Borderland Explorer – Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos

(Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos|Art by Isis Sangaré)

Introduction

Welcome to Borderland Explorer, the new EDHREC series that takes a closer look at commanders right on the border of popularity – not too obscure, but nowhere near the “Top Commanders” front page either.

For this series, I’m choosing the 1,200-deck mark as a grounding point. (But it’s not too strict – there’s a few hundred decks’ worth of wiggle room on either side).

In this series we will:

1. Identify a commander that falls into the 1,200-deck range for each allied two-color pair
2. Highlight unique and interesting game plan(s) for this commander
3. Outline the advantages and challenges of these strategies
4. Build a budget-friendly deck following these plans
5. Walk through important card categories and use EDHREC synergy numbers as a starting point to talk about notable inclusions and exclusions
6. Go over upgrades for readers interested in investing more money into this strategy

The goal is to find Commanders with some established traction but lots of room for exploration and innovation, so let’s get into the brewing spirit!

Moving on from blue-black last week, we are heading right into the next allied color pair, black red. Filtering by number of decks, we see Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos leading around 1,000 decks. This commander is budget-friendly and has some clear-cut game plans to explore!

The Game Plan(s)

Hidetsugu’s first ability showcases the sacrifice synergies that are ever-present in the black-red color combination.

Having a sacrifice outlet in our command zone will make already popular and powerful black creatures like Zulaport Cutthroat even more effective.

This activated ability also encourages a deck to run self-recurring creatures like Reassembling Skeleton and cards that can repeatedly make tokens as sacrifice fodder.

This Commander’s second ability is what sets Hidetsugu apart from other sacrifice-themed decks – it pulls us in a unique direction where we are incentivized to include lots of high mana-value spells alongside ways to stack the top card of our deck.

Advantages and Challenges

Some versions of this deck go all-in on Hidetsugu’s second ability.

This looks like filling the deck with high mana value cards like Draco, Shadow of Mortality, and Avatar of Fury and using Brainstone and (not budget-friendly!) cards like Sensei’s Divining Top, Scroll Rack, and Vampiric Tutor to flip the perfect card with your commander at any given moment.

The advantage of a strategy like this is the explosiveness – trading just 3 mana for 15 or more damage out of nowhere is a pretty awesome rate! 

But it also comes with a downside (beyond the high dollar price of some important library stacking cards). One worry is having high mana value cards stuck in your hand while you wait to assemble a big turn, only to have it be not good enough to win outright.

Maybe you will deal a bunch of damage to one opponent, but everyone else will realize that you are a huge threat and take you out.

Instead of building around high mana value cards as the #1 priority, I am choosing to have our deck today be very creature-heavy for lots of sacrifice synergies.

A creature-dense strategy allows us to build out our board and take full advantage of our commander’s first ability to smooth our draws, allowing the deck to tailor its strategy in the early, middle, or late game.

We’ll also have room for a decent number of high mana value cards that make sense with this creature/sacrifice focus.

Mana Sources

What kind of mana sources synergize with Hidetsugu? There is a surprising amount going on here when it comes to the nonland mana sources:

1. Sacrifice synergies – Cards like Greedy Freebooter, Deadly Dispute, and Priest of Forgotten Gods.
2. Creatures that die increase your mana – Cards like Mahadi, Emporium Master, Undercity Scrounger, and the massively powerful Black Market.
3. Turning life loss into the ability to cast large spells – Cards like Rakdos, Lord of Riots and Neheb, the Eternal.
4. Double-faced cards – Cards like Song-Mad Treachery, Zof Consumption, and Bloodsoaked Insight are big hits when flipped to your commander, but can still just be played as land drops when needed.

Many lands complement the deck’s main strategies as well:

1. Sacrifice synergies – Lands that sacrifice themselves are even better in a deck with Juri, Master of the Revue and Mayhem Devil, while the token generators Kher Keep and Spawning Bed keep Hidetsugu and other sacrifice outlets happy
2. Manipulation of the top of your deck – Lands that surveil, scry, or put creatures from your graveyard on top of your deck are especially good with your commander’s second ability.

Sacrifice/Dying Synergies

Hidetsugu works well with cards that keep adding sacrifice fodder to the board, like Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, and Ophiomancer.

