Commander Deck Tech - Lorehold, the Historian

This deck seems a bit of a joke at first: Boros Reanimator, can you imagine it? But once you understand how it works, you see it is actually quite decent.

The main idea is to do more than just reanimate big creatures. A lot more.

With Lorehold, the Historian, you'll turn your entire hand into fuel. You'll discard giant permanents and then bring them all back for 2 mana with Miracle. Yes, you'll have to draw a "reanimate" spell from the top of your deck, but that's just a small detail.

When you manage to do this more than once, you'll start soaring. Reanimating up to four permanents in a single cycle is not that unrealistic. By the way, this commander also allows you to rummage through your deck, which is quite nice as well.

Game Plan and Decklist

We know you must all be curious about the list itself. Let's see it.

Making Things Unbalanced

The idea behind this list is quite straightforward:

First: Discard giant permanents.

Second: Reanimate these permanents with Miracle.

Third: Repeat this until your opponents die.

The gist of it is that you won't do this just a single time. You'll do this two times, three times, sometimes even four times throughout the game. Or luckily, in a single rotation.

And, as your Miracle spells cost 2, you'll start playing a lot faster than the rest of the board.

This is what you must understand. You won't win because your cards are better. You'll win because you'll be playing more spells than everyone else and for less mana.

Why This Works

This commander solves two problems by itself:

- It fills the graveyard.

- It keeps your hand flowing.

You'll never run completely out of resources with this list, and you can turn everything you discard into value later on.

And the most important part: you can discard "good" cards stress-free. With this list, discarding great cards is usually exactly what you want to do. Creatures and permanents are all welcome in our graveyard!

Discarding Threats

You want to put in your graveyard cards that weren't meant to be cast in a fair way.

If Portal to Phyrexia enters play early, it practically resets the board, but only for one person. Oftentimes, it "solves" the board by itself. Furthermore, its upkeep trigger can't be ignored and is quite strong in this strategy.

Cityscape Leveler will eventually start destroying permanents turn after turn. The earlier it comes in, the more oppressive it is. Most of the time, your powerstones won't do much, though.

Drakuseth doesn't need a complex setup. It will deal damage once, and the entire board will feel it. It will then keep dealing damage and clearing the opponents' boards.

Gearhulk always gets the same reactions: "Please, don't pick me" and "I'd rather not choose anything". You'll either draw three cards, or someone will take a buttload of damage... And this list plays some very expensive cards, mana-wise.

And, most important of all, none of these cards were made to cost 2.

Cards That Help You Discard Other Cards

These cards do two things at once: they help you dig through your deck and put exactly what you want in your graveyard.

Big Score and Windfall are nearly "rituals with an upside" in this list. They'll create mana, improve your hand, and progress your game plan.

Dragon's Rage Channeler is more discreet, but it will help you filter "bad" draws.

Palantír, in particular, is funny in this list. You'll either draw cards, or someone will speed up your main game plan accidentally (it will also help you set up a Miracle).

Reanimating Cards for 2 Mana

These cards are fair, as they're "reanimation cards" and cost 4 mana. Except they don't cost 4 mana in this list. They cost 2.

Invoke Justice is the most absurd of them all. Besides reanimating cards, it also puts more value on the board and can turn an empty board into a very oppressive one.

Late to Dinner is simple but efficient. Sometimes it's all you need.

Restoration Seminar will help you keep going, particularly in long matches.

Storm Herd creates several flying Pegasus so that you can deal damage to opponents.

And, when you start playing two of these at once, the rest of your pod will start lagging behind.

Reanimating Permanents

This is an important part of this list. You're not limited to creatures. Big artifacts are often the best targets to reanimate because they impact the board immediately, are more difficult to deal with, and create value constantly.

Portal to Phyrexia is the best example of that. It will come into play and immediately change the game. Furthermore, this list also plays one or two problematic enchantments.

This changed this deck entirely and set it apart from traditional reanimation lists, as they usually rely a lot on creatures.

Making Sure You Get Your Miracles

Sensei's Divining Top is the best card in this section.

With it, you can manage your Miracles, improve your next draws, and basically make sure you can cast your important spells for 2 mana.

Scroll Rack is also absurd in this strategy. With it, you'll trade a dead hand for new cards and also put Miracles on the top of your deck.

Without this type of effect, this deck will have to rely a lot more on luck.

Commander Interactions

The commander's second effect will be really helpful.

Even without Sensei's Divining Top, you'll cycle through your hand and your deck every turn, so you are more likely to get Miracles "naturally". This effect is not that consistent, but it is also not as "random" as it seems.

Getting Back into the Game

An obvious problem this deck has is that it can lead you to discard too many cards.

If you end up spending your entire hand, the cards above will help you get back into the game.

Brass's Bounty, in particular, enables absurd turns if you decide to play all the cards in your hand. You'll get a lot of mana with it.

When Arcane Bombardment stays in play, it creates value for you quite naturally. You won't have to do much to make it work.

Chimil, the Inner Sun creates value constantly and also acts as protection, which, in this deck, is great.

Hit the Mother Lode will help you turn this mana into board presence. Sometimes, you'll need to do this.

How to Win

This deck ends the game in different ways.

Aurelia and Moraug turn any advantage into lethal damage quite fast. Moraug, in particular, can simply end the game out of nowhere if you have an extra land drop.

Velomachus will eventually start creating spells for free, which fits this deck perfectly.

Bahamut is just an absurd threat that demands answers.

Alternative Plan

Yes, this deck has an alternative game plan.

In long matches, you can simply win with this second win condition, as you'll draw a lot of cards anyway. Your commander will help you get to it.

Considering Sensei's Divining Top, the commander's second effect, and random draws, you won't struggle to find Approach twice.

It's sort of a "plan B," but it works better than it seems.

Keeping Yourself Alive

This deck isn't an "all in" strategy. You need to survive until you manage to set up the perfect turn.

Bolt Bend is particularly great because you usually have big creatures in play.

Farewell is curious. It resets the game, but a well-played Farewell is always great.

Basic Lines

- Discard a giant permanent.

- Manage the top cards in your deck.

- Miracle with reanimate.

- Repeat.

If you do this more than once, you'll have a lot of fun. This deck doesn't need to explode straight away. It can simply win like this.

Explosive Lines

- Fill your graveyard.

- Mizzix's Mastery.

- Cast several spells.

This is the most chaotic play line in this deck. It doesn't win every time, but it usually allows you to do a lot more than everyone else.

- It makes things quite unbalanced for the rest of the board.

- It reanimates permanents, not just creatures.

- It sets up unexpected explosive turns.

- It's difficult to predict.

- It punishes slow boards quite well.

- It relies a lot on its commander.

- It relies a lot on its topdecks.

- Graveyard hate is a pretty straightforward way to counter it.

And, particularly, it needs a bit of "magic". When it doesn't work, it looks a lot weaker than it is. Grafdigger's Cage is also a big problem.

This deck is clearly more casual, but it is quite absurd at times.

Reanimating giant permanents for 2 mana several times shouldn't be decent, or a consistent game plan, and it really isn't. In any case, this list is still fun and functional. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a Bracket 2 or Bracket 3 list.

It's not the most stable deck in the world, but it is one of the most fun ones.

And, honestly, playing Portal to Phyrexia for 2 mana more than once will always be absurd.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!