Unrelenting Persistence by user4736465

Format: Commander

Commander: Celes, Rune Knight

Bracket: 4

Deck overview

This is a Mardu persist-aristocrats combo deck helmed by Celes, Rune Knight. The plan is to deploy cheap persist creatures, free sacrifice outlets, and death/ETB payoffs, then convert repeated die-and-return loops into table-wide drains or direct damage. Celes, Rune Knight is both the primary card-selection engine (ETB loot) and a counter-fixing enabler: when a creature returns from the graveyard, she places a +1/+1 counter on each of your creatures, canceling persist's -1/-1 so the loop can continue indefinitely. Backup counter-fixers (Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Metallic Mimic, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of Twilight) and a dense aristocrats suite let the deck win without her, but she accelerates assembly and multiplies board presence. Primary wins are infinite sacrifice loops into Blood Artist effects, Goblin Bombardment, or Purphoros, God of the Forge/Impact Tremors; combat with a massively countered board is the backup clock.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Akroma's Will
  • 1 Altar of Dementia
  • 1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
  • 1 Ancient Tomb
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Bartolomé del Presidio
  • 1 Bleachbone Verge
  • 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodflow Connoisseur
  • 1 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway
  • 1 Celes, Rune Knight
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Cruel Celebrant
  • 1 Cyan, Vengeful Samurai
  • 1 Dark Fortress
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Devouring Swarm
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Dread Return
  • 1 Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of Twilight
  • 1 Elegant Parlor
  • 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
  • 1 Enlightened Tutor
  • 1 Erode
  • 1 Esper Sentinel
  • 1 Evereth, Viceroy of Plunder
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Farewell
  • 1 Goblin Bombardment
  • 1 Grave Pact
  • 1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
  • 1 Impact Tremors
  • 1 Imperial Seal
  • 1 Juri, Master of the Revue
  • 1 Kithkin Spellduster
  • 1 Lesser Masticore
  • 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
  • 1 Lingering Tormentor
  • 1 Lotus Petal
  • 1 Mana Vault
  • 1 Marionette Apprentice
  • 1 Mayhem Devil
  • 1 Metallic Mimic
  • 4 Mountain
  • 1 Murderous Redcap
  • 1 Obstinate Gargoyle
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Persistent Constrictor
  • 1 Phyrexian Altar
  • 1 Phyrexian Tower
  • 4 Plains
  • 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
  • 1 Putrid Goblin
  • 1 Rattleblaze Scarecrow
  • 1 Raucous Theater
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Restless Apparition
  • 1 Sacred Foundry
  • 1 Savai Triome
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Sneak Attack
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spawning Pit
  • 1 Spectator Seating
  • 1 Spiteful Prankster
  • 1 Sundown Pass
  • 1 Super Shredder
  • 4 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Teferi's Protection
  • 1 Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern
  • 1 The Grey Havens
  • 1 Tormod, the Desecrator
  • 1 Turbulent Moor
  • 1 Turbulent Steppe
  • 1 Twilight Shepherd
  • 1 Umbral Expanse
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Vandalblast
  • 1 Vault of Champions
  • 1 Vindictive Vampire
  • 1 Viscera Seer
  • 1 Wingrattle Scarecrow
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat