Building Around -1/-1 Counters in Commander with Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Posted on December 31, 2024

Hello happy folks! To my knowledge I've never actually built a Commander deck around the decently popular -1/-1 counter theme! Let's change that up today and embrace the -1/-1 fun!

Who am I building around? Three Commanders have more than 1k decks over at EDHREC.com. The Scorpion God, Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Massacre Girl, Known Killer. I've never built around any, are there some fun different off-kilter ones I can take for a spin? Toxrill, the Corrosive? Volrath, the Shapestealer? Atraxa? Skittles?

It's a certain Sultai colored Pirate! Here he is:

As you can see this three-drop 3/3 three colored Sultai has a pair of tap abilities only at sorcery speed. The first will remove a counter from your stuff for a populate. That's great to pull off -1/-1 counters while making your best token copy! The latter will sac a dork and proliferate. That's a brilliant way to increase -1/-1 counters on your foe's stuff to kill them, and works with your stuff and even planeswalkers too. Love it here loads, let's do this different take on -1/-1 counters and adding in populate and proliferate!

Mana, Ramp, Lands and Rocks

The artifact Twitching Doll has a 2/2 rare body and taps for one mana of every color and then toss a counter here and then you can tap at sorcery speed to sac and make 2/2 Spiders for each one here. The uncommon Devoted Druid taps and adds Green mana and can be untapped by adding a -1/-1 counter which you can pull off with our Commander!

Let's turn to this trio! The sorcery costs one for a search of your library for a land to your hand, or proliferate if that's preferred! The three-drop mana rock ETBs tapped and then will proliferate when it arrives. Then you can tap it for any color of mana, three mana if a foe is corrupted! The last mana rock taps for a life loss and then that ability and then will untap with five mana. You can pay two for mana, three to proliferate or four to draw.

The pair of Karn's Bastion and Nesting Grounds arrive untapped, tap for colorless! The rare taps with four to proliferate and the uncommon taps with one to move your counters around, but only as a sorcery. Great and key additions!

The legendary land above taps for Blue, doesn't ETB tapped and then taps with one to untap your legendary stuff, and since that should be your Commander after tapping them, it's great here! The Desert above taps for colorless base, Black if you spend a life, and then Deserts can be sacked for four mana at sorcery speed to toss a pair of -1/-1 counters on a foe's dork.

Mirrex taps for colorless or any color the turn it arrives! Then you can tap it with three mana to make an 1/1 artifact dork with toxic and then it cannot block. Nice to poison and win with proliferate, ditto the flying 1/1 infect dork from Inkmoth Nexus. Then the snow land Dark Depths can arrive with 10 counters and then pull them off for three mana each to make a game-killing 20/20 flying and indestructible token.

Argoth, Sanctum of Nature usually ETBs tapped and then taps with four at sorcery speed to mill three and then make that 2/2 Bear! Then the colorless rare Fountainport doesn't ETB taps and taps with two to sac a token for a card, three to swap a life for a 1/1 Fish token and four mana to make a Treasure token.

Fun -1/-1 Stuff

Now let's turn to the fun stuff this deck is built around! The six-drop 5/5 Spirit is a harder to cast triple Black, but with wither to turn all combat damage into -1/-1 counters and then all non-Black ones will get one each of your upkeeps! The four-drop Spirit 2/3, will in your upkeep toss a -1/-1 counter on all of the things, a bit of removal, it too.

The five-mana Blue enchantment will turn all casts of you into a proliferate no breaks here like once/turn or just nondorks. The two-drop Bear sized legendary lady is here with her ability to turn combat damage into a -1/-1 counter on a dork and then when you put them on any dorks make a 1/1 Snake Green deathtouch which no one will swing into and lose a card with mana. Nasty good here!

When Spitting Dilophosaurus swings or ETBs toss that sweet -1/-1 on anything! Then any -1/-1 counters on your foes stuff will prevent them blocking so swing all up and down the block and get your free swinging on! Cauldron of Souls costs five and then taps for no mana or other resources to make your stuff get persist that turn to return and then get in another arrival. Then you can tap your Commander to remove them and use them to survive another set of removal!

