Xanathar, the annoyance by w1zardbeard

Format: Commander

Commander: Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 25

Deck overview

This deck is a classic Dimir control and theft strategy commanded by Xanathar, Guild Kingpin. The deck focuses on developing mana rocks on the early turns while deploying cheap spot removal and counterspells to disrupt opposing plans. Once the mana base is established, the deck casts Xanathar to lock individual opponents out of interacting on your turn while casting their topdecks for value. Secondary win conditions include Consuming Aberration, which scales into a massive threat as spells are cast, Painful Quandary to punish spellcasts, and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet to build an army of Zombie tokens while exiling opposing creatures. The deck excels at controlling the stack and picking off key creatures, but it lacks fast acceleration or compact combo finishes, winning instead through late-game attrition and sustained combat damage.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Arcane Denial
  • 1 Archfiend of Ifnir
  • 1 Baleful Mastery
  • 1 Bitter Triumph
  • 1 Blasphemous Edict
  • 1 Brainstorm
  • 1 Charcoal Diamond
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Confusticate and Bebother
  • 1 Consuming Aberration
  • 1 Contingency Plan
  • 1 Convolute
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Deny Existence
  • 1 Dimir Guildgate
  • 1 Dismal Backwater
  • 1 Dispel
  • 1 Divination
  • 1 Duress
  • 1 Dutiful Return
  • 1 Elven Passage
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Flow State
  • 1 Frozen in Ice
  • 1 Giant's Boulder
  • 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
  • 1 Gonti, Night Minister
  • 1 Grave Researcher // Reanimate
  • 1 Hero's Downfall
  • 1 Hobbit Hole
  • 1 Imprisoned in the Moon
  • 1 Induce Paranoia
  • 1 Infernal Grasp
  • 10 Island
  • 1 Jace, the Living Guildpact
  • 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
  • 1 Library of Leng
  • 1 Manalith
  • 1 Mind Drill Assailant
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Morbid Plunder
  • 1 Murder
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Niblis of Frost
  • 1 Nighthawk Scavenger
  • 1 Null Summoner
  • 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
  • 1 Opt
  • 1 Painful Quandary
  • 1 Pilfer
  • 1 Pull from the Deep
  • 1 Quick Study
  • 1 Refute
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Scent of Brine
  • 1 Seasoned Cryomancer
  • 1 Seeker's Folly
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Submerged Boneyard
  • 14 Swamp
  • 1 Sword of Once and Future
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 Theorix Annex
  • 1 Think Twice
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Treno, Dark City
  • 1 Uldaros Theorix
  • 1 Unbury
  • 1 Vile Entomber
  • 1 Voracious Tome-Skimmer
  • 1 Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
  • 1 Zombify