Liesa, Shroud of Dusk - Combo Midrange
Table of Contents
A Short Introduction
Let Me introduce Myself!
Let me introduce myself briefly before I dive into everything Liesa! My name is Tim/BlackbirdPlaysMTG and I am a Dutch Magic: The Gathering player. I have been playing MTG off and on since Onslaught (2002). Like many people casual kitchen-table magic was the first thing I played. When I moved to a new city to attend university I made the decision to start playing Standard in the local LGS and I really enjoy it - I dip my toes into all kinds of decks and strategies depending on the format. Now that Pioneer is a thing I have a deck for that too (Azorius Spirits). It took me a few years, but the 2015 "Swell the Host" precon (helmed by Ezuri, Claw of Progress) was my first foray into the wonderful world of multiplayer magic. Initially, I was not sure whether EDH would be compatible with my competitive mindset and I was not used to build decks to be used in a multiplayer setting. Turns out EDH and me are quite compatible! It is a lot of fun to play with friends or drop into a pod to play with new people. Deckbuilding and upgrading existing decks is something I really enjoy too. Putting together a functioning list around a theme or commander is great fun. I feel most comfortable in EDH when it comes to green-based strategies - but I have been diversifying as of lately. I am always brewing up and testing out new stuff - you can find my experiments on my Archidekt page and some of my currently played decks in my forum signature.Commander Analysis/Alternate Commanders
Why Play Liesa, Shroud of Dusk?
What makes playing Liesa attractive to me is the fact that she is just a really solid and efficient creature. Add some cool art, an interesting name and the ever-popular Angel tag to it, and you have a legendary with a lot of EDH-potential. People seem to like her as an option - she was released in the November 2020 Commander Legends set and she is currently the 2nd-most popular Orzhov commander leading 9084 decklists on EDHREC at the time of editing.She fills a gap in the Orzhov selection of feasible commanders: she is a great proactive beatstick that does not need much work! A five mana 5/5 flier with lifelink is a pretty good deal already. Add to that a potent tax-y ability, and your opponent's life points will start dropping pretty quickly. The deal becomes even sweeter because she evades commander tax at the expensive of some life points, which means that if she gets killed you can bring her back pretty easily. Paying her lifedrain tax yourself is not the end of the world as we can easily break parity on that. Liesa herself gains you a bunch of life back every time she connects and there are other ways in the deck to gain your life back.
Because Liesa is relatively open-ended you can build a deck with her in several different ways, which probably adds to her popularity. You could go for a midrange build were she functions as a threat and damage-dealer, but you can also build her as a punisher, lifegain, tribal or even voltron deck. You can also build an effective version of Liesa on a budget; I will provide one such decklist in the Budget section.
Deck Philosophy
Current Decklist
Budget Decklist
Coming soon!
Commander
Deck Strategy
Coming soon!
Sol Ring
Arcane Signet
Cartographer's Hawk
Fellwar Stone
Mind Stone
Orzhov Signet
Talisman of Hierarchy
Other strong keeps:
Demonic Tutor
Enlightened Tutor
Land Tax
Serra Ascendant
Vampiric Tutor
Weathered Wayfarer
Solid keeps:
Authority of the Consuls
Blind Obedience
Archon of Emeria
Phyrexian Arena
Rule of Law
Card Choice Discussion (Update Needed)
Coming soon!
- Alms Collector - A filthy simic player wants to draw a bazillion cards? This guy got you covered. Can be flashed in or played on curve.
- Angel of Finality - Can make the graveyard player cry and swing through the air.
- Archon of Emeria - A new card from Commander Legends. New Thalia and Rule of Law combined, and an evasive body to top it off, Makes our opponents play fair white-style magic.
- Aven Mindcensor - Great disruption in a meta with many fetches and tutors.
- Baneslayer Angel - A five mana 5/5 with flying and lifelink. Great efficient threat that can swing alongside our commander.
- Cartographer's Hawk - Quickly becoming a pet card of mine. It is like a recurrable but slow Rampant Growth.
- Divinity of Pride - Generally, this will be a five mana 8/8 flying lifelink. Great addition to our suite of beaters.
- Gonti, Lord of Luxury - For four mana you get to pick a card from your opponents deck. This is a type of card I really enjoy playing in EDH, as it adds an element of surprise and creates interesting situations. The 2/3 deathtouch body is good for keeping aggression at bay. Great midrange card.
