Shilgengar, Sire of FamineShilgengar, Sire of Famine | Art by Jack Hughes

Black and white cookies

Hi again! Welcome back to EDHighlights, the series where I build decks for 2024's most popular commander for each color combination.

Now that 2024's set releases have wrapped up, I'll be taking a look at the most popular legendary creatures that were released in the past year, talking a bit about them, and finally building hopefully-slightly-unique decks around them.

This week, I'm taking a look at 2024's most popular Orzhov commander, which means we'll be working with … Shilgengar, Sire of FamineShilgengar, Sire of Famine

ShilgengarShilgengar received a good bit of attention, with 4072 decks to his name as of the time of writing.

Interestingly, there was another popular commander from Modern Horizons 3: Sorin of House MarkovSorin of House Markov.

According to my very limited knowledge of Magic's lore (and the MTG Wiki), Shilgengar is (at least partially) responsible for Sorin's bloodline of Vampires coming into being and for the ignition of Sorin's spark. But, you're not here because you care about MTG lore.

You're here because you care about EDH deck building. So, let's get on with it already.

Not everything is black and white

ShilgengarShilgengar is a 6/6 Elder Demon with Flying for 5 mana. He's got two other abilities, too. We can sacrifice a creature to make a Blood token or several Blood tokens if the sacrificed creature was an Angel.

And, by paying and sacrificing six Blood tokens, we can reanimate every creature from our graveyard. 

These are pretty powerful abilities. Free sacrifice outlets are always powerful, especially sacrifice outlets that create something beneficial like a Blood token.

And, once we've sacrificed enough creatures to ShilgengarShilgengar (or discarded them to our Blood tokens), we can use his ability to bring them all back at a pretty low cost.

This presents a pretty solid Aristocrats gameplan, with a low-cost mass reanimate ability to finish out games stapled onto our commander too.

But, I want to add another way to win: Mortal CombatMortal Combat. Let's talk about the deck, ways to trigger that alternate win condition, and other cards that make the deck tick.

Is that a Mortal Kombat reference?

Let's start by talking about Mortal CombatMortal Combat. This four mana enchantment asks that we have 20 creatures in our graveyard at the beginning of our upkeep, so we're gonna need a lot of ways to fill that graveyard. Our commander can help with that, but here are a few of my other favorites:

Firja, Judge of ValorFirja, Judge of Valor will provide card advantage while filling the graveyard, and it's also an Angel (which works well with ShilgengarShilgengar's ability). Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath is very similar, but it can be cast for just two mana.

There's also Dogged DetectiveDogged Detective, a repeatable way to fill our graveyard once we have a sacrifice outlet (like our commander) on the field.

Once we've got a full graveyard, we do need to fetch up Mortal CombatMortal Combat for the win. While more traditional tutors do work well here, there's a few special includes I wanted to show off.

Dimir House GuardDimir House Guard can either be transmuted to find our win condition (thus adding another card to the graveyard for its 20-card requirement) or act as a sacrifice outlet to fill the graveyard with what we've already got on board.

There's also Beseech the MirrorBeseech the Mirror which can sacrifice a Blood token to get Mortal CombatMortal Combat down directly.

An Orzhov aristocrats deck? Unheard of!

And, because it's an Orzhov deck with a sacrifice outlet in the command zone, there's good few cards to support that strategy in the 99.

Vito, Fanatic of AclazotzVito, Fanatic of Aclazotz and Carmen, Cruel SkymarcherCarmen, Cruel Skymarcher are standouts here, triggering when we sacrifice creatures, tokens, and even fetch lands.

Braids, Arisen NightmareBraids, Arisen Nightmare works very well too, as it can sacrifice either a Blood token or a spare creature, whichever is most strategic at each of our end steps.

Because this deck has a lot of Angels in it, Bishop of WingsBishop of Wings will provide a lot of life gain and a lot of Spirit tokens. Similarly, Rampage of the ValkyriesRampage of the Valkyries will do a pretty good impression of Grave PactGrave Pact.

And, last but not least, Liesa, Forgotten ArchangelLiesa, Forgotten Archangel will rebuy each of our creatures while ensuring that our opponents' dead creatures stay dead.

Speaking of Angel synergies, Firja's RetributionFirja's Retribution makes Angels, can provide a ton of removal, and even end games if we've got enough Angels on board.

The recently-reprinted Righteous ValkyrieRighteous Valkyrie will provide life gain and act as a sweet anthem once we cast enough Angels, and (as always) Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope does most everything that an Angel-centric deck wants for just two mana.

Blood is thicker than water

I included a few more ways to take advantage of our use of Blood tokens too, starting with Marionette ApprenticeMarionette Apprentice. This card triggers off of both Blood tokens and creatures leaving the battlefield, pulling double duty here.

Oltec MatterweaverOltec Matterweaver is one of my favorite cards from the past year, and it'll help add to our blood collection as the game drags on.

Last up is Moonstone EulogistMoonstone Eulogist, which feels purpose built for this deck. It'll become a huge flying threat in no time, and probably make a few extra Blood tokens along the way.

And here's the full decklist…

Inevitable EndInevitable End

Thanks for reading, folks! I didn't touch on it earlier, but when ShilgengarShilgengar reanimates creatures with his second ability, he put a finality counter on each of them.

I included a few ways to get rid of those counters, including Scholar of New HorizonsScholar of New Horizons to turn finality counters into lands, Fain, the BrokerFain, the Broker to turn counters into TreasureTreasure tokens, and Sanctuary WardenSanctuary Warden to turn them into 1/1 creatures and card advantage.

Before I go, I also wanted to talk about a few other Angels that work really well with the overall game plan. Shepherd of the CosmosShepherd of the Cosmos can bring back something we’ve sacrificed, and can even grab a fetch land for some sneaky ramp.

Herald of the HostHerald of the Host is fine as a french vanilla 4/4 for five mana, but because the myriad tokens can be sacrificed to our commander, this creature becomes a lot stronger here.

And, because of the high creature count in this deck, Angelic Sell-SwordAngelic Sell-Sword can produce a boatload of tokens.

I'll see you all next week, when we take a look at 2024's most popular Izzet commander.

Cooper Gottfried

Cooper is a student at Brandeis University, where he’s Editor in Chief of its community newspaper, The Brandeis Hoot. He’s played Magic for a few years, starting in earnest when he was gifted a precon during the summer of 2022. His favorite Magic card is Denry Klin, Editor in Chief, and he bets you can't guess why.