn, there are a few effects that reward players discarding due to either wheel effects or simply having an excess of cards at end of turn. In addition to a few Megrim-style effects, Waste Not pulls a considerable amount of weight in the deck, especially if followed up by a wheel effect. If the player is particularly skilled or fortunate, getting to follow a wheel effect with a Liliana ultimate is a massive win condition.
Equipment/enchantments- Nekusar works excellently with any effects that only care about a creature dealing any form of damage to an opponent. There are two Curiosity and Vampiric Link effects each in the deck, as well as a form of control in Elder Mastery and Sigil of Sleep. Elder Mastery is a potential game winner if the opponent has no answer for Nekusar- they'll be discarding two cards for every card they draw, which is a pretty serious lock.
Politics- Rather than exclusively running effects that force all players to draw cards (wheel and mine effects), there are a considerable amount of cards in the deck that allow you to single opponents out for draws and discards. A few looters, Nin the Pain Artist, Bloodgift Demon, and Khorvath's Fury give the player the option of rewarding or punishing opponents in the group accordingly. Ludevic gives opponents an incentive to attack each other, especially if the player doesn't have any draw punish abilities in play. Depending on the situation, Curse of Verbosity can be played on either an opponent or the player themselves.
Control- Considering the amount of combos and "soft" control effects of the deck, it runs a considerable amount of control effects to discourage opponents from targeting the player. Orbs of Warding is situational, but can be incredibly helpful against swarm decks or any deck which uses opponent targeting. Dissipation Field and Aetherspouts can heavily discourage opponents from attacking the player. Crawlspace simply brings swarm decks to a grinding halt, and Wretched Confluence pulls considerable weight in all of its modes.
Protection- As many directions as this deck can take, most of the require Nekusar to be in play to properly function. There are a number of shroud, hexproof, regenerate, and indestructible effects to keep the commander on the battlefield. This was the most challenging part of building the deck- balancing effects that keep Nekusar and other key creatures on the battlefield with effects that combo with said creatures.
That being said, there are a few cards that I have not (yet in some cases) included in the deck for various reasons-
Psychosis Crawler- I have never played a Crawler and not gotten a massive target over my head immediately. It will either be removed instantly or draw so much aggro that my defenses get overwhelmed.
Standstill- Admittedly, this is a very interesting card for this kind of deck. Players often can't decide between playing spells ASAP to avoid drawing cards from it, or waiting so they do get to draw the cards. However, there are simply more powerful and synergistic draw effects available.
The "Words" cycle from Onslaught- I'm not opposed to experimenting with this cycle at some point. Words of Wind is pretty terrible for the deck (and in most cases in my opinion), but Waste seems like an excellent complement to the discard subtheme and War seems like it could be potentially excellent removal.
Arcane Laboratory- A fun idea I had- have everyone draw tons of cards and then punish them for not being able to actually play them. However, it simply wasn't as effective in practice and there are control effects which draw me much less hate.
Winds of Change- It may make it into the deck at some point, but I'd like my wheel effects to either cause hand discard or to do a "reset" (Time Reversal, for example).
Otherworld Atlas- Simply too slow for my playgroup. Font of Mythos does its job just as well, but depending on your meta the Atlas may be a good option for you.
Prosperity-style effects- I find that dumping my mana up front to draw cards is simply too risky for the deck and the spell either gets countered or Nekusar gets removed in response. The one exception I make is Minds Aglow, because any countering or responses must happen before the mana is paid, making M.A. vastly superior to other such effects.
Intellectual Offering- A decent card, especially at instant speed, but in practice proved to be somewhat underwhelming. Why pay five mana to have you and an opponent draw three cards when there are much better effects at that cost? I could see it being useful in a very political build/meta, however.
Coveted Jewel- It seemed like such a fun idea at first- Drawing cards and ramping, then having other players being afraid to attack me due to draw punish effects, and then one of them finally takes it and it starts getting passed around like a hot potato, causing a great deal of draw punish effects and confusion as players decide whether they want it or not. In practice, however, the person with the most creatures usually takes it and then does a pretty good job of keeping it unless there is a lot of evasion at the table. Your mileage may vary, but for me it just ended up helping someone else win the game.
Teferi's Puzzle Box- The only reason I haven't put this card in is that I'm still looking for one. However, once I get a copy I'm not sure what I'll take out for it. The three biggest contenders at the moment are Spiteful Visions, Well of Ideas, and Elder Mastery. I may swap out Visions because the Box will hurt me considerably if both are in play. I may swap out the Well because it would improve my mana curve (do I really need a glorified mine effect that late in the game anyway?). I may swap out Mastery because it's not very useful without Nekusar or Fate Unraveler to enchant, it draws tremendous aggro once people figure out the interaction, and doing so would also improve my mana curve.
