MTG Salvation

Table of Contents
1. Why play this commander?
2. Deck History
3. Alternate Builds
4. Edits
5. Appendix
6. Change Log
7. Acknowledgments

1.1 - Description:

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest is one of the most versatile commanders out there. It provides support for many strategies either on their own or simultaneously. You can build it catering to voltron, tokens, +1/+1 counters, stax, stompy, any combination of these, or all of the above! This provides for so many possible combinations (31, to be exact!) that it would be overwhelming to discuss them all. However, even though there is no best way to play Mazirek, I will guide every type of strategy along with why I’ve gone with the builds I’ve stuck to. This is a very customizable general, to say the least.

Thus, you’ll enjoy playing with Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest if you:

• like punishing everyone at the table
• like having multiple strategies to choose from
• like being able to amass a huge army
• like to play with non-linear strategies
• like combo decks
• like abusing the stack

However, you won’t enjoy playing with Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest if you:

• don’t like depending on your general
• want a deck that's easy to pilot
• want a less combo-oriented build
• don’t like possibly becoming the archenemy
• don’t like constantly shuffling a deck of commander size
• feel that stax is too degenerate a strategy
• have a difficult time choosing from an endless list of cards and strategies

1.2 - Other Possible Commanders:

Mazirek is not necessarily a graveyard general but due to it having synergy with so many different strategies, there are other BG generals out there that make it easier to pilot – especially those that deal with tokens, sacrificing, and stax.

• The Gitrog Monster is a very broken commander with a non-linear strategy that can win out of nowhere. It has a lot of drawing/discarding/sacrificing interactions that can sometimes be very hard to keep track of. This is a very cutthroat and competitive commander which has basically breathed new life into Hermit Druid Combo to the point where this frog is nicknamed Kermit Druid. I include it as one of the 99 (more on that later) because it’s Exploration on a body, a sacrifice enabler during upkeep, and card advantage all rolled into one. Mazirek’s main goal isn’t to combo out - you can play a version without combos and win by smashing face. The Gitrog Monster doesn’t smash face or pump up your creatures to epic proportions and it’s main way of comboing off is by dredging and manipulating draw and discard. Mazirek deals more with taking advantage of sacrifice rather than drawing.
• Glissa, the Traitor is a general that loves the Eggs strategy. Before Mazirek, I would say that she was the queen of Eggs. That’s because she has a built-in recursion ability for recovering artifacts from the graveyard. It’s one of the reasons she’s in the 99 of the Artifact Build (more on that later). With Glissa, you can sacrifice artifacts for profit and when opponents’ creatures are killed, you can recur that profit. However, besides reaping the rewards from using and reusing your artifacts, that’s all Glissa enables. With Mazirek, you can reap the rewards of cracking eggs and get the added bonus of pumping up all your creatures when you do. So a card like Chromatic Star no longer just provides mana and a card, but it also gives each of your creatures a +1/+1 counter. So Mazirek gives more dimensions to the Eggs strategy.
• Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is another BG legend with a similar strategy to Mazirek in that it facilitates sacrifice and takes advantage of it. Jarad cares about how many creatures are in the graveyard because that number pumps him. He can also recur himself from the graveyard with a sacrificing cost. Additionally, he can sacrifice creatures to kill off all of your opponents. There’s a reason he was included in the BG precon. I’ve added and removed him so many times from my deck it’s hard to keep track. Currently, he’s excluded from the 99 (more on that later) but he can definitely find a home in your deck. That being said, he is included in the Budget Build as an alternate wincon. So, why play Mazirek over Jarad? Because Jarad needs large creatures in order to effectively kill the table - which is what Mazirek does anyways. Mazirek pumps a large army and then goes into the red zone with said army.
• Meren of Clan Nel Toth is another BG commander that cares about creatures dying. Whenever one of your creatures die you get an experience counter and then with those, are able to reanimate one of your creatures. This is one of the reasons she’s in the 99. Meren is a very feared general because experience counters aren’t easy to get rid of. With a deck dedicated to sacrificing, stax, and reanimation, things can get out of hand. However, I prefer Mazirek over Meren because I like pumping up a huge horde or taking direct advantage of things getting sacrificed. Mazirek triggers due to anything getting sacrificed whereas Meren gets triggered when one of your creatures dies. So it may not appear as much, but they’re definitely different decks. In the end, Mazirek provides more overall perks on its own when compared to Meren.
• Savra, Queen of the Golgari cares about when your creatures get sacrificed. You can either gain life or pay life to make other players sacrifice a creature. Like Mazirek, it requires sac outlets to make the most of her abilities. She used to be in the 99 because she triggers when my colored creatures die. However, I cut her for being underwhelming. Sure, I have the possibility of consistently making my opponents sacrifice a creature, in the end I found that too many hoops needed to be jumped through to take advantage of it. If you play cards like Fleshbag Marauder and pay 2 life, you can effectively make everyone else sacrifice two creatures for your trouble. It’s not a bad card but with so many awesome and broken cards that synergize with Mazirek, she was cut for being on the lower end of the broken spectrum. As a commander, she can definitely be played around as a brutal stax commander but Mazirek is not just a stax commander - you can do so much more.

1.3 - What to expect:

Now, playing Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest obviously has its pros and cons depending on what you're facing. I've been playing this deck for quite some time and have found that there are some clearly beneficial decks to go against and some clearly detrimental decks to go up against. Since I don't feel that it's that black and white since there are some grey areas, I will explain them all in greater detail. For a quick summary as to how your match-ups should go, see below.


* Stax: Stax actually does us a favor, lol. We want stax! Hell, we're constantly sacrificing our own things! Whenever you face off against these types of players, just be thankful. Do try to hide your giddiness when an opponent reveals his commander is Shattergang Brothers (or another Mazirek). However, when that stax player sees that your commander is Mazirek, be prepared to be his or her nemesis since turn 0. Having Mazirek in play practically shuts these decks down because anything they do to stax other players will benefit you way more. If you’re in a mirror match, it can go either way. That player may find benefits in leaving you be or may see you as a threat. The same goes for you. You may find that with multiple Mazireks are on the table, it might result in a final showdown between you at the end of the game. May the largest army win! However, if your version is more combo-oriented, then make sure to win before pumping your opposing Mazirek too much. If your opposing Mazirek player is combo-oriented, make sure to eliminate him or her first.

* Mid-Range: Depending on the tempo, mid-range could be a pretty epic battle - these are the decks I prefer facing against. Mazirek is not necessarily mid-range since you can get a large army of fatties fairly quickly, but most games are won after turn 5 since Mazirek does cost 3BG to cast. I’ve been able to cast Mazirek as early as turn 2 thanks to mana dorks and Mana Vault, but it’s not common. Mid-range doesn’t pose much of a threat either because of the stax element. If you’re consistently depriving opponents of creatures, there’s little in the ways of threats that mid-range decks can do against you.

* Aggro: Blurry fast decks can be a problem since this deck doesn’t have much by ways of gaining life (unless you include Zulaport Cutthroat and/or Blood Artist (more on that later)). Aggro decks love their creatures also so they’ll probably want to take you out before you get online. If you use the token route you should be able to at least amass some chump blockers that can eventually get very large thanks to Mazirek. In the long run, unless you’re ganged up by other players, aggro doesn’t pose much of a threat. I’ve faced many aggro decks before and I’m usually online before I’m killed. It’s the vultures you have to worry for. Once that aggro threat has passed, someone may come in to take you out when you’re in the red-flashing heart-zone.

* Milling: This isn’t a common strategy in EDH but there are those who run these decks. Milling can be annoying if your recovery pieces are milled away (like Splendid Reclamation, Eternal Witness, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, etc.). If you have The Gitrog Monster in play and are milled, it can be a two-edged sword because when you draw a card for each land milled, you get answers; however, when you draw a card for each land milled, your deck can get dangerously short. I wouldn’t worry too much about milling since most of the cards in the deck are there for redundancy so you should be able to amass an army of fatties and decimate your opponents. If Splendid Reclamation isn’t milled then you can at least recover your lands which would totally sadden the milling player. With a stompy army you don’t need a lot of turns to play so even if your deck is dangerously slim, you still have an opportunity to win the match.

