commander · Szarekh, the Silent King
Necron Dynasties (40K).
A mono-black Necron artifact reanimator deck led by Szarekh, the Silent King — recur artifact creatures from the graveyard, drain life from each death trigger, and win through an indestructible army of reanimated Necron warriors.
The Commanders
Necron Dynasties is a mono-black Commander deck themed around the undying Necrons of Warhammer 40,000. The plan is recursive: send artifact creatures to the graveyard deliberately, then return them repeatedly to generate value, drain opponents, and build an unstoppable board. The deck leans heavily on artifacts-matter synergies and the Necron's signature mechanic of rising from death.
Szarekh, the Silent King is a legendary Necron that pays you life and draws cards when artifact creatures die. He has a cost-reducing ability for Necron spells and his own triggered ability lets him return Necron artifact creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. He's the recursion engine: kill your own creatures, draw cards through Szarekh's death triggers, then bring them back. The cycle repeats every turn.
Imotekh the Stormlord is the aggressive alternative. He's a legendary Necron Warrior that makes artifact creatures you control attack each turn if able, and whenever he attacks, create Warrior tokens based on your artifact count. He converts the artifact creature count into an aggressive token strategy — rather than grinding through death triggers, Imotekh attacks relentlessly and builds a wide board.
Key Cards
Biotransference
A legendary 40K enchantment. All creatures you control are artifacts in addition to their other types. This turns every creature in the deck into an artifact — which means every death trigger, every artifact-matters payoff, and every Szarekh draw trigger fires off nonartifact creatures too. Biotransference dramatically expands the deck's synergy density and makes splash threats like Gray Merchant of Asphodel an artifact for all purposes.
Ghost Ark
A legendary Necron artifact Vehicle. When it enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, return target Necron creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Repeatable recursion that costs zero mana once Ghost Ark is in play. Each upkeep you get a free Necron back. Pair this with cheap Necron Warrior tokens and you always have bodies to crew it next turn. Ghost Ark is the backbone of the recursion loop.
Living Death
Each player exiles their graveyard, sacrifices all creatures, then returns all exiled creatures to the battlefield. In a mono-black deck that proactively fills its graveyard with Necron creatures, Living Death is a game-ending board refill. You return thirty creatures from your bin while opponents — who haven't been stocking their graveyards — get back very little. After resolving, your board is larger than any opponent's.
Cranial Plating
Equipment that gives the equipped creature +1/+0 for each artifact you control. In a deck where every creature is an artifact thanks to Biotransference, Cranial Plating turns any creature into a one-swing threat. Equip it to a flying Necron and swing for fifteen damage. Pay the instant equip cost to flash it onto an attacker mid-combat for a surprise lethal hit. The deck runs enough artifacts that Cranial Plating routinely represents twenty or more power.
Out of the Tombs
A 40K exclusive enchantment. At the beginning of each end step, if three or more creatures died this turn, reanimate a creature card from a graveyard. In a deck that constantly cycles creatures through the graveyard through Szarekh's death triggers and sacrifice effects, Out of the Tombs fires almost every turn. It can reanimate from opponents' graveyards too — steal the best creature anyone played this game at the end step after it died.
How to Play
Set up the recursion loop early: fill your graveyard through discard effects, sacrifice outlets, and combat. Get Szarekh or Ghost Ark in play to start returning creatures each turn. Deploy Biotransference to make every creature an artifact and unlock the full synergy density of the deck.
Win through two paths: abuse Out of the Tombs and Living Death to build an unstoppable board of reanimated creatures, or equip Cranial Plating to one creature and swing for lethal damage in a single attack. The deck is resilient against removal — everything comes back. Opponents can only stop you with graveyard hate, so keep Ghost Ark in play to recur threats through any disruption.