“You will witness true horror.”
Art:Maw of the Obzedat
by Randy Gallegos
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Maw of the Obzedat is a fun and underrated commander in Pauper EDH. Being a 5-cost creature does make us a little bit slower than many decks in the format, but we can counter that with a decent early-game presence. We have a sweet Orzhov tokens deck with a bunch of payoffs and once we have a strong board assembled a clear sac outlet to damage up and get the win. This deck is an absolute blast and does not have nearly enough play with only 3 other decks on Moxfield. Without further adieu let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Maw of the Obzedat Tokens Sacrifice!
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Why Maw of the Obzedat?
Maw of the Obzedat is a card that we cast as soon as we can. Being able to have the option and flexibility to get extra damage in is a really strong ability we want to use. While we typically don’t go for a big sacrifice until we are going for a killing blow, there are many combat situations we can get strong use out of. Maw of the Obzedat is a creature we rarely attack with and mostly use it as a sit-back sac outlet for our deck.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck. As well as highlighting some of my favorite cards in the deck.
Creatures:
We have a ton of really cool creatures so I am going to focus on some of my favorites in the deck. Since Maw of the Obzedat costs a whopping 5 mana we have Gold Myr
and Leaden Myr
which can be a great way to establish the board and speed out the Maw. Antler Skulkin
is a really strong card we can use to keep sacrificing creatures to the Maw. Anointer Priest
is a really strong card especially if we are facing a table or meta that has a lot of aggressive decks in it. If we do recur a card or re-ETB it one of the best targets is Cadaver Imp
which can help us recur even more creatures. We also have some really cool token payoffs for both creating and sacrificing them. Mirkwood Bats
and Nadier's Nightblade
are a strong way to translate or sacrificing and creating tokens into some direct damage to our opponents. Myriad is also very strong in the deck since we can sacrifice those tokens and deal extra damage to one opponent, while we are not super heavy on Myriad creatures we do have Tabaxi Toucaneers
.
Instants:
We are in Orzhov so we have a pretty large amount of removal, while a lot of it is specific and narrow in what it can target we do have a wide array of removal. Some of the best are Cast Down
which can easily target many commanders in the format which is a bargain for only 2 mana. Doom Blade
is another really strong 2 mana removal spell but can be weak if your meta is full of mono-black decks. Since we sacrifice a ton of creatures cards like Feign Death
, Supernatural Stamina
and Undying Malice
are really strong ways to re-sac or in most cases re-etb key creatures. We do have a couple instant speed token producers like Raise the Alarm
and You're Confronted by Robbers
which can be a great way to generate blockers or buff up our board from Maw of the Obzedat.
Sorceries:
Our sorcery package is where most of our token generation lives with strong cards like Battle Screech
and Triplicate Spirits
these not only generate attackers and blockers but also creatures to feed into Maw of the Obzedat. Most of our card draw is here with cards like Read the Bones
, Night's Whisper
and Sign in Blood
all of these draw spells are quite strong and provide a nice way to refill our hand. Since we produce so many tokens we can take full advantage of cards like Bone Shards
for a quick and easy removal spell. Settle Beyond Reality
is one of my favorite cards in the format and it does a ton for 5 mana. Being able to get a re-etb on one of our creatures and take out an opponents creature is a huge effect for only 5 mana.
Artifacts:
We don’t run a ton of artifacts and our artifact package is definitely in a support role in this deck. We have mana rocks like Orzhov Signet
, Arcane Signet
and Bonder's Ornament
which are all very strong rocks that can help us speed up Maw of the Obzedat. Wedding Invitation
is the most interesting artifact of the bunch and allows us to not only draw a card but a make creature unblockable which can be really strong way to get some guaranteed extra damage in.
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package has some spot removal like Journey to Nowhere
and Oblivion Ring
which can be really strong against pesky commanders and other key creatures / permanents. We also have some enchantments that produce tokens like Omen of the Sun
and Nurturing Presence
which are both really strong token producers and great cards to sacrifice to Maw of the Obzedat. Oubliette
is a Pauper EDH classic removal spell and for good reason this is a strong piece of removal for only three mana!
Land Base:
Our land base is pretty much what you would expect at this point from a TNT Pauper EDH deck filled to the brim with a bunch of ways to draw some cards! We of course have the cycling lands like Polluted Mire
, the draw lands like The Dross Pits
and Tocasia's Dig Site
which are all really strong pieces of card draw! If we are going against a deck who is heavy on the graveyard we have Bojuka Bog
to handle that. Other than that we are rocking a ton of basics and classic lands like Command Tower
to round out our land base.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to win combat whether attacking or blocking
- Decent amount of ways to recur creatures we sacrifice
- Decent amount of interaction and card draw
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Slow to get our commander out, 5 mana can be a lot for Pauper EDH
- Weak to creature hate
- Weak to Fog
effects as we tend to go “all-in” during our combat step
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops in the deck, our primary win condition is through combat. We typically buff up our board with as many creatures and tokens as possible swing in and then sacrifice a bunch of them to Maw of the Obzedat for big damage. We also have some cards that provide additional buffs like Eagles of the North
, which can be a great way to deal even more damage!
Conclusion:
Maw of the Obzedat is a really sweet card with only 3 other decks on Moxfield which I feel is a criminally underrated amount of decks for this sweet commander. Maw of the Obzedat may come with a high cost, but is still a powerful commander who is also a ton of fun to play. Being able to buff up our creatures basically at will is a really strong effect. Thanks for reading to the end, and thanks for all of your support!