Ardyn, the Usurper

Gameplan

Ardyn is a mono-black reanimator-tribal hybrid: each combat you exile a creature card from any graveyard and stamp out a 5/5 Demon copy of it that swings immediately thanks to haste, lifelink, and menace. You ramp into Ardyn around turn 5-6 with rituals and mana rocks, fill graveyards (yours and opponents'), then grind out value Demon tokens every turn while attacking and gaining life. Demon payoffs and sacrifice synergies turn the tokens into both a beatdown and a value engine.

Key Cards

• Rune-Scarred Demon — A Demon that tutors on cast or as a copied token, and Ardyn gives the whole class menace, lifelink, and haste.
• Buried Alive — Dumps three fat creatures into your graveyard so Starscourge has premium targets immediately.
• Liliana, Dreadhorde General — Token Demons feed her, and she draws cards and removes threats to protect Ardyn's engine.
• Cabal Coffers — With Urborg it generates the explosive mana mono-black needs to cast an 8-mana commander early and recast it after removal.
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel — Demon-heavy black devotion plus lifelink makes Gary a recurring life-swing finisher you can even copy.
• Phyrexian Reclamation — Cheap repeatable recursion to refill the yard or rebuy creatures the Demons sacrifice.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana and rituals (Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Jet Medallion, Bubbling Muck) plus Cabal Coffers/Nykthos to deploy Ardyn ahead of curve and rebuild after removal. Lean into self-mill and discard outlets (Entomb, Stitcher's Supplier, Faithless-style loots) so Starscourge always has elite targets, and protect the commander with Imp's Mischief, Malakir Rebirth, and Swiftfoot Boots. Top-end upgrades like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Massacre Wurm, and Sheoldred, Whispering One give the copy effect maximum impact, while Bolas's Citadel and Demonic tutors raise consistency.