MTG Commander Deck Of The Week: Disa The Restless

The Graveyard Overdrive preconstructed deck from Modern Horizons 3 Commander really epitomizes the “Jund ’em out” philosophy of grinding value and using the graveyard. But what appealed to me the most about a Commander deck helmed by Disa the Restless was to lean harder into the Lhurgoyf synergies. I still remember cracking the original Lhurgoyf from an Ice Age pack so many years ago. Disa the Restless showed up in a bunch of flavor text from Ice Age cards too, such as Giant Trap Door Spider and Anarchy, so there’s all sorts of nostalgia to go around!

While Lhurgoyf and subsequent spins on the card in the early days focused on one particular card type in graveyards to increase their power and toughness, when Tarmogoyf came along, it cared about different card types in graveyards to boost its size. Tournament decks that took advantage of Tarmogoyf’s cheap cost and potentially huge size diversified the card types in those decks to leverage that power, and since Disa the Restless actually makes Tarmogoyf tokens, I decided to build a Disa deck from the ground up by diversifying my card types to maximize the chances of super-sizing Tarmogoyf and its more recent kin that similarly care about card types.

Let’s dig in!

Lhurgoyfs

First, I wanted to include a fair number of actual Lhurgoyf creatures to take advantage of Disa’s first ability to reanimate a Lhurgoyf permanent put into the graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield. I sold my original playset of Tarmogoyfs years ago, but thanks to reprints, the price has come way down, and I recently snagged one to put in the deck, to act as a leader for the token versions. I particularly love the newest Lhurgoyfs from the Graveyard Overdrive deck, especially the incredible Pyrogoyf! This firebrand can actually be a game finisher if enough Lhurgoyfs of sufficient size hit the battlefield, sending damage at opponents’ life totals.

It’s also incredible that we’ve got Altar of the Goyf and the new Tarmogoyf Nest that are noncreature Tarmogoyf permanents that also have the kindred card type, so each will check off two types from the list of possible types if they end up in the graveyard.

I might end up running a few more Shapeshifters with changeling if I feel like my count of actual Lhurgoyfs is low, but I imagine the Tarmogoyf tokens from Disa will help on that front.

Put Lhurgoyf into Graveyard from Other Zones

Disa’s first ability is really cool and makes a card like Buried Alive totally busted. Three mana, search your library for Pyrogoyf, Mortivore, and Graveshifter and put them in the graveyard, and boom: Disa puts all three onto the battlefield! Entomb can do just one Lhurgoyf permanent at instant speed, and it’s not limited to creatures, so it’s a way to tutor Tarmogoyf Nest or Altar of the Goyf directly onto the battlefield. Gravebreaker Lamia is an Entomb effect on a creature, and since it’s also an enchantment, it covers two card types in the graveyard for Tarmogoyf and friends.

Disa also lets you reanimate Lhurgoyf permanents if you discard it, so I’m running Faithless Looting and Chainer, Nightmare Adept for more reanimation shenanigans!

Multiple Card Types

Cards that cover two different card types are excellent for boosting Tarmogoyfs, so I’m running a fair number of them. Bow of Nylea is particularly nice since it gives your attacking creatures deathtouch, making your opponents less likely to want to block with good creatures and increasing the likelihood of Disa’s combat damage trigger netting you a Tarmogoyf token. Note that Disa’s trigger will give you that token for each opponent you deal damage to, so make sure you spread the combat love when you can.

I love the new Trickster’s Elk as a sweet way to neutralize a problem creature that might otherwise be resistant to normal removal. And the new Exterminator Magmarch is a sweet artifact creature that takes all those “Jund ’em out” removal cards and expands their reach for a multiplayer format.

Creatures

I’ve had one old, battered copy of Hermit Druid in my collection forever and this is the first time I’ve added it to a Commander deck, because it’s perfect! I’m running a good number of basic lands, so this isn’t a way to dump my entire library in the graveyard, but a small mill each activation will increase the different card types in my own graveyard and will occasionally let Disa reanimate some hapless Lhurgoyf that landed in the bin. It’s great as a way to restock the graveyard after losing mine to a Bojuka Bog or similar effect.

