The Reaper, King No MoreThe Reaper, King No More | Art by Zack Stella

What if Birthing PodBirthing Pod could be a cEDH star, too? Well folks, Lorwyn Eclipsed has given us a Jund () commander that might just make that old Modern star shine.

Let me introduce you to The Reaper, King No MoreThe Reaper, King No More, a card with an exploitably high mana value despite its altogether reasonable mana cost.

What Does The Reaper, King No MoreThe Reaper, King No More Do?

For , The Reaper, King No More is 3/3 legendary Scarecrow artifact creature with two triggered abilities. First, when it enters, put a -1/-1 counter on each of up to two target creatures. Second, whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it dies, you may put that card onto the battlefield under you control. Do this only once each turn.

First up, two quick rules clarifications. As far as that mana cost is concerned, for each mana symbol in the The Reaper's cost, you may pay or one mana of that symbol's color (e.g., can be paid with or ). This means that The Reaper's mana value is six, which is going to be a key feature of this deck.

The second thing worth noting is that, if a creature dies because its toughness is reduced to zero or less (such as through -1/-1 counters), the game will see the creature die with those counters on it. This can sometimes be complicated by -1/-1 counters cancelling out with +1/+1 counters, but that is a rarity for cEDH.

Alrighty, back to the card.

So, starting with The Reaper's triggered abilities. cEDH is absolutely full of valuable creatures with exactly one toughness. Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel, Birds of ParadiseBirds of Paradise, Ragavan, Nimble PilfererRagavan, Nimble Pilferer... the list goes on. As such, The Reaper plays a bit of a waiting game with your opponents: Either run out your early value creatures before The Reaper comes down and hope you can make back your value quick enough, or hold back until The Reaper is eventually cast so that way you don't lose your creatures.

Next, the mana cost. Despite being a three-color commander with a mana value of six, The Reaper, King No More is deceptively easy to cast. Dark RitualDark Ritual allows you to pay for two symbols in its mana cost ( and either or . Similarly, Sol RingSol Ring can help to cast The Reaper, just as if it were any colored-mana producing creature. All this to say, casting The Reaper by turn two is a pretty reasonable feat.

Key Cards for The Reaper, King No MoreThe Reaper, King No More

Pod Effects

First up, the cards that put that mana value of six to work: pod effects. These cards all do one thing and they do it well - turning The Reaper, King No More into some other creature. Eldritch EvolutionEldritch Evolution in particular can grab basically any creature in cEDH, outside of Apex DevastatorApex Devastator, thanks to the "or less" text in its effect, thus allowing it to turn The Reaper into any creature with mana value eight or less.

Birthing Pod, while more restrictive on its face, still grabs some of the best creatures in the format: as far as cEDH is concerned, folks rarely resolve a seven-drop without winning.

Game-Ending Creatures

These creatures essentially serve as our commanders-in-disguise. Play The Reaper by turn two, then use a pod effect the next turn to grab any of these massive creatures. Both Rune-Scarred DemonRune-Scarred Demon and Etali, Primal ConquerorEtali, Primal Conqueror are grabbable off of either Birthing Pod or Eldritch Evolution (both cost seven mana), while Hoarding BroodlordHoarding Broodlord is specifically tutorable via Eldritch Evolution.

How Does The Reaper, King No MoreThe Reaper, King No More Win?

Demon/Broodlord Pod Combo

The primary closer for this list involves finding either Rune-Scarred DemonRune-Scarred Demon or Hoarding BroodlordHoarding Broodlord (either work, but Hoarding Broodlord is better thanks to the mechanics of its convoke-granting ability), resolving that creature's enters trigger to tutor up Saw in HalfSaw in Half, then using Saw in Half to get two more tutor triggers by casting Saw in Half on your recently-entered tutor creature.

From here, there are a couple of ways to handle things.

One classic option is to grab Burnt OfferingBurnt Offering and Peer into the AbyssPeer into the Abyss, as sacrificing the tutor-creature via Burnt Offering is enough mana (or more than enough, in the case of Broodlord) to cast Peer into the Abyss. This will put half your deck into your hand, granting plenty of resources to go for a win.

Another option is to grab Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond and Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach. With enough cards in the graveyard, this can pretty quickly turn into a game-closing Breach line, as resolving Underworld Breach can be followed up by using the Lion's Eye Diamond mana to recast Saw in Half, again targeting the tutor creature, in order to grab more combo pieces.

Lastly, if enough red mana is available, this can also just be shortcut to a double-tutor for Dualcaster MageDualcaster Mage and any Heat ShimmerHeat Shimmer effect, leading to infinite hasty clones of the Dualcaster.

The Reaper, King No MoreThe Reaper, King No More cEDH Deck List

Wrap Up

At the end of the day, The Reaper, King No More is a Jund deck that boils down to "cheaper Hoarding BroodlordHoarding Broodlord in the command zone." Cast your commander, steal some relevant one-toughness creature, hope the turn comes back around to you, then launch full steam ahead with a Birthing Pod effect as you turn your three-mana commander into a game-winning seven- or eight-drop.