"Nekusar the Mindrazer EDH: Drawing Death"

"Nekusar the Mindrazer EDH: Drawing Death"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

When my brother and I bought our first box of Magic cards way back in the 8th Edition.He opened a pack that had a rare card called Underworld Dreams. 

This card punished you for drawing cards. 1 damage for each card that you draw. My friend Nolan who is our resident Draw Mage (Mages who make decks that do nothing but draw cards) would hate this card. Hate it to death. 

I thought of partnering this with a Teferi's Puzzle Box which would make a player to put all the cards in his hand at the bottom of his library at the very beginning of his/her draw phase and draw the same number of cards. So if a player has 7 cards at hand they draw 7 cards which in my view at that time would mean 7 damage! Plus the additional card that would be drawn at the actual draw phase.

I didn't know about it then but I was thinking about my first combo that did not deal with Goblins or Burn spells. I think it was a very special moment for me. My only problem was that I did not know which deck that this killer combo would survive in. I was so in love with Red that I did not even bother to think of the possibilities.

Fast forward to Commander 2013 and the present time. Nekusar the Mindrazer instantly caught my eye , though I do have a hard time trying to concoct land combinations and strategies for Grixis EDH decks. I just had to have this General. He was a walking albeit Unbreathing Underworld Dreams! He dealt damage when people drew cards! Not only that he forces people to draw additional cards each draw step! 2 Damage each turn! For each and every opponent. The damage is subtle , not really all that noticeable until it really piles up. A sword of Judgement now hangs over every ones head. People are dead by the 20th turn that he comes in.

Of course Teferi's Puzzle Box would be a perfect fit in this particular EDH deck. Imagine having a Nekusar and Underworld Dreams and the Puzzle Box in play? Damage looks like this on each opponents turn: Players hand (ex. 7) + Normal Draw +Nekusar Extra Draw = 18 damage! 9 from Nekusar and 9 from Underworld Dreams! And that's just at the beginning of the turn! 

If you also add Pyschosis Crawler in the mix.The damage would now look like this:

Opponents Turn: Players hand (ex. 7) + Normal Draw +Nekusar Extra Draw = 18 damage!

 Your turn: Your Hand ( ex. 7 cards)  + Normal Draw + Nekusar Extra Draw on your turn...Now thanks to the Psychosis Crawler when you draw the 9 cards you also just dealt 9 damage to every opponent on the table! 27 damage in total! Plus you also get to attack with a pretty big Psychosis Crawler if you have a full hand. 

Forget about 20 turns , opponents can very well die in just 2!The really cool thing about this is that everyone is literally doing it to themselves. Dying by the mere act of drawing. Everyone is doing it by blowing up their own freaking minds! 

Now how about that combo? Death by Draw! I never got to use it during 8th edition but I am glad that I am finding a home for it now. Thank you Nekusar the Mindrazer. You make Zombies and Lichlords proud everywhere.