In the Mouth of Madness (Olivia EDH) (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

In the Mouth of Madness (Olivia EDH)

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Counters Madness Vampires

Jokulmorder1

Creature (42)

Land (38)

Instant (5)

Enchantment (1)

1x Phyrexian Arena

Commander (1)

Sorcery (11)

Artifact (2)

Major Themes/Archetype: Vampire aggro
Subthemes: Vampire tribal, Madness, Counters
Planar Flavor: Innistrad, Dominaria, Ixalan
Basic Land Art: Gothic, foreboding, ruddy

Piloting the Deck

First, let's talk about Olivia. There are other tasty madness and vampire tribal commanders, why'd I go with this one?

With Olivia out, you can discard a card to give each new creature arrival a +1/+1 counter, haste, and the Vampire creature type.

Discarding cards: This enables our madness cards and other discard synergies, so long as you keep your hand size up.
+1/+1 counters: Aside from generally improving key attackers, this opens up certain +1/+1 counter synergies. Bonus, we don't need to rely solely on Olivia for counters; many Innistradi vampires come prepackaged with the Slith ability.
Haste: Helps our creatures impact the board the turn they arrive, and plays nicely with tap abilities. Note on that last point: you only get haste for the turn, so use those tap abilities right away when possible.
Vampirize: The vampire tribe is deep and boasts a lot of quality lords. Turning card:Gux, yawgmoth praetor (bro)|creatures that otherwise work well in the deck into vampires is just gravy!

One neat thing about madness is that it ignores normal timing restrictions. This means instant-speed discard outlets (and creatures with flash, if you have Olivia out) are useful to rush out a madness spell.

In the decklist, I've marked down noncreature spells with madness with the MV of their madness cost (I refuse to cast Dark Withering for 6). Madness creatures are a bit different, in that they might start the discard chain rather than follow along it, so in most circumstances casting Big Game Hunter with madness won't cost 1, it'll cost 1 plus the cost of the initial creature.

Madness is a means of turning a cost (discarding a card) into card advantage, with the side benefit of giving a discount toward the card you cast.

Some lessons I've learned about madness:

Don’t feel bad for discarding madness cards and not casting them. Sometimes curving out is more important than maximizing value.
Free and instant-speed discard outlets mean the difference between casting your hand at instant speed and casting overcosted spells on your main phase.

Changelog 2019-2021

Click to Open

8/28/19

CUTS:

ADDS:

We played two games with the decks right out of the box, and I won the first game thanks to my value engine, Warstorm Surge, and a Hate Mirage copying Giant Adephage. I even played both of these games without using Anje's untap ability!

I opted to take out some of the weaker madness cards and goofy politics cards to make room for better madness, dredge, and discard outlets.

9/5/19

CUTS:

ADDS:

After another league victory, my next round of cuts included some cards that don’t advance my game plan (or do it too slowly).

I started steadily dialing up the vampire tribal. Stensia Masquerade and Bloodline Keeper both prefer having vampires around, but they’re okay being in a deck with a low tribal presence too. Viscera Seer is there to set up some draws, Insolent Neonate as another discard outlet, and Butcher of Malakir is a great reanimator target.

9/21/19

CUTS:

ADDS:

Before this game, we had changed our rules regarding substitutions: any number of cards could be swapped out, as long as the new cards were under the dollar cap.

This allowed me finally sub out some lands that are more needed in other decks. Detection Tower allows hexproof creatures to be targeted by our spot removal. I also upgraded Rakdos Locket to Rakdos Signet.

Some other cards I took out are fine but replaceable (like Plaguecrafter), or even really cool (like Greven) but destined for other piles. Grave Scrabbler elicited some banter from the table about Scrabble when I first cast him, but in spite of that cute memory and the fact that the Scrabbler can be used politically to Raise someone else’s Dead, I've never been excited to draw it. But madness cards are important, so I subbed in Twins of Maurer Estate, which is at least also a Vampire in case I want to cast it. The draft chaff of Shadows over Innistrad lives to see another day!

Lastly, I put Anthem of Rakdos down as a failed experiment, and replaced it with Torrent of Souls. If I have a giant board of zombie tokens I probably don't need the pump anyway, and I never get hellbent with this deck.

