Zedruu Bad Gifts by James803

Format: Commander

Commander: Zedruu the Greathearted

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 36

Deck overview

This deck is a Jeskai donation control build helmed by Zedruu the Greathearted. The strategy focuses on establishing early mana development, deploying defensive pillowfort enchantments, and giving away detrimental permanents to opponents. By transferring cards like Steel Golem, Aggressive Mining, and Pyromancer's Swath, the deck disrupts opposing game plans while generating substantial life gain and card advantage through Zedruu's upkeep ability. The deck converts this resource advantage into lethal wins by donating game-ending permanents such as Transcendence, Thought Lash, and Illusions of Grandeur. With 12 alternative transfer spells in the 99, the deck maintains high functional independence even if the commander is removed. Interactive cards like Sudden Substitution, Dovin's Veto, and Swords to Plowshares protect the engine and disrupt fast combos. While the deck executes lethal sequences sequentially against one player at a time, its layered defenses and potent asymmetric stax pieces allow it to control the table effectively.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 Aggressive Mining
  • 1 Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Arid Mesa
  • 1 Battlefield Forge
  • 1 Bazaar Trader
  • 1 Blasphemous Act
  • 1 Boros Signet
  • 1 Brand
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Coveted Falcon
  • 1 Coveted Jewel
  • 1 Cultural Exchange
  • 1 Curse of Exhaustion
  • 1 Daring Thief
  • 1 Delaying Shield
  • 1 Donate
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Geist of Saint Thalia
  • 1 Ghostly Prison
  • 1 Gilded Drake
  • 1 Goldnight Castigator
  • 1 Grid Monitor
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Harmless Offering
  • 1 Homeward Path
  • 1 Howling Mine
  • 1 Humble Defector
  • 1 Illusions of Grandeur
  • 1 Iroh, Tea Master
  • 14 Island
  • 1 Jinxed Choker
  • 1 Jinxed Idol
  • 1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
  • 1 Khârn the Betrayer
  • 1 Lich's Mirror
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Mirror Shield
  • 7 Mountain
  • 1 Negate
  • 1 Nine Lives
  • 1 Pendant of Prosperity
  • 1 Perplexing Chimera
  • 2 Plains
  • 1 Propaganda
  • 1 Puca's Mischief
  • 1 Pumpkin Bombs
  • 1 Pyromancer's Swath
  • 1 Rainbow Vale
  • 1 Raugrin Triome
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Role Reversal
  • 1 Sacred Foundry
  • 1 Scalding Tarn
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Shifting Grift
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spectator Seating
  • 1 Statecraft
  • 1 Steam Vents
  • 1 Steel Golem
  • 1 Stiltzkin, Moogle Merchant
  • 1 Sudden Substitution
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Conviction
  • 1 Talisman of Creativity
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 Tel-Jilad Stylus
  • 1 Thought Lash
  • 1 Transcendence
  • 1 Wild Research
  • 1 Wrong Turn
  • 1 Yes Man, Personal Securitron
  • 1 Zedruu the Greathearted
  • 1 Zidane, Tantalus Thief