Every once in a while, a commander comes along to make you drop everything you're doing and write about it. When you write a column like mine, where your favorite way to make sure your deck matches what the other people at the table are doing is to play with their cards, you pay careful attention to new cards that let you do that. We got such a card. I won't call this new card the most 75% card ever, and the fact that it's mono-colored limits our ability to build around it slightly, but if you can look past all of that and see just how exciting the possibilities for this card are, you'll get as hype as I am right now. I'm going to build around this new card, even if it means doing something I'm unaccustomed to doing because it's a little too fair for my tastes - I'm going to build around a creature that relies on dealing combat damage.

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is a Monkey Pirate, a creature type that feels like it was put together by some Newgrounds flash video artist in 2001. Ragavan has the Dash mechanic, which is better in formats that aren't Commander but which could become relevant if you expect sorcery-speed removal or manage to convince your playgroup that you don't add Commander Tax to the Dash cost.

What I think is most relevant about Ragavan is that he gives you treasure tokens and the means to turn those treasure tokens into your opponents' cards when he hits them. That's something I'm all about, frankly, and I think between Ragavan's ability to amass a big old Scrooge McDucky pile of treasure for us to swim around in and his ability to Etali them starting on turn two, Rags and I are going to be good friends. His ability triggers when you hit them rather than when you declare him as an attacker, but if I know anything about Commander from all of the times I domed someone with Thada Adel, there aren't a ton of blockers early, it's mostly Rampant Growths and Arcane Signets. Start the face-punching early and by the time they have their blockers up, you'll be casting their spells at said blockers.

Having to hit them is new, and it's not always ideal, but there are a lot of different ways to make sure Ragavan gets through unscathed, from Trailblazer's Boots to Rogue's Passage. We'll try to double everything when we go hit them - double strike to get twice the treasure and twice the cards, multiple attack phases with cards like Relentless Assault, multiple copies of Raggedy Vandy running around due to my decision to cram Helm of the Host into every deck I build. Ragavan is a huge source of value, and with multiple points of value generation where we can double that value, we barely need any cards in the deck that don't just support Ragavan in his pilfering.

It's been years since the rules changed to allow you to play cards from their deck using mana from things like treasure tokens. We can include mana rocks that tap for mana of any color and use the treasure tokens Ragavan gives us to play their cards. It feels weird putting City of Brass and Mana Confluence in a Mono-Red deck, but it's for the best. We want to always be able to cast their cards when we hit them since it's not always going to be easy to get through. The deck will also be loaded with our favorite cards to make their life tougher like Aladdin, Etali, Primal Storm, and Robber of the Rich. It's hard not to win when we're casting spells out of four decks and they have a tough time not taking commander damage from a sneaky little monkey holding a Quietus Spike. Let's take a look at how I would build around this simian shoplifter.

MonKey to the City | Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Aladdin
• 1 Anger
• 1 Breeches, Brazen Plunderer
• 1 Combat Celebrant
• 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
• 1 Dockside Extortionist
• 1 Etali, Primal Storm
• 1 Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge
• 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1 Hellkite Tyrant
• 1 Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
• 1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1 Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
• 1 Port Razer
• 1 Robber of the Rich
• 1 Scourge of the Throne
• 1 Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner
• 1 Treasure Nabber
• 1 Wandering Archaic

• Instants (7)
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Deflecting Swat
• 1 Fork
• 1 Savage Beating
• 1 Thrill of Possibility
• 1 Tibalt's Trickery
• 1 Valakut Awakening

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Apex of Power
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Brass's Bounty
• 1 Fury of the Horde
• 1 Gamble
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Mana Geyser
• 1 Mizzix's Mastery
• 1 Pirate's Pillage
• 1 Vandalblast

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Curse of Opulence
• 1 Stolen Strategy
• 1 Underworld Breach
• 1 War's Toll

• Artifacts (19)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Commander's Plate
• 1 Cursed Mirror
• 1 Embercleave
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Grappling Hook
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 1 Inspiring Statuary
• 1 Key to the City
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Prying Blade
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Ruby Medallion
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Treasure Map

• Lands (38)
• 30 Mountain
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Flamekin Village
• 1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 1 War Room

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This is the perfect deck for monkeyshines of all kinds. You can make modifications to this as you see fit, but this is a pretty good starting place for a 75% deck. You have multiple ways to get more combat steps, multiple ways to give your monkey double strike and multiple ways to play the top card of their library.

We have a bit of a treasure token subtheme and there are cards that go in a deck like that missing here, so feel free to add them and really go nuts. I thought about having ways to loop our ETB creatures, but I decided I would have to cut too deep to make room. If you wanted a build like that, consider adding Erratic Portal, Cloudstone Curio, Conjurer's Closet, and a few more ETB creatures like Avalanche Riders or Wily Goblin. You'll likely have to shave a few Instants and Sorceries, but that's the price you pay for smiting your enemies.

Ultimately, this looks like a ton of fun and I can't wait to build it the second I get my grubby little monkey mitts on a copy of Ragavan. We're going to hit them hard and kill them quickly with commander damage, we're going to play a lot of the spells in their deck and we're going to have a lot of fun doing it. That does it for me this week, until next time!