Szarel, Genesis Shepherd by hdanner

Format: Commander

Commander: Szarel, Genesis Shepherd

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is a Jund "lands matter" deck helmed by Szarel, Genesis Shepherd, but the actual engine of the deck is the classic Windgrace-style shell: mass land ramp, land sacrifice, graveyard recursion, and huge token payoffs. Szarel functions primarily as a sacrifice payoff that turns each sacrificed nontoken permanent (especially lands and creatures) into +1/+1 counters on a key attacker, while the deck's many land-sacrifice outlets (Nahiri's Lithoforming, Zuran Orb, Evendo Brushrazer) fuel both his counter generation and the graveyard-reanimation payoffs like Splendid Reclamation, Titania, Protector of Argoth, and Omnath, Locus of Rage. Hidden commanders include The Gitrog Monster, Lord Windgrace, Soul of Windgrace, and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King - each provides the draw, land recursion, or sacrifice payoff that Szarel only partially replaces. The deck wins primarily through incremental token beatdown plus direct damage from Mayhem Devil, Omnath, Locus of Rage, and Valakut Exploration, with a multi-combat landfall kill via Moraug, Fury of Akoum as its fastest outlet.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Aftermath Analyst
• 1 Augur of Autumn
• 1 Baloth Prime
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Binding the Old Gods
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1 Brotherhood's End
• 1 Cabaretti Courtyard
• 1 Canyon Slough
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Dakmor Salvage
• 1 Disorienting Choice
• 1 Escape Tunnel
• 1 Escape to the Wilds
• 1 Eumidian Hatchery
• 1 Eumidian Wastewaker
• 1 Evendo Brushrazer
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exploration Broodship
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Festering Thicket
• 8 Forest
• 1 Gaze of Granite
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Hearthhull, the Worldseed
• 1 Horizon Explorer
• 1 Infernal Grasp
• 1 Juri, Master of the Revue
• 1 Karplusan Forest
• 1 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Lord Windgrace
• 1 Lotus Cobra
• 1 Maestros Theater
• 1 Mayhem Devil
• 1 Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
• 1 Mightform Harmonizer
• 1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Mountain Valley
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Nahiri's Lithoforming
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Night's Whisper
• 1 Omnath, Locus of Rage
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Pest Infestation
• 1 Planetary Annihilation
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Rampaging Baloths
• 1 Ramunap Excavator
• 1 Riveteers Overlook
• 1 Rocky Tar Pit
• 1 Roiling Regrowth
• 1 Scouring Swarm
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Soul of Windgrace
• 1 Splendid Reclamation
• 1 Springbloom Druid
• 1 Springheart Nantuko
• 1 Sprouting Goblin
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1 Szarel, Genesis Shepherd
• 1 Tear Asunder
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 The Gitrog Monster
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
• 1 Twilight Mire
• 1 Valakut Exploration
• 1 Vernal Fen
• 1 Viridescent Bog
• 1 Wastes
• 1 Will of the Sultai
• 1 Windgrace's Judgment
• 1 Worldsoul's Rage
• 1 Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
• 1 Zuran Orb