A Guide To Glissa, The Traitor EDH / Commander - Magic: The Gathering Deck Tech

[@RPG_Bliss]

I loved the symmetry of adding green and black cards that are in cycles like the gods or the gods equipment. Very cool!

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

On the other hand, the green member of Cranial Plating’s cycle wasn’t in.

[@M2Brad]

@@TheShinyFeraligatr I think we all know why lol!

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

@@M2Brad Most people don't know that's a cycle, so... (To those who don't, Horned Helm is a mediocre if playable card, Neurok Stealthsuit is neat for being onboard instant speed Shroud but otherwise not very notable, Sparring Collar is one of those "only gives a single ability" equipments, and Healer's Headdress may be one of the worst equipment ever.)

[@M2Brad]

@@TheShinyFeraligatr I think that's quite the accurate assessment mate!

[@seisner6655]

8:20 No, don't do that. Glissa needs your opponent's creatures to die, she is a complete nonbo with Kalitas.

[@melanpiriks]

Ah, this fills me with nostalgia: Years ago, I was skipping through the articles of a magazine focused on trading card games. Suddenly, something caught my attention. The design of this page was so... mechanical, yet it seemed natural. A fantasy world ruled by machines? I was intrigued. Quickly identifying the article as yet another "Top 5 best cards from the newest booster", again I skipped through something, this time only 5 little anecdotes about cards I have never seen before... or anything like them for that matter. My eyes rested on what I assumed to be an elf in front of some sort of construct (and yes, the card itself later confirmed my assumption of her being an elf). None of the words in the card text helped me really fathom what I was looking at. But this is the story how I started playing Magic: The Gathering ^^

[@thetime27]

I loved my Glissa deck, very resilient and could be built and rebuilt in so many different ways. I like how this build has so many non-artifact historic cards I had not previously considered. Always created a stir at my LGS as there are so few golgari artifact commanders...exscuse me, I have some re-building to do...

[@MrVariant]

Glissa is the reason I hate double strike 2/2's with a passion

[@noway6124]

I just want to add a quick clarification to how the Prof said to use some of the "sacrifice your artifact in response" statements, like at around 4:20 and 6:10. With Glissa, you need to sacrifice your artifact BEFORE the creature dies, so in response to the thing that's going to kill the creature. If you wait until your opponent's creature already died, Glissa's ability has already triggered, and you have already had to pick a target for it, while the artifact you want to sacrifice is still on the board. Just thought I'd add some clarification to an already great video. Good Work Prof/Benny

[@shuckschuck.5296]

YES! Probably my favorite commander. One card that's an absolute bomb in this deck is Kuldotha Forgemaster. I'll never forget the time I sac'd my 3 remaining artifacts to grab a Noxious Gearhulk and survived a Craterhoof Behemoth drop. I didn't actually win the game, but all of my opponents were very impressed with how my deck performed. So that's a win in my book.

[@bushidoman96]

With everyone brewing the new cards, I like seeing older commanders get some love. Glissa is a favorite of mine, and is probably one of my stronger decks. Thanks for this video.

[@NerdJake]

I really enjoy triumph of the hordes in this deck. It is not only a very powerful card and a win condition, but it also feels very right in this deck with a glissa art work on it.

[@KeldNeedsCoffee]

Always love seeing Golgari decks. I swear, you're going to end up getting me into commander on top of my already evengelical can-lander gaming.

[@bourgeoiscaesar]

I struggled with Ratchet Bomb in a few games and wound up removing it for a while; it always felt like it worked more slowly than I wanted it to. Then I was mulling it over one day, and realized that nothing says you can't sacrifice it with no charge counters, which means it's a two-drop that can immediately wipe the board of all tokens. Doesn't always hit, but if someone is generating a lot of treasures or trying to go wide with creature tokens it shuts them down quickly, especially if you have something like a Shimmer Myr that lets you play it at instant speed.

[@Seavay]

Prof this video is so well edited. I am amazed at how well you did on it.

[@llmitsull9500]

Bennie Smith, thx for sharing. Another reason I should go back rebuild my Glissa commander.

