The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1562). Lord of the Accursed by Grzegorz Rutkowski.

When I first started looking through the still-unclaimed legendary creatures from Streets of New Capenna, I knew one thing. I wanted to write about a 3-color commander. That might not seem notable, given that the entire focus of this exciting new set is a set of crime families, each of which is defined by a focus on three of the five colors. These have been given fancy new names, but we know them better as the "shards" of our color pie. For some reason my first three New Capenna columns were about either 1/c or 2/c commanders, so I really wanted to dig into something a little more challenging.

I finally settled upon a Vampire Assassin in Grixis. In Streets of New Capenna, this corresponds to the Maestros Gang, the "artistic assassins". Today's subject is a very interesting chap - none other than Anhelo, the Painter.

His party trick is a really interesting one: the first instant or sorcery spell I cast each turn will have casualty 2 if he is on the field.

If you're anything like me, you've been a little overwhelmed with all of the new keywords in recent expansion sets, but you can think of Casualty as being something of a distant cousin to Devour. With Devour, a creature would enter the battlefield and you could sacrifice any number of creatures to put +1/+1 counters onto the new creature. Devour is scalable, which is very neat, but also involves risk. If you Devour all of your saprolings and then your creature gets removed, you just lost both the creatures you sacrificed and the new creature that you sacrificed them for.

Casualty is NOT scalable, and for Anhelo, the Painter, it means that if you sacrifice a creature with 2 power or greater (for Casualty 2) as you cast your first instant or sorcery in a spell, you get to copy that spell. Anhelo's Casualty 2 ability is fairly restrictive, as you're limited to doing it once per turn and you have to sacrifice a 2 power creature. This commander is also very flexible. Anhelo, the Painter does not point us in any specific direction. We're not being jostled into a design space like Vampire tribal because of the words in his text box. You could probably build a Vampire tribal deck around Anhelo, but there's nothing that makes that an obvious choice.

Picking My Victims

I should note that there is also nothing pointing Anhelo towards building around a specific tribe or even building around token versus nontoken creatures. My first idea was to build a Goblin tokens deck because Anhelo is in Red. I once built a Purphoros, God of the Forge deck with a heavy focus on instants and sorceries that generate Goblin token creatures. It worked for Purphoros because playing out token creatures helped to keep him from having enough devotion to become a creature himself. Keeping Purph as an indestructible enchantment makes him harder to remove.

I know that there are lots of Goblins that pump up other Gobbos by at 1 power to make my tokens viable targets for Anhelo's Casualty 2 ability. I liked that it would be an unexpected twist on Anhelo. I was imagining sacrificing one goblin to cast and copy a spell to make even more Goblins, and it took me a few minutes to realize why I wasn't really thinking straight.

It's OK to build convoluted decks and inefficient engines and deck plans, but I was just being silly. I took a step back and thought for a moment - what OTHER tribes might have token generators in Blue, Red or Black in sufficient quantities that I could build an Anhelo deck around them?

Blue has Drakes, Djinn, Monks, Illusions... but none of those felt substantial enough to bother with. Red has Gremlins, but I couldn't think of anything outside of Goblins that could produce two power bodies in sufficient quantities to really make this deck work.

Black?

Black has freaking ZOMBIES, dude.

It has two power, two toughness Zomberinos.

It has Zombies that enter tapped. It has Zombies that enter untapped. It has Zombies that are "decayed". It has Zombie army tokens. It even has Zombie GIANT tokens for goodness' sake.

You might not realize it, but Black has lots of Zombie creature cards and lots of Instant and Sorcery spells that will make Zombie tokens. There are even a few in Blue. Anhelo, the Painter might not build himself, but I could think of no better fit than to use Anhelo with a healthy assortment of Instants and Sorceries to build up a Zombie army and swing for the win!

Making Zombies

I've got sorcery speed Zombie token generators. I've got instant speed Zombie token generators. I've got creatures that make Zombies. I've even got an obscure little land called Field of the Dead and a planeswalker by the name of Liliana, Dreadhorde General in this list to help build my army. What I'm most excited about are of course the Instants and Sorceries because those I can copy.

It's really nice when a token generating Sorcery can do a little something more than just generate tokens. I am running Army of the Damned, From Under the Floorboards, Gisa's Bidding and other more banal options, but there are a few that bring something extra.

Dark Salvation will make X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens and then up to one target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each Zombie I control. The card actually says "target player" but who are we kidding here? I'll always target myself barring some weird boardstate or circumstance that gives me a good (or a mindslavered) reason to target someone else. Copying it gives me more Zombies and the chance to either remove two creatures or more easily remove a really big creature. Giving -1/-1 is especially important when dealing with indestructible creatures like Gods and Colossi.

Another problem I sometimes have to work around is hexproof, shrouded and warded creatures. Necrotic Hex will have each player sacrifice six creatures. It doesn't even target players, though it does affect me. Copying it will result in the copy resolving first and then the original copy. I'll sacrifice six creatures (along with everyone else), create six tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens, sacrifice six more creatures (probably those shiny new Zombies) and then create another six tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens. I may never need to do this more than once, but being able to force my opponents to sacrifice a dozen creatures is about as close to a boardwipe as this deck is going to get short of Cyclonic Rift.

Sometimes the thing I'll need to remove is an opponent's hand. No Way Out will strip two cards out of an opponent's hand. Copying it in the mid to late game could easily let me make an opponent be hellbent (no cards in hand). Some cards in some decks are the kinds of cards I try to save for the last opponent and this is one of those. I might need it before then, but if I'm down to one other player there's no reason not to strip four cards out of their hand if I've got the opportunity.

I've got just over a dozen Instants in this deck - a few of which are counterspells - so I'm not going to be playing and copying spells that often on my opponents' turns. I've got a Fork and Reiterate in case I can catch some really juicy spell an opponent cast and copy it twice. I'm running Tragic Slip because I ought to be able to reliably kill something and then give a creature -13/-13 instead of just -1/-1. I even have a few Instants that speak to our Zombie theme.

Flip the Switch will counter a spell unless its controller pays 4. That will often be enough, but Anhelo will let me sacrifice a 2-power creature to copy it and really make doubly sure the spell gets countered. Three mana is a lot for a counterspell, so the fact that it gives me a 2/2 Zombie creature with decayed is a nice extra effect. Revenge of the Drowned will put a creature on the top or bottom of their library and will also give me a decayed Zombie. Rise of the Dread Marn is the least likely spell in this deck to be copied, as it will create X 2/2 black Zombie Berserker creature tokens where X is the number of nontoken creatures that died this turn. It's a classic bounce-back from a boardwipe, but that likely means I won't have Anhelo, the Painter or any 2-power sacrifice fodder lying around when I want to cast it.

Making Sacrifices

One of the most powerful things this deck wants to do is to turn all my dying creatures into a positive beyond just copying my spells.

In a deck where I know that I'm going to be seeing creatures die, Black Market is the sort of enchantment that fits right in. I'm likely to be seeing plenty of creatures die, and even if there aren't a lot of boardwipes I should be able to steadily add charge counters and slowly build up this mana source. If I draw into an X spell, I'll have a place to put my mad mana, and if it doesn't, it still represents a good value engine. I'm also running the red enchantment Mana Echoes, which will give me colorless mana when creatures enter the battlefield that share a creature type with creatures that are already on the field.

An even better value is making my opponents have to sacrifice creatures when I cast a spell and throw a zombie into the bin to copy it. Grave Pact, Butcher of Malakir and Dictate of Erebos will all put the pressure on my opponents if I'm setting up my game plan and I'm starting to copy spells. It is a truly miserable experience to be on a voltron or creature light deck and be staring down at any of those three permanents, but this deck is playing to win, not playing patty-cakes.

Ashnod's Altar is another tried and true way to turn creature deaths... or rather creature bodies into something more. We can flush a 2/2 zombie or any other creature to make 2 colorless mana. Sometimes that is going to give us just enough to cast a spell we need, but it's also great to be able to remove a target when an opponent points a spell at one of our guys. I won't want to flush Anhelo to make 2 mana, but if it's that or seeing him stolen with a Mind Control aura, you'd better believe I'll throw him on the Altar and start sharpening my knives.

Pushing for the Win

This might not be the kind of deck that's going to blow up in a big stormy turn where I cast a half dozen spells, each of which has been copied. My game plan is fairly simple and if I win, I'm going to win in the trenches behind an army of rotting corpses. That doesn't mean I'm not going to do my best to have a few tricks up my sleeve.

One of the hidden gems in this deck is likely to be Empty the Laboratory. I can sacrifice X Zombies, and reveal cards from my library until I reveal X Zombie creature cards. Those Zombies get put onto the battlefield. Today's list only has 10 Zombie creatures in it, so if I am able to get even six of those I'm very likely to have at least a few "Lords" and at least one that gives them flying. If I'm able to sacrifice 3 Zombies for the X portion of the cost and another 2-power creature to the Casualty ability, I'll be losing four creatures to gain six! Not all of my nontoken zombies are amazing, but making them four power instead of two power is a significant bump and making them fly is even bigger.

Once I've got an army I need to set myself up to be able to try to win the game. If I am presenting lethal power on board to a player or even the entire table, there's every reason to expect to see a boardwipe. However, if I've got a little less power, they might hold back and wait for me to commit some more before casting their wrath. They don't want to lose their stuff, after all. Therein lies the beauty of playing spells that give me extra combat steps in Anhelo.