10/23/19

CUTS:

ADDS:

It had been a little time since our last official league game, and this game I was a turn from going off when Kadena attacked for lethal with a board of morphs augmented by Biomass Mutation.

Mire in Misery gets the axe first, and it’s frankly overdue. It’s nice that black is beginning to dip a toe in enchantment removal, but this first attempt is clearly too safe as it will never hit the enchantment you want. I'm swapping in Tectonic Reformation, which greases the wheels by cycling through lands in the late game.

Big Game Hunter is cool, but Psychotic Madness gives us another madness effect.

K’rrik is great, but less great in a B/X deck. He really does want you to build around him, and that’s what I have in mind. Falkenrath Gorger makes more of my deck into madness cards, and the potential to go off is huge.

I cut Geth because he only reanimates our opponents' stuff and subbed in Sheoldred. Smoke 'em if you got 'em, right?

Sanitarium Skeleton is sort of a weaker Squee with redundancy, but is pretty mana hungry for a card that doesn't have madness and therefore doesn't untap Anje when discarded. Tortured Existence is the same CMC and less mana hungry to switch creature cards in your hand with creatures in your graveyard, which can allow you to recycle madness creatures and set up big reanimator plays.

I know taking out Sol Ring will seem insane to a lot of people (mad, even), but hear me out: ramp just isn’t as relevant in this shell, cardflow is. Faithless Looting is in.

I took out three colorless lands for basic Swamps. I hate Myriad Landscape, Temple of the False God is risky (and cuttable), and Sanctum of Eternity isn’t well-suited to this deck.

11/13/19

CUTS:

ADDS:

This time around, the league has effectively ended but I’m going to keep up with the changelog, and of course I'm still super in love with the way Anje lives and breathes madness. I also finally gave this deck a new name!

This week I am making some more experimental adjustments, and it’s getting harder to cut cards:

Warstorm Surge, Wildfire Devils, and Ob Nixilis are fine cards, but all a bit out of place in this deck. I cut a couple mana/land-related artifacts because they’re slow and fit awkwardly in the curve; hopefully I won’t regret removing them. The Eldest Reborn is once again a cool card and on theme, but since our focus is on the third chapter, it's ultimately a long time to wait to Zombify something.

Cordial Vampire and Bloodlord of Vaasgoth are just cool, but who knows, the deck might not have enough quite vampires to make them sing. Then again I’m relying on seeing a lot of cards each game, so we’ll give this a shot.

Vein Drinker and Necropolis Regent are impactful reanimation targets that also happen to be vampires.

Blood Tribute works with a single vampire (like Anje, who likes untapping). And though it’s 6 mana, I’ve seen this card turn the tables when I’m at, like, 17 life and an opponent has 62.

Finally Glint-Horn Buccaneer is off-tribe, but DANG this boi has everything else we like to see: he weaponizes my discards, he loots, and he’s a discard outlet. That pretty much ticks all the boxes!

1/10/20

CUTS:

ADDS:

We had a five-player game last night and I was a turn away from untapping with my From Under the Floorboards tokens and swinging at the two remaining players, then ending the game with an Avacyn’s Judgment. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable chucking cards even without casting them for madness and I often do churn through most of my deck, but this narrow loss is a sign that I need to tighten up my play.

Anywho, time for some deck edits. First we’re cutting Bloodthirsty Blade, I thought it would help keep some heat off me but it seems to make enemies more often then not. In goes Shreds of Sanity, which is a madness enabler that also gets back discarded instants and sorceries at a very reasonable cost.

I also decided to cut a land, since 39 was feeling a bit high. This game I cycled away maybe ten lands with Tectonic Reformation and still ended the game with 11 lands in play. I find that so long as I get to 3 lands on turn 3, Anje's rummaging gives me ample opportunities to find lands when I need to hit a drop. So then it became a question of which land to cut. The proportion of to feels about okay, so I settled on Cinder Barrens after noticing just how many taplands are in the deck. Cinder Barrens is the clear weak link, as it somehow does even less than Akoum Refuge and Bloodfell Caves. Whenever I next upgrade a land to one that reliably enters untapped like Dragonskull Summit, I'll take out a Swamp.

