Legends Legends - Axelrod Gunnarson

Hello, and welcome back to Legends Legends, your only source for info about the original Legends legendary creatures and how to build around them. This week, we're diving into an early incarnation of the "everyone lose one and you gain one" drain mechanic, stapled to an eight-mana Giant creature. That's right, we're going Axelrod Gunnarson mode.

General Thoughts

Axelrod Gunnarson is an eight-mana 5/5 Giant with trample for an insane . Axelrod also has a triggered ability reminiscent of Sengir Vampire where he'll deal one damage to target player (or planeswalker!) and you'll gain one life. 

This is, like many of the Legends Legends, an incredibly middling ability for an eight-drop. If we want to win with Axelrod's effect, we're going to need him to deal more damage, gain more life, and destroy more creatures. We need to find ways for Axelrod to destroy creatures outside of combat, as well, while still sourcing the damage to himself. Through a combination of these effects, and a ton of mana, we can turn Axelrod Gunnarson into a veritable machine gun!

Lethal Ignitions

Axelrod Gunnarson is already a 5/5, which was probably much more intimidating on an eighty-drop in 1994 than it is now. If we want to invoke fear in our foes, we'll need to make the Axelrod destroy creatures if they even glance in his direction.

We want to trigger Axelrod's effect as much as we can, so we're using him as our main form of removal, more or less. Cards like Crush Underfoot and Fall of the Hammer make Axelrod deal damage equal to his power to any target. Each time we use one of these, or Soul's Fire, Showstopping Surprise, or Chandra's Ignition, Axelrod's effect will trigger for each creature "he" destroys.

Of these effects, Burning Anger is our best, simply by virtue of being repeatable each turn. 

The Crush Underfoots in this deck are typically the best ways to start triggering his ability, but if you must go to combat, give him the Lothlórien Blade to destroy another creature in the declare attackers step. If you're fishing to get another creature with Axelrod in combat, too, Academic Dispute, Nemesis Mask, and Grappling Hook are great at yoink-ing opponents' weaker creatures into combat with our 5/5 trampler.

Finally, if Axelrod Gunnarson's five power isn't enough to destroy a creature as we throw the damage around the board, we can use either Vorpal Sword or Basilisk Collar to turn any amount of his damage into lethal blows.

Maximizing Axelrod

Using the ignition effects to throw Axelrod's damage around the board is a great way to trigger his effect over and over, but simply pinging our opponents and gaining one life really isn't worth the synergy. There are three avenues for improving Axelrod's effect:

First, we're running lots of cards that synergize with creatures dying. Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble, and Goblin Sharpshooter (another great target for our Basilisk Collar) are staples in aristocrats builds. We're notably omitting Zulaport Cutthroat, since it only triggers on our own creatures' deaths. 

Massacre Wurm and Overseer of the Damned are two top-end heavy hitters that'll synergize well with Axelrod's destruction. We're also running Dingus Staff, which is basically a Massacre Wurm.

Harvester of Souls and Morbid Opportunist each turn one of Axelrod's kills into extra cards, something this deck can't afford to skimp on.

A mid to late game Black Market goes over well here, too, since we're typically still ramping into Axelrod by that time.

Next, we're also working around Axelrod's built-in lifegain. Marauding Blight-Priest and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose hold down the battlefield as our Sanguine Bond consistencies, while Greed gives us a good outlet for all that life. Giving Axelrod lifelink will combo with any of our ignition effects, as well, so Vampiric Link and Eternal Thirst fit right in on top of Axelrod.

Finally, Axelrod does a measly one point of damage until we drop our field of damage multipliers. Fiery Emancipation is everyone's favorite, but we're also running Gratuitous Violence and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, as well.

Mana Base

Yeah, yeah, that's all well and good, but how are we actually going to stick an eight-mana commander and drop the rest of these synergistic cards before turn twenty? Lots of artifact ramp, as it turns out. 

We're running what I like to call the "budget staples plus" package of ramp in our Rakdos colors. This is the typical cache of Commander-legal mana rocks, including Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Rakdos Signet, Commander's Sphere, and Talisman of Indulgence. We're also including Charcoal Diamond and Fire Diamond, as well as Iron Myr and Leaden Myr. On top of all that, we're running both Medallions for our colors, plus Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum. This is in addition to the 34 lands we're running, which even includes a Molten Slagheap. If we don't hit eight mana at some point this game, you can come to my house and kick me. 

Strategy

It may be apparent by now, but the general gameplan with this Axelrod Gunnarson Commander deck is to rush out Axelrod, use him to destroy as many creatures as possible, and win through a combination of his triggered effect and our aristocrats effects.

Because of his prohibitive mana cost, if we want to see Axelrod at all during the game, we need to keep hands that look like they'll ramp us hard. There are a ton of two-mana ramp effects in this deck; all we need to do is hit a couple and we should be casting Axelrod, well, before turn eight at least.

If we're not using our mana to ramp in the early game, it should be spent on casting protection for Axelrod Gunnarson, or tutoring for said protection. Cheapo tutors Profane Tutor and Diabolic Tutor should be used to fetch either Swiftfoot Boots or Mithril Coat, depending on what the situation calls for.

Once Axelrod's on the field, we can start unloading on our opponents. A single Chandra's Ignition is enough to wipe most of our opponents' boards, and slapping deathtouch on Axelrod will get the rest. Remember, lifelink and deathtouch occur for any damage something deals, not just in combat. 

This isn't a deck that wins all at once. Instead, in a truly vintage style, it inches towards victory step by step by mitigating its own life loss and committing heavily to its commander's effect. We won't have a big blowout Exsanguinate, but we'll have pinged our opponents for a ton of damage over the course of the game and kept their board clear. 

Deck List

Budget

This might be one of the cheapest decks yet on Legends Legends: just $109! We're only splurging on a few cards, really, and they could be replaced.

Mithril Coat is, understandably, just about the best way to protect any legendary creature. It's also twelve whole American dollars, and you can protect Axelrod in a similar fashion with Darksteel Plate and save a few bucks.

Our biggest purchase for this deck is the single copy of a Goblin Sharpshooter, which is still clocking in at $25 these days. Have we really only had a single reprint of this card? Cut it and use Gimli, Counter of Kills instead.

Wrap Up

Axelrod Gunnarson has just barely 60 decks on EDHrec. There hasn't been a thing written about him ever in the lore, and his card doesn't even have flavor text. I didn't even realize he was a Giant until I started this article. This forgotten nobody of a legend packs a punch, I was glad to discover, and I can't wait to keep tinkering with this one.

What do you think should go in this Axelrod Gunnarson Commander deck? Is there a different theme you'd build around? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks again for reading!