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Queza, Augur of Agonies

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Queza, Augur of Agonies

At a glance

  • Commander: Queza, Augur of Agonies
  • Colors: Esper
  • Archetype: Esper draw-drain inevitability control
  • Power tier: mid-high

Cards

Commander

Queza, Augur of Agonies — , Legendary Creature — Octopus Advisor (3/4-ish body, any rarity)

Whenever you draw a card, target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

The printed text matches the assignment’s premise exactly: every single card draw is a one-point drain plus one-point lifegain. Crucially, this triggers on every draw, not just your draw step — so multi-card draw spells, cantrips, looters, and incidental draw all become symmetrical Sphinx’s-Revelation pings. A 99 built wall-to-wall with cheap card draw turns a normal grindy control game into a slow execution.

commander_oracle_ok = true — built around the real card.

Gameplan

Play draw-go Esper control: counter the scary stuff, edict/Murder the threats, ping down x/1s, and draw cards every turn. You are not trying to attack. With Queza out, a routine turn of cantripping and durdling drains the table 2-5 life per turn, and lifegain offsets any aggression you face. The cantrip pile is the burn spell.

If Queza gets removed, you still have the most card advantage at the table plus repeatable mass-damage engines (Pestilence, Crypt Rats, Evincar’s Justice) that grind boards and faces independent of the commander. That’s the inevitability backstop — you win even through commander hate.

Key synergy lines

  • Queza + any multi-draw spell: Night’s Whisper / Read the Bones / Divination / Behold the Multiverse / Notion Rain / Mulldrifter each fire Queza 2x = 2 drain + 2 gain on top of the cards. Brainstorm is 3 triggers for .
  • Queza + Merfolk Looter / Costly Plunder / Frantic-style loot: repeatable per-turn draws = repeatable drains.
  • Pestilence / Crypt Rats: repeatable : 1 damage to each creature and player. Doubles as a board wipe AND a direct-damage finisher that ignores Queza entirely. Lifegain from Queza/duals keeps you ahead of the symmetrical damage.
  • Evincar’s Justice (buyback): every turn, 2 damage to each opponent and each creature — a recurring pseudo-wipe + face clock.
  • Recursion: Archaeomancer / Gravedigger / Mortuary Mire rebuy your best draw or removal spells to extend the grind.

Role breakdown (with counts)

  • Lands: 37 (24 nonbasic fixing + 13 basics)
  • Ramp / mana rocks: 10 — Arcane Signet, Commander’s Sphere, Manalith, Mind Stone, Prophetic Prism, Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere, Marble/Sky/Charcoal Diamond (8 of 10 fix colors; several also cantrip)
  • Card advantage / draw: 25 — cantrips (Consider, Preordain, Ponder, Brainstorm, Serum Visions, Thought Scour), card-draw sorceries/instants (Sign in Blood, Night’s Whisper, Read the Bones, Divination, Behold the Multiverse, Notion Rain, Deep Analysis, Sphinx’s Insight, Costly Plunder, Forbidden Alchemy), and ETB/looter creatures (Sea Gate Oracle, Augur of Bolas, Omen of the Sea, Phyrexian Rager, Mulldrifter, Skyscanner, Aven Fisher, Cloudreader Sphinx, Merfolk Looter). This pile is the win condition.
  • Spot removal + interaction: 21 — counters (Counterspell, Negate, Essence Scatter, Mana Leak, Disdainful Stroke, Exclude, Dispel, Psychic Strike = 8); edicts/destroy (Cruel Edict, Diabolic Edict, Geth’s Verdict, Devour Flesh, Murder, Feed the Swarm, Vanquish the Weak, Deadly Derision, Bone Shards, Path of Peace, Crypt Incursion = 11); pingers (Cuombajj Witches, Prodigal Sorcerer = 2)
  • Mass / pseudo-wipe: 4 — Drown in Sorrow, Evincar’s Justice (buyback), Pestilence, Crypt Rats
  • Recursion: 3 — Gravedigger, Archaeomancer, (+ Mortuary Mire land)

Manabase / fixing note

37 lands: 12 enters-tapped duals across all three pairs (guildgates, karoo bouncelands, gain-duals, battle-style taplands) + 4 any-color lands (Command Tower, Rupture Spire, Shimmering Grotto, Unknown Shores) + utility (Mortuary Mire recursion, 3 cycling lands, Esper Panorama fetch) + 13 basics. Combined with 8 color-fixing rocks/ramp, that’s ~24 sources that fix multiple colors — comfortably above the 17-19 target for a three-color common manabase.

Pilot notes

  • Mulligan for 2-3 fixing sources and at least one early cantrip. You can durdle profitably.
  • Resolve Queza into an open board, then chain card draw. Protect her with held-up counters only if it’s safe — she’s replaceable; your engine isn’t.
  • Spread Queza’s drain across opponents to keep three life totals dropping, or focus the archenemy.
  • Pestilence/Crypt Rats are your “I’m behind on board” reset; play around your own life total using Queza/dual lifegain.
  • Hold counters for combo/big threats; use cheap edicts and Murder on hexproof/indestructible problem creatures.

Weaknesses

  • No fast clock. If an opponent gains a ton of life or runs lifegain hate on you, the drain race slows. Crypt Rats/Pestilence are the closers when the table outraces small drains.
  • Graveyard/draw hate (Notion-Rain-style life loss, or symmetric “no draw” effects) hurts more than most decks.
  • Heavy flier/go-wide aggro can outpace the pingers; lean on Drown in Sorrow / Evincar’s Justice / Pestilence sweeps.
  • Three-color tapland-heavy base means some slow opening hands; the cantrips smooth this over.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

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