Glissa the dirty girl

Commander / EDH Artifact Attrition BG (Golgari) Control Infinite Combo Toolbox

pphhaazzee

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Darkmoss Bridge
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 3x Forest
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shifting Woodland
• 1x Spire of Industry
• 1x Swamp
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Tree of Tales
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Underground Mortuary
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Vault of Whispers
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Witch's Cottage
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Beseech the Mirror
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Terisiare's Devastation

Artifact (29)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Engineered Explosives
• 1x Executioner's Capsule
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Grinding Station
• 1x Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mishra's Bauble
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Mystic Forge
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Portal to Phyrexia
• 1x Possessed Portal
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Soul-Guide Lantern
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Tithing Blade  ^Flip
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Triangle of War
• 1x Urza's Bauble
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Survival of the Fittest

Instant (1)

• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Commander (1)

Creature (25)

• 1x Arcbound Ravager
• 1x Argentum Masticore
• 1x Armix, Filigree Thrasher
• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Cityscape Leveler
• 1x Foundry Inspector
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Haywire Mite
• 1x Heap Doll
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Imotekh the Stormlord
• 1x Jhoira's Familiar
• 1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
• 1x Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter
• 1x Lokhust Heavy Destroyer
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Mycosynth Golem
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Orcish Bowmasters
• 1x Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 1x Sarinth Steelseeker
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Scrapyard Recombiner
• 1x Walking Ballista

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Sideboard

Artifact (5)

• 1x Chromatic Star
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Renegade Map
• 1x Salvaging Station

Creature (2)

• 1x Arcbound Condor
• 1x Workshop Assistant

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Buried Alive

Land (1)

• 1x Mishra's Workshop

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Maybeboard

Artifact (7)

• 1x Nihil Spellbomb
• 1x Plague Boiler
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Slagstone Refinery
• 1x Vat of Rebirth
• 1x Viridian Longbow
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator

Creature (6)

• 1x Necron Deathmark
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Zenith Chronicler

Enchantment (1)

• 1x The Meathook Massacre

Land (3)

• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Vesuva

Instant (2)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Insidious Dreams

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{BG} Welcome to my Glissa decklist! {BG}

Like what you see? Consider upvoting this list or comment below if anything catches your eye!

Do you enjoy reusing cards from the graveyard? Do you enjoy artifacts but want something not in blue or red? Do you enjoy causing mass misery to all who attempt to defy your vice grip of control? Then this Glissa, the Traitor deck, is for you! Glissa is a unique commander as she's the only one who aims to use artifacts to interact with other players as a focal point. My list makes excellent use of her traits, emphasizing reusable artifact removal with our commander. The plan is to reduce opponents' resources, reuse removal to break parity, and eventually assemble a game-winning combo. Aside from being highly disruptive to opponents' plans, Glissa is highly protective of her own win conditions as it's trivial to retrieve any piece and try again - often on the same turn.

I've created descriptions for every card organized by card type for your viewing pleasure. Additionally, I've included strong synergy, combo piles, and a detailed explanation of why cards were removed over the deck's long history. **Remember, EDH is a format of expressing who you are as a deck builder, and there are many alterations you can make in your own Glissa, the Traitor decklist. **

About Glissa, the Traitor

1. Firststrike + Deathtouch: This is a rare attribute for any card. Commonly known as a rattlesnake this combination effectively makes Glissa the best blocker around for convincing opponents to attack someone else. This strong defensive attribute contributes significantly towards damage mitigation throughout the match. Glissa wouldn't be nearly as effective without this as we play a long game and early damage is punishing once we begin to pull ahead. Obviously, this does nothing to stop flyers, which long-time Glissa players will find are highly problematic if not addressed quickly.
2. Low mana cost: This is vastly underappreciated by most people, as ~75% of all general legal cards are over 3 mana. This means our game plan comes out faster than most decks and allows for our deck to dedicate fewer slots to the ramp than most decks.
3. Glissa's recursion is incredible, beyond allowing for powerful synergy across the deck with cards like Grave Pact; Glissa has fantastic endurance, turning most removal into nothing more than returning all of the things cast so far to your hand. From my many games of EDH, I've seen countless players pull ahead only to fall victim to a wipe and be unable to retain their advantage. Glissa never has this issue with the only cards that cause problems are Merciless Eviction and the broken Farewell. Even a one-shot exile graveyard effect is usually insufficient to exile enough valuable cards to set Glissa back. The reason for this, unlike all other graveyard decks, is that Glissa gets cards back out of the graveyard so quickly that a large buildup is rare. Short of Rest in Peace, Glissa is not weak to typical graveyard disruption.

**Lore of Glissa **

Moons of Mirrodin

Glissa Sunseeker was a Viridian Elf living in the Tangle. Her life was an ordinary one, except for her distrust of the Trolls who controlled Tel-Jilad. Her distrust led her to often ignore the rituals the trolls perpetuated in order to ease the memories of the elves, and as a result, she began having vivid hallucinations she called flares. Her hallucinations became a part of her everyday life, and soon she began to ignore the strange occurrences. Her paranoia of the trolls seemed to bear fruit, for one night, they abducted her. She was taken before a mysterious troll who had no metal upon him at all. This troll called himself Chunth and explained that they had taken her to protect her. She seized a weapon and fled as soon as possible, only to discover that the trolls had not been lying.

