A Lady To Die For

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Lifegain WB (Orzhov)

Sonicron

Land (36)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Castle Ardenvale
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 2x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Shattered Sanctum
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 1x Snow-Covered Plains
• 1x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Strip Mine
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x War Room
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

Creature (24)

• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Charismatic Conqueror
• 1x Cordial Vampire
• 1x Corpse Knight
• 1x Cruel Celebrant
• 1x Drivnod, Carnage Dominus
• 1x Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• 1x Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Felisa, Fang of Silverquill
• 1x Luminous Broodmoth
• 1x Mirkwood Bats
• 1x Mondrak, Glory Dominus
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Teysa Karlov
• 1x Vein Ripper
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1x Welcoming Vampire
• 1x Wispdrinker Vampire
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Artifact (6)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x The Ozolith

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vanquish the Horde

Commander (1)

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Bastion of Remembrance
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Fanatical Devotion
• 1x Feast of the Victorious Dead
• 1x Gift of Immortality
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x The Meathook Massacre
• 1x Trouble in Pairs

Instant (12)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Call the Coppercoats
• 1x Despark
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Inkshield
• 1x Kaya's Guile
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

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Maybeboard

Creature (19)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Prava of the Steel Legion
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Requiem Angel
• 1x Skirsdag High Priest
• 1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
• 1x Teysa, Orzhov Scion
• 1x Thalisse, Reverent Medium
• 1x Twilight Drover
• 1x Vindictive Vampire
• 1x Witch of the Moors
• 1x Woe Strider

Artifact (9)

• 1x Animation Module
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Blackblade Reforged
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Ghost Lantern
• 1x Norn's Wellspring
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Vat of Rebirth

Instant (19)

• 1x Body Count
• 1x Corrupted Conviction
• 1x Feign Death
• 1x Force of Despair
• 1x Fracture
• 1x Infernal Grasp
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Not Dead After All
• 1x Plumb the Forbidden
• 1x Secure the Wastes
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Tragic Slip
• 1x Undying Malice
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Vanishing Verse
• 1x Village Rites
• 1x Vona's Hunger
• 1x White Sun's Zenith

Land (4)

• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Springjack Pasture
• 1x Tainted Field

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Kaya, Geist Hunter

Enchantment (14)

• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Dawn of Hope
• 1x Divine Visitation
• 1x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1x Ethereal Absolution
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Legion's Landing  ^Flip
• 1x Mobilization
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Tocasia's Welcome
• 1x Vampiric Rites

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Beseech the Mirror
• 1x Damn
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Finale of Glory
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Lich-Knights' Conquest
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Vindicate
• 1x Wrath of God

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I've wanted to play an aristocrats deck for years now, but never found the time to build one. BW just speaks to me as a color combination, and roleplaying the absolute d*ckishness of a haughty noble throwing their peasants in the meat grinder for value is a welcome change of pace compared to my usual goody-two-shoes approach.

I overlooked Elenda, the Dusk Rose when Rivals hit the market, but especially after last year's ruling on commanders' death triggers and rezoning, she seems perfect for what I aim to do: Harvest tokens to drain every last bit of life from my opponents and their board states, and beef Elenda up in the process. Oh, you killed her? Here's a ton more tokens for me to sacrifice for value while she gets massive again.

There's some recursion in this deck, most prominently Phyrexian Reclamation, but ultimately the intent for graveyard play is very limited - we mainly operate on our token strategy. To that effect we have various self-contained token engines (of varying quality and speed) in the deck to keep us going. Elenda herself can do a lot of work for us on that front as well, by giving her a taste of her own medicine and tossing her into one of our various sacrifice outlets to generate plenty of fresh bodies.

Various targeted removal and a couple of Grave Pact effects look to keep our opponents from building up massive board states to run us over with, as defense via creatures is not really our thing. Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts is our one solid instance of deterrence, but we don't want to rely on her too much, even with tutors for grabbing her in a pinch.

Once we get some life drain engines set up, things can get out of hand really fast. Consuming our entourage should yield a massively big Elenda for us quite fast, so winning per commander damage is viable, especially with Rogue's Passage in play. Token overrun is also technically possible, but our main goal remains sacrificing our minions to siphon the lifeblood from everyone at the table.

There are also two combo wins possible: Combine Exquisite Blood with either Sanguine Bond or Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and ping someone for damage, and they go bye-bye instantly; with a card like Zulaport Cutthroat on board you'll exsanguinate the entire table in a flash. The other combo is far more complex and involves Elenda, the Dusk Rose, Phyrexian Altar and Teysa Karlov (plus one extra sacrificial lamb), and is best explained in the primer for the utterly superb The Conquistadors of Hernán Cortés | Elenda EDH, which you should really check out.

There are loooots of options for building a deck like this, it seems, and I'm sure this deck will see some changes over time, but I have to start somewhere, and this seems like a fun way to jump into playing the villain. Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: Last updated during Murders at Karlov Manor)

Date added	3 years
Last updated	8 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	Elephant 3-3 G, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Human 1/1 W, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Inkling 2/1 WB, Snake 1/1 B, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB, Thrull 0/1 B, Thrull 1/1 B, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	My Brews