[@thomashearne4670]

These edh deck techs are some of my favorite videos on all of KZbin. And for a commander I've always wanted to build to

[@bradleybaker7626]

No joke I decided to start rebuilding my Glissa deck last night and got quite a ways through it. Can’t wait to check out this video for more suggestions!

[@TheReaperGriefer]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES MY FAVOURITE CARD! FINALLY!

[@TheReaperGriefer]

Edit: so sad that paradox engine is now banned q.q

[@kylecarlson1159]

I personally love the pre-release promo art for my deck but I love this! It gave me so many cool new ideas for my existing glissa deck!

[@ToxinBoy]

Glissa has been my favorite commander since I started playing the format years ago. Thanks for paying homage to her Prof! May the Phyrexians perfect your life! :)

[@S1L3NTDr460n]

Glissa was my very first Commander, and my first entry into the EDH format~ I've never taken her apart, only updated when new sets come out :)

[@christopherrodriguez861]

My all-time favorite commander. Glad she finally has a course at the Tolarian Community College.

[@tabletsoftime4938]

Funny enough I just started building this last week! Helpful guide as I'm getting the ball rolling with constructing a list.

[@jonunciate7018]

I've had her in my collection for a long time. Great ideas, many peices I've already collected for when eventually make the deck. It's so rare to see an artifacts matter commander in green that she creates a unique experience I'm excited to make some day.... after the newness of commander 2019 and Eldraine wears off.🙂

[@rulefanatic6506]

You forgot to add Mind Slaver ;) Glissa is amazing. I have included her in every golgari edh deck I make but have never been able to commit to her fully but have thought of it. This might be a good jumping point for me to finally commit.

[@DeaconClash5000]

I'd love to see a Marisi, Breaker of the Coil deck tech. Seems like a VERY interesting and chaotic commander.

[@robertshifflett8084]

I built Marisi with all the shadow creatures and "CraterhoofBehemoth"ish creatures. It is a monster at casual tables. At higher levels of play, Marisi is annoying and just never stays in play.

[@Stifle9]

Wow, never realized that Nevinyrral's disk was LarryNiven spelled backwards. Not only do I love his science fiction, but I used the novel 'integral trees' to explore numerous basic and advanced concepts in my physics and astronomy classes for years. Thank you, Professor

[@frankkyle9590]

I had the deck years ago, sold my collection. To get out of hard times. Now I'm back proxies being My main source. I loved this writer, before I left magic I was play a deck I modified based off his Undying Pod. I remember taking all those control decks to the woodshed with undying pod. The removal became laughable and I begged for them to boardwipe into a stronger board. 😅😅 I am in process of remaking a Glissa deck. And glad I found this video.

[@martintaylor570]

Fantastic video Prof! Everything about it added to the fear and wonder one should have when building a Phyrexian deck and also preparing to fight against one ;D

[@dorothy7164]

I love Glissa! I have a deck of her. Now I’m going to have to overhaul her and I love it!

[@Brawler_1337]

This video really showcases why I like Glissa: She has plenty of ways she can be built. This deck has a combination of control, historic, and voltron. My build leans full into control with a smattering of the Life from the Loam engine. There are some cards that I’m surprised weren’t mentioned here. One of the reasons I play the Loam engine is for Forbidden Orchard. This land is perfect for Glissa because it gives your opponents stupid 1/1s that you can kill for value, ensuring players can’t slow you down by simply holding back creatures. Acorn Catapult is another way to give tokens that can also trigger Glissa on its own. Salvaging Station is an incredible card that gets back Viridian Longbow, Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod’s Crypt, and another card that is low-key one of the best cards to have: Codex Shredder. It also gets back Triangle of War, which is another artifact that can kill creatures by taking advantage of Glissa’s deathtouch. You can turn Glissa + Longbow, Visara, and Avatar of Woe into creature machine guns with Thornbite Staff. Krark-Clan Ironworks can give protection against exile effects and easily turns into a combo enabler. I’ll share my list one I update it on TappedOut. It’s a deck I don’t play often enough since it is quite powerful for the playgroups I tend to play with. Edit: Done. Here it is. tappedout.net/mtg-decks/glissas-incredible-machine-1

[@istarilight]

Please please proff, give us some nice guide for a Niv-Mizzet Reborn or a Titania, Protector of Argoth ! Watching you offer tips for a nice Glissa build showed me what interesting ideas you can bring to the table !