When she returned home, she found it a charnel house with levelers milling about. She fought them, and they eventually retreated, incidentally having captured and wounded Glissa. She awoke in a vast cavern the following day. With the help of a goblin named Slobad, she freed herself and sought out help to deal with her wound, which had become badly infected. Slobad led Glissa across the glimmervoid to the Leonin capital of Taj-Nar. There, her wound was treated and she befriended Kha Raksha. He related to her that he too was attacked in the same instant she was. An unlikely alliance seemed in order, and with the leonin help, she struck out to learn who her mysterious enemy was. This search led her deep into the Mephidross where she and Slobad encountered a dilapidated golem. The construct turned out to be sentient after Slobad fixed it, and introduced himself as Bosh. With the golem's help, the trio managed to penetrate to the heart of the dross, a structure called Ish-Sah ruled by the necromancer Geth. After defeating him, she struck a deal to spare him for information, data he was glad to share so long as it rid him of the troublesome group. This data led to the next leg of her journey, towards the Quicksilver Sea and the Vedalken city of Lumengrid. Along the coast, she allied herself with a Neurok wizard named Bruenna who desperately wanted to strike out against the vedalken overlords that held her people enslaved. After a harrowing journey across the sea, tucked safely inside Bosh, Slobad and Glissa emerged in Lumengrid. Here, she confronted the mysterious individual orchestrating the attacks, Pontifex, and with help, she managed to kill him... only to have the true culprit revealed.

She began to unravel Mirrodin's secrets and found that Memnarch was responsible for the attack. She wielded the Kaldra artifacts, after journeying to acquire them, but was betrayed by the avatar when Memnarch gained control of them. It was revealed that her latent planeswalker's spark was Memnarch's final goal, but she escaped when the green sun erupted from the core. She returned to the Tangle to find it a changed place and was immediately arrested by her own people for the murder of her parents. As it turned out, her sister Lyese had not perished during the attack. After the levellers attacked at her trial, she was cleared of charges and put together an alliance of her friends and family, intent on toppling Memnarch's reign. She returned to Ish-Sah, to find Geth no longer the head of the Dross, where she became trapped in a time-bubble for five years. When she was released, she found the world totally different from what she remembered it. Taj-Nar had fallen and Slobad had been missing since her mission. Her sister had risen in prominence to head the alliance, which had barely survived Memnarch's constant onslaught. Glissa dared to dive into the heart of the world once more to end Memnarch once and for all. When she arrived in the core she found Memnarch had transformed it into an enormous spark-transfer machine, planning on using the souls of all those above to fuel it. Sadly enough, she found Slobad strapped to the machine, horribly tortured, and used to engineer it. With righteous fury, she flung herself at the twisted and insane golem, knocking both herself and Memnarch into the core. Much to Slobad's surprise, her spark was accidentally transferred to his battered form, which was whole for the first time in years. After meeting Karn and learning what had happened, Slobad willingly relinquished his newfound spark and powers to save his friend, Glissa, and all the life that had been stolen to be placed on Mirrodin. In the end, Karn left Glissa, Slobad, and Geth as the new guardians of Argentum (Mirrodin) and the Mirari.

Mirrodin Besieged

When Glissa and Slobad returned to the surface, they were set upon by hordes of panicked goblins. Glissa was separated from Slobad and retreated back into the interior, where the tiny Memnite constructs kept her safe, sound, and sleeping. Or so they thought...

While trapped in the core, the elves above accused her of all the damage that had been done to their community: the destruction of the Radix, the death of many elves, and the extinction of the trolls. With the Vanishing, the only remaining beings who knew what good she had actually done were pulled from the plane. The natives of the Tangle took to calling her Glissa, the Traitor as more and more woes were heaped upon her shoulders. With the corruptive powers of Phyrexia working their way to the mana core, she too was eventually corrupted just by her proximity to the glistening oil. Completed by Vorinclex she became the champion of the praetor and an extremely powerful warrior for Phyrexia's goal.

Game Plan

Glissa's toolset facilitates a very potent game of attrition warfare. We generate an advantage by removing key cards, killing generals, and slowing the game down by reusing cards with Glissa. With an insane level of cross-deck artifact synergy and select parity-breaking threats, Glissa keeps opponents' heads down by making them afraid of even attempting board development. Should adversaries ever fail to produce a credible threat, the deck easily pivots into presenting a combo kill of its own that is nigh impossible to truly stop without exile. Combo options are varied, with redundant options that reduce the exposure profile of the combo. Does a card choice seem weird? Check out the detailed description and combo profiles as the nuances of this deck are extensive.

Combos Locks and Salt Generators

Keep in mind this does not contain every combo as I value my sanity. I'll add more when I can. Some synergies and combos may contain references to cards that have been cut from the latest version. This is intentional and should be used when altering your own list Glissa list. Additionally, when considering the probability of assembling these combinations, I’m not listing the eligible tutors. A general rule of thumb would be that assembling anything or an analog of it is at least 5x easier than it first appears.

