Pain and Suffering by bmm134

Format: Commander

Commander: Sauron, the Dark Lord

Bracket: 4

Deck overview

This Grixis control-midrange deck is helmed by Sauron, the Dark Lord, who serves as a powerful command-zone draw engine by repeatedly tempting the Ring to discard your hand and draw four cards. The deck's primary plan involves deploying early punishment permanents like Underworld Dreams, Painful Quandary, and Manabarbs to drain opponents incrementally while amassing a growing Orc Army via spells like Saruman, the White Hand and Dunland Crebain. Combat damage from the Army triggers the Ring, fueling Sauron's card advantage loop. Secondary win conditions include commander damage from a large Sauron, Lord of the Rings, reanimation from Extract from Darkness, and the explosive drain potential of Archfiend of Despair or Chandra's Ignition on a giant Army. The deck seeks to out-grind opponents through symmetrical punishment and overwhelming card flow.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ancient Tomb
  • 1 Ankh of Mishra
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archfiend of Despair
  • 1 Arrogant Outlaw
  • 1 Bandit's Talent
  • 1 Bilbo, Retired Burglar
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Chandra's Ignition
  • 1 Changeling Outcast
  • 1 Claim the Precious
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Deflecting Swat
  • 1 Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Dunland Crebain
  • 1 Engine Rat
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Extract from Darkness
  • 1 Fate Unraveler
  • 1 Fell
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 Frozen Aether
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 Gollum, Patient Plotter
  • 1 Great Hall of the Citadel
  • 1 Grishnákh, Brash Instigator
  • 1 Gríma Wormtongue
  • 1 Hexing Squelcher
  • 1 Hopeless Nightmare
  • 1 In the Darkness Bind Them
  • 7 Island
  • 1 Kaervek the Merciless
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Manabarbs
  • 1 Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain
  • 1 Mines of Moria
  • 5 Mountain
  • 1 Nazgûl
  • 1 Nightscape Familiar
  • 1 One Ring to Rule Them All
  • 1 Orcish Bowmasters
  • 1 Orcish Medicine
  • 1 Orcish Siegemaster
  • 1 Painful Quandary
  • 1 Patriar's Seal
  • 1 Rakdos Charm
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Relic of Sauron
  • 1 Revenge of Ravens
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Rivendell
  • 1 Sam's Desperate Rescue
  • 1 Saruman, the White Hand
  • 1 Sauron, Lord of the Rings
  • 1 Sauron, the Dark Lord
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Singularity Rupture
  • 1 Sinister Monolith
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sovereign's Bite
  • 1 Steam Vents
  • 1 Sulfur Falls
  • 1 Sulfurous Springs
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 7 Swamp
  • 1 Teferi's Tutelage
  • 1 Terminate
  • 1 The Great Goblin
  • 1 The Mouth of Sauron
  • 1 Trespasser's Curse
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Underworld Dreams
  • 1 Unstoppable Slasher
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Witch-king of Angmar