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Hello folks; I hope your week is going well!
Today I want to take a look at the various Commander 2018 cards that made the cut into my own personal Commander decks, as well as the new additions to Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy. This is important because, post-release of a new slate of cards, this is where the proverbial rubber meets the proverbial road. Forget the theory of what cards sounds good or might have seemed good pre-release. What is actually getting played?
Enough with the talking; what actually made my decks?
Alphabet Deck
I have a 
deck where every card in the deck, other than basic lands, begins with "A", as it is the first letter of my name. I gave it an Angel theme as many of those are "A"s. My Commander is Archangel Avacyn. The only new card in those colors that's playable in my deck would be Ancient Stone Idol, but that certainly doesn't fit. No changes.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
This deck is built around extremely cheap, evasive bodies, as well as a little bit of tempo at the end. The goal is to cast a 1-drop evasive dork on turn one, two 1-drops on turn two, and then swig on turn three after casting Edric and drawing three cards. That's my goal. This deck can vomit cards. There are no cards in here that do something for my build, so no thanks.
Bontu's Shadow
This is a Mono-Black Commander deck built around bringing back the same critters over and over again, like Nether Shadow and Ashen Ghoul. It seeks to load up on cool sacrificing creature effects that push the game, while also filling up the graveyard with goodies that self-recur, like Bloodghast that I can keep on pushing the pressure. I like it lots! Anything in here to recommend? Nope! Again, the 6 new cards in Black just don't slide into the theme of the deck.
Derevi's Equinaut
This is a Bant deck with a self-bounce theme that uses creatures such as Whitemane Lion and Fleetfoot Panther to trigger effects such as Equilibrium's cast trigger, Azorius Aethermage's bounce trigger, and Aura Shards' enters-the-battlefield trigger to rack up value. This is not a Bant Blink deck, although it is certainly aware of enters-the-battlefield effects. This deck is almost exclusively fast creatures to abuse my triggers, self-bouncers, dorks, and engines with little else. Anything in here that triggers my Equinaut Radar?
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Don't forget that the Storms count how many times you've cast your leader, not brought it into play, so they are a major non-bo with Derevi. There are no cards that hit my sweet spot.
Diaochan's Beauty Parlor
One of my favorite Commander builds of all time is this flavorful deck built around Diaochan, Artful Beauty. It features ways to tap and kill something with Diaochan, but then they cannot target Diaochan back, such as Sword of Fire and Ice and its protection from Red. Every other dork in my deck:
- Cannot be targeted as it's not a dork, like a man-land or a vehicle - Ghitu Encampment
- Has indestructible - Stuffy Doll
- Has protection from Red - Akki Lavarunner
- Has already had an ability triggered when it arrived, and now is worth little - Mindclaw Shaman
- Is a card that people like and don't want to kill - Humble Defector
- Will come back after it dies - Firewing Phoenix
- Equipment that matches this on the dork, such as the shroud of Lightning Greaves.
That means there isn't much of an incentive for you to look my way, so instead everybody kills their own stuff, and then I win!
Due to the odd nature in the deck, you can go through sets of new Magic releases without anything else making the cut. Anything today for my Diaochan deck?
Nope!
Fumiko's Fun Time
I also have another Mono-Red build, this time featuring Fumiko and it encourages people to get their swing on and then punishes them for attacking me. The goal is to create a game state whereby my foes are tapped out, and then I can send over some folks to start dropping your life total. Fumiko only forces your foes to attack, not the controller. It features cards that really hurt people, like Caltrops or Dragon Throne of Tarkir. (Block with Fumiko, she grows to +4/+4 or something, tap to pump your entire army +7/+7 or something to smash the attackers with).
Anything in here that triggers my Fumiko?
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Endless Atlas - As this deck has a ton of Mountains, Endless Atlas seems like a great card-drawing effect for me. As well as for any mono-colored deck that has a lot of the same land type, particularly Red and White who can use the extra card drawing, right? Right!
