Commander Decks I Didnt Build Last Year (But Have Now)

There are upsides to cards coming at us at breakneck speed.  One of them is that there’s always something new to be excited about.  Another is that the creative juices are always flowing as we see the new things our talented friends in Studio X have sent our way.  One of the downsides is that time is precious.  Brewing and assembling decks is sometimes time-consuming.  Even if we’re always building, great ideas are either simply the stuff of dreams or get left on the drawing board.  Since it’s the end of the year, and we’ve had a little time before previews for Phyrexia: All Will Be One are on us in earnest, I’ve taken the time to put together the decks that had heretofore not yet come to fruition.

Depending on how you count them (like whether Innistrad: Double Feature counts as a set), there were nearly 300 new legendary creatures to choose from in 2022, more if you count the Secret Lair drops (and in some instances, their Universes Within counterparts).  From Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s Isshin, Two Heavens as One (from which I built two decks) at the beginning of the year to various incarnations of Urza and Mishra out of The Brothers’ War at the end, there’s no end of exciting choices.  Even being willing to commit some time to catching up, there’s still only so much time.  I had to make difficult choices.

What I Built in 2022 

Over the course of the year, I designed some decks that I didn’t get around to physically assembling.  I did, however, manage to put together eleven decks, seven from 2022:  Captain Mindflayer, The Ever-Changing ‘Dane, Isshin Triggers Me, Isshin Habanero Level, Kros Alt Wincon, Satoru’s Shadow Ninjas, and The Swarmlord of Hydras.  That’s Dimir, Esper, Mardu x2, Bant, Dimir again, and Temur.  From previous years, I built Hofri’s Spirit Forge, Budget Ardenn and Ludovic (for a recent appearance on Shuffle Up and Play), Oldest Stickfingers, and Phelddagrif PreDH (also for Shuffle Up and Play).  I looked at building color combinations that haven’t recently gotten any love. 

I wanted to go off the beaten path as well.  It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of popular commanders.  I certainly wasn’t the only person to have built Satoru Umezawa (#48 on EDHRec).  Lots of folks took their shots at Jodah, the Unifier (#46).  I wanted to go much farther down the list. Running something that very few other people are playing is far more difficult and thought-provoking. 

I took a hard look at Neyam Shai Murad (#1489), but really couldn’t in my brain make it work (but I’m going to keep plugging away at it).  The commanders needed to do things that I like to do—namely, bash and frequently engage in graveyard shenanigans.  Looking down the roster, there were two which I really wanted to take out for a spin:  Zangief, the Red Cyclone, from the Street Fighter Secret Lair, which I’ll switch over to its Universes Within identical counterpart, Maarika, Brutal Gladiator (#573), since the text box is a little less text-boxy and I prefer the latter’s art; and Jetmir, Nexus of Revels (#79).  Jetmir was a little higher on the EDHRec list than I was hoping to build with, but it really speaks to me nonetheless. 

Zangief / Maarika

First up is Maarika, Brutal Gladiator.  She’s in a color combination I enjoy, so this one is all about playing the kinds of cards that really tickle my fancy.  I went through the list of my Top 22 of 2022 and pulled in every one of them that made sense.  Then I added a Treasure subtheme to give it a little bit of a turbo-boost.  One of the top cards, in fact my #2 for the year, is Saw in Half.  There are so many shenanigans to be pulled off with this card, it’s not funny.  I added it as a sub-theme, so at least a third of the creatures, maybe more, are good to have sawn in half. 

I avoided the Eternal Witness / Lion’s Eye Diamond infinite mana combo and just went for the straight value propositions like Kokusho, the Evening Star and Gray Merchant of Asphodel.  My dream play is copying a spell, like Genesis Wave, with Dualcaster Mage—then sawing it in half and copying it twice again.  There’s also the absurdity of getting double Avenger of Zendikar, but I think you get it already. Saw in Half will create some wild game states.  If you’re interested, fellow Commander Rules Committee (RC) member Jim Lapage put together a Spike Feeders video about his favorite things you can saw in half as well. 

We also have to look at some of the things that leverage what Maarika herself does.  She’s almost a one-card combo, being able to take out both a creature and a noncreature, nonland in the same turn.  Cards like Basilisk Collar giving deathtouch will ensure that she’ll deal excess damage to any creature, and Grave Betrayal and It That Betrays will let us enjoy the fruits of what she makes other people sacrifice. 