[@drongobrat6471]

I've literally never seen Glissa before, but it's really cool.

[@crazyrocker444]

I would absolutely love to see a deck tech on Arjun, the Shifting Flame. He is very underappreciated and has some amazing things that he could do.

[@WretchedPhoenix]

Cranial plating is not listed in the decklist but it is in the breakdown below. In case anyone is trying to build this.

[@marcocamaiti212]

One of my all-stars. Built it as a "cold war" deck, threatening to rain (asymmetric) nuclear annihilation whenever some opponent becomes too dangerous.

[@davidrosenberg9615]

I used to run a ridiculous infinite mindslaver combo in Glissa. It was great.

[@angeljimenez7839]

Good video. I have glissa on my elf tribe edh deck. And it’s really helpfull to get some artifacts that were destroyed.

[@ajaxtaur]

I don't know if it was already covered elsewhere here in the comments, but here's a pertinent correction: You cannot use Scrapyard Recombiner in response to an opponent's creature dying in order to use Glissa's ability. This is because Glissa's ability targets, and you choose targets as soon as an ability goes on the stack. Thus, an opponent's creature dies, then Glissa's ability activates and goes on the stack (choosing a target that's *already* in your graveyard.) If you were to respond with Scrapyard Recombiner, you would resolve its ability, but Glissa could not target the new card since it has already chosen its target. Edit: This also goes for other such effects that you could use to toss artifacts in response to Glissa, such as the Trading Post combo mentioned later in the video.

[@TheComicBookJoker]

ajaxtaur While this is true, you *can* activate Scrapyard Recombiner in response to whatever is going to cause the creature death, so that Recombiner will be in the graveyard when the creature dies and Glissa triggers.

[@teveitehaamatai3585]

I guess you can respond to a creature dying effect (like a boardwipe) unless it is in a cost (Diabolic Intent for exemple).

[@TheComicBookJoker]

Tevei Tehaamatai That is also true.

[@blockordie6222]

Such a nice commander and a great lore behind her, very fluffy...

[@Tsuchigumo880]

While I don't have a deck with Glissa at the helm, she is a hidden gem in my Hapatra deck. It's a surprisingly natural fit- plenty of Hapatra's best tools are artifacts, and there are plenty more outside of her negative counter package that are worth an include- for instance, lesser-known tech Plague Boiler. Having that- and a few combo pieces- suddenly reappear out of nowhere is quite the sucker punch.

[@FatJoeDeluxe]

Eldrazi are also really easy too cast as the artifacts create lots of colorless mana. Especially the new versions of ulamog emrakul and kozilek are perfect as they don't remove your graveyard. The others can be sacrificed too rescue your graveyard from being exiled.

[@shinobu153]

Pretty good guide! As a glissa player myself, you missed an easy source of card draw with the baubles. Mishra’s bauble is pretty expensive, but Urza’s bauble is very cheap. It basically reads draw a card every time an opponent’s creature dies.

[@hoppeltrottel7484]

Good point. Throw in a Vedalken Orrery and you're drawing cards like crazy... I have six EDH decks now (voltron, combat manipulation, reanimation, +1/+1 counters, stompy and politics), and plan on assembling a last, seventh deck with a sacrifice theme. The contenders for the commander position are Sek'kuar (devour etc.), Slimefoot (saproling aristocrats), Krav + Regna (aristocrats with lifegain subtheme) and Glissa (sac artifacts for value). I've not decided yet. It would be interesting though to have a deck that's able to win without dealing any combat damage at all...

[@jimbomctimbo1610]

@@hoppeltrottel7484 I've got a glisa tribal combo on moxfield if you wanna check it out

[@RL_22]

Me: I'm 80% done building out my commander deck! Professor: *Releases video* Me: NM, time to build this one!

