Esper EDH - I Am Become Death

Commander / EDH Casual Enchantment Theme/Gimmick WUB (Esper)

E_P_Fabled

Land (36)

• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 5x Island
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Mystic Gate
• 5x Plains
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Damn
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Recurring Insight
• 1x Repay in Kind
• 1x Replenish
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Winds of Abandon

Enchantment (22)

• 1x All That Glitters
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Copy Enchantment
• 1x Daybreak Coronet
• 1x Delaying Shield
• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Empyrial Armor
• 1x Estrid's Invocation
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Greater Auramancy
• 1x Lich
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Steel of the Godhead
• 1x Telepathy

Creature (11)

• 1x Aegis of the Gods
• 1x Angel of Jubilation
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Death's Shadow
• 1x Fountain Watch
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Hanna, Ship's Navigator
• 1x Platinum Angel
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Sun Titan

Commander (1)

Instant (14)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Countersquall
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Pulse of the Fields
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Tale's End
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Artifact (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Skull of Orm
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel

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Sideboard

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Confounding Conundrum
• 1x Land Tax

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (36)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Arcane Laboratory
• 1x Archmage Ascension
• 1x Axis of Mortality
• 1x Cast Through Time
• 1x Convalescent Care
• 1x Court of Cunning
• 1x Curator's Ward
• 1x Dark Tutelage
• 1x Delusions of Mediocrity
• 1x Energy Field
• 1x Ethereal Armor
• 1x Forsaken Wastes
• 1x Frozen Aether
• 1x Illusions of Grandeur
• 1x Indestructibility
• 1x Inviolability
• 1x Jace's Sanctum
• 1x Karmic Justice
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Mana Breach
• 1x Memory Erosion
• 1x Metamorphic Alteration
• 1x Mind's Dilation
• 1x Monastery Siege
• 1x Near-Death Experience
• 1x Pariah
• 1x Psychic Corrosion
• 1x Second Chance
• 1x Shielded by Faith
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x War Tax
• 1x Words of Waste
• 1x Words of Wind
• 1x Words of Worship

Artifact (9)

• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Soul Conduit
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Instant (22)

• 1x Absorb
• 1x Angel's Grace
• 1x Annul
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Devour in Shadow
• 1x Dismiss
• 1x Faith's Shield
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Hindering Light
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Insidious Will
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Negate
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Psychic Strike
• 1x Punish Ignorance
• 1x Rebuff the Wicked
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Rewind
• 1x Spell Snuff
• 1x Turn Aside
• 1x Undermine

Land (13)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Esper Panorama
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Grand Coliseum
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Underground River

Creature (20)

• 1x Agent of Erebos
• 1x Athreos, God of Passage
• 1x Avatar of Hope
• 1x Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea
• 1x Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
• 1x Doomwake Giant
• 1x Grim Guardian
• 1x Herald of Torment
• 1x Lim-Dul the Necromancer
• 1x Magus of the Mirror
• 1x Mesa Enchantress
• 1x Naiad of Hidden Coves
• 1x Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant
• 1x Nyx-Fleece Ram
• 1x Protean Thaumaturge
• 1x Purity
• 1x Thoughtrender Lamia
• 1x Tymaret, Chosen from Death
• 1x Underworld Coinsmith
• 1x Whitewater Naiads

Sorcery (15)

• 1x Damnation
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Plea for Guidance
• 1x Profane Transfusion
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Reverse the Sands
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Vindicate
• 1x Wrath of God

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A deck heavily inspired by CommanderFun's "The Lich" deck. Liches are one of my top favorite fantasy creatures/entities, and I've always wanted to make a deck with them as the focus, but most of the time the cards are pretty lack luster, very few in number, or just not that great in general. But, all it took was a bit of insight, and after seeing what it can do I had to jump on board immediately. I can't deny the similarities, but I did try to make it different enough to not be a carbon copy.

What is true power but a vast eternity of immortality coupled with unmatched intellect, and ambition unrivaled by any? These are the fundamentals of a lich. Death was merely an obstacle to overcome, your frail mortal body was a weakness to be shed, and your humanity was a shackle to be removed. Now, you have nothing but time to set your plans into motion, and any who stand in your way must be eliminated.

Become the Lich

The first and most crucial step is to acquire and setup the board for Lich. You won't be able to search for it with Zur the Enchanter, but there are a plethora of Tutor cards like Demonic Tutor or Enlightened Tutor to easily get it into your hand. Even without the Tutors, 'Zur' can search for Necropotence or Rhystic Study for great Draw power. Land Tax is also a good choice early on for Mana fixing, especially if your opponents are ramping heavily. You can utilize 'Necropotence' more aggressively than usual since 'Lich' will take your life down to 0, but be wary in that doing so could leave you open for a surprise sucker punch to your Life total. Lastly, using 'Zur' to get Greater Auramancy into play as quickly as possible will ensure all your Enchantments and Enchanted Creatures have Shroud. You can take it a step further with the cards Copy Enchantment, Estrid's Invocation, or Mirrormade to copy 'Greater Auramancy' so that each one has Shroud and has no chance to be targeted. You can achieve the same effect with Fountain Watch, but it is extremely vulnerable to common Creature Removal spells.

If you have 'Greater Auramancy' in play, its essential to protect 'Zur' by Enchanting him with an Aura like Empyrial Armor or Ethereal Armor so that you can continuously utilize his effect. This turns him into a pretty decent beatstick capable of solid Commander Damage while simultaneously granting him Shroud. The only thing capable of stopping him then is a board wipe, or an effect that makes you sacrifice him. However, you can get around that with Aegis of the Gods and/or Avacyn, Angel of Hope. These two are also extremely beneficial with protecting 'Lich' as well, so the sooner you can play them safely the better.

While not always necessary, you can partially protect yourself from your Opponents Creatures with Propaganda and Ghostly Prison; you'll be relying mostly on 'Zur' while he fetches your setup cards, so if people get wise to what, or know what you're doing, it can be beneficial to deter them from swinging at you with those. This can gain you valuable time in with setting up your master plan.

Playing with Power

With your newfound Lichdom, Life is now quite pointless, and instead you will accumulate knowledge, or Cards from Drawing. Yet, you still have some weaknesses, but nothing that can't be easily remedied. Lich states that if you're dealt Damage by a source then you need to sacrifice that many Nontoken Permanents or you lose. However, Loss of Life is not the same as taking Damage. This is exemplified with the card Delaying Shield; with it, you will truly never have to worry about taking Damage from any source, as when you do it will instead place that many Delay Counters on it. These Counters are removed during your Upkeep, and you will Lose Life based on how many of those Counters you do not pay the Mana for, but you won't lose the game from having 0 Life anymore, or negative Life for that matter. Because of that, you can Lose any amount of Life this way and never perish. This applies to other forms of Life Loss as well, such as most Extort decks.

This is further demonstrated with the card Ad Nauseam. With 'Lich' in play as you cast this, you can add your entire deck to your hand if you so desire. Coupled with Omniscience, your whole library is at your disposal; your Opponents will be helpless in stopping you from controlling the board. But, you'll have to ensure you have the cards Reliquary Tower or Thought Vessel in play to avoid discarding anything.

'Ad Nauseam' is powerful, but it's not the only method of accumulating vast amounts of cards. As mentioned previously, Life is literally pointless, and you will draw cards instead. With this you can horribly abuse the card Pulse of the Fields with 'Lich'; not only will you draw four cards, but you will return it back into your hand since your Life total is 0. You can repeat this process as many times as you can with enough mana, or you can do it continuously with 'Omniscience' in play.

Ending your Enemies

Now that you've achieved your immortal state you can torment your opponents as you see fit. While utilizing 'Zur' enchanted with the aforementioned Auras is a decent way to inflict damage, there are a few more flavorful ways of ending your enemies. Since you have 0 life, cards like Repay in Kind and Magus of the Mirror become instant death. Doing this with 'Magus of the Mirror' also nets you a life total once more since you do not gain it; this way you won't lose instantly if 'Lich' is ever removed. In the same vein, and despite it currently being in my Sideboard, Axis of Mortality is still a great, fun option for swapping your 0 life total away to other opponents each turn. You could also cause chaos and swap other opponents life totals with each other instead for your amusement.

Aside from those options, currently there isn't any other grand way of defeating your opponents besides stalling them out. The main focus of this deck is to simply become unkillable, and if that causes my enemies to forfeit, or to kill themselves with their own cards, then that's a win in my book. This is especially possible if you manage to keep Necropotence on the field since it causes you to skip your Draw step.

Suggestions are welcome, please and thank you!

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 1 Mythic Rares 53 - 1 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.12
Folders	EDH / Commander