The Ruinous Powers Upgrade Guide: Fuel Abaddon's Cascade Before Combat

The Ruinous Powers wants you to play archenemy in Grixis colors: deal damage across the table, use [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] to give every spell in your hand cascade, and bury the pod in six-mana Demons led by [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]] and [[Bloodthirster]]. Out of the box, the deck trips over its own lore. It splits its 99 across four competing Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Gods, runs twenty-eight spells that cost five or more mana alongside six unconditionally tapped lands, and forces Abaddon to survive a full turn cycle unprotected and connect in combat before you get a single cascade trigger.

If you only buy one card for this deck, make it [[Loyal Subordinate]] ($0.27). At the start of combat on your turn, if you control Abaddon, it makes each opponent lose 3 life. In a four-player pod, that is 9 total life lost before blockers are even declared, unlocking cascade on almost every card in your hand.

• $25 (31 swaps, $24.57): Adds precombat group pingers, haste boots, Demon cost reduction, and six untapped dual lands so Abaddon cascades the turn he enters.
• $50 (32 swaps, $49.21): Layers on exile multipliers like [[Nalfeshnee]], [[Ancient Cellarspawn]], [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]], and [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] to copy cascaded Demons and refund mana.
• $100 (33 swaps, $98.20): Turns every 1-damage ping into impulse draw and lethal burn with [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]], [[Passionate Archaeologist]], and [[Descent into Avernus]].

Each tier stands on its own as a complete 100-card upgrade, so jump straight to the budget that fits your wallet.

Why the Precon Stalls: The 3x Life-Loss Multiplier

Play the stock list once and you feel the bottleneck on turn five. You tap five mana across three colors to cast [[Abaddon the Despoiler]], then pass the turn with your shields down. [[Herald of Slaanesh]] only grants haste to Demons, and Abaddon is an Astartes Warrior. If anyone points a removal spell at your commander before your Turn 6 combat damage step, you get zero cascades and spend Turn 6 paying seven mana to try again. Even [[Great Unclean One]], the precon's signature life-loss Demon, waits until your end step to drain opponents, when you can no longer cast creatures, artifacts, or sorceries from your hand.

The fix hides in the exact wording of Abaddon's Mark of Chaos Ascendant: X is the total amount of life your opponents have lost this turn. He doesn't care how much life one player lost. In a four-player pod, an effect that deals 1 damage to each opponent sets X to 3. An effect that makes each opponent lose 3 life sets X to 9. Better still, Abaddon doesn't cap you at one cascade per turn, and both his threshold check and cascade itself check a spell's printed mana value rather than the mana you paid. When you replace the precon's self-harm and donate gimmicks with cheap group pingers and cost-reduced Demons, X climbs before combat and keeps growing with every spell you resolve.

How the Deck Wins

[[Abaddon the Despoiler]] is your engine, not your finisher. His job is to turn every point of opponent life loss into free spells from the top of your library. Those cascaded spells feed three overlapping ways to close out the table:

• Demon Entrance Burn: With [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]] or [[Warstorm Surge]] on the battlefield, every Demon you cast from your hand and every Demon you flip off cascade deals damage equal to its power to any target on entry, burning out opponents while raising Abaddon's X mid-turn.
• Exile Cast Payoffs: Cascading casts the revealed card directly from exile. [[Keeper of Secrets]] turns every spell cast from outside your hand into targeted damage equal to its mana value, while [[The Lost and the Damned]] creates a 3/3 red Spawn token every time.
• Extra Combats and Discounted Haymakers: [[Bloodthirster]] untaps and creates an additional combat phase each time it deals combat damage to a different opponent, swinging for up to 18 flying trample damage in a single turn. After a brawl, discounted spells like [[Blood for the Blood God!]] (mana value 11) and [[Blasphemous Act]] (mana value 9) cost a couple of mana while cascading into your biggest threats.

Say you untap with [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] and [[Thermo-Alchemist]] on the board. You tap [[Thermo-Alchemist]] for zero mana to deal 1 damage to each of your three opponents. X is now 3. You cast a two-mana [[Talisman of Indulgence]] from your hand, cascading into [[Boltwave]], which deals 3 damage to each opponent and adds 9 to X. Now X is 12 before combat has even started, and the six-mana [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]] in your hand has cascade.

$25 Upgrade: Precombat Pingers and Demon Discounts

The $25 tier solves the precon's two biggest headaches: needing combat damage to turn on [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] and bricking on situational low-mana cascades. Because the best group pingers and cost-reduction Demons cost well under a dollar each, $24.57 is enough to swap 31 cards, rebuild the early curve, and replace six slow lands.

Card image loading Loyal Subordinate Commander Masters #172

Card image loading Rakdos, Lord of Riots Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander #230

Card image loading Thermo-Alchemist Innistrad Remastered #174

Card image loading Unstable Amulet Modern Horizons 3 #142

Card image loading Lightning Greaves Marvel Super Heroes Commander #202

Card image loading Demonlord Belzenlok Commander Masters #151

Your first priority is getting Abaddon's X threshold off the ground before combat. [[Stormfist Crusader]], [[Spawn of Mayhem]], and [[Sanctum of Stone Fangs]] trigger automatically on your upkeep or at the beginning of your first main phase, making each opponent lose 1 life so X starts at 3 every turn without spending a single mana. [[Thermo-Alchemist]] taps for zero mana to deal 1 damage to each opponent (another +3 to X) and untaps whenever you cast an instant or sorcery. Once you start casting spells, [[Firebrand Archer]] and [[Coruscation Mage]] ping each opponent for 1 on every noncreature spell, turning a two-mana rock into a cascade enabler, while [[Unstable Amulet]] deals 1 damage to each opponent whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand. Every time a cascade resolves off [[Unstable Amulet]], X jumps by 3 for the next card still in your hand.

When you move to combat, [[Loyal Subordinate]] breaks the math wide open. Its Lieutenant trigger fires at the beginning of combat on your turn while you control Abaddon, causing each opponent to lose 3 life. In a four-player pod, X hits 9 before blockers are even declared, and you can immediately fire off instant-speed cascades or wait until your second main phase to unload your hand. To make sure Abaddon stays on the table to see that trigger, [[Lightning Greaves]] and [[Swiftfoot Boots]] give him the haste and hexproof or shroud protection that [[Herald of Slaanesh]] leaves out. Both pairs of boots sit at mana value 2, making them stellar proactive hits whenever you cascade off a three-drop.

Once X is high, the second half of this tier abuses the gap between printed mana value and mana paid. [[Rakdos, Lord of Riots]] is a 6/6 flying trampling Demon that reduces the generic mana cost of your creature spells by 1 for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn. If [[Loyal Subordinate]] or [[Boltwave]] pushed X to 9, [[Demonlord Belzenlok]] costs just {B}{B}, [[Kardur, Doomscourge]] costs {B}{R}, and [[Balor]] costs {R}{R}, yet Abaddon still cascades from their full printed mana values of 6, 4, and 5. [[Dig Through Time]] and [[Curtains' Call]] pull the same trick with spells: exiling six cards from your graveyard lets you cast [[Dig Through Time]] for {U}{U} to trigger an eight-mana cascade when X is 8 or more, while [[Curtains' Call]] costs {2}{B} in a four-player pod and cascades for 6.

You will face a key sequencing choice on turns five and six: whether to fire off a small precombat spell at X = 3 or hold your mana until postcombat when X is 8 or higher. If you have [[Unstable Amulet]], [[Firebrand Archer]], or [[Coruscation Mage]] on the battlefield, start casting in your first main phase. A two-mana [[Arcane Signet]] or [[Fellwar Stone]] cascades into a one-mana [[Sol Ring]] or [[Boltwave]], triggering your pinger to raise X by at least 3 and leaving you with more mana and a higher X before you even declare attackers. If your board lacks spell-cast pingers, swing with Abaddon or trigger [[Loyal Subordinate]] first so your five- and six-mana Demons get the cascade trigger.