• The primary win condition for this deck is Bolas's Citadel / Mystic Forge + Sensei's Divining Top / Sarinth Steelseeker / Grinding Station + Aetherflux Reservoir: Now many will say this is boring and frankly I agree. However, unlike the typical list that rolls its face in Citadel + Top, we have a plan beyond that. First, the alternative combo of Mycosynth Golem + Walking Ballista or any similar combo makes Aetherflux not required for a genuine same-turn kill while easy to include such a combo in the list having it totally comprised of cards that are useful in the neutral game is something I don't commonly see in other's combo piles. Secondly, everything in this combo actively fuels the completion of the end goal. Some combos may be cheaper or require fewer cards, but none are as consistent as the Top combos in Glissa.
• Glissa, the Traitor + Mycosynth Golem + Walking Ballista + (Hangarback Walker with sac outlet) / high artifact count / Imotekh the Stormlord: I hope you like math! While not the easiest combo to actually play Mycosynth piles have some distinct advantages. First is that the entire combo is artifact creature-based, which enables the whole pile to be tutored off of Survival of the Fittest or Buried Alive, which makes getting the cards trivial. Beyond that, with enough artifacts, the affinity pile can protect itself, similar to how KCI is nearly untouchable. With >10 affinity, Ballista can kill our Golem and save it from exile. Finally, affinity allows Ballista to kill opponents quickly by having excess damage chip into life totals. There are a ton of nuances to this combo that go beyond a simple description so play around with it and see if you can spot lines of improvement.
• Glissa, the Traitor / Life from the Loam + Possessed Portal: While not technically an instant win it might as well be. Unless an opponent can remove the portal or win that turn, it will eat away both their hand and permanents from play at a rate no deck can easily overcome. This also becomes more effective the more players are still alive >:)
• Life from the Loam + Possessed Portal: Fun fact: you don't need Glissa in play for this lock! It obviously helps a ton, as, without her, you are going to struggle to get anything going, but with just these two, you can keep most of your cards in play while everyone else will starve. In the worst case, you wait until nobody has any lands left, then let the portal be sacrificed. You can rebuild easily by hitting lands using loam and go from there.
• Glissa, the Traitor + Hangarback Walker / Walking Ballista / Heap Doll + Grave Pact / Dictate of Erebos / Butcher of Malakir: A fun combo that locks players out of creatures. Cast for x=0, it kills itself from being a 0/0 and triggers the pact. Opponents sacrifice, and Glissa gives you back 1+x artifacts, depending on the number of creatures. Other creatures work as well but are typically constrained by mana.
• Glissa, the Traitor + Grave Pact / Dictate of Erebos / Butcher of Malakir + Hope of Ghirapur: An unassuming thopter has managed to make this list. Attack the chosen blue player with hope and sac it triggering pact. Watch the hope drain out of the poor blue mage who will locked out of casting the majority of his deck. All for the low price of one mana!
• Glissa, the Traitor + Grave Pact / Dictate of Erebos / Butcher of Malakir + Haywire Mite: Similar to the hope combo just a different focus. It is worth noting this is more mana intensive but can be activated the turn Mite is played.

• Glissa, the Traitor + Yavimaya Hollow + Oblivion Stone / Nevinyrral's Disk / Plague Boiler: Simply play and activate when needed with Glissa to bring back the wipe if anyone is stupid enough to play a creature. Very mana intensive but easily assembled.

  Survival of the Fittest Show

  All I can say is I'm still finding combos with this I didn't know existed after five years of playing with it. So I wanted to include a list of ones I've found so far.

• Mox Opal: Yes it needs to be exactly Mox Opal! First tutor and deploy Mycosynth Golem followed by tutoring for either Scrap Trawler or Myr Retriever along with Arcbound Ravager depending on if your ability to get back the creatures you have been discarding. Obviously, if you need the tools to do so, tutor for them. This also may be required to build up enough affinity to cast the Golem as well; no two games will be exactly the same. But once you have Mox Opal, Mycosynth Golem, Scrap Trawler, and Arcbound Ravager, you are ready to begin. First add {G} via Opal then sacrifice it, then sacrifice either an artifact with high enough CMC to get back a creature with Trawler & tutor for Retriever or play it if you already have it. Following this, cast Retriever and sacrifice it to Ravager, Trawler will pickup Opal and Retriever will get any artifact creature CMC3 or higher, then play Opal and repeat by adding green then sac, with this mana tutor for another artifact creature. With this process you can tutor out all artifact creatures and use Scrapyard Recombiner to create an arbitrarily large Walking Ballista to kill all opponents with.

