Legendary Creature — Elf Shaman

Savra, Queen of the Golgari

Mana value4EDHREC#5,972

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The Commander

Whenever you sacrifice a black creature, you may pay 2 life. If you do, each other player sacrifices a creature of their choice.

Whenever you sacrifice a green creature, you may gain 2 life.

Guide

Gameplan

Savra turns sacrifice into a repeatable edict that grinds opponents out of creatures while you stockpile life and value. You flood the board with expendable tokens and small creatures, then loop them through sacrifice outlets to force everyone else to lose blockers and key permanents. Win by attrition, draining the table while reanimating or recurring your own pieces faster than they recover.

Strengths

Acts as a recurring board-wipe-on-a-stick, forcing edicts that hose decks relying on a single key creature
Self-sustaining life gain from green creature sacrifices offsets the life payments
Golgari excels at recursion, so your fodder keeps coming back while opponents run dry
Strong against go-tall commanders and reanimator decks that lean on one big threat

Weaknesses

Needs a steady supply of both black AND green creatures plus a free sacrifice outlet to function
Opponents choose what they sacrifice, so they protect their best creatures and feed you chaff
Token-light or go-wide opponents shrug off edict effects
Savra herself does nothing without a sac outlet, making her a build-around that can stall if pieces are missing
Vulnerable to graveyard hate that shuts down your recursion engine

Key Cards

Viscera Seer — A free, repeatable sacrifice outlet that triggers Savra every turn at no mana cost.
Carrion Feeder — Free sac outlet that grows and lets you chain edicts without spending mana.
Grave Pact — Stacks with Savra so each sacrifice forces multiple edicts, accelerating the board lock.
Dictate of Erebos — A second Grave Pact effect that compounds opponents' creature losses dramatically.
Bloodflow Connoisseur — Acts as both a sac outlet and a growing threat fueled by your fodder.
Pitiless Plunderer — Generates treasure for every creature death, fueling more sacrifice loops and reanimation.

Upgrade Path

Add more free sacrifice outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Goblin Bombardment) and additional Grave Pact effects to multiply each edict. Lean into a death-payoff package with Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Bastion of Remembrance so each sacrifice drains the table, and include token engines like Bitterblossom and Endrek Sahr for endless fodder. Top it off with reanimation (Reanimate, Victimize) and tutors (Diabolic Intent, Demonic Tutor) to assemble loops faster.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Edict-locking the table out of creatures, then attacking unblocked with recurring threats
▸Aristocrats drain engines like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat finishing on the loss triggers
▸Overrun-style alpha strikes (Craterhoof Behemoth, Overwhelming Stampede) with leftover tokens
▸Grinding all opponents to empty boards while you out-value them with recursion

Archetypes

Aristocrats — Savra rewards each black and green sacrifice with edicts and life, the core aristocrats loop.
Tokens — Token generators provide endless cheap fodder to feed Savra's sacrifice triggers.
Stax — Repeatable edicts plus Grave Pact effects strip opponents of creatures and lock the board.
Reanimator — Golgari recursion lets you sacrifice and rebuy threats, turning death into value.