I mused over whether I should put Tergrid, God of Fright on the list.  As one of the 99, it seems reasonable, but it’s still a card that I’ll let others know that I have in the deck—and will be happy to swap out for something should they ask.  With the deck not being built around it, I don’t anticipate too many problems, but then again, that’s why we play the games.  If it does start to create the kind of experiences I’m not fond of, it’ll get replaced.  Here’s the full list:

Creatures (36)

• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Woodfall Primus
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 It That Betrays
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine
• 1 Myr Battlesphere
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Dualcaster Mage
• 1 Verdurous Gearhulk
• 1 Noxious Gearhulk
• 1 Combustible Gearhulk
• 1 Marionette Master
• 1 Manglehorn
• 1 Pitiless Plunderer
• 1 Nylea, Keen-Eyed
• 1 Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1 Kodama of the East Tree
• 1 Nadier's Nightblade
• 1 Juri, Master of the Revue
• 1 Tergrid, God of Fright
• 1 Triplicate Titan
• 1 Ochre Jelly
• 1 Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
• 1 Ruthless Technomancer
• 1 Ziatora, the Incinerator
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Ziatora's Envoy
• 1 Vazi, Keen Negotiator
• 1 Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar
• 1 Burakos, Party Leader
• 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1 Toxicrene
• 1 Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea

Lands (37)

Spells (26)

Jetmir

Next up is Jetmir, Nexus of Revels.  I have only three Naya decks.  Two are Rith, the Awakener decks I assembled way back when.  The first was for the original Chromatic Project of building commanders of all thirty-two color combinations.  I then did Rith Blinks for the Do-Over Project, taking those same commanders and building them without repeating any cards (an idea I borrowed from Abe Sargent when he was still writing here at Star City Games).  After that, I built the obligatory Gishath, Sun’s Avatar, Angry, Angry Dinos deck.  The build was so perfunctory that I almost don’t consider it having “built” anything. 

After staring long and hard at things, it occurred to me that Jetmir is a Cat Demon.  Naya doesn’t really support Demons all that well—all fifteen of them being mono-red save for Jetmir.  With Cats, on the other hand, we have 211 choices.  I began designing a Cat deck a while back when fellow Commander Rules Committee (RC) member Scott Larabee sent me the OMG KITTIES! Secret Lair drop, but I only got halfway there.  As I was starting to work on this piece, one of our six cats, Vixen, decided to come sit in my lap for a while.  Seemed like a sign. 

The real question came down to whether or not I wanted to use Kaheera, the Orphanguard as a companion or not.  The only non-Cat (Elemental, Nightmare, Dinosaur, or Beast) that I had noted I wanted to play was Archivist of Oghma (a Halfling Cleric).  Didn’t seem like too much of a sacrifice, so I cut it from the list and put Kaheera down as the companion.  It’s a battlecruiser-level deck that’s not going to play in a space that’s too fast, so the extra companion tax to put it into hand isn’t that big of a deal. 

The problem here was that I had a list full of cards and only two of them (besides Jetmir) were red, all-star Marisi, Breaker of the Coil and Deflecting Palm.  I mulled over whether that would be a problem.  People play two- and three-color commanders as monocolored decks, so why not?  Although it felt a little like wasting an opportunity, it’s hard to deny the Cats their due.  I later added Titanic Ultimatum—actually, as the final card—under the assumption that by the time I might want to play it, I’ll have access to at least two red mana, either from two lands or sneaking in via Mirari’s Wake. 

Creatures (36)

Lands (36)

Spells (26)

In general, I don’t expect to get more than six creatures on the battlefield until and unless I cast White Sun’s Zenith.  Routinely having three is important, since vigilance will allow me to use Glare of Subdual efficiently.  Getting to six, which will normally have to involve some of the token-makers, means that Jetmir itself can get dangerous, threatening a commander damage kill after three hits, maybe even two. 

With several of the Equipment granting lifelink, wins with Felidar Sovereign are definitely on the board.  Even if we’re not winning that way, lifegain will simply keep us in games longer, giving us the opportunity to smash with more Cats. 

One of the cards that had previously not come across my radar is Trove Warden.  This looks to me like a card awash in possibilities.  From the obvious fetchlands to sacrificed smaller creatures, we don’t need too much setup to get real value out of the card.  Even if we’re only returning two or three things with it, we’ve gotten sufficient mileage for its cost.  I’ll be giving the card a little more scrutiny in the future. 

Although it didn’t make the deck, another card that passed my transom during my searches is Shifting Shadow.  It’s clearly a card that you want to play in a deck with some graveyard action, as well as maybe some top-of-the-library control.  The fact that the card brings itself back is everything that we need an Aura to do.  Slap it on a token and watch the fun begin. 

Speaking of the fun beginning, as the first of you are reading this, I’ll be winging my way into New Jersey for SCG CON.  I’ve ordered up some of the cards I’m missing, so hopefully I’ll have time to sleeve up these decks and sling them this weekend.  I look forward to seeing you there. 

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