The Commander
When Denethor enters, scry 2.
, 
, Sacrifice Denethor: Target player becomes the monarch. Denethor deals 3 damage to any target.
Guide
Gameplan
Denethor is a cheap Izzet value commander who scries 2 on each entry and can be sacrificed to crown the monarch (usually yourself) while dealing 3 damage to clear a blocker or ping a player. The deck plays a tempo-control game—cantripping, removing threats, and drawing extra cards off the monarchy—then closes with spells or an evasive threat. Treat Denethor as a recyclable engine you blink or reanimate to repeat scry 2 and the monarch-grab.
Strengths
- Two-mana commander gives early board presence and consistent card filtering via scry 2.
- Monarch generation adds a reliable extra card per turn in a color pair often starved for raw card advantage.
- Built-in 3 damage doubles as cheap removal or finisher reach.
- Lives comfortably in Izzet spellslinger shells that already want cheap, repeatable value.
Weaknesses
- The activated ability is expensive and a one-shot per cast unless you reuse Denethor.
- Self-sacrifice means you re-pay commander tax repeatedly without blink/recursion support.
- Fragile body (typically 2/2-ish) dies to almost any removal before activating.
- RU lacks enchantment/artifact removal and big lifegain, so it struggles against resilient permanents.
- Granting the monarchy can backfire if combat gets out of your control.
Key Cards
- Conjurer's Closet — Repeatedly blinks Denethor for free scry 2 each turn and resets him to dodge removal.
- Ephemerate — Cheap, rebounding blink protects Denethor and retriggers his scry.
- Court of Ire — Stacks with Denethor's monarch ability and rewards staying the monarch with escalating damage.
- Skullclamp — Turns sacrificed or dying creatures into card draw, fueling the value engine.
- Young Pyromancer — Generates bodies to defend the monarchy and feed sacrifice synergies in a spell-heavy build.
- Thousand-Year Storm — Top-end payoff that converts the deck's cheap spells into game-ending value.
Upgrade Path
Lean into reusing Denethor with Conjurer's Closet, Ephemerate, and Eldrazi Displacer-style blink so you never pay commander tax, and add reanimation like Feldon of the Third Path. Tighten the curve with efficient cantrips (Brainstorm, Ponder, Frantic Search) and a couple of compact combos (e.g., Underworld Breach lines or Aetherflux Reservoir). Round out the control suite with strong interaction—Swords to Plowshares isn't in color, so prioritize Counterspell effects, Pongify, Chaos Warp, and sweepers to protect your monarchy.
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
- ▸Out-card the table via sustained monarchy and burn them out with direct damage.
- ▸Assemble a spellslinger payoff like Thousand-Year Storm or Aetherflux Reservoir for a big finish.
- ▸Beat down with evasive tokens or threats while the monarchy fuels your hand.
- ▸Repeated Denethor pings plus burn spells whittle opponents to zero.
Archetypes
- Spellslinger — Denethor's scry smooths draws and his ping rewards a cheap-spell, value-oriented Izzet build.
- Monarch/Pillowfort — His ability hands you the crown for steady card advantage you then defend behind removal and deterrents.
- Blink — Flicker effects re-trigger scry 2 and let you recur the monarch-grab without commander tax.
- Control — Counters, burn, and card filtering let Denethor grind out a long game on extra cards.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (RU), by popularity.
