I’m figuring this out as I go along. I don’t know whether you consider that a good thing, but that’s the honest truth. This 75% mentality has struck a chord with a lot of players, and I’m fortunate that we all are able to figure it out together. Having communities like Gathering Magic and reddit has been invaluable, as crowdsourcing is sometimes the easiest way to discover answers to difficult questions. It’s fair to say that the 75% mentality has a lot of elements to it that are intuitive, and players have responded to that. But it’s also fair to say there are a lot of elements that are based on gut feelings. What’s the issue with that? To quote John Cusack in High Fidelity, “My guts have $%^& for brains.”

That’s where the community came up big. Reports came in that there are members of the community who had a bit more vision than I had, and they built a 75% Nath deck using one of the other methods I prescribed in an earlier installment: building around a theme. In this case, the theme was tribal Elves.

I was shipped not one, but two Nath lists this week, so I’m going to see if there is anything we can learn from them.

cybishop3

The first one comes to us from /u/cybishop3 on reddit. He plays with a small group of friends and says he’s not sure how this deck would stack up against other builds.

75% Nath ? Commander | cybishop3

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (40)
• 1 Allosaurus Rider
• 1 Cairn Wanderer
• 1 Chameleon Colossus
• 1 Copperhorn Scout
• 1 Elven Riders
• 1 Elvish Archdruid
• 1 Elvish Champion
• 1 Elvish Harbinger
• 1 Elvish Skysweeper
• 1 Elvish Soultiller
• 1 Elvish Vanguard
• 1 Essence Warden
• 1 Frontier Guide
• 1 Golgari Guildmage
• 1 Heedless One
• 1 Heritage Druid
• 1 Immaculate Magistrate
• 1 Imperious Perfect
• 1 Jagged-Scar Archers
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Joraga Warcaller
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Llanowar Mentor
• 1 Lys Alana Bowmaster
• 1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1 Lys Alana Scarblade
• 1 Masked Admirers
• 1 Nullmage Shepherd
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Priest of Titania
• 1 Silhana Ledgewalker
• 1 Sylvan Ranger
• 1 Thornweald Archer
• 1 Timberwatch Elf
• 1 Viridian Corrupter
• 1 Wellwisher
• 1 Wildheart Invoker
• 1 Elf Replica
• 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1 Rhys the Exiled

• Spells (24)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Strength of the Tajuru
• 1 Tribal Unity
• 1 Untamed Might
• 1 Vitalize
• 1 Vitalizing Wind
• 1 Wirewood Pride
• 1 Eyeblight's Ending
• 1 Corrosive Gale
• 1 Hurricane
• 1 Ill-Gotten Gains
• 1 Minions' Murmurs
• 1 Overwhelming Stampede
• 1 Profane Command
• 1 Elvish Promenade
• 1 Beastmaster Ascension
• 1 Descendants' Path
• 1 Null Profusion
• 1 Recycle
• 1 Words of Waste
• 1 Prowess of the Fair
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Geth's Grimoire
• 1 Konda's Banner

• Lands (35)
• 23 Forest
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Verdant Catacombs

Buy This Deck

Prima facie, this deck looks to be a good budget deck. Konda's Banner is a fine card in this deck, but would it warrant a slot in the deck if we had a Coat of Arms? Cards like Hurricane and Corrosive Gale seem specific to a metagame although it’s never a bad idea to be able to deal with flyers. Some cards, such as Vitalizing Wind, seem to be budget alternatives to more expensive cards like Craterhoof Behemoth. Craterhoof Behemoth is possibly the best Elf ever printed, but his current retail price is worth about ten percent of this entire deck.

Almost every Elf is so cheap in terms of mana, and the deck doesn’t run cards like Craterhoof Behemoth or Regal Force, so I might consider jamming an Aluren to pair with the Recycle and Null Profusion. All in all, I like the build. It’s obviously 75%-based on its adherence to our rules, and, in all honesty, I think it could stand to be quite a bit more powerful and still follow our rules. For example, we’ve jammed Coat of Arms in tribal decks before.

I don’t feel that this build takes advantage of the black mana as much as it could, but you want a Commander deck that can really explode in a few turns with cards like Beastmaster Ascension. I like Slate of Ancestry as a good tool and as a flavorful card as well. There are real, tangible ways to beef this up and still have it be a 75% deck. One thing is clear: This is nothing like Shattergang Brothers.

silencesc

Our next list comes to us courtesy of /u/silencesc, who posted his Nath tribal list in the subreddit asking for feedback. The entire thread is a short read and can be found here. Let’s take a look at his list and see if anything jumps out at us—that’s how we came up with all of our other rules after all.

