Ares by PeterKlepec

Format: Commander

Commander: Ares, God of War

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 32

Deck overview

This deck is an aggressive Rakdos combat and aristocrat strategy piloted by Ares, God of War. The primary game plan revolves around exploiting Ares's trigger, which returns any attacking creature that dies back to its owner's hand. By pairing Ares with high-power, self-sacrificing 'dash' creatures such as Ball Lightning, Arc Runner, and Lightning Skelemental, the deck creates a relentless engine of recurring trample damage and enter-the-battlefield or death triggers without suffering card disadvantage. The game plan accelerates on Turn 4 upon deploying an attacker alongside Ares, reaching a must-answer state on Turn 5 as cards like Grave Pact, Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos, or Embercleave force heavy table attrition. The deck steadily burns through opposing life totals via recursive combat swings, forced combat, and drain effects from Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, reliably closing out the game around Turn 8 while maintaining backup pressure through independent threats like Sneak Attack and Gisa, Glorious Resurrector.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Agitator Ant
  • 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
  • 1 Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos
  • 1 Arc Runner
  • 1 Arena of Glory
  • 1 Ares, God of War
  • 1 Ball Lightning
  • 1 Balor
  • 1 Bedevil
  • 1 Blackcleave Cliffs
  • 1 Blasphemous Act
  • 1 Blazemire Verge
  • 1 Blazing Crescendo
  • 1 Blistering Firecat
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Chainsaw
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Corrupted Conviction
  • 1 Curse of Opulence
  • 1 Dark Prophecy
  • 1 Demonic Ruckus
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Dreadhorde Butcher
  • 1 Embercleave
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Faithless Looting
  • 1 Fists of the Demigod
  • 1 Foreboding Ruins
  • 1 Garna, Bloodfist of Keld
  • 1 Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
  • 1 Grave Pact
  • 1 Graven Cairns
  • 1 Greedy Freebooter
  • 1 Haunted Ridge
  • 1 Impetuous Devils
  • 1 Jet Medallion
  • 1 Kardur, Doomscourge
  • 1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
  • 1 Kratos, God of War
  • 1 Lagomos, Hand of Hatred
  • 1 Legion Loyalist
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Lightning Skelemental
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Mages' Contest
  • 1 Mass Hysteria
  • 1 Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 12 Mountain
  • 1 Perforating Artist
  • 1 Port Razer
  • 1 RMS Titanic
  • 1 Rabid Attack
  • 1 Rakdos Carnarium
  • 1 Rakdos Charm
  • 1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
  • 1 Rite of the Raging Storm
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Rot-Curse Rakshasa
  • 1 Ruby Medallion
  • 1 Shadow, Mysterious Assassin
  • 1 Shiny Impetus
  • 1 Slaughter Specialist
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sneak Attack
  • 1 Soul Shatter
  • 1 Stormfist Crusader
  • 1 Sudden Spoiling
  • 1 Sulfurous Springs
  • 10 Swamp
  • 1 The Fire Crystal
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Two-Handed Axe // Sweeping Cleave
  • 1 Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
  • 1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat