Astarion: Life Manipulation

Commander / EDH Budget Casual WB (Orzhov)

Darb_the_Bard

Sorcery (19)

• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Ancient Craving
• 1x Blood Tribute
• 1x Damn
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Fraying Omnipotence
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Kaya's Wrath
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Pain's Reward
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Reverse the Sands
• 1x Revival / Revenge
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vindicate

Instant (11)

• 1x Beacon of Immortality
• 1x Despark
• 1x False Cure
• 1x Fracture
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Necrologia
• 1x Orzhov Charm
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Plunge into Darkness
• 1x Stinging Study
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Creature (14)

• 1x Blood Celebrant
• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Evra, Halcyon Witness
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Magus of the Mirror
• 1x Scourge of the Skyclaves
• 1x Shard of the Nightbringer
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1x Vizkopa Guildmage
• 1x Wall of Blood

Land (37)

• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 12x Plains
• 1x Shineshadow Snarl
• 16x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Silence

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Axis of Mortality
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Tainted Remedy
• 1x The Cruelty of Gix

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Processor
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Soul Conduit
• 1x Tainted Sigil
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Worn Powerstone

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Maybeboard

Creature (30)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodthirsty Aerialist
• 1x Bogbrew Witch
• 1x Cliffhaven Vampire
• 1x Crested Sunmare
• 1x Cruel Celebrant
• 1x Drana's Emissary
• 1x Ethereal Champion
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Festering Newt
• 1x Indulging Patrician
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Marauding Blight-Priest
• 1x Markov Purifier
• 1x Martyr of Sands
• 1x Nighthawk Scavenger
• 1x Nullpriest of Oblivion
• 1x Platinum Angel
• 1x Ranger of Eos
• 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Selenia, Dark Angel
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Suture Priest
• 1x Tithe Drinker
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Vampire Scrivener
• 1x Vampire of the Dire Moon

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Angelic Chorus
• 1x Blessing of Leeches
• 1x Celestial Mantle
• 1x Cradle of Vitality
• 1x Dawn of Hope
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Griffin Aerie
• 1x Near-Death Experience
• 1x Phyrexian Unlife
• 1x Soul Echo

Instant (3)

• 1x Erebos's Intervention
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Vanishing Verse

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Gideon of the Trials

Artifact (8)

• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Bubbling Cauldron
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Cosmos Elixir
• 1x Orzhov Cluestone
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Quietus Spike
• 1x Sisay's Ring

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Illicit Shipment
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Oketra's Last Mercy
• 1x Profane Tutor
• 1x Repay in Kind

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As long as your commander, Astarion, the Decadent, is on the battlefield, causing an opponent to lose half their life in a single turn is lethal because Astarion will cause them to lose the other half at your end step. This means the following cards will take out an opponent with Astarion in play: Blood Tribute (tap Astarion, who is a vampire, for the kicker cost), Fraying Omnipotence, Peer into the Abyss, Revival / Revenge (the Revenge side), Scourge of the Skyclaves (when kicked), and Shard of the Nightbringer.

The other main line of play is to allow yourself to take damage or cause yourself to lose life by means of cards like Wall of Blood, Phyrexian Processor, Toxic Deluge, Plunge into Darkness, Evra, Halcyon Witness, or Pain's Reward. Once your life is low, use cards like Magus of the Mirror, Soul Conduit, Reverse the Sands, or Axis of Mortality to switch your life total with an opponent who has plenty of it. Note that switching life totals still counts as life gain for you, so combining these effects with Sanguine Bond, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Defiant Bloodlord, or the second ability of Vizkopa Guildmage will likely finish off an opponent, or potentially each opponent in the case of the Guildmage.

You can also reverse the process if you have more life than an opponent as long as you have Tainted Remedy or False Cure. When you switch life totals with Magus of the Mirror or a similar card, instead of gaining life, your opponent loses that much life! Beacon of Immortality will also instantly kill an opponent with Tainted Remedy or False Cure. Instead of doubling their life, your opponent loses it all!

Other key cards are Children of Korlis and Tainted Sigil, which gain your life back immediately after losing it to something like the Wall of Blood. They both need to be sacrificed, but you can get the Children back with Orzhov Charm or the Revival side of Revival/Revenge, and both can be retrieved from the graveyard with Sun Titan. Let's say you activate Wall of Blood's ability 30 times in a turn to lose 30 life. Now sacrifice Children of Korlis to gain that 30 life right back. As long as you have Sanguine Bond or a similar card on the battlefield, you deal 30 damage to an opponent! Swords to Plowshares can also be part of the combo in cases like this since it will gain you life equal to the targeted creature's power. In this example, the Wall of Blood ended up at 30 power, so target the Wall with the Swords and you gain 30 life! You can get similar results by using your Swords to target Evra, Halcyon Witness or one of the creature tokens from Phyrexian Processor.

I am a casual, budget player and my goal is to always keep my commander decks within $100 or close to it. Any suggestions to improve the deck while still keeping it within the existing budget are appreciated!

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.81
Tokens	Minion X/X B
Folders	Casual - Not Built