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Inspired Lich Lord (Primer) ($25 Budget)

Commander / EDH* Budget Casual Cruel Control Jank Multiplayer UB (Dimir)

landofMordor

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Sorcery (23)

Artifact (8)

Creature (15)

Land (38)

Enchantment (6)

Commander (1)

Commander: Dralnu, Lich Lord

Instant (15)

Sideboard

Enchantment (2)

Instant (1)

I made this deck up because I thought to myself that Dralnu was the worst Dimir commander I could imagine... but hey, actually, he would be a fun challenge to build a deck around. Therefore, I present the one and only inspired lich lord.

This deck is the #5 Dralnu deck on tappedout! Thank you for all the feedback, votes, and support!

Cheers

landofMordor

So, this is a budget deck... therefore, there's not a lot to discuss here. I've got most of the cheap dual lands, and not much else.
Dralnu, Lich Lord's first ability is obviously a huge drawback, so many of our cards go towards keeping Dralnu safe. (Luckily, his second ability frees up the card slots to make that possible.) In the event that we draw multiple protections, then we can stack them on Dralnu or spread them among our engines. In any case, it is not recommended to cast Dralnu before we've got the means to keep him safe from damage.

Gaseous Form makes Dralnu into the perfect blocker, and mitigates his drawbacks.

Protective Bubble is a second enchantment option, but it would ideally be given to an Inspired creature to ensure unblocked combats.

Mizzium Skin is a stopgap measure for Dralnu against targeted damage.

Magebane Armor is the perfect complement to Gaseous Form. Dralnu is pretty much unkillable under those conditions.

Shield of the Avatar is also amazing protection for Dralnu, but it's less impressive early game.

Swiftfoot Boots are the obvious budget choice.

Elgaud Shieldmate is one of my pet cards. Yeah, 4 mana is pretty pricey, but it's totally worth it to keep ol' Dralnu safe.

Dralnu is primarily limited by how many times you can trigger his abilities (especially whether you can disrupt your opponent multiple times). Therefore, when making this deck, I decided to focus on putting in as many tap/untap abilities as I could find. You'll notice that some of these abilities tap, but don't untap -- that's because I realized halfway through building that if I was focusing on untapping things, I wouldn't always be able to rely on flashback being applicable.

Magewright's Stone is an obvious choice.

Cerulean Wisps is also an auto-include.

Reality Spasm is nice for its multifunctionality.

Ghostly Touch is a nice versatile enchantment that helps us trigger tap abilities multiple times per round.

Retreat to Coralhelm is a nice way to trigger an additional Inspired ability during first or second main phase.

Tideforce Elemental synergizes well with Retreat to Coralhelm, even though I don't love paying U.

Triton Tactics is a sneaky little combat trick, with the lucky addition of triggering up to two abilities. For one mana. Solid value.

Leonin Bola is a nice, free instant-speed tap interaction.

Springleaf Drum is also a instant and free tap ability, plus you net a mana.

Hidden Strings is also a versatile, reusable spell that fuels Dralnu and friends.

So, if I was already putting in a ton of tap/untap triggers and abilities, I figured I might as well make the most of it.

Agent of the Fates exists to make Ciphered sorceries painful. Stolen Identity and Hidden Strings are both good by themselves, and that's without a free forced sacrifice. The deathtouch also helps to push through combat damage and deter opponents from attacking.

Altar Golem is an awesome finisher for this deck. There might not be tons of creatures in play unless your multiplayer table is huge, but we have multiple ways to make the Golem untap, even if we don't have 5 creatures. However, 5 instant-speed Inspired triggers is not a combo to sneeze at.

Arbiter of the Ideal is excellent mid-game ramp. One of the go-tos for additional untap triggers.

Battlefield Thaumaturge is our version of Goblin Electromancer. He gives us 0-mana X costs on Icy Blast, Gridlock, Reality Spasm, Curse of the Swine, and Dregs of Sorrow (MVP), and he reduces the cost of a lot of our other control.

Daring Thief exchanges our tokens (generated from Call of the Nightwing and Stolen Identity) or our less-than-useful creatures for opponents' beaters (or commanders, if you're feeling ruthless). A little more situational, but can be a wincon. Also good if you early-game steal a mana dork from an opponent's grave and feel like trading up.

Disciple of Deceit is a Transmute engine for literally any card in your hand. Serious early-game tutoring. If you discard instants/sorceries, they can be flashbacked later, so this is a win-win.

Elgaud Shieldmate explained in Dralnu's Mystique section.

Invisible Stalker is our go-to for Ciphering.

King Macar, the Gold-Cursed is our MVP of Inspired. Exiling PLUS ramp is just absurd. If he hits the battlefield, the objective is to get him sideways ASAP and keep him moving. A serious win-con.

Knacksaw Clique is another bomb. Untap this bad boy and even steal a land from your opponent. It's demoralizing and rattling for your opponent, and you might even end up stealing some major value. A top target after King Macar and the Arbiter.

Siren of the Silent Song is some hand disruption and mill to fill our opponents' graves. The graves will become the targets of later sorceries like Endless Obedience.

Stern Mentor gives a tap ability to Inspired creatures, in addition to milling. What's not to like?

Tideforce Elemental fuels Inspired shenanigans.

Whirler Rogue gives some chump blockers and an easy way to make somebody unblockable.

Willbreaker is totally nuts with pretty much the whole deck. Especially our X-costed spells, though.