[@Nurglewaffle]

Probably not popular choices but I love your commander deck techs and would like to see: Zurgo Helmsmasher Nissa, Vastwood Seer or upgrading the Ghired deck from C19

[@addambarcelos]

Nice to see bennie's deck, His work is awesome

[@dakotamcintire7419]

Thanks for the combo between the top, citadel, and reservoir. I'll be including it in my take on JLK's Athreos Shadowborn deck XD

[@wolfdwarf]

This really reminds me of Ascension: the Deck Building game's Mechana deck setup. Destroy construct, bring it up, repeat, win.

[@andresousa8728]

Amazing list!! I would love to see Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow commander next!! ~

[@hybridmoments333]

I have a soft spot for Glissa because she was my first ever MTG rare card back in original Mirrodin. Was bummed she got turned Phyrexian, but it was cool she got a different printing!

[@sordieo]

Yasova Dragonclaw! My favorite commander deck currently!!

[@matthiasdurivet3573]

Editing was awsome.

[@mattstatton6662]

Great deck tech, I've been debating building this.

[@bradlewis261]

Now I have to make a Glissa deck. Thanks Prof.

[@NightravenNevermore]

I'd love to see a Syr Gwyn commander deck tech! This one was awesome!

[@DmitryIvanAlyosha80]

Glissa and scythe of the wretched is still one of my favorite pairings 😍

[@Jptorrent004]

I picked up Glissa, the Traitor (FTV edition) a few years ago, looking to build her, but never got to it. Guess this guide will help haha

[@evanmester1208]

My favorite artifact commander. Value is so insane

[@P-0-Seventeen]

I found a copy of Glissa the traitor in a random box not long ago. Its a from the vault version too so I already satisfied Benny's wish :D

[@Tennyson1842]

Would love a Kenrith the Returned King deck tech :D

[@sashaanne703]

I agree. My favorite part of that card is how political the build can be. Those abilities don't have to target you, after all...

[@carumsarene]

Thank you so much for this video. Glissa is the most annoying Golgari legendary to work with I have.

[@tornadojoe87]

hell yeah! i was just literally making a Glissa deck and decided to get a basis, and what do you know!? you usually have some nice spicy decks ;)

[@evanmetz7448]

Lathliss dragon queen is a really underrated budget mono red commander and if BUILT RIGHT is actually really good

[@peewee130946]

Evan Metz it’s not really good it’s a 6 mana commander in a color that struggles to ramp

[@kalem1527]

I have a lathliss deck and I love it. It can be slow out the gate but everyone ignores her until you're getting double the value from casting dragons. Combine it with etb cards like Dragon Tempest and Warstorm Surge and you'll burn down your opponents out of nowhere

[@TheComicBookJoker]

jacob blackman Wouldn’t that just be an argument to support it with mana rocks for ramp and wheels for draw?

[@guillermoiglesias3709]

Do you have any list?

[@elijahdavila3684]

@@TheComicBookJoker You should be using rocks anyway in any non-green commander deck. The issue with 6 cmc commanders in non-green colors is that 6 mana is liable to be your entire turn when you want to cast a commander like Lathliss and if an opponent sees that you're about to get value off of it, one kill spell means your commander now costs 8. I'm not saying "any expensive commander is bad" but there are inherent issues to playing them in decks that can't ramp hard which you can't usually circumvent.

[@clarkmilstead9927]

Idk if I’m right, but I don’t think you can sac creatures in response to glissa’s trigger since you have to place your targets to put her trigger on the stack before you can do any effects

[@elimecham4858]

I think he means before they die. So before a board wipe or kill spell resolves

[@clarkmilstead9927]

Ok, makes more sense.

[@shirkit]

What a great deck tech, I'm gonna build it!

[@MarlonMikami]

WHAT?! I decide to build a Glissa deck and next day you have a video out about her?

[@mentok80]

Thank you for this video, now I can update my deck.

