Gwenom, RemorselessGwenom, Remorseless | Art by Lordigan

Hello, and welcome to a Spider-Man deck tech that I'm super excited about. While there's been a boatload of powerful cards previewed for this set, I only audibly gasped when I heard the rules text of one card in particular: Gwenom, RemorselessGwenom, Remorseless. This card is, essentially, a copy of Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel that you can play in the command zone. Bolas's Citadel is, of course, a Game Changer, and widely regarded as one of the most powerful cards in all of EDH, so let's get brewing and see what we can do with this cool new card!

What Does Gwenom Do?

For we get a 4/4 Symbiote Spider Hero with deathtouch and lifelink. When she attacks, we can play cards from the top of our deck by paying life instead of mana, so we get a temporary version of the aforementioned Citadel whenever she attacks. And, to make up for the life that we'll be losing for that card and mana advantage, she can regain us life during combat! I truly think this commander would have been fine without that built-in life gain, but Magic's designers have been kind to us on this day.

We've never had a commander quite like this one. There are some cards, like The Reality ChipThe Reality Chip, that let us cast spells from the top of our deck, but we've still got to pay mana for them. There's other cards, like Eladamri, KorvecdalEladamri, Korvecdal, that can let us circumstantially cheat mana costs on cards from our library, but we've never had a card like Gwenom that lets us cast spells from the top of our library with basically no restrictions and at basically no cost.

Given how strong Gwenom is, we'll be building a high-powered 99 to support her. This deck will be focused on winning through infinite combos and generating a ton of value from the command zone. Let's get right into it.

Key Cards for Gwenom

A significant portion of this deck is focused around comboing off, but I'll talk about those combos later and dedicate this section of the deck to our non-combo gameplan.

We need some powerful ways to manipulate the top of our library, ways to keep our life total up, and (of course) some powerful mono-black staples to tie it all together. Let's talk about top-deck manipulation first.

Edge of Eternities gave this deck a super powerful tool: Umbral Collar ZealotUmbral Collar Zealot. While this creature's one-mana counterpart, Viscera SeerViscera Seer, has been a staple in decks for years, this new creature slots in alongside it quite nicely. Both sac outlets have a spot in this deck, which means we're twice as likely to naturally draw into this powerful effect. Combined with PoxwalkersPoxwalkers as infinitely repeatable sacrifice fodder, we'll churn through our deck at a nice rate. Plus, since we're already using our life total as a resource in this deck, Doom WhispererDoom Whisperer is a natural fit. This creature is a huge, 6/6 "flampler" that lets us dump useless cards from the top of our library into our 'yard at any moment of our choosing. And, we've got a selection of four top-deck tutors (five, if you count DoomsdayDoomsday) to ensure that we've always got access to the right card at the right time. My favorite is Insatiable AvariceInsatiable Avarice, which can double as a neat little card draw spell if we find ourselves in a pinch.

While we're casting all of these spells off of the top of our library, we'll be losing a pretty substantial portion of our life total, so let's talk about some ways to prevent it from getting too low. There's a lot of great cards at our disposal (Sheoldred, the ApocalypseSheoldred, the Apocalypse, Creeping BloodsuckerCreeping Bloodsucker, and others), so I'll use this section to talk about some of the more interesting includes.

Spectrum SentinelSpectrum Sentinel is a fantastic one-drop, letting us gain double-digit amounts of life over the course of a game. This artifact creature is only in 0.26% of eligible EDH decks, according to EDHREC data, and should absolutely have a slot in more decks, but this isn't a data analysis series, so let's keep on trucking.

Dread PresenceDread Presence is a great inclusion in almost all mono-black decks, providing life gain, removal, and/or card advantage if we should need it. Combined with our precognition engine in the command zone, we can selectively draw cards to clear lands off the top of our deck and keep Gwenom at maximum effectiveness. Plus, as another inclusion from Edge of Eternities, Elegy AcolyteElegy Acolyte is here, too! This creature passes the vanilla test, makes 2/2 blockers, and can even draw us some extra cards. That's a lot for just , so I see this new card becoming a centerpiece of lots of decks going forward.

I mentioned that this is a high-power deck with lots of staples included, so, of course, powerful reanimation spells, like Animate DeadAnimate Dead, NecromancyNecromancy, and the newly printed The Soul StoneThe Soul Stone, all have slots in this deck. While all of these cards are fantastic, The Soul Stone has set a new ceiling for mana rock power. I don't think there's ever been a two-drop ramp piece with such fantastic upside, and this artifact is going straight in almost every deck that touches its color identity. Alongside those powerful recursion spells, Dauthi VoidwalkerDauthi Voidwalker, Opposition AgentOpposition Agent, and Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters can help keep our opponents' boards in check. These cards are conspicuously powerful and could even serve as lightning rods for removal (thus keeping our commander safe)! Additionally, as a staple of any black deck that's seeking to cheat on mana costs and pay life, Vilis, Broker of BloodVilis, Broker of Blood is here! This eight-drop is a powerful card draw engine and a source of repeatable removal, making it one of the strongest cards in our 99.

How Does This Deck Win?

I promised that this deck had a lot of combos, and I intend to deliver on that promise, with a little help from Commander Spellbook, a neat resource to find combos in your EDH deck. First up, Sheoldred, Vilis, and either K'rrik, Son of YawgmothK'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth or NecropotenceNecropotence both let us sort through our entire deck and gain a huge amount of life, letting us secure victory relatively easily.

However, those combos don't win us the game on their own. We can secure a compact victory with our commander's attack trigger, Aetherflux ReservoirAetherflux Reservoir, and Sensei's Divining TopSensei's Divining Top, though! This is a relatively robust combo that lets us gain infinite life while dealing infinite damage to our opponents. As a nice bonus, these cards are still useful outside of their combos! Sensei's Top is a great way to manipulate the top of our deck, and Aetherflux Reservoir can be a great way to ensure we can make good use of Gwenom's attack trigger.

We've got other ways to drain our opponents' life totals, too. Using MortuaryMortuary, either Death CultistDeath Cultist or Gray Merchant of AsphodelGray Merchant of Asphodel, and a sacrifice outlet, we can drain our opponents out and cruise to a combo win. These combos are great because they don't include many dead cards. Mortuary is useful with the sacrifice outlets we've included, Death Cultist can be a (somewhat underpowered) way to gain life, and Gary is of course a super powerful way to pad our life total.

Gwenom, Remorseless Commander Decklist

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this deck tech! I was eager to write about Gwenom once I saw its reveal, and I'm glad that I got to share my build with you all. Before you go, though, there's a few more cards I wanted to talk about.

Our commander is hugely important to our gameplan, both as a value engine and as a combo piece, so I've included a few extra ways to keep her safe. Not Dead After AllNot Dead After All and Feign DeathFeign Death both protect Gwenom from removal and give her a small power/toughness buff. This may seem insignificant, but she's got lifelink! Every point of power we can throw on her matters. There's also a few pieces of Equipment, like Commander's PlateCommander's Plate and Lightning GreavesLightning Greaves, to keep her permanently safe from removal. Lastly, and this is one of my favorite cards in the deck, SwarmyardSwarmyard can regenerate our commander if needed. Her creature type, as a Symbiote Spider Hero, is actually highly relevant with this land on board.

I'll see you all next Monday, when I'll be back with yet another article!