The Commander
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, Papalymo Totolymo deals 1 damage to each opponent and you gain 1 life.
, 
, Sacrifice Papalymo Totolymo: Each opponent who lost life this turn sacrifices a creature with the greatest power among creatures they control.
Guide
Gameplan
Cast a high density of cheap noncreature spells to drain every opponent for 1 and gain life each time, grinding the table down while you build advantage. Papalymo is a 2-mana engine that turns cantrips, removal, and rituals into incremental damage and life buffer, then his sacrifice ability strips creatures from anyone you've already pinged. You win by chaining spells into a lethal ping count or pairing the drain with damage doublers and storm-style turns.
Strengths
- Costs only 2 mana, so the engine comes online early and rebuilds fast after a wipe
- Hits all opponents at once, making it strong in multiplayer and against go-wide boards
- Built-in lifegain keeps you alive through aggression and fuels lifegain payoffs
- BW gives access to the format's best removal, tutors, and recursion
- Doubles as removal via the sacrifice ability after you've drained opponents
Weaknesses
- Each trigger only deals 1 damage, so it's slow without multipliers or high spell volume
- Reliant on the commander staying in play; it's a magnet for removal at 2 mana
- Sacrifice ability removes him for a one-shot effect and costs 4 plus a tap
- Can run low on gas if you flood out on lands or creatures
- No evasion or protection on the body itself
Key Cards
- Aetherflux Reservoir — Your lifegain triggers fuel a one-shot life-loss kill, and it loves a spell-dense deck.
- Torment of Hailfire — A scalable X drain that closes games once Papalymo has chipped life totals down.
- Sanguine Bond — Turns every Papalymo lifegain trigger into extra opponent life loss, doubling the drain.
- Underworld Breach — Recasts cheap noncreature spells from the graveyard to chain dozens of triggers in one turn.
- Mortician Beetle / Bontu's Monument — Cost reducers and value engines that keep your spell count high and cheap.
- Approach of the Second Sun — A noncreature-spell alternate win that synergizes with your spell-recursion shells.
Upgrade Path
Raise spell density and lower curve—add efficient cantrips, free spells, and rituals so Papalymo triggers multiple times per turn. Add multipliers and drain payoffs (Sanguine Bond, City on Fire, Aetherflux Reservoir) plus recursion like Underworld Breach to convert volume into a kill. Round out with fast mana (Dark Ritual, Jeska's Will), tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor), and protection for the commander to keep the engine online.
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
- ▸Chaining noncreature spells for lethal incremental pings, especially with a damage doubler
- ▸Aetherflux Reservoir burst kill fueled by your lifegain triggers
- ▸Drain payoffs like Sanguine Bond, Torment of Hailfire, or Exquisite Blood loops
- ▸Approach of the Second Sun in a spell-recursion build
Archetypes
- Spellslinger — Every noncreature spell triggers his drain, rewarding decks packed with cantrips, removal, and instants.
- Aristocrats/Drain — His pings plus lifegain pair with Sanguine Bond effects and sac payoffs for incremental kills.
- Storm/Combo — Cheap spell loops with Underworld Breach or rituals convert into mass triggers for a sudden kill.
- Control — BW removal and counters-as-noncreature-spells let you grind while draining the table.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BW), by popularity.
