Chainer's Shikar

Commander / EDH

sariadog

Creature (35)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Big Game Hunter
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bone Shredder
• 1x Braids, Cabal Minion
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Chancellor of the Dross
• 1x Corpse Connoisseur
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dakmor Lancer
• 1x Deathgreeter
• 1x Faceless Butcher
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Magus of the Coffers
• 1x Malakir Bloodwitch
• 1x Mephidross Vampire
• 1x Mesmeric Fiend
• 1x Mogis's Marauder
• 1x Muck Drubb
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Nightmare
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Scion of Darkness
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Slum Reaper
• 1x Urborg Syphon-Mage
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Land (36)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 34x Swamp
• 1x Thespian's Stage

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sanguine Bond

Artifact (16)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Manriki-Gusari
• 1x Minion Reflector
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Spawning Pit *list*
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sylvok Lifestaff
• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Chainer's Edict
• 1x Consume Spirit
• 1x Corrupt
• 1x Drain Life
• 1x Exsanguinate

Commander (1)

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Chainer's Torment is my favorite magic novel of all time. It starts you out with a fun an interesting black-aligned protagonist, gets you to care about and empathize with him, and then shoves you through his spiraling miasma of madness and torment until he finally hits the end of his rope. Having an entire novel dedicated to his character development makes Chainer one of the best magic protagonists of all time.

Keeping that in mind, I decided to make a commander deck with him.

The Shikar is the Cabal Dementist rite of passage in which the summoner travels deep into the Krosan forest and encounters/battles/kills as many creatures as he or she is capable of in order to fill up the dementia space in their minds. They then use this dementia space in order to summon warped copies of the creatures they encountered to fight for them.

This deck represents what is already in Chainer's dementia space while your opponent's are the various monsters and obstacles that Chainer must face down, destroy, and make his own as part of the Shikar rite of passage.

Step 1: Cabalist

At this stage we're building our mana base and getting our artifacts out onto the field. A few cards are very beneficial to this stage.Buried Alive will get a few key and important creatures into the graveyard for you; Muck Drubb can redshirt for Chainer when the time comes, Corpse Connoisseur can act as a further tutor, and any of our removal monsters are a sure fit.All of our sac outlets are going to be 1-3 mana, and those are mega important.We can get most of our equipment out on the field at this point, which is a good idea to set up ourselves for later.

Step 2: Caster

Chainer has officially entered the building. This is where all of our hard work comes to fruition. Three mana and three life at a time, we'll be throwing our nightmares with their nasty enter-the-battlefield effects at our opponents, as well as bringing back their own dear departed in order for them to understand what the term torment really means.Life-gain is important at this stage in the game, but you want to hold off on the real whammies until you can get a sizable-enough mana base to really slam them.An important thing to remember in the caster stage is to be patient. You're going to have all of your opponents going for the throat for taking their creatures, so patience and reaction time is key. Chainer's ability can be activated at instant speed, so that big game hunter waiting patiently in the graveyard is going to be a nice little deterrent to anyone wanting to pick a fight.

Step 3: Dementist

Alright, you've got bookoo's of mana, the cream of the crop of your opponent's creatures, and a nice set of fuming vendetta-filled opponents chomping at the bit to murder you.Now's where you pull out Chainer's ace-in-the-hole. The spell, taught by Chainer's old master Minat, the one that single-handedly defended the Cabal Coffers from invaders and sent the Cabal Patriarch running to Aphetto with his tail between his legs. The Death Bloom spell.Unfortunately they never actually made a spell called Death Bloom, so we're going to go with Exsanguinate. This spell will cripple some, destroy others, and put you at such an advantageous position that you can mop up with the rest of your creatures at your leisure.

And there you go, Chainer's Shikar sets out and does what I think any commander deck should do: Reflect the Legendary creature's personality and abilities through a deck that is fun to play and interesting. If you thought the lore tidbits were interesting, I'd suggest picking up the book. It's a really good read.

Date added	11 years
Last updated	11 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.20
Tokens	2/2 C Artifact Creature Spawn, Copy Clone, Harpy 1/1 B, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink