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A wild Iskhanah, Grafwidow appears!

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Ramp

Kroxloq


Maybeboard


You're about to be eaten by Ishkanah and her brood! Now that there is a spider tribe EDH general, I couldn't resist the temptation so here she is!

General strategy revolves around getting as many spiders as possible onto the battlefield and then striking directly at player life totals through Ishkanah, Grafwidow 's activated ability. Throw in a healthy dose of team pump up effects to take advantage of having a spider army and hopefully one of those conditions will win the game.

I included plenty of spider cards to play defense, get spider count up, and be ready to chump block if needed. Silklash Spider , Stingerfling Spider , Acid Web Spider are some of the more useful ones I believe. Spiders are an under-represented tribe in my opinion, so choosing which spiders stay and which were cut was difficult. Speaking to Ishkanah's ability, I don't necessarily need good spiders, just quantity of spiders, so I have added a bunch of the lower CMC ones instead of some of their beefier cousins. This helps us get spider count up and save mana for activating Ishkanah.

But getting spiders out on the battlefield is not enough for this deck, as we must worry about Ishkanah's Delirium requirement to get this deck to function. Filling up the graveyard in Green/Black is not hard fortunately. Nyx Weaver helps here and is a spider to boot. Ever reliable Life from the Loam , Stinkweed Imp and other effects help fill the yard. Crop Rotation is amazing, getting 2 types into the graveyard instantly and getting whatever land I need, usually Swarmyard or Gaea's Cradle . Vessel of Nascency , Sakura-Tribe Elder and Renowned Weaver help get creatures/enchantments into the yard. Tree of Tales and Vault of Whispers are delirium enablers as well, helping me with the "artifact" category.

Speaking of getting more spiders, Panharmonicon , Parallel Lives and of course Doubling Season all help throw down with spiders left and right. Second Harvest some tokens out at an end step for pseudo-haste or just to tick up damage on Ishkanah's activated ability.

To further abuse ETB effects I included Conjurer's Closet and Erratic Portal to cast Iskhanah from my hand, or bounce a threat from an opponent if they are tapped out. The Erratic Portal can save important creatures (like Seedborn Muse ) or get more value from Eternal Witness .

I chose artifacts with some way to either die or sac to help with that category, which is why I went with Expedition Map and Golgari Cluestone over a more permanent Darksteel Ingot . It's important to make sure we're consistently hitting the 4 categories in the graveyard to trigger Delirium, these artifacts send themselves to the grave with some benefit.

Paying for spider venom is costly. To drain our victims we must hit big mana reliably. Caged Sun , Zendikar Resurgent and obviously Gaea's Cradle help us get multiple Iskhanah activations per turn. If the engine is running and Seedborn Muse is in play, the venom will start to take its toll. Rings of Brighthearth further enhances the mana efficiency of spider bites.

Overall, probably not the most competitive deck, but certainly fun and very themed. Spider dream FTW!

Thought for the day: Throw a board wipe or two into this deck? Added some potentials to the maybe board

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Date added 8 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

5 - 0 Mythic Rares

35 - 0 Rares

14 - 0 Uncommons

31 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.69
Tokens Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Enchantment Spider 1/3 G Token, Spider 1/2 G, Spider 2/4 B
Folders stuff for commander maybe
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