Gaius van Baelsar
When Gaius van Baelsar enters, choose one — • Each player sacrifices a creature token of their choice. • Each player sacrifices a nontoken creature of their choice. • Each player sacrifices an enchantment of their choice.
How Gaius van Baelsar decks play in EDH
Gaius van Baelsar is a mono-black commander costing 2BB, and its legendary creature - human soldier line shapes the whole deck around it. Sacrifice is built into the card, which pairs it with cheap recursive creatures and payoffs that trigger when something dies. Enchantments drive the deck, so effects that recur or copy them add up quickly. The cards below are the ones Gaius van Baelsar decks actually play most often, grouped by the job they do.
Most-played cards
20 cards · about $22.35Play rates from EDHREC. Prices from Scryfall, refreshed daily.
Ramp (1)
Card draw (2)
Creatures (12)
Synergy & payoffs (5)
Build the full 100
Grimoire generates a complete, Commander-legal Gaius van Baelsar decklist with a written strategy, a full mana base and live prices — from the whole card pool, or only from cards you already own.
Start with Gaius van BaelsarGaius van Baelsar deck questions
What colours can I use in a Gaius van Baelsar deck?
Gaius van Baelsar has a mono-black colour identity, so every card in the deck must be black or colourless. That includes mana symbols in rules text, not just casting cost.
What are the best cards for Gaius van Baelsar?
The cards played most often in Gaius van Baelsar decks include Namazu Trader, Mortician Beetle, Archfiend of the Dross. The full list of staples above is grouped by the job each card does, so you can see the deck's skeleton rather than just a pile of names.
How much does a Gaius van Baelsar deck cost?
The 20 most-played cards shown above come to roughly $22.35 at current market prices. A complete 100-card build costs more, and Grimoire can generate a budget version instead if you set a price ceiling.
Can I build a Gaius van Baelsar deck from cards I already own?
Yes. Import your collection into Grimoire and choose "my cards" when you build. The generator will only use cards you actually own, and the Missing Cards page shows what you would need to buy to finish any list.