I had so much fun doing a Dargons deck last week that I decided to tackle something else that I think is a lot of fun in Commander. This series is fun to me as a hypothetical exercise, although I occasionally build a deck we cook up here (I noticed that Japanese foils of Daxos of Meletis are $5 on eBay, which has to be a sign), but I don’t limit myself to something I have the cards for, which is especially good this week because I want to brew with a lot of something I don’t have any of: Planeswalkers.

We saw a bunch of new Planeswalkers with the new Commander (2014 Edition) preconstructed decks, and one of my Picks of the Week on Brainstorm Brewery recently was The Chain Veil, a card I think is eventually going to be played a bit more as more and more players have access to Planeswalkers they want to play with. However, building a deck with Daretti, Scrap Savant as your commander isn’t going to warrant playing The Chain Veil—I don’t care if it turns on Mox Opal or not. If that card is going to claim its rightful place as a card that goes up in value over time, it’s going to need the help of a deck I’ve always wanted to build.

Super Friends

Still, something as wide open as Super Friends, which is essentially five-color-good-stuff can be really overwhelming. Where do we start? How do we make sure it’s 75%? I think if we identify a guiding axiom or two, it will help streamline the process and help us figure out what the thing we want to do is (besides “generate value until you become an irresistible force”). I think if we build around a theme (Planeswalkers!) and try to work on using scaling spells to gain the most value out of our non-’Walker spells, we’ll be in good shape. We will also be forced to get a bit more creative if we impose limitations, so I think I want to pick a three-color commander with a relevant ability instead of something like Sliver Queen or Progenitus. So let’s get brewing!

Before I post the list, here was my thought process. I wanted to have a commander with some utility that wasn’t five colors, so I took a look at some utility commanders that I like. After a while, I narrowed it down to Angus Mackenzie, Rubinia Soulsinger, and Merieke Ri Berit. I think I want to play Ajani, Mentor of Heroes in the deck, so that sort of rules our Merieke. Angus could be fun, but as much as Turbofog kind of builds itself (Venser, the Sojourner with Stonehorn Dignitary, anyone?), I think Rubinia provides a great way to scale up. Stealing opponents’ dudes seems to be a great way to make up for not having a ton of creatures of my own, and it fits our theme. I don’t see too many Rubinia Super Friends lists online, so I’ll also have to use my brain a bit, which seems fun. All in all, I think I’m ready to go.

Jason?s 75% Rubinia Soulsinger Supafriends Extravaganza ? Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Gilder Bairn
• 1 Lighthouse Chronologist
• 1 Plaguemaw Beast
• 1 Primordial Hydra
• 1 Spike Weaver
• 1 Thrummingbird
• 1 Viral Drake
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade
• 1 Memnarch

• Planeswalkers (13)
• 1 Ajani Steadfast
• 1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
• 1 Elspeth Tirel
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Garruk Wildspeaker
• 1 Jace Beleren
• 1 Jace, Architect of Thought
• 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1 Nissa, Worldwaker
• 1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
• 1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
• 1 Venser, the Sojourner

• Spells (32)
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Commandeer
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Fuel for the Cause
• 1 Hindering Light
• 1 Illusionist's Gambit
• 1 Reins of Power
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Bribery
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Tezzeret's Gambit
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Inexorable Tide
• 1 Legacy's Allure
• 1 Mind Unbound
• 1 Primal Vigor
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Carnage Altar
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Culling Dais
• 1 Helm of Possession
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Rings of Brighthearth
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Throne of Geth
• 1 Trading Post
• 1 Vedalken Shackles
• 1 Ward of Bones
• 1 The Chain Veil

• Lands (39)
• 10 Forest
• 6 Plains
• 7 Island
• 1 Bant Panorama
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 City of Shadows
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Vivid Meadow
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Bastion

Buy This Deck

This is slow and mana-hungry, and it for sure needs some tuning, but I was able to find some real gems searching through Gatherer for proliferate cards. For example, I love finding cards like Plaguemaw Beast that solve two problems at once. I like having sac outlets that generate me value, and there are plenty of ways to generate value, especially if you’re proliferating. I think there is a real good basis for a deck here that will grow better as we play with it and figure out what it needs. Maybe there should be some more mana-ramp, like Simic Signet. Maybe there should be more board-wipe. Maybe Vedalken Shackles doesn’t have enough Islands to steal a creature bigger than 3/3. What I do know is that this is a very good example of a 75% deck.

Thematically, having thirteen Planeswalkers is probably enough. Having ways to double counters is always cool, and proliferation will be very nasty. Even our combo of Doubling Season and Jace, Architect of Thought fits our scaling theme, and we’ll raid opponents’ decks for goodies the turn we cast Jace if it’s the right season. This isn’t the most Planeswalker-heavy Super Friends deck ever, but we’re also only using ones we can use to great effect. I’m not all-in on Venser being out there to the extent that I run cards like Stonehorn Dignitary, but if I can generate a loop with Eternal Witness every turn, I won’t be mad at it. We have enough emblem-makers here that it could get out of hand, and Venser’s ultimate is too good to ignore.

Limiting myself to three colors and making sure my commander did stuff made it very easy to decide what to build. The commander informed how I tailored the deck and which colors I could use. All in all, this is a great example of a 75% Super Friends deck, and those axioms really took an embarrassment of possibilities and narrowed them down quickly. I think I am playing with the most powerful cards available to me, and it feels good. 75% doesn’t mean “weak,” and this deck proves it. Once this is tuned, I could see this being a ton of fun. Who knows? I may run out and buy all of the Planeswalkers and build this for myself.

That does it for me this week! Tune in next week, when I’ll be tackling another problem—that is, unless someone makes a good suggestion here in the comments section or on reddit. Thanks for reading!