When KYT initially asked me to write a guest piece for Mana Deprived, I wasn’t really sure what an appropriate topic would be. In many senses, Commander isn’t really a format for Spikes, and it’s difficult to find material that’s interesting to a more tournament-oriented audience. When you think about it though, there’s no reason that Spikes can’t enjoy the format in the same way that “more casual” players do; we just need to better understand the differences between the player profiles, and the barriers that prevent meaningful understanding between casual and competitive players.
Most tournament players I know who don’t play Commander cite the format’s nebulous nature as the reason, and I can definitely understand that. Commander is a format where the means by which you play are infinitely more important than the end-goal of winning, which is not only basically meaningless, but can lead to arguments about what exactly “casual” means, especially when my understanding of casual doesn’t match exactly with yours. In many ways, this is a MUCH higher entry barrier to the format than the $300-500 for a reasonable standard deck.
When the goals of the game aren’t clearly defined, and the terms by which you play are nebulous and subject to change at a moment’s notice, it really isn’t a spike-friendly format, but that’s not to say that more competitive players can’t find a way to integrate themselves with the local Commander community and find a way to enjoy the format. In order to do that, though, the Spikes and Timmies need to understand one another and communicate meaningfully about what they’re looking to get out of a game.
First, we need to understand that the “typical” Commander player is NOTHING like the vocal online community. There are two stereotypical Commander players that are much more common online than in a local setting. The first is what we at Commandercast like to call “the casual inquisition.” These are the people who believe that there is a “right” way to play Commander, and that anything that doesn’t fit into their idea of a good game is inherently terrible, and will whine and berate you incessantly. These players do exist, but you have to understand two things about them. Firstly, they’re going to complain about anything and everything that stops them from winning. Secondly, the other casual players hate them just as much as you do, and for the same reason: that kind of player isn’t really interested in playing with other people, they’re interested in letting other people watch them win.
The second demographic are actually the players that Spikes would enjoy playing with more. These are the players that have tuned, optimized, and pimped commander decks that execute their gameplan as brutally and efficiently as possible, and tend to win or lock down the game by turn 5 or so. These kinds of players are another set of players who don’t really “get” the format. At that point, you’re not really playing Commander as much as you’re playing Vintage-Lite or 99-card singleton Legacy.
What most people are looking for from this format falls somewhere between these two extremes. You’re allowed to play good cards, and you’re allowed to build decks that do powerful things that you like doing. You just need to allow at least a little space for other people to do the things they want to do as well. You don’t have to build a deck that starts casting [card]Craw Wurm[/card] on turn 6. But you also shouldn’t be building a deck that consistently ends the game on turn 4 (unless that’s what other players are expecting, in which case go for it!).
Even if that’s a better description of what the format generally entails, it’s still pretty vague and not very helpful for someone looking to get into the format. Honestly, the easiest way to approach the format is to be a Johnny or Timmy during deckbuilding, and be a Spike during gameplay. What I mean by that is this: when you’re playing, do whatever you can with the cards you’re dealt to win the game; people shouldn’t hold that against you. However, during deckbuilding, the goal isn’t to build the most powerful deck possible; it’s to build a deck that you’ll enjoy playing. I know I’ve met a number of competitive players who absolutely love the competition involved in this game, and couldn’t tell you what they actually like about the game itself, so it’s hard for them to build a deck that they’ll enjoy playing that doesn’t involve brutally massacring the table.
In that case, I’ve found it helpful to ask someone which constructed decks they’ve enjoyed the most. Everyone has at least one deck from one format that they enjoyed playing regardless of whether it’s the “best” deck or not. Whether you loved the skill intensive CawBlade or Teachings mirrors, or doing the burn math with aggressive red decks, everyone has at least one deck from their Magic career that’s spoken to them in some way. In a format as broad and open as commander, it’s relatively easy to take the themes from decks that you enjoyed playing in 60-4 formats and build something comparable for Commander.
