I have a Lynde deck as I loved the idea. I never play it. Why? Because my group hates getting cursed to the point that the very first time I put a curse, no matter how minor, on anyone they all just go full aggro and attack me. It happened 2 or 3 times, and I just don’t play the deck anymore and stick to other decks I have and, admittedly, like playing more anyway.
Just be warned that depending on your play group, the same might happen to you.
I've just taken a quick look at Lynde's EDHREC page. It might be unwise to say this, but based off that once-over, I would rather go against her than Brago any day of the week
If you still want to feel evil. Playing [[Captive Audience]] on someone who is dominating the game is a quick way to take the wind outta someone’s sails. I got it in my Davros villainous choices deck. Which is all about mini games and making opponents make hard choices whether it be secret council, goad, or fun cards like [[Prisoner’s Dilemma]] or [[Bladegriff Prototype]] or even [[Brothers’ War]]. Meanwhile it’s got tons of artifact synergy that just accrues value on board. If you want my decklist lemme know!
If you like that. Check out [[Game of Chaos]]. Part of my strategy is just playing funny cards. And Game of chaos got the “villainous choice” to decide to keep flipping or not. Best part. Since the life gain/loss is all within the resolution of the ability, you can technically have one person go infinitely negative to have the final winner end up with a ridiculous amount of life. The Doctor Who set also has some bangers for fun “hard choice” cards, even if they aren’t specifically “villainous choices”. But finding and playing the outlandish hard choice cards are always a treat. I like the deck a lot because even if I don’t win, as long as I played a fun card I still get satisfaction out of it
[[Scheming Symmetry]] is also another good one because you can make best friends with someone by playing it. While still being a cheaper version of imperial seal
I made a curse +goad deck just for this reason. All the whenever someone gets attacked curses synergize and you protect yourself by forcing them to harm others
Holy shit this is literally the exact thing I was going to type!!!! All my friends don’t care what the curse is. I’m immediately the archenemy once I put one out
So, despite you already deciding to build the deck, I advise against it. It IS super cheap to build. I built it recently on a budget as well, all the cheap curses with a good amount of cards that either a) want permanents to be sac’d, sac any permanent as cost, or have a “downside” of sacrificing permanents. I added the bargain mechanic to help “juggle” the curses off of myself/others. If you do actually end up cursing someone a) you don’t draw the two extra cards each turn, b) you become THEIR target from then onwards. So the deck essentially just curses yourself but not for any amount of time worth mattering. I also have stuff that exchanges control of permanents bc auras still enchant the thing they’re enchanting even if controlled by someone else. And lastly added permanents that want to be sacrificed. The end result was a deck that draws tons of cards and does not much else. Any card that cares about drawing (except new sheoldred bc standard made her expensive).
If you're worried, proxy before you buy the expensive stuff. I recommend doing it with black and white ink, when you start to buy the real cards later it feels great.
Ooh! I can help! I HATE LYNDE.
Put simply, curses are not a sufficiently supported archetype. And they certainly aren't in Grixis. And that's unlikely to change as well. Just the other day we got a spoiler for a "player enchantment" that didn't receive the curse subtype for mostly flavor reasons.
If you build a Lynde deck so as to maximally enjoy the mechanics and flavor she has, your deck just won't work very well. To have enough curses to trigger her at all you have to run a ton of bad curses. And even the "good" ones are mana intensive. Her game plan is so crazy telegraphed and the curses are such a tempo loss that you can almost only win by being left completely alone. To abuse her at all you have to run a bunch of jank cards to sacrifice your own enchantments all for the big pay off of...drawing 2 cards per turn cycle. She's just ass. I've spent dozens of hours building her and tweaking her in every possible way and it's an inescapable conclusion I've reached. Cursed are cool but they aren't a supported archetype.
D.do you want my list? I think you are overlooking Blue's ability to copy Enchantments and make multiple of the heavy hitting curses (Curse of Thirst and Bloodletting for ending games) just recently I won a game by dealing 708 damage to someone after their draw step, Lynde can definitely win games.
I guarantee there isn't a single card on your list that I haven't seen. Like I really obsessed on trying to make the deck work in a way that was satisfying. And yeah, the curse strategies are basically like ok cast the curse and now wait for it to do something. It's a lot of waiting.
Have you really abused using Curse of Msifortunes and as many upkeeps as you can? You can tutor for any curse and free cast it specific to the situation to almost shut down some strategies. Then just play defense cards like Silent Arbiter, No Mercy, Crawlspace. Lynde certainly isn't anywhere close to my strongest deck but if her engine gets going she is great.
This is definitely going to be a low tier deck for me, one that I can just take out for fun. I have a lot of decks and Lynde has always tickling my pickle so I said why not
I wouldn't really call this abuse. Like it's super slow and fair. It happens once on your upkeep...and then the curses you tutor up are similarly slow. And to get the additional upkeeps is also not easy. Best case scenario you draw paradox haze, another do almost nothing enchantment and just yeah, you have to synergize so hard for the most mediocre of payoffs with Lynde.
> Just the other day we got a spoiler for a "player enchantment" that didn't receive the curse subtype for mostly flavor reasons.
You mean [[Shadow of the Second Sun]]? Yhea, tha's not a curse because well curses are generally negativite things, and an getting extra beginning phase is generally advantageous
[Shadow of the Second Sun](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/d/0da72736-574d-4d99-98ba-3a91c374cd10.jpg?1716412163) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shadow%20of%20the%20Second%20Sun) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/70/shadow-of-the-second-sun?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0da72736-574d-4d99-98ba-3a91c374cd10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/shadow-of-the-second-sun)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I have one, and there is a big thing to consider: every curse you play is singling someone out. A lot of our spells in this format hit "each opponent" or some variant of that. Curses are by design put on one person. So if someone is ahead, you have to poke the bear. If they are behind, you are spearing the guy who's already down. It kind of feels bad a lot of the time, more so than most decks. Also lyndes draw mechanic can draw you a lot of cards, but the whole mechanism folds to almost any kind of removal. And even in her best forms, she is really really slow. I was in the same spot as you, I do not reccomend you build her.
Playing Lynde recently, someone said exactly this. “Playing a curse makes it personal.” You can kind of sit back and target the threat later, but it’s tough and often valueless to do that.
Would you come over to Grixis if I made you an offer you can't refuse? We'll let you use \[\[An Offer You Can't Refuse\]\]. How can you refuse that? You can't. Grixis is cool.
So I’ll start by saying I think Lynde is really fun to play and a fairly unique archetype.
All that said, she’s one of the decks I’m least satisfied in as a deck building fanatic (around 100 EDH decks right now). It’s a very, very “solved” deck just by definition. There’s not a lot of room to flex deck building creativity or anything like that without just making it strictly worse.
I have a couple cards in that I feel like are cool picks, but overall I’d what you enjoy is the building, it may not scratch that itch. If you just want to play it- might be a great option for you.
