MTG Salvation

Here is a political deck I brewed up for Xantcha, Sleeper Agent. It's a really fun deck, probably not quite optimized yet. The first run had too many creature enchantments, and I'm thinking about cutting some more too. It's hard to defend yourself so I've crammed a number of rattlesnake effects and some lifegain. I understand you could go an infinite mana route, but infinite combos are really not my style. Any suggestions and discussion is welcome, thank you for checking the deck out.

Mad props to my girlfriend for helping me figure this interweb crap out, I'm sure there must be some easier way to input these decklists if any of you vets want to help this rook out. I also now realize that there are only 35 lands in the deck. It hasn't presented itself as an issue yet, but I may try to raise that count a little higher nonetheless.

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Living the dream with Priest of Yawgmoth and Spine of Ish Sah I see Not sure if I would play the priest, if spine where my only target though. I would properly also cut the monarch-cards. You don't have that many creatures to steal back the emblem, so I would imagine it will mostly give your opponents CA. If you want draw-effects, I would say Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood and Read the Bones are way better.

I think you're right about cutting some of the auras. I'm planning to run Crown of Doom - seems super fun with Xantcha. If you want her to be unblocked, there's also Key to the City which can be used as a political tool aswell.

Neheb, the Eternal is a pretty good creature with Xantcha's draweffect. In the same vein, there's also Skirge Familiar.

Key to the City is in the to try list. I ran crown of doom for a while and found it underwhelming, but I suppose it is more reliable than some of the enchantments...with a little more focus on big mana I think it would improve. The priest ish sah thing was just to try out for the hell of it...seemed fun. And it is. Currently the deck is in no tutor stage as I try things out, but I imagine once tutors make their way in it will either be more reliable or cut. It's nice as Rakdos has a severely limited ability to deal with certain problem permanents and enchantments are running rampant in my meta right now. The monarch cards are actually in there to give monarch away. The theory is that having someone else be the monarch would draw more attention away from me. It works, and the card advantage is a minor issue...but with Xantcha out people usually have cards anyway. I feel WOTC really blew it with Xantcha by not including a no sac clause...it's hard enough to prevent people from running her into someone elses fatty. Even mono green decks run sac outlets these days...high market is an auto include in just about any deck. Hadn't thought of Neheb, I might have to try that out but my preference is to act at instant speed so as to leave the illusion (or perhaps not) that I may have a response to something.

If you need draw effects and really mean it, cruel bargain and infernal contract does a lot of work for me in my rakdos build.

I mean what’s better.. a draw 2 or a draw 4?

Here is an honest question. Do you need to draw more cards? or do you need your opponents to have less cards? Sire of Insanity. Force people to use Xantcha's card draw ability. For extra fun, use him with Painful Quandary!

It really doesn't need too much draw, and sire of insanity seems to draw a lot of heat to you. Most of the group slug effects do. In addition, my playstyle is a little more responsive so I like my hand a little too much to commit to that level of rakdos. It's pretty hard to protect yourself in these colors when you're handing your commander away each time. And folks can use her for all kinds of advantage...cards, blocks occasionally, sacs, you name it. I'm thinking about cutting all but a couple of key auras (maybe blessing of leeches and treacherous link?) for some tutors, a crypt ghast and wrecking ogre to surprise KO someone who already took a hit from Xantcha. Haven't been focusing on this deck much either...too many 5 pods that want to play star or 3 pods lately. In the former it's tough to play Xantcha well because if you give her to your "enemies" they'll beat face on your "allies". Give her to your "allies" and they've got 4 other players extra mana being emptied on them. In a 3 pod she just murders, I don't even use her any more. I will probably try to keep the deck together long enough to get to an LGS in hopes of a 4 pod. Most of my cards are in a constant state of flux, with about 3 decks that I probably won't break any time soon. My Phelddagrif deck will likely never be broken but sees a lot of transition in cards. Ok now I'm just babbling...

See Above...the group slug version was super fun, but unable to protect itself from the hate it drew. Could still be workable though

-unnatural endurance
-necrobite
-ragged veins
-madcap skills
-abnormal endurance
-fists of the demigod
-visions of brutality
-treacherous link

+demonic tutor
+vampiric tutor
+liliana of the dark realms
+crypt ghast
+key to the city
+wrecking ogre
+crown of doom
+lavaclaw reaches

Quote from rogerandover »

Living the dream with Priest of Yawgmoth and Spine of Ish Sah I see Not sure if I would play the priest, if spine where my only target though. I would properly also cut the monarch-cards. You don't have that many creatures to steal back the emblem, so I would imagine it will mostly give your opponents CA. If you want draw-effects, I would say Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood and Read the Bones are way better.

