Davros, Dalek Creator
UBRLegendary Artifact Creature — Alien Scientist

Davros, Dalek Creator

Mana value4EDHREC#7,540

The Commander

Menace

At the beginning of your end step, create a 3/3 black Dalek artifact creature token with menace if an opponent lost 3 or more life this turn. Then each opponent who lost 3 or more life this turn faces a villainous choice — You draw a card, or that player discards a card.

Guide

Gameplan

Davros rewards you for chipping away at opponents' life totals every turn: deal 3+ damage to a player and you get a 3/3 menace Dalek token plus a draw-or-discard villainous choice on your end step. Build wide with pingers, group-slug effects, and aristocrat drains so multiple opponents leak life, snowballing a Dalek army while you out-card the table.

Strengths

  • Generates free, evasive 3/3 bodies and card advantage simultaneously every turn
  • Triggers off any source of life loss, not just combat, so it pairs with pingers and drain effects
  • Punishes opponents in three colors of removal and value (Grixis flexibility)
  • Token army scales into go-wide finishers and sacrifice fodder

Weaknesses

  • Davros himself is a 4-mana artifact creature with no immediate impact and a target for removal
  • Only triggers on your end step, making it slow against fast combo decks
  • Needs consistent multi-opponent life loss to maximize tokens and choices
  • Vulnerable to artifact wipes and board wipes that hit your Dalek tokens

Key Cards

  • Syr Konrad, the GrimDrains everyone whenever creatures die, easily pushing multiple opponents past the 3-life threshold.
  • BitterblossomCheap repeatable life loss for you doesn't matter, but pair with pingers; more importantly tokens fuel sacrifice synergies (use group-slug instead — see note).
  • PestilenceHits all opponents at once, reliably triggering Davros against the whole table each turn.
  • Reconnaissance MissionCard draw stacks but the Dalek tokens with menace connect for extra cards anyway, reinforcing the evasive-attacker plan.
  • Impact TremorsEach token and creature entering pings every opponent, helping clear the 3-life bar across the board.

Upgrade Path

Add efficient all-opponent damage and pingers (Pestilence, Pyrohemia, Impact Tremors, Syr Konrad) to guarantee multiple triggers each turn, plus token payoffs like Cathars' Crusade and overrun effects. Improve the mana base with fast lands and rocks (Arcane Signet, Talisman of Indulgence/Dominance) so Davros lands turn three, and include protection like Lightning Greaves to keep him online. For higher power, lean into aristocrat combos (Blood Artist plus reliable sacrifice and recursion) to convert your Dalek tokens into a deterministic drain kill.

Core Cards

Win Conditions

  • Overwhelming with a wide board of menace Dalek tokens plus an Overrun-style finisher
  • Aristocrat drain loops (Blood Artist effects) draining the whole table out
  • Incremental burn and pinger damage closing out games while Davros refills your hand
  • Evasive Dalek tokens grinding opponents down through menace

Archetypes

  • AristocratsDrain effects like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat trigger Davros on every opponent while you sacrifice the Dalek tokens.
  • Tokens / Go-WideDavros manufactures evasive 3/3s that combine with anthems and overrun effects for lethal swings.
  • Group SlugSymmetrical damage like Pestilence and Pyrohemia pushes every opponent past 3 life loss for maximum tokens and choices.
  • Spellslinger / BurnCheap burn and pingers chip multiple opponents to fuel the end-step trigger consistently.

Combos

No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.

Related Commanders

Same color identity (BRU), by popularity.

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