Sakura-Tribe Elder and Yavimaya Elder are nice value creatures that put themselves into the graveyard, while Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar can put other creatures into the graveyard and draw some extra cards.

Artifacts

I leaned in for cheap artifacts that go to the graveyard easily to check off that card type from the list.

Enchantments

Conspiracy has been on the sidelines in recent years due to Maskwood Nexus being cheaper, easier to cast, and handling most of what you’d want from Conspiracy. Except here, we’d love to have all creatures be Lhurgoyfs, so if you activate Hermit Druid any creature that gets milled will get yoinked out of the graveyard to the battlefield with Disa! And if creatures are returning to the battlefield from the graveyard, Insidious Roots makes sense. Garruk’s Uprising is a nice card-drawing engine when you regularly make big enough creatures, and that trample ability can be clutch when all your Tarmogoyf tokens get big enough.

Rhythm of the Wild is mostly here for haste and the ability to stick it to counterspells, but occasionally that +1/+1 counter can come in handy when you need a creature to just be a little bit bigger.

Instants

Grapple with the Past and Gristly Salvage are nice early ways to fill the graveyard for value while checking instants off the type list, with Smuggler’s Surprise an awesome way to use extra mana in the later stages of the game. And I simply love the flexibility in a card like Collective Resistance!

Sorceries

Rampant Growth, Nature’s Lore, and Three Visits are superb early plays to fix colors, ramp, and get a sorcery in the graveyard. Painful Truths is a fantastic card draw spell in any black deck with three or more colors, and Overwhelming Stampede is here to finish a game that has dragged on too long.

Planeswalkers

I don’t tend to play many planeswalkers in Commander because they become the target of attacks and removal early and often, but in this deck, if they fall, that’s just another type I can check off the list. I picked this mix of planeswalkers since they provide utility right away, so even if they don’t last long, I’m still getting value.

Kindred Spells

I wanted to put one other kindred card in the deck besides Tarmogoyf Nest and Altar of the Goyf, and settled on Veteran’s Armaments; even though I don’t really have Soldiers in the deck, the equip cost is still reasonable, and the effect plays well with the goal of attacking with creatures. If I pick up a Kozilek’s Command, I might swap that in and tweak my manabase to better support the colorless requirement.

Lands to the Graveyard

I don’t generally play the traditional fetchlands such as Verdant Catacombs much in Commander, but there are still plenty of other lands that can easily end up in the graveyard. I love the new cycle of lands like Twisted Landscape and will be jamming those in all the decks I can!

Battles

To potentially check off all nine card types, I’ve included a handful of battles too!  I’ve played a ton of Invasion of Zendikar on MTG Arena, but the other battles haven’t received much love at my Commander tables, so I’m looking forward to giving them a whirl! The one downside of them is that dealing damage to them is a bit of a non-bo with Disa wanting my creatures to deal damage to my opponents, but it’s still worth running. Invasion of Shandalar is actually quite nice with all the self-mill I have going on. And the back side of Invasion of Fiora – Marchesa, Resolute Monarch – is awesome because removing all counters from a permanent is surprisingly useful in Commander.

The Deck

Okay, here’s the full decklist!

Here are the deck stats from our friends at Archidekt:

So, what other cards would you run in a Disa the Restless deck?  Are there any other Lhurgoyfs you think are must-includes?

Talk to Me

Do me a solid and follow me on Twitter!  I run polls and start conversations about Commander all the time, so get in on the fun!  You can also find my LinkTree on my profile page there with links to all my content.

I’d also love it if you followed my Twitch channel TheCompleteCommander, where I do Commander, Brawl, and sometimes other Magic-related streams when I can.  If you can’t join me live, the videos are available on demand for a few weeks on Twitch, but I also upload them to my YouTube channel.  You can also find the lists for my paper decks over on Archidekt if you want to dig into how I put together my own decks and brews.  

And lastly, I just want to say: let us love each other and stay healthy and happy. 

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