Embrace the Dark Side with Queza, Augur of Agonies - $100 Budget EDH

[@brunopaynejunior8285]

Well made video: not too short, no too long, music is well chosen and whole video is damn enjoyable. BTW it's kinda weird that uncommon commander becomes insanely good just by playing around most ordinary aspect of Magic - card draw.

[@frosty980]

I’ve built and played this deck a couple times now and with strong support pieces it’s extremely powerful. Going to try to tone down the build. Good video 👍 😊

[@paulbuckley2301]

Posting this two years after the fact: My buddy asked me to build him a Queza deck last year. Put myself on a $100 budget as well. Insanely easy deck build. Draw more cards. Do stuff when life gaining. Also, keep drawing cards. I used a lot more creatures as support for card drawing though. This is extremely a "Death by a thousand cuts" kind of deck. Even without the extra tutors and whatnot to bump this up to $1,000, there is so much room to push this higher. Fun deck, as long as you can keep your draw and life drain triggers in order.

[@markmahler6446]

The only thing better than a new Legendary Cephalid is an old combo with Lich’s Mastery. Chef’s kiss!!

[@leadpainter8419]

Drogskol Reaver is a good backup for Lich's Mastery.

[@ieuanx361]

doesnt this cause you to lose by deck out? neither says may

[@emilysmith2965]

As long as your opponents have less total life than cards in your library, it doesn’t matter. You can also run an OG Eldrazi and a discard outlet to shuffle your graveyard before decking. Discard outlets include Mind over Matter, Dream Halls, and cheaper options like Oblivion Crown. Just any card that lets you discard cards as a cost of its activated ability and not pay additional mana.

[@robertsiemon410]

There is a fun build you can make with creatures that enter and draw cards. Giving you a source of creature protection. By having a boardstate.

[@shanestearns8502]

That's the route I went with. Started with the conniving creatures the same set as the commander; then started adding flicker and doubling effects

[@fadinggrin4700]

I won a game turn 3 or 4 the other day with Marauding Blight-Priest and Necrologia. No one saw that coming.

[@tyrusbell9494]

Teferi’s puzzlebox and Consecrated Sphinx are strong includes

[@emilysmith2965]

Puzzle Box has the bonus of not looking like a threat but completely hosing the combo player’s perfect hand sculpting

[@KaguraLioness]

Shes my main commander deck, I have her paired with cards like Vito Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Sanguine Bond, Alhammaret's Archive, Cleric Class, and Peer into the Abyss. All I wanna add now is Exquisite Blood...

[@nosgothreaper9973]

Just found an interesting combo that can work in queza. Notion thief on field with Jace beleren. Plus 2 with beleren each player draws a card. But since notion on the field you get 4 cards and the others nothing

[@Squiggypie]

synergy*

[@HarmonicResonanceScale]

She turned a bulk rare into a god card. Thats synergy!

[@origaminosferatu3357]

As someone who recently built Nihloor and Nevinyrral, I can confirm; Esper are the badguys.

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

I'm also recently in the Esper camp, with Tivit Aristocrats and Chromium Flash, and I agree that they're both quite evil and very tricksy thanks to the draw-go nature they employ, and how much value they can squeeze out of, by themselves, quite innocuous cards.

[@HAZPAza]

Cool deck tech :)

[@JokersAndVenom]

I built this with peer into the abyss, sheoldred the apocalypse, and a consecrated sphinx. Pretty brutal.

[@nosgothreaper9973]

I like this build. I got too many win cons though. I got 5 currently and can add two more with Jace for draw out win and exquisite blood to pair with sanguine Bond

[@miguealginet23]

Love those lists, gona try a mix of the budget and the upgraded one, thx for your job :3

[@commanderbydaenen]

Happy to help!

[@MrShazaamable]

Deck is brutally strong. Feels tournament power level. (Might be me being salty but one of my friends runs this deck and virtually NEVER loses against us.)

[@dustinzahn8270]

I've got Omniscience in my Queza build. Other than that, I love having a Smothering Tithe on field when I wheel the table!

