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Tergrid, God of Fright is one of the best mono black commanders inMagic: The Gathering. The card is such a strong one that it is a part of the Game Changers list, one of the few commanders that were put on there.
A Tergrid, God of Fright deck is a mixture of forced sacrifice and discard, combined with theft as all permanents that are sacrificed or discarded are put on your battlefield. There has been a ton of sacrifice and discard support over the years, allowing for Tergrid to shine as a commander that gets better with every new release.
Will of the Abzan
x28 Swamp
War Room
Witch’s Cottage
The decklistcontains 30 creatures, 12 sorceries, six instants, ten artifacts, seven enchantments,and34 lands. The majority of the cards either force your opponents to discard a card or sacrifice permanents.
Key Cards
Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid’s Lantern
Your commander is double-sided, althoughyou’ll rarely want to cast the Tergrid’s Lantern side. The backside isn’t bad, but the front is just such a step above in power, you’llalways want to cast Tergrid, God of Frightinstead.
If either side of Tergrid is removed from the battlefield, the commander tax will apply to both sides, meaning if Tergrid’s Lantern is returned to the command zone, it will cost two mana more to cast Tergrid, God of Fright, even if you’ve never cast that side before.
On the battlefield, all of your discard and sacrifice effects become amazing. Tergridenables you to flood the battlefield with all of your opponents' permanents. This helps you to amass a battlefield presence while removing any problematic creatures your opponents may have and taking them for yourself.
Painful Quandary
Painful Quandary bothacts as an enabler for Tergrid and a way to deal burn damage quickly. The amount of damage that Painful Quandary can do is a lot, with players only able to pay five life eight times before they’re forced to discard (assuming they never gained life).
With Tergrid on the battlefield,the effect can be read pay five life or give you a permanent for free. Painful Quandary is so good in the deck because it attacks both the life total and the hand, forcing awkward decisions to have to be made by your opponents if they want to keep their hand.
Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos
Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos have essentially the same effect, bothforcing your opponents to sacrifice a creature whenever one dies. A lot of your creatures enter the battlefield and force everyone to sacrifice a creature (including you). With Grave Pact/Dictate of Erebos on the battlefield, this effect doubles up for your opponents.
If both Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos are on the battlefield, both effects will stack. This means if one creature dies while both are in play, your opponents will be forced to sacrifice two creatures.
With Dictate of Erebos, it has flash. This allows you to surprise your opponents with it if they ever try a one-sided removal spell or to make combat even more impactful. You wantboth of these on the battlefield as quickly as possible, as it deters your opponents from attacking you.
Black Market
Mono black is not a color that can ramp easily, and a Tergrid Commander deck wants a lot of mana to work with. This is where Black Market comes in.Any time any creature dies, you convert that into charge counters that create black mana.
You have a ton of creatures that, when they enter, make every player sacrifice a creature. Thisturns into everyone sacrificing a creature and gives you four black mana every one of your turns. Black Market can give you a ton of mana over the course of the game to the point you don’t need your lands anymore.
How To Play The Deck
A Tergrid, God of Fright Commander deck isall about forcing your opponents to sacrifice their creatures and discard their hands. Tergridattacks your opponents in the untraditional sense, focusing on cutting off their resources before they can use any of them.
A ton of creatures enter and force every to sacrifice such as Accursed Marauder, Fleshbag Marauder, and Merciless Executioner. These are vital as they help to steal your opponents' creatures with Tergrid on the battlefield.
Thedeck can be slow, so mana rocks are very important to get on the battlefield quickly. Tergrid is a very powerful commanderyou want to ramp into quickly,but be wary, as Tergrid is a prime target for removal,so be prepared to have to recast it multiple times over the course of the game. This is why you want mana rocks, as well as Black Market on the battlefield.
The deck also attacks your opponents' hands, with cards like Burglar Rat and Virus Beetle forcing them to discard when they enter the battlefield.Waste Not is the best permanent to support forced discard, as it helps to draw you cards, create creatures, or ramp.
Theprimary win condition is winning through combat. However, this isn’t done through flooding the battlefield; rather, keeping your opponents' creatures off the battlefield so that it’s clear for your creatures to attack. You’reprimarily building up a battlefield of creatures from the ones you steal with Tergrid. By cutting off your opponents' hands, you prevent them from catching up and force them into top deck mode.
Thebiggest weakness of the deck is its speed. A Tergrid Commander deck is naturally slow due to black’s inability to ramp quickly. While mana rocks and cards like Jet Medallion and Bontu’s Monument help, it still takes a while for you to set up. Another downside isTergrid has an infamous reputation for how powerful it is, meaning you’ll be attacked right from the get-go. It’ll take a while to set up, so you’re likely going to be losing a ton of life before you can get your game plan going.
There is, unfortunately, not much you’re able to do about getting targeted, so you’ll have to hope you can survive the early game. Luckily,Tergrid shines in the mid to late game, allowing you to snowball very quickly once your engine gets going.Don’t be afraid to use your sacrifice effects before Tergrid hits the battlefieldif it’ll help keep your life total safe.