Deck Breakdown

CREATURES

Mycosynth Golem Show

The ultimate artifact curve topper Mycosynth Golem was first prototyped in late 2021 of version 4.1.1. So what made me decide on this card now? I had been looking for a way to have easy access to a lock package that unlike the existing Grave Pact options would be safe from all but the most specific answers. I've had tons of games where Grave Pact lines get either countered or removed before they can do significant damage. Other options like my nim + sac outlet lines were great but were limited by the ways I could tutor for them. Mycosynth Golem can be brought in by nearly all my tutors and wins games with walking ballista and ballooning my artifact count for bigger ballista typically with Hangarback Walker or Imotekh the Stormlord. The lines for this to work are very specific and require a large amount of math to both grow the ballista to deal damage not only to opponents' creatures but opponents themselves, often being enough to burn out one opponent. This has replaced previous options that required the use of non-artifact tutors to go off and, by extension, were far more fragile without the ability to protect them with countermagic. Mycosynth Golem lines can even be protected against path to exile by having Ballista shoot our own Golem to ensure it ends up in the yard.

Butcher of Malakir Show

Butcher is often overlooked as a serious card in builds due to the high mana cost, but being a creature is very useful. Multiple cards can tutor it right onto the battlefield. Defense of the Heart pops it and an X cost artifact at the same time. Even without the combo, Butcher is great for its excellent value and one of the few decent blockers for smaller flying threats.

Soul of New Phyrexia Show

While very mana intensive Soul gives Glissa protection and works with our wipes as a combo. Very strong and has a good body.

Noxious Gearhulk Show

Noxious is perfect for this deck and is the primary six cmc target for birthing pod.

Kuldotha Forgemaster Show

The most powerful tutor in this deck, Forgemaster really gets things going. Tutoring into Possessed Portal, Mycosynth Golem, Bolas's Citadel, or Portal to Phyrexia at instant speed would be good in any deck. But we can do MORE! Lightning Greaves is often the ideal tutor for Forgemaster as if you are able to recast, it means it is nearly guaranteed that we can now chain tutors by fetching Mycosynth next. I cannot stress just how much people in my playgroup HATE this card.

Rankle, Master of Pranks Show

Rankle is one of the best ways to attack the one strategy Glissa dislikes - people not playing things into our removal engine. Every single turn causes mass discard, and creature sacrifice is usually quite nasty. While we don't get to pick what resources are discarded, Rankle is a 4-mana spell that trades the cheapest creature we have for 6 cards across our opponents. This bleed is oppressive and often leaves opponents with very little to work with in the long term if not dealt with. Works great with Imotekh the Stormlord and Orcish Bowmasters.

Scrapyard Recombiner Show

While it can be considered an odd choice given the small number of targets Recombiner can fetch, Recombined should be viewed as filling in a gap. Most of its role is protecting cards from exile and filling in missing parts of combos, typically fetching Kuldotha Forgemaster or Scrap Trawler. - Current Tutor Targets: Cityscape Leveler, Foundry Inspector, Hangarback Walker, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Metalworker, Scrap Trawler, and Walking Ballista.

Metalworker Show

Some cards are just too damn good and Metalworker is one of them. Aside from being the best three-drop in an artifact deck ever, Metalworker also has an impressive array of combo lines with it. For every match, it eats a path to exile; it turns three into a joke by pulling far ahead in a single turn. It's a real shame that its price jumped through the roof, which makes it difficult to recommend to most people. (Buy proxies WOTC can suck my nuts)

Scrap Trawler Show

Scrap trawler is like a miniature Glissa, letting us reuse smaller artifacts more often. Trawler is probably one of the more dangerous cards in this list as it generates a disgusting amount of value. A nasty combo card that supercharges practically every part of the deck is a must-include.

Myr Retriever Show

Very straightforward Myr Retriever gives good value for cost and is a cheap way of getting something back if you don't control Glissa and things go south. Turns many of the combo lines into mana positive and does a wonderful job of showing people why Ironworks was banned in modern.

Hope of Ghirapur Show

The best one cmc artifact creature, Hope, can give us a turn free of counterspells and also provides a soft lock with Gravepact.

Hangarback Walker Show

Way stronger than it looks Hangarback gives sac fodder, flying blockers, and it is great for combos.

Walking Ballista Show

Hangarback now has a partner in crime with Ballista! With Ballista able to kill multiple small/midsize creatures on a single cast, Glissa triggers become more efficient digging up reusable pieces. And this also gives an alternative card for abusing Grave Pact and can end the game with any infinite mana source.

ARTIFACTS

Possessed Portal Show

Glissa has never been great at drawing cards compared with most decks. How about we don't do that... At all? Possessed Portal scale linearly with the number of players in the match… Even if you are unable to keep it around forever, stalling the game until you only have lands and Glissa left is totally fine. Most decks cannot even begin to function with this in play, and unless removal is already in someone's hand, the Portal is going to work people over good before going to the graveyard... temporarily. And should you have the good fortune to have it alongside something that mitigates its downsides such as Bolas's Citadel, Mystic Forge, Scrap Trawler, or Life from the Loam it becomes a decidedly one-sided affair.

Nevinyrral's Disk Show

The disk is used in many decks but all the synergy it has makes it at home with Glissa. Ironically I'd say it's the worst of all the wipes in this deck despite being the lowest mana investment on average due to coming in tapped. However, its low activation cost makes for a good card when tutored with Forgemaster. In addition, Just try not to blow up your Urza's Saga with it.

Krark-Clan Ironworks Show

Ironworks is the engine that lets this deck function best. It opens practically every combo including the primary win combo. In addition, Ironworks has built-in protection even from split second with the instant speed sacrifice being a mana ability.

Sword of Feast and Famine Show

One of the few 'ramp' cards this synergizes well with our cabal coffers sub strat. One of the most powerful plays this deck can make is casting scapeshift while having Feast and Famine equipped. The curve for dropping the sword and swinging is a little awkward but it is a very strong effect that more than makes up for it. Bit of a side note the pro Green/Black is great for protecting against most artifact destruction and makes most uses of Triangle of War trivial. Functionally it is pretty similar to Mirari's Wake but with some nice value on top. See Urza's Saga for more details about it.

Oblivion Stone Show

The best answer for everything for only eight mana. As with all the wipes in the list Glissa can be protected with Yavimaya Hollow.

Crucible of Worlds Show

Crucible is easily the strongest card that everyone seems to overlook until it's far too late. Aside from ensuring land drops with fetches my mana base is configured to fetch primarily swamps to improve the chances of Cabal Coffers being able to ramp. Crucible protects our powerful utility lands and can put a crushing amount of offensive power into play with Urza's Saga and friends.

Nim Deathmantle Show

More than just a simple combo card Nim Deathmantle offers moderate protection to Glissa and a valuable self-sufficient engine for when choking players with Possessed Portal or Smokestack.

Lightning Greaves Show

Greaves gives good protection to Glissa encouraging the use of wipes from other players. The haste provided turns numerous creatures into instant problems, with Forgemaster and Metalworker being the biggest threats.

Wayfarer's Bauble Show

Oh god what happened to the price of this card it was 25 cents when I got my foil... But beyond that, it does exactly what it needs to ramping in the neutral game and being sac fodder for Scrap Trawler lines or gas for the global sacrifice effects. Also can help keep your land count in a good position if currently Replaying Urza's Saga.

Triangle of War Show

An awesome fight card that is reusable with Glissa for each kill. While Triangle may seem strictly worse than Executioner's Capsule it has the advantage of being fetched with Urza's Saga and does not care about coming in tapped (I've had this matter multiple times).

Sol Ring Show

Ok, it's Sol ring. Do I need a better reason?

Sensei's Divining Top Show

Due in large part to the inclusion of off-color fetches complemented by the multitude of shuffle effects Top creates a good argument for itself. Glissa tends to not want to spend much on draws so Top helps smooth things over without asking for much in terms of resource commitment. Some builds use Bolas's Citadel or Mystic Forge to combine with it, but that's really not required to get good value off Top. Between sacrificing in response to drawing Top does a good Chromatic Star impersonation and combos with all the same cards.

Soul-Guide Lantern Show

SGL may seem at first glance to be a redundant Nihil Spellbomb effect but there is more to it than that. SGL has some advantages over the Spellbomb and some clear downsides. First off SGL can be used as a spark to start the combos that reuse a 1 cmc artifact that draws. However, it costs two mana in total to draw so only a few will be mana positive. Spellbomb cannot easily combo due to needing black mana to draw. But SGL cannot draw and be graveyard hate at the same time so unless you know that an opponent is grave based SGL has a pretty mediocre neutral game.

Expedition Map Show

An absolute must in this deck as it can do pretty much anything with all the neat lands tech we have.

Executioner's Capsule Show

What can I say it's just a great value.

Mana Vault Show

Fast mana is best mana and vault works wonders in multiple combo lines.

Urza's Bauble & Mishra's Bauble Show

How would you like to play with a 97 card deck in EDH? that's what these two basically do. And on top of that reusing them is FREE Glissa lets you draw for days off these little babies. I must stress how good these are for any Glissa deck I think the most I've drawn off these in a single turn was around eight it's amazing. And fetchlands turn Mishra's into a janky opt.

Mana Crypt Show

While the damage from Crypt is quite nasty due to the long games having access to fast mana is far too valuable for getting many of the comparatively overcosted cards into play in a reasonable time.

Mox Opal Show

With all the low-cost artifacts this deck runs Mox Opal is an easy include. I had this cut from the deck for a while due to having some issues with turning on metalcraft early enough but that Urza's Saga has influenced numerous changes this being one of them.

Engineered Explosives Show

What if I were to say this deck is not actually a two-color deck? The mana is specifically constructed around creating five colors for sunburst. Yes, you read that right take a look at our mana sources and you will realize it's actually quite feasible to do so. Explosives can nail early ramp or go wide strategies and can even reach up to kill things like Scion of the Ur Dragon and Atraxa. Amazing card and acts more like a surgical wipe than a standard removal option.

ENCHANTMENTS

Grave Pact Show

As this deck relies on a high density of artifacts to fuel the buildup into combos there is little room for enchantments However, Grave Pact is filth supreme in Glissa. Between casting X spells for zero and supercharging the plethora of sacrifice effects like Rankle and Possessed Portal, attrition is very brutal for opponents. This creates a state that unless dealt with quickly makes it impossible for opponents to progress nearly any plans of their own.