Captivating Vampire may be a controversial pick since Anje is not truly an aggro deck, but there are many shrinking effects that this helps protect Anje from, and it's not unusual for me to have Anje and three other various vampires. That board plus Mr. Smolder here equals stealing a creature, or better, the ability to threaten stealing a creature.

1/17/20

CUTS:

ADDS:

This round of cuts may be controversial, but there are still cards from the precon that don't fit my gameplan so it's time to upgrade them.

Doomed Necromancer is sort of vulnerable as a 2/2 creature that needs to survive a round to be useful, and limited as a one-shot reanimating effect. Finale of Eternity subs in as flexible creature removal and a game-ending mass reanimation spell.

Hate Mirage is a good trick, but dependent on your opponents playing big creatures, which isn’t always the case. In goes Grave Upheaval as another reanimation spell that doubles as landcycling in the early game—great for turn two if we need a third land to drop Anje on time.

Overseer of the Damned is really a great card that does everything you want a creature in EDH to do: impacts the board immediately, presents a threatening body, and brings a static effect that gets you further value before you untap with it. But I decided to sub in Kazarov, who fulfills most of the same functions. Kazarov is certainly worse than Overseer in a vacuum, but here he's a vampire and a juicy reanimation target.

Solemn Simulacrum holds up as a great EDH card, but I decided to push the vampire theme further with Sanctum Seeker.

Soul of Innistrad is very slow, and gets creatures back to our hands, which means we can replay or discard them, but it’s very mana-intensive to bring creatures back with the plan of replaying them. Champion of Dusk goes in as another source of card draw at a lower mana cost.

6/8/20

CUTS:

ADDS:

It's been a few weeks since I've played Magic digitally and months since I've played in paper, but you can't stop the brewing!

These changes were motivated by my theorycrafting a zombie cycling deck. Naturally Bone Miser is a terrific fit there. In Anje, he definitely is good for some value by throwing down chumps, greasing the madness wheels with extra mana, and even drawing cards. It may sound crazy, but I'm going to try him out in a different deck. Maybe he'll be back some day.

Meanwhile, Zombie Infestation is coming out because as critical as having a good discard outlet is in this deck, it always feels bad pitching TWO cards to this enchantment. Sometimes you have to so you can block and live another turn, but I can't stress enough the value of discard outlets that are card-neutral (ie. looting or rooting discard outlets). Losing cards in hand really slows us down, even if they're reanimation targets we don't mind stocking the graveyard with or madness spells you can turn around and cast.

In place of the zombos, Alchemist's Greeting makes its triumphant return, and Dread Return makes its debut. Dread Return is another great reanimator piece, as it has two casts in one card. Bonus, it doesn't mind being discarded. Greeting was one of the first cards I cut when I got this precon, and I have to admit I really slept on it. 2 mana for 4 damage at instant speed is a good rate and will always find a juicy target. This card is never ever a 5-mana 4 damage sorcery as it appears. And at worst, it's another madness card to help Anje zip through the deck. Can't discount that!

6/24/20

CUTS:

ADDS:

Another round of mid-COVID changes...

As my theorycrafted zombie cycling deck gains steam, I decided to further focus some of the discard elements in the deck. Since almost the very beginning, Grimoire of the Dead was never a thrilling draw for this deck. Yes it's a discard outlet and a reanimation engine, though it's so slow for how threatening it looks to other players. Faith of the Devoted is a nice source of burn, though tacking on to each of my discards definitely slows down the cycling frenzy.

In goes Cauldron Dance, a crafty reanimation spell that fits perfectly in this style of deck (returning a madness critter from graveyard to hand is neat and racing out a big creature to then be reanimated later sounds pretty sick). Incorrigible Youths is a nice big vampire and additional madness card.

3/31/21

Okay so this is update is a doozy. After playing this deck for a year and a half I'm getting tired of its play patterns. For one thing the deck really relies on Anje, and having her removed even once—even as a cheap commander with haste—can cost us the game. For another, zooming through the deck discarding madness cards just to untap Anje and do it again until we find and cast a big Avacyn's Judgment or From Under the Floorboards is just...getting stale.

So let's indulge the direction the deck has been heading in, and ramp up our reanimator and vampire tribal. Luckily, our new commander was already in the 99: Olivia, Mobilized for War.

