Hello Awesome People! I hope that your day is going incredibly well today! Today I want to do something a little fun! I want to build around one of the new planeswalkers that can be a Commander from Battle for Baldur's Gate! Note that this is my second deck from the set, and you can see the other in my Appendix below.

Today I want to build (again) around the beloved Minsc. I already built around him once before. For the first deck I built around a bunch of "friends" like Minsc's Boo and Tolsimir Wolfblood's Voja and loads more. I wanted to win by making a giant Friend. It was a very flavorful take on the topic.

This is our new Minsc and Boo. It arrives with a 1/1 Boo with haste and trample, and you can keep Boo back to block an attack on your planeswalker, and then in your upkeep you can get another free Boo. You can +1 them to give Boo (or another creature with trample and haste) three +1/+1 counters which you will want to do on arrival to the battlefield to have a 4/4 blocks for the turn to play keep away, and on a naked board you can swing for 4. You can also -2 them to sacrifice a dork and send that dork's power to any target. If it was a Hamster you sacrificed, you draw the damage dealt in power in cards. That's a lot of synergy and suggests a haste/trample theme deck in Gruul colors. Many of my cards are not in their EDHREC.com page either, so we are heading in different directions. Ready?

Did you know that there is just one piece of equipment that gives both haste and trample? Crazy right? It also has living weapon, costs a ton of mana, and gives a bunch of other abilities as well. You can drop this equipment pre-mass removal or post and the Germ token should survive with it's indestructible as well as equipping a key dork once the token is answered with exiling, bouncing or tucking removal, and we have a lot of ramp here to give you each ability. The Crasher is an on-curve 5 mana 6/6 trampler that's a bit harder on the mana. When your tramplers deal combat damage to an opponent, you make a X/X dork with trample equal to the amount of damage dealt, so that's a trample Lord in this brew, which is pretty nice they called it twice!

Both are 3-drop rares, with one power initially with the ability to get much bigger. The Valet is here as a 1/3 with trample and haste and can really punch above its weight with just a few dorks increasing its power each turn. If you just draw 3-4 cards from the sacrifice, you can easily drop a few dorks with your ramp and then attack with an 8/3 Valet. If you give the Valet a starting 4/6 from your Commander's +1 ability permanently, then you can double it just once to 8/6 on one dork pre-swing and that's a lot on a three drop and can easily kill with trample. The Hydra is also a game winner with trample and gets a +1/+1 counter for each spell cast by any player, you or your foes, and if that's 5-6 per round in an 4 player game, then that could easily be a 6/6 or 8/8 when it swings on the next turn, and then quickly spirals to a game winner with its trample and it is a another good option with your Commander's +1 ability to target and grow to smash for a ton of damage.

Changelings in this brew make a lot of sense since you can sacrifice them to smash a foe or their walker of the planes or a creature they control dork removal and then draw cards since they count as Hamsters. This pair plays nicely into that since the Colossus is a 4/4 for four mana that can be sacrificed for 4 cards or grown into a bigger 8/8 with four mana (8 cards?) and then into a 16/16 with 8 mana for a massive 16 cards and dealing 16 to a foe is likely game. Ideally, you swing with trample from one of your enablers, or a certain pair of lands we'll look at later, and then pump into an 8/8 or even a 16/16, smash face with your trample and deal a lot of damage to a foe's face and then sacrifice it for 16 damage to the face if they are still alive and that's 32 in one turn, and then you can draw 16 cards. I think you might win that game...

The Mauler is another Managorger with bigger starting butt (+1/+1) only gets counters from your foes' castings, but is a Hamster for sacrificing fun times. Nice pair of game winners and card flowers. I have two other changelings in here as well.

