, , Sacrifice Denethor: Target player becomes the monarch. Denethor deals 3 damage to any target.
Denethor is a cheap Izzet value commander who scries 2 on each entry and can be sacrificed to crown the monarch (usually yourself) while dealing 3 damage to clear a blocker or ping a player. The deck plays a tempo-control game—cantripping, removing threats, and drawing extra cards off the monarchy—then closes with spells or an evasive threat. Treat Denethor as a recyclable engine you blink or reanimate to repeat scry 2 and the monarch-grab.
Two-mana commander gives early board presence and consistent card filtering via scry 2.
Monarch generation adds a reliable extra card per turn in a color pair often starved for raw card advantage.
Built-in 3 damage doubles as cheap removal or finisher reach.
Lives comfortably in Izzet spellslinger shells that already want cheap, repeatable value.
The activated ability is expensive and a one-shot per cast unless you reuse Denethor.
Self-sacrifice means you re-pay commander tax repeatedly without blink/recursion support.
Fragile body (typically 2/2-ish) dies to almost any removal before activating.
RU lacks enchantment/artifact removal and big lifegain, so it struggles against resilient permanents.
Granting the monarchy can backfire if combat gets out of your control.
Legendary Creature — Human Noble
,