(Syr Konrad, the Grim | Art by Anna Steinbauer)

Epic Preparations

Hello, EDHREC fans! I’m Bernardo Melibeu, and this is Epic Experiment, a series where we throw all common sense aside and experiment with some unusual strategies, changing how we normally build our deck. Is it going to work? Who knows?! We’re making science here. When you’re an Izzet mage, blowing things up is half the fun.

In this article we'll talk about one particularly powerful mono-color combo commander released in Throne of Eldraine: Syr Konrad, the Grim.

Whenever another creature dies, or a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield, or a creature card leaves your graveyard, Syr Konrad, the Grim deals 1 damage to each opponent.

(1)(B): Each player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.

Observation 1:

His triggered ability is so easy to trigger that he can be built around many common themes such as Mill, Aristocrats, and Dredge.

Observation 2:

There are a lot of powerful cards that can be combined with Syr Konrad, the Grim: Mindcrank can keep milling our opponents as long as one of them mills a creature, and Morality Shift is a straight-up "win the game" button in the right circumstances.

Observation 3:

While his activated ability is not all that exciting, it does a decent job of starting a self-mill chain. It can also be an outlet for infinite mana.

Observation 4:

Being a five-mana combo piece is a pretty nasty downside, making it hard to do a full combo in a single turn, which also makes him vulnerable to removal.

The Old Formula

Syr Konrad is quite the powerhouse! Just looking at his signature card list shows Syr Konrad's high combo potential. Many of those cards can be quite explosive in the right circumstances. Aside from that, we see also a trend of Aristocrat effects and self-mill, which completely makes sense.

The Epic Ingredients

It's not a surprise that a Syr Konrad, the Grim list is probably relying on some sort of combo, so in order to find a space on the current posted lists, we need to try to find a different type of combo. Ashes of the Fallen is such an interesting niche card, and together with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge (or Liliana, Untouched By Death), it lets us make infinite ETB/LTB (enters-the-battlefield and leaves-the-battlefield) triggers on zero-mana 0/0s, like Stonecoil Serpent. This combo fits right in with a Syr Konrad deck because of his ability to emulate a Zulaport Cutthroat in the command zone.

One thing that impresses me about this combo is that, while historically speaking, a deck that runs cheeri0s effects suffers from having a lot of dead cards, this deck can take advantage of them even outside of the combo turn. With plenty of Aristocrat effects, like draw on LTB (Dark Prophecy), or treasure token on LTB Pitiless Plunderer, we can make our zero-drops into a "build your own sorcery" effect.

The biggest hurdle that we have to overcome when playing Haakon, Stromgald Scourge is that we need to get him into our graveyard first in order to cast him. This might seem like a minor set-back, but in a deck that's already slot-heavy like ours, finding the right balance can prove to be a bit of a challenge. Final Parting is a great way to set up for the combo, as we can get access to both main combo pieces. Bog Witch and Overeager Apprentice are an interesting way to discard Haakon (if we're unfortunate enough to draw him) and power out our combo in just one card.

The Mixture

[Commander]Syr Konrad, the Grim[/ec]

[Creature]

*Endless One
*Hangarback Walker
*Phyrexian Marauder
*Shifting Wall
*Stonecoil Serpent
*Ugin's Conjurant
*Walking Ballista
*Dusk Legion Zealot
*Reassembling Skeleton
*Rotting Rats
*Yarok's Fenlurker
*Zulaport Cutthroat
*Bog Witch
*Grim Haruspex
*Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
*Midnight Reaper
*Overeager Apprentice
*Plaguecrafter
*Woe Strider
*Yahenni, Undying Partisan
*Crypt Ghast
*Disciple of Bolas
*Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
*Nightmare Shepherd
*Pitiless Plunderer
*Ravenous Chupacabra
*Solemn Simulacrum
*Shriekmaw
*Skirge Familiar
*Harvester of Souls
*Kokusho, the Evening Star

[/Creature]

[Instant]