* Control: Not so much a hindrance so long as the counterspell doesn't exile - even then, Riftsweeper can get things back from exile. When a creature gets countered you can simply recover it from the graveyard. The reason control is a neutral threat is that it could be a bit troublesome. To have Mazirek constantly countered can be a problem. If Inspiring Call or the like is countered when you cast it in response to a wrath - that can be a problem. There are ways to dealing with control players like depriving them of their lands. An uncountered Death Cloud or Pox could potentially spell trouble for the control player. Making all lands into creatures with Living Plane or Nature's Revolt and then destroying their “creatures” will definitely cripple that player. I would say that control decks are those that you should shyly target from turn 0 - not too brazenly to them have them waste all resources on you, though; just enough to be able to kill them in one fell swoop when the opportunity presents itself. It should be noted that there are particular generals that aren’t technically control but can still control several aspects of the game; one of these being Sigarda, Host of Herons. Such players should immediately be your target the moment you see their commander at the beginning of the game set up.

* Creature Hate: One would think that creature hate wouldn’t pose much of a threat to a BG deck. However, the deck does rely on its commander so getting it consistently killed/exiled can be a problem - especially when your commander costs 3BG. Also, it can be quite the bummer to have your army of creatures that dwarf eldrazis become obliterated by wraths. The reason creature hate is a neutral threat is because we have ways of protecting Mazirek and our creatures plus ways of recurring creatures in the graveyard. Yavimaya Hollow and Swarmyard help save Mazirek from destruction that allows regeneration. Wrap in Vigor, Wail of the Nim, and Golgari Charm regenerate all of our creatures. Eldrazi Monument and Inspiring Call make them indestructible. Sheoldred, Whispering One and Meren of Clan Nel Toth help recover creatures from the graveyard. In short, creature hate is only a problem if you don’t have responses when you really need them; it’s not a problem if you have responses when you need them. Also, players tend to hold on to their wraths with Nature's Revolt or Living Plane out; any wrath then becomes Devastation. Additionally, cards like Cauldron of Souls can recover all of your creatures after a board wipe. Even though your creatures will return with a -1/-1 counter, Mazirek takes care of that by neutralizing it with a +1/+1 counter. If your meta is very wrath-heavy, cards like Living Death, Living End, and Rise of the Dark Realms could be considered, as well. Losing tokens can be a problems thanks to wraths, but regenerating them or giving them indestructible prevents you from losing them.

* Pillow Fort: Could be annoying by preventing you from going all alpha strike with your huge creatures. There are answers to pillow fort such as Nullmage Shepherd, Bane of Progess, and Wave of Vitriol. Wave of Vitriol is my favorite card for getting rid of enchantments and artifacts because players have to sacrifice them. Even if you find yourself facing off against a brutal pillow fort, you can always just win by combo (more on that later) so you don’t need to win by combat damage alone. Mazirek has a plethora of strategies at its disposal so there are alternate wincons.

* Graveyard Hate: This can pose a problem if you’re running the Artifact Build. That build is devoted to recurring artifacts from the graveyard. It would follow that if you’re playing the Eggs strategy and an opponent is running Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, etc., then it could be a major problem. If you’re running the Artifact Build you must get rid of that player as soon as possible. If you’re running the Creature Build, you’re simply prevented from winning by the combo route since you won’t be able to recur any creatures to go to infinity (or at least enough times to get some huge creatures). The deck does run its fair share of artifact and enchantment removal. So, as long as you’re able to obtain your responses in a timely manner, you should be fine. Either way, if your meta is keen on graveyard hate then you can add more cards in the vein of getting rid of all artifacts and enchantments.

Ever since Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest was spoiled, I knew I had to incorporate it into Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Shattergang Brothers. When testing it with Sidisi it was broken but also felt more winmore. The reason I cut it from Sidisi was because it needed sac outlets in order to pull its weight around. It was in Shattergang Bros. that I saw it’s ultimate potential. What if I had a deck devoted entirely to stax? My Shattergang Bros. build barely used R so I decided to keep it BG with Mazirek. Thus, my Mazirek commander deck was born.

The deck started as a way to first take advantage of sacrifice interactions. So I played around with persist as well, since a creature with persist will return to battle indefinitely as long as Mazirek is in play. However, I found that that the deck wasn’t consistent. I either had a lot of potential sac triggers but no creatures to take advantage of it. Other times, I had a lot of creatures and no sac triggers to take advantage of it. I tried a lot of different strategies but then found that you could have various simultaneous strategies. Since I couldn’t find a balance between all of them, I decided to devote these strategies to various versions of the deck. Finally, my Mazirek deck was taking shape.

This allowed me to consider all of the different cards and combos which ended up being completely overwhelming. Since I like designing primers and decks that everyone could enjoy playing, I contemplated compiling a strategy guide (so to speak) for Mazirek showcasing all the different ways to play with it. This helped me as well since I would constantly cut and add and swap cards only to do it all over again. It was fun up to a certain point and my pod wouldn’t be able to specifically predict what I’d be doing with the deck. Yet, I stayed with some deck lists that were more my style. Since there’re so many possibilities with Mazirek, I wouldn’t want to impose my style on anyone. So, I decided to go all out and make a true to the title Primer. I will discuss how to make a deck that doesn’t go infinite, a deck to be played on a strict budget, and decks that go all out. Again, it was excruciatingly difficult to have a single deck with every strategy contained within, but if you’re able to do so, I tip my hat to you.

2.1 - Main build:

Each build incorporate stax as the main strategy. The difference between them is that the Creatures Matter version is more stompy and less combo while the Artifacts Matter version is more combo and less stompy. Each build will be discussed upon in great detail. I also provide an Über Budget Build since most players probably won’t be able to build a deck with 7 fetchlands, Crucible of Worlds, Gaea's Cradle, Mishra's Workshop, Doubling Season, etc.

Creatures Matter:

Out of the two main builds, this one is my favorite one (don’t tell the other one!) because I like the stompiness. This one is more in-your-face and less combo but it can still be tweaked for full-blown combo as well. The purpose of this deck is to have a lot of tokens and/or many creatures in play to take full advantage of the stax. That way you have a lot of creatures with a significant p/t in order to bring forth a massive wave of attack. Also, stax gets rid of many potential blockers so killing off players with combat damage is this version’s main wincon. Alternate wincons are provided by combo, since an all-out alpha strike is not always possible.

I will also give suggestions on how to run this deck without the infinite engines. Since all the cards are amazing on their own, you can simply choose to not go infinite. However, if the temptation is too much, I will give some great substitutes as to not hurt the integrity of the deck (too much).

2.1.1 - Deck Stats:

Pimpage:
Unfortunately, not all of the cards in my current decklist are presently acquirable as foils.

Average CMC:
3.27
Average Cost (as of 10/23/16):
$1,221.24

Budget Choices:
Even with excluding Gaea's Cradle and Bayou the deck is just generally expensive. Even though the deck runs some very cheap cards that cost less than a quarter, it does run 7 fetchlands and expensive cards in the form of Doubling Season, Mana Crypt, Living Plane, Scapeshift, etc. and they add up. Since budget cuts would actually require cutting more than just a couple of cards, I present a budget build that is quite competent and only costs less than $30. That saves you almost $1,200!

Updates:
I will eventually keep an updated version of this deck online. Every time I update the deck I will try to update it there. This is also a good tool for people to actually see the statistics of the deck (by type, CMC, color, etc.) so it's easier to visualize with the graphs and whatnot. Also, you can see the updated prices on the cards (though I can't guarantee that deckstats.net will always use the cheapest version of the cards (as far as expansion set goes). You'll soon find the deck there.

2.1.2 - Strategy:

The main strategy of the deck is to try and get Mazirek into play as quickly as possible. This can be achieved as early as turn 2 with a forest, swamp, Mana Vault, and a mana dork. With so many mana dorks and the competitive mana rocks (Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Sol Ring) it’s probable to cast Mazirek way before turn 5.

Even though I’ve discussed how Mazirek allows for many strategies, his +1/+1 counters requires sacrifice triggers. Therefore, the main strategy of them all is stax. Mazirek simply allows you to take advantage of stax whether to combo out, go stompy, voltron, or simply go with extreme denial.

Something that’s very crucial to Mazirek is how to make the most of sacrifice triggers. This is incredibly important; it’s the different between making incredible plays to making ridiculously epic plays. Mazirek’s trigger goes to the stack after sacrifices are made. However, if a sacrifice causes other abilities to trigger at the same time, you choose how they enter the stack. This can be confusing at times but be sure to always remember that what you want to resolve first should be the last thing you place in the stack. The reason this is so important is that it means the difference between getting a lot of tokens in play without +1/+1 counters or getting them all in play with +1/+1 counters. Here’s an example of what I mean:
Let’s say you have a card like Pawn of Ulamog in play so both that ability and Mazirek’s trigger enters the stack. If you put Mazirek’s ability first on the stack, that 0/1 eldrazi spawn token enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it as well as your creatures already in play. If you don’t place them correctly on the stack, any 0/1 eldrazi spawn entering the battlefield won’t get a +1/+1 counter placed on it. Yeah, knowledge of how the stack functions is incredibly important with this commander. If you’re unsure as to what to do, a general rule of thumb with Mazirek is to have his trigger be the first thing entering the stack so that it’s the last one leaving the stack. Shout out to WizardMN for clearing this up.

Synergy & Combos:

The overall synergy of the deck is to make no wasted movements. Any time you’re going to sacrifice anything or make your opponents sacrifice anything, ideally, Mazirek is going to be in play. Whenever you crack a fetch, cast Fleshbag Marauder and its ilk, etc., the point is to do so in order to get a +1/+1 counter on all your creatures. If you have no other choice than to do so, it’s okay because the cards aren’t here simply for using them in conjunction with Mazirek; they are useful on their own, as well. When designing the deck, I wanted to be as independent of Mazirek as possible.

As I stated before, the amount of cards and strategies that are synergistic with Mazirek are nigh innumerable. I will try to be as comprehensive as possible. Whenever new synergies or combos become available, I will include them here. I will include them for discussion even if I don’t include them into the deck. I want everyone to be able to develop their own Mazirek.

2.1.3 - Piloting the Deck:

Mulligans:
You want anywhere between 3-4 lands and 2-3 mana dorks and/or mana rock in order to play Mazirek as quickly as possible. The quicker you have Mazirek in play the more advantage you can get out of the stax abilities of your spells, creatures, and other permanents. You also want to take advantage of the fetchlands, as well. However, as long as you have 3-4 lands and cheap cards, you don’t really need to mulligan; you’ll just have a slower game. The deck does have cards with a high casting cost but the average CMC is closer to 3 than to 4 so there should be plenty of things to cast while you’re able to cast Mazirek. However, an early Mazirek means a brutal game. Early Mazirek with support means being able to eliminate an opponent fairly quickly via commander damage. A slower Mazirek just means that your strategy should follow more of a mid-range pace. Good cards to start your hand with are Mana Crypt, Birds of Paradise, Elves of Deep Shadow, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Llanowar Elves, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Gyre Sage, Innocent Blood, Smallpox, Animation Module, Bitterblossom, and Awakening Zone.

Early game:
You want to try and get Mazirek out as quickly as possible in order to capitalize on its +1/+1 ability. It's quite the bummer to sacrifice cards or have opponents sacrifice cards without having Mazirek in play. Again, you can still crack fetches and whatnot without having Mazirek in play, but it’s just better. With players that cast their commanders first before other creatures, it’s also good to cast spells like Innocent Blood or creatures like Slum Reaper early on to considerably slow them down. With a fast early game, like described above, you can easily get a Mazirek with a beefy p/t - especially in a game with lots of players. Even in a triple threat game, I’ve been able to eliminate players by turn 4 with a great early game. Turn 2 Mazirek into Turn 3 Corpsejack Menace and Smallpox gives Mazirek 12 +1/+1 counters making it a 2-turn clock. By Turn 4 you just eliminated any player that was a major threat. Early game can go any way between ramping, getting components in play, or just disrupting players with some early stax. It doesn’t matter the order as long as Mazirek is distributing those +1/+1 counters.

Mid Game:
This deck aims to be as quick as possible but Mazirek being a key component to almost every strategy means that the deck can be slow if you have to cast him without the aid of mana acceleration. This deck doesn’t require a lot of mana to efficiently function but it does speed things along. What the deck does need is some quick token production in order to capitalize on Mazirek’s ability and to not be hindered by our own stax effects. During midgame you should be sacrificing permanents with Mazirek in order to get him some much needed +1/+1 counters to lower his clock to victory. Even if he's your only creature, he alone can win the game with 21 damage. Most of my victories haven't been from horde damage but Mazirek damage. So save those fetches whenever possible until Mazirek hits the field. The same for other taxing spells like Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner, Slum Reaper, etc.

Late Game:
Late game you should have a large army in both senses of the word: many creatures and with a considerable amount of +1/+1 counters. If anything, Mazirek should have a significant amount of +1/+1 counters since commander damage win is one of the most viable wincons of the deck. Late game should have a lot of opponents with few lands and creatures to the staxing effects in the deck. Additionally, any hindering artifacts and/or enchantments should've been dealt with thanks to the hate in the deck. Late game is usually the time when I cast the game-ending Wave of Vitriol or Eliminate the Competition. For those running a more hardcore stax package, by this time a brutal Death Cloud will usually end it in your favor.

End Game:
The deck has various other wincons besides combat damage and commander damage, which is the main wincon of this build. Besides pumping Mazirek to ridiculous proportions with +1/+1 counters, you could also be pumping your creatures this way. All you need is one creature with enough power to eliminate an opponent. Any of the infinity engines that provide infinite sacrifice triggers could be used to create infinite creature tokens and/or infinite +1/+1 counters and or infinite mana. These infinite sacrifice triggers could also be used to cast the game-winning Bitter Ordeal.

2.1.4 - Card by card analysis:

A commander deck has 100 cards. Out of which I already explained most of the contents of my deck in great detail. However, if you want even greater detail, click the spoiler to see a list explaining every single card in the deck that is not a mana producing, non-utility land.

2.2 - Card Options:

There were a lot of cards tested, cut, added, suggested from a lot of people; they're all strewn across the thread. However, I have included 2 alternate builds with many of the cards in question. They weren't used in the main build due to them underperforming or requiring a different environment altogether in order to make the deck work. All cuts were made for efficiency's sake. That being said, the Change Log at the end of the post reflects many of the changes in both the casual and competitive build which have merged to merely reflect the changes in the competitive build.


As for cards that have become available with new sets, I will discuss in greater detail some of the cards from the most recent sets. This section will be constantly updated as new sets arise and other sets have been understood to have been discussed. I will not simply discuss all cards that comply with color. I will only discuss cards that could be useful to any extent in the deck - even if they don't make the cut.

2.2.1 - Without Infinity:

As I mentioned earlier, infinite combos is frowned upon by many players. That’s okay ‘cause I got you guys covered. I didn’t always play the infinite engines in this deck. However, the cards on their work so well that I felt that I was being too restrictive with the capabilities of the deck by excluding them. However, you can win without going infinite by removing Nim Deathmantle and the creatures that produce tokens by entering and/or leaving the battlefield and/or dying. Here’re some suggestions on what to swap:

3.1 - Budget Build:

Here's my less competitive, more casual, and über budget build. It's very fun to play in a casual pod. However, it's not a weakling either and can easily win in a casual setting without being too mean. This deck is designed under the impression that it will be in a setting with similar decks. Otherwise, don't use it, lol. If you're starting in commander or don't have that much of a budget and want a kooky, uncommon deck, then this is for you! You can also see an explanation of this version of the deck in video form in this episode of "The Brewery" series in my YouTube channel, The Commander Tavern.

3.1.1 - Deck contents:

3.2 - Artifacts Matter:

Another competitive build; this one relies on the tried and true archetype of Eggs. Whereas the Creatures Matter Build makes a large amount of relatively small creatures, this build makes a relatively small amount of incredibly large creatures. Both builds have infinite engines but cracking eggs makes the few creatures in play get amazingly large. Thus, the focus of this build is how to make the most out of artifacts and utility creatures.

The difference in decks is subtle as far as strategy is concerned. Both decks aim to make infinite mana, creatures, +1/+1 counters in order to win by commander damage, combat damage, or combo via Zulaport Cutthroat and/or Blood Artist (in Creatures Matter) or Disciple of the Vault and/or Marionette Master (in Artifacts Matter) and Bitter Ordeal. Some people like creatures more than other card types and some people like artifacts more than other card types. It’s a classic case of “to-may-to / to-mah-to” as far as Mazirek is concerned. It doesn’t care about what gets sacrificed as long as something gets sacrificed.

