GrixisLegendary Creature — Vampire Demon NobleLord Xander, the Collector
Mana value7Rank#7,286
The Commander
When Lord Xander enters, target opponent discards half the cards in their hand, rounded down.
Whenever Lord Xander attacks, defending player mills half their library, rounded down.
When Lord Xander dies, target opponent sacrifices half the nonland permanents they control of their choice, rounded down.
Guide
Gameplan
Lord Xander grinds opponents out through forced discard, mill, and sacrifice triggers, each firing at a different point in his life cycle. You want to leverage all three abilities by reanimating, blinking, and sacrificing him repeatedly while controlling the board. The deck wins through attrition and value, often closing with a big swing or a mill-based finisher.
Strengths
- Three powerful disruptive triggers that hit hand, library, and battlefield
- Grixis colors give access to the best removal, card draw, and tutors
- Excellent payoff for reanimation and recursion engines since each cast/death is value
- Strong against control and combo decks by stripping hands and permanents
Weaknesses
- Seven mana for a creature that does nothing the turn it lands unless protected
- Triggers only hit one opponent at a time, slow in a four-player pod
- No evasion or built-in protection, easy to chump or remove before value
- Vulnerable to graveyard hate that shuts down reanimation lines
Key Cards
- Victimize — Sacrifices a creature to reanimate two, triggering Xander's death ability and rebuying him for repeated value.
- Feldon of the Third Path — Makes hasty token copies of Xander that die at end of turn, looping both the attack mill and death sacrifice triggers.
- Reanimate — Cheaply returns Xander or another bomb from the yard, making his high cost irrelevant.
- Sneak Attack — Cheats Xander into play with haste so you immediately get a giant attack mill before he leaves.
- Phyrexian Reclamation — Repeatedly returns Xander to hand to recast the discard trigger or fuel sacrifice loops.
- Bloodchief Ascension — Turns Xander's mill into massive incremental life loss, converting the attack trigger into a real clock.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana like Mana Crypt, Dark Ritual, and Jeska's Will to deploy Xander ahead of curve, plus reanimation tutors like Entomb and Buried Alive to set up cheap returns. Include blink and flicker effects such as Conjurer's Closet or sacrifice loops with Feldon to re-fire triggers every turn. Finally, tighten removal and counterspells to protect Xander and reach a more competitive control-attrition shell.
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
- ▸Grinding opponents out via repeated discard and forced sacrifices until they have no resources
- ▸Milling players out with repeated attacks plus mill-amplifying enchantments
- ▸Reanimating a large evasive threat alongside Xander for a lethal swing
- ▸Combat damage from Xander once opponents are stripped of blockers
Archetypes
- Reanimator — Each entry, death, and recast of Xander generates disruption, rewarding cheap reanimation spells.
- Control — Discard, mill, and sacrifice triggers let you dismantle opponents while sitting behind Grixis removal.
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice outlets exploit Xander's death trigger and let you reuse it with recursion.
- Mill — The attack trigger mills half a library, supporting a dedicated mill or self-mill reanimation shell.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BRU), by popularity.
