Self Destruction by OctalPlains

Format: Commander

Commander: Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 39

Deck overview

This Rakdos deck centers on Xantcha, Sleeper Agent to establish early political combat pressure and card advantage. Cast reliably on Turn 3, Xantcha enters under an opponent's control, forcing them into aggressive attacks each turn while providing a repeatable {3} mana sink to draw cards and drain the controller's life total. The deck backs up this strategy with a robust suite of cheap combat pump spells like Bulk Up and Temur Battle Rage, turning Xantcha into a rapid commander-damage threat. To keep the engine alive across opponents' turns, the deck runs dense, low-mana protection and reanimation instants like Feign Death and Armor of Shadows, which return Xantcha under your ownership to be re-gifted. Mid-to-late game mana acceleration fuels massive card draw turns and transitions smoothly into closing threats like Ozai, the Phoenix King and Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Academic Dispute
  • 1 Ancestors' Aid
  • 1 Arc Reactor
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archenemy's Charm
  • 1 Armor of Shadows
  • 1 Barge In
  • 1 Bender's Waterskin
  • 1 Big Score
  • 1 Bulk Up
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Chainer, Nightmare Adept
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Cinder Marsh
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Cruel Grimnarch
  • 1 Cryptolith Fragment // Aurora of Emrakul
  • 1 Curse of Opulence
  • 1 Dark Fortress
  • 1 Dauntless Scrapbot
  • 1 Diabolic Tutor
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Dreadmaw's Ire
  • 1 Electro, Assaulting Battery
  • 1 Empowered Autogenerator
  • 1 Entropic Battlecruiser
  • 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
  • 1 Everflowing Chalice
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Fake Your Own Death
  • 1 Feign Death
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Fire Nation Occupation
  • 1 Fire Nation Palace
  • 1 Fireball
  • 1 Fists of Flame
  • 1 Foreboding Ruins
  • 1 Goldspan Dragon
  • 1 Imp's Mischief
  • 1 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
  • 1 Lightning Bolt
  • 1 Maximum Overdrive
  • 1 Midnight Assassin
  • 1 Mount Doom
  • 10 Mountain
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Ob Nixilis, the Adversary
  • 1 Offer Immortality
  • 1 Ozai, the Phoenix King
  • 1 Patron of the Arts
  • 1 Redirect Lightning
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Seize the Spoils
  • 1 Smite the Deathless
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
  • 1 Sozin's Comet
  • 1 Sulfurous Springs
  • 13 Swamp
  • 1 Temur Battle Rage
  • 1 The Death of Gwen Stacy
  • 1 The Eternity Elevator
  • 1 The Fire Nation Drill
  • 1 The Master of Lake-town
  • 1 Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
  • 1 Tormod's Crypt
  • 1 Trespasser's Curse
  • 1 Turbulent Crater
  • 1 Undying Evil
  • 1 Unexpected Windfall
  • 1 Unlikely Aid
  • 1 Vampire Nighthawk
  • 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
  • 1 Wild Magic Surge
  • 1 Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
  • 1 Zuko's Conviction