“I will be your death!“
Art:Oona's Blackguard
by Kev Walker
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Oona’s Blackguard is a very underrated commander; with the release of Outlaws and the past couple of sets, we have gotten an absolute ton of amazing rogues that are just great for this deck. New cards aside, a lot of the existing rogues are great, and our commander allows us to deplete our opponent’s hand resources and deal a lot of damage on top. Oona’s Blackguard is absolutely amazing and can come down early and buff up the entire deck, and the discard on top is just pure value; this deck is all about value, and we focus on committing and sticking our commander for as long as we possibly can and getting a ton of value of them. This deck is an absolute blast to pilot, and rogues as a creature type are way more common than you might think. This deck is sweet, and I am very excited to showcase it today. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
Click here to copy full decklist to your clipboard!
Oona's Blackguard Rogues!
Buy This Deck!
Buy this deck using our TCGPlayer Affiliate Link: Oona’s Blackguard Rogues Pauper EDH
Why Oona’s Blackguard?
Oona’s Blackguard is a huge part of our deck, and since they are able to come down so early, we cast them as soon as we possibly can, we have quite a bit of early-game within the deck, so being able to have them hit and force an opponent to discard a card is great, and if not our subsequent rogues getting buffed up is amazing as well. Oona’s Blackguard is great but does come with a major downside; while they are able to come down early and provide a ton of value, they are, unfortunately a removal magnet for our opponents; we do have ways to protect them like Supernatural Stamina
and Kaya's Ghostform
but if an opponent has a removal spell, don’t be surprised when it comes your way!
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 so many awesome rogues within the deck! One of my favorites is Frogtosser Banneret
, which is an amazing evasive rogue that, more importantly, reduces the cost of almost all of our deck. Audacious Thief
is a card I prioritize in an opening hand because the supplemental card draws, especially in the early game, can be extremely strong. There is no doubt that our commander is a huge part of our deck and the counters they provide help a ton with killing our opponents. Hagra Constrictor
is one of the best cards to use in tandem with our commander. Our creatures are decently evasive already, and the menace provided by Hagra allows us to hit our opponents hard and take them out in just a few turns. Faerie Macabre
is an amazing evasive rogue, and, against graveyard-focused decks, can be a great way to exile the best of the best from an opponent’s graveyard. Until I started playing this deck, I didn’t even realize that Shadow Alley Denizen
was a rogue, and the intimidate provided makes it quite hard to stop. Vampire Aristocrat
is a super cool card and something I have used multiple times to one-shot an opponent by sacrificing my entire board before damage. Gray Merchant of Asphodel
gets a nod not only because it’s an absolute bomb of a card but it’s actually one of the few cards in the deck that’s not a rogue!
Instants:
We have a ton of removal that allow us to stop our opponents and kill pretty much anything within the format. Most importantly, at instant speed, we have a ton of ways to bring back our commander, being able to use cards like Undying Evil
and Supernatural Stamina to recur our commander or any of our cards that fall to removal is an amazing option to have and helps us keep the best of the best on the board, using these cards mostly for our commander is often correct but if you have a strong and buffed up rogue they are a great target for these as well.
Sorceries:
Nighthaze
is just a plain awesome card and a very underrated one; there are a lot of decks that feature black or are just plain mono-black, so giving a creature swamp walk can be quite relevant, even if no opponent is playing black cantripping and getting some supplemental card draw is quite amazing. Aphetto Dredging
and Return from Extinction
are the best of the best for recursion within our deck, and being able to recur multiple rogues is a great way to recover after a tough combat or if our best creatures fall to removal.
Artifacts:
We are quite low on artifacts, but all of the ones we have are decently impactful. Charcoal Diamond
is a small piece of ramp for the deck and one of the few sources we have; having this available is nice and can help us cast things early but with a low overall cost. This card is not too impactful but more mana is always nice. Infernal Idol
is technically a piece of ramp, but more often than not, it is just an additional source of card draw, which is great because we can often dump our hands decently early. Armory of Iroas
is a card I love putting on my commander or pretty much any flying creature and is a great way to output more and more damage as the turns go on; this one can come down early, and make an impact all game long.
Enchantments:
Our commander is a true removal magnet, so having cards like Soul Channeling
, Kaya's Ghostform, and Shade's Form
allows us to keep them around for much longer this is absolutely key for the overall gameplan. I typically don’t put Molting Snakeskin
on my commander, but it’s great on some of our more evasive rogues. They often fall victim to removal, too, so having the regeneration available is great. Sadistic Glee
and Eternal Thirst
are both great offensive enchantments for the deck, and as we remove creatures and they die in combat, this can allow our enchanted creatures to get absolutely huge, and deal a ton of damage and a ton of pressure on our opponents.
Land Base:
We actually have a large amount of pretty amazing non-basics; two of my favorites are Mortuary Mire
and Witch's Cottage
these are both quick and easy ways to recur a creature and with the high density of removal within the format, these are great assets to have within the deck. I also love Cave of Temptation
and Captivating Cave
which are both amazing ways to buff up our creatures further and can allow us to be stronger in combat and protect us further from damage-based removal. Hidden Necropolis
is an amazing card to use especially on a turn where we don’t have much going on, and cascading into pretty much anything on an otherwise dead turn is pretty great. I like this landbase a lot and think it provides a lot of additional utility and works very well for the deck.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Our commander is an absolute house, and the buff and discard they provide is game-changing.
- We have quite a bit of protection for our commander and any of our creatures; we are quite strong against single-target removal.
- Many of our rogues have flying or are generally evasive.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Even though we have protection, our commander has a huge target and is very often a huge removal magnet.
- We don’t have any way to ramp, and because of this, keeping a strong early-game focused hand is very important.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a combat deck in every way; we are greatly helped by our commander, who not only provides a buff for nearly every one of our creatures in the deck but also provides discard against our opponents, which can limit what our opponents can do and can be a great way to get rid of removal from our opponents, while we don’t get to choose, many opponents will sacrifice removal instead of a bomb creature they may have, either way getting cards out of our opponents hands is great. Beyond the buff from our commander, we don’t do anything too special in combat and don’t have very many combat tricks.
Conclusion:
Oona’s Blackguard is a very fun and flavorful build around commander, and after piloting this one in a bunch of games, I have a ton more respect for the rogue creature type. Playing creature-type-focused decks with lesser-known types is just an absolute blast and provides a unique and fun experience, while at least for us, I’m sure our opponents don’t appreciate discarding and getting hit hard on most turns, but hey, that’s their problem! I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!