I’m clearly talking about Brago. I mean, it wasn’t clear from the above paragraph, but let’s not pretend you didn’t read the title of this article. I guess I could conceivably have been talking about a replacement for Brago and not referencing the shivving he got in his riblets from Kaya in the Conspiracy storyline but I wasn’t — I want to brew a 75% Brago list that doesn’t feel like an unbeatable stax deck to my casual friends but which isn’t a candidate for the mayor of durdle town so I have no game against people who are out for blood. Brago’s not exactly a “KILL IT WITH FIRE!” caliber deck (I refer to this as “The Rafiq Problem” if you’re new to reading this series) but it’s not exactly far off. Essentially, the way to make a deck like this 75% is to load up for bear and win the best ways Brago knows how to win but do so by putting ourselves ahead rather than dragging everyone else back. Having a good deck and winning through card advantage isn’t exactly going to oppress our casual friends and if they team up against us, we’ll be glad we built on the strong side. Since a stax build is out of the question, we’re going to have to build with card advantage in mind and maybe cheat a little. Luckily, there are some cards in Kaladesh waiting to get slotted into Brago that are going to make it feel like we’re cheating. Kaladesh gave Brago its “Doubling Season” and it’s about time we took advantage.

I checked my favorite Commander reasource, EDHREC, to see which Kaladesh cards are starting to become popular. The list for Brago is relatively small, but the high quality of cards the deck gets renders that a moot point. Besides, do you really want to find 7 or 8 cuts from a deck that’s already working? I wouldn’t want to. The first one on the list is no surprise, really.

Panharmonicon is stupid good. I referred to it as Brago’s Doubling Season and I think that’s a very fair assessment of the card. You’re already a deck that gets a ton of triggers when creatures enter the battlefield and making those triggers happen double is how we win games. Brago was a good deck before but this card really makes it grow the beard. How similar this card’s name is to Palinchron serves as a nice reminder that this card is stupid with Palinchron and once you’re in that frame of mind, the possibilities become tantalizing. Merely drawing a bunch of extra cards, gaining a bunch of extra life and bouncing a bunch of extra permanents seems a little quaint next to getting infinite mana with Palinchron and Panharmonicon (not that we weren’t getting infinite mana with Palinchron before, albeit not quite so effortlessly) but infinite mana, while not forbidden by any 75% doctrine, to me seems a bit boring because you will have a limited number of ways to use that mana and focusing on that as a win condition could get boring. Panharmonicon is just going to make everything we do that much better, it synergizes with the entire deck and it’s a must-include in a Brago deck.

Per EDHREC, those two cards are being included in 70% of the new Brago decks being built — that’s pretty significant! If all we got from Kaladesh were those two cards, we’d be in very, very good shape as Brago players. However, there are two more cards people are jamming in deck, albeit in smaller numbers, and I think they are worth looking at, especially in a 75% build.

Consulate Surveillance is a card I overlooked in my 75% set review. I think it’s a little too “cute” outside a deck where you have other ways to get energy or use energy. You essentially get two uses out of it when it’s the only card using energy in the deck and that’s not good enough. However, in a Brago deck, you’re constantly flickering it which means you can bank energy to have enough to use it multiple times in a turn cycle. If you have another way to use the energy like Aetherworks Marvel, even better. I still don’t like this card for decks like Daxos the Returned where we want enchantments that can keep them at bay reliably, but that doesn’t mean this card isn’t a great inclusion in a Brago deck. I’m not playing Stonehorn Dignitary in Mayael but let’s not pretend you don’t slam dunk that card in your Brago deck hard enough to shatter the backboard.

Finally, Wispweaver Angel is a fine inclusion in Brago. It’s a tad expensive mana-wise but it’s also an uncommon so the power level couldn’t be too pushed. What it lacks in the mana-curve friendliness we saw from Restoration Angel, it more than makes up for in the fact that it doesn’t say “non-Angel” on it, giving this some additional utility. Lacking flash is fine in Brago where a lot of your flickering is done main phase anyway and this card deserves a try-out.

It doesn’t appear many EDHREC users are jamming Cataclysmic Gearhulk, and that might be because they have cards like Sunblast Angel already. Still, I think Cataclysmic Gearhulk is my kind of card and it’s going in my build, regardless of what others are up to.

What would a 75% Brago deck look like with Kaladesh cards in it? Pretty saucy, that’s for sure. Let’s get our hands dirty, shall we?

I Don?t Mean to Brago or Boasto ? Commander| Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Brago, King Eternal

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Angel of Serenity
• 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
• 1 Cloudblazer
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Eldrazi Displacer
• 1 Flickerwisp
• 1 Geist-Honored Monk
• 1 Karmic Guide
• 1 Kor Cartographer
• 1 Lavinia of the Tenth
• 1 Mistmeadow Witch
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Nevermaker
• 1 Palace Jailer
• 1 Palinchron
• 1 Peregrine Drake
• 1 Phyrexian Devourer
• 1 Reflector Mage
• 1 Resolute Archangel
• 1 Restoration Angel
• 1 Rishadan Brigand
• 1 Sea Gate Oracle
• 1 Sower of Temptation
• 1 Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1 Stunt Double
• 1 Subjugator Angel
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 War Priest of Thune
• 1 Whirler Rogue
• 1 Wispweaver Angel

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Venser, the Sojourner

• Spells (28)
• 1 Cloudshift
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Ghostway
• 1 Momentary Blink
• 1 Act of Authority
• 1 Banishing Light
• 1 Cloudform
• 1 Consulate Surveillance
• 1 Declaration of Naught
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Pentarch Ward
• 1 Reality Acid
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Steel of the Godhead
• 1 Sunblast Angel
• 1 Aetherworks Marvel
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Basalt Monolith
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Panharmonicon
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spine of Ish Sah
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (37)
• 13 Island
• 13 Plains
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Halimar Depths
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Seachrome Coast
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Tranquil Cove

Buy This Deck

The new cards from Kaldesh may or may not make the final cut but they’re here to be tested, regardless. I think the two energy cards, Aetherworks Marvel and Consulate Surveillance, are good enough on their own that incidental synergy between them is gravy rather than the reason they’re in the deck. I’m hard-pressed not to run Aetherworks Marvel often — chaotic, topdeck-based effects are a lot of fun and they’re perfect for 75% decks where we can hope our opponents aren’t too upset with us if we get something busted for free if they’re casual or we may need to play multiple expensive spells a turn to beat a more tuned deck. Marvel does it all, and Panharmonicon does even more. Doubling our triggers is solid and it’s a great way to win.

I included a few ways to scale to their power level, but not nearly as many as I’d like. I think Sower of Temptation is a great inclusion here, especially if you use their creatures recklessly. You can flicker Sower to get a new creature if the one you had taken dies or you just get bored with it and want something cooler. I think Stunt Double is the same way — take what you want and feel free to upgrade later.

How did we do? Are there glaring omissions? Did I add something you don’t think should be in the deck? Sub-question, is it Palinchron? Would you like to debate about Palinchron in a 75% deck, because I’d actually like to have that debate. There’s a lot of nuance to building 75% and everyone who latches on to this wacky philosophy seems to have their own approach to it. I think that’s great and I also think Palinchron is fine in this list and wouldn’t mind supporting that position. Is there something else you disagree with? Did I not include something obvious and do you think it’s because I never considered the card and not because I had to cut like 20 cards, which is rare for this series? Leave it in the comments. Also, remember to follow me on twitter and like and share this article with your friends on Facebook. That does it for me this week, join me next week where I’ll try to be even more controversial in the deck I build. Until then!