The Balrog, Durin's Bane
This spell costs {1} less to cast for each permanent sacrificed this turn. Haste The Balrog can't be blocked except by legendary creatures. When The Balrog dies, destroy target artifact or creature an opponent controls.
How The Balrog decks play in EDH
The Balrog, Durin's Bane is a Rakdos commander in black and red costing 5BR, and its legendary creature - avatar demon 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. Artifacts drive the deck, so cheap mana rocks and artifact recursion do double duty. The cards below are the ones The Balrog, Durin's Bane decks actually play most often, grouped by the job they do.
Most-played cards
20 cards · about $42.86Play rates from EDHREC. Prices from Scryfall, refreshed daily.
Ramp (8)
Card draw (1)
Removal (3)
Creatures (1)
Synergy & payoffs (6)
Lands (1)
Build the full 100
Grimoire generates a complete, Commander-legal The Balrog, Durin's Bane 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 The BalrogThe Balrog deck questions
What colours can I use in a The Balrog, Durin's Bane deck?
The Balrog, Durin's Bane has a Rakdos colour identity, so every card in the deck must be black and red or colourless. That includes mana symbols in rules text, not just casting cost.
What are the best cards for The Balrog, Durin's Bane?
The cards played most often in The Balrog, Durin's Bane decks include Smaug, Wicked Worm, The Sackville-Bagginses, Smaug the Magnificent. 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 The Balrog, Durin's Bane deck cost?
The 20 most-played cards shown above come to roughly $42.86 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 The Balrog, Durin's Bane 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.