Commander Mondays: Revamping a Sek'Kuar Deck

So I built what I initially thought to be a really awesome EDH deck and it couldn't be defeated for a while, but then I met competitive EDH decks, like a mono-green Elf tribal EDH deck, and then I started losing in all of my games, and I lost very badly. This article is all about what I started with (random cards plus cards legal around Avacyn Restored's release) and what I'm ending with. I don't play with this as much now because I have a really good deck that starts with "S" and ends with "livers" but I want to ramp this up to be more competitive.

My commander for this deck is set and will remain as Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, it's just some of the other cards that will be changing. So let's take a look at the original:

Legendary Creatures (2) x1 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper (Commander) x1 Radha, Heir to Keld Creatures (22) x1 Arc Runner x1 Birds of Paradise x1 Blood Artist x1 Broodmate Dragon x1 Darksteel Sentinel x1 Dread Warlock x1 Duskdale Wurm x1 Elvish Visionary x1 Flameblast Dragon x1 Hound of Griselbrand x1 Infectious Horror x1 Jund Sojourners x1 Monstrous Carabid x1 Nacatl Savage x1 Scab-Clan Mauler x1 Spined Wurm x1 Streetbreaker Wurm x1 Tyrant of Discord x1 Wall of Bone x1 Wall of Fire x1 Wall of Vines x1 Wurmskin Forger

Instants (9) x1 Fires of Undeath x1 Fling x1 Giant Growth x1 Hideous End x1 Jund Charm x1 Lightning Bolt x1 Naturalize x1 Plummet x1 Undying Evil Sorceries (12) x1 Act of Treason x1 Appetite for Brains x1 Blessings of Nature x1 Bountiful Harvest x1 Demolish x1 Exploding Borders x1 Explore x1 Gift of the Gargantuan x1 Grave Exchange x1 Pillar of Flame x1 Rain of Thorns x1 Yawning Fissure Enchantments (9) x1 Crusher Zendikon x1 Electropotence x1 Khalni Heart Expedition x1 Leyline of Lightning x1 Leyline of Punishment x1 Leyline of Vitality x1 Leyline of the Void x1 Soul Stair Expedition x1 Zektar Shrine Expedition

Artifacts (12) x1 Armillary Sphere x1 Black Mana Battery x1 Expedition Map x1 Green Mana Battery x1 Mossfire Egg x1 Obelisk of Jund x1 Oblivion Stone x1 Onyx Goblet x1 Red Mana Battery x1 Star Compass x1 Trailblazer's Boots x1 Veinfire Borderpost Lands (34) x1 Ancient Ziggurat x1 Bojuka Bog x1 Evolving Wilds x1 Golgari Rot Farm x1 Kazandu Refuge x1 Khalni Garden x1 Lavaclaw Reaches x1 Madblind Mountain x1 Piranha Marsh x1 Polluted Mire x1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace x1 Sapseep Forest x1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits x1 Smoldering Spires x1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb x1 Tectonic Edge x1 Teetering Peaks x1 Terramorphic Expanse x1 Turntimber Grove x5 Swamp x5 Mountain x5 Forest

I won multiple games with this deck, but it is honestly pretty bad... So let me fix that...

First and foremost is the direction I want to take this. The deck originally was pretty much anything that matched the colors of Sek'Kuar that I just happened to have. Let's change this up a bit. Let's add graveyard shenanigans, and how about land destruction as well? Let's have fun with this.

Legendary Creatures (5) x1 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper (Commander) x1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord x1 Kresh the Bloodbraided x1 Radha, Heir to Keld x1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave Creatures (26) x1 Arc Runner x1 Birds of Paradise x1 Blood Artist x1 Blood Bairn x1 Broodmate Dragon x1 Champion of Stray Souls x1 Darksteel Sentinel x1 Deathrite Shaman x1 Dragonlair Spider x1 Duskdale Wurm x1 Eater of Hope x1 Fate Unraveler x1 Flameblast Dragon x1 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix x1 Hellkite Overlord x1 Hound of Griselbrand x1 Nessian Wilds Ravager x1 Reaper of the Wilds x1 Scab-Clan Mauler x1 Scavenging Ooze x1 Scourge of Skola Vale x1 Trench Wurm x1 Tyrant of Discord x1 Wall of Fire x1 Wall of Vines x1 Zhur-Taa Druid

Instants (9) x1 Fated Return x1 Fling x1 Giant Growth x1 Hideous End x1 Jund Charm x1 Lightning Bolt x1 Naturalize x1 Plummet x1 Undying Evil Sorceries (11) x1 Appetite for Brains x1 Exploding Borders x1 Explore x1 Flesh//Blood x1 Gift of the Gargantuan x1 Grave Exchange x1 Harmonize x1 Pillar of Flame x1 Praetor's Grasp x1 Rain of Thorns x1 Yawning Fissure Enchantments (4) x1 Crusher Zendikon x1 Electropotence x1 Leyline of Punishment x1 Soul Stair Expedition

Artifacts (9) x1 Armillary Sphere x1 Ashnod's Altar x1 Expedition Map x1 Firewild Borderpost x1 Lightning Greaves x1 Obelisk of Jund x1 Ring of Three Wishes x1 Trailblazer's Boots x1 Veinfire Borderpost Planeswalkers (5) x1 Garruk Relentless x1 Garruk Wildspeaker x1 Liliana Vess x1 Sarkhan Vol x1 Vraska the Unseen Lands (31) x1 Command Tower x1 Dragonskull Summit x1 Encroaching Wastes x1 Evolving Wilds x1 Jund Panorama x1 Lavaclaw Reaches x1 Opal Palace x1 Piranha Marsh x1 Rootbound Crag x1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits x1 Sulfurous Springs x1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb x1 Tectonic Edge x1 Teetering Peaks x1 Temple of Abandon x1 Terramorphic Expanse x1 Thespian's Stage x1 Turntimber Grove x1 Woodland Cemetery x4 Swamp x4 Mountain x4 Forest

The updated version includes land destruction (Encroaching Wastes, Rain of Thorns, Tectonic Edge, Trench Wurm, Tyrant of Discord, Yawning Fissure), sacrifice effects (Arc Runner, Ashnod's Altar, Blood Bairn, Champion of Stray Souls, Eater of Hope, Fling, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Scourge of Skola Vale), and graveyard effects (Deathrite Shaman, Fated Return, Grave Exchange, Scavenging Ooze, Soul Stair Expedition, Svogthos, the Restless Tomb).

Scroll back up to the top of this article and reread Sek'Kuar's ability. Done? Good. His ability inspired the inclusion of the sacrifice and graveyard abilities. The goal is to sacrifice creatures, replace them with hasty 3/1 black and red Graveborn creatures, then use the creatures for some other effect and use them later.

    

These three cards are pretty crucial to the deck. Deathrite Shaman can deal with almost anything (except artifacts, enchantments, or Planeswalkers) found in graveyards and give you an added boost. Scavenging Ooze can take care of creatures in the graveyard and also give a boost to you and a creature. Skullbriar is great because you can bring it back using several graveyard manipulation and he keeps his counters so Scourge of Skola Vale and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord can effectively utilize their abilities.

Even since starting this article, I considered a couple more cards that could definitely improve this deck: Varolz, the Scar-Striped and Elixir of Immortality.

  

Varolz would improve creatures because you could then scavenge them and add their power to others you control, and then Elixir of Immortality could help return spells. Reevaluating the new form of the deck, Arc Runner and Crusher Zendikon could stand to go and be replaced by Varolz and Elixir.

Granted there are some more modifications that could be made, but it is a good start and is relatively affordable.