Not all of my decks are 75%.

I am on vacation visiting my in-laws, and someone in one of the local game stores (LGS) I stopped by recognized my Brainstorm Brewery hoodie, and we got to talking. When I mentioned that not all of my Commander decks are built as 75%, decks he seemed a little taken aback. I’m the proponent of the theory, after all—shouldn’t I exemplify it in every way possible with a ton of 75% decks? The truth is that when you are playing with your regular playgroup, you don’t need a 75% deck. I play my 75% decks with my playgroup, certainly; in fact, that’s all I use. But a 75% deck wasn’t designed to be played with a group in which you know what to expect from them—and in which they know what to expect from you.

Your own playgroup will know your Rafiq deck isn’t the kind of Rafiq deck that they need to smish-smash before it gets going, but you don’t necessarily need a 75% Rafiq deck to play with them. You can just build a fun deck that is scaled to the power level of your specific group. In fact, why not use this as a chance to create another axiom to inform future 75 deck-builders?

• 75% decks are designed to be competitive against players unknown to you yet be fair and useable against a regular playgroup. If a deck won’t be useful in both of those capacities, do not pursue a 75% build.

My 75% decks are tuned and powerful, and I will bust them out against a group I’ve never encountered before. This limits my choice of commander slightly. I was aware of this liability in the past, but I’m just realizing that there is a flipside to it. When you’re playing against a new group or debuting a 75% deck with a regular group, you have the element of surprise on your side. They may get the wrong idea and overestimate your hostility and capability if you reveal a Rafiq in your command zone. Why not give them the wrong idea and make them underestimate your deck?

Reddit user /u/sivartus submitted a deck to me three months ago and probably thought I forgot. The north remembers, /u/sivartus. It also thanks you for your deck idea. Let’s get into it.

Marath, Will of the Wild ? Commander | sivartus

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Bull Cerodon
• 1 Changeling Berserker
• 1 Changeling Titan
• 1 Cliffrunner Behemoth
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Feral Throwback
• 1 Garruk's Companion
• 1 Garruk's Horde
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
• 1 Greater Gargadon
• 1 Gruul Ragebeast
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Krosan Tusker
• 1 Krosan Warchief
• 1 Lumbering Satyr
• 1 Meglonoth
• 1 Rampaging Baloths
• 1 Ravenous Baloth
• 1 Realm Razer
• 1 Renegade Krasis
• 1 Rhox
• 1 Sabertooth Nishoba
• 1 Skarrg Goliath
• 1 Skyshroud War Beast
• 1 Slaughterhorn
• 1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
• 1 Tephraderm
• 1 Terra Stomper
• 1 Thragtusk
• 1 Valley Rannet
• 1 Venomspout Brackus
• 1 Woolly Razorback
• 1 Woolly Thoctar
• 1 Zhur-Taa Ancient
• 1 Gahiji, Honored One

• Spells (27)
• 1 Naya Charm
• 1 Sprouting Vines
• 1 Street Spasm
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Fiery Justice
• 1 Hull Breach
• 1 Roar of the Crowd
• 1 Tempt with Discovery
• 1 AEther Charge
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Fervor
• 1 Fires of Yavimaya
• 1 Lurking Predators
• 1 Mayael's Aria
• 1 Primeval Bounty
• 1 Spawning Grounds
• 1 War Cadence
• 1 Warstorm Surge
• 1 Where Ancients Tread
• 1 Witch Hunt
• 1 Birthing Pod
• 1 Coat of Arms
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 O-Naginata
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (36)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Mountain
• 5 Forest
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Contested Cliffs
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Karplusan Forest
• 1 Krosan Verge
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Naya Panorama
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Wooded Bastion
• 1 Gaea's Cradle
• 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers

Buy This Deck

/u/sivartus says he built this deck to be played by his wife in their local group. The deck is an improvement on the precon, and there are some very good card choices in here. However, it’s not really a 75% deck, but I’m not sure it needs to be. I think this could be a great deal more powerful and not make the people in the LGS roll their eyes when his wife shuffles up. I think if we want to make the deck 75%, we can go a few different ways with it. I want to try something I’ve never tried before and assemble a combo deck, and since no one is going to expect a Marath player to combo off, we’re going to use that element of surprise. Your LGS playgroup will be able to deal with it once the players know how it works, attenuating the power level slightly by removing the element of surprise. Let’s see how it would look as a 75% combo deck.

Marath, Will of the Wild ? Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Armada Wurm
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Genesis
• 1 Giant Adephage
• 1 Godsire
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Ivy Lane Denizen
• 1 Ogre Battledriver
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Suture Priest
• 1 Viridian Joiner
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine
• 1 Darien, King of Kjeldor
• 1 Gahiji, Honored One
• 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

• Spells (41)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Eladamri's Call
• 1 Fresh Meat
• 1 Worldly Tutor
• 1 Genesis Wave
• 1 Hull Breach
• 1 Idyllic Tutor
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Martial Coup
• 1 Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1 Plea for Guidance
• 1 Assemble the Legion
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Beastmaster Ascension
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Earthcraft
• 1 Exploration
• 1 Glare of Subdual
• 1 Goblin Bombardment
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Mana Echoes
• 1 Mana Reflection
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Parallel Lives
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Tooth and Claw
• 1 Warstorm Surge
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Coalition Relic
• 1 Coat of Arms
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Akroma's Memorial

• Lands (36)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Mountain
• 5 Forest
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Contested Cliffs
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Karplusan Forest
• 1 Krosan Verge
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Naya Panorama
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Wooded Bastion
• 1 Gaea's Cradle
• 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers

Buy This Deck

I left the mana base alone because it’s expensive enough as it is with Gaea's Cradle in there. Besides, there is nothing about a mana base that makes or breaks a 75% deck that I have found. It’s the rest of the deck that I wanted to tweak.

There are a lot of fun combos, some which are trickier than others. I will leave some of them for you to find, especially if you sleeve this up, but, broadly, you want to somehow double what you are doing to go infinite. If you have a Mirari's Wake out, you can make two tokens each time you take a damage with Darien, King of Kjeldor out. If you also have Warstorm Surge, you can deal a ton of damage, both to them and to yourself. Deal 2 to yourself to make two more tokens and 2 to opponents to kill them. Suture Priest will keep you alive. You can go noninfinite with some of those cards missing, which is the best part.

Putting counters with Marath’s X ability on cards like Gyre Sage or Viridian Joiner lets you generate more mana—mana that can be used to replay Marath with more counters or make more tokens. Making tokens is silly with Mana Echoes out, and that fuels a lot of infinite combos for itself. Mana Echoes combos well with Ashnod's Altar, Doubling Season, and Assemble the Legion. Frankly, Mana Echoes combos well with the deck.

This is the first 75% combo deck I’ve advocated. Is this too powerful? What about our new axiom about whether we should build a deck 75% at all? As always, leave it in the comments. Remember to send me your decks—as /u/sivartus learned, the fact that I haven’t mentioned it in three months does not mean I’ve forgotten about it. Thanks for reading, and swing over to reddit.com/r/edh to join the conversation over there when you’re done commenting here. Until next time!