Negan's Game (Negan, the Cold-Blooded)

Commander / EDH Aristocrats RBW (Mardu) Sacrifice Tokens

raskolnikov93

Lands (34)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Haunted Ridge
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 2x Plains
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Shadowblood Ridge
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 2x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 2x Snow-Covered Plains
• 2x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Vault of Champions

Tokens (4)

• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
• 1x Lagomos, Hand of Hatred
• 1x Ophiomancer

Disrupt (3)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking *pp*
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Stroke of Midnight

Cold-Blooded (12)

• 1x Innocent Blood
• 1x Lucille
• 1x Sheoldred's Edict
• 1x Crackling Doom
• 1x Demon's Disciple
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Soul Shatter
• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x By Invitation Only

Ramp (10)

• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Cards (8)

• 1x Minas Tirith
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Morbid Opportunist
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Welcoming Vampire
• 1x Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

Win (4)

• 1x Impact Tremors
• 1x Warleader's Call *pp*
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Wound Reflection

Commander (1)

All-Stars (11)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Mayhem Devil
• 1x Moria Scavenger
• 1x Protection Racket
• 1x Sword of Hearth and Home *f-pre*
• 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1x Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x The Eternal Wanderer

Recur (9)

• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Brought Back *f-pre*
• 1x Stitch Together
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Cosmic Intervention
• 1x Glorious Protector *f-pre*
• 1x Luminous Broodmoth
• 1x Hofri Ghostforge
• 1x Sun Titan

Sacrifice (2)

• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Immersturm Predator

Tutor (2)

• 1x Case of the Stashed Skeleton
• 1x Burning-Rune Demon

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"Not making a decision is a big decision."

-- Negan, The Walking Dead (Season 7, Episode 1, 2016)

What do you value? If faced with an impossible choice, can you act with decisiveness? Or will you try to play mind games against the man who invented them?

Welcome to Negan, The Cold-Blooded. Are you ready to be the villain?

Negan's Game

When Negan enters the battlefield, you and target opponent each secretly choose a creature that player controls. Then those choices are revealed, and that player sacrifices those creatures.

Negan encourages the use of other ETB effects and ways to abuse them, from blink to recursion to token copies.

Negan's ETB targets opponents, not creatures, yet it can force the sacrifice of a specific creature. Sometimes there's a creature you just have to kill, and that's fine. If your opponent guesses correctly, you're still killing their best creature and collecting a Treasure.

But sometimes your opponent isn't sure which of their creatures you fear the most. If they have a couple of tokens lying around they might just choose one of those to avoid the pain of having to guess at all. Sometimes they try to outthink you, and sometimes they misunderstand what's happening. You should be able to kill two creatures and collect two Treasures a good percentage of the time.

"This is Lucille, and she is awesome."

-- Negan, The Walking Dead (Season 6, Episode 16, 2016)

Cold-Blooded Control

Whenever an opponent sacrifices a creature, you create a Treasure token.

Negan encourages the use of forced sacrifice effects. These tend to be asymmetrical, hurting the player with one creature far more than the player with a wide board. Therefore the effects played need to have some additional utility or finesse to them.

What makes Negan worth playing is that he converts this brand of cold-blooded control into ramp, something sorely lacking in Mardu. This allows the deck to keep up with Gx ramp decks and ultimately win by sinking all those Treasures into Purphoros, God of the Forge or Torment of Hailfire.

"No one ever thinks that they are the evil one."

-- Negan, The Walking Dead (Season 9, Episode 16, 2019)

Savior of One

You can argue that you're just keeping the board from getting out of hand, but opponents will swiftly realize that you're generating advantage while preventing them from enacting any creature-based strategies. Some will get salty and call the deck unfun. It helps if you can be as charming as Negan himself, leavening the brutal incessant violence with some humor and charisma.

It's also important to be able to close the deal quickly. This can mean sacrificing your own board to Yahenni, Undying Partisan or Immersturm Predator to drain the table with death triggers. After all, your minions are there to guarantee your survival, not the other way around.

Make no mistake - this is a villainous deck with villainous intentions. Embrace it. If your blood runs cold, this deck is for you.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	5 months
Exclude colors	UG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.16
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elemental 2/1 R, Elephant 3/3 G, Foretell, Human 1/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Orc Army, Samurai 2/2 W w/ Double strike, Skeleton 2/1 B, Snake 1/1 B, Treasure, Vampire Demon 4/3 WB, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed