The easiest way to win in Magic? Draw a lot cards! Oh boy... I will help you drawing cards and you will hate it....

Draw till you die.

>Why Nekusar

>Story Time

Back to the early years of the 2000s, I played a Deck around Phyrexian Tyranny and always loved the mechanic of forcing your opponent to draw cards and kill him with it.
So after a couple of years where I had a break from MTG, my childhoodfriend showed me the new Commander format - i loved it from the beginning. I played a couple of Decks in the "usual" way like tribals etc.
But then I started to search for a Commander which would allow me to build a Deck like my Phyrexian Tyranny Deck AND BOOOM = NEKUSAR.

> Facts

The big strenght of Nekusar is, that he has a group hug touch - because as long as there is "only" Nekusar on the battlefield, everbody can draw 2 cards for 2 life. The most Players take this very thankful before escalete with wheels.

So Nekusar is the right commander for you if you:

• Want an unusual commander
• Play in a group of 4
• Want to easily kill 3 opponents at once
• Like to play as the underdog
• Like the mechanic of punishing card draw or discard
• Like politics
• Simply have good tastes

>Starting Hands

In most cases, a good starting hand will have 3-4 mana sources, a counterspell, a draw or discard punishment and creature to protect you.
Wheels are not important on the starting hand, because you will have to build up your setup to get the most value.

>Get your Setup online

The most important thing about the setup is having patience. If you play, for example, an early Megrim or Underworld Dreams, your opponents will get worried and target you in the early game.

The best setup plan (in case you have the right cards) would be:

1. Get your manabase ready (at least enough mana to play wheels and interact with the responses)
2. Play protection (could be a creature or something like Dissipation Field)
3. Play a draw or discard punishment card (Nekusar, Megrim etc.)
4. Start playing wheels
5. Defend and keep playing wheels

The best case is to play a wheel and get another wheel from the new cards you have drawn.

>After playing a Draw or Discard Punishment

You have to keep in mind - Nekusar usually doesn't make your opponents immediately want to kill you, BUT as soon as you play a punishment card your opponents are at risk of taking twice as much damage, so you will be target number 1. You always have to make sure that you play a punishment card ONLY when you can protect yourself or swing for huge damage.

>Why Wheels and no steady carddraw?

In the early days of my Nekusar deck I played cards like Howling Mine to increase the steady card draw for the table. The big problem is you give your opponents huge amount of value AND enough time to kill you before their life gets too low. That's the reason I switched to wheels, because with the right setup, I can kill easily 1-3 opponents in one turn.

>Winning

Best way to win is to have 2 or 3 draw or discard punishment cards on the field and start wheeling. Sounds simple? Yes it is - it's all about timing and patience.
You have to be the underdog as long as possible and then swing like a train in your opponents' faces. If I face a lifegain deck, I play Grafted Exoskeleton.

>Matchups

>Good Matchups

This deck works well against slow decks that have to build up and setup or voltron decks (because we have a lot of interaction). It also works the best in groups where nobody knows how Nekusar can kill real quick. And of course it works very well against decks which draw a lot of cards like Toothy, Sythis, etc.

>Bad Matchups

Really fast creature decks are a big pain for Nekusar. Also decks with tons of counterspells will be hard to beat. If your playgroup knows and fears Nekusar, you will probably be taken very seriously.

>Single card discussion

>Ramp

Arcane Signet - Mana Fix
Chromatic Lantern - Mana Fix
Decanter of Endless Water - Mana Fix and max Handsize
Mana Crypt - fast as fuck boiiiiii
Mox Amber - Mana Fix
Sol Ring - fast as fuck boiiii
Talisman of Creativity - Mana Fix
Talisman of Dominance - Mana Fix
Talisman of Indulgence - Mana Fix

>Carddraw

Rhystic Study - The best carddraw in my opinion
Venser's Journal - Max Handsize and lifegain

>Wheels

Dark Deal - Wheel incl. Discard
Forced Fruition - brutal with an Draw or Discard Punishment
Incendiary Command - - Wheel incl. Discard with alternatives
Jace's Archivist - Steady Wheel incl. Discard
Molten Psyche - Wheel without Discard but with lifeloss
Peer into the Abyss - With an punishment on the field its an oneshot kill - i use it to make politics
Reforge the Soul - Wheel incl. Discard with the chance of beeing cheap
Teferi's Puzzle Box - steady carddraw
Wheel and Deal - The best Wheel in my opinion - you can make politics and keep your hand - and Instant
Wheel of Fortune - Wheel incl. Discard
Whispering Madness - This Card is pure madness
Windfall - Nice finisher for decks who draw a huge amount of cards like toothy etc
Winds of Change - Cheap Wheel

>Draw Punishment

Fate Unraveler - 1 Card / 1 Damage
Kederekt Parasite - 1 Card / 1 Damage
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - All in one / Carddraw, Removal and Defence
Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted - Nice punishment and removal
Psychosis Crawler - Punishment and Defence
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse - Just Pain xD
Spiteful Visions - 1 Card / 1 Damage and steady carddraw
Underworld Dreams - 1 Card / 1 Damage

>Discard Punishment

Bloodchief Ascension - Really bad when its online cause it works with discard AND everything else thats goes into the GY
Archfiend of Ifnir - One sided boardwipe when you discard your hand
Liliana's Caress - 1 Discard / 2 Damage
Megrim - 1 Discard / 2 Damage
Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern - Just pure value if you play a wheel.
Waste Not - Cheap value generator

>Token

Ominous Seas - Defence or Wincon if you drew enpough cards to get an army
Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim - the tokens easily get out of hands and with an wheel you put fast a bunch of counters on teferi
The Locust God - Simple Thing, i draw a lot of cards and get a lot of defence

>Protection

Dissipation Field - Bounce attacking creatures
Propaganda - Makes it harder to attack you
Swiftfoot Boots - Classic Protection for Nekusar

>Removal

Baleful Mastery - Removal with cheaper mode
Cyclonic Rift - Wincon or final Protection (overload)
Damnation - Boardwipe
Imprisoned in the Moon - Spotremoval for long time
Pongify - spot removal
Toxic Deluge - Boardwipe if someone plays indestruc

>Counterspells

Deflecting Swat - I use it to protect my punishments oder nekusar - shoot at value of opponents
Fierce Guardianship - free counterspell
Force of Will - free counterspell
Mana Drain - i use it of course for big spells of my opponents

>Tutor

Demonic Tutor - Searching for Value Cards
Imperial Seal - Searching for Value Cards
Mystical Tutor - Searching for Value Cards

>Good Stuff

Harmonic Prodigy - triggers nekusar an extra time
Library of Leng - noi max handsize and no discard for me
Master of the Feast - defence and steady carddraw
Nightscape Familiar - cheaper spells
Spark Double - double a creature for defence or value

>Double Damage

Fiery Emancipation - Boost the Damage of Nekusar
Solphim, Mayhem Dominus - Boost the Damage of Nekusar