Encroaching Darkness by OctalPlains

Format: Commander

Commander: Liesa, Shroud of Dusk

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 37

Deck overview

This deck is an Orzhov midrange control and tax strategy commanded by Liesa, Shroud of Dusk. The primary game plan accelerates into an early Liesa on Turn 4, using her passive 2-life tax per spell to punish fast combo lines, storm turns, and cheap interaction while offsetting self-inflicted life loss through her 5/5 flying lifelink body. Supporting permanents such as Rug of Smothering, Enduring Tenacity, and Sanguine Bond turn life gain into direct damage and escalate the cost of opposing plays. Defensive cornerstones like Phyrexian Vindicator, Phyrexian Obliterator, and Nomads en-Kor deter aggression by redirecting incoming damage back at opponents. Because Liesa pays commander tax in life rather than mana, the deck recovers rapidly from removal and maintains relentless attrition pressure through combat and passive drain, closing out games by Turn 8.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adagia, Windswept Bastion
  • 1 Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ash Barrens
  • 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
  • 1 Battle Angels of Tyr
  • 1 Blood Beckoning
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Break the Spell
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Charcoal Diamond
  • 1 Chrome Dome
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Cost of Brilliance
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought
  • 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
  • 1 Enduring Tenacity
  • 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
  • 1 Essence Channeler
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Forebear's Blade
  • 1 Gideon the Oathless
  • 1 Gideon's Sacrifice
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Greed
  • 1 Gwenom, Remorseless
  • 1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
  • 1 High Priest of Penance
  • 1 Inquisitor's Flail
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Karn, Argent Defender
  • 1 Kor Chant
  • 1 Liesa, Shroud of Dusk
  • 1 Marble Diamond
  • 1 Mask of Griselbrand
  • 1 Mister Negative
  • 1 Nemesis Mask
  • 1 Nomads en-Kor
  • 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
  • 1 Opal Palace
  • 1 Phial of Galadriel
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Phyrexian Obliterator
  • 1 Phyrexian Vindicator
  • 14 Plains
  • 1 Ratadrabik of Urborg
  • 1 Reprieve
  • 1 Rug of Smothering
  • 1 Sanguine Bond
  • 1 Scheming Silvertongue // Sign in Blood
  • 1 Serra Ascendant
  • 1 Shattered Sanctum
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spectral Steel
  • 1 Split Up
  • 1 Starfield Shepherd
  • 1 Susur Secundi, Void Altar
  • 1 Suture Priest
  • 8 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Temple of Silence
  • 1 The Cloning of Shredder
  • 1 The Mind Stone
  • 1 The One Ring
  • 1 The Soul Stone
  • 1 The Ten Rings
  • 1 Trespasser's Curse
  • 1 Turbulent Moor
  • 1 Umbral Expanse
  • 1 Valkyrie Harbinger
  • 1 Vault of the Archangel
  • 1 Vexing Bauble
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed
  • 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
  • 1 With Great Power . . .
  • 1 Your Temple Is Under Attack