Evil Santa by Dinofan

Format: Commander

Commander: Zedruu the Greathearted

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 37

Deck overview

This deck is a Jeskai political control strategy commanded by Zedruu the Greathearted. The game plan revolves around deploying harmless or actively harmful permanents and donating them to opponents. Donating permanents fuels Zedruu's upkeep ability, drawing extra cards and gaining life each turn. The deck utilizes disruptive gifts like Steel Golem, Aggressive Mining, and Pyromancer's Swath to disable high-priority opponents while hiding behind robust pillowfort fortifications such as Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and Solitary Confinement. Symmetrical draw engines like Howling Mine and Dictate of Kruphix keep cards flowing while generating goodwill or triggering tax effects like Smothering Tithe. Once the card-draw engine establishes commanding card advantage, the deck transitions into lethal threats. Win conditions include draining the table with Psychosis Crawler, creating flying swarms with The Locust God, alternate win triggers like Triskaidekaphile and Twenty-Toed Toad, or weaponizing Illusions of Grandeur and Nine Lives to eliminate opponents through forced life loss.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Aggressive Mining
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Cascade Bluffs
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Council's Judgment
• 1 Crown of Doom
• 1 Curse of Exhaustion
• 1 Curse of Opulence
• 1 Cut a Deal
• 1 Deflecting Palm
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Dictate of Kruphix
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fractured Identity
• 1 Frostboil Snarl
• 1 Furycalm Snarl
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Grasp of Fate
• 1 Grid Monitor
• 1 Howling Mine
• 1 Humble Defector
• 1 Illusions of Grandeur
• 1 Iroh, Tea Master
• 5 Island
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Keeper of the Accord
• 1 Kwain, Itinerant Meddler
• 1 Land Tax
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Mirrormade
• 1 Moderation
• 1 Monologue Tax
• 5 Mountain
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Mystic Monastery
• 1 Nine Lives
• 1 Noble Heritage
• 1 Orzhov Advokist
• 1 Paradox Haze
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Pendant of Prosperity
• 5 Plains
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Promise of Loyalty
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Psychosis Crawler
• 1 Puca's Mischief
• 1 Pyromancer's Swath
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Role Reversal
• 1 Rust Elemental
• 1 Shifting Grift
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Smuggler's Share
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Solitary Confinement
• 1 Sphinx of the Second Sun
• 1 Statecraft
• 1 Steel Golem
• 1 Stormcarved Coast
• 1 Sudden Substitution
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Creativity
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 Telepathy
• 1 Tenuous Truce
• 1 The Locust God
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Triskaidekaphile
• 1 Twenty-Toed Toad
• 1 Willie Lumpkin, Postman
• 1 Windborn Muse
• 1 Wrong Turn
• 1 Zedruu the Greathearted
• 1 Zidane, Tantalus Thief