To make room, we cut the precon's lore misfits and cascade traps. [[Mortarion, Daemon Primarch]] cares about life you lost rather than life your opponents lost, and [[Khârn the Betrayer]] hands himself to an opponent the first time he takes a point of damage. [[Lucius the Eternal]], [[Helbrute]], [[Knight Rampager]], and [[Mutalith Vortex Beast]] lack the Demon creature type for [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]] and [[Herald of Slaanesh]], so they step aside for true Demons in [[Demonlord Belzenlok]], [[Hidetsugu and Kairi]], [[Kardur, Doomscourge]], and [[Balor]]. We also purge low-curve cascade whiffs like [[Nurgle's Rot]], [[Reverberate]], and [[Bile Blight]] so your one- and two-mana cascades always hit live mana, cards, or unconditional removal like [[Terminate]] and [[Rakdos Charm]]. [[Let the Galaxy Burn]] is a trap in a cascade deck because cascading into it forces X to be 0 for a pitiful 2 damage to your own board; [[Volcanic Torrent]] replaces it with a one-sided sweeper that has cascade built in. Finally, three painlands ([[Sulfurous Springs]], [[Underground River]], [[Shivan Reef]]) and three checklands ([[Dragonskull Summit]], [[Drowned Catacomb]], [[Sulfur Falls]]) replace [[Temple of the False God]], [[Molten Slagheap]], and four taplands. Instead of waiting until Turn 6 to pray Abaddon connects, the deck now turns on cascade before combat, discounts its Demons to their colored pips, and chains two or three free spells a turn.

$50 Upgrade: Double Cascades and Exile Multipliers

Once [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] is reliably cascading every turn, the next step is multiplying what happens when a spell leaves exile. The $50 tier keeps the $25 precombat engine intact: [[Loyal Subordinate]] still drains the pod for 9 life at the start of combat, [[Rakdos, Lord of Riots]] discounts your creatures by total opponent life lost, [[Thermo-Alchemist]] and [[Unstable Amulet]] ping the table to grow X, and [[Lightning Greaves]] gives Abaddon zero-mana haste and shroud. On top of that foundation, we add four exile-cast haymakers and three upgraded dual lands.

Card image loading Nalfeshnee Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate #678

Card image loading Ancient Cellarspawn Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander #16

Card image loading Wild-Magic Sorcerer Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate #816

Card image loading Prosper, Tome-Bound Forgotten Realms Commander #2

Card image loading Stormcarved Coast Secrets of Strixhaven #263

Out of the box, each cascade gives you one free card and stops there unless you hit one of the precon's few native cascade spells. [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]] changes the math by granting cascade to the first spell you cast from exile each turn. When you cast a six-mana Demon from your hand with Abaddon active, the spell you flip from exile immediately cascades a second time into an even cheaper spell. That single hand cast now puts three spells onto the stack and triggers [[Keeper of Secrets]], [[The Lost and the Damned]], and [[Unstable Amulet]] twice each.

[[Nalfeshnee]] pushes your exile casts even further. This 4/6 flying Demon copies every spell you cast from exile, and if the copied spell is a permanent, the copy enters as a hasty token that you sacrifice at the beginning of the end step. Cascade into a nonlegendary Demon like [[Chaos Defiler]], [[Lord of Change]], [[Spawn of Mayhem]], or [[Bloodthirster]], and you get two of them for the turn, doubling any entrance triggers and firing [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]]'s burn ability twice. Even if you cascade into a legendary Demon like [[Demonlord Belzenlok]], [[Kardur, Doomscourge]], or [[Hidetsugu and Kairi]], the token copy resolves first and triggers both its own entrance ability and [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]] before the legend rule asks you to put one into your graveyard. With [[Hidetsugu and Kairi]], letting the token die to the legend rule immediately triggers its death ability on the spot to drain an opponent and cast an instant or sorcery from the top of your library for free.

While [[Nalfeshnee]] and [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]] multiply your board, [[Ancient Cellarspawn]] and [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] turn every cascade into life loss and mana. [[Ancient Cellarspawn]] reduces the cost of your Demon and Horror spells by {1}, and whenever you cast a spell for less mana than its printed mana value, target opponent loses life equal to the difference. Because cascaded spells are cast for zero mana, cascading into a five-mana spell makes an opponent lose 5 life immediately, which adds 5 to Abaddon's X before your next spell from hand. Better yet, [[Ancient Cellarspawn]] also triggers when you cast discounted spells from your hand, turning [[Rakdos, Lord of Riots]] discounts, [[Herald of Slaanesh]] reductions, [[Blasphemous Act]], [[Blood for the Blood God!]], [[Dig Through Time]], and [[Curtains' Call]] into direct life loss. Meanwhile, [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] exiles an extra card on your end step and creates a Treasure token every time you play a card from exile, refunding 1 mana on every cascade (and 2 Treasures when [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]] chains a double cascade).

With [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] and [[Ancient Cellarspawn]] in the mix, you will often have to choose whether to play a card exiled by Prosper's end-step trigger before or after your main-phase cascades. If the exiled card is a land or a cheap pinger, play it right away in your first main phase to get a Treasure from Prosper and build X. If Prosper exiled a four- or five-mana spell and [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]] is on the battlefield, cast that exiled spell first so it picks up [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]]'s guaranteed cascade without relying on random top-deck flips.

To fit these four multipliers, [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]], [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]], and [[Nalfeshnee]] step into the slots held by [[Florian, Voldaren Scion]], [[Forceful Denial]], and [[Balor]] in the $25 list, while [[Ancient Cellarspawn]] cuts the precon's clunky five-mana sorcery bounce spell [[Deny Reality]]. In the mana base, we upgrade the three checklands into the Innistrad slowland cycle: [[Haunted Ridge]], [[Shipwreck Marsh]], and [[Stormcarved Coast]]. Because the deck wants to cast two-mana rocks and pingers on turns one and two and needs double-pip colored mana from turn three onward, these three duals enter untapped unconditionally once you control two other lands. Now a single Demon cast from hand can cascade twice, copy its exiled hits, refund Treasures, and drain the table for the mana you didn't spend.

$100 Upgrade: Ob Nixilis, Passionate Archaeologist, and Avernus

The $100 tier turns the deck's 1-damage group pingers and exile casts into a self-sustaining storm engine. It keeps the full $50 multiplier package and $25 foundation: [[Nalfeshnee]] still copies spells cast from exile, [[Ancient Cellarspawn]] drains opponents for unpaid mana costs, [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]] double-cascades your first exile cast each turn, [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] refunds Treasures, and [[Thermo-Alchemist]] and [[Unstable Amulet]] deal 1 damage to each opponent. To that core, we add five top-shelf upgrades that weaponize every single point of damage and exiled card.

Card image loading Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin March of the Machine: The Aftermath #41

Card image loading Passionate Archaeologist Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate #656

Card image loading Descent into Avernus Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate #169

Card image loading Creeping Bloodsucker Foundations Jumpstart #415

Card image loading Mount Doom The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth #258

The centerpiece of this tier is [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]]. This four-mana 4/3 flying, trampling Demon triggers whenever one or more opponents each lose 1 life, putting a +1/+1 counter on himself and exiling the top card of your library so you can play it until your next end step. Look across our upgraded 99 and count how many permanents deal 1 damage or cause 1 life loss to each opponent: [[Thermo-Alchemist]], [[Stormfist Crusader]], [[Spawn of Mayhem]], [[Unstable Amulet]], [[Firebrand Archer]], [[Coruscation Mage]], [[Sanctum of Stone Fangs]], [[Kardur, Doomscourge]], and the precon's [[Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch]]. Every time one of those effects resolves, it simultaneously adds 3 to [[Abaddon the Despoiler]]'s X threshold and triggers [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]] to grow and exile a fresh card.

To maximize [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]], we swap the $50 tier's one-shot 3-damage [[Boltwave]] for [[Creeping Bloodsucker]] and upgrade [[Sulfurous Springs]] into [[Mount Doom]]. [[Creeping Bloodsucker]] deals 1 damage to each opponent on your upkeep, triggering both Abaddon (for X = 3) and Ob Nixilis while gaining you 3 life every turn. [[Mount Doom]] enters untapped as a black-red painland and can pay {1}{B}{R} and tap to deal 1 damage to each opponent, giving you a repeatable way to trigger Ob Nixilis and set Abaddon's X to 3 right from a land slot. Even better, when you cast a card that Ob Nixilis exiled while [[Unstable Amulet]] is on the battlefield, [[Unstable Amulet]] deals 1 damage to each opponent because the spell was cast from outside your hand, which triggers [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]] to exile the next card on top of your library.