What I’d like to do with the rest of this article is take a look at a few of my favorite constructed decks of all time, and build Commander copies of those decks. I don’t want to spend too much time going over individual choices, since that’s what my column at Quiet Speculation is for, but it a general overview should be enough to give people a place to start! With that said, here are some of my all-time favorite constructed decks that I want to take a look at: Gifts control, Ghost Dad, and Valakut Ramp.
To start with, let’s take a look at what contemporary Gifts control looks like in a competitive format:
[Deck title=Shouta Yasooka – Gifts Control]
[Lands]
3 Arid mesa
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
3 Marsh Flats
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Plains
4 Temple Garden
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
3 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Day of Judgment
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Life from the Loam
1 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Path to Exile
2 Pulse of the Fields
1 Rude Awakening
3 Wrath of God
[/Spells]
[/deck]
[deck title=Legacy Thopter Gifts]
[Lands]
1 Academy Ruins
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Seat of the Synod
3 Island
4 Plains
3 Ancient Den
2 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Opal
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Humility
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Repeal
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Argivian Find
[/Spells]
[/deck]
It shouldn’t be a secret to anyone that [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card] is my favorite card that’s ever been printed, and lists like these are the reason why. Gifts is such a flexible and powerful engine that allows you to do just about anything you could want. You get to run the most consistent and resilient combinations of cards as win conditions without having to worry about drawing dead copies. You get to run narrow answers for particular matchups and resolve them multiple times for rub ins.
There are a few things we’ve got to consider when porting this to commander. The first of which is that [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card] is banned. [card]Intuition[/card] makes a fine substitution, but we still only get one copy, so we’re going to want to run as many similar cards, tutors, and ways to regrow [card]Intuition[/card] as possible.
You also need to have a variety of [card]Intuition[/card] packages to accomplish different things at different points in the game; piles to answer different types of permanents, to threaten to end the game, and to stabilize the board. [card]Horde of Notions[/card] as a general gives you a ton of flexibility in piles, and is a late-game engine unto himself, so he’s a great starting point to build a list around:
General: [card]Horde of Notions[/card]
[cardlist]
[Lands]
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 High market
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Dust Bowl
1 Vesuva
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Mystic Gate
1 Flooded Grove
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Vivid Creek
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Snow-Covered Island
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Mulldrifter
1 Wispmare
1 Shriekmaw
1 Sun Titan
1 Eternal Witness
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Genesis
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Intuition
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Quiet Speculation
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Regrowth
1 Necromancy
1 Recollect
1 Nostalgic Dreams
1 All Suns’ Dawn
1 Life from the Loam
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Austere Command
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Crib Swap
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Vindicate
1 Recoup
1 Dread Return
1 Raven’s Crime
1 Grim Discovery
1 Cryptic Command
1 Counterspell
1 Mana Drain
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Prismatic Omen
1 Last Stand
1 Expedition Map
[/Spells]
[/cardlist]
Let me start by saying that I get headaches just looking at this list and the decision trees you get to deal with. That said, here are a few sample piles I intentionally built into the list:
[card]Worm Harvest[/card], [card]Dread Return[/card], fatty
[card]Recoup[/card], Sorcery, X
[card]Sun Titan[/card], [card]Necromancy[/card], [card]Eternal Witness[/card]
[card]Life from the Loam[/card], Crucible, Utility Land
The thing that I like about this kind of list is that every card is important, and will play a particular role. [card]Mystical Teachings[/card], for example, is awesome in [card]Intuition[/card] piles, since it threatens to be anything, even if they bin it. It could become a [card]Makeshift Mannequin[/card] in a creature pile, a [card]Muddle the Mixture[/card] to find your [card]Thopter Foundry[/card], or any number of other things, depending on what you want the deck to do.
This list is definitely far from optimal, since you’ve got a number of divergent plans, and not terribly many control tools. I’d love to fit [card]Replenish[/card] and bomby enchantments like [card]Humility[/card] into the deck, for example. However, it captures most things I liked about the above Gifts lists very well, in that you can answer just about anything if you think far enough ahead, and you get to play with your favorite narrow cards!