Synergies

Nexus means all the Hamsters for the sacrificing good times. And then you can tap it for three mana to make a 2/2 Hamster to always have a 2/2 blocker as well as to sacrifice for two cards always. The latter artifact is a one mana two equip cheapy staple of the format. You can give lifelink to a powerhouse and gain a bunch of life when you swing with a giant dork right before getting sacrificed, and then you also want that deathtouch with trample. When you have both, blocking can be a bit...difficult...since you only need to deal one damage to each target to kill it, so that's bad beats. If they block your 6/6 trampling Hydra with this with four creatures that have a combined power and toughness of 11/11 you'll die, and then kill all four and then also deal 2 damage to the player. Nasty!

Check out this pair of Haste/Trample givers. When in the graveyard, they will give haste and/or trample if you control a Mountain and/or Forest. These are great to attack with suicidally and I also love discarding these after a big card draw to give your team that ability without having to set it up. They are also harder to answer since they need to linger in your graveyard to work.

Our final synergy is a nicely on-curve 4/4 for four with both trample and haste. When you have that seven mana free, flip it into an 8/8 with trample and haste that gives your other stuff trample and haste and a +1/+1 boost, pretty nice here to get a double giver on a on curve powerhouse like this one. Nice right?

Win-Cons

Our deck already has some synergetic win-cons like the Colossus or giant creatures, but I have added a few more.

Check this pair of win-cons. The uncommon counts as one of my ramp spots since you will usually just landcycle it for two mana and then move on. And then you can cast it for 8 later if you are ramped up and then just smash each foe for 7-13 damage each, which is pretty powerful, from where I am sitting. The rare is a piece of equipment with a three drop, three equip that gives the equipped dork trample and a +2 boost to power, and then when you deal combat damage to a foe you create...that many tokens equal to the combat damage dealt! That could easily be 4-7 dorks each combat with your main attacker. Nasty stuff!

Check out these two game-winners with haste and/or trample. The Boar is a powerful 7/7 with vigilance that can swing out of nowhere and then hold back. Then you can give your other stuff +2/+2 and trample and vigilance until the end of the turn which can win out of nowhere, also note the trample/haste synergies here. I don't normally run the Beast in my decks since it's obvious in decks like this, and costs tons of dollars, but it has haste! It's on theme, and I won't turn away from that to weaken my brew! Good pair!

Answers and Card Draw

This six mana 4/5 has riot so you can give it haste or give it a +1/+1 counter. On arrival to the battlefield, you can either fight a foe with the Wurm, or destroy a land like an Academy Ruins or Maze or Ith with an activated ability that isn't a mana ability. Good synergy here, right?

I have three modal lands in here taking up basic land spots, but we have 40 lands total if you count them, and I am running this instant pair of three cost uncommons. The green one lets you fight which is nice on a big fat trample machine. The red one sacrifices a fat dork to deal that much damage to a player, so it'll work if you don't control Minsc to finish off a damaged player. Good stuff here.

Most of our card draw is pretty obvious, but then there's Soul of the Harvest. Six mana 6/6 with trample...check. When stuff arrives to the party, like Boo, you can draw a card. Trample synergy and works well with the ongoing creation of Boo after it gets sacrificed or chump blocks, nicely done!

Mana

Let's look at two ramp cards that run trample or haste. The first one is a six mana 6/5 trampler that can be channeled to search for a basic land and...ramp it, not just put it into your hand. It's just one more mana than a Rampant Growth, instant speed, hard to counter and if it's not needed you can just drop the on-flavor trampler. The second one is a 1/1 for 2 mana that can tap for any color of mana, just for your dorks, which is more than 30 here, so that's pretty nice...

These are the two lands alluded to earlier. Each can tap to give your key dork trample, which can then be +1 with your Commander and given +3/+3 permanently with the counters. Note that the Wolf Run can tap for a whole lot of mana and then pump up the dork's power by that X mana, and then swing. Do it to a Hamster and then sacrifice it and you are drawing X + it's base power, plus the power in damage to the target you choose. You can tap the Skarrg just for a +1/+1 boost, but that's still another damage in combat, plus trample, plus their -2 plus another card from a Hamster, good synergy here. The Wolf Run is a win-con in land form (for another win-con in land form check out the Lair of the Hydra.)

