Celes by JesseBear

Format: Commander

Commander: Celes, Rune Knight

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 55

Deck overview

This deck is a focused Mardu aristocrats combo deck piloted by Celes, Rune Knight. Celes acts as a +1/+1 counter engine from the command zone whenever creatures enter from the graveyard. This uniquely breaks the persist mechanic on creatures like Putrid Goblin, Lesser Masticore, Obstinate Gargoyle, and Murderous Redcap. Because the +1/+1 counter from Celes cancels the -1/-1 persist counter via state-based actions, any free sacrifice outlet creates an infinite loop. The deck leverages high-efficiency black tutors, Entomb effects, and cheap reanimation to assemble this three-piece engine by Turn 4. Support elements like Silence and Hexing Squelcher protect the win attempt, while cards like Goblin Bombardment, Mayhem Devil, and Elas il-Kor turn infinite loops into immediate lethal table damage.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Ad Nauseam
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Blazemire Verge
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Blood Pet
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Celes, Rune Knight
• 1 Chandra's Ignition
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Cloudshift
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Continue?
• 1 Culling the Weak
• 1 Dark Ritual
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Desolate Mire
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Drannith Magistrate
• 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• 1 Entomb
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Feed the Swarm
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Final Fortune
• 1 First Day of Class
• 1 Flicker of Fate
• 1 Goblin Bombardment
• 1 Goblin Matron
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Grave Researcher // Reanimate
• 1 Gravecrawler
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Hexing Squelcher
• 1 High Market
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Imperial Recruiter
• 1 Jolted Awake
• 1 Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire
• 1 Lesser Masticore
• 1 Lotus Petal
• 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
• 1 Mayhem Devil
• 1 Midgar, City of Mako // Reactor Raid
• 1 Molten Gatekeeper
• 2 Mountain
• 1 Murderous Redcap
• 1 Night's Whisper
• 1 Obstinate Gargoyle
• 1 Path to Exile
• 2 Plains
• 1 Priest of Fell Rites
• 1 Putrid Goblin
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer
• 1 Raphael, Tough Turtle
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Redirect Lightning
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Saw in Half
• 1 Shadowblood Ridge
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Silence
• 1 Skirk Prospector
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Springleaf Drum
• 1 Stitcher's Supplier
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 The Echoverse Fulcrum
• 1 Thrill of Possibility
• 1 Umbral Collar Zealot
• 1 Unbury
• 1 Underworld Breach
• 1 Unearth
• 1 Vampiric Tutor
• 1 Village Rites
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Warren Soultrader
• 1 Weftstalker Ardent
• 1 Wishclaw Talisman
• 1 Zombify
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat