Ancient Grimoires (Obeka EDH)

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Exile Group Slug Sacrifice UBR (Grixis) Venture Into the Dungeon

Jokulmorder1

Creature (26)

• 1x Aarakocra Sneak
• 1x Acererak the Archlich
• 1x Ashnod the Uncaring
• 1x Caves of Chaos Adventurer
• 1x Chainer, Nightmare Adept
• 1x Clackbridge Troll
• 1x Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest
• 1x Dream Devourer
• 1x Eruth, Tormented Prophet
• 1x Florian, Voldaren Scion
• 1x Havoc Jester
• 1x Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos
• 1x Hoarding Broodlord
• 1x Juri, Master of the Revue
• 1x Keeper of Secrets
• 1x Lagomos, Hand of Hatred
• 1x Mahadi, Emporium Master
• 1x Mayhem Devil
• 1x Mizzix, Replica Rider
• 1x Nalfeshnee
• 1x Prosper, Tome-Bound
• 1x Rakdos, the Muscle
• 1x Saruman, the White Hand
• 1x Sauron, the Dark Lord
• 1x The Balrog, Durin's Bane
• 1x Wild-Magic Sorcerer

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Call of the Ring
• 1x Fiery Emancipation
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Passionate Archaeologist
• 1x Rain of Riches
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x The Lost and the Damned
• 1x Theater of Horrors

Land (40)

• 1x Barad-dur
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Echoing Deeps
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Ferrous Lake
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Forgotten Monument
• 1x Frostboil Snarl
• 1x Hidden Necropolis
• 1x Hidden Volcano
• 5x Island
• 1x Mines of Moria
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Pit of Offerings
• 1x Promising Vein
• 1x Rivendell
• 1x Shadowblood Ridge
• 1x Steam Vents
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Instant (3)

• 1x Bituminous Blast
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Rowan's Grim Search

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bucknard's Everfull Purse
• 1x Chimil, the Inner Sun
• 1x Collector's Vault
• 1x Dungeoneer's Pack
• 1x Glittering Stockpile
• 1x Pyre of Heroes
• 1x Sarevok's Tome
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Treasure Map  ^Flip
• 1x Unstable Obelisk

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Ecstatic Beauty
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Festering March
• 1x Light Up the Stage
• 1x Monastery Raid
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Rousing Refrain
• 1x Shadow of the Enemy
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Volcanic Torrent
• 1x Wheel of Fate

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Sideboard

Artifact (9)

• 1x Armillary Sphere
• 1x Dire Flail  ^Flip
• 1x Hand of Vecna
• 1x Hero's Blade
• 1x Lotus Bloom
• 1x Meteoric Mace
• 1x Nihil Spellbomb
• 1x Tenza, Godo's Maul
• 1x Treasure Chest

Creature (3)

• 1x Bloodboil Sorcerer
• 1x Dreamscape Artist
• 1x Underdark Explorer

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Loot Dispute

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Inspiring Refrain
• 1x Living End

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• Archetype: Group slug
• Subthemes: Exile, Sacrifice, Morbid, Caves
• Planar Flavor: Shadowmoor, Grixis, Middle-earth
• Basic Land Art: War-torn, trammeled, defiled

Initiative is a dense mechanic from the second Commander Legends set. It's a value-accumulation designation like The Monarch, but the reward is room triggers from a special bonus dungeon.

Notably, while "you become the monarch" effects are redundant if you're already monarch, additional "take the initiative" effects let you venture again, even if you already have the initiative.

Also, because taking the initiative starts you off on the Undercity dungeon or into the next room of whatever dungeon you're already in, you can play AFR venture cards together with initiative cards. If your goal is to get into the Undercity specifically, timing venture effects with initiative can be a little awkward.

The "optimal" initiative strategy calls for abusing initiative triggers and denying your opponents access to the Undercity's value. This could entail some mix of the following:

• "Take the initiative" in the command zone

• Deterring or preventing attacks against you with rattlesnake and pillowfort cards

• Evasive attackers to snipe back the initiative when you do lose it

• Blink effects to reuse ETB "take the initiative" triggers

• Narrow support cards to double your venture triggers

Or, ideally,

• An engine to infinitely loop venture triggers and get all the life loss, mana, cards, and creatures you need to seal the deal

That's how Sefris usually does it, anyway.

But the "optimal" approach left me cold. This is a neat social dynamic to introduce into a multiplayer game, let's approach it as such!

To land one of the dozen-ish initiative cards early, you can mulligan aggressively OR make use of our bevy of scry and card draw options to find one.

Under Construction

This deck started as a Saruman, the White Hand deck with lots of high-MV but cost-reducible noncreature spells à la Treasure Cruise. The goal was simple: make a giant Orc Army and swing for the fences.

That was cool, honestly no notes, but eventually I made the pivot to the big bad himself.

You may well ask, isn't impulse draw the plaything of colors with crummy card draw? My brother in Christ, you're in blue! To which, dear straw man, I would reply: it's [year you're reading this], every color has good card draw.

I do run some solid early-game cantrips, but my thinking is that card draw becomes a little superfluous once you get cooking with Sauron's temptation wheels. Unless you're storming off and wheeling to refill an empty hand, card draw merely increases the pile you'll be tossing. I mean yes, the wheel ability is a "may," so you could ignore it when you tempt and your hand is already sittin' pretty, but I'm really enticed by the ability to start over with a fresh grip.

Theory Corner

Allow me to explain. I don't have to tell you about that deeply-ingrained Magic player instinct to maximize your turn's mana and card advantage. That said, commander is a complex format for a complex game, and optimizing your game actions burdened by a profusion of choices can be a tall order indeed. I'd wager I'm not alone in occasionally finding myself with an embarrassment of riches—more cards and options than I know what to do with. It sounds like a good problem to have, but falling short of optimal play can be a bummer. Don't set yourself up for failure like that! We're following l'appel du vide, the siren call to live dangerously and discard often. This isn't 4D chess mastermind Grixis, it's something else.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 week
Exclude colors	WG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 7 Rares 22 - 5 Uncommons 9 - 3 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.73
Tokens	Copy Clone, Dragon 5/5 R, Dungeon: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, Dungeon: Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dungeon: Tomb of Annihilation, Dungeon: Undercity, Elemental 2/1 R, Foretell, Goat 0/1 W, Goblin 1/1 R, Orc Army, Skeleton 1/1 B, Skeleton 4/1 B, Spawn 3/3 R, The Atropal, The Initiative, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH current decks, cool dec