Nekusar, the MindrazerNekusar, the Mindrazer | Art by Mark Winters

Beginning Our Descent into Madness

Welcome, one and all, to another edition of Commander Makeover! Here, we take commanders older than hills, and give them new life. Today, we're tackling a commander from one of the first preconstructed deck releases, and one that was a boogeyman of sorts in the early days of the format. No, not that early, but close enough.

Our commander for this week comes in at five mana, where it starts to become expensive for decks not in green (unless you run lots of mana rocks and Treasures). That said, Nekusar, the MindrazerNekusar, the Mindrazer does one thing and does it really well: draw cards! As a bonus, he pings our opponents for each card they draw, and that adds up really fast, especially once you account for cards like Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune. However, what are people on EDHREC running in their Nekusar decks these days?

Wizard's StaffWizard's Staff

The most important thing here is that our commander's a Wizard, meaning double the draws, and double the pings. This will be easy to equip for a brain-melting number of triggers. It almost reminds me of Cathars' CrusadeCathars' Crusade, a card I loathe for exactly the same reason. There's much beauty in simplicity, but if you can handle all those triggers, be sure to give this card a try.

The Master of Lake-townThe Master of Lake-town

One word: Ew.

One longer word: Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

The card's going to be absolutely disgusting here. For each card an opponent draws, they lose a life and mill a card, too. Maybe some masochist opponent who loves fiddling with their graveyards will get a kick out of this, but it adds up real fast. He's also got deathtouch, making him a valuable blocker as well.

Krang, the All-PowerfulKrang, the All-Powerful

A card that, in this deck, is identical to Wizard's StaffWizard's Staff. Again, if you can keep track of the triggers, you're in a good spot. On top of that, because of our commander, everyone will be drawing two cards, including our opponents. That means Krang will get huge very fast, making him a real threat in the 99. The caveat is that he's also five mana, like our commander. The priority should always be getting said commander out first, then dropping Krang.

Mana SculptMana Sculpt

For one mana more than the infamous Mana DrainMana Drain, we get a fixed version. Here, we're getting the mana only if we have a Wizard out. Our commander just so happens to be a Wizard, so we can get the mana if he sticks. Otherwise, we're better off running CancelCancel or one of its many variants. If we're looking to run Mana Drain in Bracket 2 without the feel-bads, this is the way.

FlashbackFlashback

With all of those cards in our hand, we're likely discarding them (unless you're paranoid about that and shove in as many cards that negate maximum hand size as possible). On top of that, we also discard our cards when we wheel. Flashback (the card, not the mechanic) ensures we can reuse an instant or sorcery a second time before it goes for good. It also has the namesake mechanic, so we can do it again.

Hexing SquelcherHexing Squelcher

While the body may be fragile, the abilities are not. This ensures our spells always go through while also adding a layer of protection to all of our creatures, including the commander himself. If we so happen to take a lot of heat for what we're doing, then perhaps the Squelcher will help.

Do Not Run This!

No, seriously. Don't.

There are about 775 decks on EDHREC running this card, and no doubt the allure of a repeatable Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune sounds promising, but the problem comes with how to prepare it. Our commander will ensure someone will always have cards in hand, thus this card being a nonbo with our commander. If our deck tries to deplete our opponents' hands (which, spoilers, will ensure you get ganged up on and die), then maybe this card works, but even the Wheel draws everyone seven cards. This will make preparing the creature again very unlikely.

Razorkin NeedleheadRazorkin Needlehead

While this creature is doing a pretty good impression of our commander, it's also much more frail. That said, it does come down sooner. The double red isn't bad, either. We're not in four or five colors, so casting it shouldn't be hard. The conditional first strike is essentially flavor text here: we're seldom going to be blocking with this card, opting to keep it alive to ping our opponents instead.

Scrawling CrawlerScrawling Crawler

Another card that does a (somewhat) even better impression of Nekusar, the MindrazerNekusar, the Mindrazer, only easier to remove. I take issue with all this redundancy, but that's a topic for another article. The draw trigger only happens during our upkeep, so it'll be a bit slow for it to get going alone. Again, we're also not really going to be blocking unless our life total is low. Note that the ping done by the Crawler isn't damage but life loss, meaning certain cards won't bump that number up.

Valgavoth, Harrower of SoulsValgavoth, Harrower of Souls

If I thought The Master of Lake-townThe Master of Lake-town was "ewwwwwwww," as I described it here, Valvy's going to be "EW! EW! EW!!!!!!!"

Under our commander's influence, Valgavoth will grow scary, very fast. A single ping from an opponent drawing cards will give Moth Boy here a counter and us a card. It's very much a kill-on-sight card, even in the 99 of a deck that can wield it so effectively. The ward cost certainly makes it even better, too. I suppose this goes to show that it's not just busted as a commander (and we'll soon cover him, too. Foreshadowing!)

Niv-Mizzet, VisionaryNiv-Mizzet, Visionary

Now that's a good way to continue the tempo after dropping our commander! No maximum hand size means we can go silly with drawing cards. On top of that, each ping an opponent gets for drawing cards means we draw one as well. That said, it's also a creature, making it rather frail. On top of that, this will not work with the earlier mentioned Scrawling CrawlerScrawling Crawler, as Niv-Mizzet checks for damage, not life loss. This sort of thing was the bit I was alluding to in that section.

Removal Galore!

Over the last two years, we've got ourselves some new removal. Firstly, Withering TormentWithering Torment is one of black's only ways of dealing with enchantments alongside the likes of Chaos WarpChaos Warp (in red) and Feed the SwarmFeed the Swarm, so I'd be running this in every black deck I can. The life loss is also negligible, so we can use this with impunity. The second is Blasphemous EdictBlasphemous Edict, which can be good against those pesky token decks. Just note that this impacts us, too, so time it right for the best results.

Enlightenment!

Next week, on our Precon Remastered series, we begin Commander 2015, so tune in for that. However, as I wrote this piece, I noticed that Bloomburrow rotated out about a month ago (It must've gotten lost in the earlier real-life chaos that unfolded), so the next installment will be from there. Tune back in the week after next to see who that might be.