[@commanderbydaenen]

I've done that a few times with my old Kykar build.

[@dustinzahn8270]

@@commanderbydaenen love to see it! 🥰

[@Jptorrent004]

This is unhinged. I love it!

[@TripsAhoy]

Just found your channel. Like the way this deck tech video is done. Def subscribed. Good stuff.

[@commanderbydaenen]

Welcome aboard!

[@LiberatorGalore]

Another commander that can go well with the three card combo. Bolas citidel Sensai divining top Aetherflux reservoir

[@kronos548]

So i run that lich mastery combo in my deck. Been playing it for months. Only just now hearing you read the card found out i can exile from hand/gy and it its not only permenants. How many games have i lost this way by now

[@OmegaMTG]

Somewhat similar to how I built mine except I left out no max hand size and went with recycling my yard into my library to make sure I can draw enough to wipe out the table.

[@commanderbydaenen]

I've seen a lot of Cycling lists for Queza, so that's another route you could take.

[@OmegaMTG]

@@commanderbydaenen I considered it but when I cut the list down I tried to go more impactful. If I'm going to be the archenemy from the go, might as well go for it.

[@commanderbydaenen]

I'm still tooling with a Sefris Cycling deck. It's not ready for a video yet, though.

[@OmegaMTG]

@@commanderbydaenen When those precons came out my son claimed Sefris and we don't like using the same commanders. He upgraded his to turbo through dungeons. It's not uncommon for him to start and finish a dungeon in the same turn. It doesn't win much but it does a lot of fun stuff. lol

[@Falcon-fi4jt]

Wow, I have most of these cards already. Some are named differently but basically do the same thing. Thanks for the tips. Also, I didn't know those three colors are basically evil.

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

Esper, in the lore, is a very calculating and controlling faction. To break it down into it's constituent parts, it adopts the ambitious, secretive and non-compromising nature of Dimir, but loses the relatively individualistic and free nature of Dimir in favor of a ton of systematic repression (white). Quintessentially repressive in an organized fashion, which arguably is as evil as you can get. Grixis, in the lore, is very red in its approach to things: They're ambitious (black) and motivated by knowledge (blue), same as with Esper, but this is quite often offset by a tendency towards impulsiveness and chaos (red). Grixis isn't a unified, ordered society, but rather a loose association of very mercurial necromancers, which makes their impact... Less oppressive than Esper's, even if they associate with demons, kill things just to reanimate them as mindless slaves, and so on. This is also reflected quite well in gameplay. Esper has a unique ability to thoroughly control the board and the flow of the game. While Dimir controls large, singular game actions quite well through judicious use of counterspells and bounce/removal effects, it's pretty bad at handling go-wide strategies, cheerios-type playstyles and so on. Esper doesn't struggle nearly as much with opponents puking their hands onto the battlefield in a single turn, thanks to the white color adding access of a plethora of stax effects that punishes such strategies, and ample and flexible removal and sweepers for every kind of permanent that might need to be dealt with. Esper also has access to the most instant-speed effects of any color combination, both in terms of creatures and spells, which makes it the perfect draw-go faction. To compare it with Grixis decks, with the exception of a couple of outliers, Grixis tends to be more about building one's own influence than about decreasing the opponents power. A Grixis deck left alone will overwhelm the table for sure, and it has access to a solid set of removal and counter spells, but it's usually quite vulnerable to interaction, thanks to the best commanders also being more mana-intensive. As such, it doesn't generally interact as much and makes for quite a bad colour combination for draw-go strategies that usually is the hallmark of great control decks.

[@dustpanfpv1964]

The only things more salty than Narsit with Notion Thief is a Wheel and flash Notion Thief.

[@rexone9564]

I Copy paste into my ‘win friends and influence people’ file. More 100 budget decks please

[@commanderbydaenen]

Plenty more to come!

[@Redcoat86]

My tech for this is Necrologia. Pay X draw X but you aren’t paying X because you’re gaining all that life back when you draw.