Synergies and Winning Conditions

Now let's turn to fun synergies and winning conditions! The five-mana uncommon Green will turn -1/-1 counters onto any dork into 1/1 Elf Warrior of the Green persuasion! The Black three-drop uncommon enchantment will do the same for 1/1 Black Insects...note Black!

The Black three-mana uncommon enchantment Blowfly Infestation will turn dying stuff with a -1/-1 counter on it onto one on another, so you can kill loads. Note there is no may there or opponent's language, so you'll need to target your stuff. The Blue three-cost artifact Ichormoon Gauntlet will give your planeswalkers "0: Proliferate" and pull off 12 loyalty for a Time Walk. Love it loads here!

Now let's turn to some planeswalkers! Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler is here with the ability of your activated abilities that turn being used like our Commander's tap ability. Then you can +1 to untap them or -2 to mill three and reanimate a cheap dork to the battlefield! The Phyrexian mana Nissa, Ascended Animist has seven loyalty for at most seven mana. She can +1 to make a beater X/X equal to her loyalty, and -1 to Naturalize so she's removal too, and then -7 to give the team growth equal to your Forest count and trample too. Big win con!

Let's finish with this trio! The four mana flying legendary 3/5 is first! If you would proliferate, do it again! Then you can give this indestructible permanently by removing three counters from your things, like, say, -1/-1 ones! The Black rare dork 1/4 has wither and then when your foe's stuff with -1/-1 counters dies? Gain control of them! The six-mana enchantment in your upkeep make a Clone token to populate with!

Answers

Now let's turn to answers. We'll start with removal with this Golgari section. The six-drop five loyalty will 0 to make two 2/2 Green and Black Wolves with a death trigger to toss a counter here, and his -3 will Murder and draw you that sweet card too! Then the other six-drop but with six loyalty is here to +2 and make a 2/2 Pirate with menace. Don't sleep to her -3 to destroy an artifact, dork or enchantment and then make a Treasure either. The four-mana instant will destroy a nonland and proliferate too!

Now let's turn to -Xs. Drown in Ichor will give a target dork -4/-4 this turn and then proliferate too! Contagion Engine costs six and then ETBs and drops a -1/-1 counter on each foe that a player has! Then you can tap this with four to proliferate twice! Nasty!

We are going wide, so I wanted to toss in ways to keep everyone alive enter the three mana Simic instant above that keeps all of your countered stuff alive with hexproof and indestructible and then proliferates too. Then I tossed In Heroic Intervention. We are in Blue, so counters would be great! The three mana one will counter and then proliferate If it was cheaper! I also tossed in Fuel for the Cause! The three-mana 2/2 can tap to toss a -1/-1 counter on himself to give another dork a -1/-1 too and then tap to pull this off!

Card Draw

This two-mana instant will dig three, draw one, and then to the bottom of your library like Impulse for one fewer dug card and then proliferate. The sorcery costs four at most, draws two, and proliferates! The Black common three-cost sorcery draws you two, loses two life and each foe gets that poison counter! I also tossed in Prologue to Phyresis in that oeuvre.

Black six-cost six loyalty planeswalkers are next! The compleated Vraska, Betrayal's Sting can 0 to draw and then proliferate and then lose a life too. Then you can -2 her to turn a critter into a Treasure for removal. Love her loads here! Liliana, Dreadhorde General with the static ability to draw as your stuff dies is next! Tap and sac and draw from your leader! Then you can +1 to make a 2/2 Zombie to populate and then -4 to Barter in Blood for tons of card draw too!

The five-drop legendary partner Commander-able four loyalty is next! You can make two 0/1 tokens for fodder with his +2. You can +1 to sac a dork, draw two! He is so abusively powerful! The Equipment costs one, equips for that cost too, and then +1/-1's and you'll draw two when it dies, so equip prior to killing. The five-drop Golgari enchantment will turn deaths into cards and life gain...not loss! Please note that! Great way to end this card draw section!

There we are! Check this out here!