Dance of the Grand Duke [EDH]

[Oversoul]

I wasn't really interested in the whole "Background" mechanic. But Abdel caught my eye and the temptation to loop Dance of the Dead with this commander is too great.

Commander:
1 Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward
1 Scion of Halaster

1 Ancient Tomb
1 Angel of Despair
1 Animate Dead
1 Archaeomancer's Map
1 Archon of Cruelty
1 Argivian Find
1 Arid Mesa
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Boreas Charger
1 Burglar Rat
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Damn
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Dark Petition
1 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demon's Disciple
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Elderfang Disciple
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Ephemerate
1 False Prophet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Flooded Strand
1 Generous Gift
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Grave Titan
1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Jeweled Lotus
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Karmic Guide
1 Lake of the Dead
1 Land Tax
1 Mana Vault
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mind Stone
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Monk Idealist
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Opal
1 Necromancy
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Tower
5 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reanimate
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scrubland
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Sevinne's Reclamation
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1 Sling-Gang Lieutenant
4 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Solitude
1 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Strip Mine
1 Sun Titan
4 Swamp
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Thought Vessel
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Triskelion
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Venser's Journal
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Victimize
1 Vindicate
1 Virus Beetle
1 Wasteland
1 Winds of Abandon
1 Windswept Heath

 

[Oversoul]

Got stuck in the first game and just wasn't drawing anything I could actually use, despite getting both my commander and my background onto the battlefield. Eventually, I was able to try to set up a combo, but one of my opponents was holding onto like four counterspells or something by that point, so it wasn't happening. I died to a Craterhoof Behemoth, then the control player and the player with all the elves went back and forth for a long time while the other two of us sat around. Eventually, two more players showed up and we set up a new table. Second game went much better. There was some fighting back and forth on all sides, and Conjurer's Closet kept Abdel popping in and out of existence, which in turn kept doing the same for Archon of Cruelty. At least two of my opponents were poised to win on their next turns when I used Vampiric Tutor to fetch Dance of the Dead. I sacrificed Abdel Adrian to Phyrexian Tower and killed them all by looping Archon of Cruelty.

 

[Oversoul]

Had an easy win with this one when I topdecked Necromancy right after an opponent used Wrath of God. I'm really starting to respect Sling-Gang Lieutenant, which was originally just thrown in as an afterthought because I had one left over from a scrapped Canadian Highlander deck.

 

[Oversoul]

Had a couple more easy wins with this deck. I think I'll take it apart soon, not because I don't like it, but because it's succeeded enough that I can comfortably retire it and incorporate some of the parts into a new deck.