I have two ways of turning into dorks from lands that are synergetic. The first is a 1-mana 2/2 Hamster for the sacrificing fun times. The second makes a mana and creates a 3/3 with trample, also obvious here. I'm shocked that they are not on the EDHREC.com page.

Cards from Battle for Baldur's Gate

Now let's turn to the set that gave us Minsc and Boo Take Two. The Sovereign is a 4/4 for four mana and when you (or another if you want to play politics) drops a non-token critter to the battlefield you can spend two mana and then copy said critter, nice right? The Druid is a 2/2 that searches for two basics and might put them into your hand, or halfsies, or on the battlefield based on your roll. It's a fun card doing fun cards things!

The Insect is a powerful 8/8 with trample and ward 2 and gives both to your team, which is a pretty nice way. Also dealing 8 damage to a foe with its sacrifice to your Commander or with changeling from Maskwood Nexus is pretty sweet here, as well as the general power level of an 8/8 trampler at the kitchen table. The Dragon is a 5-drop trampling 3/4. When it swings, it can double the power of Dragon, including itself, the next two options, Mutavault, changelings and the Nexus? Nasty right?

The Red adventure here is five mana for the sorcery and you have a Pyrotechnics effect to dole out damage and then destroy things, and then after you've done that you can drop the 4/4 flyer with haste in six mana just like a Volcanic Dragon, or on an empty board you can just drop the Dragon and swing away. The green adventure is a three instant that can counter any non-creature activated or triggered ability like fetch lands such as Polluted Mire, loyalty abilities, Mind's Eye card draw, and loads more. It's also a 4/4 flying trampler, rare in green. Nicely done, right?

And there we go! Ready for the decklist and Appendix?

Minsc and Boo Hamsters | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes

• Creatures (38)
• 1 Anger
• 1 Amethyst Dragon
• 1 Beastcaller Savant
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Bloodbraid Elf
• 1 Bramble Sovereign
• 1 Brawn
• 1 Chameleon Colossus
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Devilish Valet
• 1 Druid of the Emerald Grove
• 1 End-Raze Forerunners
• 1 Emerald Dragon
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Froghemoth
• 1 Giant Ankheg
• 1 Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1 Greater Tanuki
• 1 Gruul Spellbreaker
• 1 Krosan Tusker
• 1 Managorger Hydra
• 1 Masked Vandal
• 1 Quartzwood Crasher
• 1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1 Ravager Wurm
• 1 Realmwalker
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Shatterskull Charger
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Taurean Mauler
• 1 Thornling
• 1 Thrakkus the Butcher
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Ulvenwald Oddity
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Workshop Warchief
• 1 Yidaro, Wandering Monster

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Sarkhan Vol

• Spells (15)
• 1 Bala Ged Recovery
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Kazuul's Fury
• 1 Khalni Ambush
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Treacherous Terrain
• 1 Vandalblast

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1 Kaldra Compleat
• 1 Maskwood Nexus
• 1 Scepter of Celebration
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Lands (37)
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Forge of Heroes
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Karplusan Forest
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Lair of the Hydra
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Raging Ravine
• 1 Rockfall Vale
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Stomping Grounds
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Treetop Village
• 11 Forest
• 10 Mountain

Buy This Deck Export text format

What did you think of my Minsc and Boo build? Anything I missed? What will yours look like? Just let me know in the comments below!

Appendix:

1. My first deck was built around Alora, Merry Thief and Far Traveler. The goal was to self-bounce and recast your things to trigger ETB things (Mulldrifter), self-bounce things (Azorius Aethermage), leaves play things (Circuit Mender), cast things (Equilibrium) and tapping the dork for something valuable (Opposition), with a bounce of self-bounce (Erratic Portal, Whitemane Lion) and a flicker backup theme (Far Traveler proper) in order to lean into the non-cast stuff. Love it loads and it was inspired by my Equilibrium self-bounce Bant Commander deck. Check it here!