The pros (and cons) of the Artifact Matters Build is that it’s way more combo-centric than the Creature Matters Build. There are many more ways to go infinite and to take advantage of that. So you don’t really need so many creatures as long as you’re able to win with an epic Bitter Ordeal, Disciple of the Vault and/or Marionette Master, or a ridiculously large Mazirek. That being said, just like the Creatures Matter Build, I will also give suggestions on how to run this deck without the infinite engines. Since all the cards are amazing on their own, you can simply choose to not go infinite. However, if the temptation is too much, I will give some great substitutes as to not hurt the integrity of the deck (too much).

3.2.1 - Deck Contents:

3.2.2 - Deck Stats:

Budget Choices:
Even with excluding Gaea's Cradle, Mishra's Workshop, and Bayou the deck is just generally expensive. Even though the deck runs some very cheap cards that cost less than a quarter, it does run 7 fetchlands and expensive cards in the form of Doubling Season, Mana Crypt, Crucible of Worlds, Living Plane, Scapeshift, etc. and they add up. Since the main strategy of the deck is Eggs, it is possible to considerably lower the price with some minor changes. Of course, the deck won’t run as smoothly, but it should still be well within competitive reach for frugal budgets. Some replacements are for similar effects. Others that have no viable replacement are just replaced with more Eggs.


Pimpage:
Unfortunately, not all of the cards in my current decklist are presently acquirable as foils.

Average CMC:
3.41
Average Cost (as of 10/30/16):
$2,195.54

Updates:
I will eventually keep an updated version of this deck online. Every time I update the deck I will try to update it there. This is also a good tool for people to actually see the statistics of the deck (by type, CMC, color, etc.) so it's easier to visualize with the graphs and whatnot. Also, you can see the updated prices on the cards (though I can't guarantee that deckstats.net will always use the cheapest version of the cards (as far as expansion set goes). You'll soon find the deck there.

3.2.3 - Strategy:

3.2.4 - Piloting the Deck:

Mulligans:
You want anywhere between 3-4 lands in order to play Mazirek as quickly as possible. Most of the cards in the deck are cheap to cast (the deck having an average CMC of less than 4) so as long as you have 3-4 lands and cards to play early game you can stay with that hand. It’s not the best starting hand but at least you won’t be mana screwed. The ideal opening hand has eggs and/or mana rocks with at least 3 lands. You don’t really need early game disruption but since most cards are to sacrifice in order to provide value for Mazirek, you want it out as quickly as possible.

Early game:
You want to try and get Mazirek out as quickly as possible in order to capitalize on its +1/+1 distributing ability. It's quite the bummer to be cracking eggs and fetches or making opponents sacrifice things without having Mazirek in play. Early game is just basically setting up your board state by laying eggs and casting utility artifacts and creatures like Crucible of Worlds (if you’re lucky), Caustic Caterpillar, etc. If you get too early an advantage, an early wrath from an opponent can significantly set you back. So keep that in mind. If you have early access to Inspiring Call, Golgari Charm, or Wrap in Vigor than make sure to keep some mana open and available should you need to save your creatures.

Mid Game:
Unlike the Creatures Matter Build, the focus of this build is not to amass an army of tokens; it’s to combo out. The few creatures that may be out will be sacrificed in order to disrupt opponents or for your own advantage. However, the combo pieces are easy to acquire with all the digging provided by the deck whether it be cracking eggs or drawing a bunch of cards thanks to The Gitrog Monster. The deck isn’t meant to be intimidating; so you can build your board state until you set up the game-winning combos. If not, you should at least be drawing into responses and disruption.

Late Game:
With so many staxing effects, you should have little to no opposition to deter Mazirek and/or your large creatures from swinging in for the win. Either way, if your opponents also produce many creatures just as fast if not faster, then make sure that Mazirek is able to swing away without being blocked thanks to Rogue’s Passage. If you’re facing pillowfort or control, be sure to save your resources and responses to get rid of those deterrents in order to guarantee that victory. That’s usually ultimately solved by Wave of Vitriol but you can also snipe some particulars thanks to Caustic Caterpillar, Sylvok Replica, Viridian Zealot, etc.

End Game:
With a large enough Mazirek (and effective evasion), you can win the game with commander damage in a single strike. However, the deck has a couple of infinite combos that can be worked around in different ways so there are multiple manners to set up wins. You could kill with lifeloss thanks to Marionette Master and/or Disciple of the Vault along with infinitely recurring eggs or with infinitely recycling tokens with Pentavus, Triskelavus, and/or Thopter Squadron. Even then, if you can’t win via commander damage, combat damage, or lifeloss, you could always use the infinite sacrifice triggers and cast an epic Bitter Ordeal for the win.

3.2.5 - Card by card analysis:

A commander deck has 100 cards. Out of which I already explained most of the contents of my deck in great detail. However, if you want even greater detail, click the spoiler to see a list explaining every single card in the deck that is not a mana producing, non-utility land.

3.2.6 - Without Infinity:

As I mentioned earlier, infinite combos is frowned upon by many players. That’s okay ‘cause I got you guys covered. There are so many different ways to achieve infinity in the deck that it’s kind of difficult to make all the cuts to make it not reach infinity. Since the loop is controlled, you can always just not go to infinity. Yet, since some people still consider that infinite, here’re some suggestions on what to swap:

Without going to infinity, Bitter Ordeal is not as broken as to warrant inclusion. In order to recover more eggs, more eggs are swapped in as well as artifact creatures that can recur artifacts when they die. I feel that the deck is still a solid contender without the cards that allow for reaching infinity and these swaps just make the overall strategy more consistent.

As previously mentioned, the deck has gone through quite a lot of changes. Recently, most of these changes haven't been as paramount as having the need for two different builds, but I do discuss them in great detail throughout the thread. I've discussed all the cards cut, considered, and used through this post, but if you still desire more information - particularly on what has been cut via testing, here are some link discussing cuts:

1. 11/25/15

2. 2/12/16

3. 3/27/16

4. 8/27/16

5. 10/20/16

6. 10/29/16

7. 11/14/16

8. 11/26/16

9. 1/26/17

• Welgo: for continued interest in my thread since Nov. 2015 and for being an invaluable resource for all things Mazirek.
• RedGauntlet: continued interest in my thread since Nov. 2015 and plenty of useful feedback.
• Besjbo: for reminding me that fetchlands are supposed to go in a deck like this - yeah, it was that important.
• Hunding Gjornersen: for inspiring the Über Budget Build.
• WizardMN: for clearing up how sacrifice triggers as part of activated costs work with Mazirek.
• all the Cockatrice players who've been making suggestions and observations ever since I've been playing this deck online way back since the beginning of its conception (particularly users 359763432 and Gidix).
• The EDH Primer Committee for both helping me shape this into the guide it is and recognizing my effort with the much sought after [Primer] tag! Thanks!
• The Commander Rules Committee for temporarily unbanning most silver-bordered cards from 12/01/2017 - 01/15/2018. That gave me 45 days of testing silver-bordered cards for Mazirek. Organ Harvest was epic!
• And all of you reading for your interest, curiosity, suggestions, and attention!

Please let me know of any errors, typos, etc.! I want to keep this very presentable!

1.1 - Description:

At first this deck may seem all over the place, and for not being a deck that runs R, it's a bit on the chaotic side. This deck runs three (seemingly simultaneous) mechanics: drawing, discarding, dredging. Sidisi, Brood Tyrant's colors allow for a grand plethora of cards which use and abuse these mechanics. Allowing for great versatility, this deck can be piloted as beatdown, milling, or just all around graveyard/hand/library tomfoolery!

Thus, you’ll enjoy playing with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant if you:

• want a deck that is not too dependent on your general
• like playing with your hand, library, and graveyard all at once
• like being able to amass a huge army
• like to play with non-linear strategies
• like combo decks

However, you won’t enjoy playing with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant if you:

• like playing fatties
• want a deck that's easy to pilot
• want a less combo-oriented build
• like giving ludicrous amounts of commander damage
• don’t like constantly shuffling a deck of commander size

1.2 - Other Possible Commanders:

Okay, so let’s say you’re on board with running a GUB EDH deck. Check. Now, why Sidisi, the Brood Tyrant and not one of other similarly-colored legendary creatures? These commanders are great in their own setting with one of them having a current primer and another two having retired primers; there's a lot of info out there. These threads should give you some ideas of the capabilities of a BUG-colored general.

• Damia, Sage of Stone has a totally different dynamic than Sidisi. Damia is a brutal card drawing engine but it really doesn't go with Sidisi's strategy of chaos / horde. Damia is more about control and having enough responses in your hands. A Damia deck loves having ramp, counters, tutors, and draw advantage cards in hand. Sidisi doesn't risk running counters or tutors because they'll more than likely get milled away. Sidisi also doesn't like drawing so many cards because most of the time you want those cards in graveyard in the first place since it's cheaper to reanimate them for free than hardcast them. Sidisi's second hand is the graveyard, unlike Damia whose hand is only your actual hand. Basically, Damia makes no zombie tokens, and only basically draws you up to a new hand each turn. You don't want to draw with this deck; you want to loot with it. Damia isn't even considered for one of the 99 due to her ability having nothing to do with the strategy of this deck.
• The Mimeoplasm is a general that loves graveyard play. It can be pretty devastating when combined with milling. However, Sidisi is more focused on moving things in and out of the graveyard more than exiling things from it. The Mimeoplasm is very versatile and I even considered including it as one of the 99, but it really didn't fit the overall strategy of the build. It has no built-in mill, stax, or recursive abilities so it doesn't complement Sidisi.
• Vorosh, the Hunter is all about casting it as fast as possible and killing as fast as possible with commander damage. Vorosh is more suited for voltron type strategies while using your hand and access to BUG in order to have many responses in hand and annoyances in play. Sidisi is not about a single creature entering the red zone but a horde of zombies going for all the brains.
• Tasigur, the Golden Fang is a close second to what we want to accomplish (taking advantage of self-milling). Tasigur lends himself to be a very political general and the goal is not to amass some epic beatdown. Tasigur is more along the lines of control and recursion for spells more so than creatures whereas Sidisi wants to chock in as many creatures as possible. However, a Tasigur player basically wants to limit an opponent's options as to what recover from the graveyard. So it's more graveyard manipulation and spell recovery than it is reanimation or horde, which is what Sidisi is all about. However, after the smoke clears, Tasigur doesn't make any zombie tokens when milling; Sidisi does.
• GU + UB or BG + GU or G + UB or U + BG or B + GU Partners don't really have all that much to offer. Regardless of any combination between the present partner combinations to obtain the GUB wedge, they don't really interact with each other. I don't even consider them for the inclusion in the 99. Even if one were to go with the partner route, you'd have one less card in the rest of your deck.
• Muldrotha, the Gravetide is an even better reanimation commander than The Mimeoplasm. However, this deck is not just about reanimation. This deck also aims to build a large army for offense and defense plus general recursion and reanimation hijinxes. Since Muldrotha does reanimate one type of permanent once per your turn, it is definitively added as one of the 99.
• Otrimi, the Ever-Playful is a way to make Sidisi a 6/6 trampler but it is a bit weaker since we can't mutate it from the graveyard like Brokkos. Otrimi can recover creatures with mutate from the graveyard so it can be used in a graveyard matters deck, however with a heavy amount of creatures with mutate. Since Sidisi doesn't have any creatures with mutate, it's not included here. But if you really like the mutate mechanic, then you might prefer Otrimi as your graveyard matters commander instead.
• Brokkos, Apex of Forever can be mutated from the graveyard so it can definitely be 1 of the 99 in the deck in order to make Sidisi a 6/6 trampler, but apart from that, as a commander, it's better suited for an infect / poison counters deck. Being able to mutate Brokkos onto a creature with infect is the best way to build it. Again, this is an entirely different direction than reanimator/graveyard matters.
• Yarok, the Desecrated is more for a deck with lots of enter-the-battlefield triggers, thus going for an entirely different deck altogether. Yarok is not necessarily a graveyard matters deck even though you can build it around a reanimation strategy. That being said, this deck in particular doesn't play around enter-the-battlefield effects where Yarok isn't even one of the 99.
• Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is more of a landfall commander that can also be used to slowdown opponents while also accelerating yourself. It can be played in many different ways, so it's a very malleable deck. However, it doesn't have any built-in graveyard shenanigans so it's not as ideal a commander for a reanimator deck.
• Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer, while a Sultai legend, is clearly meant for a morph matters deck, which is an entirely different direction altogether.
• Rayami, First of the Fallen is a very interesting commander which is quite the tale on voltron. However, as I just mentioned, it's more for a voltron build than a reanimator build, especially since Rayami exiles any creatures that die so you don't really have a graveyard to begin with.
• Volrath, the Shapestealer is another commander that has a ton of different ways to build around since he can become a copy of any creature with a counter on it. So he's better suited for a counters matters deck. Not necessaily a graveyard matters deck, but you could potentially build one with Volrath at the helm. However, he won't be as effective as one as the previously mentioned BUG graveyard matters commanders.
• Zaxara, the Exemplary is more of an X-spells matters commander but can also be used in combo decks since it's half of an infinite mana combo in the command zone. None of these effects are really graveyard-centric so it's not really a commander to build if you want a graveyard/reanimator deck.

1.3 - What to expect:

Now, playing Sidisi, Brood Tyrant obviously has its pros and cons depending on what you're facing. I've been playing this deck for quite some time and have found that there are some clearly beneficial decks to go against and some clearly detrimental decks to go up against. Since I don't feel that it's that black and white since there are some grey areas, I will explain them all in greater detail. For a quick summary as to how your match-ups should go, see below.


* Milling: Milling actually does us a favor, lol. We want to be milled! Hell, we're constantly milling ourselves! Though uncommon, there are the occasional overachievers who want to win by milling 90+ card decks out there in the EDH world. Whenever you face off against these types of players, just be thankful. Do try to hide your giddiness when an opponent reveals his commander is Phenax, God of Deception. However, in order to prevent self-milling, the deck uses Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in order to recover the graveyard into the library. So we should always be careful, regardless the opponent, to never mill ourselves.

* Stax: Pretty commonplace depending on your meta. The most competitive and ruthless decks out there are total lock and stax. The good thing about stax is that even though it's keeping your horde in check by making you sacrifice so many tokens, you're still only sacrificing tokens until you can find the opportunity to remove that player from the game. The deck doesn't run so many answers against this type of deck but it does have them in the form of Cyclonic Rift and Nullmage Shepherd.

* Mid-range: Depending on the tempo, mid-range could be a pretty epic battle - these are the decks I prefer facing against. Sidisi could get a bit mid-range herself and when that happens it's literally "may the best planeswalker win" type situation. However, no fear should come from facing a mid-range deck since they usually get their wind in their sails mid-game onwards. By then, you should have the same advantage if not more. This is the more neutral type of menace so just play normally against it and try to always be one step ahead.

* Aggro: Depending on how the match goes, these players can be our natural enemies or natural friends. These types of decks hate control and lock players so they usually target them first. If that's the case, tagteam that natural nemesis out of the game and then proceed to see whose horde is superior. If you find yourself against an aggro player early on, the deck should be able to hold its own by popping out tokens as chump blockers until you can get your bearings and hopefully have a superior midgame board set up. This deck doesn't really have ways to amassing life so if you find yourself in the beeping, red-flashing heart-zone, be careful; don't waste resources and do your best to hold on until you're able to go for the game-ending alpha strike.

* Control: Not so much a hindrance so long as the counterspell doesn't exile - even then, Riftsweeper can get things back from exile. When a creature gets countered you can simply recast or reanimate from the graveyard no problem. If the creature gets topdecked even better! A lot of control players think twice before countering any creature you may cast since you can just recover it from the graveyard and they just lost the counter. However, having said that, control players will still be able to counter cards like Buried Alive, Victimize, Intuition, and the like, and that could really slow us down. If you have a control-rich meta, I suggest finding space for Boseiju, Who Shelters All.

* Pillow Fort: Could be annoying by preventing you from going all alpha strike with your horde. However, the same tools used to deal with stax (Cyclonic Rift and Nullmage Shepherd) could also be used to deal with pillowfort. These types of decks tend to force other players to fight each other first but your horde can be used on the defensive as well until you deal with the annoyance of the pillowfort. Also, other players may have their own answers to deal with pillow forts, so sometimes you may be able to save your own resources.

