Typically when I play magic, I play Izzet or Simic.  Izzet carries the ruthless aggression of red with the calculated control of blue.  Simic likewise relies on a splash of control while green takes your battlefield and makes it huge.  Jund, the color combination of black, red, and green is not something I would normally play because of the lack of instant control that blue would normally offer.  Still, I was so impressed with Auntie Ool, Cursewretch that I had to give the Blight Curse deck a fair shot. The day it released, I was forking over my hard earned money just for a shot at piloting this unique deck full of despair and decay.

Two Commander Options

As has become fairly common in recent sets, the Blight Curse deck is built in such a way that it can support two options for its commander.  The primary commander is Auntie Ool. She’s a 4/4 with Ward — Blight 2 and a triggered ability that says “Whenever one or more -1/-1 counters are put on a creature, draw a card if you control that creature.  If you don’t control it, its controller loses 1 life.”

Auntie Ool is a mischievous boggart who rewards you for ruining your own creatures—and punishes your opponents if you ruin theirs. She turns your mistakes into card draw and their creatures into pain, proving that sometimes the best revenge is slow, calculated, and slightly sadistic.

The second commander option in the deck is The Reaper, King No More.  The Reaper is a 3/3 Scarecrow with the card text, When The Reaper enters, put a -1/-1 counter on each of up to two target creatures. Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it dies, you may put that card onto the battlefield under your control. Do this only once each turn.”  

The Reaper may be king no longer but he’s traded in his crown for a recruitment uniform.  As creatures weaken and die, they come back to life swearing fealty to him instead.  You could even say that The Reaper uses the -1/-1 counters to shrink them and then steal them once per turn.  Theft after all, still needs balance.

Blight

As the name suggests, this deck works in a mechanic called blight.  Blight is a keyword that simply means to add a -1/-1 counter to a creature you control  So for instance, because Auntie Ool has Ward — Blight 2, in order to target her with a spell or ability, your opponent will first have to add two -1/-1 counters to a creature they control.

The deck exploits this in incredible ways.  Grim Poppet for example, can simply remove a -1/-1 counter and put one on another creature.  It actually pays to blight to Grim Poppet because you can simply take it off and put it somewhere else.  Wickerbough Elder encourages you to put -1/-1 counters on it as well by allowing you to pay G and remove one one to destroy a target artifact or enchantment.  In Commander, that’s a huge deal because artifacts especially are a dime a dozen and some decks rely heavily on enchantments too.

Proliferate

I love the Proliferate mechanic.  Years ago, I had a deck that was almost entirely made up of creatures with infect and other spells that allowed you to proliferate.  I loved that deck and it was often the source of heated arguments and hurt feelings.  I was super excited to see it in Blight Curse as a way to give everything even more counters. Cards like Contagion Clasp or Evolution Sage can make a bad situation worse…for your opponent that is.

The Planeswalkers in the deck feed this as well.  Liliana Death Wielder gets a +2 for adding a -1/-1 counter to a target creature.  Then Vraska, Betrayal's Sting can activate next for 0 to draw a card, lose a life, then proliferate.  Because Proliferate is so flexible, you can then strategically add -1/-1 counters to your own battlefield and your opponents battlefield as well as adding a loyalty counter to your Planeswalkers. 

The Better Commander

In almost every case of a deck including a secondary commander option, I would say that you should just stick with the primary option on the box. Perhaps Wizards is getting better at these dual commander options or perhaps this is such a creative take on a deck that it lends itself to better flexibility in play-style but I actually find that both commander options are fully viable.  They use the same cards to bring a much different flavor to the game.  I will say that Auntie Ool is probably a little bit stronger and that’s in part because she is cheaper to cast.  Games I played with Auntie Ool made me feel like the deck’s bracket was a solid 3 while games I played with The Reaper were more like a high 2/low 3.  The dream team for The Reaper is to have Necroskitter out there with him because he helps The Reaper not follow theft balance rules.  

The Verdict

It’s no secret that I am a fanboy for a good pre-con Commander deck.  It’s also true that Wizards has gotten much better at making Commander decks.  If you want something highly competitive, this still isn’t going to be the deck for you.  On the other hand, if you want something that’s fun, lighthearted, and technically isn’t trying to kill everything in sight, Blight Curse is a great option.  I would say overall, the deck sits at a bracket level 3 but of course, pre-game conversations about the use of pre-cons and power level are always encouraged to avoid miscommunications.  Blight Curse is available now as part of the Lorwyn Eclipsed set.