There’s a lot of creative destruction in my EDH library. With a few exceptions (the gold standard decks like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and Azami, Mistress of Scrolls) my decks are in a state of flux. I like tweaking them and remaking them nearly as much as I like playing with them. It’s fun, because it’s a format in which there’s a lot more latitude to be proper creative.
So at one point I took apart my old Sedris, the Traitor King deck. I don’t remember why it offended me, but it did, and I de-sleeved it and everything. Of course, it wasn’t long before I realized that I missed having a Grixis EDH deck. There are a lot of fun, Grixis-specific cards that I don’t get to play with in the format, and many of them aren’t good enough to play anywhere else. I contemplated going with a different general, but I’m not a huge fan of Thraximundar (who made it into the 99) and both Crosis, the Purger and Nicol Bolas are a bit too devastatingly aggressive to fit my play style. So incidental advantage with Sedris it was. Here’s what I ended up with:
Sedris, the Traitor King
Alternate Engines (4): Mimic Vat; Whip of Erebos; Havengul Lich; Back from the Brink
Tricks (4): Misthollow Griffin; Underworld Cerberus; Sengir Nosferatu; Aetherling
Unearth Fodder (27): Thada Adel, Acquisitor; Jace’s Archivist; Solemn Simulacrum; Glen Elendra Archmage; Mulldrifter; Vulshok Battlemaster; Consuming Aberration; Prognostic Sphinx; Magus of the Jar; River Kelpie; Gray Merchant of Asphodel; Puppeteer Clique; Sire of Insanity; Wrexial, the Risen Deep; Harvester of Souls; Grave Titan; Hellkite Tyrant; Massacre Wurm; Phyrexian Ingester; Diluvian Primordial; Sphinx of Uthuun; Abhorrent Overlord; Sepulchral Primordial; Rune-Scarred Demon; Molten Primordial; Thraximundar; Chancellor of the Spires
Draw (8): Rhystic Study; Phyrexian Arena; Underworld Connections; Fact or Fiction; Steam Augury; Graveborn Muse; Bloodgift Demon; Staff of Nin
Mana Rocks (8): Sol Ring; Talisman of Dominance; Talisman of Indulgence; Chromatic Lantern; Coalition Relic; Izzet Keyrune; Gilded Lotus; Dreamstone Hedron
Grixis Fun (9): Chainer’s Edict; Sever the Bloodline; Turn // Burn; Slave of Bolas; Unscythe, Killer of Kings; Blood Tyrant; Cruel Ultimatum; Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker; Prince of Thralls
Lands (39): Auntie’s Hovel; Bojuka Bog; Command Tower; Crumbling Necropolis; Desolate Lighthouse; Dimir Aqueduct; Dimir Guildgate; Dragonskull Summit; Drowned Catacomb; Esper Panorama; Halimar Depths; Island x3; Izzet Boilerworks; Izzet Guildgate; Jund Panorama; Leechridden Swamp; Madblind Mountain; Maze’s End; Moonring Island; Mountain x3; Rakdos Carnarium; Rakdos Guildgate; Reliquary Tower; Secluded Glen; Shivan Gorge; Sulfur Falls; Swamp x3; Tainted Isle; Tainted Peak; Thespian’s Stage; Vivid Crag; Vivid Creek; Vivid March
So that’s the decklist. I hope you’ll excuse it not being in a more traditional format, but I find the preview window in most Commander decklists to be insufficient for the lengthier lists. Plus, this way I get to make headings that better split the deck up into its various pieces.
For example, there’s a section on tricks. These aren’t combat tricks, so much as they’re (mostly) exiling tricks. Aetherling can buy itself back off an unearthed attack for the low low cost of U, which means I can be a lot less hesitant to trade it off when Sedris is on the field. Mishollow Sphinx can be recast at one’s leisure once it’s been unearthed, and it has the added benefit of being good against Rest in Peace, which I cannot otherwise touch. Sengir Nosferatu can be rebought similarly to Aetherling, although in a bit more complicated fashion. Still, it’s a fashion that doesn’t die to Doom Blade, which is good in my book. Finally there’s the Underworld Cerberus. This is in that section for two reasons: 1) to potentially bring all my creature cards left in my graveyard back to my hand, and 2) to protect my graveyard from spot removal.
There are eight different sources of draw, not counting the Mulldrifters that tend to work better when unearthed. With decks like this I find my biggest issue to usually be running out of things to do, and that’s not something I want to be doing. Similarly, the mana rocks and the 39 lands all make sure I am ramping up at a fairly reasonable speed. Draw engines help me make it through all those excess lands, which in turn makes me feel pretty darn good about myself.
What did surprise me was the relative dearth of Theros cards that made it into the deck. There were only five in total. The Whip of Erebos was a no-brainer; the lifelink is super powerful, and effect redundancy is usually a good idea. Abhorrent Overlord and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are both added in to support a very minor devotion subtheme, and basically because they’re stupid powerful. Steam Augury, like Fact or Fiction, made it in because it both draws me cards and because it stocks my graveyard for cheaper resurrections. But I saved the best for last. Prognostic Sphinx is the real deal. It scrys when it attacks, whether or not it’s doing so off unearth, and it can dodge pesky removal spells while stocking my graveyard.
All in all, though, she plays like a charm. The deck’s a little Spikier than I had intended, but C’est La Vie. This is what you get when you turn your back on someone with “Traitor King” in his or her preferred moniker.