Overview:

This Grixis deck helmed by Nekusar, the Mindrazer employs a wheels-based strategy, punishing opponents for drawing cards through damage triggers like Underworld Dreams, Spiteful Visions, and Kederekt Parasite. The commander amplifies this strategy by dealing 1 damage per card drawn beyond the first each turn. Secondary win conditions include Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combo and Psychosis Crawler/The Locust God synergies. Nekusar is critical as both an enabler and damage multiplier, though the deck can function temporarily without him through its enchantment suite.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy mana rocks (Sol Ring, signets) and card-draw punishment engines like Kederekt Parasite or Stormfist Crusader. Prioritize casting Nekusar once 1-2 damage enchantments are established.
2. Midgame Acceleration (Turns 5-7): Resolve key enchantments (Underworld Dreams, Spiteful Visions) and protect them with Swiftfoot Boots/counterspells. Use wheel effects (Windfall, Wheel of Fate) to trigger mass damage.
3. Win Conditions:
   • Wheel Burn: Chain multiple wheels with 3+ damage triggers in play for lethal.
   • Exquisite Bond Combo: Pair Exquisite Blood with Sanguine Bond for infinite life drain.
   • Token Swarm: Generate Locust tokens via The Locust God for combat wins.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3+ lands and at least one ramp artifact or 2-mana rock.
• Prioritize hands containing a wheel effect and one damage engine.
• Avoid hands lacking early plays or with only high-CMC cards.

Key Tips:

• Time wheels to maximize damage triggers - wait until 2-3 enchantments are active.
• Use Whispering Madness's cipher to repeat wheels.
• Protect Nekusar with Neurok Stealthsuit or Swiftfoot Boots.
• Leverage Kess, Dissident Mage to recur wheels from graveyard.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Extreme vulnerability to enchantment removal (destroying Underworld Dreams/Spiteful Visions cripples the core strategy).
• Heavy reliance on Nekusar with limited protection; commander tax becomes prohibitive quickly.

Moderate

• Slow mana base with 10+ taplands delays critical turns.
• Weak to graveyard hate disrupting Kess, Dissident Mage and wheel recursion.

Minor

• Limited answers to resolved threats (only 4 targeted removal spells).
• Struggles against lifegain strategies offsetting burn damage.

Most Important Cards:

• Nekusar, the Mindrazer (Core engine and damage amplifier)
• Underworld Dreams (Primary damage engine)
• Windfall (Mass draw trigger with recursion potential)
• Exquisite Blood (Combo piece with Sanguine Bond)
• Sanguine Bond (Combo finisher and life pressure)
• Wheel of Fate (Uncounterable wheel effect)
• Kederekt Parasite (Early-game damage source)
• The Locust God (Alternate win condition)
• Psychosis Crawler (Scaling damage threat)
• Swiftfoot Boots (Critical protection for Nekusar)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Can threaten wins by T7-9 through ideal wheel sequences but requires multiple setup pieces.

Resilience: 4/10

• Limited protection for key pieces and heavy reliance on fragile enchantments leaves the strategy easily disrupted.

Consistency: 6/10

• Numerous wheel effects provide redundancy, but lack of tutors for combo pieces and slow mana base reduce reliability.

Interaction: 5/10

• Contains targeted removal and counterspells but lacks board wipes and has minimal stack interaction beyond Counterspell/Negate.

Rating Justification:

The deck demonstrates focused casual power with a clear T7-9 win potential through wheels and synergies, but its slow setup, fragile engines, and lack of fast mana/tutors prevent higher optimization. Resilience issues from enchantment dependency and weak interaction place it in the upgraded precon to focused casual range.

Power level: 4.5 - 5.0