*Entomb

*Costly Plunder

*Hero's Downfall

[/Instant]

[Sorcery]

*Torment of Hailfire
*Buried Alive

*Fortuitous Find
*Damnation
*Mutilate
*Beacon of Unrest

*Final Parting
*Beseech the Queen
[/Sorcery]

[Enchantment]

*Phyrexian Reclamation
*Dark Prophecy
*Grave Pact
*Greed
*Dictate of Erebos

[/Enchantment]

[Artifact]

*Everflowing Chalice
*Sol Ring

*Wayfarer's Bauble
*Ashes of the Fallen
*Charcoal Diamond
*Coldsteel Heart
*Fellwar Stone
*Jet Medallion
*Mind Stone
*Mindcrank
*Commander's Sphere
*Hedron Archive
*Gilded Lotus
[/Artifact]

[Planeswalker]

*Liliana, Untouched By Death

[/Planeswalker][Land]

*Buried Ruin
*Ghost Quarter
*Tectonic Edge
*Myriad Landscape
*Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
*Cabal Coffers
*Cabal Stronghold
*29 Swamp

[/Land]

[/Deck]

The rest of the deck is the usual mono-black Aristocrat shell that wants to play a grind game until either we're ready to combo out or use one of our secondary win conditions (mostly some poke with our commander or Kokusho, the Evening Star). If all else fails we can always try to go for a big Torment of Hailfire.

Most of our combo pieces are somewhat resilient to hate: Haakon can be cast from the graveyard, Liliana, Untouched by Death is a planeswalker, and they are both interchangeable. Ashes of the Fallen, however, is a one-of-a-kind card that doesn't have the same protection as those pieces and, because of that, it needs some special attention regarding recursion/protection. Beacon of Unrest is a flexible way to recover it, while also giving us the option of reanimating a high-priority target; Fortuitous Find can provide a lot of value when it recovers two cards, although it's mainly there to get back Ashes.

We don't really need to rush for the combo for our opening hand; keeping a hand that can build an engine is much safer than trying to force a 2+0,5+0,5 card combo. Keep in mind that a hand with fast mana and Final Parting is great since we can rush for a combo finish pretty easily.

For the early game we should aim to play some of our Aristocratic pieces, as they tend to give us a better mid game and they allow us to cash in early our cheeri0s. Needless to say, some pieces naturally have higher priority than others, Blood Artist effects are pretty important when comboing (although our commander can act as one), so it's better to play them as late as possible.

By the mid game we should be able to have some small engine going, even if it's something as lackluster as only one Dark Prophecy-type effect on the battlefield. This is where we should start actively looking for our combo lines. If we're running a bit low on gas, we can play Syr Konrad, the Grim just to chip in with some damage; although this might not seem like all that much, that might be the difference between having someone eliminated by a Torment of Hailfire or not.

The late game might be a question of whether we can find our combo pieces in time. Let's be honest, winning a game by grinding out people with ping damage in a non-dedicated deck with plenty of zero-drops is not an effective way to do things. However, they do help us stay health long enough to have a decent chance of finding our combo. Cards like Behold the Beyond and Final Parting are a strong late game critters that can pretty much seal the deal.

As I said in my initial analysis on Syr Konrad. the Grim, there are a lot of powerful cards that we can use to fully abuse the power of our commander. Most of these were cut out since we don't really have all that many slots and they aren't as exciting to add. Nonetheless, they can be great additions.

Forever Young effects are fun additions because, together with our Dark Prophecy effects, we have some draw chain (I'd recommend adding Maga, Traitor to Mortals to add another 0/0 creature).

That’s it for this Epic Experiment! What do you think about this list? Do you have any questions about the deck? Which cards did you like? Which didn’t you? Was the Epic Experiment a success? Please let me know in the comments below!

Bernardo Melibeu

Bernardo has been playing(on and off) since portal and somehow manage to survive mirrodin block while being a total casual(beast tribal ftw?). He loves all the shades of blue and being the one saying "nope", while holding a full grip of cards in hand.