- Grave Titan - Grave Titan is an efficient beater that creates his own army. He comes together with a pair of zombies, and everytime he swings you get another pair. Liesa likes efficient beaters.
- Kambal, Consul of Allocation - His ability is very similar to Liesa's, but only triggers on (your opponents) noncreature spells. It comes with lifegain as well. He can do quite a bit of damage by himself and when paired with Liesa damage adds up very quickly.
- Keeper of the Accord - Another new card. This card allows white-based decks to keep up with green's ramping shenanigans. It also provides some chumpers every now and then. Be mindful that Keeper triggers on every opponents end step!
- Kunoros, Hound of Athreos - A 3/3 menace vigilane lifelink with some stax-y abilities stapled on it. Great card.
- Lyra Dawnbringer - Baneslayer Angel #2 that also buffs your commander by +1/+1. Great beater.
- Mother of Runes - Mother of Runes can protect your commander or key creatures. Sure, Liesa can always be cast for five, but keeping her on the battlefield is even better.
- Seraph of the Scales - A solid on curve beater. For four mana you can swing for four every turn. She also comes with potential vigilance/deathtouch, which can deter opponents from attacking you.
- Serra Ascendant - A one mana 6/6 flying lifelink? Perfect fit for this deck... and cheesy.
- Sun Titan - Good old Sun Titan is an efficient beater/blocker that can recur a lot of the creatures and permanents that this deck plays.
- Verge Rangers - Verge Ranges helps us out by drawing lands of the top straight into play.
- Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose - This card presents a lot of damage paired with our lifelink beaters. With his activated ability you can also give beaters like the pair of Titans lifelink to bring the pain.
- Vizkopa Guildmage - Vizkopa Guildmage is similar to Vito, but damages every opponent. It will cost you three mana though. It can also provide creatures with lifelink. Great mana sink.
- Weathered Wayfarer - Weathered Wayfarer can help find the utility lands and make sure we hit our land drops by drawing them out of the deck.
- Austere Command - A somewhat expensive wipe, but it is versatile and potentially asymetrical.
- Demonic Tutor - Excellent tutor that does not really need an introduction. Pay and tutor anything to your hand.
- Dismantling Wave - A great card early that can set your opponents back when you remove their precious mana rocks. Later on, you can target powerful engines or even pay eight and blow all artifacts and enchantments to bits.
- Grim Tutor - Slightly less cost-efficient than Demonic Tutor, but still a really great tutor.
- Night's Whisper - Sometimes all you need is a card that says pay two, draw two. Can easily be woven into your curve.
- Read the Bones - Card advantage and selection for three mana. Just a very solid card.
- Sevinne's Reclamation - We are running quite a few creatures and enchantments that cost three or less. I am not going deep when it comes to recursion in this list, but this is an efficient option that I could not pass on.
- Toxic Deluge - Efficiently-costed boardwipe. Can also get rid of those annoying Ulamogs and Blightsteels that can potentially ruin your day.
- Akroma's Will - New card from Commander Legends. Seems like a flexible option that can protect your board or act as a finishing-type card. You do need to keep four mana open, so I am curious how it will perform.
- Anguished Unmaking - Three mana exile anything. Seems good.
- Despark - Low-costed removal that could potentially get rid of a lot off scary stuff. A bit meta dependent though.
- Enlightened Tutor - Good white tutor. Can get you a sol ring early to get Liesa out there, or get something like Greed later in the game to refuel your hand.
- Generous Gift - Three mana destroy anything is good. Giving your opponent a 3/3 elephant is not the end of the world.
- Heliod's Intervention - Scaleable artifact and enchantment removal that is decently costed. The second mode combos with Vizkopa Guildmage and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose.
- Kaya's Guile - You will probably mainly use the first two modes, but it can also create a chump blocker in an instant. Getting rid of three creatures for three is really good, especially if one of them happens to be a commander.
- Oblation - Oblation is a card I personally really like. It can get rid of something problematic without creating a death trigger or it could be used to draw some cards yourself in a pinch.
- Swords to Plowshares - Solid removal. It does gain someone a bit of life back, but that should not matter in the grand scheme of things. I probably should run its cousin Path to Exile as well.
- Teferi's Protection - This card is bonkers. Save your own team/permanents by cheesing yourself out of a wipe, cheat yourself out of losing to a game winning combo/swing, etc...
- Aura of Silence - Strong stax piece. Basically affects all your opponents since everyone plays artifacts (and enchantments). It can also function as removal and in response to it being removed you can still target something.