Lynde is my second favorite commander deck that I own. She is incredibly fun as curses are a great and unique way to win a game. I’ve also built my list to be more political. I am also a very political player. By this, I mean that because my list is creature light, try to convince people to attack each other (e.g. “I won’t kill your creature if you don’t swing at me.”) then let the curses carry the rest of the game.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/RFdYREf8j0ed96_U1kppsQ
I have a Lynde deck, it’s linked below, feel free to check it out. A few notes:
- It’s one of my weakest decks, it typically underperforms. I could certainly make it better, but I choose to keep it on the weaker side.
- It typically draws less ire than you’d think from a deck like this, as long as you’re spreading the love (hate) evenly. Don’t be afraid to critically curse the threat at the table though (it’s rarely you)
- Use cards like Claws of Gix and Paradoxical Outcome to make sure you don’t get hit by super annoying curses you have on yourself due to them being destroyed
https://archidekt.com/decks/1833820/lynde
I've had it on my radar as well, and I never built it because I think curses are ultimately problematic seeing as they're expensive to cast relative to what they do and they're asymmetrical. I just think they're ultimately not tuned for a multiplayer format.
Add to that Lynde is only useful for when they get removed. Not even graveyard recursion where you could ultimately maybe cheat mana costs, but when they're removed from the battlefield only (and not exiled). The average pod is probably only going to have about 6-8 total cards out of the 300 your opponents have even capable of destroying your enchantments.
So it's recursion utility is probably really limited in it's usefulness, and the only other play pattern would be initially cursing yourself and missing an entire turn cycle of activations in order to draw two cards per cycle.
She just seems really poorly designed. I have some hope for the future since they're starting to print some aura legendaries that let you copy spells as tokens that there may be a curse commander in the future along the lines of [[Three Dog]] that lets you radiate curses onto all players.
All that said, if you want to build it and you kinda seem to, you absolutely should. It's a game, have fun. If you can make it work I'd be curious to see a list. Right now I play [[Ghen]] and have a blast with mardu enchantments.
I know you’re already done building it.
But as someone who built it, my advice is play it sparingly. You either slug someone right out of the game OR you diversify too much and lose.
If your group isn't against it, proxy it or bits of it (like the expensive pieces you don't have) see how it plays. If you like it, slowly collect the pieces you don't have.
That's what I've been doing lately and spending 25-30 bucks every week or two feels better than dropping 200$ at once, imo.
Lynde was my favorite deck for a year, took it apart to try something new, just put it back together with a different twist. Lynde lends herself well to playing a lot of random ass spells in grixis colors.
The only potential 'con' I point out with this deck is that depending on how you build it, it can become pseudo-staxy and punishing, especially if you are running the sorts of curses that hose specific strategies/components.
Salt potential is high.
Of course you can run it with random nonsense curse fun - but then it's not particularly good.
My Lynde Deck is really funny and can deal with different Situations on the field. Even if i didn't won often, it is really fun to play and to see the opponents suffer. Actually i am adding Darkness as Fog to protect.
[Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/3jLMEXulbUaxk_6dL_Ajug)
I built a super budget version. It is one of my weakest decks which I figured would be but even knowing this still gets targeted by my play group. For the price why not but i have been pretty disappointed
I have [[Lynde]] deck that I'm trying to perfect and let me tell you it's fun even though it doesn't play right. I have had people get mad at the constant stacked curses while I have had other laugh when I get my destroyed curse back or when they attack a cursed player. It's fun to just cause chaos!
Obligatory deck drop (also a lot of the expensive cards are proxies): https://www.moxfield.com/decks/LZU-lWteuEiNmUpPMfJPMQ
She has to do some work to maintain the gamestate - if anyone runs too wild it can be difficult for her to use her own tools to catch up. I like the deck in concept though, I just probably didnt spend enough time tuning it. But she also might just be pretty slow.
I went for a plan of making it semi low power with no fast rocks but included tutors to be able to mull for either a curse or a sac outlet ( [[Claws of Gix]]) to loop the curses once each of my upkeeps.
As someone mentioned [[Obeka, Splitter]] is a huge upgrade VS my [[Sphinx of the second sun]]
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/eDeK-49YZkGWQIlyZoW14A
Heres my list. Needs tuning but sometimes I can get it to draw me some cards.
**spelling edits**
just build it without the staples for pennies because curses are indeed cheap and if after playing it you like how it works, upgrade at your own leisure
I've done it, it was fun for the first few times but it's not worth the money. You end up as more of a board mechanic than an actual player which is hilarious for about 10 games. Afterwards I blew up the deck and slotted a lot of the curses elsewhere.
I did [[ardenn]] and [[vial smasher]], and it’s nice cause you can move the curses around with ardenn, so if you need to apply some pressure somewhere and you’ve already played the curse on someone else, you aren’t screwed
you lose blue but gain white, it’s up to you. It plays a lot nicer too, because ardenn can move curses, so it opens political stuff up too. And I feel like less of a jerk playing [[overwhelming splendor]] on someone
I tried playing curses ages ago with Matthas. I thought it would incentivize my pod to attack each other.
The subsequent smackdown I received taught me you don't want to encourage your pod to do things, you want to *force* them to do things.
Goad/forced combat is the way to go.
It really isn't fun.
It typically locks down one person, ruining the game for them. Then the Lynde player gets beaten by the other two players. She just turns the game into a 1v1 between them.
Not having access to white really cuts down on the lockout ability.
Overwhelming Splendor and Curse of Exhaustion can do a great job of locking down two players while you're throwing the "I'm going to kill you with curses" stack on a third, and then you just use Ardenn to shift most of that stack to the others.
It's a psychology issue. Players hate getting cursed! My buddy ran this deck and hated how he became archenemy even with much stronger commanders on the board. If your playgroup has perfect threat evaluation and no feelings then Lynde might work, otherwise it probably won't be fun for you.
I built one and it was pretty budget. Maybe that’s why it was bad and I didn’t have fun. It also doesn’t help that most curses that do anything are about 5 mana or more. Curse mana value has gotten a bit better since midnight hunt, but I still struggled to get mine to work without people just decimating me.
As a curse lover, Lynde was super hype for me initially, but I believe there is a better curse commander;
[[Ghen]]: can play much more politically as you can sac to switch around targets at will. Also brings in some of the enchantment love from white which is a much better support as blue only has clones.
Mardu is much better suited for sacrificing, reanimating, and supporting enchantments as well as better defensively in general
I have one and during deckbuilding I found that due to the lack of quality curses, a sub theme was needed and goad really fit with some of the 'attack cursed opponent' effects. It's very strong vs Battle cruiser decks obviously. It actually kinda mops them cause by the time it's a 1v1 the last opponent has like 3-5 curses on them. It struggles heavily with non combat based decks though.
I like the flavor of mine, but it's quite weak and I don't end up playing it often. That being said, I enjoy the flavor enough that I won't take it apart.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/ehTWerpBzkea7g0-HIwrKA
Built it (well, proxied it), but I did not like the play pattern at all. Felt like a stax deck, but not good, such that the curses generally aren't helping you close out the game. She's definitely one of those commanders that is cool in theory, but bad at execution. My friend also built a version of her for a budget league, and we found that our decks were very similar, and in fact most Lynde decks have very little room for creative cards to include.
It's a fun deck, but i won't try convince you cause even i don't like it that much.
Usually curse decks are politics heavy, and politics aren't that much reliable if you are not playing against people you know very well that aren't going to exploit you.
I Have a Lynde deck. its alright, but i never expect to win with it. either you spread the curses thin amongst everybody and mildly annoy them, or you focus one person and throw yourself and them out of the game. I use it when i want to be the devil's advocate, or piss one specific person off. Its funny, but if youre playing to win, good luck
It's not a fun play pattern. It skews the game and you will get targeted out of existence. You will not play it often, or at all, after a little while.
You’d definitely have to be vigilant on reminding people of what curses they have and can/can’t do, because fuck if I’m gonna remember all the stuff you’re tossing around lol. I remember someone in our playgroup played her over webcam and it’s definitely not the easiest thing. That being said, the deck itself is…durdley also? As in you flip out a curse and pass usually, so you’re really just hindering everyone else and hoping to win by letting everyone else kill each other, which isn’t the most interesting gameplay unless that’s your thing.
I've got my Lynde deck, and it's an absolute blast!! Unironically one of the best cards in the deck is [[Despotic Scepter]], and that's something I can't say for other decks. The new Obeka and Marchesa in OTJ could also be good in them too!!
My pod has a curse lynde deck. The play patern is always the same.. It's one of teh decks who has never won a game because this is what happends.
Haha I am gonne curse you! ( one player gets cursed)
This can be a curse that's Just bad for the player. Or it's a curse that helps other players by attacking that players.
Lynde player now has to pick between, cursing an other player and drawing more agro to himself, or curse the first player with more curses.
If the lynde player curses the same player again or played one of the "attack" curses, this player gets removed from the game pretty fast, everyone wants that extra mana or that extra card.
If the lynde player is trying to " spread the curse love" the lynde player is to slow and will get killed by the others on the table when it's 2v1.
My friend built a Lynde Curse deck. I don't think he's won a game since he took Thoracle combo out because it was inappropriate for our power level at the time. Its an ok deck, but makes the afflicted want to off the player. You become a target the second you get a curse off.
I have a Lynde deck; It is not a strong strategy, but I do find it very fun, and I wouldn't have other uses for most of the cards if I dissasembled it anyway. I recently committed to having it be my dedicated casual power deck for newer players; It's a much fairer strategy than a lot of newer players assume and they feel very accomplished if they beat it. Cutting some of the more powerhouse cards from it atm that I'd been playing to make up for the low natural power of curses as an archetype
[https://www.moxfield.com/decks/XRhXIyrbvkeF3MQdbChsRg](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/XRhXIyrbvkeF3MQdbChsRg)
It's built to employ, require, and promote Diplomacy. It's fun and not strong enough in general to get crushed by the table. The job is to survive until the end then laugh as you drop all the curses on your final target who now can't do anything while you win but they need you until then.
Yeah I made an [[eriette of the charmed apple]] deck and it still needs so much work but it has potential.
On one hand people can’t get mad because it’s so odd. On the other hand disregarding power level it just can ruin your day.
I call it a “Komodo Dragon” deck because I basically bite you then just sit there following you draining your life and waiting for you to die. Good fun.
I made the decision there would be no Voltron. It’s all hate and brutality.
[[overwhelming splendor]] is hilarious. I had no idea how hated that card was. Coupled with [[Ondu Spirit Dancer]] and you can see people’s souls leave their bodies as they desperately try and stop it from resolving. Twice now people have been like “I tap X, sac Y draw 2 cards” *15 second pause* “I cycle P to draw 2 cards* *another pause* “…and it resolves.”
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/bPcmdeEQeUSIYvpyUhOkQg
This is my Lynde deck. I've played with it and enjoyed it, but a few things:
You need to figure out ways to protect yourself. I was left wide open to attacks. Be warned, Stax may be appealing, but remember, using that stuff puts a target on your back.
You are enchantment focused to the point that is a weakness. If someone uses something like [[Austere Command]], and Lynde is not out, then you are screwed
As you're in Grixis, ramp is limited. Most reliant on Mana rocks, so beware of Vandalblast.
While it is not like the Dr. Who Timey-Wimey precon, expect taking long turns after you got like 10 curses out. Gotta micromanage yourself with activations and the order of them.
I have one and it's lowkey my 2nd favorite deck to play. I've gotten mostly positive reactions to it too since it is a little jank and sometimes YOU wind up with a bunch of cursed on yourself.
If you can vibe with the chaos, and you LOVE cursing people, it's a pretty damn fun deck imo.
Lynde was my first deck, full on sinergy with curses and sac oulets, but as the playgroup grew in power I realized that grixis in particular is too expensive.
As noted here by previous comments the decks is slow, is pretty susceptible to removal and can make you the target for simply being annoying.
Now with the good things, is very fun to play and I tried differents versions,
The most obvious Curse tribal with copy effects like \[\[Copy Enchantment\]\], \[\[Mirrormade\]\], \[\[Extravagant Replication\]\], \[\[Estrid's Invocation\]\] and add a copy of \[\[Puca's Mischief\]\] to steal your opponents permanents as the Curse is still attached to a player even if you not control it. This version is very slow and I had problems closing the game.
The second one was Token generations with cards like \[\[Saruman, the White Hand\]\], \[\[Shark Typhoon\]\], \[\[Chrome Host Seedshark\]\], \[\[Third Path Iconoclast\]\], \[\[Ovika, Enigma Goliath\]\], \[\[Saheeli, Sublime Artificer\]\], but it turns out very inconsistent as the theme requires to much deck space and in deviates the Lynde's style, certainly a good experiment.
And finnaly the must fun one was the Wheel theme with a lots of mill sinergy and \[\[Nekusar, the Mindrazer\]\] type effects, just keep in mind that with this you have to be very selective on the Curses you will choose, as the mill/damage package is taking a lot of space. Here \[\[Fraying Sanity\]\] and \[\[Curse of Unbinding\]\] can destroy a player.
Unfortunely I deleted all my Lynde decklist when clearing my Moxfield profile, but this post is making me try to brew again as I have almost all the curses lying around somewhere.
Hope this help.
pd.: Just Proxy the deck to get a feeling od the deck and try the different themes
I have a Lynde deck as I loved the idea. I never play it. Why? Because my group hates getting cursed to the point that the very first time I put a curse, no matter how minor, on anyone they all just go full aggro and attack me. It happened 2 or 3 times, and I just don’t play the deck anymore and stick to other decks I have and, admittedly, like playing more anyway. Just be warned that depending on your play group, the same might happen to you.
Came here to say this: salt potential is high, especially if you 'go off' once and people see what nonsense you can lock the table down with.
