“Death? No… nothing that simple.”
Art:Nim Shambler
by Adam Rex
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Nim Shambler is a very cool mono-black commander who doesn’t have a big presence in any online Pauper EDH resource. It’s like no one knows this card exists! In spite of that, Nim Shambler is a very cool card that is an absolute blast to pilot and the perfect commander for an artifact deck. Nim Shambler also comes with built-in regeneration and is perfect for a mono-black deck filled to the brim with equipment. This deck can easily become a Voltron strategy using the commander, but it certainly doesn’t have to, which is why I categorize it as an artifacts deck. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Nim Shambler Artifacts!
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Why Nim Shambler?
Nim Shambler is a little expensive at four mana, but that’s alright! With the extra time we have, we can commit a ton of our cheaper artifacts and have a huge buff on Nim when they enter the battlefield; they are a horrible blocker but an extremely strong attacker. Nim Shambler also has built-in regeneration, which can be great since they tend to draw a decent amount of removal; this is almost entirely due to the fact that they are a very strong attacker. Nim Shambler is an awesome commander and a great card to have at the ready.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have two of my favorite creatures in Nim Lasher
and Nim Shrieker
, which have the same abilities as our commander and are awesome, especially if we get one or both of them on the field as our commander. We also have a few affinity creatures which are free quite often in Myr Enforcer
, Sojourner's Companion
, and Dross Golem
, and Frogmite
which are very often free attackers/blockers for the deck. Undercity Scrounger
is a card that can up our artifact count on almost every turn and is a great way to get ahead on mana as well. Myr Retriever
and Workshop Assistant
are great pieces of artifact recursion for the deck. While we aren’t the greatest blockers, we do have Fang Skulkin
, which can certainly help and make a bunch of our creatures a little bit better at blocking.
Instants:
To start off, we have some instant speed removal like Victim of Night
, Murder
, and Cast Down
, which are all strong pieces of removal and can target a variety of things. Footbottom Feast
is the biggest piece of mass recursion we have in the deck and is great after a bad combat or a ton of removal. Darkness
is a very cheap card that is great against any creature decks but especially aggressive strategies. Whether we want to save a commander or a card with a death trigger Feign Death
and Supernatural Stamina
are both great ways to get our creatures back.
Sorceries:
We have typical draw spells for mono-black like Sign in Blood
and Read the Bones
, but we have Pointed Discussion
, which is in the deck because we get cards, and we up our artifact count which is perfect for our commander. The same is true for Grisly Ritual
, which is a very expensive removal spell but ups our artifact count by two, which can be very helpful. Hunger of the Nim
is another great card that essentially allows us to double our commander’s ability; whether we use this on our commander or another creature doesn’t matter since we are effectively doubling our damage for only two mana.
Artifacts:
We have a ton of awesome equipment that is great on any of the trio of nim’s or pretty much any creature, with some of my favorites being Whispersilk Cloak
and Haunted Cloak
, which make whatever creature we have equipped very evasive. We also have equipment that makes additional artifacts in Giant's Skewer
, which is one of the best equipment in the deck since it allows us to keep upping our artifact count. We also have Scale of Chiss-Goria
and Tooth of Chiss-Goria
, which are almost always free and provide power and toughness to a creature that can give us stronger attackers and blockers. We also have some great supplemental card draw like Infernal Idol
, Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
.
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package mostly has ways to protect Nim Shambler or the other nim’s in the deck. Kaya's Ghostform
and Blessing of Leeches
are both cheap and great ways to protect from removal or if they die in combat. Oubliette
is a premier removal spell for Pauper EDH and is a great way to take out pretty much any threat.
Land Base:
Vault of Whispers
is arguably the most important land in our deck since it up’s the count for our Nim’s and lets us pump the damage and get some mana. We also have some strong recursion like Mortuary Mire
and Witch's Cottage
, which are great ways to get some of our best creatures back. We also have some supplemental card draw within our landbase like Polluted Mire
and Desert of the Glorified
, which are great ways to get a card if needed at any stage of the game.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We have one of our best attackers always available in the command zone, in addition to that our commander has built-in recursion
- We have a large number of supplemental card draws within the deck; whether it be from artifacts or straight-up draw spells, our hand is usually always full.
- We have a lot of removal to take out opponent’s threats, while we are often the target removal, we can easily give it back and let opponents know not to mess with us
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Extremely weak to artifact hate, we do have some recursion, but if a deck is heavy on artifact hate we can be pretty weak to them.
- Weak to aggressive strategies, we typically spend the early turns committing noncreature artifacts to the board. Creatures we do play, we typically want to keep out, so we do end up taking some additional damage early.
- Many of our creatures are horrible blockers; while this isn’t a problem when we are being aggressive and pressuring opponents, if falling behind, we can rarely win combats.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We win the game through combat; we have the trio pair of nim’s and one of our nim’s is in the command zone, so once we get a few artifacts committed to the field, we usually have a decent amount of damage. We have a bunch of ways to buff up and make our creatures more evasive as well, like Whispersilk Cloak and Cloak of the Bat
.
Conclusion:
Nim Shambler is a cool card that isn’t very popular on Moxfield, and I’m a little surprised; mono-black certainly doesn’t have the best payoffs for an artifact deck; there is honestly a surprising amount. I have had a blast with this deck, and most opponents, even some who are well-versed in Pauper EDH, have told me that they have never seen this card before! If you are looking for a unique deck that is a blast and will shock your opponents, this is probably the one for you. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!