Secret Santa by dnefstead01

Format: Commander

Creator: dnefstead01

Commander: Gonti, Night Minister

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 29

Deck overview

This deck is a mono-black combat theft engine led by Gonti, Night Minister. The deck deploys low-cost evasive creatures on early turns, including shadow, flying, and unblockable threats like Dauthi Slayer and Tormented Soul. When Gonti hits the board on Turn 4, these evasive creatures connect with opponents to exile their cards face down and generate Treasure tokens whenever those stolen spells are cast. This creates substantial repeatable card advantage and mana velocity. By Turn 7, the deck pivots into must-answer game threats such as Elder Brain, Thieving Amalgam, and Arvinox, the Mind Flail, using opponents' own win conditions alongside mono-black drain finishers like Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Exsanguinate. While the deck generates high card flow, its reliance on combat damage over multiple turn cycles and its vulnerability to sweepers make its clock measured rather than explosive.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Afterlife from the Loam
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Arvinox, the Mind Flail
  • 1 Bastion of Remembrance
  • 1 Battlefly Swarm
  • 1 Bismuth Mindrender
  • 1 Bubbling Muck
  • 1 Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake
  • 1 Consuming Corruption
  • 1 Cunning Rhetoric
  • 1 Dalek Squadron
  • 1 Dauthi Slayer
  • 1 Doom Blade
  • 1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
  • 1 Dream-Thief's Bandana
  • 1 Elder Brain
  • 1 Elegy Acolyte
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Faerie Dreamthief
  • 1 Fake Your Own Death
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
  • 1 Gingerbrute
  • 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
  • 1 Goldvein Pick
  • 1 Gonti, Night Minister
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Infernal Grasp
  • 1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Corsair
  • 1 K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Kain, Traitorous Dragoon
  • 1 Lantern of Insight
  • 1 Lethal Scheme
  • 1 Lobelia, Defender of Bag End
  • 1 Marionette Apprentice
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Misinformation
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 1 Mutilate
  • 1 Nether Traitor
  • 1 Night's Whisper
  • 1 Nighthawk Scavenger
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Predators' Hour
  • 1 Prickly Boggart
  • 1 Rankle, Master of Pranks
  • 1 River Song's Diary
  • 1 Shadow Alley Denizen
  • 1 Sheoldred's Edict
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Stirge
  • 37 Swamp
  • 1 Thieving Amalgam
  • 1 Thieving Varmint
  • 1 Tormented Soul
  • 1 Tragic Slip
  • 1 Vampire Cutthroat
  • 1 Vault Skirge
  • 1 Vincent's Limit Break
  • 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
  • 1 World Map
  • 1 Worn Powerstone