The next deck I want to take a look at is probably my favorite tempo/midrangey deck of all time, from one of my favorite formats: Champions-Ravnica standard: Ghost Dad. Built largely on the power of [card]Tallowisp[/card] and [card]Dark Confidant[/card], the deck came out of nowhere to dominate a format for a few weeks, and to be the basis of many future B/W disruption decks before the rotation.
[deck title=Ben Goodman – Ghost Dad]
[Lands]
6 Plains
6 Swamp
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Godless Shrine
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Tomb of Urami
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Dark Confidant
3 Kami of Ancient Law
3 Plagued Rusalka
4 Tallowisp
4 Thief of Hope
4 Ghost Council of Orzhova
2 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Indomitable Will
3 Pillory of the Sleepless
1 Strands of Undeath
4 Shining Shoal
4 Sickening Shoal
[/Spells]
[/deck]
The problem with porting this sort of deck into Commander is that you’re playing a singleton format where you have to deal 120ish points of damage, as opposed to a 60-4 format where you have to deal 20. It’s much harder to tempo an entire table to death with hate bears and grinding out extra cards here and there, since card advantage is the name of the game in multiplayer. However, what you can do is identify some of the most unique interactions, and find new ways to take advantage of them.
Here are a few thoughts, assuming that [card]Ghost Council of Orzhova[/card] is the general of the deck: Rather than using [card]Plagued Rusalka[/card] as a combat trick, we can use Ghost Council plus [card]Grave Pact[/card]-style effects to control the board. We can use the ample recursion in white and black to replace the card advantage provided by [card]Dark Confidant[/card] and [card]Tallowisp[/card]. Finally, rather than relying on [card]Thief of Hope[/card] and Spiritcraft to keep your life total reasonably high, we can use things like [card]Angelic Chorus[/card], since Ghost Council will always be around. Here’s my take based on these concepts:
General: [card]Ghost Council of Orzhova[/card]
[cardlist]
[Lands]
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Vesuva
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Deserted Temple
1 Strip Mine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Scrubland
1 Godless Shrine
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Fetid Heath
1 Command Tower
1 Kor Haven
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 High Market
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Barren Moor
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
1 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
1 Archon of Justice
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Sun Titan
1 Angel of Despair
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Sheoldred, Whispering one
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Tallowisp
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Karmic Guide
1 Bloodghast
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Academy Rector
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Animate Dead
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Ambition’s Cost
1 Ancient Craving
1 Angelic Chorus
1 Corpse Dance
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Debtors’ Knell
1 Mortify
1 Vindicate
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Liliana Vess
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Prison Term
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Replenish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Grave Pact
1 Profane Command
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Austere Command
1 Damnation
1 Decree of Pain
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Coalition Relic
1 Wayfarer’s Bauble
1 Expedition Map
[/Spells]
[/cardlist]
The biggest problem that this deck is going to have is closing games. You’ve got all sorts of ways to grind out small edges, and keep the board under control, but not many ways to actually win. You could easily fix that by adding some sort of [card]Reveillark[/card]/[card]Karmic Guide[/card]/[card]Blasting Station[/card] combo, since you can easily find most of the pieces with the density of tutors in this deck, but I prefer long grindy control games with cool, subtle interactions.
For example, [card]Necromancy[/card] plus [card]Twilight Shepherd[/card] – how sweet is that, especially with something like [card]Wrath of God[/card] or [card]Magus of the Disk[/card]? This deck may not be as true to its roots as the [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card] deck. It feels like the more controlling builds of B/W that cropped up after Saviors was printed and Ghost Husk became the beatdown build of choice. However, there are still remnants of the original build like [card]Tallowisp[/card] and [card]Teysa, Orzhov Scion[/card] that are just as awesome in this format as they were in Standard, and the deck is a blast to play for anyone who loves the kinds of techy plays that crop up when you’re playing a synergistic midrangey deck.
