Celes by Jazzalchemist

Format: Commander

Commander: Celes, Rune Knight

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 44

Deck overview

This deck is a focused Mardu aristocrats combo engine commanded by Celes, Rune Knight. The primary strategy leverages Celes's triggered ability, which places a +1/+1 counter on every creature you control whenever a creature enters from the graveyard. When paired with any persist creature—such as Murderous Redcap, Putrid Goblin, Lesser Masticore, Obstinate Gargoyle, or Puppeteer Clique—and a free sacrifice outlet like Ashnod's Altar, Phantom Train, or Umbral Collar Zealot, the +1/+1 counter immediately removes the persist -1/-1 counter via state-based actions. This establishes an infinite loop that yields infinite damage, infinite mana, or infinite life drain via payoffs like Blood Artist, Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, Mayhem Devil, and Zulaport Cutthroat. Supported by efficient graveyard enablers including Entomb, Buried Alive, and low-cost reanimation spells, the deck reliably assembles its winning loop by Turn 5 while using Silence and spot removal to safeguard its execution.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
  • 1 Anger
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Battlefield Forge
  • 1 Big Score
  • 1 Blackcleave Cliffs
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Carrion Feeder
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Celes, Rune Knight
  • 1 Chainer, Nightmare Adept
  • 1 Clifftop Retreat
  • 1 Cloudshift
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Concealed Courtyard
  • 1 Crackling Doom
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Desolate Mire
  • 1 Diabolic Intent
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Ephemerate
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Fetid Heath
  • 1 Gau, Feral Youth
  • 1 General Leo Cristophe
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Graven Cairns
  • 1 High Market
  • 1 Impact Tremors
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire
  • 1 Lesser Masticore
  • 1 Locke, Treasure Hunter
  • 1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
  • 1 Luminous Broodmoth
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Marionette Apprentice
  • 1 Mayhem Devil
  • 1 Midgar, City of Mako // Reactor Raid
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 3 Mountain
  • 1 Murderous Redcap
  • 1 Obstinate Gargoyle
  • 1 Orzhov Signet
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Persist
  • 1 Phantom Train
  • 1 Pitiless Plunderer
  • 4 Plains
  • 1 Priest of Fell Rites
  • 1 Puppeteer Clique
  • 1 Putrid Goblin
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Ripples of Undeath
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Ruinous Ultimatum
  • 1 Sacred Foundry
  • 1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel
  • 1 Sevinne's Reclamation
  • 1 Shadowblood Ridge
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Silence
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Squall, SeeD Mercenary
  • 1 Stitch Together
  • 1 Stitcher's Supplier
  • 1 Sulfurous Springs
  • 1 Sun Titan
  • 1 Sundown Pass
  • 3 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
  • 1 Talisman of Conviction
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Indulgence
  • 1 Terminate
  • 1 Terra, Herald of Hope
  • 1 Touch the Spirit Realm
  • 1 Umbral Collar Zealot
  • 1 Unearth
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Vincent's Limit Break