Devour for Power, the green/blue/black wedge Commander deck, showcases huge creatures, graveyard manipulation and reanimation. If you enjoy filling the graveyard up to power your strategies in a variety of ways, Devour for Power is the Commander deck option of choice. The recently spoiled Jace, Memory Adept will make an excellent addition to this library assaulting dance of the dead when M12 hits.
Let’s tackle the entire 100 card decklist (sans land) and hit some highlights and possible changes to make as we rundown with an on the spot, card-by-card review.
Commander options:
The Mimeoplasm–The definitive Commander of choice for Devour for Power, The Mimeoplasm gives you a lethal Frankenstein monster that can feed off whatever looks good, a creature-feature buffet that wins a different way every game.
Damia, Sage of Stone– Damia is an excellent Commander, but probably isn’t the best choice for running your reanimation nation.
Vorosh, the Hunter – The wedge dragon, not quite as interesting as your other options.
Winner: The Mimeoplasm is both powerful and flavorful, making it one of the best Commander options.
Decklist
Acidic Slime – Creatures with enter the battlefield effects are always great in decks that can take advantage of their abilities more than once. Acidic Slime will take out something and usually trade up in combat.
Artisan of Kozilek – Gives you the potential to create a serious army with just a single card, Artisan of Kozilek can scour your rich graveyard reserves for the perfect companion.
Avatar of Woe – There are lots of graveyards in a Commander game. Devour for Power has plenty of ways to get them going, you can probably play Avatar of Woe off just your own creaking coffins. Avatar of Woe draws a lot of attention but is a cheap, dominating board presence at the price you’ll be paying.
Brawn – Chuck in the graveyard, get trample for everything. Seems good here.
Butcher of Malakir – Until your opponents pay the price and take out Butcher of Malakir, they’ll be loathe to lay any kind of siege on your forces.
Dark Hatchling – A little expensive as a removal option, even if it is removal on a stick. You can probably find something to replace this. (Shriekmaw?)
Desecrator Hag – It’s another Gravedigger, sort of. Consider getting a Zombify in here instead.
Dreamborn Muse – A great way to fill the graveyard, all the graveyards. Even one time around the table will make your graveyard centric creatures lethal.
Eternal Witness – This is a Commander staple for any deck playing green.
Extractor Demon – Sizable, flying, and can contribute to filling graveyards all over the table.
Fleshbag Marauder – A common sight in many Commander decks featuring black, will put a ton of flesh into the ground. Most of it much better than your contribution (likely the Maruader itself).
Gravedigger– With all the stuff flowing into your dirt pile, the Gravedigger will be sending back the best of the best to your hand.
Lhurgoyf – This thing is just going to be astronomically huge in a Commander game where your library flipping mechanics are at work. Hans will really be running. Expect to tell stories around the campfire about your 1-shot goyf.
Mortivore – Another creature that will probably be 40/40 or larger, joining the Lhurgoyf for some graveyard dependant fun.
Mulldrifter – A versatile Commander option you’ll find in many decks running blue, and certainly serviceable here.
Nezumi Graverobber – It may seem counterproductive at first glance, but if you can get Nezumi Graverobber flipped early and then take advantage of some of your milling effects, you can start causing serious problems.
Patron of the Nezumi – It’s far from perfect here, but it is a reasonable addition. You can replace this one.
Riddlekeeper – A small but effective deck punisher that will help facilitate graveyard growth when opponents cause you trouble.
Scythe Specter – A really nasty addition to the Specter series but incredibly prone to being focused down. Since Scythe Specter “hits everyone” it’s going to be coming into play as a huge target on a body not likely to survive long.
Sewer Nemesis– A perfect addition to Devour for Power, in most cases you’ll want to target yourself.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave– Will keep growing and growing, and retain those counters as he passes from zone to zone.
Slipstream Eel– You can definitely do better.
Solemn Simulacrum – A standard Commander staple, don’t leave home without it.
Szadek, Lord of Secrets – Devour for Power is a fairly good fit for this fun if expensive legend.
Triskelavus – A versatile option to pop off some points where they need to go. Not an essential option at this price for this deck.
Troll Ascetic – Doesn’t really fit here, with any focus on equipment or auras to take advantage of this hexproof pioneer.
Vulturous Zombie - This is the perfect environment for this eclectic plant zombie. Watch it grow!
Wonder– Like Brawn, will give all your creatures a nice bonus just for sitting dormant in your yard.
Wrexial, the Risen Deep-Lets you plunder some nice cards from opposing yards, placed there by your library assaults.
Yavimaya Elder – A solid fixer to help your deck start off right.
Buried Alive – Place your best three targets directly into the graveyard for use.
Cultivate – A solid mana accelerator/fixer.
Dimir Signet, Golgari Signet, Simic Signet – Fixers/Mana
Fact or Fiction – If your Commander deck has blue in it, you need a good reason to not sport this classic.
Grave Pact – A great way to punish opponents for messing with your creatures, and to ensure plenty of things will be dying and making their way into graveyards.
Lightning Greaves – A staple for creature dependent Commander decks.
Living Death – Can win the game from out of nowehere with some graveyard cultivation.
Memory Erosion – A great way for you to start stocking yards to pilfer. Your opponents probably won’t want to waste removal on this and your Mimeoplasm will be very happy by the time it’s ready to hit the field.
Minds Aglow – Unless you’re trying to take advantage of the diplomatic possibilities here, you’re better off with a Braingeyseror Mind Spring.
Oblivion Stone – Devour for Power’s board sweeper is perfectly fine, but consider adding a Damnation as well for a reasonably priced option that can’t be take out before it triggers.
Relic Crush – You’ll always have two targets for this spell so it’s a reasonable addition.
Rise from the Grave – Lets you take the best of the best out of any corpse on the table. It will be an odd situation playing Devour for Power when you don’t have an extremely high quality target.
Shared Trauma – Your opponents are very unlikely to go along with this card unless they are also using graveyard strategies.
Sign in Blood – You can probably replace this with a blue card drawing spell of your choice.
Sol Ring– Don’t play Commander without it!
Spell Crumple – This is a great way to ensure an opposing Commander gets lost in the shuffle.
Stitch Together – You shouldn’t have any problem achieving threshold to turn this into a superb reanimate spell.
Syphon Flesh – A good Commander option on its own, even better with Grave Pact and Butcher of Malakir to take advantage of the bodies.
Syphon Mind – A great way to shake up a table and refuel your hand.
Tribute to the Wild – Targeted removal is a much better option, as you’re just going to upset multiple people needlessly as they sacrifice mana artifacts.
Unnerve – A solid multiplayer option that might dump those big creatures in the yard early for you to consume or convert.
Vow of Flight, Vow of Malice, Vow of Wildness – These are good ways to keep opposing threats from coming after you and encouraging them to attack other people. That’s good. The problem is you may just be wasting a card on a creature that is even more desirable to remove after your aura addition. Mileage on these will vary greatly from playgroup to playgroup.
Windfall– A good way to fill graveyards across the board.
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