Hello folks! I hope you are having an awesome and safe day today in our modern COVID-19 world!

I have decided to dedicate my Tuesdays this month to exploring formats Beyond Commander. The goal is to give those folks that are a bit blasé of the format an alternative exploration into a new format. At the end of this article will be an Appendix that links to the other BC articles so you can see the other formats I've taken a deep dive into.

Commander was created as a fun alternative for the heavily played formats of the day, but it's now the big format in the room. For the same reason that people once sought shelter in other formats and fled to Commander, they are looking for something else. A lot of players aren't getting the joy from the format that they once were. If that's you, maybe you are looking for another format. Maybe just as a break for a week or a month or so. Maybe for a new best friend!

Thus, the goal of this series is to provide tools for someone looking for something Beyond Commander.

Ready for today's format! Sure thing!

Today we are going to look at the Chameleon Format.

Chameleon

• Rule #1 - In the Chameleon Format, you can play any land up to the normal four card minimum.
• Rule #2 - In the Chameleon Format, your deck size must be at least 60 cards. It can be more.
• Rule #3 - In the Chameleon Format, any non-land must be gold with a gold border.

Now seems simple enough, right? Right! But what... counts...

Great question! Let's look at some examples. Split cards may count. Is it Fire // Ice? Nope! It's not a gold border. But is it Hit // Run? Then it's legal since each of the sides of the split half count as gold. The same rules apply for aftermath cards.

Since you can run any land can you run the new modal DFCs from Zendikar Rising? Is Spikefield Hazard legal? Nope! If the front end were gold, then yes, it'd be legal, but as a mono-colored half is not legal. Both halves must be gold or lands for you to run it in Chameleon. This also prevents a front land like Westvale Abbey from play as its back half isn't gold.

What about cards like Azorius Guildmage with their hybrid mana...are they legal? Are they gold? Nope? Then they are disallowed. Sorry hybrid fans!

What about color identity? If it has two or more colors in its identity but it's not gold, will it count? Will Kenrith, the Returned King be legal in Chameleon? Well the answer is simple...is it a gold multicolored card like Maelstrom Nexus? Then no, it's not legal. Sorry Kenrith fans!

And that's it! Only gold or lands can apply.

After you've run it with gold cards you may wanna open up any multicolored card from Wax // Wane to Reason // Believe to hybrids like Selesnya Guildmage. Enjoy tweaking it to suit your group's needs.

Now let's build some decks for your consideration. How about four decks today?

Chameleon Deck #1 - Dimir Control

Dimir Control | Chameleon | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths
• 2 Dragonlord Silumgar
• 2 Havengul Lich
• 2 The Scarab God
• 4 Baleful Strix
• 4 Hostage Taker

• Instants (18)
• 2 Dimir Charm
• 2 Recoil
• 2 Silumgar's Command
• 4 Countersquall
• 4 Trial // Error
• 4 Undermine

• Lands (26)
• 5 Island
• 5 Swamp
• 4 Dimir Aqueduct
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Mana Confluence
• 4 Watery Grave

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Let's kick our decks off with this Dimir Control build! I wanted to run some useful and flexible answers in these two colors, and we have counters, removal, and bounce in our spell suite as well as creatures that draw cards, bring dead things back, and steal things for the team.

Trial // Error is being played for Error which can counter anything in the format. I did add in Mana Confluence in case you wanna splash Trial. The Confluence also helps to cast creatures from other graveyards with Havengul Lich. Note that there are no traditional creature removal spells in these two colors, so I ran more counters instead.

Let's turn to another build.

Chameleon Deck #2 - Selesnya Tokens

Selesnya Tokens | Chameleon | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Emmara Tandris
• 2 Tolsimir Wolfblood
• 2 Trostani Discordant
• 2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
• 4 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
• 4 Wayfaring Temple

• Instants (12)
• 4 Advent of the Wurm
• 4 March of the Multitudes
• 4 Selesnya Charm

• Sorceries (6)
• 4 Call of the Conclave
• 2 Supply // Demand

• Lands (52)
• 4 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 4 Temple Garden
• 4 Temple of Plenty
• 7 Forest
• 7 Plains
• 26 lands

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Now let's look at tokens and the Selesnya color combo! Here you go! Like the above deck I am running a split card, in this case Supply // Demand, for the Supply side only. I have a few ways of making tokens like Call of the Conclave and Advent of the Wurm as well as ways to help them out. I can pump the team with Trostani Discordant and Tolsimir Wolfblood. I can also run populate here and there with Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, Wayfaring Temple smashing something, and the latter activation of Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage. Enjoy!

Next?

Chameleon Deck #3 - Boros Aggro

Boros Aggro | Chameleon | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
• 2 Iroas, God of Victory
• 2 Iroas's Champion
• 3 Tajic, Legion's Edge
• 4 Boros Challenger
• 4 Cerodon Yearling
• 4 Relentless Raptor
• 4 Swiftblade Vindicator

• Instants (6)
• 2 Boros Charm
• 4 Lighting Helix

• Enchantments (4)
• 2 Goblin Trenches
• 2 Legion's Initiative

• Lands (24)
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 8 Mountain
• 8 Plains

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There we go! Since this format doesn't have any 1-drops I wanted to push an aggro deck for your consideration. That felt like Boros calling my name, so I dipped into the aggressive side of the color combo for your pleasure. We have a lot of 2-drops as well as a few threes and a passel of fours. Note that Legion's Initiative will give all the creatures in this build +1/+1 as they are each Red and White. You can churn extra lands into dorks with Goblin Trenches. The deck has a lot of going wide and aggressive synergies.

How about one more?

Chameleon Deck #4 - Golgari Recursion

Golgari Recursion | Chameleon | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
• 2 Lord of Extinction
• 2 Underrealm Lich
• 4 Acolyte of Affliction
• 4 Goglari Findbroker
• 4 Grave-Shell Scarab
• 4 Rot Farm Skeleton
• 4 Shambling Shell

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Jarad's Orders
• 4 Maelstrom Pulse

• Lands (26)
• 4 Golgari Rot Farm
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Temple of Malady
• 5 Forest
• 5 Swamp

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Let's do Golgari Recursion! In this build we have a lot of ways to bring back dead things from Golgari Findbroker to Acolyte of Affliction. We have creatures that will self-recur like Rot-Farm Skeleton and we have 8 copies of the two gold dredge dorks in Grave-Shell Scarab and Shambling Shell. We also have ways to fill up the graveyard with something to recur or dredge back with cards like Jarad's Orders and Underrealm Lich. Maelstrom Pulse is our emergency answer to anything we might need an answer to that disrupts your plans.

And there we have it! Anything in here that you liked or that inspired you? Are you looking forward to trying it out? Is there another format I should know about and promote in my column? Just let me know!

Appendix - Beyond Commander Articles

Here are my articles that explore other formats in the Beyond Commander series thus far.

• Beyond Commander - Five Color - This alternate format has at least 300 cards, at least 25 of each color, gold cards count for only one color, and it has its own Banned and Restricted list. You can check it out here!
• Beyond Commander - Rainbow Stairwell - In this format you must have 24 basic lands and 36 other cards. Those 36 cards must be in each color and colorless artifacts. They must have converted casting costs of 1 - 6. You can check it out here!