Uldaros Theorix Commander Deck Tech

Uldaros Theorix | Art by Alexander Mokhov

Previews for Reality Fracture are starting to roll out at a faster clip, and with that comes a plethora of new commanders to build. I didn't end up tackling a single legend from The Hobbit's preview cycle, and I'm excited to get back in the saddle with this set. First up is Uldaros Theorix, the Elder Sphinx representing Theorix (), the Hexhaven version of Strixhaven's Quandrix ().

What Does Uldaros Theorix Do?

Uldaros Theorix is a 5/5 with flying for . When he enters, if he was cast, you exile up to one card of each card type from your graveyard, copy them, and then cast any number of those copies with a total mana value of six.

There are a lot of ways to leverage that ability. The most common will likely be using Theorix to resolve two-card combos from the graveyard. Thassa's Oracle and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries can be paired with either Tainted Pact or Demonic Consultation to win the game on the spot, for example. At lower power levels, the two-card combos could be as simple as resolving Narset, Parter of Veils alongside a Windfall or Timetwister. My build of Uldaros won't be doing any of that! Instead, I'm building him as a Reanimator commander.

The closest analogue for my take on Uldaros Theorix is the Mimeoplasm deck I built for 60 to 100 - Modern Living End. A lot of the core engine is the same. The biggest difference is the creatures being Reanimated. Where that version of The Mimeoplasm is trying to bring back an army of individually inconsequential creatures, Uldaros is looking to build a smaller army of heavy hitters.

Key Cards For Uldaros Theorix

The core of the deck is comprised of Merfolk Looters and dredge cards. This package is quickly becoming one of my favorites to use in Commander, as the sheer velocity of cards they create for any deck that can utilize the graveyard is unparalleled. It's also incredibly resilient, as they can be activated at instant speed to save dredge cards from opposing graveyard hate.

One small trade-off that using this package in a Dimir () deck is that there's a greater disparity between the best and worst dredge cards without green dredgers like Golgari Grave-Troll and Life from the Loam around to pad the numbers. The gap between Stinkweed Imp and Nightmare Void is cavernous! I've included all six cards with dredge that fit into Uldaros's color identity, and that low count can make them the hardest piece of this deck's engine to find.

Adding to the Merfolk Looter dredge engine, I've included a selection of permanents that trigger when cards leave the graveyard or get discarded. Teval's Judgment and Monument to Endurance are the strongest of the bunch, offering a choice between ramp and card draw on each instance of dredging a card with a looting effect. Unlike Monument to Endurance and Teval's Judgment, Tormod, the Desecrator doesn't have a limit to the number of times it can trigger each turn, which makes him a very effective army in a can in games where a steady stream of blockers is required to survive long enough to enact this deck's end game.

The end game for dredging over and over again and sculpting a massive graveyard is resurrecting game-breaking creatures, like Hullbreaker Horror, Toxrill, the Corrosive, Agent of Treachery, and Summon: Bahamut. There are a variety of means to resurrect them from single-target staples, like Reanimate and Animate Dead, to more extreme options, like Living Death and Rise of the Dark Realms.

Bringing The Game Plan Together

After fiddling with the deck, I ended up getting to break away from the traditional Commander formula and cutting almost every traditional ramp spell. Why? Ramp spells actually muddy the waters when mulliganing and mapping the deck's early turns. This deck's ideal curve-out is a turn-two Merfolk Looter followed by a turn three Monument to Endurance or Teval's Judgment with a dredge card ready to discard. Paradoxically, casting a turn-two Arcane Signet would only slow this plan down.

A more aggressive version of this game plan is a turn-two Merfolk Looter followed by a Reanimate or Animate Dead to resurrect a Hullbreaker Horror, Nezahal, Primal Tide, or some other big creature that heralds the end of the game unless the opponents band together to remove it. A 99th percentile game looks something like a turn-two Magus of the Bazaar, discarding two of these game ending threats on turn three and casting a Victimize to bring them both onto the board.

How Does Uldaros Theorix Win The Game?

Here, Uldaros Theorix isn't really looking to win the game in one shot. Rather, winning the game will be the end result of reaching critical mass. For this deck, that's going to mean resolving a mass reanimation spell, like Rise of the Dark Realms, Living Death, or Living End, and generating so much value that opponents can no longer compete. Of all those options, Rise of the Dark Realms will close games out the fastest. It's fairly trivial to mill opponents with the likes of Breach the Multiverse and Singularity Rupture before Rise of the Dark Realms resolves.

Getting to cast these game-ending bombs is as simple as milling yourself as aggressively as possible. Uldaros is able to do all the work by himself with a big enough graveyard. He can cast Living Death and Living End from the graveyard naturally. Bigger spells, like Rise of the Dark Realms, are reachable via casting a Reanimate effect with Uldaros that then targets Scholar of the Lost Trove.

The fallback win condition is burn via Syr Konrad, the Grim and Polluted. Syr Konrad is a staple of these self-mill graveyard decks, and there's a good reason for that: he's the best in class version of this effect. While in play, the deck's game plan of repeatedly looting with dredge cards can kill the table with relative ease.

Polluted Cistern is a weirder version of this effect that burns based on the number of card types milled. Both it and Uldaros Theorix heavily incentivize the deck builder to diversify their deck's card types. That's why this deck's mana base includes multi-type lands, like Valgavoth's Lair and Mistvault Bridge.

Uldaros Theorix Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I'd place this deck squarely into Bracket 2 (Core). Power-level-wise, I'd say it's on the higher end of the Bracket 2 spectrum, possible overlapping into the lower end of what I expect to play against in Bracket 3 (Upgraded). There are no Game Changers, none of the play patterns prohibited in Bracket 2, and the deck will reach critical mass most often on either turn seven or eight, usually taking an additional turn or two to win from there.

The beauty of this deck's engine is that I could very easily see changing 20-25 cards out while maintaining the Merfolk Looters and dredge cards and swapping to any number of other strategies. Want to play in Bracket 4 (Optimized)? Take out the Reanimator stuff and swap in more tutors, free interaction, and two-card combos.