RakdosLegendary Creature — Avatar DemonThe Balrog, Durin's Bane
Mana value7Rank#6,361
The Commander
This spell costs 
less to cast for each permanent sacrificed this turn.
Haste
The Balrog can't be blocked except by legendary creatures.
When The Balrog dies, destroy target artifact or creature an opponent controls.
Guide
Gameplan
Empty the board of permanents to slam The Balrog cheaply, then beat down with a near-unblockable 7/7 haste threat. You leverage the sacrifice cost reduction with treasures, tokens, and aristocrat fodder so you can cast it on turn 4-5 and recast it after it trades, picking off a key artifact or creature each death.
Strengths
- Hard to block since only legendary creatures can stop it, making it reliable Voltron/commander damage
- Cost reduction lets you deploy a haste 7/7 absurdly early off sacrifice fodder
- Death trigger gives free removal every time it dies, rewarding repeated recasting
- Synergizes naturally with treasures, tokens, and aristocrat sacrifice engines
Weaknesses
- High base mana value (7) makes it dead in hand without sac fodder available
- Vulnerable to exile, bounce, and -X/-X effects that dodge the death trigger
- Rising commander tax punishes a sacrifice-and-recast plan over long games
- No evasion against legendary-heavy tables and no built-in card advantage
- Sacrificing your own board can leave you behind if The Balrog gets answered
Key Cards
- Pitiless Plunderer — Turns every sacrificed creature into a Treasure, fueling both Balrog's cost reduction and recasts.
- Mayhem Devil — Pings opponents for each permanent you sacrifice to cheapen The Balrog.
- Goldspan Dragon — Treasures become double mana and are themselves sac fodder for the cost reduction.
- Ashnod's Altar — Free sacrifice outlet that converts your board into mana and cost reduction simultaneously.
- Embercleave — Cheap on a wide board and turns the unblockable Balrog into a one-shot Voltron kill.
- Fervor — Redundant haste so any recast Balrog can immediately attack again.
Upgrade Path
Lean into cheap, recursive token and treasure producers (Ophiomancer, Tireless Provisioner, Mishra's Bauble engines) so you always have sac fodder to deploy and redeploy the Balrog. Add resilience with protection like Lightning Greaves and ways to dodge the rising tax such as Sword of Hearth and Home or commander-cheating effects, and tighten the curve so you reliably hit a turn-3 to turn-4 Balrog.
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 unblockable commander-damage swings, often boosted by Embercleave or equipment
- ▸Aristocrat drain via Mayhem Devil, Blood Artist, and Zulaport Cutthroat off mass sacrifices
- ▸Grinding opponents out with repeated death-trigger removal while beating down
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice fodder both reduces Balrog's cost and feeds death-payoff engines for value and damage.
- Voltron — The near-unblockable body wants equipment and pump to close games via commander damage.
- Sacrifice/Tokens — Token generators provide cheap permanents to fling for cost reduction every turn.
- Treasures — Treasure tokens double as ramp and disposable sacrifice fodder to slam the Balrog early.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BR), by popularity.