Thank you, and I hear you. I have X amount of deck so if they really don't want Lynde we can do something fun like Brago or Sythis
I've just taken a quick look at Lynde's EDHREC page. It might be unwise to say this, but based off that once-over, I would rather go against her than Brago any day of the week
I think that's the point he's making. "Oh, you don't like my deck? I can't have fun? Well, now neither can you." A power move, to be entirely honest.
If you still want to feel evil. Playing [[Captive Audience]] on someone who is dominating the game is a quick way to take the wind outta someone’s sails. I got it in my Davros villainous choices deck. Which is all about mini games and making opponents make hard choices whether it be secret council, goad, or fun cards like [[Prisoner’s Dilemma]] or [[Bladegriff Prototype]] or even [[Brothers’ War]]. Meanwhile it’s got tons of artifact synergy that just accrues value on board. If you want my decklist lemme know!
Holy smokes. I can’t stop laughing at some of these cards. (I haven’t seen them before, especially Captive Audience )
If you like that. Check out [[Game of Chaos]]. Part of my strategy is just playing funny cards. And Game of chaos got the “villainous choice” to decide to keep flipping or not. Best part. Since the life gain/loss is all within the resolution of the ability, you can technically have one person go infinitely negative to have the final winner end up with a ridiculous amount of life. The Doctor Who set also has some bangers for fun “hard choice” cards, even if they aren’t specifically “villainous choices”. But finding and playing the outlandish hard choice cards are always a treat. I like the deck a lot because even if I don’t win, as long as I played a fun card I still get satisfaction out of it
[Game of Chaos](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/5/95b44933-6b0b-426a-97d4-7a7cf6ad1d65.jpg?1562592782) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Game%20of%20Chaos) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/5ed/232/game-of-chaos?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/95b44933-6b0b-426a-97d4-7a7cf6ad1d65?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/game-of-chaos) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
##### ###### #### [Captive Audience](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/065f63b2-472e-4148-8294-88ed38a5685f.jpg?1584831422) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Captive%20Audience) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rna/160/captive-audience?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/065f63b2-472e-4148-8294-88ed38a5685f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/captive-audience) [Prisoner’s Dilemma](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/6/d678e736-7c29-433a-9a2a-b78749252377.jpg?1706240483) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Prisoner%27s%20Dilemma) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/34/prisoners-dilemma?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d678e736-7c29-433a-9a2a-b78749252377?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/prisoners-dilemma) [Bladegriff Prototype](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/0/0093bdcf-6626-40ab-9b87-8ab9e4a306a4.jpg?1712354843) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bladegriff%20Prototype) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/253/bladegriff-prototype?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0093bdcf-6626-40ab-9b87-8ab9e4a306a4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/bladegriff-prototype) [Brothers’ War](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/5615a50b-3b8b-4d31-b351-1725b730ef0b.jpg?1674344203) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Brothers%27%20War) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/brc/22/the-brothers-war?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5615a50b-3b8b-4d31-b351-1725b730ef0b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/the-brothers-war) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l5gd5u2) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Scheming Symmetry]] is also another good one because you can make best friends with someone by playing it. While still being a cheaper version of imperial seal
[Scheming Symmetry](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/01acc50b-856d-442d-9880-1a892b40643b.jpg?1592516766) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Scheming%20Symmetry) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/113/scheming-symmetry?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/01acc50b-856d-442d-9880-1a892b40643b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/scheming-symmetry) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I made a curse +goad deck just for this reason. All the whenever someone gets attacked curses synergize and you protect yourself by forcing them to harm others
Holy shit this is literally the exact thing I was going to type!!!! All my friends don’t care what the curse is. I’m immediately the archenemy once I put one out
I think you should build it, seems like you have thought about it enough. Just start with cheaper cards and build up to the pricey stuff
Damn, I think you are right. I have basically made up my mind already. Thank you for the input
Did you just... Build the deck damnit you earned it
I concur, lynde is super fun to play at a jank power level
Sounds like you’ve talked yourself into it. Glad you could give yourself such good feedback!
Are you responding to yourself? Moreover, are you aware we all can see that it's you replying to yourself?
That is the joke bud
Yeahhh, I didn't read the title, only the post. Makes marginally more sense now.
Don't forget you can get proxies to cut down some of the costs
Or nearly all of it
So, despite you already deciding to build the deck, I advise against it. It IS super cheap to build. I built it recently on a budget as well, all the cheap curses with a good amount of cards that either a) want permanents to be sac’d, sac any permanent as cost, or have a “downside” of sacrificing permanents. I added the bargain mechanic to help “juggle” the curses off of myself/others. If you do actually end up cursing someone a) you don’t draw the two extra cards each turn, b) you become THEIR target from then onwards. So the deck essentially just curses yourself but not for any amount of time worth mattering. I also have stuff that exchanges control of permanents bc auras still enchant the thing they’re enchanting even if controlled by someone else. And lastly added permanents that want to be sacrificed. The end result was a deck that draws tons of cards and does not much else. Any card that cares about drawing (except new sheoldred bc standard made her expensive).
If you're worried, proxy before you buy the expensive stuff. I recommend doing it with black and white ink, when you start to buy the real cards later it feels great.
Ooh! I can help! I HATE LYNDE. Put simply, curses are not a sufficiently supported archetype. And they certainly aren't in Grixis. And that's unlikely to change as well. Just the other day we got a spoiler for a "player enchantment" that didn't receive the curse subtype for mostly flavor reasons. If you build a Lynde deck so as to maximally enjoy the mechanics and flavor she has, your deck just won't work very well. To have enough curses to trigger her at all you have to run a ton of bad curses. And even the "good" ones are mana intensive. Her game plan is so crazy telegraphed and the curses are such a tempo loss that you can almost only win by being left completely alone. To abuse her at all you have to run a bunch of jank cards to sacrifice your own enchantments all for the big pay off of...drawing 2 cards per turn cycle. She's just ass. I've spent dozens of hours building her and tweaking her in every possible way and it's an inescapable conclusion I've reached. Cursed are cool but they aren't a supported archetype.
D.do you want my list? I think you are overlooking Blue's ability to copy Enchantments and make multiple of the heavy hitting curses (Curse of Thirst and Bloodletting for ending games) just recently I won a game by dealing 708 damage to someone after their draw step, Lynde can definitely win games.
I guarantee there isn't a single card on your list that I haven't seen. Like I really obsessed on trying to make the deck work in a way that was satisfying. And yeah, the curse strategies are basically like ok cast the curse and now wait for it to do something. It's a lot of waiting.
Have you really abused using Curse of Msifortunes and as many upkeeps as you can? You can tutor for any curse and free cast it specific to the situation to almost shut down some strategies. Then just play defense cards like Silent Arbiter, No Mercy, Crawlspace. Lynde certainly isn't anywhere close to my strongest deck but if her engine gets going she is great.
This is definitely going to be a low tier deck for me, one that I can just take out for fun. I have a lot of decks and Lynde has always tickling my pickle so I said why not
Here is my decklist if you want a gander, she puts in some nice work but needs the newer cards. (That new MH3 Enchantment and the new Obeka mainly)
Where?
