Readers!

For a while there, I was doing two radically different builds of each commander per week and it was an interesting challenge. I didn't want to do two builds if one of them was just going to be a "stock" build or if I wanted to really go in depth about my choices, requiring me to confine my articles to one build. However, occasionally, I'll see a commander that is so full of potential that I can't help but come up with multiple approaches. Today was one of those days. Modern Horizons 2 gave us a lot of tribal commanders that I couldn't really do much more than "IDK, tribal but with a copy of Helm of Possession?" to make it 75% because I either lack the imagination or was too limited by the narrow way the commander was built. Imagine how delighted I was to see a little buzzy boy who packs a hell of a punch and enables other shenanigans as well.

My first idea came to me immediately once I realized that a 1-drop with evasion could get off to a very fast start and Red and White are the equipment deck colors - we could make a pretty savage Voltron deck around Zabaz. Investing a bunch of auras into your Voltron commander only to watch that commander die to removal can really suck. However, Zabaz has Modular, which means if you manage to invest +1/+1 counters in Zabaz rather than auras, you can safely stash those counters on another creature with Modular then get them back when you re-cast Zabaz. The equipment falls off but doesn't go away, meaning you can get right back to business very quickly. A creature with evasion on turn one starts the beats off quickly and you can dictate the pace of the game right away, throwing everyone else off and forcing them to adapt to a quicker game. One technique I like to try with Voltron decks is to roll a die to decide who to attack first and when they're 1 hit away from dying, I promise not to attack them again if they help me deal with the rest of the table. Sometimes you still end up the Archenemy, but sometimes offering someone a temporary reprieve from being KO'd engenders enough gratitude that they leave you alone and keep things at the table interesting. However, you want to keep things spicy in your pod, a little buzzy friend who can somehow carry a 9 pound Sword of Truth and Justice will really get the party started right away.

A lot of the deck is fairly obvious - enough creatures with Modular that we always have one as a safety valve where we can safely store our counters in the event that we lose Zabby (not to mention The Ozolith), some insurance against Vandalblast effects since we're artifact-heavy, a lot of equipment tutoring and some cards that reward us for adding +1/+1 counters like Abzan Battle Priest. However, that leaves us with some room to play around, and since I am putting a 75% spin on the deck, I'm going to use my flex spots to their fullest potential.

There is a little less synergy with +1/+1 counters in Boros colors than you might imagine - Outlast was an Abzan mechanic and every time they can't figure out what to do with a Simic commander, they just slap a +1/+1 counter ability on it and watch it go. With the exception of a few non-obvious additions like Basri Ket, searching for synergy with cards like Cathars' Crusade or The Ozolith in Boros colors was a bit of a fruitless endeavor. Instead, I decided to use the leftover spots in the deck to run some Goading effects. True, sometimes goading gets you swung at, but for the most part, Goad cards require them to attack someone other than you. This keeps them from ganging up on you because their creatures will die in attrition battles with the other players. Only swinging with Zabaz also means our utility creatures can stay home and block. In fact, having a Modular creature with 2 or 3 +1/+1 counters on it is a big incentive not to attack you since you can throw those counters on Zabaz and sting back for revenge. Adding a Goad subtheme makes sure you keep everyone else too busy fighting each other to unite against you. Here's what I think that pile would look like -

Glimmermosquito | Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Agitator Ant
• 1 Alibou, Ancient Witness
• 1 Arcbound Crusher
• 1 Arcbound Hybrid
• 1 Arcbound Javelineer
• 1 Arcbound Mouser
• 1 Arcbound Prototype
• 1 Arcbound Ravager
• 1 Arcbound Reclaimer
• 1 Arcbound Shikari
• 1 Arcbound Slasher
• 1 Arcbound Slith
• 1 Arcbound Stinger
• 1 Arcbound Tracker
• 1 Arcbound Whelp
• 1 Arcbound Worker
• 1 Emberwilde Captain
• 1 Foundry Inspector
• 1 Goblin Engineer
• 1 Goblin Welder
• 1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1 Jhoira's Familiar
• 1 Losheel, Clockwork Scholar
• 1 Myr Retriever
• 1 Osgir, the Reconstructor
• 1 Scrap Trawler
• 1 Scrapyard Recombiner
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Steel Overseer
• 1 Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Basri Ket
• 1 Daretti, Scrap Savant

• Instants (3)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Dispatch
• 1 Generous Gift

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Disrupt Decorum
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Open the Vaults
• 1 Scrap Mastery
• 1 Trash for Treasure

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Pia's Revolution
• 1 Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1 Shiny Impetus
• 1 Smothering Tithe
• 1 Together Forever
• 1 Vow of Lightning

• Artifacts (17)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Assault Suit
• 1 Bloodthirsty Blade
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Embercleave
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 1 Mystic Forge
• 1 Sculpting Steel
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 The Ozolith
• 1 Throne of Geth

• Lands (35)
• 7 Mountain
• 8 Plains
• 1 Ancient Den
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Great Furnace
• 1 Inkmoth Nexus
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Needleverge Pathway
• 1 Power Depot
• 1 Rustvale Bridge
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spire of Industry
• 1 Swarmyard
• 1 Tyrite Sanctum
• 1 Urza's Saga

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Agitator Ant is the perfect card for this deck - it does so much we want. It buffs our commander, a creature we were always going to swing with anyway and it buffs their creatures with the understanding that they'll have to use them to attack each other. It's a beautiful card that does double duty in this deck and I'm so enamored with it that I gave the card its own paragraph. Glorious.