75% Nath ? Commander | silencesc

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Bramblewood Paragon
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Deathrite Shaman
• 1 Elvish Archdruid
• 1 Elvish Champion
• 1 Elvish Harbinger
• 1 Genesis
• 1 Imperious Perfect
• 1 Joraga Warcaller
• 1 Lord of Extinction
• 1 Master of the Wild Hunt
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Priest of Titania
• 1 Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Timberwatch Elf
• 1 Wren's Run Packmaster
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1 Braids, Cabal Minion
• 1 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
• 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
• 1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
• 1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Karn Liberated
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 1 Nissa Revane
• 1 Vraska the Unseen

• Spells (35)
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Summoner's Pact
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 1 Boundless Realms
• 1 Death Cloud
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Genesis Wave
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 1 Overwhelming Forces
• 1 Praetor's Counsel
• 1 Stitch Together
• 1 Tooth and Nail
• 1 Burgeoning
• 1 Concordant Crossroads
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Exploration
• 1 Mana Reflection
• 1 Pernicious Deed
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Amulet of Vigor
• 1 Geth's Grimoire
• 1 Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Smokestack

• Lands (33)
• 13 Forest
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Grim Backwoods
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Wirewood Lodge
• 1 Wooded Foothills

Buy This Deck

This deck is pretty Nathty. A Stax deck that uses its Elves to ramp to very large spells can be very potent. There are some cards that we aren’t going to want to jam in a 75% deck—such as Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and potentially Smokestack—but I am not prepared to rule on Smokestack unilaterally. In fact, our poll last week was pretty successful, so let’s try another one. We voted last week on whether Greater Good was a good 75% inclusion, and a majority of you thought so. Let’s do one for Smokestack.

[poll id="350"]

Let’s see where we end up on this.

As far as this second deck goes, it has a lot I like. Champion of Lambholt is a very cool card, and I have actually begun running it in my Vorel of the Hull Clade list. This deck has much less regard for budget, running cards like Overwhelming Forces (I run Decree of Pain), Phyrexian Altar, Karn Liberated, and other expensive cards. There’s nothing wrong with running good, expensive cards. However, Karn seems a bit off to me. He’s certainly powerful, but he’s not overly flavorful. While we’re not exactly required to build a flavorful deck, I think we can afford to cut some raw power in favor of some more focused power. Neither deck is running a Skyshroud Poacher, but at a mere $3, a card that can find your Heritage Druid to help you take advantage of all of your Elf tokens seems to be a better inclusion than a card the main purpose of which is, “He’s really a good Magic card, and as a colorless Planeswalker, he’s in my colors.”

There are some powerful combos, but none of them is infinite as far as I can tell. Powerful combos are totally fine in 75% decks. /u/lobearer recommended adding the Volrath's Stronghold back in to loop Eternal Witness and Pernicious Deed. I’m not super-opposed to that, but I was looking to go a little deeper into Elf tribal, and I don’t know whether I want Eternal Witness in my Nath deck.

Fusion

There are elements of both of these decks that I like. Hard-pressed to come up with a 75% list, it might look something like this.

75% Nath ? Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Bramblewood Paragon
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Copperhorn Scout
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Deathrite Shaman
• 1 Elvish Archdruid
• 1 Elvish Champion
• 1 Elvish Harbinger
• 1 Fauna Shaman
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Heritage Druid
• 1 Imperious Perfect
• 1 Jagged-Scar Archers
• 1 Joraga Warcaller
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Masked Admirers
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Priest of Titania
• 1 Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Skyshroud Poacher
• 1 Timberwatch Elf
• 1 Wellwisher
• 1 Wren's Run Packmaster
• 1 Adaptive Automaton
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Elf Replica
• 1 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
• 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1 Rhys the Exiled
• 1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Nissa Revane
• 1 Vraska the Unseen

• Spells (32)
• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 1 Boundless Realms
• 1 Death Cloud
• 1 Decree of Pain
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Genesis Wave
• 1 Ill-Gotten Gains
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 1 Praetor's Counsel
• 1 Tooth and Nail
• 1 Concordant Crossroads
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Mana Reflection
• 1 Parallel Lives
• 1 Perilous Forays
• 1 Pernicious Deed
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Coat of Arms
• 1 Geth's Grimoire
• 1 Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Slate of Ancestry
• 1 Thousand-Year Elixir

• Lands (33)
• 13 Forest
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Grim Backwoods
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Wirewood Lodge
• 1 Wooded Foothills

Buy This Deck

I think this is a good reconciliation of the two decks as well as some other strategies I saw online. I used the more powerful of these two decks as the shell, but I incorporated elements from the first. I like the powerful interaction between Copperhorn Scout and Elves that tap for a lot of mana in a deck with Ezuri, Renegade Leader. This will require a lot of tutors and will be very fragile, so even as powerful as it is, it is inconsistent. It will be fun to get off, and it won’t work so frequently that it’s no fun to play against. Face-up tutors such as Skyshroud Poacher are fine in my opinion. I added some additional sac outlets like Perilous Forays.

I like the artifact package I added. I think Adaptive Automaton belongs in a deck like this, as does Coat of Arms. Thousand-Year Elixir is going to be quite good when you want to chain Elves, so I added a few more mana Elves and ways to find Heritage Druid.

All in all, this list strikes me as a nice 75% Nath deck. Are there countless ways to build this? Absolutely. If I sleeved this up, my signature Trading Post probably makes the cut, for example. I may end up cutting Death Cloud and/or Exsanguinate after jamming a few games. Still, I think what I did here that is most important is that I realized that my gut is wrong sometimes and that you can easily make several different 75% Nath builds that look nothing like redundant copies of other decks. All it took was a little creativity, some community feedback, and the inclination.

No new rule leapt out at me in the course of deck-building, but a parsimonious list is fine for now. We adhered to the rules we made thus far, and it led us somewhere pretty exciting.

Thanks again to the Gathering Magic and reddit r/EDH communities for continued help in fleshing out this project. Go out and spread the good word about 75%, and meet me here next week, where I’m hoping one of you will have given me an article idea.