The drawback of Inspired creatures is that, while their abilities are awesome and they have low CMCs, they're mostly weenies. This deck utilizes equipment and Auras to make them forces to be reckoned with.

Aqueous Form gives unblockable to your best Inspired troop, and you even get a scry out of the deal. Works great with Arbiter of the Ideal.

Protective Bubble is good for that situational Inspired guy you only want to trigger once per turn. Think Daring Thief. Admittedly, it's also really good on Altar Golem.

Retreat to Hagra is great for making our weenies a lot scarier to block early game. The ping damage is also great.

Writ of Passage: hey, what do you know? Most Inspired creatures have power 2 or less! It's reusable! We can use it on Siren of the Silent Song until our opponent has no hand, then just cast it on Knacksaw Clique. Perfect value.

Bident of Thassa gives awesome card draw and a great opportunity for unblocked combat. Imagine using Curse of the Swine and then making all their boars attack you, then swinging in with Altar Golem. Classic.

Mask of Riddles is the best part about Bident of Thassa meets a situational unblockable.

Trailblazer's Boots, on the other hand, is essentially guaranteed unblockable in EDH. Keep those weenies alive.

We've got some card-draw and things besides control left in the deck. When possible, these include tap effects to fuel Inspired creatures. The strategy is to play these freely early-game, and then play them again once Dralnu hits the field.

Call of the Nightwing gives chump blockers and "exchange control" fodder.

Diabolic Tutor is a budget classic.

Ghastly Discovery's Conspire ability is insane value if you have the ability to untap your creatures.

Cerulean Wisps is a cantrip classic.

This is pretty much the rest of the deck. My specific bent of control in this deck is millin' opponents and stealing their fatties from the grave, with spot removal as needed. This brand of control is unpredictable enough to me that it makes every game fun -- perfect for casual multiplayer or kitchen table games.

Curse of the Swine's purpose is obvious, but it gets stupid with Willbreaker or Battlefield Thaumaturge on the field.

Dark Salvation, Dregs of Sorrow, Endless Obedience, Extract from Darkness, Govern the Guildless, Hands of Binding, Hidden Strings, In Garruk's Wake, Mental Vapors, Necromantic Summons, Profane Command, Remorseless Punishment, Stolen Identity, and Undercity Plague, Aethersnatch, Dimir Charm, Fated Return, Grasp of Darkness, Grim Return, Reality Shift, Icy Blast, Gridlock, Reality Spasm, and Silumgar's Command are all pretty transparent. Note that I put in as much Cipher as I could in order to get the most out of attacking my opponent with unblockable weenies.

Psychic Drain is notable for its lifegain.

General strategy is to play this deck during the early game as you would any control deck -- use your instants to be a nusiance, build up your hand, and disrupt opposing combos. In the meanwhile, set up a complement of an Inspired creature or two, protection for them and Dralnu, and get ready to go ham. However, I would not recommend, again, casting either Dralnu or an MVP Inspired creature before you've got the infrastructure to keep them alive and unharmed. (Maybe this would play out differently if you knew your opponents never played burn or control, or if you've gotta cast Dralnu to maintain tempo against an aggro deck...but against control or burn decks, the risk of sacrificing your lands is probably too great.) Just keep it cool and use your control suite -- you'll be able to flashback ALL of your instants/sorceries once Dralnu can hit the field alive, and chances are, without a strong board presence you'll fly under the multiplayer radar.

In the midgame, start layering Ciphered spells on your (hopefully unblockable) creatures, start triggering those abilities as often as possible. Start the millstones and be on the lookout for good fatties to steal. Use unblockable to ping your opponent down. Don't be afraid to cast a bomb or two like In Garruk's Wake or Curse of the Swine, even if you're not quite ready.

Lategame, bring Dralnu in. (Hopefully you've got enough mana left over to give him protection). Dralnu, Lich Lord can start re-using your bombs and even your cheaper spells. If you cast a Cipher spell early game, you can flashback it and exile it for Cipher before it's exiled for flashback. Dralnu should be enough value to lead your army to victory. Also, it should help that you'll have either Altar Golem or a ton of stolen fatties from the midgame. That's why we play control, people. Bring it.

Quick politics note: see that mono-green player in the corner of the table? Yeah, steal his/her stuff and leave them for last. Mono-green is usually terrible against control, and they pretty reliably have fatties -- or commanders -- worth stealing (Same goes for that Dragon/Angel tribal guy/gal, that un-hexproof Voltron, and that reanimator deck we all love to hate). Oh, but wait, see that control player (Talrand, Sky Summoner or Narset, Enlightened Master over in the center? They'll be able to disrupt our combos, so kill them first. Preferably with ol' greenie's creatures.

One last word: Dralnu is an exceedingly versatile commander. There's a ton of different routes to making a killer deck around him. I chose a route self-limited by budget and by my casual playstyle, which definitely informs the creatures and control I chose to include. However, for any Dralnu deck, I'd recommend putting in most of the protection cards (since his drawback stinks so much), and I'd at least consider most of the tap/untap engines for any Dralnu deck. However, I encourage you to experiment and use this deck as only a starting point. Cheers!

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Revision 1 See all

(6 years ago)

+1 Counterspell main
+1 Deadly Tempest main
+1 Languish main
+1 Necromantic Selection main
+1 Tragic Slip main
+1 Unwind main
+1 Yahenni's Expertise main