Commander Deck Tech: Vincent Valentine

If there is something Final Fantasy brought us lots of, it was new legendary creatures for Commander decks.

And so we have Vincent Valentine, who, so far, is our only black legendary Werewolf. Unfortunately, we have to warn you that the lists in this article are not exclusively centered around mono black Werewolves (maybe in the future, who knows).

In this article, you'll find two lists with Vincent. The first one is a classic "force your friends to sacrifice their cards and lose them in the process" for casual tables, and the second is full of removals, as well as quite similar to Gisa, the Hellraiser.

Without further ado, let's meet our commander!

Vincent is a dark, mysterious man, and a playable character in Final Fantasy VII. He uses guns in battle, and his Limit Breaks make him shapeshift. So, his last effect, which lets you transform him when he attacks, makes a lot of sense.

His front side gives him a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the power of the opponents' creatures when they die. When he attacks, you may turn him into his back side, a Werewolf with trample and lifelink.

If Vincent dies as a Galian Beast, he'll return to the battlefield tapped.

Please note that transforming a permanent won't affect any auras or equipment cards attached to it. So, the counters he gets will stay on him even after you transform him.

As Vincent will grow a lot, we decided to build this list around forcing our opponents to sacrifice their creatures. Like so, we'll make our commander grow even more and control the board so he can trample them down to win.

Forcing Others to Sacrifice their Cards

The classic (and scary!) Sheoldred, Whispering One stands out. Besides forcing our opponents to sacrifice their cards at the beginning of their upkeep, this card also lets you reanimate cards from the graveyard at the beginning of your upkeep.

Sheoldred's most recent version also stands out. Sheoldred is Vincent's best friend, and plays an essential role in this deck.

As a creature, she enters play and immediately forces the opponents to sacrifice something. As a Saga, her last chapter is a Rise of the Dark Realms, as it puts all creatures from all graveyards on your board under your control.

Cards that Take Advantage of Sacrifice

To get the most out of the creatures dying on the board, this deck plays creatures like:

Tergrid, God of Fright is one of our 99 cards, though she is also one of the most hated Commanders in the community, particularly by casual players. Her ability lets you control any creatures your opponents sacrifice.

The Masamune is one of the most interesting equipment cards in this set. When you equip it to Vincent, his ability will trigger twice when creatures die, so he'll get a lot of counters and become an even stronger Werewolf.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is a strong addition to this deck. He drains your opponents' lives when they sacrifice their creatures, lets you draw cards if you sacrifice something else, gives you a powerful emblem, and also flies!

If your opponents can't exile him, they'll be in for a rough ride.

Rise of the Dark Realms is a devastating spell, and you'll usually save it for the final moments in the game. It revives all creatures from all graveyards and puts them under your control, so it drastically changes the game state.

Black Market grows a lot in this list. Considering you're facing three opponents and all four of you will keep sacrificing your creatures again and again, you'll create a lot of extra mana, which is essential because black is not exactly known for its ramp.

Dealing Damage

Then, we added burn and life drain to punish our opponents.

Syr Konrad, the Grim is excellent in this deck because it deals damage to your opponents whenever an enemy creature dies. His activated ability also helps you fill graveyards with permanents, so they'll be ready when you start reanimating cards.

Massacre Wurm is incredibly strong, as it drains 2 life from each opponent whenever one of their creatures dies. It is a constant threat on the board.

Protection

Vincent will return transformed after he dies, but you should still play protection against removals, particularly if you haven't transformed him yet.

We also added The Ozolith to make sure Vincent keeps his counters, and, as such, he'll be able to attack your opponents even harder.

As we mentioned before, our alternative list focuses on removing creatures. Take a look at these incredible black cards:

You'll notice a few cards stand out, like Gisa, the Hellraiser, which creates Zombie tokens whenever an enemy creature dies, and Massacre Girl, who is very destructive to any board full of creatures. Furthermore, Harvester of Souls will draw you a lot of cards as you constantly kill creatures.

Being able to control when Vincent transforms makes this deck more dynamic and fun, as well as a bit more "aggro" for a mono black Voltron removal list. This commander embodies the most striking mechanics in black decks, such as reanimates, powerful board wipes, and punitive interactions with creatures.

Vincent might not be as popular as combo decks like K'rrik, but he is very versatile, and, as such, he invites us to explore new strategies in Commander.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!