Hi, everyone! It is a pleasure to be writing our first Commander deck guide. We discussed with our team what other type of content we will write here on playingmtg, and doing something about the biggest Magic: The Gathering format is something that can't be out of the scene.
First, we must clarify that playingmtg is a site for every Magic: The Gathering format. We had been tackling Standard on a regular weekly basis, and even if that format can be played on MTG Arena, Magic: The Gathering Online, and paper Magic, talking about non-Arena formats like Commander, or Modern, has to be in our schedule.
Endless Punishment
Choosing our first legendary creature for this section was easy. The newer sets have many interesting and exciting creatures with high potential for being our new favorite EDH deck. However, the most expected pre-con deck from Duskmourn was Endless Punishment. And it is not hard to tell why.
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls is powerful. Commanders with integrated draw engines are many steps above other options. In a full turn-cycle, Valgavoth can gain three +1/+1 counters and make you draw three cards. Ending with a 7/7 flying creature with a ward and a +3 on hand is something your table will surely not let pass that easily.
And that's something you have to understand to play this deck. Playing Valgavoth means you're a Group Slug deck. Group Slug decks are about doing damage to every player in equal amounts. These decks cause everyone to lose life, discard cards, etc. This will put a bullseye on your forehead and you have to embrace that to have fun with Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
Notable Reprints
If you like this kind of article, we have a multitude of Legendary creatures to continue this column. Nevertheless, many don't have a pre-con deck, and some sections and formatting can change.
When we buy a pre-con deck, the best way to understand our game plan is by looking at notable reprints. Besides knowing what is giving us value, these cards tend to be extremely synergistic with the theme of the archetype and help us find the best route for upgrading the deck finding similar effects.
Let's review every card that gives this pre-con value and gives us a direction for upgrades.
Artifacts
"The Boots" is a staple in every commander deck. Valgavoth is so important to us that finding a few extra ways to protect it is a good idea.
Creatures
This creature is proof that every card can be revalued over time. If you check Conflux's copy price, this reprint is something this deck highly appreciates.
With Valgavoth on the field, for one Black mana, this horror would trigger at least once during each opponent's turn. Imagine what happens when Rhystic Study is on the field.
Finding more ways of pinging every opponent during their turns is mandatory for upgrading this deck.
Mogis is known as one of the best commanders for a Group Slug deck. If Mogis is an enchantment it would be harder to remove than a creature, so finding more enchantments that deal damage to everyone at the table would be key.
Also, having the ability to transform Mogis into a creature during our main phase can hit very hard. Ways to close the door as soon as possible are also great for this deck.
This creature was only printed in Born of the Gods a 2014 set, and a Secret Lair, making this reprint highly valuable. Also, even if Vial Smasher, the Fierce would not trigger Valgavoth 100% of the time, it's something we are thankful WotC reprinted in Endless Punishment.
A dinosaur so powerful that it was banned during its Standard period. Ixalan copies are around $5, something logical as a Pioneer staple for Mono-Red decks.
Finding ways to stop our opponents from gaining life is crucial to put the balance in our favor. If we ping everyone while we are the only player on the table capable of hitting with Lifelink, sooner or later, everyone will be struggling except for us.
This creature also pings our opponents when they play a creature, continuing with the Grup Slug theme.
Lands
Regular copies of this card are around $8-$9, and filtering our mana is a great way to play what we need when we need it.
Finding more lands that come into play untapped will be great for optimal turns.
This land was originally printed for Witherbloom Witchcraft, a pre-con deck with c21-333-willowdusk-essence-seer as the front commander.
As a Group Slug archetype, we are also dealing damage to ourselves. Having some Lifelink effects helps us stabilize our life total which takes us out of the danger zone. Hitting with Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls for 5-7+ and gaining 5+ life can be the difference between winning your table or ending in fourth place.
Pre-con Deck
Total main deck mana value: 217 Recommended number is between 100-180
Ramp cards: 12 Recommended number is between 12-23
- Arcane Signet
- Barbflare Gremlin
- Fellwar Stone
- Mind Stone
- Rakdos Signet
- Rakdos, Lord of Riots
- Sol Ring
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Séance Board
- Talisman of Indulgence
- Theater of Horrors
- Thought Vessel
Cards that draw: 18 Recommended number is between 12-20
- Ash Barrens
- Blood Pact
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare
- Canyon Slough
- Combustible Gearhulk
- Decree of Pain
- Florian, Voldaren Scion
- Grab the Prize
- Light Up the Stage
- dsc-145-mask-of-griselbrand
- Mind Stone
- Morbid Opportunist
- Sign in Blood
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Spiteful Visions
- Star Athlete
- Stormfist Crusader
- Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
Tutors: 2 Recommended number is between 5-10
- Evolving Wilds
- Terramorphic Expanse
Cards with combo potential: 7 Recommended number is between 5-15
- Bastion of Remembrance
- Blood Artist
- Brash Taunter
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Lightning Greaves
- Sol Ring
- Syr Konrad, the Grim
Removal cards: 11 Recommended number is between 5-15, including spot and mass removal
- Bedevil
- Blasphemous Act
- Chaos Warp
- Decree of Pain
- Feed the Swarm
- Infernal Grasp
- Kaervek the Merciless
- Mayhem Devil
- Rakdos Charm
- Star Athlete
- Suspended Sentence
Upgrades
After reviewing notable reprints and the cards breakdown we have some clear points for what direction our upgrades have to take:
- We need more ways of protecting Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
- More ways of pinging our opponents during THEIR turns would be great. Enchantments are preferred due to their hard-to-remove nature.
