Spooky season is upon us and all month long I'll be taking a look at commander decks built around cards from the new Duskmourn: House of Horror set. This week's column is based around the "face card" from the Rakdos Endless Punishment precon.

Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls is a 4/4 flying Elder Demon with a ward ability and a fantastic triggered ability. Whenever an opponent loses life for the first time during each of their turns, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on Valgavoth and I'll draw a card. That ward ability protects him from being targeted by requiring the payment of 2 life, which will draw me a card if the player targeting Valgavoth is on their turn and hasn't triggered it yet.

Card draw is king in Magic and in EDH, so when I opened up the Endless Punishment precon deck and started thinking about what to build from its bones, it was an easy decision to build around Valgavoth. I often just build new decks without even playing the precon. If nothing else, if my deck fails I like it to be my own fault, and I'm also more likely to know exactly what the deck is trying to do if I am playing with a brew of my own. It isn't always stronger than the original precon deck, but for better or worse it's always mine.

The deck's goal would be simple - to inflict as much pain and life loss on my opponents as possible, but to do this on their turns. If I load up with as many things as possible that would trigger on their upkeeps or are based upon things they would commonly do on their turn, I'll maximize the number of cards I draw each turn cycle.

The Torture Chamber

It's worth noting that the precon deck was a very solid starting point. By that I mean that there were plenty of cards I didn't want to change.

Most off-the-shelf preconstructed EDH decks are built to be able to be taken in a few different directions if you want to tweak the list. I'd rather have a deck that's great at one thing than a deck that is OK at a bunch of things. For players with only a few decks in their collection, I can see why you might want to keep a variety of themes. I have way too many decks already, so I generally just switch decks between games if I'm looking for a different play pattern or strategy.

The first thing I did was drop out nearly all of the sorceries, with the exception of Blasphemous Act. I want to be doing things on my opponents' turns. That means running permanents that will trigger, or that can be activated on someone else's turn, and it could also mean focusing on instant speed spells. The instants I added to the list were Deadly Rollick and Withering Torment, which is one of the few ways in Black to get rid of a lockdown aura like Darksteel Mutation or Imprisoned in the Moon.

I had expected to see more instants make the cut. While cards like Lightning Bolt are good and could replace themselves if cast on an opponent's turn with my commander on the field, I prefer repeatable value over single-use cards. Commander games can go long. A permanent that can see use every turn cycle to get that card draw is simply better, even if it deals less damage.

My initial thought when building this deck was that it would be fun to throw in a bunch of Magic's old torture device themed artifacts. Torture Chamber, Thumbscrews, Wheel of Torture, The Rack, and those sorts of cards might make for an entertaining theme deck, but too few of them would have reliably contributed to what the deck wants to do.

I did find two cards that I thought would work. Black Vise is an old artifact first printed in Alpha that lets you choose an opponent, and during their upkeep they'll take X damage where X is the number of cards in their hand minus 4. It doesn't work for everyone, but upkeep triggers are exactly the kind of thing this deck wants. Assign Black Vise to the player most likely to be drawing cards and you'll have a good chance of getting a Valgavoth trigger on their turn. Skullcage also made the cut. It's a weird artifact that hits each of your opponents and deals 2 damage to them unless they have three or four cards in their hand. It's hit or miss, but I'll run it until I find something better.

For guaranteed upkeep damage or life loss, there are few better options than the Vortex enchantments. Roiling Vortex will ding each player for 1 damage on their upkeep. Whenever a player casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, Roiling Vortex will deal 5 to them. It also has an activated ability that lets me pay a red to prevent my opponents from gaining life this turn. Sulfuric Vortex is also in the list. It both prevents any player from gaining life and dings each player for 2 on their upkeep.

I'm also running Manabarbs and Havoc Festival. The former will have a player take 1 damage for the sin of tapping a land. The latter will prevent life loss and cut each player's life in half (rounded up) on their upkeep.

Including Havoc Festival very much meant embracing the role of villain and accepting that this deck will have games where it gets hated off of the table. Even without it, I might find tables that want to kill me first and then get on with a "normal" game of EDH, but if Havoc Festival hits the field I might as well twirl my mustache and give the table a little "bwa ha haaaa" because there will be no more pretending that I'm trying to play nice.

A Thousand Cuts

No, I'm not talking about a thousand cuts to get this down to 100 cards. If this deck is going to win games, it may end up feeling like my tablemates are suffering a death by a thousand cuts because I'm running so many little ways to push their life totals down. Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls could certainly become a threat to kill someone with commander damage. I've kept all of the cards that could push out damage or life loss on someone else's turn, and I've doubled down on that theme.

I care so much about getting those Valgavoth triggers that I'm running some fairly questionable cards. Wall of Souls is a 0/4 Wall that can reflect damage it takes. If I block an attacker and have the attacker's controller take the damage that was dealt to Wall of Souls, I'll draw a card if Valgavoth is on the field. Most of my support creatures are pingers, not walls, and I've got a bunch of them.

Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh, Cinder Pyromancer, Fanatical Firebrand, Prodigal Pyromancer, Spear Spewer, and the new Bloomburrow Lizard Otter, Kindlespark Duo, are all in the list both as early game blockers and mid to late game pingers. Chandra can flip into the planeswalker Chandra, Roaring Flame, and she has an emblem that can push out damage on my opponents' upkeeps. It's unlikely I'll pull that off, but most of these cards are just in the list to help make sure I can get as many Valgavoth triggers as possible.

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is a neat addition to the list, as she has an activated ability that will let any player pay 3 mana, draw a card, and cause Xantcha's controller to lose two life. When she enters, she immediately goes under the control of an opponent of my choice, so it's unlikely I'll have her under my control. If that wasn't enough, she's a 5/5, she attacks each combat if able, and can't attack its owner or planeswalkers its owner controls.

If Xantcha wasn't enough, I'm breaking one of my normal habits and running a Praetor in this deck. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a Phyrexian Praetor with deathtouch and some fantastic abilities. Whenever I draw a card I'll gain 2 life. Whenever an opponent draws a card they'll lose 2 life. Sheoldred alone could have Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls draw me 3 extra cards, and as a result I'd gain me 8 extra life every turn cycle.

So Many Triggers

This is the kind of deck that might be a bit much for some casual tables, but there's a decent chance it might be a bit too much for me as well. The number of different triggers I may need to track when piloting this list is actually pretty impressive.

You've already seen a bunch of cards that trigger on my tablemates' upkeeps. I've also got cards that trigger when they draw cards. I've got cards from the precon list still in this deck that trigger when creatures die, when opponents cast spells, when opponents activate abilities, and so on.

For some reason I thought it was a bright idea to add more triggers to the list.

Eidolon of the Great Revel is a 2/2 Spirit that will trigger whenever a player casts a spell with mana value 3 or less to deal 2 damage to them. That includes me, and I've got plenty of low mana spells, but that's OK. If I have a crazy game and kill myself, that's actually part of the fun with this deck. Paying attention to the mana value of spells isn't something I usually have to do when it's not my turn, so this may be a challenge.

I'm also going to have to track how many spells my tablemates are casting if Hearthborn Battler is in play. This Lizard Warlock will deal 2 damage to target opponent whenever a player casts their second spell each turn. I've also got a little anti-Treasure tech (RIP Dockside Extortionist) in Vengeful Tracker. Whenever an opponent sacrifices an artifact, this Human Detective will deal 2 damage to them.

The type of spell being cast may also matter sometimes. Mage Hunter and Magebane Lizard are both in the list. The former will have an opponent lose 1 life whenever they cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell. The latter will deal damage to a player when they cast a noncreature spell. If you think that's not that bad, it gets worse. The amount of damage is equal to the number of noncreatures spells they've cast this turn. Seriously. I'm starting to get a popsicle headache just thinking about tracking all of these triggers!

Of course, it's highly unlikely that I'll have even a half dozen of these various triggers all out at the same time, and if I do I may very well lose my mind. I'm not terribly great with catching all my triggers, but I'm still going to give it the old college try and how well this first draft works.

Early Results

As it turned out, this first draft worked really well, at least in its first game. The deck's maiden voyage was a three player affair, and saw me pull into a bunch of the deck's heavy hitters.

I got The Lord of Pain, Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, Kaervek the Merciless, and Kardur, Doomscourge each onto the battlefield at different points in time, and my tablemates really didn't enjoy the experience. I was reliably getting extra draw, hitting my land drops, pulling into just what I needed when I needed it, and all in all had a great game.

Some of that may have been a result of bad luck for what my tablemates' decks were giving them, and the fact that in a three-player game it's easier for one deck to get too far ahead and for the table to not find an answer in time. I can't give you a more detailed look at the game, but it was enough to convince me that Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls has a lot of potential and is going to be a fun "villain" deck to pull out every now and then.

Scheming with Raffine | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls

• Creatures (35)
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Blood Seeker
• 1 Brash Taunter
• 1 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
• 1 Cinder Pyromancer
• 1 Eidolon of the Great Revel
• 1 Falkenrath Noble
• 1 Fanatical Firebrand
• 1 Fate Unraveler
• 1 Gleeful Arsonist
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Harsh Mentor
• 1 Hearthborn Battler
• 1 Kaervek the Merciless
• 1 Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1 Kederekt Parasite
• 1 Kindlespark Duo
• 1 Mage Hunter
• 1 Magebane Lizard
• 1 Massacre Girl
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Mayhem Devil
• 1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Nightshade Harvester
• 1 Prodigal Pyromancer
• 1 Rampaging Ferocidon
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Spear Spewer
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 The Lord of Pain
• 1 Vengeful Tracker
• 1 Wall of Souls
• 1 Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

• Spells (6)
• 1 Bedevil
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Withering Torment
• 1 Blasphemous Act

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Havoc Festival
• 1 Manabarbs
• 1 Roiling Vortex
• 1 Spiteful Visions
• 1 Sulfuric Vortex

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Black Vise
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Seance Board
• 1 Skullcage
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (40)
• 13 Mountain
• 13 Swamp
• 1 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1 Blazemire Verge
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Foreboding Ruins
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Leechridden Swamp
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Shivan Gorge
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Spinerock Knoll
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 1 Tainted Peak

Buy This Deck Export text

This isn't a high budget deck but there are a few cards you could pull out to make it more affordable. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Deadly Rollick could be dropped out for more budget friendly cards without impacting the deck too much. If you wanted to drop down in power you could start pulling teeth, but I don't see why you would do that. This deck ideally wants to be the bad guy at the table, and in lower powered games you may get ganged up on. That's actually great, as it creates an archenemy feel and lets you twirl your mustache and lean into the bit. I am not a fan of pubstomping, but this deck isn't actually fringe cEDH - it's just uniquely designed to hurt everyone, including yourself, and to draw cards in the process.

If you wanted to power this up, I think you'd try to leverage your card draw to pull into tutors in an effort to assemble a combo finish of some sort. I'm sure folks will explore Ad Nauseam builds around Valgavoth, and a Sanguine Bond / Exquisite Blood wincon would fit pretty well with what the deck is doing. You might consider throwing in ways to speed things up. Heartless Hidetsugu taps to half each player's life total, and would fit in pretty well. Deathtouch equipment and creatures that can ping any target will give you more board control and fits into the arch villain theme quite nicely. I don't think this commander could get all the way into fringe cEDH, but it could be more powerful than what I've shared with you today.

Final Thoughts

While this might be thought of as a precon upgrade, I really tried to make fairly sweeping changes to the original list. I ran into trouble with that when I realized that a lot of the precon cards were actually very good fits for Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls. My goal was to make a "pain" deck, where everyone would suffer. With a little luck my card draw and my charming personality would somehow let me come out on top.

That's all I've got for today. Be safe out there and I'll hopefully see you next week with another scary deck I've brewed out of one of the legendary creatures I grabbed from a Duskmourn precon deck. Thanks for reading!