Defense of the Heart Show

Sometimes it's difficult to lock up the entire board and only so many good artifact wipes exist. So why not run a "fair" card like Defense of the Heart? Aside from being quite potent in most Green decks Glissa covers the one area that Heart can get you in trouble with. Glissa will easily block most of what people send at you for playing this and Defense asks the question of do you have removal? At only 4 mana the investment is small and the payoff is massive. Defense typically is either going to wipe all creatures with a global edict or finish assembling a partly constructed combo.

Survival of the Fittest Show

Survival of the Fittest has so many tricks in this deck it's far more than a simple creature tutor package. Between Glissa caring about killing things and Survival pitching creatures into the yard, getting things back is a walk in the park. And with all the self-contained combo packages Survival can do, it's a wonder this is not in more Glissa decklists.

1. Survive your opponents creatures will not: Requires: 2x creature in hand {5}{B}{B}{G}{G}: Simply discard both creatures to get Butcher & walking/ballista cast Butcher and then loop the 0/0 with Glissa.
2. You are not dead: Requires: 1x creature in hand {G}{G}{5}: Someone tries to wipe the board. Well say goodbye to Survival right? Nope! Simply discard a creature and get Soul of New Phyrexia discard that and pay it's exile ability. Saved!

3. Who pays CMDR tax anyway?: Requires 1x creature {G}{G}: Glissa has a huge target on her head, so her CMDR tax can get quite expensive. Simply pay {G} and pitch a creature and get Genesis and pitch that as well. Now enjoy never paying more than 6 mana to bring Glissa back out.

INSTANTS

Vampiric Tutor Show

A cheep tutor never hurt no one.

SORCERY

Scapeshift Show

Scapeshift is what happens when you take Crop Rotation and multiply it by X where X is the number of lands you have. And then we proceed to go get all the fancy land tech we could ever ask for. I'll give a quick rundown on what sort of things will be selected.

If played on turn four and Glissa is in play this is usually a good opportunity to get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple + Twilight Mire: The reason for the last card being Mire is in case Glissa is removed early having one card supply double green is needed.

Five lands is like the first but we add either Volrath's Stronghold if no wipes are in hand and Yavimaya Hollow if their is one.

Six typically adds Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple + Yavimaya Hollow + Forbidden Orchard + Inventors' Fair: Inventors Fair is picked at this point because we now produce twelve mana so the high tutor cost is made up for.

Seven is somewhat special because you don't play a land before casting Scapeshift. Instead we first float all mana then get the normal cards of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple but we add Golgari Rot Farm in place of another tech land, or if an opponent controls a bounce land with a color we need for explosives pick Vesuva and bounce Cabal Coffers to hand then play it. This negates it coming in tapped and the left over two mana can be used to activate it.

Anything above seven really is up to you I still recommend grabbing as much as possible even in late game just to filter out as many lands from the deck as possible.

Life from the Loam Show

A somewhat analog counterpart to crucible Loam lets us reuse lands and helps out by adding things to the graveyard. Often one of the main cards targeted early game with Entomb.

Demonic Tutor Show

It's Demonic Tutor duh.

Card Choices to Consider

As with any format, a critical portion of deckbuilding revolves around tuning the list around the local metagame. I figured it would be worth including a section on some of the choices I made that may not be as obvious to someone less familiar with Glissa. This section is formatted with three sections per comparison with first an objective assessment, followed by a scorecard outlying pros of each, and finally, my opinions to wrap things up.

Argentum Masticore vs Steel Hellkite Show

Masticore has the advantage of being cheaper both to initially cast and utilize, with the downside of being constrained by an artifact in hand CMC. With this CMC restriction, Masticore can sometimes feel stuck in hand, particularly since the list has trended towards lowering average CMC due to the reliance on a Bolas's Citadel plan. Hellkite has the advantage of being self-sustained and not requiring Glissa to have an impact, it also can be awkward to destroy non-creature targets with Masticore as it may limit plays due to it not triggering Glissa to reload, and finally, Hellkite is a nightmare against token strategies. Hellkite does come with the catch of requiring mana to have any impact at all, which can lead to situations where we have to make a difficult choice. Overall, the choice comes down to what constraint we are willing to accept while assessing what type of targets we plan on targeting with each.

Scorecard:

• Deployment Speed: Argentum Masticore due to both requiring less mana to play and utilize.
• Removal Capability: Steel Hellkite due to the ability to bypass hexproof and ability to destroy swaths of opponent's boards with most activations able to hit multiple permanents.
• Offensive Capability: Steel Hellkite due to flying keyword and the niche pump ability that is of use occasionally.
• Defensive Capability: Steel Hellkite primarily due to how vulnerable Glissa is to flying damage, the first strike of Masticore is of less importance.
• Quantity over Quality matchups: Steel Hellkite due to the ability to destroy X targets of a specified CMC.
• Quality over Quantity matchups: Argentum Masticore due in large part to not having an activation cost for removal and the ability to remove high CMC targets without investing large amounts of mana.

