Mono-black Demon tribal built around Ardyn, the Usurper. Ardyn gives every Demon menace, lifelink and haste. Each combat, Starscourge turns any creature card in any graveyard into a 5/5 black Demon token copy, so self-mill and opponents' dead creatures both become fresh hasty Demons. The deck uses heavy cost reduction and fast black mana to land expensive Demons and Ardyn early. It then swings with lifelinking menace fliers whose life gain pays for life-cost card draw and drain effects. How it wins: It overwhelms opponents with hasty, menacing, lifelinking Demon attacks, amplified by life-loss doublers and drain engines, with Liliana's Contract as an alternate win from four differently named Demons. Key roles: - Graveyard fuel for Starscourge: These cards put strong creatures into graveyards, or reanimate them directly. That gives Ardyn's beginning-of-combat trigger premium targets to copy as 5/5 Demons, and it lets Ardyn himself come back. (Buried Alive, Entomb, Reanimate) - Demon army and token makers: Big flying Demons and Demon token generators all inherit Ardyn's menace, lifelink and haste. They hit immediately and push toward four differently named Demons. (Demonic Covenant, Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber, Great Unclean One) - Cost reduction and big black mana: Tribal discounters, black-spell reducers, devotion lands and Swamp-scaling mana cheat out the eight-drop commander and seven-mana Demons ahead of curve. (Urza's Incubator, Ancient Cellarspawn, Cabal Coffers) - Life as a resource: Lifelink on every Demon refuels a life total spent on card draw, Phyrexian costs and paying life instead of mana. Several engines turn that life loss into cards. (Vilis, Broker of Blood, Bolas's Citadel, K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth) - Drain and life-loss amplification: Damage doublers, redirected life loss and repeated drains turn every hit or spell into extra damage and close games quickly. (Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Sower of Discord) - Board control that feeds the engine: Removal, edicts and wipes clear blockers. They also stock opponents' graveyards with creature cards that Starscourge can copy, and the morbid and death payoffs reward each kill. (Archfiend of Depravity, Reaper from the Abyss, Toxic Deluge)

Ardyn, the Usurper decklist

• Arcane Signet
• Bolas's Citadel
• Bontu's Monument
• Charcoal Diamond
• Herald's Horn
• Jet Medallion
• Lightning Greaves
• Sol Ring
• Swiftfoot Boots
• The Darkness Crystal
• Throne of Eldraine
• Urza's Incubator
• Bojuka Bog
• Cabal Coffers
• Cabal Stronghold
• Castle Locthwain
• Myriad Landscape
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• Phyrexian Tower
• Reliquary Tower
• 26× Swamp
• Temple of the False God
• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• Abyssal Harvester
• Ancient Cellarspawn
• Archfiend of Depravity
• Bloodgift Demon
• Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• Burning-Rune Demon
• Crypt Ghast
• Doom Whisperer
• Dream Devourer
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• Great Unclean One
• Harvester of Souls
• Indulgent Tormentor
• K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• Lord of the Void
• Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• Overseer of the Damned
• Plague Drone
• Reaper from the Abyss
• Rune-Scarred Demon
• Solemn Simulacrum
• Sower of Discord
• The Speed Demon
• Valgavoth, Terror Eater
• Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
• Vilis, Broker of Blood
• Black Market Connections
• Demonic Covenant
• Heartless Summoning
• Liliana's Contract
• Phyrexian Arena
• Ripples of Undeath
• Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
• Dark Ritual
• Defile
• Entomb
• Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
• Go for the Throat
• Imp's Mischief
• Infernal Grasp
• Withering Torment
• Blasphemous Edict
• Buried Alive
• Demonic Counsel
• Demonic Tutor
• Feed the Swarm
• Night's Whisper
• Reanimate
• Sign in Blood
• Toxic Deluge
• Victimize