MTG: 5 cards to slug it out using a Toxrill Commander deck

If you are looking for a legendary creature from Magic: The Gathering's recent Innistrad: Crimson Vow set to be the next Commander for your next Commander deck (yes, the deckbuilding never ends), Toxrill, the Corrosive might just be the next fun pet project for you.

Toxrill, the Corrosive is, in my opinion, a fun Commander because this chonky Slug Horror does so much on its own.

Do you need to get rid of small (and maybe indestructible) creatures? Toxrill's your lad. Do you want to create tokens? Toxrill's the answer. Do you want to draw cards? Toxrill will throw that in for a fee!

The only downside (and quite a big one) of Toxrill is its expensive cost. At 5 Generic and 2 Black to cast, you will really need some fast mana and protection to be able to both cast Toxrill and not get it blown up.

Toxrill might be better off at higher-powered Commander tables where players are expected to optimise their decks. After all, Toxrill is not exactly CEDH (competitive Commander) material.

However, if you want to build this Toxrill for a more casual Commander game slugfest, well, it might be rough at times, but the payoff can be pretty satisfying.

With that, I think these are the five cards that synergise extremely well with Toxrill, and you have to add at least some of them into your next Commander deck.

The first card that you really have to add is the creature Blood Artist. Toxrill, the Corrosive has to be played as an Aristocrats deck (an archetype which focuses on sacrificing your own creatures for other benefits), and Blood Artist will help to accelerate your game whenever your opponents’ creatures die at the end step and/or you sacrifice a slug.

When you have enough mana and enough slugs, Blood Artist can drain a big chunk of one of your opponent’s lives while you gain the same chunk every time a creature dies.

This card can work in tandem with other somewhat similar cards such as Zulaport Cutthroat, Syr Konrad, the Grim, and Massacre Wurm, but Blood Artist has to be a definite addition simply because of its low mana value as well as its ability to trigger whenever any creature dies.

The second card that I think has to be a definite addition is the land Forbidden Orchard. Forbidden Orchard can tap to generate mana of any colour, and the best part of the card (only because of Toxrill) is that you get to give any opponent a 1/1 colourless Spirit creature token.

On a normal day, you might think that giving your opponent a creature is not exactly a good upside, but when Toxrill is out, you will get some slugs because Toxrill will kill these 1/1 Spirits at every end step (if you have tapped Forbidden Orchard for mana, that is).

It is an extremely good land to add into this Dimir (Black and Blue) deck since it fixes your colours as well as gives Toxrill additional fodder. If you are looking for any kind of rainbow lands to add to your Toxrill deck, please for the sake of Magic: The Gathering, add Forbidden Orchard.

The third card I would add into this deck has to be Polymorphist’s Jest. For 1 Generic and 2 Blue, Polymorphist’s Jest is an instant card that will turn each creature one player controls to a 1/1 Frog with no abilities at all.

This is a potentially insane boardwipe for one of your opponents as long as Toxrill is out on the battlefield.

Imagine one of your opponents has an army of flying Angels that is coming at you during the combat phase and you whip this gem out at instant speed.

I am pretty sure a lot of salt will be induced if Polymorphist’s Jest is not countered.

There are many other cards out there that are similar, however Polymorhpist’s Jest is the only instant Blue card that I know which turns creatures into 1/1, and this alone makes it an automatic inclusion into the deck.

The fourth card that could be a fun addition to the deck will be the enchantment Black Market. If your whole game plan is to sacrifice slugs and have your opponents’ creatures dead at every end step, Black Market will just generate a lot of Black mana every turn for you.

This is potentially a huge upside for you because when you are in the colours of Dimir, you can potentially tutor for any card and draw some cards. Black Market is a little expensive to cast, but hey if you have some fast mana for Toxrill, surely you will have some for Black Market.

Black Market, however, will not work as well in higher-powered Commander pods simply because of how slow it takes for you to even begin to enjoy its effects (you will need Toxrill out or get some creatures dead, as well as Black Market out for one whole turn cycle), so do take note of Black Market’s potential (lack of) efficacy.

The last card, the Black enchantment Infernal Genesis, is also another fun synergistic addition to a Toxrill deck.

Do you want your opponents to constantly generate 1/1 creature tokens that are food for your Toxrill? Well, Infernal Genesis is a brilliant option, then.

Infernal Genesis will have every player mill a card at the beginning of every upkeep, and depending on the card milled, you can potentially get many slugs by the end of the turn. The best part about this card is that these tokens will not have any haste, so your opponents are unlikely to be able to just swing these tokens into some wall and deny you of your slugs.

The downside, however, is its mana cost, so it would not be a very good option in higher-powered Commander pods.

That said, if you want your Toxrill deck to be extra spicy (not that it already is not), there is no better way than potentially giving each opponent some 1/1 Minions every single turn.

Now that people can gather in groups of five in Singapore (again), I guess we (me) can finally have some real life Magic: The Gathering Commander interaction again.

If you are building Toxrill, the Corrosive for some spicy physical tabletop play, I hope this little recommendation would be of some help.

If you have discovered some other random card that works well with Toxrill, the Corrosive, do shout out too because I will be more than happy to discover more Magic synergies (okay, I have had enough of this word for today).

Jay Chan plays a lot of Dota 2 and MTG. He's terrible in Dota 2 and a scrub in MTG, and maybe spends too much money on both games.

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