Ayara, First of Locthwain by goodgrief123

Format: Commander

Commander: Ayara, First of Locthwain

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 28

Deck overview

This deck is a classic Mono-Black Aristocrats strategy built around Ayara, First of Locthwain. The game plan revolves around generating continuous creature tokens and looping recursive threats from the graveyard to trigger Ayara's enter-the-battlefield life drain while drawing cards. Supported by sacrifice engines like Warren Soultrader and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, the deck steadily whittles down opponent life totals while keeping your own life buffer high. As the game transitions into the mid-to-late turns, high-impact finishers such as Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Bolas's Citadel turn incremental value into decisive, table-wide lethal bursts. The deck features strong creature removal and punishing tax effects like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Orcish Bowmasters, but it trades away fast mana acceleration and countermagic in favor of deep board-based synergy, recursion, and resilient grind potential.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Aetherflux Reservoir
  • 1 Alhammarret's Archive
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Asylum Visitor
  • 1 Auntie's Sentence
  • 1 Ayara's Oathsworn
  • 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
  • 1 Bitter Triumph
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Blasphemous Edict
  • 1 Bloodghast
  • 1 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Bolas's Citadel
  • 1 Boom Box
  • 1 Cabal Stronghold
  • 1 Carrion Feeder
  • 1 Castle Locthwain
  • 1 Claws of Gix
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Diabolic Edict
  • 1 Disciple of Bolas
  • 1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
  • 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
  • 1 Gilded Lotus
  • 1 Gravecrawler
  • 1 Gravedig
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Gríma Wormtongue
  • 1 Imp's Mischief
  • 1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
  • 1 Liliana's Caress
  • 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
  • 1 Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
  • 1 Mai, Scornful Striker
  • 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Mirkwood Bats
  • 1 Mornsong Aria
  • 1 Nyx Lotus
  • 1 Ophiomancer
  • 1 Orcish Bowmasters
  • 1 Overkill
  • 1 Phyrexian Altar
  • 1 Phyrexian Tower
  • 1 Pitiless Plunderer
  • 1 Plaguecrafter
  • 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reassembling Skeleton
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Susurian Voidborn
  • 28 Swamp
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 1 The Dross Pits
  • 1 The Meathook Massacre
  • 1 Twilight Prophet
  • 1 Umbral Collar Zealot
  • 1 Urza's Cave
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Viscera Seer
  • 1 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
  • 1 Warren Soultrader
  • 1 Witch's Cottage
  • 1 Witch-king of Angmar
  • 1 Withering Torment
  • 1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat