Ayara from wretched ranks by Budgetbrewer84

Format: Commander

Commander: Ayara, First of Locthwain

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 38

Deck overview

This mono-black aristocrats deck is commanded by Ayara, First of Locthwain, leveraging her enter-the-battlefield life drain and sacrifice-based card draw as a central value engine. The deck establishes early board presence through low-cost token generators such as Ophiomancer, Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, and Dreadhorde Invasion, converting disposable bodies into incremental card advantage and table-wide life loss. The primary win condition centers on resolving Plague of Vermin with Ayara in play to generate a massive burst of Rat tokens that immediately drains all opponents to zero. Alternatively, the deck can assemble a deterministic drain loop with Warren Soultrader, Gravecrawler, and an aristocrat payoff, or recur Gray Merchant of Asphodel. While the deck features dense creature removal and strong graveyard recovery, it has minimal proactive tax effects, zero stack countermagic, and relies on natural card flow due to an absence of direct tutors.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Army of the Damned
  • 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
  • 1 Barad-dûr
  • 1 Bastion of Remembrance
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Cabal Ritual
  • 1 Cabal Stronghold
  • 1 Carrion Feeder
  • 1 Charcoal Diamond
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Corrupted Conviction
  • 1 Cryptbreaker
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Defile
  • 1 Dread Return
  • 1 Dreadhorde Invasion
  • 1 Feed the Serpent
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Fleshbag Marauder
  • 1 Forever Young
  • 1 Ghoulcaller's Chant
  • 1 Ghoulish Procession
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 God-Eternal Bontu
  • 1 Grave Titan
  • 1 Gravecrawler
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Headless Rider
  • 1 Hero's Downfall
  • 1 High Market
  • 1 Infernal Grasp
  • 1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
  • 1 Leaden Myr
  • 1 Marionette Apprentice
  • 1 Midnight Reaper
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Mirkwood Bats
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 1 Mutilate
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Nadier's Nightblade
  • 1 Night's Whisper
  • 1 Ophiomancer
  • 1 Patchwork Banner
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Pawn of Ulamog
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
  • 1 Plague of Vermin
  • 1 Read the Bones
  • 1 Reassembling Skeleton
  • 1 Sanguine Bond
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Smothering Abomination
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 27 Swamp
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Tragic Slip
  • 1 Umbral Collar Zealot
  • 1 Undead Augur
  • 1 Unearth
  • 1 Vampiric Rites
  • 1 Victim of Night
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Viscera Seer
  • 1 Warren Soultrader
  • 1 Witch's Cottage
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat