The Lich: Prime

Commander / EDH

CommanderFun

Creature (15)

• 1x Academy Rector
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Death's Shadow
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Fountain Watch
• 1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
• 1x Mangara of Corondor
• 1x Peacekeeper
• 1x Platinum Angel
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x Resolute Archangel
• 1x Skirge Familiar
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Veil

Land (37)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Flagstones of Trokair
• 1x Gemstone Mine
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 8x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Strip Mine
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Wasteland

Enchantment (16)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Delaying Shield
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Greater Auramancy
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Lich
• 1x Pariah
• 1x Peace of Mind
• 1x Penance
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Transcendence
• 1x Words of Worship

Artifact (8)

• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Ivory Tower
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Spellbook
• 1x Zuran Orb

Instant (8)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Faith's Shield
• 1x Oblation
• 1x Orzhov Charm
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Bitter Ordeal
• 1x Catastrophe
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Death Cloud
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x False Dawn
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Replenish
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Vindicate
• 1x Wrath of God

Commander (1)

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Sideboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Myojin of Night's Reach

Instant (3)

• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Second Sunrise

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Repay in Kind
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament

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Maybeboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Avatar of Hope
• 1x Devoted Caretaker
• 1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1x Grinning Demon
• 1x Obzedat, Ghost Council
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Purity
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Stuffy Doll
• 1x Thraben Doomsayer

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Celestial Dawn
• 1x Forsaken Wastes
• 1x Hoofprints of the Stag
• 1x Indestructibility
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Soul Echo

Artifact (6)

• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Empyrial Plate
• 1x Library of Leng
• 1x Mycosynth Lattice
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Tel-Jilad Stylus

Instant (2)

• 1x Erase
• 1x Reckless Spite

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Ashes to Ashes
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Planar Birth

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"Lich! You... You messed Billy up! You just wanna mess me all up! Mess everyone up!" - Finn ( from the show "Adventure Time" in epsiode "The Lich")

Don't be fooled by the commander; This is a Lich EDH deck. Essentially the idea is to become immortal by setting up ways to work around Lich's negative effect of sacrificing permanents and force opponents to try and remove it on its own... if they can ;). Because you're also giving Lich shroud, Indestructibility, or bringing it right back after they think its gone for certain! Once that's done, Lich turns your life total into your instrument to gain insane draw advantage ( Healing Salve becomes an Ancestral Recall for example). Its not uncommon for you to have your whole library in your hand with this deck. You also get to ignore supposed "disadvantages" of cards that cause you to lose life. Here's a nice lichy-list for you so you can see what kind of crazy shenanigans you can get into with this card:

• Lich + Ad Nauseam (put your deck in your hand... and then watch your opponents cower in Death's Shadow)
• Lich + Delaying Shield (invulnerability)
• Lich + Solitary Confinement (also invulnerability... but you would need a life engine to draw cards... see below!)
• Lich + Words of Worship / Ivory Tower / Peace of Mind (lots of draw)
• Lich + Children of Korlis (draw equal to your life total the turn you play Lich... considering Tainted Sigil as well)
• Lich + Resolute Archangel (same as above but can do it at any time)
• Lich + Pariah + Some creature (Several options here that can keep you from taking any damage almost indefinately or at least until you make it harder to kill Lich . My favorite is to use your opponents' creatures though.)

Survival: (in case something goes wrong with your invulnerability mentioned above)

• Platinum Angel and Transcendence (If Lich goes down, these will keep you alive while having below 0 health (Transcendence also turns your loss of life into draw)
• Fountain Watch / Greater Auramancy (shroud for Lich... nuff said)
• Avacyn, Angel of Hope (again... nuff said)
• Mangara of Corondor, Oblation (and maybe Tel-Jilad Stylus ?) - Great removal but also can save you from losing if someone targets your Lich by keeping it from going to the graveyard.

Offensive:

• Lich + Death's Shadow (He's already a 13/13 for 1, but then he gets stronger the more you lose life from other cards! The best target for Orzhov Charm 's 3rd ability... I've had this guy at 200/200 before)
• Psychosis Crawler + draw engines or attack after having large hand size (same goes for Kagemaro, First to Suffer )
• Death Cloud + Skirge Familiar + draw engine (a surprise alternate win con.)
• Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - He's there to keep your library from drawing out, but you can always just play him...

Other Important Mentions:

• Dimir House Guard + Volrath's Stronghold (one of my favorite ways to tutor)
• Crucible of Worlds - If you start sacrificing permanents, then this helps you get those permanents back. It also combos well with Zuran Orb for draw, Armageddon and Catastrophe to stall the game, easier to recover from Rain of Filth , and fetch lands and sac lands such as Flagstones of Trokair, Lake of the Dead, Strip Mine, and Wasteland.
• Penance - this card is very underrated and is very important to the deck. What you really want is the cost. Essentially you pick any black permanent on the board (whether it can deal damage to you or not) and you can legally pay the cost which is putting cards back on top of your library. This is the greatest assurance that you will not draw yourself out and also helps you negotiate your hand-size problems or even accidentally drawing yourself out (sometimes, a new Lich will explode in the excitement of his newfound power. "phenominal cosmic powers, itty bitty living space" - Aladdin). (it also is great for setting up miracle cards, though I don't use any).
• Skirge Familiar - Proven to be the best possible mana engine in the deck. It opens up so much for you to be able to make the turn you play Lich as potent as possible. One example: you discard Avacyn, Angel of Hope, then use the B you got to Reanimate her and secure your immortality. then discard a couple lands to play Crucible of Worlds and all those lands will come back to you. Or just chuck the Ulamog and get ready to draw it all again with Ivory Tower . Its a wonderful lich-life!

What Didn't Make The Cut: (but would consider them again in the future)

• Soul Echo - Another way to stay in the game with less than 0 health... should the battle go ill.
• Second Sunrise / Faith's Reward - Recovery Tools in case of Back to Nature or other Tranquility effects.
• Angel's Grace (In case someone sends Lich to the graveyard... probably follow up with Second Sunrise so you're not dead at the end of the turn)
• Tel-Jilad Stylus (another way to save Lich if it gets targeted.)
• Forsaken Wastes (can be a decent back up plan with Transcendence... but you can't play Forsaken Wastes unless you have to exile Lich to stay alive. Then you just need to wait till you're the last one standing while people's life dwindles... you don't worry about all the damage anymore either)
• Rain of Filth - can be a fun mana engine to use in this deck, especially if you want to drop everything in one turn or just do a massive Death Cloud for the win. Works well with Second Sunrise effects... but it takes certain circumstances to be viable.)
• Empyrial Armor/Empyrial Plate (Make something really big after all that draw advantage)
• Lich + Repay in Kind (The easiest win? or the easiest way to get rid of counterspells?)

Suggestions are encouraged and VERY much appreciated. And, of course, don't forget to +1 if you've got an itch for the Lich!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 6 Rares 16 - 1 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.21
Tokens	Demon X/X B, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B