Alchemist Ludevic, Butcher of Innistrad
Standard Control Counterspell Midrange Transform UB (Dimir) Wizards
Creature (22)
Instant (14)
Sideboard
Enchantment (7)
Instant (4)
Sorcery (4)
Maybeboard
Sorcery (1)
I’m very excited to revisit Innistrad; the original block is perhaps my favorite in the game. Pouring over the card list for the set, I found myself drawn to the winner of the Gene Hackman look-alike contest, one Ludevic, Necrogenius . I resolved to build around him, and here’s what I came up with.
I had a lot of fun constructing this deck and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If it does tickle you in those special places, you might like a deck with a similar theme I built entitled Geralf’s Walk-In Clinic
Standard is in a pretty good place right now as far as one’s options for mana are concerned. We aren’t quite in a Renaissance of dual lands, but we’re not in the Dark Ages of ’you get basics and taplands, that’s it.’ either. We have a few different tricks to ensure we have whichever color we need on hand, at the ready.
•Clearwater Pathway and its inverse Murkwater Pathway are adept at getting us what we need on the turn we need it.
•The new Shipwreck Marsh has a conditional ETB that is reasonably simple to fulfill, so we’ll more often than not see this function just like an OG Underground Sea.
•Basic swamps and islands round out our mana base. We lean a bit heavier toward , particularly since we have more one drops in that color.
•Duress is cheap, effective and apparently eternal. Better to pay a single black mana to banish a threat before it ever materializes than pay two or three times as much just to counter it. Duress is one of those evergreen spells, only...in . Everblack?
•Our next line of defense is Negate. What slips through the cracks of Duress, Negate manages to catch. There is the more expensive but more versatile You Find the Villains' Lair, but I opted for Negate due to the lower cmc. It’s more useful to us to be able to cast Negate and a one drop than to be able to counter a greater variety of spells with the 3-drop.
•Lastly we have some fantastic removal in the form of the new Infernal Grasp. That which we cannot block or ignore is simply destroyed.
The second method to fill Ludevic’s larders is simply to cast cheap creatures and see them interred owing to combat damage.
•Eyetwitch is incredibly useful. It’s a low costed body that will invariably end up in the graveyard, and will let us draw a fresh card in exchange for dumping a creature from our hand. Win-win-win.
•Remember this guy ? He’s back! We run 18 Instants and Sorceries, so flipping him shouldn’t be an issue. Even if he doesn’t flip, we really just want him to end up in the graveyard anyway, so no big deal.
•Malevolent Hermit offers exceptional utility with its built in Mana Leak. The best part is even if the opponent manages to pay the to force their spell through, our hermit still goes to the graveyard, ready and waiting to be exiled by Ludevic .
•Grim Wanderer is a no brainer. A flashed in 5/3 for just two mana is a fearsome proposition; even if we don’t get an opportunity to cast it, we can always filter it into our graveyard through various means as fuel for the Mad Scientist’s experiments.
•Keep an eye out for Suspicious Stowaway —it’s a key card. We don’t care about the Daybound/Nightbound mechanic; we want him for his ability to push damage through unabated and for his draw power. Prioritize getting this vagabond into the graveyard at all costs.
It’s from the corpses of these creatures that Ludevic will conduct his blasphemous experiments, stitching together bits and pieces into one unholy union.
For only we get a 2/3 with an ETB trigger and an Attack trigger.
We also have an Activated ability, the cost of which is the only real downside to this card. (the is irrelevant for now) means we can’t transform Ludevic until Turn 4 at the absolute earliest; realistically though it’ll be Turn 5 that sees us flip him, as we want to have a fully loaded graveyard beforehand in order to maximize his potential.
When the time finally arrives, we can pay this cost (at sorcery speed only, ugh) and then exile creature cards from our graveyard as part of that transformation cost.
Once flipped, Ludevic becomes Olag, Ludevic's Hubris and gets a bump up to 4/4. It gets better; of the creatures we chose to exile with him, we may have Olag inherit all the relevant details of one in particular—activated abilities, static abilities, ETB triggers, etc.
We’re not done yet, though. In addition, we get to stack a number of +1/+1 counters on Olag, Ludevic's Hubris equal to the number of creature cards we exiled with him. Now all those seemingly unsynergistic one drops make sense. We want as many creature cards in our graveyard as possible, alongside a carefully curated specimen with particular value. Olag will inherit the strategic value of that one specific creature, while reaping strength off the rest.
Pro Tip Show
This begs the question, ’Which creature’s vital statistics will we want Olag to inherit?’
I’ve selected Suspicious Stowaway as the prime target. A base 4/4 with the potential of becoming a 10/10 (if we can exile enough creature cards at the time of transformation) is quite a potent threat in Standard, so the ability to push that damage through unhindered is too good to pass up.
Additionally, Olag will now function as a draw engine owing to the middle portion of Suspicious Stowaway’s text. It’s always nice to draw into another counter or removal spell, further increasing the likelihood of Olag, Ludevic's Hubris sticking around to close out the game.
•Aim to populate the graveyard with as many creatures as possible. Cast cheap one- and two drops, then have them block incoming battle damage—killing them off in the process. Abuse Consider and Otherworldly Gaze to dump things in the graveyard as well.
•Cast Ludevic, Necrogenius Turn 3 or 4, then flip him when our graveyard is bursting at the seams. Attack with a 4/4+ unblockable freak for the win.
Ludevic, Necrogenius with one of his earliest experimental successes, circa 1993
•Locked in the Cemetery is strongest just prior to flipping Ludevic . Cast it when the graveyard is full, and the enchanted creature will remain out of commission even after we transform him.
•You Find the Villains' Lair is Standard’s Counterspell, marked up an additional . It could potentially speed things up too; imagine drawing into a needed Ludevic and being able to dump Suspicious Stowaway from your hand.
•The Meathook Massacre is deliciously effective as a boardwipe, perfect for the scenario wherein we have a table full of our own chump blockers and Ludevic, Necrogenius in our hand waiting to be played. Smite everything, sending our own bodies to the graveyard, then play Ludevic. The following turn, his transformation will be great indeed.
”...who will transform our humble body to be like his glorious body by his great power that enables him to subject all things to himself.”
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Casual
92% Competitive
Revision 1 See all
(3 years ago)
| -3 | Brinebarrow Intruder | main |
| +1 | Environmental Sciences | maybe |
| +2 | Eyetwitch | main |
| -1 | Grim Wanderer | main |
| -1 | Infernal Grasp | side |
| -1 | Jwari Disruption Flip | side |
| +3 | The Meathook Massacre | side |
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 3 years |
| Last updated | 3 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Standard legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 0 - 3 Mythic Rares 20 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 12 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 1.52 |
| Tokens | Day, Night |
| Folders | starndard, Standard, Standard, standard decks to makr, Standard, Potential Builds |
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