* Creature Hate: These situations are only a real bummer if you have the mother of all hordes out. However, losing your non-token creatures is never a big deal for this deck. There's more than enough ways to reanimate those creatures and most of the time you're storing them in your graveyard anyways. Whenever a player wraths, given enough mana, you can recover practically all your non-token creatures afterwards. If anyone were to wrath with Meren of Clan Nel Toth you'll have more than enough experience counters to get anyone back for free from the graveyard each upkeep. Sheoldred, Whispering One also does this and Havengul Lich can cast any creature directly from the graveyard. So, no worries!

* Combo: Like 99% of other decks, since this deck isn't Tier 1 or even Tier 0, it will fold to higher-tier more cutthroat combo decks that autowin before turn 4. That being said, this deck isn't battlecruiser and it does have its share of responses and disruption in the form of creatures. Granted, it's not chocked full of disruption but then again this deck is run by not paying too much attention to what other players are doing. That being said, further on I do address this need for those who want a bit more disruption.

* Graveyard Hate: The only real weakness to this deck is graveyard hate. Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, Tormod's Crypt etc. can set us back in such a way that we may not even be able to recover from. At least there are some responses the deck has to deal with such situations (Entombing an Eldrazi titan in response is always good, Nullmage Shepherd to Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, Riftsweeper can recover from exile even if it is just one card at a time). However, my rule of thumb is: that guy/chick who may exile your cards MUST DIE.

I've been a long time tinkering with playing a commander deck centered around the BUG wedge. However, none of the three that existed really tickled my fancy. I had a lot of ideas about graveyard recursion, self milling, drawing, discarding, and doing all of these things to opponents as well. However, I really couldn't do any of that fun stuff with Damia, The Mimeoplasm, or Vorosh. That is until Sidisi was spoiled. Finally, a commander that does so much in one motion! You mill yourself and may produce tokens while you're at it. This is very efficient, and suited my needs almost immediately. Thankfully enough, Khans of Tarkir also provided a lot of new cards that help with this mechanic. The first Ravnica block helps with dregde and the Odyssey block helps with graveyard play. I was finally beginning to see it all come together...

Now, searching through the forums I saw some ideas here or there but unlike many other generals with solid strategies and player's attention, Sidisi was almost like a wallflower - flamboyant as she is. So I decided to be the first one to truly break her. To have a fun deck that could be competitive and not have anybody expect it to be. People see Narset, Enlightened Master, Sen Triplets, Child of Alara and cringe. The first reaction at the table being to take them out. However, people see Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and either expect something or don't know what to expect. The thing is, this deck, as predictable as an opponent may think it is, is really not. Many a time have I taken a victory out of nowhere. Then it's too late to react. Ruthlessness. Welcome to the Sultai.

I've been so devoted to Sidisi, Brood Tyrant that I eventually wound up designing three different decks. The main deck is what I've been most dedicated to but the fruits of my testing has produced two other decks: an extremely budget one and a zombie tribal because, let's face it, people love amassing the mother of all zombie hordes. You'll find them discussed in that order in the thread.

2.1 - Current build:

Competitive Build:

Here's the more competitive build which is light years ahead in efficiency compared to the more casual build I discussed in the earlier version of this thread. This is the current version I'm running and is the one I've been working on the most. It's intricate to pilot which makes it a lot of fun for people who like complicated decks. It's the one I've been discussing and analyzing throughout the thread so you can see it's evolution in more than just this first post. This is the version of the deck I will discuss most throughout this thread. Not withstanding, other viable versions are discussed in the Alternate Builds section.

2.1.1 - Deck Stats:

Pimpage:
Unfortunately, not all of the cards in my current decklist are presently acquirable as foils.

Average CMC:
3.92
Average Cost (as of 1/29/19):
$2,511.97

Budget Choices:
Now, the deck becomes ridiculously expensive with the inclusion of dual lands and Gaea's Cradle. For those without a Sultai bank account (myself included) and those who play without proxies (myself included) - even though some pods and LGS's allow the use of gold-bordered cards - there are clear budget alternatives. The tainted lands from Torment don't cipt and they can at least give you 1 until Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth comes into play (or also Overgrown Tomb, Watery Grave, or the lonely Swamp). Even though the check lands cipt, you can still get them into play untapped if you have at least Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Overgrown Tomb, Watery Grave, or the lonely Swamp in play. These replacements brings the deck down to about $990.72, which is still considerable, but then again the deck does run some $20-$30 cards.

Updates:
I built a deck with the MTGSalvation Deck Builder so I can always keep an updated version of this deck online. Everytime I update the deck I will try to update it there. This is also a good tool for people to actually see the statistics of the deck (by type, CMC, color, etc.) so it's easier to visualize with the graphs and whatnot. Also, you can see the updated prices on the cards (though I can't guarantee it will always use the cheapest version of the cards (as far as expansion set goes)). You can find the deck here.

2.1.2 - Strategy:

The main strategy of the deck is to try and get as many 2/2 Zombie creature tokens in play and go for the horde approach. All the drawing and the milling and discarding is done in order to speed up the deck and get the army as pumped up as possible. This is accomplished by getting Filth in the graveyard and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play. This feat pretty much makes your horde unblockable and is very easy to accomplish (details will be discussed further). Akroma's Memorial helps out with a bunch of different boons, particularly haste. There are many quasi-infinitely recurring engines that allows you to amass a brutal horde to take out all opponents at once. This is the main strategy for all versions of the deck I discuss this post.

2.1.3 - Piloting the Deck:

Mulligans:
You want anywhere between 3-4 lands in order to play Sidisi as quickly as possible. As soon as you can start milling and amassing tokens the better you will be. You will have a menacing board presence, but if you're playing in a competitive setting you won't be the only one. You also want some cheap utility creatures you can play in order to attract removal from players who like wasting removal early game against things that aren't as deadly as mid-game creatures. Another thing, there are cards you do not want in your opening hand. If you draw Kozilek, Butcher of Truth or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, mulligan those away because one of their main uses it to prevent milling yourself. They like to be inside of the library. Keep anything you can use to self-mill in order to make early tokens after Sidisi is cast the first time. Also, try to keep you hand as light as possible, those fatties are usually reanimated for free from the graveyard anyways. Personally, my EDH philosophy is not so much what to want in your starting hand more than what to not want. Honestly, as long as you're able to cast stuff without mana screw or color screw you should be fine. I don't want people to ceaselessly mulligan away searching for "critical" pieces. This deck burns through your library so you're bound to get them. An idea of what to keep in your hand are cheap spells somewhere in the vein of Chromatic Lantern, Sol Ring, Expedition Map, Aphetto Alchemist, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Kiora's Follower, Krosan Restorer, Satyr Wayfinder, Seeker of Skybreak, Voyaging Satyr, Phyrexian Reclamation, Survival of the Fittest, Entomb, Grisly Salvage, Intuition, Garruk Wildspeaker, Buried Alive, Jarad's Orders, Life from the Loam, or Mulch. Again, just mulligan away any fatties and make sure your hand has enough lands or ways to cast Sidisi.

Early game:
You want to try and get Sidisi out as quickly as possible in order to capitalize on her token producing ability. It's quite the bummer to cast cards that mill through top cards to get choice cards without having Sidisi in play. So after she's in play, you're able to use Buried Alive, Intuition, Fact or Fiction, etc. much more efficiently than simply casting them. Given their amount and the laws of probability, you'll more than likely have some mana acceleration cards, cheap utility creatures, and ways to enhance your horde. This stage of building your field is just dropping cheap cards until mid-game can happen. Remember also that by now, you should be able to determine the strategies of most of your opponents so whoever you see that has an anti-graveyard agenda has got to go. If anything, start building your strategy to getting those key components needed to eventually deal with those anti-graveyard spells and permanents. So start digging for Nullmage Shepherd, Riftsweeper, Cyclonic Rift, Glen Elendra Archmage, etc. Again, make sure the person running possible graveyard hate is eliminated first. Graveyard hate can come from many colors so don't fret simply because of the opponent. Keep in mind though that graveyard hate exists primarily in B and W (though there are cards in other colors and colorless as well).

