John Burn by BROINGUS

Format: Commander

Commander: The Lord of Pain

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 27

Deck overview

This deck is a Rakdos group-slug and punisher strategy commanded by The Lord of Pain. The primary game plan revolves around accelerating into the commander on Turn 4 to completely deny opponent lifegain while turning every player's first spell each turn into targeted burn. The deck builds upon this baseline by deploying asymmetric punishment pieces such as Rug of Smothering, Kaervek the Merciless, and Archfiend of Depravity, steadily whittling down life totals and limiting opposing board development. In the mid-to-late game, mana engines like Neheb, the Eternal convert accumulated noncombat damage into explosive bursts of mana to fuel table-wide finishers such as Torment of Hailfire, Massacre Wurm, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. While the deck excels at consistent attrition and disrupting lifegain or go-wide creature strategies, it relies on natural draws without tutors and requires its creature-heavy board to survive multiple turn cycles to close out the game.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Act of Aggression
• 1 Amonkhet Raceway
• 1 Arcane Lighthouse
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archfiend of Depravity
• 1 Audacious Swap
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Blood Seeker
• 1 Bloodchief Ascension
• 1 Bolt Bend
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Chandra's Incinerator
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Curse of Opulence
• 1 Dark Fortress
• 1 Dark Ritual
• 1 Deadpool, Trading Card
• 1 Delirium
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Flare of Malice
• 1 Flashback
• 1 Florian, Voldaren Scion
• 1 Foreboding Ruins
• 1 Gideon the Oathless
• 1 Gisa, the Hellraiser
• 1 Glacial Crevasses
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Hellish Rebuke
• 1 Horizon of Progress
• 1 Kaervek the Merciless
• 1 Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1 Kaya's Ghostform
• 1 Kederekt Parasite
• 1 Magda, the Hoardmaster
• 1 Make an Example
• 1 Massacre Girl, Known Killer
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Neheb, the Eternal
• 1 Night's Whisper
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Pain's Reward
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Qarsi Revenant
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Rattleback Apothecary
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Risk Factor
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rug of Smothering
• 1 Shakedown Heavy
• 1 Smaug, Wicked Worm
• 1 Smoke Bomb
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 9 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spiteful Repossession
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Peak
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 The Immortal Sun
• 1 The Lord of Pain
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Torment of Hailfire
• 1 Twilight Prophet
• 1 Untimely Malfunction
• 1 Vampiric Link
• 1 Victimize
• 1 Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn
• 1 Wail of the Nim
• 1 Whip of Erebos
• 1 Withering Torment