Now that I've finished my introductory articles on the format, as well as my obligatory post regarding the new Commander products from Wizards, my articles will find themselves having a bit more of a pattern to them. One such pattern is going to be a new in-depth deck list every other week. Today we're going to cover a deck I made early in the year, with Lyzolda, the Blood Witch at the helm.
Blood, Attrition and Card Draw. All the Fun Stuff
Lyzolda always seems to be one of those Commanders that screams at you exactly how they want to be played. When I first started playing with her, I built a Rakdos aggro deck. Using things that want to be sacrificed like Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton and Bloodsoaked Champion in tandem with aggressive bodies such as Rakdos Cackler, Spike Jester and Ashenmoor Gouger. While this build was a lot of fun when it worked, I decided that losing to anyone who had a board wipe wasn't that fun.
How Can it Be Fun for Me? But Not my Opponent?
I am a competitive EDH player at heart. I have a few silly casual decks to play with my less competitive friends, but I want Lyzolda to be my competitive general as I had taken apart an incredibly grindy and competitive Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed deck to get pieces to play with her. So I made a substantial amount of changes to reflect my desire for this deck, and to make it more refined.
The New Game Plan
I cut out a lot of cards that while fun, were incredibly slow or underwhelming, the aforementioned aggressive creatures, some of the less useful removal/tutors/board wipes. Instead, I put in a few combos that were entirely new, many cards that had extensive synergy with the remaining core pieces of the deck, and Olivia Voldaren.
Some of the core pieces that stayed (and continued to be frequent tutor targets) were.
-Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton
-Skullclamp
-Sire of Insanity
-Urabrask the Hidden
-Murderous Redcap
Some of the more notable new toys were.
-Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
-Altar of Dementia
-Bitterblossom
-Rakdos's Return
-Olivia Voldaren
How Does it all Work Now?
The essential game plan is still to win with combat damage, however my new build allows you to grind your opponent out so they can't fight back as easily. Backup methods include an infinite damage combo produced by Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Murderous Redcap and one of the decks two sacrifice outlets; and filling the graveyard using Bloodghast and Altar of Dementia then unloading everything using Living Death. Although not common and certainly not something I try to tutor for, this deck is capable of a turn two Sire of Insanity with a perfect hand.
The Decklist
How does it Perform?
Quite well, I played this thing in a tournament for the first time recently, and proceeded to not lose a single round. So I must say I'm quite satisfied with this list currently, and can't foresee any major changes coming up.
I hope you enjoy my take on this highly underrated general. If you give it a try, let me know what you would change you would make. Until next week, thanks for reading
(Dave Tellier) Here is a little easter egg for you: Order some MTG singles at www.wizardtower.com using the code "Lyzolda" before December 2nd and get 10% off your order.