- Authority of the Consuls - Slows down our opponents and the amount of blockers they have.
- Blind Obedience - Like Authority, blocking becomes a bit harder for our opponents. It also slows down opponents who rely on artifact ramp and comes with a neat extort ability to get in a few points of extra damage.
- Bloodchief Ascension - Cheap, mean card in Liesa. Online in no time.
- Court of Ambition - I really like monarch cards. They invite players to be a bit more aggressive, which is a good thing for this deck. Court of Ambition is great because it comes with a strong damaging effect.
- Court of Grace - The white court is probably a bit weaker in this deck than the black one, but it creates its own creatures to take back the crown again. Potentially making a 4/4 beater every turn is good.
- Cradle of Vitality - This card his been in my collection for so long and I really liked the design. It plays nicely with all the lifelink beaters and the occassional lifegain effects in this deck.
- Dawn of Hope - Paired with lifegain/lifelink you can pay and draw a card. Not great, not terrible. It also comes with the abilty to create a 1/1 lifelink token for which can then trigger its primary ability.
- Greed[/card] - You pay up front, and then just for every card you draw! The lifeloss not as detrimental for this deck, since you often gain a bunch too. Try to make sure that you can draw some cards when you play this card. Paying four only to see it being removed feels bad.
- Land Tax - A crown jewel in EDH suite of white. Get all the plains!
- Light of Promise - Light of promise fulfills a role very similar to Cradle of Vitality. Grow a creature really quickly. It can also be recurred by Sun Titan and Sevinne's Reclamation, which is nice.
- Painful Quandary - Dealing five damage to an opponent is just nasty, as is them discarding a card.
- Phyrexian Arena - Just a solid and cheap source of card advantage. Pay three once and reap the benefits. It is a bit slow, but the cards will add up quickly. After two cards the deal is decent and it becomes really good after that.
- Phyrexian Reclamation - Do NOT play this card on turn one without any targets. You want to use it to get at least one creature back to your hand when you play it.
- Rule of Law - Many decks in my meta like to play multiple cards a turn and kinda disregard the combat phase. This deck has some mana sinks and likes to get in there for combat damage. Everyone suddenly pays fair, but you get to do just a little bit more.
- Sunbond - A Light of Promise that costs more.
- Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Mind Stone, Orzhov Signet & Talisman of Hierarchy - Great two-mana rocks. Get out our commander or our great selection of four mana cards a turn earlier.
- Blackblade Reforged - This card turns our commander into a two-turn clock.
- Sensei's Divining Top - Not sure if I run enough shuffle effects... probably not.
- Sol Ring - Sol Ring is king.
- Well of Lost Dreams - This card can draw us a LOT of cards. Play it on turn four, curve into Liesa and draw many cards in the following turn or play it save and wait until you can activate a few times in the same turn you play it.
- Bojuka Bog - The only tapped land I play in this list. The effect is just really strong and really put some brakes on certain decks in my meta.
- Shizo, Death's Storehouse - Great card that can give Liesa more evasion when she needs it. Does not enter tapped and gives access to black.
- Vault of the Archangel - Vault can be used as a sink to gain some extra life, or defensively. Have some creatures and mana open as blockers, and nobody will send their big boys your way.
- Volrath's Stronghold - Your efficient beaters can die, but Volrath's Stronghold makes sure that they will soon be bashing your opponents' faces in again.
Credit & Thanks
Primer History
Dear Diary,
December 5th, 2020
Liesa, Shroud of Dusk was spoiled in the new Commander Legends set that was released on November 20th 2020. The amount of solitaire decks I have been playing in the past made me a bit worn-out on Magic. You keep playing the same combo lines over and over, especially if your meta is not all that interactive and you can just cast whatever. A good opportunity to change my approach to Magic! Liesa seems like a great commander for me. She gives me the opportunity to play black (which I have never played before) and white (which I like almost as much as green).
February 23rd, 2021
Well, I did it. I sold off almost my entire collection and the EDH decks that I still owned over the past two weeks. Wasn't sure if this was the right decision, but now it feels like it is. I have been goldfishing and playing Liesa over Cockatrice in the past few weeks and ordered the decklist that I am currently running. I even have enough cash left from the sales to buy new cards for testing. The first few packages came in today and I hope that I will have all the cards by the end of next week!
March 14th, 2024
I am currently cleaning up the Liesa thread and updating the decklist. I have been taking the deck into a different direction for a while now. I put the old decklist in a spoiler for the people curious what my starting point was, but the deck has evolved significantly.
