Plagued

By Conley Woods

Back when Commander was newly introduced to the world as a whole and its name still referenced Nicol Bolas in some capacity, I caught the bug just like many others. I remember setting up extremely unfair but fun combos with Jhoira and Obliterate or milling out my opponent with Kami of the Crescent Moon. My buddies and I would play pretty frequently in between midterms and summer vacation while in college. One buddy of mine, Mark, had quite the thing for combo decks. He tried to play that archetype in every Constructed format possible and Commander was certainly no exception.

Most combos in Commander were pretty unfun, though. Two-card combos that win the game on turn five do not make for the best games, after all, so Mark decided he was going to build his combo Commander deck in a fair way. He decided to make the combo all about storm, which, while one of the more unfair things to do in normal Magic, becomes significantly less scary when you have 40 life and there are five players in the game. His general of choice? Garza Zol, Plague Queen. The legendary Vampire provided all of the colors he needed and was not the worst backup plan should he stall out. A giant flying Ophidian sounds pretty decent. While that might be the Garza Zol I remember playing against in Commander, it certainly is not the only way to take it. Over at Dear Azami, Cassidy McAuliffe is back to his usual tricks—this time featuring a Garza Zol list.

Instead of focusing on the combo aspects of Grixis, though, or even the "good stuff" aspect that Grixis often turns into, this particular list has an emphasis on Specters! From Alpha, the idea of hitting your opponent and generating a cool effect has been a loved one. Traditional Specters naturally appear in this list, giving you discard control, but there are plenty of other "connect and profit" mechanics, such as Ophidian, Lightning Reaver, and even Silent-Blade Oni. The deck focuses on getting its creatures to damage foes and, from there, all that's left to be done is profit!

Beauty Queen

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (36)

1 Garza Zol, Plague Queen 1 Silent-Blade Oni 1 Tandem Lookout 1 Sturmgeist 1 Scythe Specter 1 Steel Hellkite 1 Scroll Thief 1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor 1 Guul Draz Specter 1 Sphinx Ambassador 1 Thraximundar 1 Lightning Reaver 1 Sedraxis Specter 1 Needle Specter 1 Blizzard Specter 1 Mindleech Mass 1 Dimir Cutpurse 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni 1 Ninja of the Deep Hours 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi 1 Throat Slitter 1 Anger 1 Filth 1 Guiltfeeder 1 Wonder 1 Shadowmage Infiltrator 1 Abyssal Specter 1 Thieving Magpie 1 Blazing Specter 1 Rootwater Thief 1 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu 1 Order of Yawgmoth 1 Thalakos Deceiver 1 Odylic Wraith 1 Hypnotic Specter

Sorcery (2)

1 Cruel Ultimatum 1 Plague Wind

Instant (3)

1 Memory Plunder 1 Crosis's Charm 1 Corpse Dance

Artifact (16)

1 Swiftfoot Boots 1 Mimic Vat 1 Mask of Riddles 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Akroma's Memorial 1 Rakdos Signet 1 Izzet Signet 1 Dimir Signet 1 Geth's Grimoire 1 Whispersilk Cloak 1 Specter's Shroud 1 Darksteel Ingot 1 Lightning Greaves 1 Mask of Memory 1 Fireshrieker 1 Sol Ring

Enchantment (5)

1 Dire Undercurrents 1 Phyrexian Arena 1 Rhystic Study 1 Phyrexian Reclamation 1 Dauthi Embrace

Land (38)

1 Sulfur Falls 1 Command Tower 1 Tectonic Edge 1 Creeping Tar Pit 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Drowned Catacomb 1 Reliquary Tower 1 Crumbling Necropolis 1 Cascade Bluffs 1 Sunken Ruins 1 Graven Cairns 1 Rakdos Carnarium 1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace 1 Izzet Boilerworks 1 Dimir Aqueduct 8 Island 7 Swamp 6 Mountain 1 Sulfurous Springs 1 Terrain Generator

100 Cards