The Commander
Whenever a permanent an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Sarulf.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Sarulf has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, you may remove all of them. If you do, exile each other nonland permanent with mana value less than or equal to the number of counters removed this way.
Guide
Gameplan
Sarulf grows off opponents' permanents dying, then converts those counters into a one-sided board wipe by exiling every other nonland permanent with mana value at or below the counters removed. You play attrition and sacrifice/forced-death effects to feed counters, protect Sarulf, and detonate him at the perfect moment to clear the table while keeping your low-cost engine intact.
Strengths
- Repeatable asymmetric removal that exiles, dodging indestructible and graveyard recursion
- Cheap, recursive commander that punishes go-wide and creature-heavy boards
- Synergizes naturally with edicts, group slug, and aristocrats already in BG
- Counters keep accruing every turn, so the threat of activation pressures opponents
Weaknesses
- The wipe also hits your own nonland permanents, so you must build cheap or play around it
- Slow to come online without proactive removal to seed counters
- Needs counters generated before your upkeep; nothing dies, nothing grows
- Vulnerable to spot removal, and recasting resets his counters to zero
- High-MV control decks and lands-matter strategies can play above the exile threshold
Key Cards
- Grave Pact — Forces sacrifices on every creature death, snowballing Sarulf's counters fast.
- Dictate of Erebos — Another edict engine that turns one death into a wave of opposing sacrifices and counters.
- Pernicious Deed — Mass destruction of opponents' permanents loads Sarulf with counters in a single activation.
- Liliana, Dreadhorde General — Repeatable edicts and tokens feed counters while building your own board.
- Cabal Coffers — Big mana fuels X-spells and reanimation to keep your engine ahead of the wipes.
- Skullclamp — Turns your dying tokens into card advantage while triggering aristocrat synergies.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet) and more recursive edicts to seed counters earlier, and lean into cheap-MV permanents so your own board survives the exile. Tutors like Demonic Tutor and Diabolic Intent find Grave Pact effects or Pernicious Deed on demand, while reanimation (Reanimate, Animate Dead) rebuilds after activations. Top end can include Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Bolas's Citadel for inevitability once the board is cleared.
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
- ▸Repeated one-sided Sarulf activations strip every opponent's board, then grind them out
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist / Zulaport Cutthroat as permanents die
- ▸Beat down with an oversized Sarulf after wiping blockers
- ▸X-spell or big-mana finishers like Torment of Hailfire after the table is empty
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice and forced-death effects both kill opposing permanents and fuel Sarulf's counters.
- Stax/Attrition — Edicts and resource denial grind opponents out while Sarulf converts the carnage into exiles.
- Control — Sarulf acts as a recurring board-wipe engine that resets the game on your terms.
- Group Slug — Symmetric damage and forced sacrifices punish the table and stack counters.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BG), by popularity.