You can add even more Goad cards to the deck to the extent that there are more, but I think this is sufficient to keep things on the board chaotic while you swing with the Sting. Remember, Zabaz doesn't actually have flying, despite the card's art. Instead, it has one of the weirdest lines of text I've ever seen on a Magic card.

That's weird but I'm into it. With this build, you can make sure the pace of the game is very fast and come out on top with your commander growing and growing over time. Since we want them hitting each other, we eschew typical cards we might consider such as Contagion Engine in favor of cards that buff their creatures. We want the game to be over quickly so we can shuffle up and play another game, possibly with this next build.

Causing all sorts of problems at the table so we can aggro people is fun, but what if you want to do a combo build? I have a couple of ideas of combo packages that can fit in a Boros deck.

Here's one!

Here is another one.

Since a lot of modular creatures have low CMC (sorry, "mana value") or low printed power and toughness, or both, recurring them is fairly trivial, usually. Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Scrap Trawler, Abiding Grace and a few others can get loops going, powering big advantage engines with our small, expendable creatures that are cheap to cast and can trigger Impact Tremors and buy us time and mana to play a big finisher.

Baz-ter Blaster | Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Alibou, Ancient Witness
• 1 Arcbound Javelineer
• 1 Arcbound Mouser
• 1 Arcbound Prototype
• 1 Arcbound Ravager
• 1 Arcbound Reclaimer
• 1 Arcbound Shikari
• 1 Arcbound Slith
• 1 Arcbound Stinger
• 1 Arcbound Tracker
• 1 Arcbound Worker
• 1 Auriok Salvagers
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Feldon of the Third Path
• 1 Foundry Inspector
• 1 Goblin Engineer
• 1 Goblin Welder
• 1 Hangarback Walker
• 1 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1 Jhoira's Familiar
• 1 Junk Diver
• 1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
• 1 Losheel, Clockwork Scholar
• 1 Metalworker
• 1 Myr Retriever
• 1 Osgir, the Reconstructor
• 1 Scrap Trawler
• 1 Scrapyard Recombiner
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Steel Overseer
• 1 Stonecoil Serpent
• 1 Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle
• 1 Zirda, the Dawnwaker

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Daretti, Scrap Savant

• Instants (4)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Dispatch
• 1 Generous Gift

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Open the Vaults
• 1 Scrap Mastery
• 1 Trash for Treasure
• 1 Wake the Past

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Furnace Celebration
• 1 Goblin Bombardment
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Pia's Revolution
• 1 Smothering Tithe
• 1 Together Forever
• 1 Warstorm Surge

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Animation Module
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Basalt Monolith
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Mystic Forge
• 1 Rings of Brighthearth
• 1 Sculpting Steel
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 The Ozolith
• 1 Throne of Geth

• Lands (34)
• 8 Mountain
• 9 Plains
• 1 Ancient Den
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Great Furnace
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Needleverge Pathway
• 1 Power Depot
• 1 Rustvale Bridge
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spire of Industry
• 1 Urza's Saga

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Rather than trifle with a bunch of medium Arbound creatures because they have Modular, I opted to maximize the amount of combo potential the deck had. Rather than require a critical mass of modular creatures to get an engine going, we can do things with just 1 or 2, meaning a lot of our draws are live. The deck is mana hungry so I opted to cut expensive Arcbound creatures irrespective to how good they might be, since a lot of our recursion cards select for lower mana value. I opted not to add Abiding Grace, but it may warrant testing. I am not making the best use of Auriok Salvagers in here since we don't have the Black Lotus (Lion's Eye Diamond could work but that means you go all-in on that and I don't want to scoop to a Path) that makes that card truly degenerate, nor did I manage to maximize the potential of a card like Myr Retriever. What I ended up with, though, is a deck where you'll just get a ton of "chip damage" versus a turn where you kill the whole board with Impact Tremors. A normal Zabaz deck might play a few artifact creatures and distribute some counters whereas this will play fewer creatures, but trigger Impact Tremors, sac to Krark Clan Ironworks, use the mana to loop that creature, trigger Impact Tremors again, put the counters from The Ozolith on Walking Ballista, kill a utility dork and pass. We have a lot of cards that reward you for doing things you'd do anyway rather than ways to do those things better.

Ultimately, both of these builds are fun and neat-looking and I'm glad I was so inspired by Mr Zabaztic feeling fantaztic, as he likes to be called. Join me next week where I'll tackle a 75% topic that is near and dear to my heart and maybe we'll even have time for a decklist or two. Until next time!