Mid Game:
This deck aims to be as quick as possible so if you're lucky you may reach mid game by turn 5-7. This is the most important phase of the deck since the deck requires a lot of mana. Things you should be aiming to get in your graveyard by this time: Filth. Things you want to have in play by this time: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. This should be easy to accomplish with all the milling and recursion going around. Filth is the #1 Buried Alive target (and any "tutor" that sends to graveyard like Intuition, Jarad's Orders, etc.). The other two being Genesis and Vengeful Pharaoh (don't forget when he's in your graveyard, though!). You can also tutor for these pieces with Expedition Map, Intuition, Rune-Scarred Demon, or Sidisi, Undead Vizier. The best thing you can have in play is Mesmeric Orb. Be aware as this can make you an instant target. It seriously hurts all opponents and really helps you. This is the most important phase of the deck since you should've been burning through a lot of your deck by now in order to obtain these cards. If you haven't gotten them by then, don't worry, as you can still chump block or have other cards that could be useful. If other cards or combo pieces have been destroyed or exiled, remember that there are still ways to recover them such as Riftsweeper, Havengul Lich, Deadbridge Chant, etc.

Late Game:
Very viable by turn 10. You should have an army of tokens and/or utility creatures in play. All of them unblockable thanks to Filth+Urborg#2 combo. You can easily take out 1-2 players with an unblockable horde and/or other methods. With recursion, you can also use Gempalm Polluter a couple of times to eliminate a player. A wave of unblockables usually takes out one player in one instance. However, with Craterhoof Behemoth and the zombie lords, you should be able to clear house in one fell swoop. You can also take out another opponent by milling him/her. Many a time have I attacked one player with all creatures and then sacrificed them to Altar of Dementia to deck another player.

End Game:
Now, I know I said this was competitive but there are decks out there that win by turn 7. I know this, but this is as competitive as it can get without being top tier. Also, the deck is very unassuming and people don't really know what you're ultimately doing until it's too late. The deck has a lot of other tricks up its sleeve that helps get the job done. This is also a deck for those that don't mind games that last between 1-2 hours. When left unchecked, I'm usually able to win before the hour mark. However, in games with decks in the same neighborhood of level, games have lasted between 1-2 hours. If your meta is very strong, you'll possibly be ignored until other more problematic players are gone. If you're the strongest deck at the table, be very prepared to defend yourself and have a very exciting uphill battle!
Just remember that the game is basically over the moment you have the Filth+Urborg combo, you amassed a major horde with self-milling or other zombie generation due to the looting, Mesmeric Orb, the Narcomoeba of Dementia combo, etc. or are able to consistently recur Gempalm Polluter. The whole point is to burn through the deck in order to get one of the wincons. The most consistent wincon is alpha strike with a bunch of zombies. Again, beware the graveyard hate player.

2.1.4 - Card by card analysis:

A commander deck has 100 cards. Out of which I already explained most of the contents of my deck in great detail. However, if you want even greater detail, click the spoiler to see a list explaining every single card in the deck that is not a mana producing, non-utility land.

2.2 - Card Options:

There were a lot of cards tested, cut, added, suggested from a lot of people; they're all strewn across the thread. However, I have included 2 alternate builds with many of the cards in question. They weren't used in the main build due to them underperforming or requiring a different environment altogether in order to make the deck work. All cuts were made for efficiency's sake. That being said, the Change Log at the end of the post reflects many of the changes in both the casual and competitive build which have merged to merely reflect the changes in the competitive build.



As for cards that have become available with new sets, I will discuss in greater detail some of the cards from the most recent sets. This section will be constantly updated as new sets arise and other sets have been understood to have been discussed. I will not simply discuss all cards that comply with color. I will only discuss cards that could be useful to any extent in the deck - even if they don't make the cut.

3.1 - Budget Build:

Here's my less competitive, more casual, and über budget build. It's very fun to play in a casual pod. However, it's not a weakling either and can easily win in a casual setting without being too mean. This deck is designed under the impression that it will be in a setting with similar decks. Otherwise, don't use it, lol. If you're starting in commander or don't have that much of a budget and want a kooky, uncommon deck, then this is for you!

3.1.1 - Deck contents:

3.1.2 - Deck Stats:
I built a deck with the MTGSalvation Deck Builder so I can always keep an updated version of this deck online. Everytime I update the deck I will try to update it there. This is also a good tool for people to actually see the statistics of the deck (by type, CMC, color, etc.) so it's easier to visualize with the graphs and whatnot. Also, you can see the updated prices on the cards (though I can't guarantee it will always use the cheapest version of the cards (as far as expansion set goes)). You can find the deck here.

3.1.3 - Strategy:

37 Creatures
As you can notice, this deck runs 37 creatures. This is to maximize Sidisi's ability since most of the self ramp spells, though broken, aren't budget, which means that the main zombie making engine is Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Undead Alchemist. However, with all these creatures you're bound to get utility and chump blockers if anything else. The creatures do more or less the same job as the previously mentioned spells providing ramp, recursion, recovery, removal, disruption, and other miscellaneous hijinxes.

3.1.4 - Piloting the Deck:

Mulligans:
You want anywhere between 3-4 lands in order to play Sidisi as quickly as possible. Again, there are cards you do not want in your opening hand. If you draw Gaea's Blessing mulligan it away because it's prevent milling yourself; it likes to be inside of the library. You also want some ramping options in order to fix mana. So your best hand is ramp and land. Any expensive cards should be shuffled away. As I mentioned before, personally, my EDH philosophy is not so much what to want in your starting hand more than what to not want. Honestly, as long as you're able to cast stuff without mana screw or color screw you should be fine. I don't want people to ceaselessly mulligan away searching for "critical" pieces. This deck burns through your library so you're bound to get them. An idea of what to keep in your hand are cheap spells somewhere in the vein of Aphetto Alchemist, Burnished Hart, Cemetery Reaper, Diregraf Captain, Dreamscape Artist, Farhaven Elf, Gatecreeper Vine, Kiora's Follower, Krosan Restorer, Krosan Tusker, Nyx Weaver, Reef Shaman, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Satyr Wayfinder, Tideshaper Mystic, Yavimaya Dryad, Yavimaya Elder, Zulaport Cutthroat, Phyrexian Reclamation, Grisly Salvage, Buried Alive, or Mulch.

Early game:
You want to try and get Sidisi out as quickly as possible in order to capitalize on her token producing ability. It's quite the bummer to cast cards that mill through top cards to get choice cards without having Sidisi in play. As soon as you can start milling and amassing tokens the better you will be. Beware drawing the hate of having an early, menacing board presence. Any and all cheap permanents you can cast should be. Save any self-milling spells (Jarad's Orders, Mulch, Buried Alive, etc.) for when you have Sidisi out. In the mean time, start ramping to your heart's desire. If you find that you have to start milling regardless then do so. That way you can start burning through the deck in order to obtain your wincons. Also, if you notice that you're against a player who starts accumulating cards for a graveyard hate suite, eliminate that player first at all costs. Avoid having anything you desperately need go to your graveyard. Things will become increasingly difficult if cards like Filth, Wonder, Reef Shaman, Tideshaper Mystic, Nullmage Shepherd, Breaker of Armies, or Riftsweeper (especially) get exiled.

Mid Game:
This deck aims to be as quick as possible so if you're lucky you may reach mid game by turn 5-7. Things you should be aiming to get in your graveyard by this time: Filth (maybe Wonder). Things you want to have in play by this time: Reef Shaman, Tideshaper Mystic, or Zombie Trailblazer. This should be easy to accomplish with all the milling and recursion going around. The best thing you can have in play is the Narcomortuary of Dementia engine. At first, this wins out of nowhere, but once your pod gets wind of this, it can make you an instant target. However, this will definitely win you the game all on its own (as previously discussed).

Late Game:
You should have amassed a massive horde by now that's either flying or unblockable (swampwalk). This can help you eliminate one player and then the other with Gempalm Polluter in the same turn. You could also eliminate a player with milling your massive army afterwards (Altar of Dementia) or Undead Alchemist. You should have also tried to build the Narcomortuary of Dementia engine by now for the automatic win. Thought he deck doesn't have as much tutoring due to budget constrictions, it's still fun to play with whatever you're able to get. So don't be afraid to wing it in the mean time as your pieces are falling into place for the win.

End Game:
This deck is casual but still has the components to win most of the time (in a casual meta, of course). It was also quite a challenge to build this for almost $60. Again - and I can't stress this enough, depending on your meta, the overall strategy is still the same: ELIMINATE THE GRAVEYARD HATE PLAYER. Anything else can be dealt with accordingly. Remember that the moment you have unblockable zombies (whether due to swampwalk or flying) with Filth, Zombie Trailblazer, Reef Shaman, Tideshaper Mystic, and Wonder, you basically won.

3.1.5 - With a Bit More Budget:

Though the purpose of the deck is to have a ridiculously budget EDH deck that's still fun to pilot and still be in the spirit of the competitive build, for a little extra, the deck can go even farther and still be relatively budget. This change is obviously more efficient and closer in spirit to the original build. Undead Warchief is a considerable zombie lord and Life from the Loam, again, has no real substitute. You want it in this deck. Badly. Mesmeric Orb is also to big a power house to miss out on. Unholy Grotto is too clutch when combined with Gempalm Polluter. Cycling it more than once a turn is too epic.




For a little more lettuce, you could add choice cards like Akroma's Memorial, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and Cabal Coffers. These changes make the budget deck all that closer to the competitive build. As discussed above, these cards are the heart of what makes the deck win so ruthlessly. So, for those who can still consider $135 for a solid EDH deck to still be considered within budget, that's what you could do to the $60 version discussed in this middle section (basically doubling in price). In summation:

3.2 - Zombie Tribal:

Another casual build (casual but for someone with a sweet budget); this one relies on some good ol' fashioned zombie beatdown. Though the deck is not overly saturated with zombies, the non-zombie creatures here are too crucial to the build to take out simply for not being the same creature type. All the land untappers are important. This build is a mana hog and if you're able to use Gaea's Cradle, Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, Cabal Coffers, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx multiple times at the end of an opponent's turn to cast an epic Empty the Pits then it's pretty much game over.

The deck is very easy to pilot (at least compared to the main build) and the targets for tutors are pretty much the same throughout all manifestations of the deck. Also, never ever ever ever ever use Entomb if you have it in hand. Entomb is to look for Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in response to your graveyard getting exiled. Also, Ulamog and/or Kozilek are more useful in hand than in play for the same reason: discarding either at instant speed saves your graveyard from getting exiled and also prevents you from getting decked.

Doubling Season not only nets you a lot of zombies (along with Parallel Lives) but it also helps Kiora, Master of the Depths get her emblem the moment she hits the field, and Tezzeret the Seeker enters with enough loyalty counters to fetch Akroma's Memorial or Coat of Arms.

3.2.1 - Deck Contents:

3.2.2 - Deck Stats:

Budget Choices:
Now, the deck becomes ridiculously expensive with the inclusion of dual lands and Gaea's Cradle. For those without a Sultai bank account (myself included) and those who play without proxies (myself included) - even though some pods and LGS's allow the use of gold-bordered cards - there are clear budget alternatives. The tainted lands from Torment don't cipt and they can at least give you 1 until Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth comes into play (or also Overgrown Tomb, Watery Grave, or the lonely Swamp). Even though the check lands cipt, you can still get them into play untapped if you have at least Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Overgrown Tomb, Watery Grave, or the lonely Swamp in play. These replacements brings the deck down to about $1,133, which is still considerable, but then again the deck does run some $20-$30 cards.

Pimpage:
Unfortunately, not all of the cards in my current decklist are presently acquirable as foils.

Average CMC:
3.68
Average Cost (as of 6/21/18):
$3,186.44

Updates:
I built a deck with the MTGSalvation Deck Builder so I can always keep an updated version of this deck online. Everytime I update the deck I will try to update it there. This is also a good tool for people to actually see the statistics of the deck (by type, CMC, color, etc.) so it's easier to visualize with the graphs and whatnot. Also, you can see the updated prices on the cards (though I can't guarantee it will always use the cheapest version of the cards (as far as expansion set goes)). You can find the deck here.

3.2.3 - Strategy:

3.2.4 - Piloting the Deck:

Mulligans:
This version doesn't need Sidisi to be out as quickly as possible. What you do want is anywhere between 3-4 lands and cheap creatures - preferably a lord. Also, if you get any token doublers then you're set. Once again, you do not want any Eldrazi titans in your opening hand. So, a perfect hand has 3-4 lands, and zombie lords. You don't need to mulligan away in order to get token doublers since there's enough of them in the deck and you're bound to get some. What you do want are things to facilitate making or pumping the zombie horde. Just as with the competitive build, mulligan away Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth as their purpose is to prevent getting decked so their main function is to stay in the library. As I've been mentioning throughout, personally, my EDH philosophy is not so much what to want in your starting hand more than what to not want. Honestly, as long as you're able to cast stuff without mana screw or color screw you should be fine. I don't want people to ceaselessly mulligan away searching for "critical" pieces. This deck burns through your library so you're bound to get them. An idea of what to keep in your hand are cheap spells somewhere in the vein of Expedition Map, Mesmeric Orb, Sol Ring, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Gravecrawler, Kiora's Follower, Krosan Restorer, Lich Lord of Unx, Liliana, Heretical Healer, Lord of the Undead, Risen Executioner, Undead Warchief, Voyaging Satyr, Phyrexian Reclamation, Survival of the Fittest, Entomb, Garruk Wildspeaker, Buried Alive, or Life from the Loam.

Early game:
This version is much less complex compared to the previously mentioned builds. The deck strives for zombie generation which can be achieved with self-milling (Buried Alive, Intuition, Jarad's Orders, etc.) with Sidisi in play all the while casting a lot of cheap creatures while you start putting together any of the game-winning components. This version makes deadlier tokens faster than the main version because it has more zombie lords (Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Lord of the Undead, Risen Executioner, Undead Warchief, plus the other non-zombie lords that pump your creatures). Again, this deck is very easy to pilot so as long as you're getting lands, dropping creatures, and burning through the deck, you're good to go. So, if you're against mid-range decks you're golden. Don't worry too much about what's going on around you unless you start seeing a player build a graveyard hate suite. That's your target the moment it happens. If you're facing other horde players then keep your zombies to chump block mode. If you're against a control player, keep your zombies in attack mode. Basically, cast anything you can cast and attack as necessary.

Mid Game:
By now, you should start having the mindset of setting up the mother of all hordes (and pumped, too). You have methods of recursion as well to make use of the graveyard and alternate wincons (like Gempalm Polluter, Lich Lord of Unx, Vengeful Dead, etc.) should be assessed whether they're readily available to quickly steal the win or required in cases where you can't win with attacking. If you have various ways of recurring, you should take advantage of Gempalm Polluter once you get it. Eternal Witness it back into your hand, use Lord of the Undead to get it back into your hand. If you have Volrath's Stronghold, activate its ability in response to Gempalm Polluter's ability so that the card you draw from cycling it will be itself - pretty awesome, if I may say so. This alone may get you the win before late game - or at least take out a dangerous player first. The zombie lords and other creature pumpers should've been making your horde pretty menacing as well as token doublers and any combos you could've completed by now. At this stage in the game if you've already assembled the Corpse Harvester + Rooftop Storm engine or the Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar then victory is literally just around the corner.

Late Game:
You should already have some wincon in sight, whether alpha strike, mega mill, or epic life loss. When playing against decks without a lot of board wipes or massive bounce, you should be able to win with alpha strike well before the late game. However, with decks that are stalling, you should try to amass the mother of all hordes and go for a mega mill or epic life loss win since pillow fort, stasis type locks, or other attack inhibition can really hinder your main wincon. These alternate wincons are very viable to complete with all the self-milling and recursion. By late game you should already have most - if not all - of the pieces in play already for any of your decided wins (which have been discussed in great detail in previous sections). Remember that a lot of EDH decks exist which inhibit players from attacking or keeping too many creatures. By now, those players should've been dealt with. If not, remember that the zombie horde doesn't exist for simply attacking - alpha strike is not the only win con. Those players can be eliminated with Altar of Dementia, Lich Lord of Unx, Gempalm Polluter, Diregraf Captain, Vengeful Dead, etc.

End Game:
This deck is not so casual but still has the components to win most of the time (in a less than competitive meta, of course). It hits hard and fast yet still has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. Again, regardless of your meta, the overall strategy is still the same: ELIMINATE THE GRAVEYARD HATE PLAYER. Anything else can be dealt with accordingly. Alpha strike with a massive horde is usually the way to win, but there are other wincons as well such as massive life drain and massive mill. So you can choose if you have more than one route or if one wincon is in the cards, try and go for that one. Finding what to do amongst the chaos is half the fun!