I don't think Sudden Shock is very good and I would remove Elves of Deep Shadow . I used Deathrite Shaman in my EDH and sometimes I loved him and sometimes I hated him, so I'm not sure about the card. Add Maelstrom Pulse , really good card. Replace Doom Blade with Terminate

Otherwise this is a great deck so +1.

Yeah, Elves of Deep Shadow should probably go - it doesn't do too much. It's in because I don't like Sol Ring . (It's too good!)

Sudden Shock is good in my meta which has a few 2/2 generals like Jhoira of the Ghitu and Azami, Lady of Scrolls . Split second can really do a number on permission heavy decks, and can sometimes stop a player mid combo with Kiki-Jiki or other craziness. However, it and Abrupt Decay may be overkill. Maelstrom Pulse is probably worth playing over one of my removal spells though.

I think Doom Blade will be coming out soon for Attrition . Thanks for the suggestions!

Deathrite Shaman has been pretty decent for me. It works as a decent mana elf with all the fetchlands, and the utility is really good. I think it's better than Withered Wretch ; probably not as good as Scavenging Ooze , but I don't feel like buying that card.

Dawn of the Dead and Greater Good are cool engines in a deck like this. Greater good is especially amazing with living death. Vicious Shadows would shell out massive amounts of damage in this deck too. Grave Pact is a thing. Perilous Forays is pretty good.

ruric thar < Kaervek the Merciless

reckless spite < Ashes to Ashes

black sun's zenith < Blasphemous Act

Avatar of woe doesn't really do anything, you can probably find something better for the slot without much trouble. Sylvan Primordial and Sepulchral Primordial are both pretty powerful.

Awesome cards that aren't budget: Survival of the Fittest , Sneak Attack , Kokusho, the Evening Star

Surprised a deck with "dredge" in the name doesn't run Golgari Grave-Troll !

Heheh, that is pretty weird. Maybe I should change the title.. I used to run Golgari Grave-Troll and Golgari Thug but found they didn't really do enough unless I was already drawing tons of cards off Skullclamp or something anyway.

Ashes to Ashes and Blasphemous Act are in the mail. Kaervek the Merciless is a good suggestion I hadn't thought of.

I should probably try out Greater Good - it might encourage me to play my general more often. And Vicious Shadows would probably win me the game, or at least knock out all the blue players. I've been trying to keep all my expensive things creatures, so the question is "how much better is it than Butcher of Malakir ?" or any of the other effects available on 7 mana things. I guess the only way to find out is to try it though.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Hopefully I can get some of these cards and playtest the deck again soon.

Cool deck!

I wrote a Budget Sek'Kuar (online) article over here:http://puremtgo.com/articles/budget-commander-sekkuar-deathkeeper

It had a different focus, instead of mass reanimation it was a "sacrifice matters" deck that sacrifices creatures for profit, usually stealing my opponent's creatures and then sacrificing them before I'd have to give them back.

Still, there are a couple cards that I found highly effective in Sek'Kuar regardless of your theme:Woodfall Primus (creature, huge threat, removal), Terastodon (similar to Primus), Sylvan Primordial (one of the most OP creatures in the format!), Sepulchral Primordial (probably the second most powerful primordial and fits the theme)Vicious Shadows (don't need to build around it, just deals massive damage), Harmonize (if you need more card draw), Hull Breach (flexbile removal), Violent Ultimatum (expensive but very efficient).

Nice Delandel! I like your take on the deck - threaten and sacrifice was the original theme I was looking into for this deck about a year ago. I was even considering Lyzolda, the Blood Witch as commander!

However, putting lots of fatties into an EDH deck is always a good way to start out, so I did. Now I can pull off some broken starts with Victimize + fatties + discard. And Living Death is so good! Dealt 90 damage with it and Flayer the other day.

I also just put in an order for new cards (including Greater Good and Lyzolda, the Blood Witch ) so sacrifice may be another mini theme.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Living Death doesn't trigger Flayer of the Hatebound because the creatures enter the battlefield from exile, not from your graveyard.

When I first had this brought to my attention, I too was totally crushed, my dreams dashed, my hopes extinguished.

Twilight's Call and every other reanimation spell I can think of still work though.

Also while I'm here: Avatar of woe is about as mediocre as they come; I'd replace it with any of the cards in my previous post.

Yavimaya Dryad is another wood elves-type guy. Also Kodama's Reach really should be here.

If you're worried about ruric thar and your noncreature spell density, don't be: Kaervek the Merciless is better than him anyway.

Necrogen Mists is a nice reanimator enabler you might enjoy, and/or its worse, creature counterpart Cunning Lethemancer . Or if you want to get really brutal, Oppression .

What's sudden shock for? Must be some kind of meta call?

Maybe it's just me, but I actually like Avatar of Woe , with 33 creatures and multiple opponents you can easily cast it for two mana.

Other than that I agree with basically everything metalevolence said. I especially agree with the others regarding the addition of the primordials. (except the red one of course) I don't think you need Kodama's Reach because you already have Cultivate , but if you think you need more ramp then add it. Depending on how fast you can get threshold, Far Wanderings might be worth it.

I would run Yavimaya Elder over Yavimaya Dryad because slamming it into the graveyard works with your commander while netting you a draw.

metalevolence: Aw.. That is super sad. At least I've still got good ol' Twilight's Call

I tried out Cunning Lethemancer for a while, but he was not that good. Necrogen Mists might be, but I like my Stronghold Rats ! Complete control over when everyone discards. And Lilianna, but duh. Oppression seems pretty crazy though, might try it out.

Sudden Shock is mostly definitely a metacall. Hosing Jhoira, Sisay, and Nin!

parasitian I am gonna try replacing Avatar of Woe for a bit. The 10+ creature cards is obviously the appeal, (esp. in multiplayer, which I do a fair bit of), but it is usually best semi-late game. And I might be getting a Yavimaya Elder in here soon - he's pretty cool and worth trying out. Double green is the scary part about him and Yavimaya Dryad however; if I'm getting mana or color screwed Yavimaya Elder doesn't help me out that much. Kodama's Reach is probably also worth putting in, but it's probably gonna be a while before I order one.

Thanks for the upvotes Skaggi and Darkersun! This deck is kinda on the backburner for me, but that also means it's missed out on some sets. Any ideas for newer cards?

I've kinda given up on acquiring Craterhoof Behemoth (need to trade away the Liliana of the Veil in here) but several Commander sets (and Conspiracy) have been exciting!

Maybe instead of Craterhoof Behemoth go with Decimator of the Provinces? It is cheaper (money wise), will eat another creature to be cheaper to cast.Sure it is also not as powerful, but it can fill a similar role.

Diabolic Intent & Sidisi, Undead Vizier are good tutors for Sek'kuar. Eldritch Evolution does also work great for him.

Champion of Stray Souls can work wonders, but he + the Ability is very expensive.

Just some ideas, I try to build a Sek'kuar deck (more or less a budget deck) myself and I'm only testing what is good, but still lack some experience with it. If you are interested or have some remarks on your own, please be welcome: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/sekkuar-deathtrigger to make comments :)

Thanks for suggestions Darkersun! Yeah, Sidisi, Undead Vizier seems awesome! Maybe I'll cut Painful Truths for it. Unfortunately Decimator of the Provinces doesn't reanimate well since it's a cast trigger rather than an ETB.

You are right, in the graveyard Decimator of the Provinces is not so good.

Puppeteer Clique is also a super great card if you have a Sac-Outlet. Steal up to 2 creatures and get tokens if Sek'kuar is available.