Bennie Smith writes a very good column about Commander on the free side of StarCityGames. I have been reading for years, and I would say that I lika the juice. Bennie has always been about making Commander fun, and I would say my pursuit of the perfect 75% deck is partially influenced by his philosophy. I have plenty of formats I can play in if I want to be a Spike, but I play Commander to have fun and to sell cards. I think Bennie's weekly offerings are a must-read for anyone who wants to play Commander and have more fun with it.

I don't disagree with the premise of Bennie's article. Going tutorless is a very good way to keep your deck in the 75% range. A deck with creatures and spells that would put it in the 100% range that can't fetch them reliably or consistently is going to skew toward 75% by virtue of the built-in inconsistency. I think that is an excellent way to think about it, but I think that, although that is sound logic, I tend to approach the problem from the opposite angle. To that end, I submit to you that clever use of tutors can help your deck be the best 75% deck it can be.

Build Up, Not Down

I make a living buying and selling cards among other things. Having recently come into a huge collection of foreign, foil, and foreign foil Commander goodies that I was not going to be able to list on TCGplayer, I decided I should find out where EDH players hung out and go and trade with them. I never wanted to spend any of my money on EDH because I would rather buy cards to sell, not cards to have. Hanging out with EDH players and talking with them about their decks was the beginning of the end for me, though. As I suggested cards that might improve their decks, I started to discover ideas for my own decks, and I ended up trading for most of a deck, finishing it with stuff from the foreign foil collection I was trading away. In one day, I went from EDH supplier to EDH junkie. I was hooked, and filling the deck out with durdly cards seemed okay to me given who the general was.

"The Deck"

• Commander (0)

• Rocks (14)
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Behemoth Sledge
• 1 Obelisk of Naya
• 1 Crystal Ball
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Gilded Lotus

• Spells (16)
• 1 Sylvan Tutor
• 1 Worldly Tutor
• 1 Mirri's Guile
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Into the Wilds
• 1 Nature's Will
• 1 Bear Umbra
• 1 Pattern of Rebirth
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Summoning Trap
• 1 Tooth and Nail
• 1 Insurrection

• Dudes (34)
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Sacellum Godspeaker
• 1 Borderland Ranger
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Drumhunter
• 1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
• 1 Thragtusk
• 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 1 Hellkite Tyrant
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
• 1 Purity
• 1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
• 1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 1 Hellkite Charger
• 1 Lurking Predators
• 1 Paleoloth
• 1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
• 1 Mossbridge Troll
• 1 Windbrisk Raptor
• 1 Platinum Angel
• 1 Gruul Ragebeast
• 1 Angelic Arbiter
• 1 Platinum Emperion
• 1 Verdant Force
• 1 Godsire
• 1 Bogardan Hellkite
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
• 1 Borborygmos Enraged
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Blazing Archon
• 1 Worldspine Wurm
• 1 It That Betrays

• Lands (35)
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Ancient Ziggurat
• 1 Krosan Verge
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Raging Ravine
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Grove of the Guardian
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 7 Forest
• 4 Plains
• 3 Mountain

Buy This Deck

Why Tutors?

Every deck has that “thing” it wants to do. In this case, it seems that the thing is “cheat something into play with Mayael,” but what I actually really like to do is win the game by putting Bear Umbra on a Hellkite Charger or by having Nature's Will in play with I swing with Charger. I can have infinite attack steps as long as Charger gets through and deals damage (and lives), and it's a lot of fun in the incredibly rare instances when it works out.

You will notice I only have one Eldrazi, and it's one that is very tough to hard-cast. I think if I had taken the start-100%-and-weaken approach, I might have had more Eldrazi since that seems to be what the cool kids do with Mayael, but since I was attempting not to spend any money on the deck and build it through trades and stuff I had lying around, I only have the one. I feel that building up from nothing makes you be a bit more creative and can keep the cost of the deck way down. It That Betrays is fun—not unfair—and he's potent. He stays.

However, you have the tools you need to get the job done, and tutors allow you to find those cards when you need them, allowing the overall power level of the deck to be lower while allowing for strong, explosive plays that make sure you have the ability to pull yourself out of dire situations. A clutch Summoning Trap or Worldly Tutor has put a Platinum Emperion or Platinum Angel into play at very clutch moments and kept me from losing to lethal alpha strikes. Pattern of Rebirth on a Yavimaya Elder is a very silly, fun, and potent way to make sure you can find what you need and dissuade early attacks from ground creatures. Tooth and Nail is a great catchall tutor, and people cheer when they see Mayael throw it on the bottom of the deck but, but they don't complain when you go grab an Angelic Arbiter or Blazing Archon.

In conclusion, I think I should start compiling a list of principles for a 75% deck that can help us build some in the future. Last week, I talked about how scalable spells are great for keeping things tailored to the current game state, and this week, although we discussed tutors, I think the main takeaway this week is to start with a bad deck and improve it rather than start with a 100% deck and weaken it. So, we have so far:

• Scalable spells help tailor your cards to the power level of your opponents' decks.
• Always start weak and improve the deck—never weaken a better deck.

We'll build on this list as weeks go by, and we can hope to have a roadmap that will help us start building new decks!

Special thanks to r/EDH for the users’ input on last week's piece. Is this deck not quite 75% enough? Do you have a deck of your own you think qualifies? Send me some comments, criticisms, and decklists. I welcome all of it. Meet me here next week for another list item, another deck, and more fun.