BlackLegendary Artifact Creature — NecronAnrakyr the Traveller
Mana value5Rank#6,670
The Commander
Lord of the Pyrrhian Legions — Whenever Anrakyr the Traveller attacks, you may cast an artifact spell from your hand or graveyard by paying life equal to its mana value rather than paying its mana cost.
Guide
Gameplan
Anrakyr is a mono-black artifact aggro/value engine: attack each turn and cheat out artifacts from hand or graveyard by paying life instead of mana, then convert that artifact density into card advantage, mana acceleration, and lethal damage. You ramp into a quick Anrakyr, swing, dump big artifacts (often expensive ones you couldn't otherwise cast) for life, and snowball your board until you finish with combat, big artifact creatures, or an artifact-fueled combo.
Strengths
- Effectively casts artifacts for free (just life) every combat, generating huge tempo and mana savings
- Recurs artifacts straight from the graveyard, making removal and sacrifice synergies low-cost
- Mono-black gives unmatched tutoring, life recovery, and reanimation to support the engine
- Turns clunky expensive artifacts (Eldrazi-tier mana rocks, big bombs) into combat triggers
Weaknesses
- Engine requires Anrakyr to connect in combat, so he's a removal/blocker magnet
- Life payment can be exploited by opponents and adds up fast in mono-black
- No evasion or protection built in—needs equipment or auras to stay relevant
- Mono-color means weaker interaction and no access to blue counters or green ramp variety
Key Cards
- Lightning Greaves — Haste plus shroud lets Anrakyr attack the turn he lands and dodges targeted removal.
- Whispersilk Cloak — Unblockable guarantees the attack trigger connects so you reliably free-cast artifacts.
- Mycosynth Lattice — Turns every permanent into an artifact, letting Anrakyr recast almost anything for life.
- Trading Post — Cheap repeatable artifact recursion and life gain that offsets Anrakyr's life costs.
- Bolas's Citadel — Stacks with Anrakyr's life-as-mana theme, letting you cast off the top while you free-cast artifacts.
- Sword of the Animus — Anrakyr is an artifact creature himself, so Equipment that pumps and protects keep the engine swinging.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and protection (Mana Crypt, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak) so Anrakyr connects turn after turn, and pack your curve with high-value artifacts to free-cast. Push toward a combo finish with Mycosynth Lattice plus an Aetherflux Reservoir or Krark-Clan Ironworks loop, and lean on black tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) and reanimation to find or rebuy your best pieces. Strong life gain (Trading Post, Aetherflux Reservoir) keeps the life-payment plan sustainable at higher power levels.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Beatdown with a buffed, evasive Anrakyr and a swarm of cheated-out artifact creatures
- ▸Artifact combos (e.g., Mycosynth Lattice loops, mana-rock chains into a payoff)
- ▸Big artifact bombs like Blightsteel Colossus or Eldrazi cast for life and swung in
- ▸Aristocrats drain via repeatedly sacrificing and recasting artifacts
Archetypes
- Artifacts/Affinity — Anrakyr's free artifact casts reward a deck stuffed with high-impact artifacts of every mana value.
- Aristocrats — Recasting artifacts from the graveyard lets you loop sacrifice fodder like Treasure-makers and disposable rocks.
- Reanimator/Recursion — His graveyard-casting ability synergizes with self-mill and artifact recursion to replay bombs cheaply.
- Combo — Free artifact casts can assemble infinite loops with pieces like Krark-Clan Ironworks engines and mana rocks.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