Coveted Jewel - What I like about Coveted Jewel is that I can easily steal it back and keep on drawing those sweet, sweet cards. But the problem with this is that I don't want to encourage folks to swing my way, I want to encourage them to head elsewhere. Now if I cast it, drew the cards, and then gave it away to someone else with Bazaar Trader or Harmless Offering, then it would be perfect here! And if it had a "
: Give this to target player" as an activated ability, then I'd be all over it. I'd be screaming its value from the rooftop. But this is not a Zedruu the Greathearted deck; Coveted Jewel is not "Stay Away from Me" enough to run in Fumiko.
In Endless Atlas, out Temple of the False God
Vela's Night Children
This remains one of my most flavorful builds. Every card in this deck matches the flavor, such as support cards like Victim of Night or Devour in Shadow. This deck uses the intimidate of Vela to trigger Ninjas and smash with Shadow creatures and effects. Then the remaining cards are ones like Shadowmage Infiltrator that match the flavor of this build. There are two cards in here that are in the running.
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Yuriko is awesome here! There are a few questions we'll need to drill down into in order to see what and where Yuriko fits:
- Is Yuriko my new Commander? Is she replacing Vela? She's cheaper, the Commander ninjutsu is sweet, and it plays well with the deck. I would need to make a few changes elsewhere, as I have some dorks out there that were relying on Vela's intimidate to help them slip through defenses, but for the most part, she's a fine, fast, on theme swap. However, if I do ease back on Yuriko I have a few other questions
- Does Vela still get played? Am I swapping Yuriko for Vela and then moving on? Or is there a place for Vela elsewhere and I swap out something else?
- Does the flavor of my deck slide away from Night and Shadow? I think the name "Tiger's Shadow" still includes Shadow, but the strong evocative flavor of Victim of Night in a Vela deck just worked.
- Is Yuriko heading in, leaving behind Vela? Yuriko is a strong on-theme force that can be fetched by Higure, the Still Wind if she's not my Commander.
Answer:
Out Vela; In Yuriko
I have to try out Yuriko as a leader for this deck; how could I not?!?!?
Night Incarnate - This is a purely flavorful addition to my Vela deck. As my queue card states, Vela the Night-Clad wants to run Night Incarnate. Duh. Does it fit the deck mechanically or do anything interesting? As of right now? Naw. The -3/-3 isn't good enough in Commander to reliably answer stuff. It'll kill more of my stuff than my foe's! And since it's not Vela's deck anymore....
Omnath's Wildfire
I originally crafted this deck around Borborygmos Enraged. Post-release, Omnath fits a little better and the Locus of Rage slid in. This deck is built around Wildfire and similar effects that hit dorks with damage and a smaller number of lands, and it includes similar cards. The goal is to be a brake on people that are trying to roughhouse the game. It's happy to hurt itself in order to help contain and dial back the excesses of Commander. Anything in C18 for me to consider? None.
Cromat's Friends
In way directly similar to all of these various builds out there in Magic-dom, I run a five color Cromat Planeswalker theme. This deck also has some fun enchantments such as Collective Restraint, Honden of Seeing Winds, and Ceta Sanctuary. It's fun!
Clearly in a set with some strong, cheap, planeswalkers that play with the format, some of them can make the case for inclusion in my deck. Let's take a look at each in turn.
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Aminatou, the Fateshifter - Where Aminatou shines with is the cool +1 that helps you to dig, although I'd prefer a traditional "Draw a card, discard a card," instead of being forced to put the worst card in my hand on top of my deck. But she's a 3-drop 'walker, so that's fine. The -1 blink is strong as she can blink out other planeswalkers, thereby resetting them. They will also be allowed to get another ability. So if I use Jace Beleren's -1 to draw a card, then -1 Aminatou him, he comes back with his full counter load, and I can -1 him again. That is a strong pro-planeswalker synergy she is bringing to the game .
Lord Windgrace - The big issue with the other three non-Aminatou 'walkers is that they care about a permanent type that not every deck wants to push. It's not as if I want Saheeli's pro-artifact presence or Estrid's aura-based one. But every deck has lands! Every deck wants to draw cards! Discard a card! Was it a land? Nope? Okay, draw a card. Wait, it was a land? Okay, draw two cards! Returns lands to the battlefield en masse. You get the idea. But, at the end of the day, I'm just not feeling Lord Windgrace for Five Color Friends. Sorry!
In Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Out Jace Beleren
Next deck?
Ezuri's Pain into Progress
This deck uses the combination of Prodigal Sorcerers and similar "Tap and deal a damage" dorks and other effects along with Fungusaur and other effects that occur when you shoot them to load the battlefield with triggers a-go-go while also providing a tempo and killing machine for your foes with cards like Basilisk Collar to kill stuff with your deathtouch, Charisma to steal something you shoot for damage, or Cowardice to bounce your opponents dorks back to their hand for each time you target them. It's a fun deck but it has a very specific theme, and most sets don't print cards for that theme.
Is Commander 2018 different?
No, there is nothing here that would suggest that it would make a good argument for inclusion into my decks.
Lady Caleria's Adventuring Party
Lady Caleria's Adventuring Party is a pan-planar group of ladies, led by Lady Caleria, that smites evil and saves various folks. It has a Selesnya legendary matters' theme, including cards like Captain Sisay and some historic effects from Dominaria. I don't see any cards in here than inspire Lady Caleria's slaying of wrongness.
Surrak's Beasts and Where to Find Them
Surrak leads my Beast themed deck. It has bigger powers that will work with both the "Naya" size matters cards as well as the Temur "power matters" one. Then we have tons of Beasts and Beast enablers. We get a tight deck with big, fat bodies that want to smash quickly. Anything in Commander 2018 that might recommend itself? I'd love to have a good mid-range creature fetcher, but Genesis Storm stops for non-creatures and has to be played later in the game to matter, so it's more of a late-game permanent fetcher. It's not what I'm looking for. See you next set Surrak!
Vhati's Machine
In this deck, Vhati is typically used to tap and drop the toughness of your opposing dorks to 1, and then to kill them with various effects, from something like -1/-1, damage dealing, and such. The deck can machine gun kill folks when it hums. Any cards in here that suggest themselves to me?
Yup!
Ravenous Slime - We kill a lot of stuff. As Vhati kills something, the Slime here will exile it, and then grow permanently. Now the critter is gone, and any recursive tricks or other reuses your foe might have had for their newly deceased dork are gone. That's pretty good! But I do feel that, as of right now, the Ravenous Slime might play more like a "win more" card that takes a dominant position and then wins, rather that getting me to that position anyways. So, as of right now, I am going to skip past Ravenous Slime, but it is on my radar for inclusion later should it want to be added.
Oros' Control
Ah yes; My first Commander deck. Because it was my first deck, it didn't have the same resonant theme as the others you'll see on this list. This deck seeks to control the board with many classic Commander and multiplayer control cards, and uses things like mass removal in these colors to answer many things. Cards in here include Avatar of Woe, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Volrath's Stronghold, and Damnation. Anything from Commander 2018 that piques my interest?
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent - If she's not your Commander, where is Xantcha as a supporting dork? And does she fit into this deck? I do love that she can still hit the board quickly, or right after you cast a mass removal spell with your remaining mana, and then give someone a gift that slowly takes them out of the game while taking out others. She works quite well with Oros, because she encourages people to kill each other, while having smaller paths of resistance as I can easily kill any potential blockers. Xantcha for the Win-Cha!
I have a new addition I didn't like how it played, so it's coming come for Xantcha.
In Xantcha, Sleeper Agent; Out Baird, Steward of Argive
Commander 2018 Additions to Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy!
This is my iconic, purple sleeved, Five Color Highlander monstrosity with around 4500 cards in it! What's getting tossed in?
White:
Blue:
Black:
Red:
Green:
Gold:
- Aminatou, the Fateshifter
- Lord Windgrace
- Saheeli, the Gifted
- Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
- Varina, Lich Queen
- Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
- Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
- Windgrace's Judgment
Artifact:
Land:
And there we are! I hope you enjoyed reading my article about what is actually going to make the cut in my various decks. So what did you think? Any Commander 2018 cards that you are really enjoying right now? Anything I missed that you think I should consider more strongly?
As always, thanks for reading!