- Having extra cards that prevent our opponents from gaining life would make the pings more relevant and stop any attempts to recover from attrition.
- With more ways of gaining life, we could make everyone enter the danger zone without worrying about being there with them.
- 12 ramp cards are good, but we could upgrade 1 or 2 that are not instant ramp sources.
- Some of our cards draw spells just cycle cards. A consistent draw engine would be great.
- Finding what we need when we need it it's a centerpiece of the format. A pair of good tutors would make the deck more consistent.
- One way of closing the door instantly with an infinite combo or a ton of damage to all players kind of spell would help a lot when we already had the bullseye on our forehead. This is not a turn 3 or 4 kill, this isn't a cEDH guide. :b
- Some of our removal cards are not hard removals. Trigger damage removal doesn't answer threats directly. We could upgrade that.
- 2 or 3 untapped lands that produce Rakdos.
Let's keep these upgrades under $150 and below 30 cards.
Protection
Another pair of boots helps us protect Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, and is easy to find at your local game store.
This kind of Instant spell also lets us protect our commander from removal spells or abilities that target it + they also let us change the target of a counterspell, or any other relevant spell protecting our gameplan. Timely Malfunction flexibility can be extremely relevant in clutch situations.
Ping Creatures
Both creatures can help us lower our curve replacing some high costed creatures that don't fit the theme. Razorkin Needlehead gives us redundancy, while Zo-Zu, the Punisher stops hard ramp decks from going crazy while dealing damage while our opponents play lands.
Ping Enchantments
Five cards that deal damage to our opponents during their turns. All of them are enchantments, which makes them harder to remove and have different upsides.
Bloodchief Ascension needs three quest counters to be turned on, however, after that, any single opponent's card that touches a graveyard means damage. It also helps us gain some life and reduce the attrition from our other ping sources.
Sulfuric Vortex help us with the no-life gain situation. Manabarbs and Citadel of Pain put everyone in a tough situation; untapped lands mean damage, tapped lands mean damage, you decide.
Finally, Roiling Vortex put a question mark to any free spell our opponents want to cast while letting us stop life gain for a Red Mana.
Other Pings
Chandra's +2 ability gives an emblem that pings to each opponent. This puts an unavoidable clock on the game because there's no way to interact with emblems. Ankh of Mishra is a second Zo-Zu, The Punisher
Lifegain
Having a permanent way of gaining life whenever our creatures connect is wonderful because it doesn't require us to equip our creatures, or invest more mana over time. Also, reanimate our creatures could re-trigger amazing abilities like Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Ramp
The Reaver Cleaver is a fantastic piece of equipment that only needs one hit to let us cast the top of our curve many turns earlier.
For general purposes cards that discount other cards are also considered ramps in Commander. Both medallions come into play fast and help us cast almost every other spell in our deck.
Draw
Phyrexian Arena is a simple way to keep the card advantage against other colors.
Emberwilde Captain makes us the monarch. This translates to at least one card draw at the beginning of our end step, even if something kills this Djinn.
I'm adding one Wheel a card that makes a player discard their hand and draw seven cards to point a direction this deck could aim. With many effects that deal 1 or more damage whenever our opponents draw cards, making them draw seven cards at once could mean the end of the game.
Tutors
Both tutors can find our next combo that instantly finishes the game. Final Parting has the peculiarity of enabling the combo if we have Whip of Erebos on the field.
Combo
If you need to close the door, this combo finishes any game on the spot.
You only need to cast Molten Duplication or Twinflame targeting any creature during your main phase. Maintain priority and cast Dualcaster Mage.
After that, you only need to target Molten Duplication or Twinflame with Dualcaster Mage ETB. This copy the spell and you may target Dualcaster Mage again. Repeating the process will generate an infinite number of Haste attackers.
Removal
Two clean removals and one of them also let us destroy any enchantment when needed.
Lands
If I had to add one single untapped land to this deck, Luxury Suite would be my first choice. Then, to maximize our untapped lands we add Mount Doom a second Rakdos pain land that can trigger Valgavoth and function as a board wipe if we have Whip of Erebos on the field.
Takeouts
- Séance Board
- Mask of Griselbrand
- Mind Stone
- Thought Vessel
- Vial Smasher the Fierce
- Tectonic Giant
- Stormfist Crusader
- Star Athlete
- Mayhem Devil
- Kaervek the Merciless
- Florian, Voldaren Scion
- Fear of Burning Alive
- Brash Taunter
- Blood Artist
- Blood Seeker
- Falkenrath Noble
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare
- Massacre Girl
- Rakdos Charm
- Grab the Prize
- Sadistic Shell Game
- Light Up the Stage
- Spiked Corridor
- Enchanter's Bane
- Bastion of Remembrance
- Terramorphic Expanse
- Evolving Wilds
Upgraded Decklist
End Step
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed working on it. I leave many amazing updates like Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might, and Solphim, Mayhem Dominus because I do my best to make this an approachable pre-con upgrade.
With this, I'm not talking only about prices but also the number of cards. I tried hard to keep this under 25 cards, but the more I worked with Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls guide, the more I wanted to keep tunning the list.
If you like this article, we could return to Valgavoth after a few other Legendary creatures to work on a fully upgraded non-pre-con Valgavoth deck from scratch and tune these upgrades more.
Until then, if you have any comments about this or any other topic, let us know in this article comment section, or on my Twitter.
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