I've written about a lot of things over the years now with close to 700 articles under my belt on this website. While I generally love to keep things centered to my love of Magic and my own personal experiences within the game, every now and then I love getting to talk about other things I enjoy as well.

This is one reason I've come to love Universes Beyond quite a bit. Divisive as it may be, it's allowed me to talk about a lot of things I love. I've gotten to gush about some of my favorite video games, movies, and TV shows a ton and I have an absolute blast doing so. Now, though, I get to talk about something else thanks to this line of products: music. Specifically heavy metal music.

It's no secret that I'm a die-hard metalhead. I've written pieces about it before like "Heavy Metal Thraximundar" and "Opening Up the Faerie Mosh Pit With Alela." Heck, I named an article covering Pauper Pestilence decks with a reference to Metallica's classic track "The Four Horsemen!" If you follow me on BlueSky, chances are you'll see me sharing tracks, albums, and/or artists from time to time. After all, there's a lot of great stuff out there and I've got over 20 years of rocking out under my belt.

While you might see me gushing about bands like Eluveitie, X Japan, and Summoning, sometimes you've just gotta respect the classics. The ones everyone knows. And boy do I get to do that today thanks to a recent batch of Secret Lairs for the legendary British band Iron Maiden.

I absolutely love Iron Maiden. I'll never forget the first time I heard all-timers like The Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, and The Trooper. They're legendary! All throughout high school, I'd find myself jamming to numerous Maiden albums like Piece of Mind, Powerslave (their best), Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and A Matter of Life and Death. Heck, I even used their epic song Rime of the Ancient Mariner to get me through an English class where we were reading the original classic poem!

What made them that much more memorable, though, was the distinct visual flair of Iron Maiden's album covers. The band's zombie-like mascot - affectionately known as Eddie - is a veritable icon of heavy metal. Eddie is front and center in every single one of their albums, making for some truly killer pieces of art to look at even if you're not a metal fan. Heck, even before I knew who Iron Maiden was, I'd find myself using their album arts for my own custom Magic cards as a kid, just because they looked that cool.

So, you can imagine my surprise, then, when Iron Maiden got not one but two stellar Secret Lair drops! One of them featured several of these classic artworks - something that has my childhood self grinning from ear to ear. The other brings two Maiden artists - one of whom has done pieces for MTG before - and get them to create all new depictions of Eddie for a variety of cards. This includes a really fun version of the Urza's Legacy rare named, well, Iron Maiden!

Personally, I was probably the most stoked for the album arts lair. The thought of using Live After Death copies of Animate Dead in Legacy Reanimator or No Prayer for the Dying Unearths was too hard to pass up on. Not to mention that Temporal Trespass sees some occasional Constructed play as well, and with wildly iconic art for Somewhere In Time on it, no less! That's to say nothing of having classic arts from Killers and The Number of the Beast on some casual favorites as well!

But I'd be hard pressed to not talk about the other lair as well - the one that offers new depictions of Eddie the Head himself!

The Eddie Unchained lair was off the charts value-wise. Just about every card in the drop is a popular and heavily played card aside from the inclusion of Iron Maiden, but I mean come on - they had to! Best of all, it offers three ways to play as Eddie in the command zone, and all three are quite powerful cards. You get your pick of Bruvac the Grandiloquent (as Eddie the Judge), Captain N'ghathrod (as Eddie, Ghost of the Navigator), and Nekusar, the Mindrazer (as Eddie, Lord of Light).

That's a lot of cool ways to play as an icon of an entire genre of music! I really wanted to find a way to build one of these, as well as write about it. So, I thought about it and ended up settling on building Captain N'ghathrod! While I think the other versions - particularly Bruvac the Grandiloquent - are cooler looking, I think this just feels like the most novel without being oppressive.

Bruvac decks often just turn into Persistent Petitioners.dec, plus whatever Mono-Blue mill effects you can shove into a single deck. It's novel and fun, but a little too one-note for my liking. You can probably put one together without me making a list. As for Nekusar, while he's a popular Commander, he's a little too oppressive in my eyes. I adore Underworld Dreams strategies, but after building him and playing with him once, I found the experience too unfun for everyone else.

As such, I figure the coolest approach would be to take the deck that will offer the coolest and most enjoyable experience at your average Commander pod. Let's check out a list and get to talking about it!

Eddie, Ghost of the Navigator | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Captain N'ghathrod

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Brainstealer Dragon
• 1 Bruvac the Grandiloquent
• 1 Changeling Outcast
• 1 Chasm Skulker
• 1 Consuming Aberration
• 1 Defiler of Flesh
• 1 Faceless Butcher
• 1 Fleshwrither
• 1 Grave Titan
• 1 Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
• 1 Guiltfeeder
• 1 Hell's Caretaker
• 1 Hooded Horror
• 1 Horrid Shadowspinner
• 1 Hullbreaker Horror
• 1 K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1 Mesmeric Fiend
• 1 Mindleech Mass
• 1 Nemesis of Reason
• 1 Nighthowler
• 1 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 1 Overlord of the Floodpits
• 1 Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1 Phyrexian Rager
• 1 Phyrexian Revoker
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Sewer Nemesis
• 1 Silent Hallcreeper
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 The Scarab God
• 1 Thing in the Ice // Awoken Horror
• 1 Umbris, Fear Manifest
• 1 Wharf Infiltrator
• 1 Woe Strider

• Instants (7)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Doom Blade
• 1 Drown in Dreams
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 1 Lethal Scheme
• 1 Unseal the Necropolis
• 1 Visions of Beyond

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Breach the Multiverse
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1 Singularity Rupture
• 1 The Final Days
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Windfall

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Fraying Sanity
• 1 Kindred Discovery
• 1 Reflections of Littjara

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Dimir Keyrune
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Howling Mine
• 1 Mindcrank
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 The Water Crystal

• Lands (39)
• 2 Island
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Agna Qel'a
• 1 Bad River
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Gloomlake Verge
• 1 Mistrise Village
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Nephalia Drownyard
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Port of Karfell
• 1 Realm of Koh
• 1 Restless Reef
• 1 River of Tears
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Sunken Ruins
• 1 Tainted Isle
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Undercity Sewers
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave

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I was pretty eager to find some neat ways to build around this legend! Before I could get to anything specifically thematic, though, I had to do the obvious: figure out which of the other Iron Maiden cards work great in this deck.

The better question probably ends up being which ones don't work at all? Three cards are outright exempt: Lignify, bonus card Burnt Offering, and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Each of these includes a color Captain N'ghathrod doesn't allow, so they're easy to ignore. I also left out Unearth since there are less small creatures in Commander and also left out Iron Maiden as it's probably better suited to Nekusar as opposed to a mill-focused list like this. I also dropped Temporal Trespass because it just wasn't passing the vibe check, and a lot of people just don't like dealing with extra turn cards - even in small doses like this.

Several of the other cards were perfect, though. As much as I'm not personally a fan of Bruvac in the command zone, it works great in the 99 of a deck that synergizes with mill. That also makes Mindcrank a natural inclusion too. Windfall helps to fill the graveyard and give you the fuel you need. You can then use your Animate Dead to bring those creatures back, or else just play a big threat like Grave Titan.

Oh, and the bonus card of Howling Mine is Commander perfection - regardless of whether it's really mill-oriented or not.

As I started filling out the decklist, though, there was something I started to notice: many of the cards I was adding in were included in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. Huh, I wonder why?

Oh, yeah, Captain N'ghathrod was the face commander of the Mind Flayarrrs Commander deck.

...and I already wrote about him back in 2022!

Still, I really wanted to write about Iron Maiden and didn't want to do either of the other two commanders, so here we are. A lot of the information in the previous article is still relevant, though there's a benefit to this one in that I built this deck from scratch. The last article was improving on an already existing preconstructed deck, meaning there's potential for some differences to show along the way.

The other sweet thing is that horror typal is quite Limited, meaning there aren't a lot of options to work with on average. However, due to a number of sets in recent years - particularly Duskmourn: House of Horror and the Phyrexia Arc - we've actually gotten a couple of sweet new horrors to play with!

For example, one that really stood out to me as I was going through potential options was Defiler of Flesh from Dominaria United. This card came out shortly after I put out my original article, meaning it couldn't get included. However, it really works wonders with Captain N'ghathrod since it makes all your horrors harder to block. This means you can connect for damage more easily, thus milling your opponents to let you pull more cards.

Duskmourn's additions were even juicier. The set's become perhaps best known for its iconic Overlord cycle that was inspired by the original Magic 2011 Titan cycle. All five are outstandingly playable cards in their own right, and this makes both Overlord of the Floodpits and Overlord of the Balemurk fantastic cards. Balemurk can be a little pricey, so if it's not something you can swing, just take a look around and try finding something that works for you.

I'm also extremely partial to Silent Hallcreeper from the same set. Right out of the gate, it's unblockable, which is the perfect amount of evasion to trigger Captain N'ghathrod. Better still, it can pump itself with its first ability to dish out even more damage. Once you get three good hits in, it can then become a copy of your best threat. While it'll lose its evasion, it makes up for it with turning into something a little more potent as it retains its +1/+1 counters.

I also considered the Mindskinner as it works great with the mill strategy, but it had two knocks against it for me. First, it's an illusion and not a horror, meaning there's only so much it can do. Second, it prevents all damage your creatures deal, meaning you can only win on one axis (milling) and that's already enabled by your commander, so why use a worse redundant version here?

Final Fantasy also added in a few cards that proved pretty sweet. The Final Days in particular caught my attention as I was looking for interesting ways to fill the board with horrors. At face value alone, it lets you make two horrors for four mana. That's not a bad deal, but the real power comes when you cast it for its flashback cost. You can easily create a massive swarm to overtake the board in quick succession, allowing you to obliterate your opponents, their libraries, and steal some sweet stuff in the process!

The Water Crystal is a great way to help you there as well. With this card, it turns even every one of your horrors into a veritable threat. Even a 1/1 getting in - like an unblockable Changeling Outcast - will take out 1/20 of an opponent's deck in one shot! That gets out of hand extremely fast, and leaves you spoiled for choice at what you can take from your opponents as well.

Additionally, while I opted not to include them, two other cards stuck out to me as well. Malboro seemed like an awesome card that works great as either a landcycler or as a big threat that generates you some value. I also liked Shambling Cie'th as it can repeatedly come back with ease, giving you a threat that's difficult to get rid of. With only so much space, though, I cut them out, but it shows that there's a lot of great ways to flesh out a deck like this that weren't available in 2022.

I'd also like to highlight a couple cards I included in this list that I didn't include last time that stood out to me as I was working on this list.

There were a number of horrors that I was surprised I didn't include. One of the bigger ones was Phyrexian Obliterator. If ever there was a deck where this card could shine, it's here. Yes it's usually an unblockable 5/5, but that's perfect for what Captain N'ghathrod is trying to do. It's obviously better if they block it too!

Thing in the Ice // Awoken Horror also stood out as something you'd think would be great. It wipes away all opposing blockers while leaving you with a huge set of threats to go for the kill. Perhaps it's because there were too few spells to flip it, which may be true here as well. Still, I think you can make it work and if you can the payoff is more than worth the effort. Mindleech Mass can help close the gap as well by allowing you to cast your opponents' spells, making up for the ones you lack in your deck.

I also rather liked adding in Syr Konrad, the Grim, and it surprises me it wasn't in the deck previously. It's such an easy to acquire card that rapidly wipes out your opponents. In a pinch, you can also activate his ability to allow you to get something with Captain N'ghathrod. I also included The Scarab God as an additional means to repeatedly resurrect creatures over and over again.

Speaking of resurrecting creatures, how was Rise of the Dark Realms not in my previous upgrade article? I suppose I'm not the biggest fan of it, but it seems like too good of a card to pass up on here with how much milling is happening across the board. This also makes a card like Visions of Beyond far better for a deck like this too, making that an easy add. If you really want to push the strategy further, the newer printings of Breach the Multiverse and Singularity Rupture are well worth including.

These only represent a small number of ways that you can build a deck like this - and best of all it shows there's a ton of ways to improve as the years go on! Most importantly, though, it's a great way to rock one of my favorite metal bands and rock out while playing Magic.

I got to see Iron Maiden several years ago now on their Book of Souls tour and it really solidified to me just how awesome they really are. Even as the band enters their twilight years, they continue to prove they can rock with the best of them and put on a hell of a show. Even their newer albums, while nowhere close to as good as the classics, are still excellent in their own right.

I really love getting to see two lifelong loves come together like this. Hopefully you do as well, and maybe it'll make for an awesome time at your next Commander night - full of headbanging and moshing.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go give Powerslave another spin! (Just kidding, I've been banging my head and singing along to their whole discography as I wrote this. Long live Iron Maiden!)

Paige Smith

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