This is my second attempt at making a fun combo deck with Anje-chan, for my previous iteration of the deck, click here. The main differences between these decks is that this one offers more answers to counterplay, but at the cost of removing the Dualcaster Mage-combo.
Since your deck is very reliant on Worldgorger Dragon and WotC are now planning on printing a few problematic cards for this deck to keep running the way it is I will be making V3 once Commander Legends drops. Stay tuned for that!
So how does this baby work? Anje Falkenrath allows you to rummage through your deck and thus lets you find certain key pieces for one of two different wincons. The rest of the deck is made to support one or both.
Part 1: Using Anje-chan
As you might've guessed, there are alot of madness-spells in this deck (29 to be precise). Most of them are only needed for Anje's untap effect, but some are very useful under certain conditions. The most useful ones being those that remove threats (like Big Game Hunter), defend our waifus (like Muck Drubb) and return cards from the grave (like Call to the Netherworld) to extend the digging.
It is important to remember that you can use Anje's ability at instant speed and thus cast the madness cards at instant speed too. You all know how scary an opponent with open mana during your turn can be, so be that guy at the table.
This deck also includes other discard effects, those are specificly meant to continue the rummaging in certain situations where Anje-chan is tapped or not on the board.
Part 2: Worldgorger-sama wincon
This main wincon is reliant on the Worldgorger Dragon-Combo, permitting you to reach infinite ETBs and infinite mana. (technicly you have to put a specific number down at which you stop the combo, since actual infinity isn't allowed in MtG)
What do you need to make the combo work? To set the combo off you need to have Worldgorger Dragon in your graveyard (easy to do with Anje, other discard effects or Entomb) and either Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead or Necromancy in your hand. Whichever one you're holding will have to target the dragon and the combo will begin. (see link for how it works)
How do you win with the Worldgorger-combo? Once the ball is rolling you can keep digging with Anje to eventually reach one of the instant-speed killing blows (If you do not have any of them in your hand yet) and cast them at the right moment:
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Comet Storm relies on your neverending supply of mana to fill in the X with a number large enough to delete any healthpool and multikicking it to wipe out every player at once.
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Avacyn's Judgment Works the same as the previous, but it needs the extra step of being cast with it's madness-cost to play it on instant speed, which is easy to do in this deck.
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Bloodhall Priest is, just like the killer above, in need of some madness to be cast on instant speed. Unlike the sorcery, this lady works with the ETB effect of the combo and not really the mana. Of all the Worldgorger finishers, this one is the most risky since you can't have any cards in your hand to make it work. You can easily get rid of those cards by rummaging through your deck for instant-speed cards with Anje and casting all of them (or by finding and casting One with Nothing if you included that card in your list). This does mean that you have no defences against others trying to stop your combo, so beware of open mana when you try to pull this one off.
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Sunscorched Desert is the last of these finishers and burns players with constant ETBs. This one requires you to place its painfully hot sand dunes on the battlefield before activating the combo, since there's no method of playing land in this deck on instant speed (thusfar). In other words: it takes more preparation to win with this card, but it's more difficult to deal with by others, since it's a land.
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Cut / Ribbons works only from the graveyard to make this combo work. This means you either first cast it as 'Cut' and then after the worldgorger combo the 'Ribbons' or you discard it during the rummaging.
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Omen of the Forge has flash and will thus be able to enter while the combo is still going. This will be necissary for the win since it kills by constant ETBs generated from it. This card is no longer in the list, but you are free to use it as you wish.
As the combo is running you might want to immediatly cast the first wincon card you come across, but I suggest you wait first. Make sure to have multiple ways of protecting your wincon and multiple ways to win using your wincon at the ready before casting anything. For example: Have Bloodhall Priest on the field, Cut / Ribbons in your graveyard, both Avacyn's Judgment and Comet Storm in your hand while also having a few protective spells at the ready in order to win any and all counter-/removal battles they can throw at you. One of your spells gets countered? no problem, you still have plenty of other ways to win once their resources are depleted.
Part 3: Assistance and additional tactics
This deck is mainly built to support and protect the Worldgorger combo, but there are additional things this crew can do.
Cards like Glint-Horn Buccaneer and Xantcha, Sleeper Agent aid you with both card-advantage and putting out some extra damage. Both work really well with just Anje on the field, but even better when the combo is running, winning you the game in their own right. Xantcha for example also prevents you from being stuck with an empty hand if you need to protect the casting of your combo, so she can be quite a useful ally in giving you more options.