Changelog
The Changes:
- Dawn of Hope: Not efficient enough, Orzhov can do better in terms of card draw.
- Grave Titan: Titan is big and efficient, but Archangel of Thune is more on theme and probably stronger in this deck.
- Blackblade Reforged: I do not think that Liesa needs damage-increasing equipment on top of Light of Promise and Sunbond. The plan is dealing damage, but not necessarily voltronning with Liesa.
- Plains (2x): Removed some basics for quality lands.
- Swamp (x3): Removed some basics for quality lands.
+ Archangel of Thune: A strong threat that works well in tandem with Liesa/other lifelinkers and incidental lifegain. Thematical bonus points for Archangel being an angel.
+ Wound Reflection: Great finisher! Synergises with my commander, other beaters and cards like Bloodchief Ascension.
+ Lightning Greaves: Flexible piece of equipment that can give my commander, beaters or utility creatures haste, or let them get into the red zone for combat damage directly.
+ Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt: Can be played as a land that generates black (lifeloss is not that relevant) and can be used in the lategame to get some creatures back from the graveyard for another round.
+ Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave: Can be played as a land that generates white (lifeloss is not that relevant) and can be used in the lategame to generate two evasive beaters.
+ City of Brass: Access to both black and white seems good.
+ Mana Confluence: See the above.
+ War Room: I do not want to play too many lands that cannot generate colours, but this can be fetched by Weathered Wayfarer and provide me with some extra draw later in the game.
The Changes:
- Alms Collector: Was not too relevant during the games I played. If you play in a meta with a lot of burst draw, this card is really good at shutting your opponents off.
- Grim Tutor: Just a little bit too inefficient. Took it out and added the leaner option Vampiric Tutor.
- Sunbond: Solid card during the games I played it, but I think playing a single copy in Light of Promise should be good enough.
- Swamp: Swapped a Swamp for a Plains.
- Teferi's Protection: Teferi's Protection is good, but I feel that I would rather play a free Flawless Maneuver. I also value the power of Akroma's Will more.
- Verge Rangers: Someone said it was basically 'bad draw' in my deck. Currently I do not have many ways to refresh the top of my deck, so the amount of lands that I will be able to play from the top is limited.
+ Angelic Field Marshal Basically a four mana 5/5 flier that gives the team vigilance to avoid counterattacks. Should be efficient enough as a beater.
+ Bloodgift Demon: A nice 5/3 flying beater with a Phyrexian Arena stapled onto it, let's give it a try.
+ Eradicator Valkyrie A lean 4/3 lifelink vigilance beater with a slow but powerful removal option stapled on it.
+ Flawless Maneuver: This card protects the most relevant card type of my deck (creatures) for free. Free things are always good right?
+ Plains: Swapped a Swamp for a plain.
+ Vampiric Tutor: Great instant tutor for a single black.
The Changes:
- Cartographer's Hawk: Cute little hawk made place for a two mana rock. Might find his way back in?
- Eradicator Valkyrie: Not too impactful I feel.
- Gonti, Lord of Luxury: Does not really contribute to the overal gameplan. Was included as filler.
- Keeper of the Accord: Does not really ramp towards many cards. I'd rather run a bunch of extra two-mana rocks.
- Kunoros, Hound of Athreos: Hmmm.... I have not played against many graveyard based strategies so far. The body is not too impactful. Out for now.
- Seraph of the Scales: Flavourful angel, but does not really contribute much.
+ Charcoal Diamond: Including some extra ramp to get to my top end quicker and more consistently.
+ Coldsteel Heart: Including some extra ramp to get to my top end quicker and more consistently.
+ Marble Diamond: Including some extra ramp to get to my top end quicker and more consistently.
+ Rune-Scarred Demon: Tutor and beatstick to top off the curve together with Vilis.
+ Swiftfoot Boots: Already included the Lightning Greaves. I think the Boots are worth including too.
+ Vilis, Broker of Blood: Synergises nicely with Liesa's ability. Come swith a hefty mana cost though. Let's test it out.
This decklist has been altered dramatically and is now being taken into a different direction, so I decided to put up a new decklist. The main reason for this change of heart is that I wanted to make the deck more powerful, impactful and interactive. Old decklist/starting point can still be found below the main decklist for those who are curious what the first iteration looked like.
*****Credit for this Primer Template belongs to all members of the Primer Committee*****