All of those exiled cards feed directly into [[Passionate Archaeologist]]. For just {1}{R}, this Background enchantment gives [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] an ability like [[Keeper of Secrets]]: whenever you cast a spell from exile, Abaddon deals damage equal to that spell's mana value to target opponent. Because it costs two mana, you can cast [[Passionate Archaeologist]] early or flip straight into it off a three-mana cascade. Once it is on the table, every spell you cascade into and every card you cast from [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]] or [[Prosper, Tome-Bound]] turns Abaddon into a cannon that blasts an opponent and raises his own X threshold by that spell's mana value.

[[Descent into Avernus]] supplies the mana and the life loss to cast everything you exile. At the beginning of your upkeep, it puts two descent counters on itself, then each player creates X Treasure tokens and takes X damage. On the first upkeep after you play it, you get two Treasures and your three opponents take 2 damage each, starting Abaddon's X at 6 before your first main phase. On the second upkeep, you get four Treasures and your opponents take 4 damage each, starting X at 12. While [[Descent into Avernus]] also damages you and gives opponents Treasures, your deck breaks the symmetry three ways: you convert the damage into triple cascade threshold for Abaddon, you spend your Treasures on spells that cascade into a second spell for free, and [[Creeping Bloodsucker]], [[Sanctum of Stone Fangs]], and [[Kardur, Doomscourge]] pad your life total.

The biggest decision in the $100 build is pacing [[Descent into Avernus]]. Drop it on turn two or three when you have [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] or a handful of Demons ready to deploy on the following turn so you are the first player to untap with the Treasures and a pre-loaded X = 6 cascade threshold. If your hand is light on threats and an opponent is playing a low-curve combo or token deck that can empty their hand with free Treasures immediately, hold [[Descent into Avernus]] until you have [[Kardur, Doomscourge]], [[Rakdos Charm]], or [[Passionate Archaeologist]] ready to punish them.

To make room for the new package, [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]] cuts [[Tallyman of Nurgle]] (which only draws a single card at your end step if a creature died), while [[Passionate Archaeologist]] and [[Descent into Avernus]] replace [[Curtains' Call]] and [[Volcanic Torrent]] on the [[Kill! Maim! Burn!]] and [[Let the Galaxy Burn]] cut slots. With [[Passionate Archaeologist]], [[Keeper of Secrets]], [[Be'lakor, the Dark Master]], [[Warstorm Surge]], and [[Nalfeshnee]] all turning exiled spells into direct damage, your cascade chains clear opposing threats while burning out the table in a single explosive turn.

Picking Your Crusade and Pushing Past $100

Upgrading The Ruinous Powers transforms a slow, combat-dependent Warhammer precon into a ruthless Grixis cascade engine where every point of group damage unlocks free Demons. Start with the $25 tier if you want to fix the mana curve and turn on [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] before combat for the price of a draft night. Step up to the $50 tier if you love doubling exiled Demons with [[Nalfeshnee]] and chaining cascades with [[Wild-Magic Sorcerer]], or go all-in on the $100 tier for the full 1-damage [[Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin]] and [[Passionate Archaeologist]] storm loop.

Where to Go Past $100

• [[Bloodletter of Aclazotz]] ($34.40): A four-mana flying Demon that doubles all life your opponents lose during your turn, turning every 1-damage group pinger into 6 total life lost for Abaddon.
• [[Jeska's Will]] ($38.55): A Bracket 3 Game Changer that floods your pool with red mana and exiles the top three cards of your library to trigger [[Passionate Archaeologist]], [[Nalfeshnee]], and [[Keeper of Secrets]].
• [[Deflecting Swat]] ($71.30) and [[Fierce Guardianship]] ($60.55, Game Changer): Free commander interaction that protects Abaddon the turn you tap out without bricking your mana development.
• [[Blood Crypt]] ($8.68), [[Watery Grave]] ($9.48), and [[Steam Vents]] ($9.63): Untapped shocklands with basic land types that smooth out the remaining slow duals.

Even while staying strictly in Bracket 2 with zero Game Changers, the $50 and $100 builds hit much harder and faster than a stock precon, so let your pod know before you shuffle up that Abaddon won't be waiting for turn six combat to start the Black Crusade.