Savage Beating is easy to entwine and will either give my creatures double strike until end of turn, untap my creatures and give me an extra combat step, or both. While I can't exactly get quadruple strike, entwining a Savage Beating and then sacrificing a 2 power creature to copy it should more than pay off. Five 2/2 Zombies present 10 power on board. If I give them double strike and add in two extra combats, that means I could potentially be dealing out 60 damage in a single turn. If my zombie army is bigger, there's no reason I couldn't be killing the table if I'm able to get my attackers through. I'm also running Relentless Assault and World at War, though neither of those give your creatures double strike.

If combat steps can be problematic, extra turns can be backbreaking. Simply casting and copying an Expropriate once can get some tables to scoop. Getting an extra turn and then either an extra turn or the best permanent from each player TWICE should put you in a position to win the game. Even if you're not stealing permanents from your opponents, copied extra turn spells are the stuff of Magical Christmasland, so Nexus of Fate is in the mix along with a few tutors in Solve the Equation and Demonic Tutor. Copying either of those would be great and using one of them to pick up both of your extra turn spells could put you ridiculously far ahead of your tablemates.

Happy Little Zombies

When I build a deck I usually have a sense of how the mana curve looks, and that in turn informs me about whether the deck is going to be a bit slow, a bit fast, a bit casual, and so on. This list happens to run a fairly high average mana cost, in part because I'm focusing on cards that tend to cost more. Making 2/2 creature tokens in any meaningful quantity is going to get expensive, so this deck is definitely going to be a tad slower out of the gate than my average list. I think that might let you fly under the radar in casual games, but that has a lot to do with your playstyle.

Happy Little Zombies | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Anhelo, the Painter

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Anger
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Butcher of Malakir
• 1 Cryptbreaker
• 1 Death Baron
• 1 Eternal Skylord
• 1 Geralf, Visionary Stitcher
• 1 God-Eternal Bontu
• 1 Hordewing Skaab
• 1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia
• 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1 Lord of the Accursed
• 1 Lord of the Undead
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Undead Augur
• 1 Undead Warchief
• 1 Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
• 1 Wonder

• Instants (14)
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Flip the Switch
• 1 Fork
• 1 Nexus of Fate
• 1 Reiterate
• 1 Revenge of the Drowned
• 1 Rise of the Dread Marn
• 1 Savage Beating
• 1 Startle
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Tragic Slip

• Sorceries (17)
• 1 Army of the Damned
• 1 Dark Salvation
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Dread Summons
• 1 Empty the Laboratory
• 1 Expropriate
• 1 From Under the Floorboards
• 1 Gisa's Bidding
• 1 Moan of the Unhallowed
• 1 Necrotic Hex
• 1 No Way Out
• 1 Release the Gremlins
• 1 Relentless Assault
• 1 Rise from the Tides
• 1 Solve the Equation
• 1 Syphon Flesh
• 1 World at War

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Black Market
• 1 Dictate of Erebos
• 1 Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Mana Echoes
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Rhystic Study

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Sol Ring

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Professor Onyx

• Lands (35)
• 7 Island
• 7 Mountain
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Crumbling Necropolis
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Field of the Dead
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Watery Grave

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If you wanted to tune this deck up a bit, you might throw in faster mana and a combo or two but I don't see this as being a potentially high powered or cEDH commander. Of course, what do I know? Inalla, Archmage Ritualist and Kess, Dissident Mage are incredibly powerful, and Kess even has that "Once per turn" clause tacked onto her ability. I wouldn't be that surprised if someone has made a fringe cEDH or even cEDH Anhelo deck, but I'm less interested in turn 5 wins and more excited by the prospect of having a longer, more interesting (to me) game where you slowly build up your zombie army, copying spells as you go.

Final Thoughts

This deck wound up being more fun than I expected it would be to throw together. I love the idea of being able to whip out those extra combat steps or extra turns to go from being a little scary to being able to close out the game. All it takes is the right spells, a little luck, and a zombie token to throw under the bus.

If you caught my Bob Ross reference, good on you. I imagine Anhelo painting lots of "happy little zombies" as he works to build up his army and prepare to charge into battle. My favorite columns are often the ones I have the most fun with in my writing, and this one was pretty fun.

I'm starting to work up what I think will be a pretty interesting The Beamtown Bullies list, with a plan to essentially play a "hug" game until you only have one opponent left. It's also what I am starting to call a "pivot" deck, in that you bring it with you in part to have a deck to pivot to if you won a game. That doesn't mean it's a bad deck - it might be incredibly entertaining to play, but it isn't well positioned to have a really high win rate. It might be a few weeks before I'm able to get that wrapped up though, so I'll be looking at another Streets of New Capenna commander next week.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!