It's 2019 and I have Rogues on the brain. Throne of Eldraine gave us Rankle, Master of Pranks and while I couldn't really come up with an interesting idea that wasn't exactly a stock list for Rankle, how well he plays with both Prowl cards and effects that let you play spells out of their graveyard got me thinking. I don't necessarily want to make a boring, derivative Rankle deck but I absolutely want to do some of the things Rankle can do. It seems like a waste to be shackled to Mono-Black, though, so I decided not to write about Rankle after all. That was, until it hit me that I don't need to have Rankle be the commander to do Rankley things. In fact, I already had a deck in place that could jam a Rankle and immediately benefit. The deck wasn't even really mine but like a Rogue, I pilfered it.

Back in 2017, I wrote about the Rogue deck based on Sygg, River Cutthroat cooked up by Brainstorm Brewery cohost Douglas Johnson. The deck was sort of Rogue tribal but it was more synergistic than tribalistic - it just happened that the deck took full advantage of Prowl cards and Rogues triggered those. Rogues are on the small side as far as creatures go but they have a lot of evasion and low CMCs so they get in a ton of damage that bigger creatures don't and they trigger a lot of excellent effects like Coastal Piracy, Quietus Spike and they even make you the Monarch if you happen to ever not be the Monarch.

DJ's list holds up but we talked about it this week in light of the new cards that the deck got from Throne of Eldraine and other recent sets and the deck could use an update. While we've got the hood popped and we're rooting around in there, though, I think we should optimize it for the most important cards in the deck and Rankle may very well end up being one of those cards. Are we set up to make the most of the new cards we're adding or are we lazily shoe-horning in stuff just because it says "Rogue" in the typeline? I'm going to sure try to make sure the stuff that gets added needs to get added and that we optimize our synergy so we don't get outclassed by bigger creatures. What did DJ's deck look like last article?

He literally named the deck Rogues | Commander | Douglas Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sygg, River Cutthroat

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Auntie's Snitch
• 1 Disciple of Deceit
• 1 Duskmantle Seer
• 1 Earwig Squad
• 1 Faerie Macabre
• 1 Frogtosser Banneret
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1 Inkfathom Infiltrator
• 1 Invisible Stalker
• 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Marsh Flitter
• 1 Master Thief
• 1 Metallic Mimic
• 1 Nezumi Graverobber
• 1 Nezumi Shortfang
• 1 Nightveil Specter
• 1 Notion Thief
• 1 Oona's Blackguard
• 1 Pestermite
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1 Quickling
• 1 Stinkdrinker Bandit
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1 True-Name Nemesis
• 1 Whirler Rogue

• Instants (12)
• 1 Commandeer
• 1 Countersquall
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dig Through Time
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Memory Plunder
• 1 Thieves' Fortune
• 1 Undermine

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Distant Melody
• 1 Expropriate
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Knowledge Exploitation
• 1 Notorious Throng
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Marchesa's Decree
• 1 Painful Quandary
• 1 Rhystic Study

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Cloak and Dagger
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Smuggler's Copter
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Whip of Erebos

• Lands (37)
• 11 Island
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Dismal Backwater
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Sunken Ruins
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Throne of the High City
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Underground Sea
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave

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This was a pretty decent list that focused on hitting them early and often and getting their cards with Gonti, Thada Adel and Knowledge Exploitation. If we're going to add Rankle, let's break down what Rankle does and what it does well.

"Legally distinct from but more than a passing resemblance to Puck from a Midsummer Night's Dream" triggers when it deals damage to the opponent and while flying is decent evasion (and so is costing four and coming down earlier than most of their flying blockers), we'll want to see if we can't make Rankle harder to block but since Rankle isn't the commander, we don't want to dedicate too many new cards to it. Luckily, equipment that makes Rankle unblockable works on the rest of the deck. DJ didn't even have a Rogue's Passage in his original list and while I get it being a little tough on the mana base, I don't agree. I think getting Thada Adel through unscathed is worth it and if you're going to run cards like Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa, it makes sense to make sure your creatures can hit them to draw the cards. In goes Rogue's Passage and Mask of Riddles. I don't want to add Whispersilk Cloak to make it easier to stack equipment.