I think you're right about cutting some of the auras. I'm planning to run Crown of Doom - seems super fun with Xantcha. If you want her to be unblocked, there's also Key to the City which can be used as a political tool aswell.

Neheb, the Eternal is a pretty good creature with Xantcha's draweffect. In the same vein, there's also Skirge Familiar.

Priest of Yawgmoth + Spine of Ish Sah + Paradox Engine = fun times

It's a bit easier to read if you include the Commander in the decklist It's not linked anywhere on this page.

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

There, now it is.

If you're worried about high market, phyrexian tower, miren, etc I wouldn't skimp on the strip mine/wasteland/dust bowl. Probably cut an Ash Barrens, don't see much reason to run that in 2c unless you have loam or something. I get the desire to use field/quarter over them since it keeps people drawing xantcha cards, but you've got plenty of basics and could pretty easily afford a few more spots for LD imo, unless nonbasic hate is an issue. Also notice you aren't running fetches with your dual, any particular reason?

Can't say I'm a fan of all the combat tricks to keep Xantcha alive. removal seems more reasonable, most commander players do not stack block beyond what's needed to kill the attacker, and of course removal is generally more useful in more circumstances. I'd go deeper on the removal instead of running tricks, get some go for the throat in there.

Although, having never played Xantcha, I wonder how important it is to protect her from "suicide attacks"? I would think the person being attacked would rather let 5 through than worry about Xantcha being given to them next, after she dies. Repeatable recursion like stronghold and reclamation seem like they'd strongly disincentivize taking lethal blocks. Maybe funny stuff like Death Pits of Rath could work too. I think generally opponents are more ok with taking a poor trade if they know it at least pulls it out of your hand, whereas if you have an on-board way to punish them for blocking, by either killing the blockers or recurring Xantcha immediately at low cost, then they'll probably be a lot less interested in trading cards for her. could also use stuff like Dawn of the Dead or Corpse Dance that lets you bring her back temporarily for a big ol' group slug card advantage party. Then you could also exploit that stuff with creatures to help do more of your dirty work, like Kagemaro, first to suffer and xiahou dun, the one-eyed, which both pair very powerfully with those recursion pieces already. Or you could go grave pact synergy, although that'd probably require a bigger deck shift to be worth it. Kagemaro fits in there nice and easy already.


If you're really having blocker trouble, could also go old school and throw a sorceress queen in there, to shrink blockers. Ooh, or if you really want to get silly, put in Silent Assassin for some serious jank. Or rix maadi guildmage.

Tsabo Tavoc is hilarious (anyone else play mtg battlegrounds and remember that fight?) but I'm not sure I get why she's in here. With the draw from Xantcha I'd think you'd want pretty efficient cards, with Tsabo is definitely not. avatar of woe and visara the dreadful seem better in almost all cases.

That's what I got for now. I might give Xantcha a shot and then have more useful feedback at some future point, right now I just finished Firesong and Sunspeaker and then it's probably Queen Marchesa (who will probably run Xantcha in the 99).

I had no idea the commander wasn't even in there, lol. Will have to do an edit...

Sac outlets in general tend to be a problem, and less so land based ones than the more general population. Ash barrens keeps getting overlooked for a cut for some reason, but you are absolutely right there's no real reason for it. I suppose now that the collections a little more cleaned up and older projects properly broken down I'll find a suitable replacement, probably strip mine. Looks like I overlooked a fetch too, have to take a mountain out for one. I've been easing up on using fetches because not many people in the main playgroup have them, so not only do I feel like a jerk with a super efficient mana base but it makes me a target. I keep a couple other decks that are packed to the gills with efficiency, but I rather like playing Xantcha so I've been slowly upping her game.

I'm no longer into trying the combat tricks with her. I've had the cards sit dead in hand too often, or not had them when needed. Definitely going deeper on removal. I like the idea of Kagemaro, first to suffer and Xiahou Dun, the one-eyed in here, I have run Xiahou Dun before and he's a lot of fun. Maybe even throw in Toshiro Umezawa with a larger removal suite going in. Tsabo is hilarious, exactly why she's here...when I first built the deck it was mostly loaded with flavor. Tsabo being the phyrexian general with Xantcha being the sleeper agent...pure flavor decision. Turns out she's not bad either, kind of an underrated card but probably not a great fit for the deck. As I move along it's less goodstuff and flavor, more big mana, removal and general value. Silent Assassin is some hilarious jank, I may have to track one down and throw it in for the lulz.

Have been considering queen marchesa myself, but I decided to hand it over to the playgroup this time. So far I've been assigned Skullbriar, the walking grave, Gahiji, Honored One, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed and Anafenza, the Foremost

Some fairly big changes coming, stay tuned. Waiting to find some time when I'd be willing to type it in. Still trying to work out the details of coding posts too. I really want everything to look well done