Darth Vader, Sith Lord of $40 Budget

Commander / EDH* Aristocrats BR (Rakdos) Budget Voltron

Jaathik

Worthless Pawns (19)

• 1x Abyssal Persecutor
• 1x Archfiend of the Dross
• 1x Bloodvial Purveyor
• 1x Cosmic Larva
• 1x Deep-Slumber Titan
• 1x Desecration Demon
• 1x Egon, God of Death  ^Flip
• 1x Goblin Goon
• 1x Grinning Demon
• 1x Moltensteel Dragon
• 1x Phyrexian Soulgorger
• 1x Relic Golem
• 1x Rotting Regisaur
• 1x Runaway Carriage
• 1x Scourge of Numai
• 1x Shah of Naar Isle
• 1x The Beast, Deathless Prince
• 1x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
• 1x Waning Wurm

Deflection Plating (8)

• 1x Blessing of Leeches
• 1x Champion's Helm
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Mask of Avacyn
• 1x Mirror Shield
• 1x Skeletal Grimace
• 1x Soul Channeling
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Galactic Realms (36)

• 18x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 18x Snow-Covered Swamp

Advanced Lightsaber Combat (10)

• 1x Assault Strobe
• 1x Blood Mist
• 1x Chaos Terminator Lord
• 1x Inquisitor's Flail
• 1x Lizard Blades
• 1x Phyresis
• 1x Psychotic Fury
• 1x Spectacular Showdown
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Two-Handed Axe

Cybernetics (10)

• 1x Cliffhaven Kitesail
• 1x Cobbled Wings
• 1x Dragon Shadow
• 1x Neurok Hoversail
• 1x Prowler's Helm
• 1x Rime Transfusion
• 1x Trailblazer's Boots
• 1x Vorrac Battlehorns
• 1x Wings of Hubris
• 1x Zephyr Boots

Relics of Power (8)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Thought Vessel

Commander (1)

Force Choke (9)

• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Invasion of Fiora  ^Flip
• 1x Mandate of Abaddon
• 1x One Ring to Rule Them All
• 1x Phyrexian Scriptures
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Wild Magic Surge

Force Vitality (7)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Eternal Thirst
• 1x Orcish Medicine
• 1x Return to Action
• 1x Rush of Vitality
• 1x Unexpected Fangs
• 1x Vampiric Link

---

Maybeboard

Pawns (5)

• 1x Deepwood Ghoul
• 1x Mischievous Poltergeist
• 1x Phyrexian Processor
• 1x Raving Oni-Slave
• 1x Serpent Warrior

Double strike (4)

• 1x Critical Hit
• 1x Raking Claws
• 1x Twinferno
• 1x Unleash Fury

Ramp (2)

• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Stonespeaker Crystal

Unblockable (2)

• 1x Fear
• 1x Gilded Pinions

---

"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural." -Sheev Palpatine

Dark Lord Vader is a cheap, powerful voltron commander that fuels his own gameplay. The deck is very straightforward: Sac creatures and beat in for damage.

Worthless Pawns

These are the primary creatures that'll be sacrificed to the dark lord. The cheapest, beefiest creatures in Rakdos colos; this is every creature with both high power and toughness under 5 mana, and going into 3 mana doesn't usually give us enough toughness to get Dark Lord Vader to 11 power (so that with double-strike we can get a one-hit kill). It doesn't matter if these creatures don't last long, because these creatures have no purpose other than to be sacrificed to Darth Vader, Sith Lord. We can dig incredibly quickly through our deck by drawing ~7 cards a turn.

Assisting In Victory

Cybernetics (evasion) and Advanced Lightsaber Combat (double-strike) let us secure victory by allowing us an easy attack and so we only need to hit an opponent once to deal lethal commander damage. I've included some lifelink cards to offset the large amounts of life we'll pay, as well as some protection cards because this deck can't win without Darth Vader, Sith Lord.

Basic Gameplan

The first few turns of the game involve playing Relics of Power (ramp cards) so we can get Darth Vader, Sith Lord out on turn 4, and then either play a Worthless Pawn on turn 3 or 5, sacrifice it, and hopefully draw into an Advanced Lightsaber Combat. If we need to get around a wall of creatures, then we have Evasion, and lifelink cards stabilize our life total so we don't get taken out too early.

Exclusions

• Lower toughness, lower CMC creatures: 3-mana and lower cards like Blistering Barrier aren't included in this list because they aren't efficient enough. The lower mana cost doesn't justify not being able to pump our commander to 11 power with just 1 creature, since we can only sacrifice 1 creature per turn.
• Recursion: Like many aristocrats builds, Greven, Predator Captain decks tend to include recursion effects. I don't think we need them in order for our deck to work properly. Rather than rely on creatures in our graveyard, I'd rather just draw into them and cast them from hand; it's much more efficient since we can easily draw ~7 cards at will.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 22 - 0 Commons
Cards	108
Avg. CMC	2.74
Tokens	Blood, Morph 2/2 C, On an Adventure, Orc Army, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You
Folders	Real decks