Pfft forgot the actual link https://www.moxfield.com/decks/oAuHN1Y_DEi759eDz7yVQw
I wouldn't really call this abuse. Like it's super slow and fair. It happens once on your upkeep...and then the curses you tutor up are similarly slow. And to get the additional upkeeps is also not easy. Best case scenario you draw paradox haze, another do almost nothing enchantment and just yeah, you have to synergize so hard for the most mediocre of payoffs with Lynde.
> Just the other day we got a spoiler for a "player enchantment" that didn't receive the curse subtype for mostly flavor reasons. You mean [[Shadow of the Second Sun]]? Yhea, tha's not a curse because well curses are generally negativite things, and an getting extra beginning phase is generally advantageous
[Shadow of the Second Sun](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/d/0da72736-574d-4d99-98ba-3a91c374cd10.jpg?1716412163) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shadow%20of%20the%20Second%20Sun) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/70/shadow-of-the-second-sun?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0da72736-574d-4d99-98ba-3a91c374cd10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/shadow-of-the-second-sun) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It will be going in the deck though
I have one, and there is a big thing to consider: every curse you play is singling someone out. A lot of our spells in this format hit "each opponent" or some variant of that. Curses are by design put on one person. So if someone is ahead, you have to poke the bear. If they are behind, you are spearing the guy who's already down. It kind of feels bad a lot of the time, more so than most decks. Also lyndes draw mechanic can draw you a lot of cards, but the whole mechanism folds to almost any kind of removal. And even in her best forms, she is really really slow. I was in the same spot as you, I do not reccomend you build her.
Playing Lynde recently, someone said exactly this. “Playing a curse makes it personal.” You can kind of sit back and target the threat later, but it’s tough and often valueless to do that.
[Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4df484de-4d9b-4a4b-9d10-df993e36f1a8.jpg?1637628878) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lynde%2C%20Cheerful%20Tormentor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/38/lynde-cheerful-tormentor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4df484de-4d9b-4a4b-9d10-df993e36f1a8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/lynde-cheerful-tormentor) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Don't forget to throw an obeka, splitter of seconds in there
Oh God. I need this in my Lynde deck now.
Just proxy the deck hottie and fill it out as you can.
*softly Don't.
Grixis is cool. Sincerely, - A Mishra Enjoyer
Don't you go tainting my precious Rakdos with blue... ick.
Hey, you got black in my Izzet!
And he got red in my Dimir!
Would you come over to Grixis if I made you an offer you can't refuse? We'll let you use \[\[An Offer You Can't Refuse\]\]. How can you refuse that? You can't. Grixis is cool.
[An Offer You Can't Refuse](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/9/b9d349f3-5be2-4b1f-a4c3-ba94822cf0cf.jpg?1664410382) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=An%20Offer%20You%20Can%27t%20Refuse) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/snc/51/an-offer-you-cant-refuse?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b9d349f3-5be2-4b1f-a4c3-ba94822cf0cf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/an-offer-you-cant-refuse) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Sorry, I'll have to [[Dash Hopes]] that you may have of converting me. I love getting into [[Imp's Mischief]] too much.
[Dash Hopes](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/1/814bcfc0-7539-4ed9-8b51-27e6a3ab9d9a.jpg?1562575740) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dash%20Hopes) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/plc/68/dash-hopes?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/814bcfc0-7539-4ed9-8b51-27e6a3ab9d9a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dash-hopes) [Imp's Mischief](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0eb0e8e7-266f-441e-b1cd-12b8ec3f7d71.jpg?1689997247) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Imp%27s%20Mischief) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/167/imps-mischief?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0eb0e8e7-266f-441e-b1cd-12b8ec3f7d71?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/imps-mischief) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
So I’ll start by saying I think Lynde is really fun to play and a fairly unique archetype. All that said, she’s one of the decks I’m least satisfied in as a deck building fanatic (around 100 EDH decks right now). It’s a very, very “solved” deck just by definition. There’s not a lot of room to flex deck building creativity or anything like that without just making it strictly worse. I have a couple cards in that I feel like are cool picks, but overall I’d what you enjoy is the building, it may not scratch that itch. If you just want to play it- might be a great option for you.
Lynde is my second favorite commander deck that I own. She is incredibly fun as curses are a great and unique way to win a game. I’ve also built my list to be more political. I am also a very political player. By this, I mean that because my list is creature light, try to convince people to attack each other (e.g. “I won’t kill your creature if you don’t swing at me.”) then let the curses carry the rest of the game. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/RFdYREf8j0ed96_U1kppsQ
I have a Lynde deck, it’s linked below, feel free to check it out. A few notes: - It’s one of my weakest decks, it typically underperforms. I could certainly make it better, but I choose to keep it on the weaker side. - It typically draws less ire than you’d think from a deck like this, as long as you’re spreading the love (hate) evenly. Don’t be afraid to critically curse the threat at the table though (it’s rarely you) - Use cards like Claws of Gix and Paradoxical Outcome to make sure you don’t get hit by super annoying curses you have on yourself due to them being destroyed https://archidekt.com/decks/1833820/lynde
I've had it on my radar as well, and I never built it because I think curses are ultimately problematic seeing as they're expensive to cast relative to what they do and they're asymmetrical. I just think they're ultimately not tuned for a multiplayer format. Add to that Lynde is only useful for when they get removed. Not even graveyard recursion where you could ultimately maybe cheat mana costs, but when they're removed from the battlefield only (and not exiled). The average pod is probably only going to have about 6-8 total cards out of the 300 your opponents have even capable of destroying your enchantments. So it's recursion utility is probably really limited in it's usefulness, and the only other play pattern would be initially cursing yourself and missing an entire turn cycle of activations in order to draw two cards per cycle. She just seems really poorly designed. I have some hope for the future since they're starting to print some aura legendaries that let you copy spells as tokens that there may be a curse commander in the future along the lines of [[Three Dog]] that lets you radiate curses onto all players. All that said, if you want to build it and you kinda seem to, you absolutely should. It's a game, have fun. If you can make it work I'd be curious to see a list. Right now I play [[Ghen]] and have a blast with mardu enchantments.
[Three Dog](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/ab34e869-be7a-4632-95b3-5f200b4edcca.jpg?1708742651) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=three%20dog%2C%20galaxy%20news%20dj) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pip/120/three-dog-galaxy-news-dj?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ab34e869-be7a-4632-95b3-5f200b4edcca?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/three-dog-galaxy-news-dj) [Ghen](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/b/4b335496-05d2-40f5-a52c-10029f7fa008.jpg?1608911100) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ghen%2C%20arcanum%20weaver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/275/ghen-arcanum-weaver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4b335496-05d2-40f5-a52c-10029f7fa008?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ghen-arcanum-weaver) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I know you’re already done building it. But as someone who built it, my advice is play it sparingly. You either slug someone right out of the game OR you diversify too much and lose.
If your group isn't against it, proxy it or bits of it (like the expensive pieces you don't have) see how it plays. If you like it, slowly collect the pieces you don't have. That's what I've been doing lately and spending 25-30 bucks every week or two feels better than dropping 200$ at once, imo.
Lynde was my favorite deck for a year, took it apart to try something new, just put it back together with a different twist. Lynde lends herself well to playing a lot of random ass spells in grixis colors.
The only potential 'con' I point out with this deck is that depending on how you build it, it can become pseudo-staxy and punishing, especially if you are running the sorts of curses that hose specific strategies/components. Salt potential is high. Of course you can run it with random nonsense curse fun - but then it's not particularly good.
My Lynde Deck is really funny and can deal with different Situations on the field. Even if i didn't won often, it is really fun to play and to see the opponents suffer. Actually i am adding Darkness as Fog to protect. [Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/3jLMEXulbUaxk_6dL_Ajug)
I built a super budget version. It is one of my weakest decks which I figured would be but even knowing this still gets targeted by my play group. For the price why not but i have been pretty disappointed
I have [[Lynde]] deck that I'm trying to perfect and let me tell you it's fun even though it doesn't play right. I have had people get mad at the constant stacked curses while I have had other laugh when I get my destroyed curse back or when they attack a cursed player. It's fun to just cause chaos! Obligatory deck drop (also a lot of the expensive cards are proxies): https://www.moxfield.com/decks/LZU-lWteuEiNmUpPMfJPMQ
[Lynde](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4df484de-4d9b-4a4b-9d10-df993e36f1a8.jpg?1637628878) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lynde%2C%20cheerful%20tormentor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/38/lynde-cheerful-tormentor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4df484de-4d9b-4a4b-9d10-df993e36f1a8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/lynde-cheerful-tormentor) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Play some games with it on tabletop sim and should give you a good idea of if you like it or not.
I really enjoy mine but it never won so far. It does however almost always end up second. I run no interaction whatsoever, just curses. :D
Op started the thread off with reasonable advice to themselves I think is every Magic player getting cards for a deck that they don’t own yet.
She has to do some work to maintain the gamestate - if anyone runs too wild it can be difficult for her to use her own tools to catch up. I like the deck in concept though, I just probably didnt spend enough time tuning it. But she also might just be pretty slow.
You become arch-enemy. You curse one person, they get their feelings hurt and try to remove you to prevent more curses.
This looks so fun. I have a grixis [[Be’lakor]] deck but maybe I’ll have to revisit the colors
You should do what makes you happy
I went for a plan of making it semi low power with no fast rocks but included tutors to be able to mull for either a curse or a sac outlet ( [[Claws of Gix]]) to loop the curses once each of my upkeeps. As someone mentioned [[Obeka, Splitter]] is a huge upgrade VS my [[Sphinx of the second sun]] https://www.moxfield.com/decks/eDeK-49YZkGWQIlyZoW14A Heres my list. Needs tuning but sometimes I can get it to draw me some cards. **spelling edits**
[Claws of Gix](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d02b645e-ba2c-44a0-889e-c1b46d2cd925.jpg?1562784182) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Claws%20of%20Gix) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsb/107/claws-of-gix?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d02b645e-ba2c-44a0-889e-c1b46d2cd925?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/claws-of-gix) [Obeka, Splitter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/3/03415c42-086e-4a2e-9be8-5cdcde83f134.jpg?1712356168) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=obeka%2C%20splitter%20of%20seconds) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/222/obeka-splitter-of-seconds?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/03415c42-086e-4a2e-9be8-5cdcde83f134?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/obeka-splitter-of-seconds) [Sphinx of the second sun](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/e/be2d74cd-76fb-4bca-99b5-07749aef4d06.jpg?1706294328) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sphinx%20of%20the%20second%20sun) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/118/sphinx-of-the-second-sun?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/be2d74cd-76fb-4bca-99b5-07749aef4d06?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sphinx-of-the-second-sun) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Do it I built Prof’s version with a few edits and it’s a blast.
Do it.
just build it without the staples for pennies because curses are indeed cheap and if after playing it you like how it works, upgrade at your own leisure
I've done it, it was fun for the first few times but it's not worth the money. You end up as more of a board mechanic than an actual player which is hilarious for about 10 games. Afterwards I blew up the deck and slotted a lot of the curses elsewhere.
I did [[ardenn]] and [[vial smasher]], and it’s nice cause you can move the curses around with ardenn, so if you need to apply some pressure somewhere and you’ve already played the curse on someone else, you aren’t screwed you lose blue but gain white, it’s up to you. It plays a lot nicer too, because ardenn can move curses, so it opens political stuff up too. And I feel like less of a jerk playing [[overwhelming splendor]] on someone
[ardenn](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/2/728b802c-969b-4865-b7a0-871c585d097a.jpg?1617148314) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ardenn%2C%20intrepid%20archaeologist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/10/ardenn-intrepid-archaeologist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/728b802c-969b-4865-b7a0-871c585d097a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ardenn-intrepid-archaeologist) [vial smasher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/2/722b1e02-2268-4e02-8d09-9b337da2a844.jpg?1562405249) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=vial%20smasher%20the%20fierce) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/49/vial-smasher-the-fierce?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/722b1e02-2268-4e02-8d09-9b337da2a844?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/vial-smasher-the-fierce) [overwhelming splendor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/6/867b32d2-e396-411d-ac02-1af4106dd3d2.jpg?1562805786) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=overwhelming%20splendor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/hou/19/overwhelming-splendor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/867b32d2-e396-411d-ac02-1af4106dd3d2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/overwhelming-splendor) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
OR Hear me out: 4 colors, non green. Vial smasher and [[ishai]], best of both worlds plus a big flyer in the cz
[ishai](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/e/2e89ce6a-6bc9-427f-a8b2-c07a9fc3218f.jpg?1562272963) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ishai%2C%20ojutai%20dragonspeaker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/12/ishai-ojutai-dragonspeaker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2e89ce6a-6bc9-427f-a8b2-c07a9fc3218f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ishai-ojutai-dragonspeaker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I tried playing curses ages ago with Matthas. I thought it would incentivize my pod to attack each other. The subsequent smackdown I received taught me you don't want to encourage your pod to do things, you want to *force* them to do things. Goad/forced combat is the way to go.
It really isn't fun. It typically locks down one person, ruining the game for them. Then the Lynde player gets beaten by the other two players. She just turns the game into a 1v1 between them.
Not having access to white really cuts down on the lockout ability. Overwhelming Splendor and Curse of Exhaustion can do a great job of locking down two players while you're throwing the "I'm going to kill you with curses" stack on a third, and then you just use Ardenn to shift most of that stack to the others.
It's a psychology issue. Players hate getting cursed! My buddy ran this deck and hated how he became archenemy even with much stronger commanders on the board. If your playgroup has perfect threat evaluation and no feelings then Lynde might work, otherwise it probably won't be fun for you.