Lots of cards complement this “Aristocrats” theme – in this deck, creatures dying can:

1. Allow you to scry even more (Phyrexian Vivisector, Shadows of the Past)
2. Draw you cards (Morbid Opportunist, Garna, Bloodfist of Keld)
3. Ping down opposing creatures or life totals (Judith, the Scourge Diva, Mayhem Devil, Zulaport Cutthroat, Forge Boss)

Put it all together, and Hidetsugu thrives at the helm of a synergistic machine that does pretty much everything you need to succeed at a game of Commander. But don’t forget Hidetsugu’s unique second ability!

High Mana Value Cards

Just because cards have a high mana value doesn’t necessarily mean they always cost that much to cast. One common theme I noticed in existing Hidetsugu decks was high mana value cards with alternate costs, split cards and build-in cost reduction. 

Ingot Chewer and Shriekmaw, creatures with evoke, are a great fit, because they have a high mana value but you can cast them for only a few mana as a removal spell.

The evoke sacrifice also synergizes well with your “creatures dying” theme – or you can sacrifice them to Hidetsugu or other sacrifice outlets in response to the evoke trigger.

The Rooms from Duskmourn are a great fit – they have a high mana value when flipped to your commander, but you can cast just one half for a lower cost.

For example, Cramped Vents // Access Maze will deal 11 damage when flipped, but you can just cast the Vents as a 4-mana removal spell.

The Rooms naturally synergize with your strategy, granting you grindy advantage over time. Additionally, the deathtouch granted by Widow’s Walk is especially great with sacrifice pingers like Judith, the Scourge Diva and Mayhem Devil.

Other high mana value cards include Chandra’s Incinerator (a perfect pairing with Hidetsugu), Curtain’s Call (naturally costs less due to Undaunted), and K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth (naturally costs less due to Phyrexian mana).

Finally, this deck’s high creature count naturally leads us to cards like Explosive Singularity and Volcanic Salvo.

You can also sacrifice lots of creatures to enable Torgaar, Famine Incarnate and The Balrog, Durin’s Bane and then use a stocked graveyard to cast Gorex, the Tombshell and The Cauldron of Eternity for a low price. 

Inclusions

Humans Matter

Riders of the Mark (not on page)

Speaking of high mana value cards that are reduced with a high creature count, I was drawn to Riders of the Mark.

It looks like a perfect fit for Hidetsugu because it is both a big hit, has built-in cost reduction, AND creates lots of tokens for sacrifice fodder. 

Hidetsugu’s does not appear on the card's page, probably because it looks like it only belongs in a Kindred Humans deck. However, I was struck by how many of the creatures in this build of Hidetsugu are already Humans.

There are a lot of automatic Human inclusions, between ones that enable sacrifice, ones that create recurring, sacrifice, fodder, ones that care about themselves or other creatures dying, and ones that synergize with our commander’s second ability.

Throw in Xathrid Necromancer and Falkenrath Aristocrat (both in <1% of Hidetsugu decks), and our Humans subtheme is complete! 

Exclusions

Big Flip Enablers

Shadow of Mortality (48% of low-budget decks), Brainstone (37% of low-budget decks), Avatar of Fury (36% of low-budget decks), Baneful Omen (35% of low-budget decks)

These cards are all mainstays of the “big flip” version of this deck that goes more all-in on high mana value cards.

Because we are focusing on big spells that are largely more synergistic with our creature and sacrifice-heavy strategy, we are not playing them. 

Decklist

Deck Checklist

52 Mana Sources (36 lands, 3 mdfcs, 3 mana rocks, 10 misc. ramp)

9 Card Draw

9 Targeted Removal

2 Board Wipes

4 Finishers

Mid-Budget Upgrades

$40 is a great starting point, but what if you really connect with this commander and want to invest a bit more into your deck?

Let's go through some important categories and find some higher-budget cards in the <$20 range that can improve this deck's strategies.

High Mana Value Cards

Hoarding Broodlord, Cavern-Hoard Dragon, City on Fire and Blood for the Blood God! all fit the theme of high mana value cards with built-in cost reduction.

Big Flip Synergies

If you want to lean into a deck that focuses a lot of Hidetsugu's second ability, Patriar's Seal is a mana rock that also lets you untap your commander, while Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire and Scheming Symmetry can stack your deck.

Grindy Value

Professional Face-Breaker is a really good fit in a creature-heavy deck like this one (the sacrifice synergies are a nice bonus), while Bitterblossom and Black Market Connections make sure you have a steady stream of creatures.

Card selection/Advantage

Diabolic Intent and Skullclamp help you find/draw cards as needed while leaning into the "Aristocrats" theme.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a low-budget Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos “Human Aristocrats” brew. See you next time on Borderland Explorer, when we look for a red-green commander with some brewing promise!