Personally, I would be fine with either of these as they both offer considerable capability in a small package. Currently, I'm running Masticore because token decks have fallen out of favor in my meta and most of the high-priority targets are over 3 CMC which is what I would generally say is the cutoff for using Steel Hellkite reliably. Additionally, Stony Silence is quite common for me so having another way of killing that on an artifact is very important to me.

Removed Card Archive

Near the end of 2018 I thought back and realized how much this deck has changed And that cards that I've removed over time while not necessarily good inclusions in how my current deck is shaping. Some are applicable to either other possible Glissa archetypes or are 'trap' cards that many people unfamiliar with how Glissa ends up playing will include to their detriment. Cards in this list will be rated on two scales out of 10 (5 being average) first being overall power as a card and the other in synergy with a typical Glissa deck that would include it. This will probably be refined over time and just because a card was not fit for my list does not mean it cannot fit in yours.

10.17.18 REMOVED

Marionette Master POWER: 4 SYNERGY: 7 Show

Marionette since its printing in Kaladesh has been looked at as a hidden powerhouse at my local LGS. This is absolutely clear in Glissa as just ten triggers kills a player from full HP. This is easily done over two turns on average, but can win through combo easily. A slight spread of buff effects knocks this clock down even further while assisting the rest of our game plan. Removed due to high mana cost and low immediate impact. Could easily work in an eggs build, however.

Dictate of Erebos POWER: 8 SYNERGY: 7 Show

As this deck functions as a removal heavy control deck their is very little room for enchantments. However, Grave Pact effects make creature attrition very brutal for opponents and facilitate locks with both Hangarback Walker and Hope of Ghirapur. If I'm going be honest I never though I would cut this card but after more play-testing with Survival of the Fittest it's shown that it's able to do much more than this and still have the grave pact effect by tutoring Butcher of Malakir.

Misty Rainforest & Wooded Foothills POWER: 10 SYNERGY: 5 Show

Off color green fetches are being replaced by black as to have better operation with un-enabled Cabal Coffers.

Strionic Resonator POWER: 7 SYNERGY: 9 Show

Copies Glissa and other relevant triggers just good value. Removed due to mana usage being very tight and useless by itself, not a bad card though.

Verdurous Gearhulk POWER: 6 SYNERGY: 6 Show

While not the best cmc five drop ever Verdurous does give some options to work with. First it works very well with Triangle of War pretty much turning it into a murder with buyback 0. Also adding the +1/+1 counters to Marionette Master and having a Ironworks pretty much translates to sacrifice artifacts kill one annoying person. Removed with much regret but I have to ask myself what does he do? And the answer is hes just a fat boi.

Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger POWER: 10 SYNERGY: 5.5 Show

As birthing pod is a important part of the deck it needs something powerful to pod into. In comes Vorinclex easily the strongest green or black eight drop in the game. Not even sure if I want to cut the big guy, hes very thematic with the whole Phyrexian going on and if he sticks is game breaking. But at least for now hes replaced by Razaketh, the Foulblooded so I'll see how that goes, he might return.

Triplicate Titan Show

Coming in at a whopping 9 mana Triplicate when printed replaced Myr Battlesphere in this list for many reasons. Glissa's biggest weak spot isn't graveyard exile it's unblocked flyers causing damage over time. Dragons and Angels are all quite common in EDH and Triplicate Titan can block all of them with ease. In addition, Titan is a great offensive threat with keywords that make it a decent clock while still able to block the crackback. Titan still fills the role Battlesphere did by giving good sacrifice fodder and combos with all the parts it needs to. Great card if a bit expensive and helps fill a weak point in this deck.

Meteor Golem Show

Meteor Golem despite having a terrible body for the cost gives us another way to deal with non-creature threats that otherwise can be difficult to deal with. As one of the only ways this deck can deal with the devastation of effects like null rod or rest in peace I value this card as an acceptable flex slot that deals with many cards that are priority targets. In addition, Meteor Golem does have limited combo and lock potential with numerous lines to empty the board with minimal resources.

Wurmcoil Engine Show

Wurmcoil is more than just insane value in this Glissa deck. Wurmcoil works well with our combo and sac elements in addition to being one of the few ways to pad our lifetotal.

Steel Hellkite Show

Steel Hellkite while slow provides a decent means of destroying multiple targets of interest and possibly multiple Glissa triggers. Hellkite is valued as a flying artifact and a good solution to go-wide or hexproof strategies.

Underrealm Lich Show

One of the very few non-artifact creatures Litch needs to earn its spot. And holy crap it does. Litch turns each card drawn into a free Ransack the Lab and with how this deck plays those cards won't be in the graveyard very long. And Litch comes with a respectable 4/3 body that is nearly impossible to remove as Litch can even protect itself at instant speed. I don't understand why this isn't in more lists as while it's 5 mana it is so worth it.

Mishra's Self-Replicator Show

As part of the primary combo, replicator works fine alone as well. Works as a great source of sacrifice fodder and can build into a legitimate offensive threat under the right conditions. That and I've 300 physical copies of it I use as tokens.

Solemn Simulacrum Show

Working as intended Solemn is a solid value and complements other aspects of the deck nicely. Is Solemn as absurd as other cards in this list? No, but fills well into the curve and does give combo options as a creature.

