Hello happy Commander fans! Today I have a treat for you with my final Commander deck from the latest set called The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - Wikipedia)...er...Ixalan. This is my fourth and final Commander and my favorite uncommon to build around too, which made my Top Ten List from that set!

Anyways, let's look at my uncommon I'll be building around today:

This on-curve 3/3 beater for three mana has two abilities you can really push to dominance from the Command Zone. The best is the first which shuts down all interaction with your foes on your turn since they cannot cast spells at all like reactions such as Heroic Intervention or Counterspell, they have to wait until their turn, tap their mana and tap out, and then open up windows. As you can see, the second ability is the one to build around since when your stuff deals damage, if one had a power greater than its printed power, you draw one card, but just once, not once per combat damage barring double strike. That's awesome!

Mana, Ramp, Lands

Hello ramp fans! When you have a three-drop in Green, the only way you can accelerate it on the second turn is with a first-turn mana dork like Birds of Paradise, but I skipped by that since I need ramp for other things.

Enter Three Visits and Skyshroud Claim. The two-cost was printed in White border initially yuck. Then you can search out a Forest and drop it onto the battlefield. Ditto Nature's Lore. The Claim will ramp out two Forests instead of one. I am running this section of ramp with every Plains/Forest that's not on the Reserve List since they offer both mana types since they don't use the word "basic" in front of Forest.

The three-drop enchantment draws you a card when it ETBs and you can drop a land from your hand this turn. So it's an Explore on an enchantment for another mana, and Explore is here too. Then your lands ETB untapped and ready to be used! We also have the classic Cultivate.

Now let's turn to lands that add +1/+1 counters to stuff you control! Gavony Township taps for colorless, taps with four to put a counter of the +1/+1 variety on everything you own, so it can be a combat trick. Drannith Ruins taps for colorless and taps with two to put a pair of +1/+1 counters on a non-Human you control that ETBs this turn, so that's your leader or other key dork. Then we are running other +1/+1 counter stuff in your land base like Animal Sanctuary that will put it on a Cat you control (Commander) or Oran-Rief, the Vastwood to put it on all Green Dorks that ETBs this turn.

Now let's turn to synergetic lands. The White tapping lands usually ETBs tapped and then taps with two to draw a card if you attacked with two or more dorks this turn - likely here. I am also running card draw in land form War Room and hideaway land Mosswort Bridge. Then the next land was the first land I added to my deck which I do when I have a card draw Commander. Then you skip discarding since you have no maximum hand size.

Now let's finish with this pair! The land ETBs tapped unless you control Spelunking, and then you have exalted, so if you attack with one dork it grows by a free +1/+1 to trigger Kutzil. The equipment costs two, equips for two, gives a +1/+1 boost and then when it attacks you ramp a basic land tapped from your library.

Fun Power Pumpers

Now let's turn to fun power pumpers. We'll start with this legendary equipment duo! The former costs one, equips for two, and then gives +1/+1 size and then trample and lifelink. Nasty trample and lifelink here to deal damage over blockers. Then you can spend one to have your foes lose hexproof and indestructible for the turn. The latter drops on turn two, equips on turn three a legendary dork like Kutzil, and then you get a power and toughness boost equal to your land count!

Staff of Titania costs two, equips for three, and then the dork gets power and toughness equal to your Forest count! Nasty, and I tossed in the Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to give all of your lands Forests as well as your many duels from above. Then when it swings you make a free 1/1 Green Forest Dryad land token so it'll grow over time! Batterskull arrives with living weapon on a 4/4 with vigilance and lifelink. Then you can spend five to equip. Since Living Weapon dorks arrive with a 0/0 body that is equipped with this with power boosts, they will always count for Kutzil's card draw and I tossed in Kaldra Compleat as well.

Synergies and Other Win-Cons

Now let's turn to synergies and backup win cons! We'll start with this mono-White legendary duo! The four-drop is a Cat for things here that care like the Animal Sanctuary. As a mana sink, you can spend five mana over and over again to give your attackers power and toughness boosts equal to their count!

The seven-drop Praetor rocks a smaller powered body for the cost with a 4/7 body but with vigilance. Other dorks you control get a permanent boosted body at +2/+2 and then opposing stuff drops, so this is removal and pumping in one body. I am running a few more Anthems on dorks like King Darien or Cat pumper Regal Caracal that makes dorks on ETB.

Now let's stick with dorks but turn to the other part of my color identity. Moonshaker Cavalry costs a massive eight mana for a 6/6 flying body, so that's a massive beater. Then when it ETBs your team gets flying for the turn and then also power and toughness boosts equal to your dork count so that can win out of nowhere. I am also running the Craterhoof Behemoth that inspired this!

Sovereign Okinec Ahau costs four for a 3/4 body with ward 2 to protect it. Then when it attacks, each other dork with power greater than the base power will get +1/+1 counters equal to that difference in a permanent boost, so he plays into the same infrastructure as your Commander! He's also a Cat! Nasty here!

Now let's turn to enchantments! The five-drop has flash. Then your stuff gets a double Anthem boost at +2/+2. You can use it as a combat trick, or EOT on your foe's turn after they tap out and attack with the boosts on your turn plus what you cast. Then the six-drop is harder to cast, sorry, but it's worth it! It gives your entire team double strike and lifelink too for serious lifegain. The first is why it's here, since with double strike we draw two in our combat phase not one. I am also running double strike giving equipment in Fireshrieker. Love this pair loads!

