The second deck I ever built was with Omnath, Locus of Mana. The thing is that the deck wasn’t for me, and even though it lives in a fancy green box next to all of my other Commander decks and I play with it occasionally, it’s not mine. I made the deck because, after playing Duels of the Planeswalkers from 2013 (probably), my wife declared Thragtusk was unfair, green was her favorite color in Magic, and, if I insisted on making her a Commander deck (I did), it should be green—just green. As much fun as a friend of mine was having with his Azusa, Lost but Seeking deck and another friend was having with his Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant deck, I still thought the best route was Omnath, Locus of Mana. Big, stupid creatures, a linear path to victory that a beginner could easily grasp, and cheesy wins with cards like Genesis Wave and Helix Pinnacle—sign me up!

While the Omnath deck is fun to play, it doesn’t feel like mine, and my wife has insisted on some card choices I don’t agree with, but who am I to argue? No, really. Who even am I? “You need to play this!” I say, growing impatient, pointing to a card like Boundless Realms. It’s her deck. She doesn’t care. I write a column about Commander. I’m a guest on podcasts to talk about Commander. I have built over fifty decks over the course of this article series. My familiarity with this format does not impress my wife, readers. My wife just sees the guy who tried to substitute extra virgin olive oil for canola oil in a pancake recipe and who ate the resultant tall stack of failure one savory cake at a time just to spite her. I can’t tune her deck—it’s her deck. Every new set brings up a few possibilities, and she picks and chooses them like a pampered empress picking out outfits to wear. “That one,” she says, pointing to a Bow of Nylea, her hand skimming over Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Polukranos, World Eater while I bite my tongue. It’s her deck. She could jam it full of Fog effects and green creatures that look like dinosaurs, and it would be impossible for me to tell her she built her deck wrong. She’s not trying to win tournaments, she’s trying to spend time with me, and I love her to death for it. If I want to tune an Omnath deck, I will have to make my own Omnath deck.

And make my own Omnath deck I shall now that Wizards of the Coast has seen fit to give me a second chance.

This Omnath is the Omnath I’ve been waiting for. I’ve liked big creatures that beget big creatures for a long time, and having a super Rampaging Baloths as your commander while having access to the cool Elemental creatures in red seems overwhelmingly cool. So how do we make a 75% Elemental deck with Omnath at the helm? I say we go deep on the Elementals theme and run as many Elemental creatures as we can with a healthy dose of cards that benefit from the landfall themes as well. What can we come up with?

Omnath, Locus of RAGE (Emphasis Mine) ? Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Ball Lightning
• 1 Brighthearth Banneret
• 1 Cinder Elemental
• 1 Crater Elemental
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Flamekin Harbinger
• 1 Gaea's Revenge
• 1 Generator Servant
• 1 Grave Sifter
• 1 Incandescent Soulstoke
• 1 Ingot Chewer
• 1 Liege of the Tangle
• 1 Skullmulcher
• 1 Smokebraider
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Soulbright Flamekin
• 1 Stigma Lasher
• 1 Thunderblust
• 1 Tyrant of Discord
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Walker of the Grove
• 1 Wolfbriar Elemental
• 1 Young Pyromancer
• 1 Feldon of the Third Path
• 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1 Rakka Mar
• 1 Titania, Protector of Argoth

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Worldwaker

• Spells (32)
• 1 Atarka's Command
• 1 Animist's Awakening
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Boundless Realms
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 Firecat Blitz
• 1 Hull Breach
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nissa's Renewal
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Scapeshift
• 1 Search for Tomorrow
• 1 Skyshroud Claim
• 1 Tempt with Discovery
• 1 Tempt with Vengeance
• 1 Wave of Vitriol
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Elemental Bond
• 1 Elemental Mastery
• 1 Exploration
• 1 Fires of Yavimaya
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Mana Echoes
• 1 Parallel Lives
• 1 Perilous Forays
• 1 Primal Vigor
• 1 Zendikar's Roil
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Horn of Greed
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Lands (38)
• 9 Forest
• 9 Mountain
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Flamekin Village
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terminal Moraine
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills

Buy This Deck

This deck looks like a lot of fun. I wanted to see if I could only include Elemental creatures, but there are too many fun, on-theme cards to include, and we’re not going to drive this deck out of 75% territory by mere inclusion of the off Avenger of Zendikar. Remember that we have to be able to beat fully tuned decks on a good day, so we need to be prepared to have good days.

The Elementals in my build help you go wide rather than large. While it’s cool to make a big fatty with Budoka Gardener, I like making a ton with Elemental Mastery, sac’ing them all for mana to Ashnod's Altar and dealing a ton of damage of (after you attack, of course). Purphoros, God of the Forge is keen on you going wide and making a lot of small Elementals with cards like Young Pyromancer, which is powered by a lot of ramp spells and by enchantments like Parallel Lives and Doubling Season. Making additional 5/5 creatures is fine with me when we trigger landfall, so the token-doublers are strong here.

I excluded cards like Craterhoof Behemoth, although you could very easily run it here. There should be some sort of Overrun effect if you decide what to run and what to cut. I always feel dirty including Craterhoof Behemoth in something that seems vaguely tribal—I had the same hang-up with Nath of the Gilt-Leaf. Still, going wide and big seems like a winner, and Omnath helps you ensure that even if opponents trade with your guys, they’ll regret it.

I love cool Elemental cards like Walker of the Grove and Ingot Chewer here getting us utility and having built-in death triggers in the form of their optional evoke cost. I even included Ball Lightning for my own personal amusement. It’s an Elemental, and it dies. What more can we ask of our loyal foot soldiers?

Could this be more powerful and still be 75%? Sure. But as I always say, it’s better to take a weaker deck and make it stronger than to try to weaken a deck that is doing too well. I think we can turn up the power level or consistency (not both) if we’re struggling, but with it being impossible to deprive you of your commander by tucking it now, we’ll have Omnath around to give us a ton of advantage with both of his powerful abilities.

What do we think? Cut the fetches? Is Nissa’s Renewal too weak and only included here because I like new cards? Too many durdly Smokebraider shenanigans and not enough over-the-top Overrun shenanigans? Is it too cute to include cards like Young Pyromancer? Did I pick out a lot of the same cards you did when you typed “Elemental” into Gatherer? This deck is fun, could be pretty powerful, and, best of all, is not done because we’re not done having Battle for Zendikar cards spoiled. This could look pretty different in a few weeks, but why wait? As always, disagree with me in the comments section! Until next week, readers, keep brewing, and keep it 75%.