{"ops":[{"insert":"Hellrazer is a wheely good time."},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThe only bracket 4 deck I own.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nekusar, the Mindrazer"}},{"insert":" has long been my favorite deck. I do not get a ton of opportunity to play it because it is nasty and folks generally hate seeing it across the table, but it's always nice to have in case folks want to play a little bit higher power of a game. I do not play cEDH. I do not follow the meta and I am not willing to invest that kind of money into a deck that could be obsolete by the next tournament cycle. I also do not personally proxy anything. What you see listed, I own in paper. I do not mind at all if other people proxy. Everyone should be able to play the game. Tournament rules are fine if you are playing in a tournament, but commander is a casual format. I generally only play at my LGS. Play the cards you like. Test out cards before you spend your hard earned money on them. Go wild. That is the fun part of commander. That being said, I have been collecting MTG since the mid-90s. It's fun to show off some of the shinier bits of my collection with this deck. I don't just select the most expensive versions of cards, and I do not want every card in foil. I curated the art and treatments that I like best for each card in the deck. Most people aren't even aware of how expensive the 7th and 8th edition foils are. That's not the point. The old foil treatment looks absolutely gorgeous. Far better than almost any modern foil card, except maybe "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mystic Remora"}},{"insert":". The point is that these very specific pieces of shiny cardboard in this deck make me happy. There's also a bit of a sub-theme going on with the art I have selected to include in this deck. In the flavor text on the regular printing of Nekusar, he's described as the \"Lich King.\" There's an old DnD heritage post about Liches that I really like. It talks about making a Lich your big bad, and then when your party fights him, his spells are just broken because he is so old, the versions of the spells he uses are the versions from previous editions of DnD. An example being when the Lich uses Stoneskin, it is the version from 1st or 2nd edition DnD that basically granted immunity to physical attacks. As an old nerd myself (and feeling older every day,) this always amused me. So in this deck I have included a lot of retro bordered cards to show that Nekusar is a very old creature. He's also the first commander deck I ever built and the oldest one I own. Not all of the cards are retro bordered, and I have not gone out of my way to retro the whole deck, but where the art is something that I like, I try to include the retro border if I can. Some examples being "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ancient Tomb"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Deadpool, Trading Card"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cyclonic Rift"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sol Ring"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Arcane Signet"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Talisman of Dominance"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Talisman of Creativity"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wheel and Deal"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Windfall"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wasteland"}},{"insert":". I even have the secret lair retro bordered Nekusar himself in my collection, but I prefer the Mark Riddick artwork, so that's the one I usually play with. \n\nThis deck contains no infinite combos, or really any meta win-con combos at all. Just wheels, forced card draw, and force multipliers. We are trying to burn our opponents out with non-combat damage or infect from Nekusar or one of the duplicate effects like it, while being incredibly disruptive with wheels and controlling with all our removal.\n\nThe deck contains a lot of my favorite cards. Most of them are very \"salty.\" You've got most of the stuff that people hate in here. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Notion Thief"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Deadpool, Trading Card"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gilded Drake"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Opposition Agent"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Orcish Bowmasters"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Waste Not"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sheoldred, the Apocalypse"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cyclonic Rift"}},{"insert":", a bunch of fast mana, and most of the free counterspells. All present and accounted for. \n\nAs a note: When I play this deck in my pod, I play with four "},{"attributes":{"strike":true},"insert":"banned"},{"insert":" cards. "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Rule zero conversations are important and you should have them."},{"insert":" When we break out the bracket 4 and 5 decks, my pod doesn't mind taking the gloves all the way off. Obviously the deck was originally built before these cards were banned, and I didn't feel like removing them. Grixis suffers from a lack of the most efficient ramp and with a 5 mana commander, these cards really helped get the deck online and running at a fast enough pace to be competitive. If you wanted to adjust the deck to make it technically legal (commander is a casual format) then I would swap "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Jeweled Lotus"}},{"insert":" for "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Master of Lake-town"}},{"insert":", swap "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mana Crypt"}},{"insert":" for "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Baleful Mastery"}},{"insert":", swap "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Hullbreacher"}},{"insert":" for "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Displacer Kitten"}},{"insert":", and swap "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dockside Extortionist"}},{"insert":" for "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Generous Plunderer"}},{"insert":". \n\nAs for the banned cards, I'll just say this. Why is "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Hullbreacher"}},{"insert":" banned but "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Notion Thief"}},{"insert":" is just a game changer? (I'm joking of course. I understand it is one less mana and mono-colored. It is oppressive. I am just salty about it.)\n\nThis deck is currently not built to be the "},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"most"},{"insert":" powerful version of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nekusar, the Mindrazer"}},{"insert":" that you could play, but it's very strong. It doesn't have "},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"all"},{"insert":" of the fast mana. It has a very good and very expensive mana base, but it is not a cEDH mana base. If it was cEDH it would have "},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"all"},{"insert":" the off color fetch lands and "},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"all"},{"insert":" the untapped rainbow lands and the total number of lands would be cut down further for mana positive rituals. My point being that Nekusar does not fit well into the current cEDH meta because a lot of the support for wheels based control has been banned, and so has the fast mana to make a 5 cmc multi-color commander worth it at the speed of the current combo-heavy-win-on-turn-two meta. This deck is not built to combo-win at instant speed. This deck is built to murder people with non-combat damage or infect using wheels and playing around the commander or similar duplicate effects. It's disruptive and controlling and too slow to play in Bracket 5. This deck is firmly bracket 4. If you want to play cEDH and you want to play Grixis, you should be building RogSi. Is it possible that you could shuffle up the magical fairy dream land perfect opening hand to turbo out your whole hand with a bunch of fast mana, play "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Notion Thief"}},{"insert":", and then cast "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Winds of Change"}},{"insert":" on turn one while your hand is empty and completely mess up your opponents' game plans before they even put a land into play? Yes. Just because that "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"can"},{"insert":" happen, does not mean this is a cEDH deck. \n\nIf you wanted to make this deck stronger, you would remove some of the less effective cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Forced Fruition"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Library of Leng"}},{"insert":" to add in things like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Chrome Mox"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Grim Monolith"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mox Amber"}},{"insert":", or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Simian Spirit Guide"}},{"insert":". A lot of the cards in the Force Multiplier category would get removed to include the "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Underworld Breach"}},{"insert":" / "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lion's Eye Diamond"}},{"insert":" line and other win-cons that go along with it. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ad Nauseam"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Demonic Consultation"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tainted Pact"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thassa's Oracle"}},{"insert":" would be obvious includes. You'd likely cut out some of the less efficient wheels to get more tutors in to search for more combo win-cons. "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"You get the point."},{"insert":" This deck is built to be a Bracket 4, to include a lot of the cards in my favorite colors, to show off some of the fancier cards in my collection, and to be able to hang with folks at a bracket 4 table, but not to win every game on turn 2 or 3. If you really want to do that, you should net-deck whatever "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh"}},{"insert":" / "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Silas Renn, Seeker Adept"}},{"insert":" Grixis Turbo Control Shell people are playing these days and have one of the best cEDH decks currently in rotation at that point. That to me is the difference between Bracket 4 and Bracket 5.\n\nSome alternate options: \n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Liliana's Caress"}},{"insert":" vs "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Waste Not"}},{"insert":". IMO these cards are "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"sort of"},{"insert":" interchangeable. Waste not is "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"most certainly better"},{"insert":" as a token and mana generator and card draw engine when paired with more than half of your wheels, specifically the ones that do not shuffle into the library and force discard instead. That being said Waste Not tends to be more non-deterministic and can lead to some pretty \"durdly\" turns. So if you want to lessen the mental load a bit, I would play Liliana's Caress instead. You could also slot "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Master of Lake-town"}},{"insert":" into this slot as well. He works as a force multiplier for just your damage, rather than requiring a wheel to force discard. \n\nYou can also swap "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Incendiary Command"}},{"insert":" for "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reforge the Soul"}},{"insert":" if you want. They are fairly interchangeable. The upside to Incendiary Command is that it is modal and can double as a board wipe or land destruction, where as Reforge the Soul can sometimes be cast as a miracle, though that is not always positive. Neither are expensive cards, and both cost the same amount of mana. If you were going to cut a wheel, whichever of these you are playing is the one I would cut. You could even swap either of them for "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Echo of Eons"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Time Reversal"}},{"insert":" if you wanted another wheel that put your graveyard into your library. Whatever works for you. I personally feel like 12-13 wheels is a sweet spot. \n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Krang, the All-Powerful"}},{"insert":" is a newer addition to the deck. IMO, he is just a better version of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Harmonic Prodigy"}},{"insert":", though obviously he is 5 mana instead of 2. Without the wizard restriction he works with ALL of your force multipliers that deal damage on an opponent drawing cards, like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sheoldred, the Apocalypse"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scrawling Crawler"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Razorkin Needlehead"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Orcish Bowmasters"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Underworld Dreams"}},{"insert":". And he is a blue card that can be pitched to "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Force of Will"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Force of Negation"}},{"insert":". His base printing is less than $0.50, and until Strixhaven, the cheapest printing of Harmonic Prodigy was around $10, but now it is down to $3 so cost isn't much of a factor. You can decide which of the two you want to run, but I prefer Krang.\n\nAnother new edition to the deck is "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wizard's Staff"}},{"insert":". A two mana trigger doubler that equips to our commander for 1, but can still equip to creatures like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sheoldred, the Apocalypse"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Faerie Mastermind"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Orcish Bowmasters"}},{"insert":", etc. It just replaced "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Descent into Avernus"}},{"insert":". I love Descent but it isn't asymmetrical, costs 3 mana, and found a better home in the "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Smaug the Impenetrable"}},{"insert":" deck I am building. \n\nThere are some scenarios where "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Baleful Mastery"}},{"insert":" can be better than "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Deadly Rollick"}},{"insert":" in this deck. Discounted exile at instant speed that can hit planeswalkers and forces an opponent to draw, which is generally a good thing in our deck. In higher bracket games, you are not going to see a lot of super-friends decks and planeswalkers on their own aren't very common either, so this is kind of a mid swap most of the time.\n\nAlso, you can adjust some of the interaction for bounce like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Chain of Vapor"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Snap"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Boomerang"}},{"insert":", or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Chaos Warp"}},{"insert":" if you want. This can help get rid of opponents' enchantments like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Smothering Tithe"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rhystic Study"}},{"insert":" and even hit artifacts or planeswalkers if you didn't have a counterspell for it when it was being played.\n\nThere is "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"nothing"},{"insert":" budget about this deck. As I said, it is generally where I show off the shinier parts of my collection. I am not even going to put a budget section in this primer. If you want it cheaper, switch to cheapest printings, swap out the banned cards for legal ones, and for any further changes I'd recommend net-decking a different list. \n\nIf you want the smoke, you got it.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://moxfield.com/decks/IscyPpo4h0e0t22zaIzT4w"},"insert":"Moxfield Link"},{"insert":" if you want it. \n"}]}