Art by Wei Guan
Commander deckB
Kai Winn, Faithless Leader
Tax and punish opponents for playing their key staples and commanders while leveraging bounce, blink, and severe mono-black life-drain effects to grind out the table.
Asked for“Kai Winn, Faithless Leader commander deck”
Deck anatomy
What this list actually runs on: how cheaply it casts things, and whether it has enough ramp, card draw and interaction to keep up at the table. Each block is one card — hover for its name.
Mana curve · 62 nonland cards
The working parts
Counted from Scryfall’s community card tags, not from the builder’s own labels. A card that does two jobs counts twice, so these add up to more than the deck. The hatched band is a common rule of thumb, not a law — combo decks run leaner, battlecruiser decks heavier.
Colored mana symbols
Commander
1Kai Winn, Faithless Leader
1BLegendary Creature — Bajoran Cleric
Chosen commander for the requested strategy.
Ramp
10
Crypt Ghast
3BCreature — Spirit
Doubles Swamp mana and provides extort life drain
Dark Ritual
BInstant
Explosive burst mana to cast expensive punishers ahead of curve
Black Market Connections
2BEnchantment
Versatile source of ramp, card draw, and board presence
Card Draw
10
Sign in Blood
BBSorcery
Cheap two-mana card draw or surprise burn in pinch scenarios
Morbid Opportunist
2BCreature — Human Rogue
Repeated draw from frequent creature deaths
Ayara, First of Locthwain
BBBLegendary Creature — Elf Noble
Provides card draw, sacrifice utility, and steady life drain
Dark Confidant
1BCreature — Human Wizard
Early creature that draws an extra card every upkeep
Erebos, God of the Dead
3BLegendary Enchantment Creature — God
Card-draw engine that stops opponents from gaining life back
Pact of the Serpent
1BBSorcery
Large draw burst based on creature type or punishes wide boards
Bolas's Citadel
3BBBLegendary Artifact
Enables storm-like turns directly off the top of the library
Removal
11
Infernal Grasp
1BInstant
Unconditional creature removal at instant speed for two mana
Toxic Deluge
2BSorcery
Scalable board wipe that bypasses indestructible creatures
Withering Torment
2BInstant
Instant-speed answer to both creatures and enchantments
The Meathook Massacre
XBBLegendary Enchantment
Board wipe that permanently drains opponents when creatures die
Dismember
1BPBPInstant
Versatile removal playable for a single mana using Phyrexian life
Threats/Wincons
22
Bloodchief Ascension
BEnchantment
Heavily punishes opponents for casting spells and losing cards
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
2BBLegendary Creature — Phyrexian Praetor
Staple punisher that turns opponent card draw into massive life loss
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3BBCreature — Zombie
Drains the entire table based on heavy black devotion
Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern
3BBLegendary Creature — God // Legendary Artifact
Steals permanents that opponents sacrifice or discard
Massacre Wurm
3BBBCreature — Phyrexian Wurm
Wipes opposing utility boards and inflicts punishing damage
Opposition Agent
2BCreature — Human Rogue
Locks down library searching to protect your taxing board
Dauthi Voidwalker
BBCreature — Dauthi Rogue
Asymmetric graveyard hate that steals an opponent's best spell
Tourach, Dread Cantor
1BLegendary Creature — Human Cleric
Disrupts hands and grows into a lethal protected attacker
Tinybones, Trinket Thief
1BLegendary Creature — Skeleton Rogue
Rewards hand disruption and turns into a direct table drain threat
Rankle, Master of Pranks
2BBLegendary Creature — Faerie Rogue
Hasty flyer that constantly forces symmetric discard and sacrifices
Kokusho, the Evening Star
4BBLegendary Creature — Dragon Spirit
Massive life swing when it dies or gets sacrificed
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
1BBLegendary Creature — Phyrexian Praetor
Incentivizes attacks and converts extra cards into opponent spells
Archfiend of Despair
6BBCreature — Demon
Doubles all life lost by opponents each turn
Syr Konrad, the Grim
3BBLegendary Creature — Human Knight
Passive damage on creature deaths, mill, and discards
Vilis, Broker of Blood
5BBBLegendary Creature — Demon
Massive top-end threat that weaponizes self-inflicted life loss
Painful Quandary
3BBEnchantment
Forces severe life loss or discard whenever opponents cast spells
Raiders' Wake
3BEnchantment
Redundant discard damage trigger and recurring hand disruption
Court of Locthwain
2BBEnchantment
Introduces the Monarch and casts opponents' cards for free
Grave Titan
4BBCreature — Giant
Single-card army that rapidly establishes offensive dominance
Lord Skitter, Sewer King
2BLegendary Creature — Rat Noble
Provides repeated token generation and incidental graveyard exile
Utility
9
Conjurer's Closet
5Artifact
Blinks Kai Winn at end of turn to choose a new card name
Golden Argosy
4Legendary Artifact — Vehicle
Attacks and flickers Kai Winn to reset the named card
Erratic Portal
4Artifact
Bounces Kai Winn to hand for recasting with a new target name
Skullclamp
1Artifact — Equipment
Turns expendable creatures and tokens into high-yield card draw
Reanimate
BSorcery
Efficient one-mana recursion for any creature in any graveyard
Lightning Greaves
2Artifact — Equipment
Protects Kai Winn and gives immediate haste to threats
Swiftfoot Boots
2Artifact — Equipment
Hexproof protection for Kai Winn against targeted interaction
Sudden Spoiling
1BBInstant
Split-second blow-out combat trick and activated ability blanker
