Balrog, Prince of Darkness by pat10

Format: Commander

Commander: The Balrog, Durin's Bane

Bracket: 4

Deck overview

This Rakdos sacrifice deck builds a Treasure engine and uses The Balrog, Durin's Bane as a hasty, discounted finisher. You create Treasures with Professional Face-Breaker, Goldspan Dragon, Pitiless Plunderer, Xorn and Black Market Connections, then sacrifice them to reduce Balrog's cost and fuel value. Balrog attacks the turn you cast it and is unblockable except by legends, while its death trigger removes a key artifact or creature. Secondary paths win without combat through Mirkwood Bats and Mayhem Devil drains that trigger on every token creation or sacrifice. The only true infinite is Phyrexian Altar + Pitiless Plunderer + Balrog, which loops sacrifices for infinite death triggers and Treasures to close with Bats or Devil.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Academy Manufactor
• 1 Ancient Copper Dragon
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Arena of Glory
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Black Market Connections
• 1 Blasphemous Edict
• 1 Blazemire Verge
• 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Bolt Bend
• 1 Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 1 Chandra's Ignition
• 1 Command Beacon
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Crime Novelist
• 1 Dark Fortress
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Deflecting Swat
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Feed the Swarm
• 1 Fiery Emancipation
• 1 Flare of Malice
• 1 Gimli of the Glittering Caves
• 1 Gimli's Reckless Might
• 1 Goldlust Triad
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Grim Hireling
• 1 High Market
• 1 Impulsive Pilferer
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Lich-Knights' Conquest
• 1 Liquimetal Torque
• 1 Lively Dirge
• 1 Long-Range Sensor
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
• 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
• 1 Mayhem Devil
• 1 Mines of Moria
• 1 Mirkwood Bats
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Obsessive Pursuit
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Plundering Barbarian
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Prosper, Tome-Bound
• 1 Rain of Riches
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Rankle and Torbran
• 1 Rocky Tar Pit
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider
• 1 Seize the Spotlight
• 1 Shadowblood Ridge
• 1 Skullport Merchant
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Soul Shatter
• 1 Spiteful Banditry
• 1 Sticky Fingers
• 1 Sudden Spoiling
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 1 Supernatural Stamina
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Peak
• 1 The Balrog, Durin's Bane
• 1 The Black Gate
• 1 Tibalt's Trickery
• 1 Treasure Vault
• 1 Undying Malice
• 1 Unexpected Windfall
• 1 Untimely Malfunction
• 1 Victimize
• 1 Withering Torment
• 1 Xorn