Hello happy reader! I hope that your day is most pleasant!

Over the last while I've been making Commander decks around leaders from the new D&D set as well as the Commander set that debuted with it. This is my seventh list to build around for you!

Here are my first 6 builds for you!

1. Volo, Guide to Monsters - Firstly, I grabbed and built a Simic deck around this unique Human and Wizard. Every creature in the deck has a unique creature type and I built it around my token Shapeshifter - Riptide Shapshifter who you can sacrifice for the perfect creature in this creature-based build. I hope you enjoy it!
2. Minsc, Beloved Ranger - I loved the idea of a Giant Boo so much that I tossed together a fun ramp deck that wants a big X effect for your Minsc. I also tossed in a bunch of buddies in the vein of Minsc and Boo like Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves and his legendary token Voja or Jiang Yanggu and his buddy Mowu, Loyal Companion. Enjoy the flavor of making a buddy big to swing and win the game!
3. Nihiloor - Then I turned to this Esper Commander that wants you to steal and then swing for a lot of triggers with your stolen stuff! I tossed in a ton of cards like Desertion, Ray of Command and Preacher. Enjoy it here!
4. Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll - After building a controlling deck in Esper the previous week, I went full Gruul aggro . I built around the attack and combat damage triggers that are big in these colors, like Avenging Druid and Sunder Shaman. It's a lot of fun! You can check out my pack tactics deck here.
5. Prosper, Tome-Bound - In this build, I create a Rakdos deck that cares about exiling things and casting them, like Chandra, Pyromaster or Uba Mask from your library or things like suspend's Profane Tutor and forecast's Poison the Cup. Loads of exiling and casting here! You can grab it and look see here.
6. Lorcan, Warlock Collector - For this deck I turned to the Mono-Black Lorcan and built a deck around him. In this deck I used ways to get creatures in opposing decks like mill (Syr Konrad, the Grim), sacrifice (Slum Reaper), destruction (Nekrataal) and discard (Liliana's Specter). It also has loads of ways to gain life so you can keep leaning on his trigger. You can check out the mono-Black deck here!

And there we go!

So, what creature inspired today's build?

This Mono-Blue mythic rare Dragon did! As you can see, the Desert Doom is five-mana 5/5 flyer which is very on-curve, and it's hard to answer if it's untapped. If it deals combat damage to a player, you'll draw a card. Then, if you have fewer than three cards in hand, you'll draw up to three. My goal with Iymrith is to untap with no cards, draw a card in the draw step and cast it in the first main phase. Then connect with our Dragon and draw three more cards and cast them. Net four cards per turn. That's the ideal, but if we cannot drop that many cards as we have too many lands or something, then we should still have extra card flow with Iymrith.

What sort of a deck do I see around Iymrith?

• Aggro - The first place I want to dig into are very cheap, evasive, one and 2-drops that can swing. Think stuff like Flying Men.
• Unblockable - Iymrith needs to connect to get your combat damage trigger, so we'll need the ability to reliably smash someone's face with our Dragon. Think things like Rogue's Passage.
• Back-Up Card Flow - If our leader is answered, what do I do to keep the deck pumping? We'll need some back-up card drawing options.
• Tempo - We'll be undercreatured, with smaller 1/1 and 2/1 evasive threats. How do we stand up to bigger threats? Tempo.
• Time Warps - Since we have such a small number of creatures, we'll run a few Time Warps here and there in order to keep up with the bigger creature decks, but we're not using them for card draw or untapping the lands as much as we are as Blue Relentless Assault that gives us another combat step.
• Support - We'll need things we can play proactively like mana rocks, not defensive things like counters. There might be a few exceptions but not that many.

This deck really feels to me like a different but similar Mono-Blue version of my real life Edric, Spymaster of Trest build. Ready for a deep dive into my build?

Let's start with some flyers for 1 or 2 mana that can counter things. This triumvirate can sacrifice to counter something. My favorite is probably the 1-drop Siren Stormtamer since you get a 1/1 flyer from one mana, although you'll need to keep a mana open to use it. The Whiptail can sacrifice to Force Spike a spell, which often forces them to wait a turn until they have a free extra mana in case of the sacrifice for key cards. I like it a lot here. I also like the Drake as it also has protection from Red to keep it safe from burn as well as slide past Red flyers like its Dragons and Phoenixes. It's a free sacrifice, but it will only counter something that targets you, which is less common than the creature targeting stuff that the Stormtamer will counter.

Check out this duo. The Cloud is a 2-mana 1/1 that flies and can cycle. It's here because it's free, and if you control Ancient Tomb or Temple of the False God, you can net a mana. Free flyers are strong! The Atlas is here to tap and drop an extra land you might draw with your massive card draw to drop two lands per turn, not one. I wish we had more colorless options to drop lands from our hand to join it, but we don't.

I want ways to draw cards if our hand is mugged up or they have answered Iymrith. That way is to draw cards when you deal combat damage to a player. Just one Coastal Piracy can turn four cheap flyers and unblockable folks into a Tidings when they punch. That's why I'm running every version of that from the Mission above with its cycling, and the Bident that can tap and send an entire team at you or your foe. Good duo!

For that reason, I am running Grazilaxx, from the same set and color as Iymrith. As you can see, this 3-drop 3/2 will draw cards as your stuff punches face. It also can bounce stuff that was blocked and might otherwise die, which is common with your smaller stuff, so there is a great option to swing with creatures that would otherwise die, save the ones that are blocked and still draw, and you can easily recast them.