[@lukehilbig166]

Though not as good you can also go infinite with Drogskol Reaver as it has whenever you gain life draw a card

[@commanderbydaenen]

Good call!

[@charlieaydin1377]

Dude, this was sick!!! My kinda deck. Keep the i-have-no-friends-anymore decks coming mate!!

[@Brancoguro]

this channel is extremely underrated also rhystic study is a bit pricy but a cool card in this deck

[@commanderbydaenen]

That means a lot! Yeah, WotC needs to reprint Rhsytic Study in a masters set at uncommon so more people can enjoy asking "Do YoU pAy ThE oNe?"

[@murphyspell7125]

I do like this commander...lots of potential for casual and CEDH.

[@commanderbydaenen]

Yeah, this one could go either way.

[@rubyyrare]

i wanna make a cycling variant of her so bad, she's such a good commander for an uncommon :D

[@commanderbydaenen]

She really is. I'm working on a cycling Sefris deck right now, but it's not ready to show the public yet.

[@brianmeany9096]

Nothing like psychosis crawler in your command zone. I'm not personally into having this one as a commander, but I really want her in the 99 of something. Also esper is one of my two favorite color combinations and it really depends on what day it is whether esper or jeskai wins.

[@commanderbydaenen]

I love my Jeskai Angels deck. Easily one of my favorites.

[@daxious927]

i main this commander most of the stuff is this video i have in my deck but over all this is one of the most nasty decks i have ever seen or it can very well b e

[@thomassawyer3685]

I've been playing Queza since the day she was released, and it such a sleeper! No one pays any attention to the Uncommon commander at the table until, 'Wait... I lose?' She's definitely starting to pop up on peoples' radar now, though. Curious why neither of these decks run Bolas' Citadel? Especially if you can get it out with Reservoir, it often ends games the turn it goes down :)

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

For it to work as a reliable, game-winning combo, rather than as an incidental combo or just disparate value pieces, you'll also need Sensei's Divining Top in play to get lands out of the way, and tutors to help get the whole package onto the battlefield, which pushes it solidly outside the budget envelope.

[@youngmeIIy]

i built this deck in a group hug way, it’s really fun

[@commanderbydaenen]

That's how I built Xyris. Howling Mine effects.

[@EbonyButter]

I have been trying to make this deck myself, but while making it i got stuck on trying to figure out more repeatable ways to draw. For the most part, it's probably going to have to become more spellslingy like your list, however I saw a cycling variant which was really strong. With the lifegain given by the commander, i also was curious to see what a death and taxes list looked like. (see Kambal)

[@yinyang254]

look into Well of Lost Dreams

[@fireynight9296]

The pacing and explanations could definitely be a bit faster, but a great video, and sweet decklists :) keep it up

[@commanderbydaenen]

Appreciate it. I kid you not, two weeks ago I had someone asking me to slow down so they could read the cards.

[@backkick2000]

What if you play peer into the abyss as a instant win drawing half of your deck that should be at least 30-40 cards enough to win at most points in the game for seven mana as a sorcery and the life loss is negated by Queza.

[@OutlawWalker]

Made a creature version of this deck based on spirits zombies and human creatures, plays like a creature spam token deck but most ofvthe creatures tap other creatures or give me more draw options

[@ericbiggdogg7337]

You guys just realizing this combo this commander has three combos and all of them can kill the whole table

[@thisone45]

ok so, I'm sure I'm missing something, but how do I drain 120 life with 92 cards? Just hope everyone gets hit before I combo?

[@commanderbydaenen]

You have cards that you can cast from your graveyard that shuffle your graveyard back into your library.

[@hansschmidt3144]

nice deck. i wouldnt play it, but i like the manifold interactions.

[@commanderbydaenen]

Fair

[@Hoppy9]

Well of Lost Dreams seems broken with this as well no?

[@commanderbydaenen]

You'd probably want a bit more mana production.

[@tyrusbell9494]

My commander of choice is a Oloro, if he is out and she is out it becomes gain life pay one draw card pay one draw a card pay one draw card pay one card pay one draw a card

[@hkveit]

I know is low-key the point of the deck, but does anyone have a suggestion for an "I win" card to replace Lich's Mastery? My playgroup has banned infinities.

[@commanderbydaenen]

Another comment suggested Peer into the Abyss.

[@yinyang254]

one card helps this deck Well of Lost Dreams

[@SSolemn]

Would Panharmonicon double her ability?

[@commanderbydaenen]

No, because Panharmonicon cares about ETB triggers, not draw triggers.

[@SSolemn]

@@commanderbydaenen thanks!

[@OpusCulo13666]

I argue that Filio of Fancies is better than wizard class, and where is the Consecrated Spinx?

[@nosgothreaper9973]

Is board wipes needed for this deck really?

[@commanderbydaenen]

I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them. Even in a go-wide creature deck, I like to run at least 2.

[@nosgothreaper9973]

@@commanderbydaenen fair point. I just have a few creatures I rather not die. One is if I have 40 or more life by next upkeep if it's on the board I win. I also have a card to phase it out and make sure it does

[@dakotamcintire7419]

Wheeling with Narset out? Bad. Wheeling through Jace's Archivist While Having Muldrotha, Tergrid, and an old favorite artifact of mine called Possessed Portal out? Whole different kind of evil.Your opponents get no cards in hand, an effectively cumulative upkeep requirement to sacrifice or discard cards (meaning forced sacrifice as you made them discard their hand), and with tergrid you get everything they discarded and sacrifice for your own use. and the sacrifice requirement isnt a big deal since muldrotha allows you to recycle permanents, which the deck primarily consists of. but thats a deck for another day lol

[@commanderbydaenen]

I should probably do a video one day on the most evil ways to play Commander.

[@andreferreira6090]

So, why not Peer into the Abyss on the list? draws half of the deck and pretty much gains you life

[@commanderbydaenen]

It was in the initial build, and it's a fun spell. You can easily put it in your version!

[@svenvannimwegen4936]

I built this deck all though my own version and without lichesmastery instead I use well of lost dreams. I just don't like 2.card combo's

[@commanderbydaenen]

That's fair. They're not for everyone.

[@svenvannimwegen4936]

@@commanderbydaenen I'm don't mind playing against 2 card combo's but I allready know I like to win in that fashion once and after that I'm done with it. I like games to be different every time. The wincon I'm running are peer into the abys, debt to the deathless and approach of the second sun.

[@commanderbydaenen]

@@svenvannimwegen4936 Nice, that sounds like fun. I get where you're coming from on the multiple paths to victory, as well. I had a Kykar deck that won the same way every time and it was boring. So I tore it apart and used the mana base to build Akroma & Kraum. The whole deck is built around some minor stax pieces (tapping opponent's creatures), and us having Vigilant creatures, so we're not affected by global stax effects. I built the deck simply so that my From the Vault Lightning Angel could finally have a home.

[@johnsabilla5897]

don't you need only 21 damage from queza to win the game? so only drag 21 cards needed

[@commanderbydaenen]

No, that's only combat damage. Not other forms of damage.

[@princeLaharl2]

No Alms Collector? I'm dissatisfied.

[@commanderbydaenen]

Sorry, didn't have room for it in the budget list.

[@SinisterRaven]

50 mana sources? geeeeeeeeezzzeee my jadzi deck is the only one that runs that much.

[@commanderbydaenen]

I try to have 50 in almost all of my decks.

[@afriendofafriend5766]

I still don't know *how this deck wins.* Drawing 92 cards still only does 92 damage, 28 short of the minimum you should be aiming to do.

[@commanderbydaenen]

You shouldn't worry about trying to deal all 120 damage by yourself. I find that in most games, the winning player usually only deals about 90 or so damage. Even so, there are two wheels that shuffle graveyards back into libraries, and one of them can be cast from our graveyard. So, in theory, you can draw 273 cards.