And the last and likely most hated of my favorite decks: Valakut. Anyone who’s talked to me about this game for any length of time knows that there’s nothing I like more than playing powerful lands. I’ve been playing different land-based decks in Legacy, Extended, and Commander ever since I knew that they existed, so there’s no question that I’m going to love a deck that plays a Spell-land in standard. I think it’s safe to assume that most readers of Manadeprived are familiar with this kind of beast:
[deck title=Brad Nelson – Valakut]
[Lands]
5 Forest
12 Mountain
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
1 Avenger of Zendikar
2 Inferno Titan
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Primeval Titan
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Harrow
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Summoning Trap
4 Explore
[/Spells]
[/deck]
Now, I’ve already discussed the problem with this kind of deck at length on Quiet Speculation, but let’s review. In a singleton format, it’s MUCH more difficult to build around a specific card because, well, you only have one copy. Anyone who’s played Valakut in any format knows that only having access to one of the namesake land severely limits your damage output. That’s the first obstacle that needs to be overcome.
The second obstacle is that you have to be able to deal 120ish damage instead of 20. This means that, in Commander, [card]Cultivate[/card] isn’t nearly the late-game threat that it is in Standard; our deck is going to need a way to compensate for that. One way to accomplish this is to cast bigger ramp spells, like [card]Explosive Vegetation[/card] and [card]Far Wanderings[/card]. Another way is to go even bigger with [card]Warp World[/card] and [card]Genesis Wave[/card]. Yet another is to double-up on any and all of these things with [card]Wort, the Raidmother[/card]. Here’s my take on a Valakut Ramp deck for commander:
General: [card]Wort, the Raidmother[/card]
[cardlist]
[Lands]
24 Snow-Covered Mountain
7 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Vesuva
1 Dust Bowl
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Primeval Titan
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Eternal Witness
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
1 Scapeshift
1 Reap and Sow
1 Crop Rotation
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Expedition Map
1 Sylvan Library
1 Mirri’s Guile
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Abundance
1 Harmonize
1 Hull Breach
1 Relic Crush
1 Primal Growth
1 Untamed Wilds
1 Nature’s Lore
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Into the North
1 Frenzied Tilling
1 Recross the Paths
1 Growth Spasm
1 Explore
1 Far Wanderings
1 Deep Reconnaissance
1 Rampant Growth
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Quest for Pure Flame
1 Acorn Harvest
1 Gelatinous Genesis
1 Perilous Forays
1 Journey of Discovery
1 Genesis Wave
1 Warp World
1 Prismatic Omen
1 Life from the Loam
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Primal Command
1 Regrowth
1 Recollect
1 Recoup
1 Vengeful Rebirth
1 Green Sun’s Zenith
1 Natural Order
[/Spells]
[/cardlist]
This deck is hilariously explosive, and goes way, way over the top sometimes, dishing out hundreds of points of damage. [card]Vesuva[/card] and Valakut mean that you’ve got two copies of your namesake, and [card]Quest for Pure Flame[/card] does a really good job of upping the damage output, especially when you regrow it multiple times on your “combo” turn.
If there are multiple decks packing [card]Strip Mine[/card] and [card]Tectonic Edge[/card], then this is almost certainly the wrong deck to be playing, since you’re so dependent on the two namesake lands. But, unmolested, you almost can’t lose because of the density of must-counter threats you can pump out in the mid-game. Who wants to take 24 off of a conspired [card]Explosive Vegetation[/card]?
And there’s a first order look at porting some of your favorite competitive decks to the format. It’s not an in-depth or comprehensive look (for those, you’ve got to take a look at my regular articles on Quiet Speculation, “the Arcane Lab” /plug), but it’s enough to show that it’s a simple, reasonable, and enjoyable place to start with the format if you’re not familiar with it. Playing something that’s familiar and that you enjoy is a great way to ease into casual formats, where the point isn’t to play the most powerful deck, but rather the most enjoyable one.
If you liked the article, check out more of my stuff on Quiet Speculation. If you’ve got comments, criticism, other competitive decks you want looked at, or really anything, shoot me an email or hit me up on twitter. I’m always glad to talk Magic with people!
Carlos Gutierrez
cag5383@gmail.com
@cag5383 on Twitter
Carlos is a Commander and Cube specialist who has recently decided to focus his deckbuilding chops on the competitive formats of the game. He has been an author for both Quiet Speculation and Legit MTG.