Tempo matters, enter this artifact duo. The Orb is a classic card in Frozen decks like Frozen Fish and Icy Prison. As you can see, this will only let folks untap one land a turn, including you, but your stuff is cheap enough that it won't hurt you nearly as much as it will hurt others. The Wire will force everyone to tap stuff during their upkeep, which can be lands, dorks, and artifacts, and it'll fade away. You can tap it as one of your cards, and you can remove the counter first prior to tapping so your foes tap 4, but you'll tap 3, and the Wire is one. It's a dying card, so folks may not kill it, but your card draw should answer it.

We have some more bounce in the deck as well for tempo. When you cast a cheap dork, spend a mana, and you can bounce a foe's dork. This is great with a certain Illithid Scholar that can bounce and replay for bounces. Check out the Bouncer. You can discard a card to bounce a dork. Might I suggest an extra land that is gumming up your hand from the card draw?

We need removal in this build. Enter cards like this cheap 1-drop instant pair. You can cast them on your turn to make sure you maximize your card drawing. They will destroy a creature and leave behind a 3/3 token creature. You won't care about the token since you can swing over it. I also tossed in other removal that does the same thing, unless it leaves behind a flyer, like Ravenform, that would trade with our flyers.

I do have some exceptions to counters. Once of those is to add in mana free pitch cards like Force of Negation, Misdirection, and also the combo of Foil and Force of Will. You'll need your mana for tempo and dorks, and you aren't in a saving mana state of mind. You can discard your Blue cards and Islands to the first card and cast it for free, and you can exile a Blue card and cast the latter spell. Good stuff!

We also have Forbid, which is an exception. Why is Forbid here? Buyback. You can cast and recast it and discard cards to get more cards from Iymrith's trigger. Discard extra lands! This gives us five counters that can answer anything.

I am running one planeswalker in this build, Yangling. She's here for that +2 to make the Commander unblockable. As you can see, she's a 6-drop for 5 loyalty, and 7 after that. She'll get to 10 and tap your foe's stuff and take another turn which is a big addition to this brew. You can also just -3 her and draw two cards if you need more and more cards. I like her a lot here!

Let's turn to some lands!

I am running the Sanctuary here to reload a Time Warp effect on top of your library for another go. I also have all the cycling lands here, so you have an option to get rid of your extra lands that you draw. Pitch it and draw another!

We really need to connect with flyers. Both lands can activate for a small amount of mana to make a flyer to net a combat damage trigger. The Conclave costs more mana, taps for Blue, arrives tapped, but makes a 2/1. The Nexus is cheaper to activate but just makes a 1/1 flyer. I prefer the Nexus unless I need that Blue mana. I am also running other creature lands like Mutavault and Mishra's Factory for triggers on a naked battlefield with just cards like Coastal Piracy out. Good stuff!

Two more cards you say? Sure thing!

I am not running this Throng for its prowl. It's here to cast for four mana and make X flyers equal to the damage you just dealt. If all you did was connect with your leader then that is FIVE 1/1 flying Faerie Rogues. There are a handful of Rogues here, but there is a load more Faeries. It's a great card here.

In some ways, this deck could be a Tetsuo Umezawa deck, right? Small stuff with a 1 power or toughness, plus combat damage triggers. It fits in here so perfectly that it's hard to imagine anybody else in this final spot!

Ready for the deep dive?

Iymrith's Desert Doom | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Iymrith, Desert Doom

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Artificer's Assistant
• 1 Cerulean Drake
• 1 Cloud of Faeries
• 1 Cloud Sprite
• 1 Departed Deckhand
• 1 Faerie Seer
• 1 Flying Men
• 1 Gingerbrute
• 1 Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
• 1 Gudul Lurker
• 1 Hypnotic Sprite
• 1 Invisible Stalker
• 1 Jace's Phantasm
• 1 Mausoleum Wanderer
• 1 Merfolk Windrobber
• 1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
• 1 Nightveil Sprite
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Pteramander
• 1 Silver Raven
• 1 Siren Stormtamer
• 1 Slither Blade
• 1 Spellstutter Sprite
• 1 Spiketail Hatchling
• 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1 Triton Shorestalker
• 1 Walking Atlas
• 1 Waterfront Bouncer
• 1 Wingcrafter
• 1 Zephyr Sprite

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Mu Yanling

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Alrund's Epiphany
• 1 Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1 Notorious Throng
• 1 Part the Waterveil
• 1 Time Warp
• 1 Walk the Aeons

• Instants (11)
• 1 Foil
• 1 Forbid
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Force of Negation
• 1 Misdirection
• 1 Nexus of Fate
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Reality Shift
• 1 Resculpt
• 1 Snap

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Equilibrium
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Tangle Wire
• 1 Trailblazer's Boot
• 1 Winter Orb
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (35)
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Ancient Tomb
• 1 Blinkmoth Nexus
• 1 Desert of the Mindful
• 1 Faerie Conclave
• 1 Hall of Storm Giants
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Mishra's Factory
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Remote Isle
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 War Room
• 18 Island

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There we are! What did you think of my Mono-Blue aggro with the Desert Doom? Anything you like or that I missed? Just let me know!

Have an amazing day! And week!