[@supalilmoob5812]

Thank you for quality MTG material

[@daxter818]

Just an FYI, targets must be selected when an ability goes onto the stack so, you cannot sacrifice an artifact 'in response' to Glissa's trigger and also select that same artifact as the target for her ability. You must sacrifice an artifact BEFORE her ability triggers to use it as a target.

[@TheArcSet]

A really great commander and modern legal too!

[@Macrosssevenplus]

At the end you ask what commander we would like to see next. Could you do a Rhys the Redeemed commander deck? I have an old commander deck that needs updating and I am overwhelmed by the options for my colors. I run it as an elves token deck with +1/+1 spam.

[@eddipl5055]

Great video, I’d like to see Oloro, ageless ascetic. Thanks you for the video !

[@albertgauche4575]

I run a similar build with land destruction/stax plan b/c nobody expects Iron Maiden or Underworld Dreams but I win more games because of the incremental life loss. Infect is my plan d with Blightsteel Colossus and Grafted Exoskeleton too. I also use Force of Despair vs token strategies too.

[@michael83479]

Phyrexian tower doesn't work that way, when the glissa trigger goes on the stack it needs to target something

[@mullac0107]

I'd love to see what you would build for the new Aela, Artful Provocateur!

[@christiancalligraphycorner139]

I would love to see a commander deck based around this commander... Tibor & Lumia(Red and Blue) I believe from the Kamigawa set. That would be interesting.

[@fedelanci]

This is interesting. Having much of the pieces already maybe I'll try to set up it some day.

[@mateuszcegowski499]

Shirei, Shizo's caretaker, or Jhoira of the Ghitu. That would be something interesting - one clearly meant to go low CMC, and the other to go as high on CMC as possible.

[@jacklegends2799]

I do hope Bennie will update again. The Throne of Eldraine cards seem very good with it, especially Syr Konrad the Grim.

[@gr3ndl3r]

I would love to see a deck tech on my favorite rakdos vampire, Olivia Voldaren. Her ability to steal other creatures is a lot of fun, but when you combine her with cards like basilisk collar, she becomes a truly scary threat. My personal deck has vampire shenanigans as a plan a, but aristocrats as a plan b.

[@joshrzepka4139]

He already did that with a host

[@ub5923]

Could you do a deck tech on Dragonlord Silumgar? I'd love to see how he would be built!

[@cameronwise-maas5610]

As someone who played a lot of Glissa over the years, I disagree pretty strongly with this list. Way too much (often inefficient) business, not enough grease. Way too many artifacts that may never hit the graveyard in the first place. Glissa can trigger a LOT in multiplayer, and you're just losing value if you don't have anything to recur. Baubles, chromatics, etc (at least you've got nihil spellbomb) can draw you tons of cards at very low cost. Glissa also gives you the opportunity to be very interactive, removal-wise, without sacrificing CA, but the list has almost no removal that isn't on-board and telegraphed, so it's going to lose hard against any competently-piloted combo deck. The historic plan is also thin at best. There are only a couple, fairly mediocre payoffs. Even if you wanted to run those payoffs, you didn't need to run mediocre legends, you could have just run more artifacts that also synergize with glissa instead of dividing your synergies. The most ridiculous inclusion is Kalitas. He literally disables your commanders entire raison d'etre. If you want even more grave hate, just run scrabbling claws or something, at least it doesn't turn your commander into a friggin' glorified centaur courser. Glissa can be very strong when build well. This...ain't it. EDIT: oh, and minor note, but 4:20 is incorrect - you need to do it in response to whatever is going to kill the creature, so you can choose the target when the ability is on the stack. So if they're sacrificing a creature to, say, ashnod's altar, there's no window for you to respond and get something in the grave to target. But if someone casts removal, you could respond to the removal by sacrificing an artifact so it's there when the creature actually dies.

[@Javaisd3ad]

Throw up a list for comparison if youre going to poke @the 99.

[@cameronwise-maas5610]

@@Javaisd3ad Why? I can't criticize certain card choices without building an entire list? I haven't played glissa in years, so my old list is quite out of date, and I'm in the process of moving so I don't have my collection with me to build, even if I wanted to. Doesn't mean I'm wrong about the individual card choices.

