Into the Vault: Anje Falkenrath Deck Tech
Written by Christian Gil Portugalisa
Hi everyone. What an amazing start of the week. The recent banned and unbanned announcement has really stirred up the waters and is now the talk of the town affecting Modern, Vintage and even French Duel Commander. Excitement or frustration? Only time will tell.
Commander 2019 has finally arrived. This set brings new commanders allowing for new possibilities. One of the most sought after Commander 2019 decks is Merciless Rage. So why don't we talk about Anje Falkenrath and how we can bring madness to its extremes.
The Commander
A hasty vampire that has a simple looting ability. What sets her apart from all the other looters is her ability to untap if you discard a card that has the madness ability. For as long as you have them on hand or draw into those madness cards, you can keep untapping Anje and draw as many cards as you want or need. Now that is madness! Are there cards we can compare her ability with?
There is a reason why Necropotence is banned in most formats and restricted in Vintage. Yawgmoth's Bargain is even banned in Commander. All three of these cards have one thing in common. They allow you to get as many cards as you need at the cost of some of your life. Talk about living on the edge. Anje has the same potential as these cards. Instead of using life as a resource, you will need to use cards with the madness ability instead.
It's All Madness
So where we start looking for those elusive madness cards? Well, if you were one of those lucky few, then look no further than the pre-con itself. The deck comes with 19 madness cards that we can take advantage of. But we need more than that to make this deck function properly. We also need to add the following:
These cards will bring our madness card count to 39. That's almost half of the deck! Why not add more? Well, we still need to add other spicy spells to close out the game.
The Nightmare Continues
Commander decks will always have board wipes in their 99. You may run into a scenario where an important creature card is now in your graveyard and you want to recur it.
These three cards are amazing in this deck and in the current meta. Not only can you recur your creatures, you can even steal creatures from opponent's graveyards. Now that is value. Another card you also want in your 99 is Living Death.
This card is an awesome board wipe as well as a recursion engine for this deck. Activate Anje and discard all of your madness creatures then cast Living Death to return them to play.
Now that your army has been reborn, give them haste and savor the screams and shouts of your opponents as they run for their lives. Or if you prefer to deal direct damage then you can also include the following cards:
Insanity to the Extreme
If you think that we have done everything we can to upgrade this deck, then think again. It's now time to take it to the next level. Wizards of the Coast has finally done us all a favor and included combo pieces in the pre-con decks. However, you will need to purchase one more card to make this work.
Worldgorger Dragon, a $2 card (at the time of this writting), will bring you to victory if all else fails. So how does it work?
1. Cast cards such as Entomb, Buried Alive or activate Anje's looting ability to put Worldgorger Dragon in the graveyard
2. Cast Animate Dead or Necromancy and target Worldgorger Dragon
3. When Worldgorger Dragon enters the battlefield, its first ability triggers exiling all your permanents which includes the Animate dead or Necromancy.
4. When Animate Dead or Necromancy is exiled, the enchanted creature dies.
5. When Worldgorger Dragon dies, its second ability triggers returning all your permanents to the battlefield untapped (unless the card or an effect indicates it comes into play tapped) including your reanimation spell.
6. Repeat step 2. You may tap your lands in between to generate infinite mana or draw your entire deck due to Anje's looting ability.
7. You can loop this process as many times as you want.
With infinite mana comes near infinite damage from Avacyn's Judgement. Since you may also be exiling and returning Bloodhall Priest back to the battlefield, you can deal 2 damage to all of your opponents. Wow, we found a way to blink our creatures in a Rakdos deck. John Lee Kwai from the Command Zone Podcast will definitely be proud.
Final Thoughts
Although it seems like the themes are not quite as interesting as we first thought, Wizards have definitely brought new spice to an old mechanic. Let me know your thoughts on this or any other Commander 2019 decks. Till next time.
Extreme Madness Commander Deck
Land (28)
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Arid Mesa
1x Blast Zone
1x Blood Crypt
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Cavern of Souls
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Forbidden Orchard
1x Gemstone Caverns
1x Graven Cairns
1x Luxury Suite
1x Mana Confluence
1x Marsh Flats
1x Mountain
1x Peat Bog
1x Polluted Delta
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Sandstone Needle
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Shadowblood Ridge
1x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Snow-Covered Swamp
1x Sulfurous Springs
2x Swamp
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
Enchantment (7)
1x Curse of Fool's Wisdom
1x Dance of the Dead
1x Necropotence
1x Senseless Rage
1x Stensia Masquerade
1x Strength of Lunacy
1x Warstorm Surge
Creature (26)
1x Anger
1x Anje's Ravager
1x Archfiend of Spite
1x Asylum Visitor
1x Big Game Hunter
1x Blood Pet
1x Bloodhall Priest
1x Bloodmad Vampire
1x Brain Gorgers
1x Flayer of the Hatebound
1x Gorgon Recluse
1x Grave Scrabbler
1x Incorrigible Youths
1x Insatiable Gorgers
1x Magus of the Wheel
1x Muck Drubb
1x Nightshade Assassin
1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
1x Reckless Wurm
1x Simian Spirit Guide
1x Street Wraith
1x Stromkirk Occultist
1x Twins of Maurer Estate
1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1x Voldaren Pariah
1x Weirded Vampire
Instant (12)
1x Abandon Reason
1x Dark Ritual
1x Dark Withering
1x Entomb
1x Fiery Temper
1x Mausoleum Secrets
1x Plunge into Darkness
1x Psychotic Haze
1x Pyroblast
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Shadow of the Grave
1x Violent Eruption
Commander (1)
1x Anje Falkenrath
Sorcery (18)
1x Alchemist's Greeting
1x Alms of the Vein
1x Avacyn's Judgment
1x Biting Rain
1x Call to the Netherworld
1x Cut / Ribbons
1x Distemper of the Blood
1x Doomsday
1x From Under the Floorboards
1x Gisa's Bidding
1x Ichor Slick
1x Malevolent Whispers
1x Mire in Misery
1x Murderous Compulsion
1x Psychotic Episode
1x Restless Dreams
1x Rite of Flame
1x Vandalblast
Artifact (8)
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Hammer of Purphoros
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mox Amber
1x Prismatic Lens
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Sol Ring
1x Talisman of Indulgence
Sorcery (18)
1x Alchemist's Greeting
1x Alms of the Vein
1x Avacyn's Judgment
1x Biting Rain
1x Call to the Netherworld
1x Cut / Ribbons
1x Distemper of the Blood
1x Doomsday
1x From Under the Floorboards
1x Gisa's Bidding
1x Ichor Slick
1x Malevolent Whispers
1x Mire in Misery
1x Murderous Compulsion
1x Psychotic Episode
1x Restless Dreams
1x Rite of Flame
1x Vandalblast
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