Nekusar, the Mindrazer

Gameplan

Nekusar forces everyone to draw extra cards while punishing them for it, turning card draw into a damage source. You ramp into Nekusar, deploy wheel effects and forced-draw enchantments, then drain the whole table for lethal damage in a few explosive turns. The deck wins through symmetrical-but-asymmetrical damage—you have the payoffs and protection, they just take the hits.

Key Cards

• Peer into the Abyss — Forces a target to draw half their library, often dealing 30+ damage with Nekusar out.
• Megrim — Adds damage every time opponents discard from wheels, doubling your punishment.
• Underworld Dreams — Stacks with Nekusar so each opponent draw deals 2, accelerating the clock dramatically.
• Windfall — Cheap wheel that refuels you and forces every opponent to draw a new hand into Nekusar damage.
• Kederekt Parasite — Another per-draw damage source plus card advantage when opponents draw outside their turn.
• Teferi's Puzzle Box — Repeating, every-turn wheel that machine-guns the table for damage each draw step.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana (Mana Crystals, Sol Ring, signets) and tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to assemble damage doublers faster, plus protection like Lightning Greaves and counterspells to keep Nekusar alive. Include Notion Thief and Narset, Parter of Veils to convert symmetrical draw into one-sided advantage. For a true power spike, run Peer into the Abyss with Underworld Dreams effects as a one-card kill and back it up with combo finishers like a Niv-Mizzet draw loop.