CUTS:

Boneyard Parley

ADDS:

Bloodcrazed Paladin

8/22/21

In March I got the ball rolling, but now that I'm back to playing paper Magic regularly I need to finish updating this deck.

CUTS:

ADDS:

Most of these cuts were casualties of our change in commander. Our creatures being vampires naturally isn't as important when Olivia can turn them, and having madness and discard outlet redundancies aren't as important without Anje. Biting Rain is an okay board wipe for a 3-toughness commander, and a bad board wipe for an aggro deck. My cool Bloodlord of Vaasgoth promo is the saddest cut. Maybe he'll be back, but giving a bonus to vampire spells is a slight nonbo here.

Skirge Familiar feels like a combo piece the deck may not be able to support, but I got a copy so we'll try it out. Deathless Ancient is an underwhelming creature, but with the right board can be reliably Disentombed and discarded to my hijinks. Sign in Blood and Terminal Agony are among the best card draw and removal we have access to. Mirri the Cursed is sort of a cute inclusion here, but I'll give it a go.

11/15/21

CUTS:

ADDS:

Cuts this time were more casualties of the commander change from Anje 1 to Olivia 2. There is no longer any call for bad cards with madness, and From Under the Floorboards ain't the finisher it once was. Flayer of the Hatebound is a good card but with the deemphasis on reanimator, it doesn't make the cut.

Dark Tutelage and Phyrexian Arena are here to draw an extra card per turn, since we're not going to be rummaging so much as straight-up discarding cards. Tutelage in particular should be good since we're trying to lower the overall curve, but that won't stop us from taking 9 from In Garruk's Wake still T_T

Rakdos 2 and Grenzo 1 are neat whether or not we make them into Vampires, and Stromkirk Captain is a highly necessary Vampire lord for our Vampires, natural and made.

11/22/21

CUTS:

ADDS:

I cut some reanimator cards that weren't popping off in favor of some discard and +1/+1 counter cards I thought were sure to. Tenured Inkcaster seems like a sweet Sanctum Seeker redux that cares about Olivia's +1/+1 counters, and Surly Badgersaur is uniquely well-suited to this deck in spite of originating from a Jeskai cycling precon. Discard a creature card with the Badgersaur out (even if it follows Olivia on the curve!) and you give it an additional +1/+1 counter. Pitch a land to it and you get a treasure. Pitch something else and you turn your 4/4 into targeted removal. And that's just if you discard something when the Badgersaur ETBs. Perfect card for this deck IMO. Then we got Molten Echoes, from a different C20 deck but it fits equally well here. Even if the creature you cast isn't a vampire, if you can afford to discard another card to vampirize it with Olivia, then you get a free temporary copy of it.

12/30/2021

CUTS:

ADDS:

So making this round of upgrades I noticed that my changelog got out of joint with the decklist at some point...oops. I may take that as a sign to wind down this exercise, it's been fruitful thinking through each swap on a card-by-card basis and justifying it in writing, but it makes revising this deck kind of an arduous time-suck. Plus we're under a completely different commander than we started with nearly two and a half years ago. This will be my last written update to the changelog, at least for now.

Dumb tapland Mortuary Mire leaves for Command Tower, kind of a no-brainer. Archfiend of Spite has never once "flashed" in with madness to force a devastating surprise block, but I can see the upside, and it may go back in later (see I'm already talking myself out of it). Meteor Golem is really underwhelming removal for its cost, and now we have Feed the Swarm to hit enchantments. I'm realizing Tortured Existence is better with a greater preponderance of madness; without as much madness it's less of an engine. In Garruk's Wake is good but costs 9.

Doomed Necromancer is the kind of removal we like to see: haste thanks to Olivia's trigger helps greatly here. Ditto Magus of the Wheel, which also refills our hand when we run low. Liquimetal Torque turns anything into a Shenanigans target while also ramping us. Malakir Rebirth is just a better Feign Death.

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Revision 1 See all

(4 months ago)

+1	Bedevil	main
-1	Sanguine Spy	main

Date added	5 years
Last updated	1 month
Exclude colors	WUG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.16
Tokens	Blood, Copy Clone, Treasure, Vampire 2/2 B
Folders	stuff, EDH current decks
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