Dross Scorpion Show

Probably the most obvious artifact creature for combo, Dross Scorpion easily has the greatest variance of all the cards in this deck. Most of the time it is a dead draw but it can do some impressive feats by untapping artifact lands, broken mana rocks, and metalworker. Aside from the obvious combos and its great interaction with Birthing Pod Dross has one use I really like. How does untapping an Urza's Saga sound? Details on how this is done in Thespian's Stage description.

Sylvok Replica Show

Spot removal of artifacts and enchantments is hard to come by with artifacts and Replica does this job well. Works wonders with gravepact effects. Is it overcosted for what it does? To me yes but it's the only option at the moment for a decent cost.

Phyrexian Revoker Show

Revoker curves great and usually plays the game of shutting off mana from early sol rings and halting walkers. Often part of Scrap Trawler lines to get additional value.

Stonecoil Serpent Show

Stonecoil much like Triplicate Titan fills in as a way to ward off flyers and joins the club of X cost artifacts that are easily abused by sacrificing and replaying at low cost. But unlike the others, Stonecoil is quite a bit cheaper to cast and can pretty easily be cast for large amounts to represent a potent offensive threat later in the game. As for the defense early on protection from multicolored makes for a free block on most commanders things like Ur Dragon and Atraxa are all walled by this little guy.

Mindslaver Show

It's hard to lose if your opponent does not have a turn. And Mindslaver takes care of that! Made popular in Glissa decklists due to the fun interaction with Forbidden Orchard, Mindslaver does serious work. While slaver is the hardest card to use in the deck its effect is worth it despite not really working well with other cards in the deck.

Smokestack Show

Smokestack is a card I've been back and forth on for a very long time. Given enough time and good management of soot counters, Smokestack will warp the entire table around it. With powerful effects come a long setup, Smokestack takes an entire turn around the table before it does ANYTHING. As we are the control deck this is a very steep toll to pay but Smokestack is worth it. Just be careful when you decide to play it as if it's after turn 4 it's important to balance it between the risk of an opponent pulling ahead before it can build up.

Birthing Pod Show

If Ironworks is the heart of Glissa Pod is the soul this deck was based around the idea of an artifact deck that uses Birthing Pod and that has come to fruition. Pod gives all sorts of types of removal and finds everything we need to combo out. But I will say that while I'm a massive fan of Birthing Pod building the deck totally around it (see versions 2.0 and before) really hurt the overall net performance of the deck. Pod in 2021 is not pod in 2017 and pod is not the primary focus in this list. These days pod usually is digging for Rankle by saving one of the multiple three drops in the list or building towards Forgemaster.

Plague Boiler Show

While effectively costing {B}{B}{B}{G}{G}{G}{6} to use it in one turn this rarely is needed. While strictly worse than Oblivion Stone the ability to reuse a wipe is amazing and cannot be stressed on enough. The primary reason for running this instead of a normal wipe such as Damnation or All is Dust is because of removing opponents' ramp. With most of our ramp coming from super lands such as Cabal Coffers instead of what most decks do being artifact ramp. Denying this while still keeping our ramp is a great way of breaking parity with opponents who are typically casting cheaper spells to do equivalent effects.

Ashnod's Altar Show

While obviously worse than Ironworks Ashnod's Altar is still a decent backup and has in some very narrow edge cases been able to combo when Ironworks couldn't due to mana cost. Lacks the protection of self-sacrifice that Ironworks has and combos with fewer lines having a backup to protect against exile is worth it.

Dowsing Dagger   Show

A neat artifact ramp card that also gives opponents creatures for us to kill. Flips easily on turn four acting as a Thran Dynamo that adds to our land count. And has some very spicy options on top of that! Dowsing has the unique distinction of being the only artifact that gives opponents creatures on ETB. This can in some cases fuel a combo kill.

Viridian Longbow Show

A great pinger with Glissa being able to drop and equip the turn after she comes down curves nicely. In some situations where normal win conditions are exiled the bow can be thrown onto an infinite creature combo if you also have Lightning Greaves. A backup to be sure but knowing it exists can be relevant.

Nihil Spellbomb Show

Every deck needs graveyard removal and having this cantrip is just even better.

Chromatic Star Show

A low-cost cantrip that filters mana and works well with practically the entire deck.

Pattern of Rebirth Show

Putting any creature into play is powerful in any deck and PoR is another redundant effect for exactly that. Why cast a worldly tutor when we have big expensive dumb cards to drop right in? We have the means to sacrifice the enchanted creature and 4 mana to cast is a steal for dropping a Triplicate Titan or Mycosynth Golem into play.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	5 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 1 Mythic Rares 51 - 3 Rares 16 - 3 Uncommons 8 - 2 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.81
Tokens	Construct 0/0 C, Myr 1/1 C, Necron Warrior 2/2 B, Orc Army, Plant 0/2 G, Powerstone, Spirit 1/1 C, Thopter 1/1 C, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders	ARTIFACT CMDR DECKS, Neat Decks, EDH, inspirational decks, Commander, idk, EDH Ideas, Glissa, the Traitor, Decks to look at