Ardyn, the UsurperArdyn, the Usurper | Art by Russel Lu

I might not have the best history with the Final Fantasy games, but I do have a long history with the Demon creature type, which is why Ardyn, the UsurperArdyn, the Usurper stood out to me as the previews for the newest set came in. My first-ever booster pack was a Champions of Kamigawa pack, which had some real beauties in it, including one of my prized Magic possessions: a foil Kuro, PitlordKuro, Pitlord. While time and power creep haven’t been kind to poor Kuro, the creature type has remained iconic. Like they have been since Lord of the PitLord of the Pit in Alpha, Demons are huge flying creatures based in black. Over the years, however, they’ve been released from the shackles of drawbacks to become truly terrifying!

Notable Demons for Ardyn, the Usurper

Ardyn is not a Demon, nor does he meet many of the requirements of a Demon, outside of a high mana value and a whole lot of black color pips. What Ardyn does do, however, is give Demons a host of keywords: menace, lifelink, and haste. He also reanimates creatures of any type from our graveyard as 5/5 black Demons (which, of course, get all the keywords he provides).

We want our Demons to be big creatures that dominate the board and provide large chunks of flying damage. Rune-Scarred DemonRune-Scarred Demon is a big, beefy brawler that battles above the clouds, but the best aspect of this bruiser is that he brings along a buddy. With all the different jobs Demons can do, he’s a veritable swiss army knife!

One of my favorite Demons is Bloodgift DemonBloodgift Demon, a medium-sized flying threat that gives a mini-Sign in BloodSign in Blood to any player each upkeep. Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arena is still potent, and one attached to a large flyer is fairly good. Even better, though, is the political aspect. If someone else needs cards to catch up we can give them some, and it can also deal the final point of damage in a pinch!

Desecration DemonDesecration Demon used to dominate Return to Ravnica Standard, and it’s still a cheap political threat that gets better as the game goes on. While it appears to be an above-rate flyer, it gets better in the context of a Demon deck. By itself, it forces opponents to choose between letting him grow and sacrificing a creature to tap him down and grow him. Some decks will have spare bodies, but most will have to make a tough call; even those who can regularly pay the sac tax will eventually have to pay the piper once our other removal goes online.

Abhorrent OverlordAbhorrent Overlord is our equivalent to Gary (Gray Merchant of AsphodelGray Merchant of Asphodel). Maybe we should call her Abby. Would that catch on? Let me know in the comments below! Regardless, the Overlord gives us a host of Harpies equal to our devotion to black, which should be quite high. While not quite the game-ending big bang shot of Gary, Abby gives us enough power to close games out in one or two big, evasive swings.

One of the more instantly impactful Demons on a game of Commander is Doom WhispererDoom Whisperer. Believe it or not, the most dangerous aspect of this card isn’t a word or a number: it’s a punctuation mark. The colon between the phrase “Pay 2 life” and “Surveil 2” means that we can pay any amount of life in increments of two to stack our topdeck and load up the graveyard. We can even set up the reanimation of powerful creatures.

Cards for Demon Typal Strategies

Liliana's ContractLiliana's Contract is one of the more powerful pieces of typal technology any creature type has access to. Even in a deck without Demons, four Changelings can facilitate the alternate win condition. Since the deck is packed with them, fulfilling the condition is nice and easy.

One of the aspects of Demons in popular culture is that they're closely tied to death, making them incredibly difficult to put down once and for all. Reanimation spells like Animate DeadAnimate Dead epitomize this, although perhaps the scariest and deadliest reanimation spell in Magic is Dread ReturnDread Return, castable from the graveyard without paying any mana, combining perfectly with Doom WhispererDoom Whisperer’s graveyard loading to bin the threat and the reanimation spell without paying a single mana.

Demon Ramp

One of the major downsides of Demons is their high casting cost. Rituals can help pay costs beyond the amount of mana we have, but we start to feel the aftereffects later when removal starts to catch up. Foretelling Demons with Dream DevourerDream Devourer helps us to control how wide and how quickly our board develops, letting us play around removal and pressure just enough to provoke responses.

Bontu's MonumentBontu's Monument is another cost reducer, this time coming with a repeated source of card advantage. Each creature we create comes with a mini-Sign in BloodSign in Blood, just like Bloodgift DemonBloodgift Demon, helping us find more creatures and dig deeper and deeper for the pieces we need to close out the game.

Removal Spells for Ardyn

Demons are warped and twisted minds, thriving on asserting their power over the living. This is shown in their propensity for forcing opponents to sacrifice creatures rather than using targeted destruction. After all, while Doom BladeDoom Blade is more likely to answer the specific threat, making the opponent choose between their favorite creatures with Archfiend of DepravityArchfiend of Depravity is so much more delicious!

While spot removal might not be the Demon's way, sometimes it is necessary. Infernal GraspInfernal Grasp and Feed the SwarmFeed the Swarm are some of the rare bits of enchantment removal in mono-black, although some say that they're color pie breaks. Here, however, they're necessary bits of removal for permanents we can’t easily answer.

Ardyn, the Usurper Commander Deck List

Here's our list:

Final Thoughts on Ardyn, the Usurper Demon Typal

Demons are large black flyers, and Ardyn helps make them ever more dangerous and threatening. They do a variety of jobs, from drawing cards to forcing opponents to sacrifice their own creatures. Sometimes they're a little slow at contributing to the board, but there are cost reducers to help with that, and they've been power crept in a definitive way!