Overview:

This Golgari deck helmed by Dina, Soul Steeper is a high-octane combo machine leveraging life-gain triggers and explosive mana acceleration to execute one of Magic's most infamous two-card combos: Exquisite Blood + Dina for an infinite life-drain loop. The commander serves as both a critical combo piece and value engine, enabling incremental damage through life-gain synergies while threatening an instant win with the Blood pairing. The deck employs cEDH-grade fast mana, hyper-efficient tutors, and robust recursion to assemble its win conditions at blistering speeds while maintaining interaction to disrupt opponents.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Explosive Setup (Turns 0-2): Deploy fast mana (Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, Mana Vault) and tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) to find combo pieces. Use Dark Ritual/Rain of Filth for explosive early turns. Ad Nauseam or Necropotence refuels hands.
2. Combo Assembly (Turns 1-3): Tutor Exquisite Blood via Beseech the Mirror, Grim Tutor, or Demonic Consultation. Cast Dina (BG) and Blood (4B) using ritual/artifact mana. Trigger the infinite loop: any life gain → opponents lose 1 → Blood triggers → repeat until table dies.
3. Alternative Lines: Use Buried Alive + Reanimate/Necromancy for Bloodthirsty Conqueror (backup Blood effect). Yawgmoth's Will recasts key spells from grave. Tainted Pact/Demonic Consultation can exile-library for Thassa's Oracle-less wins if paired with Laboratory Maniac effects (though not present here – primarily used as tutors).

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 1-2 lands + fast mana (Mox, Vault, Petal).
• Prioritize hands containing tutors (Imperial Seal, Worldly Tutor), combo pieces, or Ad Nauseam.
• Reject hands lacking mana acceleration or that rely solely on high-CMC spells.

Key Tips:

• Use Phyrexian Tower/Crop Rotation to sacrifice Dina in response to removal, then re-cast her.
• Veil of Summer and Allosaurus Shepherd protect critical spells from counters.
• Dauthi Voidwalker steals opponents' win-cons while hating graveyards.
• Opposition Agent + Scheming Symmetry/Wishclaw Talisman locks opponents out of tutoring.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Relies heavily on resolving Dina + Exquisite Blood with minimal redundancy for the life-drain combo.
• Vulnerable to instant-speed artifact/enchantment removal disrupting Exquisite Blood (no Boseiju Who Endures protection).

Moderate

• Limited board presence makes stax pieces like Rule of Law or Eidolon of Rhetoric problematic.
• Rest in Peace/Leyline of the Void nullifies reanimation lines and Dauthi Voidwalker.

Minor

• Life-loss from Necropotence/Ad Nauseam can be risky in prolonged games.
• Sparse creature count reduces Survival of the Fittest/Fauna Shaman effectiveness.

Most Important Cards:

• Exquisite Blood (Primary combo piece)
• Ad Nauseam (Draw engine/combo finder)
• Demonic Tutor (Tutoring linchpin)
• Necropotence (Card advantage engine)
• Dark Ritual (Mana explosiveness)
• Yawgmoth's Will (Graveyard recursion)
• Mox Diamond (Critical early acceleration)
• Force of Vigor (Artifact/enchantment answer)
• Veil of Summer (Protection from interaction)
• Gaea's Cradle (Massive mana scaling)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 9/10
Capable of T1-T3 wins with perfect hands (e.g., Ritual → Mox → Tutor → Exquisite Blood + Dina). Average goldfish: T3-4.

Resilience: 7/10
Multiple protection spells (Veil, Shepherd) and recursion (Yawgmoth's Will), but combo fragility lowers score.

Consistency: 9/10
14 tutors, 3 library-manipulation engines (Necro, Sylvan Library, The One Ring), and 8 fast-mana sources ensure reliable combo access.

Interaction: 7/10
Efficient targeted removal (Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Trophy) and stack protection, but lacks board wipes beyond Toxic Deluge.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates at cEDH-viable speeds with T2-3 win potential through a fragile but highly tutorable combo, backed by top-tier acceleration and consistency tools. While slightly less resilient than Tier 1 cEDH decks due to dependency on two key permanents, its velocity and tutor density justify a high-power cEDH bracket.

Power level: 8.5 - 9.0