In the Dark Depths of the Tangle

Commander / EDH Artifact BG (Golgari) Combo Infect

Edgewalker007

Creature (24)

• 1x Alloy Myr
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Chevill, Bane of Monsters
• 1x Copper Myr
• 1x Deathcap Cultivator
• 1x Ezuri's Brigade
• 1x Foundry Inspector
• 1x Grim Flayer
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Leaden Myr
• 1x Memnite
• 1x Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Oakhame Adversary
• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Plague Myr
• 1x Reaper of the Wilds
• 1x Savvy Hunter
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine *f-pre*

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Life's Finale
• 1x Painful Lesson
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes

Planeswalker (5)

• 1x Garruk, Apex Predator
• 1x Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
• 1x Garruk Relentless  ^Flip
• 1x Nissa of Shadowed Boughs
• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen

Artifact (22)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Chromatic Star
• 1x Dark Sphere
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1x Lantern of Insight
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Body and Mind
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Unwinding Clock
• 1x Venser's Journal
• 1x Viridian Longbow
• 1x Welding Jar
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Deathreap Ritual
• 1x Glistening Oil
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyresis
• 1x Phyrexian Scriptures
• 1x Revel in Riches

Commander (1)

Land (31)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 7x Forest
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Spire of Industry
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Tree of Tales
• 1x Vault of Whispers
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Instant (1)

• 1x Deathsprout

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Glissa, the Traitor

The Deck, or, why run Glissa?

The / (Golgari) colour combination is typically known for graveyard shenanigans and big mana dumps. Commanders like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord or Mazirek, Kraul Deathpriest tend to stack your graveyard through sacrifice outlets while giving you added value, and they can quickly grow degenerate if not stopped early on. Heck, run Karador, Ghost Chieftain for even more busted graveyard synergies AND access to white. So, with picks like these on the table, why decide to run Glissa, the corrupted elf?

Simple: she lets us take reanimation strategies in a different direction, by caring about artifacts rather than creatures. Why is this so relevant? Because there are troves of incredible and cheap utility artifacts lying around for a chance to be used and abused, and because and artifact-based threat is generally much harder to deal with than a creature-based one. Plus, Glissa-centric value engines are very, very easy to assemble and bring online.

The Glissa Engine

Glissa, the Traitor is both a flavourful and mechanically interesting card. Flavourful because according to the game's lore, she was once a hero of the elves of Mirrodin who was then twisted and corrupted by the taint of Phyrexia and now leads the armies of Vorinclex as they trample through the metal vegetation of the Tangle, a story which is reflected in the card's mechanics. These mechanics then work together and combine to produce a deceptively simple but very powerful commander. Glissa's cost of might seem colour-intensive at first glance, but it's actually quite easy to fix using early mana rocks like Golgari Signet, Copper Myr, Leaden Myr, or Lotus Petal. Then, she's a 3/3 body with First Strike and Deathtouch, making her an ideal blocker and a threatening attacker at baseline. Where things start to really get interesting though is with the remainder of her ability: her capacity to return artifacts from the graveyard every time an opponent's creature dies. In and of itself any graveyard recursion ability is powerful and enables strong plays, but Glissa has the advantage of having built-in creature removal with Deathtouch, meaning she can act as her own single-card engine, through regular combat. Buuuuuuuuut... where's the fun in that? :P

The goal then is to maximize the potential of Glissa's Deathtouch, in order to clear opponents' boards of creatures and recurring all our artifact goodies. Viridian Bow and Thornbite Staff are the primary ways to achieve this, as they turn Glissa into a lethal pinger. Other cards like Attrition and No Mercy also help ensure no opponents' creatures stick around for long, and the permanent/creature destruction abilities of Planeswalkers like Vraska, Golgari Queen or Garruk, Cursed Huntsman serve in a pinch too. The more creatures hit the 'yard, the better the deck runs.

Important note, Glissa's recursion ability "sees" the creature hitting the graveyard and the artifact to recur simultaneously, meaning that setting off a board wipe (like Oblivion Stone) will still let you recur artifacts sent to your graveyard as a result of said board wipe (and even if Glissa herself died as a result too), because all the permanents leave the field and hit the graveyard at the same time, and are thus in the graveyard when Glissa's triggered ability resolves. Talk about value!

And speaking of value...

Next Stop: Value Town

The core of an efficient Glossa-engine strategy revolves around the bevy of value artifacts we can keep bringing back. Lotus Petal, Chromatic Star, and Solemn Simulacrum become repeatable ramp, with the star and Sad Robot cantripping every time they hit the graveyard. Dark Sphere can help dampen some blows, Welding Jar can protect some artifact creatures we may not want to see gone (like Steel Hellkite), and Lantern of Insight can disrupt opponents' plays. Memnite and Ornithopter are free sac fodder, while Wurmcoil Engine and Hangarback Walker can generate an army of metallic wurms or thopters over several turns.

Then, Grim Flayer and Final Parting help us set up our graveyard for optimal recursion, Chevill, Bane of Monsters gives us a little bonus for taking out specific creatures, and Savvy Hunter generates Food Tokens for coincidental lifegain in a pinch and card advantage. Finally, Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Sheoldred, Whispering One provide reanimation redundancy for some key creatures, and complement the Phyrexian flavour of this deck.

All Good Things Come to an End...

So, the deck generates great value through an easily put-together engine, but... how does it win?

Several avenues are available:

1. Revel in Riches: since Glissa's ability triggers when an opponent's creature dies, this is a phenomenal win-condition for this deck, since it can also ramp us if we need the mana and can win through other means.
2. Infect: it wouldn't be Phyrexia without Infect! With only 3 power, finishing off opponents with Commander Damage would take a while, and Glissa is more useful as a pinger anyway, so Grafted Exoskeleton, Phyresis and Glistening Oil can all turn a beatstick like Wurmcoil Engine into a two-hit player-remover. And if that fails? Triumph of the Hordes + a swarm of tokens does the trick.
3. Vraska, Golgari Queen: it's a long shot, but her Ult is _technically_ a player-killer, so... *shrugs*

Some Future Possibilities

I've had this deck for several years now, but I feel like it's in constant evolution. Going forward, I might wish to include Nissa of Shadowed Boughs for a new way to cheat bigger artifact creatures onto the board, and perhaps even a Blightsteel Colossus, for another big Infect win.

I do welcome suggestions and comments on this deck, as long as they are constructive. :)

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.10
Tokens	Beast 3/3 B, Emblem Garruk, Apex Predator, Emblem Garruk, Cursed Huntsman, Emblem Vraska, Golgari Queen, Experience Token, Food, Human 2/2 G, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure, Wolf 1/1 B, Wolf 2/2 BG, Wolf 2/2 G, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink