Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer | Art by Néstor Ossandón Leal

Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer, from the upcoming Marvel's Spider-Man set, is an intriguing new commander, from his mana cost to his damage prevention ability that also buffs him. Oh, and apparently he also reanimates another creature whenever we cast him? Seems bonkers. Time to brew!

Anti-Venom seems to lend himself towards building a deck that mixes the aggressive, commander-centric style of Voltron decks with the ability to counterpunch our opponents when they attack back, like an Aikido deck.

What Does Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer Do?

Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer has two primary abilities. The first allows us to return a creature from our graveyard when he enters if he was cast. While we can't abuse this effect with EphemerateEphemerate and friends, Anti-Venom is still a 5/5 with another ability for only one more mana than Breath of LifeBreath of Life.

That's pretty good value and lets us recur value creatures like Cloud, Midgar MercenaryCloud, Midgar Mercenary or Phyrexian VindicatorPhyrexian Vindicator when we need to.

Anti-Venom's second ability prevents all damage, not just combat damage, that would be dealt to him and puts that many +1/+1 counters on him instead. That means he'll survive a Blasphemous ActBlasphemous Act just as well as he'll survive combat, and emerge stronger than before.

Yes, that does make him a prime target for Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares, TerminateTerminate, and the like, but we can build the rest of our deck to shore up those weaknesses.

Combined, Anti-Venom points us towards building a combat and commander-centric deck. So we'll likely want to load up on Equipment and other Voltron pieces that can stick around, while also making sure we have ways to protect our commander from removal spells.

We'll want to make sure we have a healthy dose of creatures to get back with our commander, preferably ones that have enters abilities of their own.

Key Cards for Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer

The keys to making our Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer deck work are going to be ways to protect our commander and ways to quickly deal lethal damage to our opponents. Fortunately, Equipment can help us do both of these things.

Our protection Equipment include:

• Commander's PlateCommander's Plate
• Hammer of NazahnHammer of Nazahn
• Mithril CoatMithril Coat
• Robe of StarsRobe of Stars
• Swiftfoot BootsSwiftfoot Boots

This might feel like overkill on first glance, but we'll want a mixture of ways to protect our commander from targeted removal and also give him indestructible. It never hurts to have a backup option or two as well, should an opponent happen to destroy our Swiftfoot Boots, for example.

When we're ready to turn the corner and start closing out games, we'll want to lean on Equipment like Genji GloveGenji Glove, Helm of the HostHelm of the Host, Leyline AxeLeyline Axe, and ShadowspearShadowspear. Since our commander doesn't have any form of natural evasion, keywords like trample or creating a lot of extra power will be important for us to keep pressure on our opponents and close out the game.

We've also go a robust package of Equipment tutors to help us find whatever equipment we need at the right time.

• Cloud, Midgar MercenaryCloud, Midgar Mercenary
• Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor
• Steelshaper's GiftSteelshaper's Gift
• Stoneforge MysticStoneforge Mystic
• Stonehewer GiantStonehewer Giant

If you're looking to power down your Anti-Venom deck, cutting from these tutors and replacing them with more Equipment is a great way to start.

Best Ramp and Mana Rocks for Anti-Venom

It's worth noting that since Anti-Venom has five colored mana pips in his casting cost, we'll have to be extra careful to make sure we can reliably make white mana since Sol RingSol Ring, Mind StoneMind Stone, and other staple ramp cards won't help us cast him ahead of curve.

That's why we'll want to focus on mana rocks like Arcane SignetArcane Signet, Phial of GaladrielPhial of Galadriel, and Throne of EldraineThrone of Eldraine that can make colored mana.

We'll also want to run some of white's "catch up" ramp, like Knight of the White OrchidKnight of the White Orchid and Deep Gnome TerramancerDeep Gnome Terramancer, since they can help us find one of our 25 basic Plains to stay on curve and cast our commander.

Weathered WayfarerWeathered Wayfarer is particularly strong since it can find Nykthos, Shrine to NyxNykthos, Shrine to Nyx or something like Emeria, the Sky RuinEmeria, the Sky Ruin when we need a utility land to help us eke out a little extra advantage.

Hitting Our Opponents Back, Aikido-Style

When building a monocolored deck like this one, it can sometimes be almost too linear. We could easily jam this deck full of powerful Equipment, ways to tutor them, and ramp, and call it a day. If we did, we could easily find ourselves in a situation where a timely FarewellFarewell or Stony SilenceStony Silence completely locked us out of the game.

That's why this deck has a package of Aikido cards like Gideon's SacrificeGideon's Sacrifice, PariahPariah, Pariah's ShieldPariah's Shield, and Phyrexian VindicatorPhyrexian Vindicator that let us turn the game on our opponents. Instead of taking huge chunks of damage, we have a variety of ways to redirect it to another target like our commander or Stuffy DollStuffy Doll, or even our opponents.

We'll need to be careful about exactly when and where we use these effects, since our opponents can learn to play around them if we hold open too much mana or have a PariahPariah on the board. So we're probably best saving them to stop lethal damage or in spots where we can kill an opponent by redirecting all of the damage to them.

In any case, these are such neat effects that almost no one sees coming from a mono-white deck that will help us snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from time to time.

How Does this Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer Deck Win?

Our main win condition in this deck is going to be commander damage with Equipment like Genji GloveGenji Glove, Helm of the HostHelm of the Host, Leyline AxeLeyline Axe, and ShadowspearShadowspear helping our commander deal lethal damage. While many of these will work with other creatures in our deck as a backup plan, Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer's ability to buff himself will allow us to quickly get to 21 commander damage reliably.

One interesting combat trick we can pull of with this deck is to use our own removal spells, like Thraben CharmThraben Charm or Kabira TakedownKabira Takedown, to deal damage to Anti-Venom, which he'll prevent and instead turn into a buff that could make him deal lethal commander damage. While we don't want to do this a lot, it is a nice way to add a secret mode on our removal spells that makes them into finishers too.

We have a handful of other oddball ways to win the game that are worth mentioning. Stuffy DollStuffy Doll is a classic in an Aikido-style deck that can redirect damage since it'll then hit the chosen player for the same amount of damage we redirected to Stuffy Doll. It's particularly amazing with cards like Saving GraceSaving Grace, Gideon's SacrificeGideon's Sacrifice, MartyrdomMartyrdom, and even Dawnsire, Sunstar DreadnoughtDawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought.

Being able to reverse a lethal attack back to an opponent's face through Stuffy DollStuffy Doll is such a jaw-dropping moment it'll make your opponents hesitate from attacking you in the future. You might get an annoyed look from the player who dies this way, but it's exactly the sort of splashy play that I love to write about in my regular series, Plot Twist, here on EDHREC.

We do have the ability to build out a board of beefy creatures with The OzolithThe Ozolith and Resourceful DefenseResourceful Defense over the course of a long game. Especially since our commander is going to get a ton of +1/+1 counters on him just in combat. These two are great with something like Akroma's WillAkroma's Will that lets us sneak an alpha strike of pumped up creatures through on an unsuspecting opponent when we need to.

A Potential Combo You Can Add

While it didn't end up making this particular deck list, by adding Guilty ConscienceGuilty Conscience to your Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer, you can push the deck closer to Bracket 4. Guilty Conscience combines with Stuffy DollStuffy Doll to combo kill an opponent in a single turn, provided you can damage Stuffy Doll to start. Once Stuffy Doll takes damage initially, Guilty Conscience will cause it to damage itself over and over again, while also damaging the chosen opponent till they die.

While this combo certainly isn't powerful enough in isolation to make this Anti-Venom deck a Bracket 4-viable list, it's very cheap and only requires two pieces to execute, so we're not running it in this particular list. You could certainly use it to bring your deck up a notch or two on the power scale to meet your particular style of play if you wanted to though.

Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer Commander Deck List

Here's the full deck list for you to peruse:

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this deck tech for Anti-Venom, Horrifying HealerAnti-Venom, Horrifying Healer. If you liked seeing a deck that mashes up two different archetypes like Voltron and Aikido, then be sure to check out my usual series, Plot Twist, where we take a commander that looks like it'll do one thing and instead give it a fresh twist.

I'm always looking to put an interesting twist on commanders that look straightforward to keep interesting things happening in my games. You can view all my deck lists here or see what I'm currently playing in paper here on Archidekt.

Let me know in the comments below how you're building Anti-Venom, any cards I missed, or what other cards from Marvel's Spider-Man you're excited to brew around.

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