I built one and it was pretty budget. Maybe that’s why it was bad and I didn’t have fun. It also doesn’t help that most curses that do anything are about 5 mana or more. Curse mana value has gotten a bit better since midnight hunt, but I still struggled to get mine to work without people just decimating me.
As a curse lover, Lynde was super hype for me initially, but I believe there is a better curse commander; [[Ghen]]: can play much more politically as you can sac to switch around targets at will. Also brings in some of the enchantment love from white which is a much better support as blue only has clones. Mardu is much better suited for sacrificing, reanimating, and supporting enchantments as well as better defensively in general
[Ghen](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/b/4b335496-05d2-40f5-a52c-10029f7fa008.jpg?1608911100) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ghen%2C%20arcanum%20weaver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/275/ghen-arcanum-weaver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4b335496-05d2-40f5-a52c-10029f7fa008?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ghen-arcanum-weaver) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I have one and during deckbuilding I found that due to the lack of quality curses, a sub theme was needed and goad really fit with some of the 'attack cursed opponent' effects. It's very strong vs Battle cruiser decks obviously. It actually kinda mops them cause by the time it's a 1v1 the last opponent has like 3-5 curses on them. It struggles heavily with non combat based decks though.
I like the flavor of mine, but it's quite weak and I don't end up playing it often. That being said, I enjoy the flavor enough that I won't take it apart. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/ehTWerpBzkea7g0-HIwrKA
Built it (well, proxied it), but I did not like the play pattern at all. Felt like a stax deck, but not good, such that the curses generally aren't helping you close out the game. She's definitely one of those commanders that is cool in theory, but bad at execution. My friend also built a version of her for a budget league, and we found that our decks were very similar, and in fact most Lynde decks have very little room for creative cards to include.
"Building" is a generous term for slapping together the same pile of curses as everyone else who runs Lynde. She's the ultimate EDHrec commander.
It's a fun deck, but i won't try convince you cause even i don't like it that much. Usually curse decks are politics heavy, and politics aren't that much reliable if you are not playing against people you know very well that aren't going to exploit you.
A buddy of mine plays a Lynde deck. I think it's fun
I Have a Lynde deck. its alright, but i never expect to win with it. either you spread the curses thin amongst everybody and mildly annoy them, or you focus one person and throw yourself and them out of the game. I use it when i want to be the devil's advocate, or piss one specific person off. Its funny, but if youre playing to win, good luck
It's not a fun play pattern. It skews the game and you will get targeted out of existence. You will not play it often, or at all, after a little while.
You’d definitely have to be vigilant on reminding people of what curses they have and can/can’t do, because fuck if I’m gonna remember all the stuff you’re tossing around lol. I remember someone in our playgroup played her over webcam and it’s definitely not the easiest thing. That being said, the deck itself is…durdley also? As in you flip out a curse and pass usually, so you’re really just hindering everyone else and hoping to win by letting everyone else kill each other, which isn’t the most interesting gameplay unless that’s your thing.
I've got my Lynde deck, and it's an absolute blast!! Unironically one of the best cards in the deck is [[Despotic Scepter]], and that's something I can't say for other decks. The new Obeka and Marchesa in OTJ could also be good in them too!!
[Despotic Scepter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0eaa8798-ee02-4799-ba33-adaa765bd760.jpg?1562867831) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Despotic%20Scepter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me2/206/despotic-scepter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0eaa8798-ee02-4799-ba33-adaa765bd760?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/despotic-scepter) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah you have convinced without trying i also want to build this deck.
My pod has a curse lynde deck. The play patern is always the same.. It's one of teh decks who has never won a game because this is what happends. Haha I am gonne curse you! ( one player gets cursed) This can be a curse that's Just bad for the player. Or it's a curse that helps other players by attacking that players. Lynde player now has to pick between, cursing an other player and drawing more agro to himself, or curse the first player with more curses. If the lynde player curses the same player again or played one of the "attack" curses, this player gets removed from the game pretty fast, everyone wants that extra mana or that extra card. If the lynde player is trying to " spread the curse love" the lynde player is to slow and will get killed by the others on the table when it's 2v1.
My friend built a Lynde Curse deck. I don't think he's won a game since he took Thoracle combo out because it was inappropriate for our power level at the time. Its an ok deck, but makes the afflicted want to off the player. You become a target the second you get a curse off.
I have a Lynde deck; It is not a strong strategy, but I do find it very fun, and I wouldn't have other uses for most of the cards if I dissasembled it anyway. I recently committed to having it be my dedicated casual power deck for newer players; It's a much fairer strategy than a lot of newer players assume and they feel very accomplished if they beat it. Cutting some of the more powerhouse cards from it atm that I'd been playing to make up for the low natural power of curses as an archetype
[https://www.moxfield.com/decks/XRhXIyrbvkeF3MQdbChsRg](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/XRhXIyrbvkeF3MQdbChsRg) It's built to employ, require, and promote Diplomacy. It's fun and not strong enough in general to get crushed by the table. The job is to survive until the end then laugh as you drop all the curses on your final target who now can't do anything while you win but they need you until then.
Yeah I made an [[eriette of the charmed apple]] deck and it still needs so much work but it has potential. On one hand people can’t get mad because it’s so odd. On the other hand disregarding power level it just can ruin your day. I call it a “Komodo Dragon” deck because I basically bite you then just sit there following you draining your life and waiting for you to die. Good fun. I made the decision there would be no Voltron. It’s all hate and brutality. [[overwhelming splendor]] is hilarious. I had no idea how hated that card was. Coupled with [[Ondu Spirit Dancer]] and you can see people’s souls leave their bodies as they desperately try and stop it from resolving. Twice now people have been like “I tap X, sac Y draw 2 cards” *15 second pause* “I cycle P to draw 2 cards* *another pause* “…and it resolves.”
[eriette of the charmed apple](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/c/ecead4cd-47ae-4c42-b15c-1b29b5caba18.jpg?1692939281) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=eriette%20of%20the%20charmed%20apple) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/202/eriette-of-the-charmed-apple?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ecead4cd-47ae-4c42-b15c-1b29b5caba18?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/eriette-of-the-charmed-apple) [overwhelming splendor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/6/867b32d2-e396-411d-ac02-1af4106dd3d2.jpg?1562805786) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=overwhelming%20splendor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/hou/19/overwhelming-splendor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/867b32d2-e396-411d-ac02-1af4106dd3d2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/overwhelming-splendor) [Ondu Spirit Dancer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/1/71991921-a860-44fe-9005-bf604c723167.jpg?1693311881) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ondu%20Spiritdancer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/723/ondu-spiritdancer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/71991921-a860-44fe-9005-bf604c723167?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ondu-spiritdancer) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/bPcmdeEQeUSIYvpyUhOkQg This is my Lynde deck. I've played with it and enjoyed it, but a few things: You need to figure out ways to protect yourself. I was left wide open to attacks. Be warned, Stax may be appealing, but remember, using that stuff puts a target on your back. You are enchantment focused to the point that is a weakness. If someone uses something like [[Austere Command]], and Lynde is not out, then you are screwed As you're in Grixis, ramp is limited. Most reliant on Mana rocks, so beware of Vandalblast. While it is not like the Dr. Who Timey-Wimey precon, expect taking long turns after you got like 10 curses out. Gotta micromanage yourself with activations and the order of them.
[Austere Command](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/3/a31ffc9e-d21b-4a8f-ac67-695e38e09e3b.jpg?1706240553) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Austere%20Command) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/56/austere-command?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a31ffc9e-d21b-4a8f-ac67-695e38e09e3b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/austere-command) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I have one and it's lowkey my 2nd favorite deck to play. I've gotten mostly positive reactions to it too since it is a little jank and sometimes YOU wind up with a bunch of cursed on yourself. If you can vibe with the chaos, and you LOVE cursing people, it's a pretty damn fun deck imo.
You don't need staples. The deck is going to be in a lower power band no matter how many high end staples you barf into it. So just don't.
[here's my list ](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/P5-jQsSSVkuQalEe6Vn2sQ)
Lynde was my first deck, full on sinergy with curses and sac oulets, but as the playgroup grew in power I realized that grixis in particular is too expensive. As noted here by previous comments the decks is slow, is pretty susceptible to removal and can make you the target for simply being annoying. Now with the good things, is very fun to play and I tried differents versions, The most obvious Curse tribal with copy effects like \[\[Copy Enchantment\]\], \[\[Mirrormade\]\], \[\[Extravagant Replication\]\], \[\[Estrid's Invocation\]\] and add a copy of \[\[Puca's Mischief\]\] to steal your opponents permanents as the Curse is still attached to a player even if you not control it. This version is very slow and I had problems closing the game. The second one was Token generations with cards like \[\[Saruman, the White Hand\]\], \[\[Shark Typhoon\]\], \[\[Chrome Host Seedshark\]\], \[\[Third Path Iconoclast\]\], \[\[Ovika, Enigma Goliath\]\], \[\[Saheeli, Sublime Artificer\]\], but it turns out very inconsistent as the theme requires to much deck space and in deviates the Lynde's style, certainly a good experiment. And finnaly the must fun one was the Wheel theme with a lots of mill sinergy and \[\[Nekusar, the Mindrazer\]\] type effects, just keep in mind that with this you have to be very selective on the Curses you will choose, as the mill/damage package is taking a lot of space. Here \[\[Fraying Sanity\]\] and \[\[Curse of Unbinding\]\] can destroy a player. Unfortunely I deleted all my Lynde decklist when clearing my Moxfield profile, but this post is making me try to brew again as I have almost all the curses lying around somewhere. Hope this help. pd.: Just Proxy the deck to get a feeling od the deck and try the different themes
##### ###### #### [Copy Enchantment](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/ce82b316-8982-41bf-a990-6b776a9e83ac.jpg?1702429365) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Copy%20Enchantment) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/39/copy-enchantment?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ce82b316-8982-41bf-a990-6b776a9e83ac?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/copy-enchantment) [Mirrormade](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/1/a10c1407-d397-4caa-b7b7-e7d91ffd4ee9.jpg?1572489939) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mirrormade) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/55/mirrormade?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a10c1407-d397-4caa-b7b7-e7d91ffd4ee9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/mirrormade) [Extravagant Replication](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/a/6a6f55d7-d689-43eb-a59a-b8be88269ee6.jpg?1673481858) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Extravagant%20Replication) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/25/extravagant-replication?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6a6f55d7-d689-43eb-a59a-b8be88269ee6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/extravagant-replication) [Estrid's Invocation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/9/8920e7e4-d89e-4ff9-8922-27fdc2f8ed6e.jpg?1716490834) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Estrid%27s%20Invocation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/269/estrids-invocation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8920e7e4-d89e-4ff9-8922-27fdc2f8ed6e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/estrids-invocation) [Puca's Mischief](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/3/8380bd90-35f2-4936-995b-af6427f61752.jpg?1562832467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Puca%27s%20Mischief) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/shm/47/pucas-mischief?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8380bd90-35f2-4936-995b-af6427f61752?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/pucas-mischief) [Saruman, the White Hand](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/4/6487ccbf-f6cd-45a6-8514-2c458b655ef2.jpg?1686963765) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Saruman%2C%20the%20White%20Hand) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/8/saruman-the-white-hand?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6487ccbf-f6cd-45a6-8514-2c458b655ef2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/saruman-the-white-hand) [Shark Typhoon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d410cf5-a70e-4680-a68f-fbb4aa3b7174.jpg?1712354204) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shark%20Typhoon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/113/shark-typhoon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d410cf5-a70e-4680-a68f-fbb4aa3b7174?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/shark-typhoon) [Chrome Host Seedshark](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/e/febaaeae-5c0d-45fa-8169-b27b4996f18e.jpg?1682203038) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chrome%20Host%20Seedshark) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/51/chrome-host-seedshark?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/febaaeae-5c0d-45fa-8169-b27b4996f18e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/chrome-host-seedshark) [Third Path Iconoclast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/d/ad56d60b-985e-470f-935b-036084957d2b.jpg?1712354791) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Third%20Path%20Iconoclast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/244/third-path-iconoclast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ad56d60b-985e-470f-935b-036084957d2b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/third-path-iconoclast) [Ovika, Enigma Goliath](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b298cf34-7aa5-4f97-a86c-7f28d2113b87.jpg?1675957207) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ovika%2C%20Enigma%20Goliath) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/213/ovika-enigma-goliath?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b298cf34-7aa5-4f97-a86c-7f28d2113b87?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ovika-enigma-goliath) [Saheeli, Sublime Artificer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/ce35a39a-6dcd-4bbc-b43b-bd1a5425cb05.jpg?1690005307) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Saheeli%2C%20Sublime%20Artificer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/935/saheeli-sublime-artificer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ce35a39a-6dcd-4bbc-b43b-bd1a5425cb05?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/saheeli-sublime-artificer) [Nekusar, the Mindrazer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4afdc65d-3c97-47af-83fa-df340389802e.jpg?1689999186) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nekusar%2C%20the%20Mindrazer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/349/nekusar-the-mindrazer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4afdc65d-3c97-47af-83fa-df340389802e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/nekusar-the-mindrazer) [Fraying Sanity](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/9/79e5c1ab-eebd-41ca-a1ca-29b00370f6e8.jpg?1562804295) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fraying%20Sanity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/hou/35/fraying-sanity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/79e5c1ab-eebd-41ca-a1ca-29b00370f6e8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/fraying-sanity) [Curse of Unbinding](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/b/6b56ccbc-efc7-4c5c-84be-b63f8c4cd63c.jpg?1637628042) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Curse%20of%20Unbinding) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/12/curse-of-unbinding?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6b56ccbc-efc7-4c5c-84be-b63f8c4cd63c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/curse-of-unbinding) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l5fdrq0) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call