A couple of weeks ago, Triumph (either a fan of insult comic dogs or Canadian power trios that aren’t Rush) asked if a 75% Rafiq of the Many deck was possible. This was in the comments of this article because I know people can’t resist on turning blue links purple. You’ve probably clicked the link, but I’ll repeat here what I said there.

The more I tinkered with it on paper, the more I realized I was breaking one of my rules with every approach. I didn’t want to start with a strong Rafiq deck and neuter it to make it fairer. I tried to stick with a theme and build something like Rafiq Auras or Rafiq tokens, but I was realizing it was just a bad version of a better deck. I couldn’t make a “fair” Voltron deck without just making a better one bad, and I realized something else.

I was still mulling this over when I saw a thread in /r/EDH titled “EDH Generals (Which are the most popular for 5.00 & under.)” [sic]. Ever since I fished a Nath of the Gilt-Leaf out of a dollar box, I’ve thought about how I would make a 75% Nath deck. Is it possible? I mentioned something in the thread about how Nath is pretty sweet, and /u/FlannelBoy2 said, “Please do a 75% Nath.” So I tried. In the end, I had something that was fair, fun, 75% . . . and practically identical to the Shattergang Brothers deck I came up with here. Bummer.

Since I was struggling to come up with something 75%, I decided to just do my writing assignments for other sites and see if I received any inspiration. It was then, poring over the spoiler for Journey into Nyx, that I realized what I could do was put the 75% principles to the test by building something that no one has built because the deck doesn’t exist yet. I could pick a new legendary creature from Journey into Nyx and try to see if our philosophy is developed enough to apply to an unknown setting.

• 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.
• You can skew toward power provided you skew away from consistency.
• It is better to punish everyone equally for doing something rather than prevent them from doing it.
• Building around a theme will keep the power level from skewing too high.
• Imposing limitations encourages creativity and promotes balance.

I think we can manage, and I think we can make this happen by brainstorming a few cards I really want to make sure I include.

I think we want some scalable stuff, and a 75% card I really like is Vedalken Shackles. I haven’t put one in any of my own decks, but it’s a great and useful card, and since this is only two colors, you’ll have enough Islands. Bribery and Desertion should join Shackles in the deck. If you like Control Magic, Steal Artifact, and other spells like that, feel free to jam them.

Why not run Omnath while we’re at it? Your blue and colorless mana will stick around and turn to colorless, but since your green mana will not empty as long as you control Omnath, you can benefit from having him, and you can still do things if Kruphix is killed or tucked or if other disaster befalls him.

Another card from the spoiler that seems like fun is Battlefield Thaumaturge. The hundred-card community is already very excited about this card, and I think he synergizes well with Kruphix. Cards that synergize both with having a lot of mana and with targeting a lot of creatures will be good in this deck, so let’s try a few. Strength of the Tajuru, Gridlock, and Curse of the Swine come to mind immediately. Being able to target the entire board with Curse of the Swine for is insane, and the deck would probably run Curse anyway. This is shaping up to be a lot of fun. Dismiss into Dream isn’t too expensive with a deck that can come up with a lot of mana like this one can, and Dismiss makes Gridlock, Curse, et al better, as it does with cards such as Vedalken Shackles and Crystal Shard—more cards we’d play anyway.

It sounds like we have some ideas. Let’s get a deck down, shall we?

75% Kruphix ? Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Artisan of Kozilek
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Battlefield Thaumaturge
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Courser of Kruphix
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fathom Mage
• 1 Kalonian Hydra
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Mystic Snake
• 1 Nimbus Swimmer
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Primordial Hydra
• 1 Progenitor Mimic
• 1 Prophet of Kruphix
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Somberwald Sage
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Woodfall Primus
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Omnath, Locus of Mana
• 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Kiora, The Crashing Wave

• Spells (30)
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Gridlock
• 1 Hour of Need
• 1 Strength of the Tajuru
• 1 Stroke of Genius
• 1 Voidslime
• 1 Bribery
• 1 Curse of the Swine
• 1 Distant Memories
• 1 Explore
• 1 Gelatinous Genesis
• 1 Green Sun's Zenith
• 1 Mind Spring
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rite of Replication
• 1 Slime Molding
• 1 Urban Evolution
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dismiss Into Dream
• 1 Dissipation Field
• 1 Mana Reflection
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Crystal Shard
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Oblivion Stone
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Trading Post
• 1 Vedalken Shackles

• Lands (41)
• 15 Forest
• 14 Island
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Terrain Generator
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

Buy This Deck

Remember what I said about our work never being done? This is a very rough sketch of what I think the deck should look like. It has powerful cards yet no real way to find them consistently. It has cards that scale based on the power level of your opponents’ decks. It has mana-fixing and ramp and all of the essential cards for any Commander deck. It also has a lot of cards that work with the Battlefield Thaumaturge. There is nothing in here that I am dying to run that I didn’t include.

I am excited about a lot of cards in Journey into Nyx. How will Dictate of Kruphix help out Nekusar, the Mindrazer decks (like they needed help)? How much fun will Battlefield Thaumaturge be with cards like Dregs of Sorrow and Comet Storm? How much will I pay for a foil Sage of Hours to go in my Vorel of the Hull Clade deck? Anything in the set I missed? Let me hear about it! Thank you for joining me for another installment. Hit me up in the comments section or @JasonEAlt on Twitter or /u/JasonEAltMTG on reddit, and let’s talk shop.