Since our leader has a combat damage trigger we built around, we need ways to ensure we connect that damage to a foe! Enter Trailblazer's Boots, which costs two, equips for two too and gives the equipped dork nonbasic landwalk, so basically impossible for most to block. Ditto Prowler's Helm and Rogue's Passage, but not Whispersilk Cloak since I need to target my guy with equipment, +1/+1 counter givers or auras like Rancor. Unnatural Growth has a tough casting cost, but it's worth it since at the beginning of our combat we double the power and toughness of our dorks for them all to draw cards. Drop it on the pre-combat main phase where they cannot counter, swing, and get the cards and kill twice as fast with combat damage or Commander Damage.

Answers

Alright, now let's turn to answers! I have four answers to answers here to save my stuff from removal targeted and mass and then as a combat trick too. First, I have the obvious Heroic Intervention to give my stuff indestructible and hexproof too and Teferi's Protection to phase it out for the turn. Nice! Then I have these two mono-White instants. The non-modal spell land makes my dorks indestructible for the turn! Nasty! And if you control your Commander, it's free so you don't spend mana on it, tap out with this. Then the modal spell land costs two. A target dork you control gains protection from a color you choose. Nasty way to protect from combat damage, chump blocking, mass damage-based removal like Blasphemous Act, targeted removal or getting in a hit with your leader to draw a card too.

Now let's turn to synergetic targeted removal! Over the Edge gives two options, the first is Naturalize, or you can have a dork you control explore twice to grow it or draw lands which is great to get use out of it if there is nothing frumping around to worry about. Outmuscle will put a +1/+1 counter on your dork and then you'll fight, so that's creature removal if you built up a dork and then you put a counter on it to draw cards with. Then if you spent three Green to cast it the dork gets indestructible for the turn!

The Selesnya colored one has a 2/2 body with exalted to pump something that attacks. Then you can spend one sacrifice this to Naturalize something. The mono-Green one is a Bear in size and then you can spend a mana to exile something from a graveyard and then if it was a dork, this grows permanently in size with a +1/+1 counters. Graveyard answers on a stick! I am also running the Artifact Equipment Creature Lion Sash that does the same thing.

I love mass removal options that you can run to answer when stuff gets out of hand, enter Winds of Abandon and Austere Command!

The overload costs two base and six to overload. It can serve as a sorcery-speed Path to Exile to answer all opposing stuff, and then they'll ramp a load to make up for it. This is exile removal so they cannot save things like indestructible dorks. The six-drop is a classic mass removal effect since you have two of four choices to remove, and then you can use it best based on your set up card wise. Everyone loves this classic mass removal spell loads! I only am running six enchantments to sweep and one will come back, so we only care about five. So that and the creature state we care about will likely be the default.

Card Draw

Now let's turn to card draw with power-based draw in this pair that costs five mana each! The sorcery gives a dork you control +3/+3 and trample this turn to punch and grow and get card flow from your leader! Then when it smashes face, you draw equal to the damage dealt, nasty! The instant has two options. The first is to draw equal to a non-Human you control's power. Then the second is to give your non-Humans +3/+3 as a combat trick, or player kill too, so don't sleep on that!

Camaraderie costs six and you gain life and draw cards equal to your critter count, which is huge here! Then your dorks get +1/+1 this turn to trigger your Commander. Toski, Bearer of Secrets is a four-mana 1/1 that cannot be countered or killed with indestructible. It has to attack each turn. Then when you deal combat damage to a player, you draw a card. Note that unlike our leader, this happens once per creature damage dealt. Since I am already built around combat damage to a player with my Commander this slides in perfectly, and then every other version of this like Ohran Frostfang is here too!

Let's finish with this one-drop artifact pair! The dork has a 1/1 body to tax your foes for the first nondork they card each turn for its power, or you'll draw a card. With your power pumpers that should be very nasty here! Then the equipment equips for one. Then the equipped dork grows in power to trigger your Commander but drops in toughness. Then you can draw two when it dies, and we do have a few ways here and there to make 1/1 tokens to sacrifice like Cats from the Cat maker or Castle Ardenvale. Love this pair loads!

Let's turn to the decklist!

Kutzil Explorer EDH | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kutzil, Malamet Explorer

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Jazal Goldmane
• 1 Keeper of Fables
• 1 King Darien XLVIII
• 1 Lion Sash
• 1 Maja, Bretagard Protector
• 1 Moonshaker Cavalry
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sovereign Okinec Ahaur
• 1 Ohran Frostfang
• 1 Qasali Pridemage
• 1 Regal Caracal
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Skyhunter Strike Force
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Wood Elves

• Instants (6)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier
• 1 Teferi's Protection

• Sorceries (15)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Camaraderie
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explore
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Hunter's Prowess
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Outmuscle
• 1 Over the Edge
• 1 Savage Stomp
• 1 Skyshroud Claim
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Winds of Abandon

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Dictate of Heliod
• 1 Felidar Retreat
• 1 Rancor
• 1 Spelunking
• 1 True Conviction
• 1 Unnatural Growth

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Bonesplitter
• 1 Fireshrieker
• 1 Kaldra Compleat
• 1 Prowler's Helm
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 Staff of Titania
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots

• Lands (39)
• 1 Animal Sanctuary
• 1 Arctic Treeline
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Cathedral of War
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Drannith Ruins
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Radiant Grove
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Restless Prairie
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Tyrite Sanctum
• 1 Volatile Fault
• 1 War Room
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• 7 Plains
• 9 Forest

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And there we go! What did you think of my power matters brew? I hope you enjoyed my take of my favorite uncommon Commander from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan!