Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Legendary Creature — Vampire · {3}{U}{U}{B}{B} · Black/Blue commander
Flying
If Szadek would deal combat damage to a player, instead put that many +1/+1 counters on Szadek and that player mills that many cards.
Build a Szadek, Lord of Secrets deck →
What Szadek, Lord of Secrets actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Replacement effect · otherIf Szadek would deal combat damage to a player, instead put that many +1/+1 counters on Szadek and that player mills that many cards.
- Keyword · flyingflying
What a Szadek, Lord of Secrets deck needs
Plays as mill. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- opponent-mill spells and permanents, and mill payoffs (their library is the win)
- counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
The Szadek, Lord of Secrets deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 21× Mill the opponents — their library is the win condition
- 8× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- 10× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
Best cards for Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Mill the opponents — their library is the win condition
- Altar of the Brood1 mana
- Ruin Crab1 mana
- Folio of Fancies2 mana
- Syr Konrad, the Grim5 mana
- Ghoulcaller's Bell1 mana
- Psychic Corrosion3 mana
- The Water Crystal4 mana
- Eye Collector1 mana
Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive2 mana
- Glaring Spotlight1 mana
- Wonder4 mana
- Reverse the Polarity3 mana
- Cultist of the Absolute1 mana
- Inquisitorial Rosette2 mana
- Predators' Hour2 mana
- Rogue Class2 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Thrummingbird2 mana
- Blightbelly Rat2 mana
- Scheming Aspirant2 mana
- Vexing Radgull2 mana
- Voidwing Hybrid2 mana
- Venser, Corpse Puppet2 mana
- Kid Loki1 mana
- Dreamtide Whale3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Mindbreak Trap4 mana
- Fierce Guardianship3 mana
- Force of Negation3 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Flare of Denial3 mana
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
- Arcane Denial2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- Desynchronization4 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana