Legendary Creature — Human Assassin

Aveline de Grandpré

Mana value4EDHREC#7,448

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The Commander

Deathtouch

Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals combat damage to a player, put that many +1/+1 counters on that creature.

Disguise {B} {G} (You may cast this card face down for {3} as a 2/2 creature with ward {2} . Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.)

Guide

Gameplan

Aveline is a deathtouch-counters payoff: build a board of deathtouch creatures, connect for combat damage, and snowball +1/+1 counters that make those creatures grow exponentially each turn. You ramp into a wide-but-mean board where every blocker trades up, then leverage counter synergies, evasion, and double-strike to turn small deathtouchers into game-ending threats.

Strengths

Deathtouch makes every creature a deterrent, so your board defends itself while still applying pressure
Snowballing +1/+1 counters reward repeated combat, scaling fast in longer games
BG gives best-in-class ramp, recursion, and removal to keep the engine online
Disguise lets her dodge sorcery-speed removal and apply a surprise threat

Weaknesses

Heavily combat-dependent—board wipes and Fog effects set you back hard
Counters all sit on creatures, so a single targeted removal can erase a turn of work
Needs evasion or trample to reliably deal player combat damage rather than just trading
No native card advantage engine; can run out of gas without support pieces

Key Cards

Hornet Queen — Floods the board with five deathtouch fliers that all trigger Aveline and snowball through the air.
Questing Beast — Deathtouch plus 'damage can't be prevented' and trample makes it an unblockable counter-magnet.
Rite of the Raging Storm — Each turn you make a hasty attacker; pair with deathtouch granters for a recurring trigger source.
Gorgon Flail — Cheap equipment granting deathtouch, turning any beater into an Aveline payoff.
Bow of Nylea — Grants deathtouch to your whole team, enabling mass +1/+1 counter snowballs on combat.
Rancor — Recurring trample makes deathtouchers connect with players, fueling the counter engine repeatedly.

Upgrade Path

Add reliable deathtouch granters (Bow of Nylea, Basilisk Collar) and evasion enablers (Rogue's Passage, Whispersilk Cloak) so triggers happen every turn. Layer in double strike (Berserkers' Onslaught) and proliferate effects to double or stack counter gains, and shore up resilience with protection like Heroic Intervention and recursion such as Eternal Witness. Fast mana and tutors (Worldly Tutor, Sylvan Tutor) help assemble the evasion-plus-deathtouch package consistently.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Snowball a deathtouch creature with double strike or trample into lethal commander or player damage
▸Go wide with deathtouch tokens (Hornet Queen, Spider tokens) and overrun with counter buffs
▸Equip evasion granters so a growing deathtoucher connects unblocked every turn
▸Combat damage triggers plus proliferate turn the whole team into oversized finishers

Archetypes

+1/+1 Counters — Her trigger floods creatures with counters, synergizing with proliferate and counter payoffs.
Deathtouch Tribal — She turns the deathtouch keyword from defensive into a scaling offensive engine.
Voltron — Granting her deathtouch and double strike lets counters pile on for one-shot commander damage.
Aggro/Stax — Deathtouch board makes attacking into you suicidal, letting you control combat while you grow.