Not being dinged too badly by having to discard a card to Rankle means we can get pretty aggressive with hitting them. Luckily, one of my favorite cards to pitch to Rankle from my research is already in the deck - Auntie's Snitch! It's the perfect card to discard and if you have a full grip of lands and decide you'd rather insulate yourself against Rankle's sacrifice clause, you can play Auntie's Snitch and get it back that way. DJ's deck has Whip of Erebos and I think a really 75% thing to do is get all of our creatures plus theirs at once so I'm adding Rise of the Dark Realms. We're loading up their yard so why not? We are going to swipe a few mana rocks with Thada Adel and Gonti so the mana cost is trivial and it's going to punish everyone double for discarding and saccing. I like Control Magic and Bribery and cards like that, but I think Animate Dead is much better in this shell. We can get back something we pitched to a Rank-tivation or punish them for dumping something big because it cost too much mana to wait around for.

Finally, although Rankle smoothes this a bit, having a few more expendable creatures seems prudent. I think Bitterblossom and Oversold Cemetery work. Remember, we're not adding cards just for Rankle, we're adding cards that are good if you never draw Rankle since he isn't the commander, Sygg is. With Whip of Erebos and a few ways to get back dead creatures, saccing to Rankle at the same time we discard isn't that bad if we want to be that aggressive.

There are some new cards to add on top of Rankle from newer set. I particularly like a new card that's seeing play in the Standard Golos mirror - Agent of Treachery. Agent draws cards and steals things and that's what we want in this deck. I also think Brazen Borrower, 2 cards in 1, is worth a testing stint. It says Brazen Borrower can't block non-fliers but really it can't block at all because it serves every turn. If you do sac it to Rankle, dump it back in your grip with Oversold Cemetery or Phyrexian Reclamation and use Petty Theft again.

The deck could still use a few more ways to steal their stuff and one card that should have been in the deck already and which is even better with Rankle is Mimic Vat. Vat punishes them for having to sac creatures and you can cause a lot of havoc with creature tokens. Vat even lets you change the suspended creature at will, which is just nuts. Mimic Vat is one of the finest 75% cards of all time and it's even better in this deck now that we're occasionally summoning Rankle. I also think Bolas's Citadel, while not really all that good with Rankle necessarily, warrants a look in a deck like this where a lot of the creatures have low CMC. You can recover from a setback nicely if you can dump two or three creatures and threaten every opponent with a swing.

Finally, I want to add more ways to make us the Monarch and Keeper of Keys is a Rogue and a way to do that, so I'm adding Keeper alongside Marchesa's Decree and Throne of the High City. Having lots of unblockable creatures is perfect for a Monarch deck.

A Rankle in Time | Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sygg, River Cutthroat

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Agent of Treachery
• 1 Auntie's Snitch
• 1 Disciple of Deceit
• 1 Earwig Squad
• 1 Faerie Macabre
• 1 Frogtosser Banneret
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1 Inkfathom Infiltrator
• 1 Invisible Stalker
• 1 Keeper of Keys
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Marsh Flitter
• 1 Master Thief
• 1 Metallic Mimic
• 1 Nezumi Graverobber
• 1 Nezumi Shortfang
• 1 Nightveil Specter
• 1 Notion Thief
• 1 Oona's Blackguard
• 1 Quickling
• 1 Stinkdrinker Bandit
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1 True-Name Nemesis
• 1 Whirler Rogue

• Instants (9)
• 1 Commandeer
• 1 Countersquall
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dig Through Time
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Memory Plunder
• 1 Thieves' Fortune

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Distant Melody
• 1 Expropriate
• 1 Knowledge Exploitation
• 1 Notorious Throng
• 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1 Treasure Cruise

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Marchesa's Decree
• 1 Painful Quandary
• 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1 Rhystic Study

• Artifacts (15)
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Bolas's Citadel
• 1 Cloak and Dagger
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Smuggler's Copter
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Whip of Erebos
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (38)
• 11 Island
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Dismal Backwater
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Sunken Ruins
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Throne of the High City
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Underground Sea
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave

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I think it's important to make sure you update your decks periodically. It's easy to consider them "done" especially if you make as many decks as often as I do, but 75% takes work and new cards are as likely to completely invalidate an old stratagem as they are to make a new one. Since both things happen, stay vigilant. 75% is very hard to get right and the payoff is having a deck that is going to be at home at a variety of tables. This deck hasn't been tested with the changes so feel free to have at it and tell me what you think. DJ @rose0fthorns on twitter) and I both like feedback on our decks.

What do we think? Do you wish it had some Red (I know I do!)? Too cute? Not cutthroat enough of a cutthroat deck? Leave it for me in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and remember to share this on social media. Until next time!