[@Javaisd3ad]

@@cameronwise-maas5610Anyone can be a critic but suggesting an alternative is how things actually get done.

[@cameronwise-maas5610]

@@Javaisd3ad I did suggest alternatives. Cut the legendaries and non-sacrificing artifacts. Add cheap, self-sacrificing cantripping artifacts and instant-speed removal. I'm not doing all your work for you. If you (or anyone) has an interest in building glissa, I'm sure they can use their own deckbuilding skills to improve upon this list with that information. Personally I have a passing interest with her, having played her extensively in the past, but have no desire (nor means) to make a deck for her now.

[@Javaisd3ad]

@@cameronwise-maas5610I don't think anyone needs you to do anything for anyone. Especially myself.

[@ahmadmoussa3771]

This card brings back so many memories ;-;

[@Tha3l]

Could you do an Oathcore deck? Namely an EDH deck that contains an Oathbreaker. I love those decks because they are not useless when your playgroup mainly plays EDH, while still giving you the option of playing Oathbreaker should you find opponents for it.

[@stevenwalsh6179]

Is it just me, or has the editing "leveled up" again? This video was a real treat to (literally) watch.

[@Audric66]

I would love to see a Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow commander build.

[@dreamwriter8423]

I'm playing it tribal ninja, with scry cards to burst massive damages . Not very expensive and tons of fun.

[@ichiel1898]

no

[@dreamwriter8423]

Come on, for a dimir deck it hasn't much cancer.

[@ichiel1898]

it can be fun but you always get focussed because you lower everyones life total and yours stays high xD and it can be built pretty cancer too. but most dimir decks can be cancer, its literally the strongest 2 colour combination

[@yokaiwolfcreations3076]

been looking into a lot lately into Syr Konrad. been watching lots of deck tech vids and would love to hear your take on syr konrad the grim for edh

[@timothypeters3019]

I would like to suggest thornbite staff rather than viridian longbow, or even in addition, it's a little more mana intensive but it allows glissa to become a machine gun essentially.

[@Sora21098]

Wow, finally I'm early to a prof video

[@garretvasil59]

What would be cool is to do is deck techs for commanders that are kind of obscure and underplayed but are still good cards.

[@Animedingo]

I would love to see a gonti lord of luxury build. Ive been working on it for years but i cant quite finish it

[@xxapoloxx]

you left the orchad out, tap add 1 of any color, give your oponent a 1/1 token that when it eventually dies triggers the commander

[@SharkWhite333]

Great video Is there a gameplay where we can see the deck in action on this channel?

[@joshchilders8953]

Nice animation professor, rad.

[@kyleriley1733]

I would love to see a build on Rosheen!!! you would be my hero!!! (i mean you already are). Please please.

[@sashaanne703]

Have you thought about building/doing a tech on Tatyova, Benthic Druid? That is the deck I am working on, and she has surprisingly high potential. As in, my playgroup won't know what hit them potential.

[@danielyorke5225]

I might actually have to finally build a Golgari deck now. My play group will be shocked!

[@cybersnap6072]

I'm shocked that Mindslaver didn't get a mention. That card will just win you the game in a Glissa deck

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

As long as we’re doing older commanders, I really like the version of Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer posted by Radiophage On tappedout. I play with mostly the budget version and as long as you have time for the longer game, it’s a ton of fun and a good opportunity for some rp.

[@TheAustinacid]

Wait a min a deck from bennie brought by the prof neat

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

Yeah, I’ve been reaching out to more and more awesome folks like Bennie so that I can offer different deck than I tend to build.

[@TheAustinacid]

@@TolarianCommunityCollege thanka prof!

[@Jax_Carter]

another great deck tech. will most definetly be giving this a go. Any chance we can see something like Horobi, Death' Wail? super evil, game warping

[@Imaxxacre1]

Ahh the nostaligia. As someone who started playing MTG around the time of Journey into Nyx and M15, Glissa was one of the first legendary creatures I ever saw in action. My college friends and I would play multiplayer casual, before we knew what Commander was.

[@peterharris9518]

A Questing Beast deck would be awesome