Welcome to Constructed Commander! This post will be the first in a small series dedicated to talking about my favorite format for Magic: the Gathering: Commander! When I discovered Commander I realized that, after playing Magic for years, I strongly feel it’s the way the game was meant to be played. Unlike the Standard format, where you have a 60-card deck with 4 copies of each non-land card in the game, Commander utilizes a 100-card deck and you can only use one copy of each non-land card in the game. You also only have to worry about a banned list versus which sets you can pull cards from, so it’s a lot easier to get into.
To start off the series I figured I’d talk about my current Commander deck, a deck that’s commanded by Sydri, Galvanic Genius. When I got into Magic I started in the Mirrodin block. It was a block filled with artifacts and ever since then I’ve been a fan of artifact cards. When I sat down to build a new Commander deck I wanted to work on something that provided a lot of fun rather than something that just focused on winning. I’d seen Sydri floating around in the community and decided that she would be a perfect choice to command my new deck full of artifact shenanigans.
Sydri’s colors are black/blue/white, so she would allow me to get a lot of fun cards to use. For instance, if I was looking for board wipes I would have access to cards like Wrath of God and Damnation. I’d also have use of Disciple of the Vault, which was one of my all-time favorite cards from the Mirrodin block. Of course, now that I speak of it I realize I should pick up an Arcbound Ravager to throw in the deck for some real fun!
Before we get much further, let’s take a look at my full deck list. Now this isn’t final, but it’s the current build I am using right now:
| Creature (32) 1x Arcum Dagsson 1x Auriok Salvagers 1x Baleful Strix 1x Disciple of the Vault 1x Etherium Sculptor 1x Ethersworn Adjudicator 1x Ethersworn Canonist 1x Filigree Angel 1x Grand Architect 1x Hanna, Ship’s Navigator 1x Hex Parasite 1x Junk Diver 1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1x Kuldotha Forgemaster 1x Leonin Abunas 1x Master Transmuter 1x Memnarch 1x Myr Battlesphere 1x Myr Retriever 1x Phyrexian Metamorph 1x Sharding Sphinx 1x Sharuum the Hegemon 1x Shimmer Myr 1x Solemn Simulacrum 1x Spellskite 1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind 1x Sphinx Summoner 1x Thopter Assembly 1x Treasure Mage 1x Trinket Mage 1x Vedalken Archmage 1x Voltaic Construct | Artifact (21) 1x Basalt Monolith 1x Caltrops 1x Cranial Plating 1x Crawlspace 1x Darksteel Forge 1x Darksteel Ingot 1x Everflowing Chalice 1x Gilded Lotus 1x Library of Leng 1x Mana Vault 1x Mycosynth Lattice 1x Nevinyrral’s Disk 1x Scourglass 1x Sculpting Steel 1x Semblance Anvil 1x Sol Ring 1x Staff of Nin 1x Swiftfoot Boots 1x Time Sieve 1x Unwinding Clock 1x Voltaic Key |
| Instant (5) 1x Assert Authority 1x Dispatch 1x Hinder 1x Stoic Rebuttal 1x Thirst for Knowledge Sorcery (2) 1x Fabricate 1x Wrath of God Planeswalker (2) 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 1x Venser, the Sojourner | Land (35) 1x Academy Ruins 1x Ancient Den 1x Arcane Sanctum 1x Azorius Guildgate 1x Command Tower 1x Darksteel Citadel 1x Dimir Guildgate 1x Drowned Catacomb 9x Island 1x Isolated Chapel 1x Jwar Isle Refuge 4x Plains 1x Rupture Spire 1x Seat of the Synod 6x Swamp 1x Temple of Deceit 1x Temple of Silence 1x Temple of the False God 1x Vault of Whispers |
| Sorcery (2) 1x Fabricate 1x Wrath of God | Planeswalker (2) 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 1x Venser, the Sojourner |
| Enchantment (2) 1x Rhystic Study 1x Training Grounds |
My idea with this deck was simply to have fun. There are a few combos that the deck can bust out, and when it does things get super crazy. Here’s just a few that make this deck super fun:
Sydri + Mycosynth Lattice = destroy lands (pay 1, land becomes an artifact creature with power/toughness equal to 0)
Sydri + Voltaic Construct + Gilded Lotus/Basalt Monolith/Mana Vault = infinite mana
Sydri + Staff of Nin = destroy creatures (pay b/u/w, make the Staff a creature with deathtouch, then tap it to deal damage to opposing creatures, killing them off)
Thopter Assembly + Time Sieve = infinite turns
Mycosynth Lattice + Darksteel Forge + Nevinrryl’s Disk = board wipe your opponent and keep your state
I am sure there are plenty of other combos out there, but the above are just my favorites. It’s really fun to play the long game with this deck and set yourself up for some great tricks. Using cards like Arcum Dagsson and Kuldotha Forgemaster will let you basically cycle your deck for what you need when you need it.
So far this Commander deck has been the most fun out of all the ones I’ve made, and I think Sydri will be staying around for quite a while. Cards like Unwinding Clock help me have what I need to be on the defense, while I can use Myr Battlesphere to crank out tons of blockers if need be. Going the other way, I can use Sharuum, the Hegemon, Sculpting Steel, and Disciple of the Vault to cycle graveyard fodder until my opponents lose the game.
I’m quite happy with the deck, and it’s performed well so far, but there’s always room for improvement. I mentioned earlier possibly adding an Arcbound Ravager in for fun, but what about you? What sort of changes, if any, would you make? Do you see any other combos I missed out on? I want to know! Stick around, and I’ll be back soon with another Constructed Commander before you know it!