The Dark Lord has Returned by insipidintrepid23

Format: Commander

Commander: Sauron, the Dark Lord

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 64

Deck overview

This deck is a high-power Grixis Reanimator Combo strategy commanded by Sauron, the Dark Lord. It blends rapid graveyard combo lines with asymmetric wheels and efficient interaction. The primary win condition revolves around putting Worldgorger Dragon into the graveyard via Entomb or discard outlets, then reanimating it with Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, or Necromancy. This initiates an infinite loop of permanent flickers, producing unbounded mana and untapping lands repeatedly. The deck converts this loop into an immediate table kill using Mount Doom damage triggers or by drawing and casting Thassa's Oracle. If graveyard lines are contested, the deck seamlessly transitions to Doomsday piles, Peer into the Abyss, or asymmetric hand-stripping with Notion Thief and wheel effects. A comprehensive suite of free and low-cost countermagic—including Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship, and Flusterstorm—protects the combo execution while disrupting opposing attempts to race or interact.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Denial
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Barad-dûr
  • 1 Bitterbloom Bearer
  • 1 Blazemire Verge
  • 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodchief Ascension
  • 1 Brainstorm
  • 1 Call of the Ring
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consecrated Sphinx
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Dance of the Dead
  • 1 Dark Deal
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Decorum Dissertation
  • 1 Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Dictate of Erebos
  • 1 Doctor Doom, Unrivaled
  • 1 Doomsday
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Faerie Mastermind
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 Flare of Duplication
  • 1 Flusterstorm
  • 1 Folio of Fancies
  • 1 Force of Will
  • 1 Gitaxian Probe
  • 1 Hidden Lair
  • 4 Island
  • 1 Isochron Scepter
  • 1 Jace's Archivist
  • 1 Ledger Shredder
  • 1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Maha, Its Feathers Night
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Minas Morgul, Dark Fortress
  • 1 Morphic Pool
  • 1 Mount Doom
  • 2 Mountain
  • 1 Narset's Reversal
  • 1 Necromancy
  • 1 Nekusar, the Mindrazer
  • 1 Notion Thief
  • 1 Ophiomancer
  • 1 Opposition Agent
  • 1 Orcish Bowmasters
  • 1 Peer into the Abyss
  • 1 Phyrexian Altar
  • 1 Polluted Delta
  • 1 Psychic Frog
  • 1 Quantum Riddler
  • 1 Raphael's Technique
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Reforge the Soul
  • 1 Relic of Sauron
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
  • 1 Sauron, the Dark Lord
  • 1 Scalding Tarn
  • 1 Scheming Symmetry
  • 1 Sensei's Divining Top
  • 1 Sheoldred's Edict
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Steam Vents
  • 1 Stormcarved Coast
  • 1 Sulfur Falls
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 2 Swamp
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Thassa's Oracle
  • 1 The One Ring
  • 1 Torment of Hailfire
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Training Center
  • 1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Waste Not
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Wheel of Misfortune
  • 1 Whispering Madness
  • 1 Windfall
  • 1 Worldgorger Dragon
  • 1 Xander's Lounge