If you have Temple of Malice on the field while the combo is running, you can decide to either keep a card in your deck or bring it to your hand with Anje, making sure you don't leave yourself open to milling wintactics while you're rummaging for answers or wincons. Radiant Fountain gives you either a small little extra lifepoints to survive your enemies, but goes on to give you infinite life if the combo is running, just like Soul-Guide Lantern and Bojuka Bog empty everyone's graveyards with ease.
In other words: These cards prevent your opponents from winning, even if they were able to prevent you from finishing them off with one of the wincons.
Whenever you rummage while the combo is running it is advisable to put as many of your Madness-creatures into play. They help clearing out the boards of your opponents and putting up both an offensive and defensive army to deal with anything that they throw at you and to finish them off. This also allows you to hide your Bloodhall Priest better if you plan on winning with her. From Under the Floorboards is a card that makes your lifetotal and amount of 2/2 zombies an insurmountable number and is a slower wincon in its own right if you play it at the right moment.
Thrill of Possibility, Geier Reach Sanitarium and Valakut Awakening
allow you to have more control over what you keep in your hand and maybe even allow you to untap Anje and let her continue doing her thing. Shadow of the Grave, Crucible of Worlds and Underworld Breach are able to give your graveyard a second life and that is in this deck a very powerful feature.
Part 4: Introducing the rest of our nakama
To make our shinanigans work we need defensive spells, enable spells, search spells, threat removal and most importantly: mana! That's where everything else comes in:(not including the already mentioned combo pieces)
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Denial and protection: 4 Madness: Muck Drubb, Archfiend of Spite, Gorgon Recluse and Strength of Lunacy; and 7 others:Bolt Bend, Imp's Mischief, Pyroblast, Deflecting Swat, Red Elemental Blast, Amulet of Vigor and Defense Grid. (11)
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Removal and damage: 11 Madness: Big Game Hunter, Psychotic Haze, Nightshade Assassin, Curse of Fool's Wisdom, From Under the Floorboards, Dark Withering, Fiery Temper, Violent Eruption, Alchemist's Greeting, Murderous Compulsion, Psychotic Episode; and 10 other: Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, Chaos Warp, Kolaghan's Command, Rakdos Charm, By Force, Bojuka Bog, Wasteland, Soul-Guide Lantern and Feed the Swarm. (21)
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Enable and recursion: 5 Madness: Call to the Netherworld, Grave Scrabbler, Anje's Ravager, Stromkirk Occultist, Asylum Visitor; and 8 other: Kolaghan's Command, Underworld Breach, Valakut Awakening
, Shadow of the Grave, Thrill of Possibility, Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, Crucible of Worlds and Geier Reach Sanitarium. (13)
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Search: 8 Spells: Entomb, Wishclaw Talisman, Insidious Dreams, Mausoleum Secrets, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Grim Tutor and Scheming Symmetry; and 4 lands: Prismatic Vista, Bloodstained Mire, Temple of Malice and Ash Barrens. (12)
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Mana: 5 manarocks: Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Rakdos Signet, Arcane Signet and Sol Ring; 2 sacrifices: Blood Pet and Skirk Prospector; 3 temporary suppliers: Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual and Rite of Flame and the whole list of land cards. (10)
Not all cards here will be used regularly for its original intent. With most madness spells you're better off to just rummage them and keep your mana for the actual combo pieces. Should the time come that casting them gives you a bigger advantage than only rummaging, then you can easily see where it falls in terms of functionality.
Part 5: Character Flaws
The biggest weaknesses in this deck are the following:
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Heavy reliance on the commander to make anything work properly: Eventhough Anje is cheap and you usually are able to make the combo's work quite fast, well-built decks will be able to keep dealing with Anje and thus shut down your main source of rummaging.
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The wincon is sensitive to removal of just 1 card: Worldgorger Dragon is a creature and thus for many decks easy to get rid of quickly. That's why you need to make sure you have protective cards in your hand before attempting to combo off.
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Wins solely through dealing damage: If anyone is able to place (an) annoying enchantment(s) down or cast a spell that prevents you from killing them through damage (looking at you, white), then it'll take you alot longer to win, since you first have to deal with their board-pieces before going off.
Part 6: Adaptive Journeys
You might not like to run certain cards on my final list and I too have many others I consider usable. The ones that I think that might fit in here are those I placed in my sideboard.
As stated before, this is a more casual version of the original combo-deck, so you might want to check that out for further inspiration or any of DragonLordJippy's other decks.
