Captain N'ghathrodCaptain N'ghathrod | Art by Andrey Kuzinskiy

Continuing with our Halloween theme for the past few weeks, we have one of the spookier creature types today: the Horrors.

Horrors have been part of Magic for quite a while, but Duskmourn gave the creature type a much-needed boost. Our commander, however, hails from the criminally-underrated Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate set, and was recently given a Secret Lair reskin with the Iron Maiden release.

Our commander, Captain N'ghathrodCaptain N'ghathrod, hereafter referred to as “the Captain,” is a rare legendary Horror, and one of the few that offers support to the creature type. But how do Horrors work in Magic? And, like Specters, how can we make what they do palatable despite the preconceptions?

These are the questions this Commander deck tech will look to answer.

What Does Captain N'ghathrodCaptain N'ghathrod Do?

The first bit of text that jumps out about the Captain is that he gives Horrors menace. Menace is the latest in black fear-related keywords, following in the vein of fear and intimidate. All of these abilities make blocking difficult for opponents, and granting one of them to the entire team can be backbreaking.

Menace, in particular, makes it so that opposing blockers have to team up to block.

While being able to connect easier is a strong ability, the Captain’s second ability adds tremendous power to those connections. Whenever a Horror we control deals combat damage to a player, that player mills that many cards. “That many” is a potent phrase, as lifelink and squirrellink have shown.

Milling equal to our combat damage can get out of hand easily, especially with cards like Consuming AberrationConsuming Aberration. That card could even one-shot a player!

Milling is a tricky ability, however. Politically, players tend not to like having their cards put into a position where they can’t use them. And if we can’t close the door quickly enough, we run the risk of attracting a lot of salt. How can we avoid playing with our food? Well, it involves using another controversial ability.

At the end of our turn, we can reanimate an artifact or creature card that was milled this turn onto the battlefield under our control. So, while the Horror aspect of our commander rips opponents’ memories from their minds, the Pirate aspect turns their worst intentions into our offense.

Key Cards for Captain N'ghathrodCaptain N'ghathrod

Horrors tend to care about the graveyard by either filling it, with The MindskinnerThe Mindskinner or Zellix, Sanity FlayerZellix, Sanity Flayer, or by counting it, with Nemesis of ReasonNemesis of Reason or GuiltfeederGuiltfeeder, the latter of which is a Premodern all-star. These cards are supercharged with our commander granting our Horrors the ability to mill.

Where our commander could use some help is with the reanimation. The Captain is one of a rare breed of cards that can reanimate opponents’ creatures, along with staples Animate DeadAnimate Dead and Beacon of UnrestBeacon of Unrest. We can even pick up some awesome bulk bin pieces in Rise from the GraveRise from the Grave and Path of the SchemerPath of the Schemer to use our opponents’ threats against them.

The other way Horrors can fill the grave is by killing things. Ravenous ChupacabraRavenous Chupacabra is a nasty example of this, as it’s a Flametongue KavuFlametongue Kavu variant that kills the target. We use removal like PongifyPongify to put threats into the grave for our reanimation spells, which is a pretty nasty synergy.

Horrors can also protect our board, like SpellskiteSpellskite. The Captain is quite terrifying, so it stands to reason that he’d attract negative attention and removal. Fighting through SpellskiteSpellskite and NegateNegate effects makes it likely that, once we’ve sunk mana into getting our commander out, it’ll actually stick around.

Since we want graves full, Nephalia DrownyardNephalia Drownyard and Jidoor, Aristocratic CapitalJidoor, Aristocratic Capital can power our synergies. Mill may be a controversial strategy, but it tends to go over better when we're clearly building to reanimate the threats and not to deny them. Still, when an ability is this entrenched in what the deck does, it’s good to let the table know in Rule Zero conversations.

How Does This Captain N'ghathrodCaptain N'ghathrod Commander Deck Win?

We aim to fill graves by any means necessary: killing, milling, or countering (sorry that didn’t rhyme), and then reanimating key threats, or just taking advantage of the piles of bodies.

Captain N'ghathrodCaptain N'ghathrod Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Horrors are as terrifying to face as they are to look at. They thrive off of causing fear and drink in the memories they pour out of the skulls of their victims. If that’s for you, I hope you have a Happy Halloween!

But how would you build Horrors? And how do you and your playgroup feel about milling?

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