Golgari Legends / Counters | Budget & Non-budget Cleopatra Deck Tech!

Mox Amber | Illustrated by Steven Belledin

Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh | Illustrated by Néstor Ossandón Leal

Hey, nerds! In my last article, I said I was going to release an updated Colossal Dreadmaw article, but in the three weeks since then, I built a new paper deck that I just had to write about: Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh.

She was released in the Assassin's Creed Universes Beyond set, which, as we all know, was the best-selling set of 2024, and unlike my usual deck techs, this deck isn't budget. However, I will be giving budget swaps at the end to bring the cost of the deck down. Without further ado, let's get into it.

+1 / +1 Counters

Cleopatra cares about two things: counters and legendary creatures. Notably, her abilities care about all legendary creatures, not just yours, but for now let's focus on our creatures. There are quite a few Golgari legends that add counters to creatures.

I love Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Fain, the Broker, and Polukranos, Unchained. Rishkar turns creatures into mana dorks, Fain lets us sacrifice and put counters on creatures, two things we want, and Polukranos just enters with six counters, making it a great sacrifice and reanimation target. I also included Emissary Green, Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager, and Varolz, the Scar-Striped.

Emissary Green and Varolz can add a lot of counters for really cheap, while Grakmaw, much like Polukranos, enters with counters, but it also leaves behind a beefy token.

Weird Counters

My two favorite creatures have to be Chevill, Bane of Monsters and Metamorphosis Fanatic. Chevill adds bounty counters to opponents' legendary creatures, allowing us to draw even more cards with Cleopatra's ability, while Metamorphosis Fanatic reanimates a creature and gives it a lifelink counter. I also added Vraska Joins Up since it puts deathtouch counters on all of your creatures.

What kind of counter deck would it be without some form of proliferation? Evolution Sage is a no-brainer here, especially with Azusa, Lost but Seeking, The Gitrog Monster, and The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride giving us the ability to put additional lands into play. Agent Frank Horrigan can proliferate twice and is a great reanimation target, and Karn's Bastion is easily included as utility land.

Adding More Counters

We can also load up on Hardened Scales effects, like Pir, Imaginative Rascal, Kami of Whispered Hopes, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire, and yes, also Hardened Scales. I originally have Branching Evolution, Winding Constrictor, and Cursed Wombat in the deck, but I felt like seven of these effects were too many, so I picked what I think are the best. You could argue Kami would be replaced by Branching, but I think the mana acceleration Kami can provide is worth including.

Sacrifice and Utility

Since our commander wants legendary creatures to die, I wanted to include ways to sacrifice them. The first three that came to mind were Braids, Arisen Nightmare, Yahenni, Undying Partisan, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. I do want to point out that you can't give Yawg counters with Cleopatra because he has protection from Humans, but he can proliferate and put -1/-1 counters on creatures, which works great with Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons. I only have one noncreature sac outlet, Birthing Ritual, a great way to sacrifice creatures and cheat creatures into play.

You might be tempted to add Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar, but in my testing I found those cards to be pretty underwhelming. They aren't legendary creatures, and the curve of the deck is already low, so I never felt like the mana they provided benefited me in any meaningful way.

Ramp and Removal

When I'm building a commander with a strong theme, like this one, I try to find removal and ramp that fits that theme. Don't get me wrong, I included staples such as Nature's Lore and Assassin's Trophy, but I also wanted to add Delighted Halfling, Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea, and Mox Amber. Mox is not necessary and can be replaced with a basic land. As for the removal, most of my choices were themed board wipes. Invasion of Fiora, One Ring to Rule Them All, and my favorite, Black Sun's Zenith. Both Fiora and One Ring can keep your legendary creatures alive while removing any nonlegendary threats. While Black Sun can wipe the board and refill your hand with a million cards. You might even draw Black Sun's Zenith again after you shuffle it in. Just be careful not to deck yourself.

Didn't Make The Cut

Before we get into the budget swaps, I wanted to discuss some cards I decided to exclude from my list that you might see on EDHREC. I already mentioned Winding Constrictor and Cursed Wombat, but I also cut cards like Arwen, Weaver of Hope, Renata, Called to the Hunt, and Drana, Liberator of Malakir. They are listed as high synergy cards on EDHREC, and I can see why. You need to keep Arwen on the board to get a lot of value from them, while Renata is a four-mana do-nothing creature. Drana is great if you can connect, but you also need to attack with other creatures. Yes, she does have first strike, but I'm not sure that it is a high enough upside to include.

Budget Swap

Now for the budget swaps. We can remove 31 cards, 11 of those being lands, to bring the cost of the deck down from over $500 to under $100 at the time of writing. Creatures such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Kodama of the West Tree, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician are incredibly powerful, but they're not required. I'd replace Sheoldred with Psychosis Crawler since they do a similar-ish thing. Then replace Kodama with Kolvori, God of Kinship and Yawg with Aveline de Grandpré. You can easily replace some of the more expensive ramp, such as Mox Amber and Three Visits with Sol Ring and Arcane Signet. Then replace Birds of Paradise and Delighted Halfling with Elvish Mystic and Elves of Deep Shadow. I won't go through all of the replacements here, but you can check out my budget list down below.