Now there’re three boxes, but it used to be one—trophies, little reminders that I am breaking some of the rules I established for myself as a financier but that, since I didn’t die or catch fire or immediately go broke, I don’t mind continuing to break.

Since I have begun embezzling from myself, I have come into some cool cards that I’d never read before but that had a lot of potential. I’d never have gone into a store and said, “I want all of your Pygmy Hippo please,” but I read one as I was buy-listing it, and it went out of the buy-list pile and into the box. Someone sold me a collection with four Doubling Cube . . . Into the box. The box grew from a Fat Pack box to a 1,000-count, to a 1,000-count and a Fat Pack box, and it keeps growing. I rationalize this sort of collection by selling cards out of it to my playgroup. In fact, my cards for me are in decks for the most part. This weekend, while I was selling to a dealer at Grand Prix Philadelphia, he asked, “What’s that box there?” while I handed him boxes to look through, and I realized I didn’t even want him looking at it because every card in there was stuff I was keeping to build with some day.

I concluded the sale, sat down at a table, took all of my Commander boxes, and took all the cards out. I was going to keep one Fat Pack box for myself and keep it separate from the inventory. So what was I going to put in the box?

Prophet of Kruphix is the least fair card I can advocate in a 75% deck. These are not super-reprintable except in sealed Commander products, and these are gettable at $2. I am super-deep on buying a ton of these.

Trading Post is a snap-include for me. I think every 75% deck can use one of these. It can bail you out of tough spots, it always gives you something to do, and since my favorite way to scale my deck based on the power level of opposing decks is to steal opponents’ creatures, it’s a decent sac outlet. This card’s presence in a decklist is almost like my fingerprint.

Bribery is a little expensive, but it’s among my favorite 75% spells. Taking the best creature in an opponent’s deck is a good way to make sure you’re not playing anything too tough for him or her to deal with, and it can give you game against better decks. I buy really beaten-up copies for around $10 because that is how I justify spending my own money on cards.

Vedalken Shackles is another card in the same vein as Bribery. I don’t have a ton of copies, but with its reprinting in Modern Masters, you have some time to pick up copies before it goes up, which I think it will.

Signets—because you can never have enough. These are great fixing, and they’re cheap.

Praetor's Grasp is another great scaling spell, and it doubles as removal for combo pieces.

Distant Memories does different things in different groups. Spikey players might tuck your commander, and this fishes it out. More casual groups will allow you to use this for pure card advantage. It allows you to have unfair cards in your deck and let the group decide how badly it doesn’t want you to use them. 75% theory can get political.

Sorin Markov is another card that scales with your group based on group dynamics. Spikey groups want to play the card as printed, and casual groups are more likely to say his ability puts a player at 20.

Magister Sphinx is another Markov variant, and I keep these around to go into Esper decks. If someone is too far ahead, use this reactively. I don’t like using this card to bully anyone.

Desertion is another scalable spell, it has utility in that it can counter anything in a pinch, and it is cheaper than Bribery. I love me some Desertion.

Spelljack is in the same vein as Desertion. I buy these whenever I find them.

Rite of Replication is powerful, but I feel it’s a nice scaling spell. I copy opposing creatures with it.

Cyclonic Rift is among the most powerful spells in Commander. I especially like this as a 75% card in a deck like one with Maelstrom Wanderer since you’re more likely to cascade against more casual players, and you’re therefore less likely to draw it and be tempted to ruin the table’s day.

Polluted Bonds is a card I went out and bought a bunch of copies of. I love effects like this that punish rather than prevent. It’s very, very 75%.

Insurrection is great because it scales and because it can wrap games up.

Master Warcraft is in the same vein. It doesn’t scale as well, but I like having an I-win spell to help me beat a tougher matchup or to break durdly ground stalls like ones you see in casual matchups. This is a great card to help you win 1 ÷ X games.

Dissipation Field is not a card I had any copies of, so I ran out and obtained a play set. I am working it into blue decks.

No Mercy is expensive, but I think it’s a good 75% card because I prefer to punish rather than prevent in a 75% context.

Conspicuously absent are certain classes of cards. I don’t think cards that mess with your opponents’ mana belong in 75% decks. They can help in tougher matchups, but they prevent people from playing spells, and making people miserable isn’t very 75%. I have begun stocking up on more effects that punish players and can act as a deterrent since we adopted that principle.

I have also reversed my position on spells like Pattern of Rebirth. I used to love this card, but the more I think about it, the more I think it’s the opposite of a 75% card (it’s a 0.01333333 % card, if you will). It is tougher for worse decks to deal with, and it’s almost trivial for better decks. This means you’re going to generate something unfair quickly against a casual deck, making it a bit oppressive without the added benefit of having it improve your matchup against stronger decks. It scales, just in the wrong direction. Pattern is out of the box.

Next week, I think I’ll try to brew something. A few weeks back, there was a request in the comments to take a crack at Rafiq of the Many, and I am not sure if Rafiq can be a 75% deck. I am going to see if we can apply the substantial list of principles to the project and come up with something that is scalable, fun, and fair and that isn’t the result of neutering a better Rafiq deck. This is going to really put this philosophy to the test. I hope you’ll all join me.

Until then, let’s fill up the comments section. What’s in your box? What goes in all of your decks? What’s a 75% card you think I should start buying wherever I see it? What deck would you like to see me take a swing at next? Let’s blow up the comments section. Thanks for coming along with me on this journey.