Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Praetor

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor

Mana value3EDHREC#2,016

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The Commander

Whenever a creature deals combat damage to one of your opponents, its controller may pay 1 life. If they do, they draw a card.

{4} {B} {B} {B} , Discard X cards: Exile the top X cards of target opponent's library. You may play lands and cast spells from among cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.

Guide

Gameplan

Gix is a mono-black aggro/midrange engine that turns combat damage into a card-draw avalanche. Flood the board with evasive or wide creatures, connect every turn, and convert life into cards faster than anyone else at the table. Use the activated ability as a late-game finisher to steal an opponent's library and cast it for free.

Strengths

Massive, repeatable card advantage in a color that otherwise struggles to draw
Mono-black consistency: tutors, fixing, and a deep card pool with no color screw
Cheap 3-mana commander that immediately impacts the board and survives removal-light pods
The activated ability provides a powerful, mana-rich payoff that can win on its own

Weaknesses

The draw symmetrically benefits opponents who connect with you, so wide go-wide pods can refill foes too
Life payments add up fast and can leave you exposed to burn and aggro
Relies on creatures connecting, so board wipes and fogs hit the engine hard
No evasion or protection built in—Gix needs support to keep attacking

Key Cards

Reconnaissance — Lets your attackers deal damage then bow out before blockers, drawing cards while taking zero risk.
Sword of Feast and Famine — Evasion plus untapping lands fuels both Gix draws and the expensive activated ability.
Skullclamp — Stacks card draw with Gix and turns small tokens into a relentless engine.
Phyrexian Tower — Sacrifice fodder plus ramp toward the activated ability.
Bolas's Citadel — Plays cards off the top using your already-high life payments and synergizes with all the card flow.
Ophiomancer — Generates evasive deathtouch blockers/attackers every upkeep for steady Gix triggers.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana (Dark Ritual, Jewel-Eyed Cabal mana rocks, Cabal Coffers + Urborg) to power out the activated ability and protect your life with cards like Whip of Erebos and Bontu's Monument. Tighten the curve with cheap evasive creatures and equipment (Sword of Hearth and Home, Whispersilk Cloak) so Gix triggers every turn, and add tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to find your engine pieces. For a top-end finish, include a compact combo or Torment of Hailfire to convert your card and mana advantage into a kill.

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

▸Out-card opponents then close with overwhelming evasive aggression
▸Steal and cast an opponent's whole library with the ability
▸Drain/burn finishers like Torment of Hailfire or Exsanguinate fueled by ramp
▸Combat damage piling up across multiple evasive threats

Archetypes

Aggro/Go-Wide — Many small evasive creatures each trigger Gix on damage for explosive card draw.
Voltron — A single big evasive threat with equipment connects reliably to draw and dome opponents.
Aristocrats — Token engines and sacrifice outlets feed Skullclamp/Gix draws and incremental damage.
Midrange Value — Grindy mono-black good-stuff leans on Gix as a card-advantage engine to out-resource the table.