Died Once Learned Nothing by I3enadryl

Format: Commander

Commander: Celes, Rune Knight

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 45

Deck overview

This deck is a high-synergy Mardu Aristocrats and Reanimator list helmed by Celes, Rune Knight. Celes turns the persist mechanic into an instant deterministic win condition: whenever a creature enters from the graveyard, Celes places a +1/+1 counter on every creature you control. When a persist creature dies and returns with a -1/-1 counter, Celes's trigger negates the -1/-1 counter via state-based actions. With any free sacrifice outlet, this generates infinite death, enter-the-battlefield, and sacrifice triggers. Murderous Redcap provides an immediate table-wide lethal burn loop, while Altar of Dementia, Blood Artist, and Zulaport Cutthroat weaponize persist pieces like Lesser Masticore and Obstinate Gargoyle. Supported by entomb effects, cheap reanimation, and card filtering, the deck reliably presents lethal attempts between turns 4 and 5.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
  • 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
  • 1 Altar of Dementia
  • 1 Anger
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Arid Mesa
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Bastion of Remembrance
  • 1 Battlefield Forge
  • 1 Blasphemous Act
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodstained Mire
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Celes, Rune Knight
  • 1 Chainer, Nightmare Adept
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Cloudshift
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Concealed Courtyard
  • 1 Culling the Weak
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Diabolic Intent
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Dread Return
  • 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
  • 1 Elegant Parlor
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Ephemerate
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Faithless Looting
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Fetid Heath
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Graven Cairns
  • 1 Grim Haruspex
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Jeska's Will
  • 1 Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire
  • 1 Karmic Guide
  • 1 Lesser Masticore
  • 1 Lightning, Army of One
  • 1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
  • 1 Luminous Broodmoth
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Massacre Girl, Known Killer
  • 1 Molten Gatekeeper
  • 1 Mortify
  • 2 Mountain
  • 1 Murderous Redcap
  • 1 Necromancy
  • 1 Nomad Outpost
  • 1 Obstinate Gargoyle
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Persist
  • 1 Phyrexian Altar
  • 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
  • 1 Phyrexian Tower
  • 2 Plains
  • 1 Priest of Fell Rites
  • 1 Puppeteer Clique
  • 1 Rakdos Joins Up
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Rugged Prairie
  • 1 Ruinous Ultimatum
  • 1 Rune-Scarred Demon
  • 1 Sacred Foundry
  • 1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel
  • 1 Shadowy Backstreet
  • 1 Silent Clearing
  • 1 Sister Hospitaller
  • 1 Skullclamp
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Soul Partition
  • 1 Spire of Industry
  • 1 Starting Town
  • 1 Stitcher's Supplier
  • 1 Sulfurous Springs
  • 5 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Indulgence
  • 1 Terra, Herald of Hope
  • 1 Teysa Karlov
  • 1 Unearth
  • 1 Viscera Seer
  • 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow
  • 1 Woe Strider
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat