GrixisLegendary Artifact Creature — Alien ScientistDavros, Dalek Creator
Mana value4Rank#7,540
The Commander
Menace
At the beginning of your end step, create a 3/3 black Dalek artifact creature token with menace if an opponent lost 3 or more life this turn. Then each opponent who lost 3 or more life this turn faces a villainous choice — You draw a card, or that player discards a card.
Guide
Gameplan
Davros rewards you for chipping away at opponents' life totals every turn: deal 3+ damage to a player and you get a 3/3 menace Dalek token plus a draw-or-discard villainous choice on your end step. Build wide with pingers, group-slug effects, and aristocrat drains so multiple opponents leak life, snowballing a Dalek army while you out-card the table.
Strengths
- Generates free, evasive 3/3 bodies and card advantage simultaneously every turn
- Triggers off any source of life loss, not just combat, so it pairs with pingers and drain effects
- Punishes opponents in three colors of removal and value (Grixis flexibility)
- Token army scales into go-wide finishers and sacrifice fodder
Weaknesses
- Davros himself is a 4-mana artifact creature with no immediate impact and a target for removal
- Only triggers on your end step, making it slow against fast combo decks
- Needs consistent multi-opponent life loss to maximize tokens and choices
- Vulnerable to artifact wipes and board wipes that hit your Dalek tokens
Key Cards
- Syr Konrad, the Grim — Drains everyone whenever creatures die, easily pushing multiple opponents past the 3-life threshold.
- Bitterblossom — Cheap repeatable life loss for you doesn't matter, but pair with pingers; more importantly tokens fuel sacrifice synergies (use group-slug instead — see note).
- Pestilence — Hits all opponents at once, reliably triggering Davros against the whole table each turn.
- Reconnaissance Mission — Card draw stacks but the Dalek tokens with menace connect for extra cards anyway, reinforcing the evasive-attacker plan.
- Impact Tremors — Each token and creature entering pings every opponent, helping clear the 3-life bar across the board.
Upgrade Path
Add efficient all-opponent damage and pingers (Pestilence, Pyrohemia, Impact Tremors, Syr Konrad) to guarantee multiple triggers each turn, plus token payoffs like Cathars' Crusade and overrun effects. Improve the mana base with fast lands and rocks (Arcane Signet, Talisman of Indulgence/Dominance) so Davros lands turn three, and include protection like Lightning Greaves to keep him online. For higher power, lean into aristocrat combos (Blood Artist plus reliable sacrifice and recursion) to convert your Dalek tokens into a deterministic drain kill.
Core Cards
- Sunken Hollow
- Creeping Tar Pit
- Darkwater Catacombs
- Ensnared by the Mara
- Solemn Simulacrum
- The Beast, Deathless Prince
- The Rani
- Crumbling Necropolis
- Vashta Nerada
- Cult of Skaro
- The Sound of Drums
- Dragonskull Summit
Seeded from a single deck — rates appear once more public decks exist.
Win Conditions
- ▸Overwhelming with a wide board of menace Dalek tokens plus an Overrun-style finisher
- ▸Aristocrat drain loops (Blood Artist effects) draining the whole table out
- ▸Incremental burn and pinger damage closing out games while Davros refills your hand
- ▸Evasive Dalek tokens grinding opponents down through menace
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Drain effects like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat trigger Davros on every opponent while you sacrifice the Dalek tokens.
- Tokens / Go-Wide — Davros manufactures evasive 3/3s that combine with anthems and overrun effects for lethal swings.
- Group Slug — Symmetrical damage like Pestilence and Pyrohemia pushes every opponent past 3 life loss for maximum tokens and choices.
- Spellslinger / Burn — Cheap burn and pingers chip multiple opponents to fuel the end-step trigger consistently.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BRU), by popularity.
