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Sek'Kuar Deathkeeper | Jund Aristocrats

Commander / EDH Aggro Aristocrats BRG (Jund) Combo

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Die.

But die knowing that your pathetic life will yield a great bounty for me.

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Falkenrath Aristocrat and Cartel Aristocrat were the pioneers of a brutal strategy with a singular focus:

Utilize your creatures as a means to set off game winning combos, disrupt your opponents and protect your board state.

In essence, the creatures in this deck are resources that can, and will, be exploited repeatedly with the help of some very powerful sacrificial outlets.

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Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper 's ability rewards me with hasty, graveborn tokens each time a nontoken creature I control dies. It might not seem like that great of an ability, but with the right supporting cast Sek'Kuar can take over games.

Sek'Kuar's ability pairs like a fine wine alongside sac outlets like Ashnod's Altar and a few recurrable friends, Reassembling Skeleton being a good example.

Each creature I control essentially having an extra life as a Graveborn helps me circumvent opposing boardwipes and gives my own boardwipe spells an added element of versatility.

Regardless of whether I'm playing offensive or defensively, Sek'Kuar gives my aristocrats strategy the flexibility it needs to make the most out of each and every creature.

tribal challenge

I first found Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper hiding in a ten cent bulk rare bin at my LGS. The art on his Coldsnap printing was so awesome that I just had to have him!

Months later, my former playgroup decided to start a “Tribal Challenge” (see above photo). I scoured the internet in search of underrated tribes but wasn't finding any that peaked my interest.

Eventually, I rediscovered Sek'Kuar hiding amongst my bulk rares. This time I examined his abilities a bit closer and decided that he would make an exceptional leader for a tribal shamans deck.

Deathrite Shaman , Dragonmaster Outcast and Rage Forger are just a few examples of the shamans Sek'Kuar had under his command. In spite of its jankiness, Sek'Kuar's shaman army kicked some serious ass!

Before long, the tribal challenge ended but my love for Sek'Kuar remained. This decklist is the embodiment of several hundred dollars in upgrades, countless hours of research and thousands of games playtesting.

Thank you for taking the time to check it out!

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The combo here involves four seperate pieces. It's very challenging to get all the pieces on the battlefield simultaneously, which is partly what makes it so fun to pull off!

Part 1: Cryptolith Rite

Part 2: Ashnod's Altar (or any other sac outlet)

Part 3: Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper

Part 4: Nether Traitor

How the combo works:

1. Nether Traitor with Cryptolith Rite and float one mana.

2. Sacrifice Nether Traitor to Ashnod's Altar generating .

3. When Nether Traitor dies, Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper 's abilty creates a hasty, 3/1 Graveborn token.

4. the Graveborn token with Cryptolith Rite and float a , , or mana, then sacrifice the Graveborn to Ashnod's Altar to generate an additional mana.

5. With the Graveborn tokens death trigger, use the mana that was floated earlier to bring back Nether Traitor .

6. Repeat steps 1-5.

This combo is a Nether Traitor recursion loop that generates infinite mana of any color, enter the battlefield (ETB) and death triggers...

but how does it win?

Infinite Life Drain:

Infinite Card Draw:

Infinite Mill:

In case of an emergency, there are plenty of backup options to help keep the combo train rolling...

Combo Replacements:

Instead of Ashnod's Altar :

Instead of Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper :

Instead of Nether Traitor :

Now let's take a look at alternative ways to win if the combo plan falls through.

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The Boardwipe Plan:

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper 's ability makes boardwipes a utility I can use to my advantage.

Are all handy ways to reset a board state I don't like or convert my creatures into hasty, 3/1 Graveborns.

(Side note: an army of hasty creatures pairs really well with a Beastmaster Ascension !)

Living Death is one of my favorite cards. Not only does it reset my opponents boards, it can also reanimate a ton of my creatures. This card has won me a lot of games and always catches people by surprise!

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The Land Destruction Plan:

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper 's ability is worded in a way that allows me to sacrifice land creatures and convert them into Graveborns.

Life is my primary way to take advantage of this. It briefly turns my lands into 1/1 creatures, which can then be sacrificed and turned into bigger, hastier tokens.

Timing is everything with this plan. If I'm sacrificing all of my lands, I'd better be winning that turn!

The Death half of Life shouldn't be underrestimated either. Having a two mana Reanimate at my disposale is a convient way to revive or cheat out an important creature.

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The Board Control Plan:

Grave Pact and Butcher of Malakir are Sek'Kuar's best friends. They both are an effective way to keep the board clear of any opposing creatures

Both of these cards are ridiculous threats that absolutely demolish opposing aggro decks. I can afford to sacrifice creatures, my opponents usually can not.

The point of effects like these is to keep my opponents at bay long enough to assemble the combo pieces I need to win, or build up an army that can overrun an empty board with the help of Beastmaster Ascension .

Ophiomancer is also a key piece of my board control plan. The snake token she creates is exactly the kind of replenishable sac fodder this deck loves!

Ophiomancer + Goblin Bombardment + Fecundity is one of my favorite synergies. Drawing a card at each players endstep, while also draining an opponents life total, is always a good time!

The snake token is more than sac fodder, it's an exceptional chump blocker as well. Being able to scare off massive creatures with a tiny deathtouch snake is a thing of beauty.

Thank you to everyone who's offered advice and support, I sincerely appreciate it! If you're new around here don't forget to leave a +1 and check out some of my other decklists!

Suggestions

Updates Add

I finally got around to updating this list! All the changes I've made reflect what I've added from Battlebond, M19 and Guilds of Ravnica. Fortunately all three of those sets featured plenty of new goodies for Sek'Kuar!

I added a lot of explosive card draw enchantments, retooled the creature base and added more tutor spells. My main goals were to increase the consistency of the main combo lines and add more big play potential, which I've done.

I'll be adding a of lot info on how to pilot the deck in the coming days so stay tuned for more!

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Casual

98% Competitive

Revision 9 See all

(5 years ago)

+1 Assassin's Trophy main
-1 Blasting Station maybe
-1 Butcher of Malakir main
-1 Dark Tutelage main
-1 Falkenrath Noble maybe
-1 Fallen Ideal main
+1 Fauna Shaman main
-1 Fervor main
-1 Fires of Yavimaya main
+1 Gutterbones main
-1 Hissing Iguanar maybe
-1 Krosan Grip main
+1 Nihil Spellbomb main
-1 Pernicious Deed main
-1 Phyrexian Arena main
-1 Smothering Abomination main
+1 Squirrel Nest main
+1 Talisman of Impulse main
+1 Tendershoot Dryad main
+1 Twilight Prophet main
and 23 other change(s)
Top Ranked
  • Achieved #10 position overall 5 years ago
Date added 5 years
Last updated 4 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

3 - 0 Mythic Rares

50 - 0 Rares

26 - 0 Uncommons

12 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.40
Tokens 2/2 C Artifact Creature Spawn, Beast 3/3 G, City's Blessing, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Graveborn 3/1 BR, Saproling 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 B, Spirit 1/1 C, Squirrel 1/1 G
Folders Neat Decks, JUnd, Deck concepts, To build, EDH Decklsits, Budget Decks I like, Decks I Like, Inspiration, EDH
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