RakdosLegendary Creature — God // Legendary Planeswalker — TibaltValki, God of Lies // Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor
Mana value2Rank#5,796
The Commander
When Valki enters, each opponent reveals their hand. For each opponent, exile a creature card they revealed this way until Valki leaves the battlefield.
: Choose a creature card exiled with Valki with mana value X. Valki becomes a copy of that card.
As Tibalt enters, you get an emblem with "You may play cards exiled with Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast those spells."
+2: Exile the top card of each player's library.
−3: Exile target artifact or creature.
−8: Exile all graveyards. Add .
Guide
Gameplan
Cast Valki early as a disruptive 2-drop that strips opponents' creatures, then ramp hard into the seven-mana back half, Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, who grinds the board into oblivion while you play off the top of everyone's library. You win by accumulating overwhelming card advantage and resource denial, eventually closing with Tibalt's loyalty pressure or a big payoff cast from exile.
Strengths
- Two-for-one flexibility: a cheap creature that doubles as a backbreaking planeswalker bomb
- Tibalt's ultimate exiles all graveyards, hosing reanimator and aristocrats decks
- +2 generates relentless card advantage by playing off the top of every library
- -3 is repeatable spot removal that exiles, dodging recursion
- Hard to deal with permanently—both halves demand separate answers
Weaknesses
- Tibalt costs seven mana and is slow without heavy ramp
- Valki's body is fragile and the exile is undone if he leaves the battlefield
- No protection built in—both halves are easily removed before they generate value
- Color identity locks you out of green ramp and blue interaction
- Top-deck play from +2 can be inconsistent and unpredictable
Key Cards
- Cabal Coffers — Big mana engine to power out Tibalt's seven-mana side ahead of schedule.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx — Explosive ramp that can dump out the planeswalker half early.
- Dockside Extortionist — Generates a burst of Treasure to leap from Valki to Tibalt in a turn.
- The Chain Veil — Lets Tibalt activate loyalty multiple times, snowballing card advantage and removal.
- Deflecting Palm — Cheap protection-style interaction that fits the punishing, controlling shell.
- Bolas's Citadel — Synergizes with playing cards off the top, accelerating your engine like Tibalt's +2.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and ramp—Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist, and the Coffers/Nykthos package—to cheat Tibalt out turns ahead of curve. Include The Chain Veil and proliferate effects to chain loyalty activations, plus tutors like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor for consistency. Round out with strong BR interaction and a few high-impact bombs to play off Tibalt's emblem.
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
- ▸Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor grinding loyalty and removing all opposing permanents until you stabilize and attack
- ▸Card advantage from playing off the top eventually overwhelming opponents
- ▸Big bombs cast from exile via Tibalt's emblem
- ▸Generic powerful BR finishers like Torgaar or a reanimated threat
Archetypes
- Control — Tibalt's -3 and +2 let you grind the board and bury opponents in resource denial.
- Stax — Exiling cards, creatures, and graveyards taxes opponents' ability to develop.
- Big Mana Ramp — The deck wants to accelerate from Valki into the seven-mana Tibalt as fast as possible.
- Reanimator Hate / Midrange — Tibalt's graveyard exile and exile-based removal punish recursion strategies.
Combos
- Valki, God of Lies // Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor + Crackdown Construct
→ Infinitely large creature until end of turn
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BR), by popularity.
