Readers,
Welcome to the first ever installment of my 75% EDH series that was inspired by the name of a Japanese gaming console from the 1990s. The Super Nintendo was called the Super Famicon in Japan, a fact which came up during a speedrun video I was watching. The fact in and of itself is innocuous but it hit my ear funny and it made me think the commenter said "Super Pramikon" which suddenly brought together two previously unrelated ideas - the Pramikon Magic deck and the concept of the Superfriends deck.
Superfriends decks are decks largely centered around Planeswalkers and the name comes from a Jeskai Planeswalkers deck from 2010 and subsequent Planeswalker-based decks have borrowed the moniker. How fitting that I want to build a Jeskai Superfriends deck all these years later.
10 seconds of research let me know that there is not much original about building Pramikon Superfriends - it's one of the most popular ways to build the deck. However, I wanted to really lean into a token-heavy theme largely because Throne of Eldraine gave us a new card that I love and haven't gotten to use yet. That card? This gorgeous enchantment that does its best Assemble the Legion impression.
Every turn you create a "resembles but is legally distinct from Maid Marian" token, a "Resembles but is legally distinct from Friar Tuck" token or a "Resembles but is legally distinct from Little John" token at random. Yeah, the story of Robin Hood is public domain but you can never be too careful. Besides, you should know by now we're going to be doing a lot of stealing their creatures so the least we could do is leave intellectual property alone. I haven't gotten a chance to play Outlaws' Merriment but I'm excited for it, especially with cards like Cathars' Crusade and Divine Visitation floating around.
My first attempt at a Superfriends deck was back in 2010 and I used Luminarch Ascension as the payoff for building an impenetrable wall of Day of Judgment, Jace bouncing, Ajani tapping and Elspeth chumping. Luminarch Ascension was one of my favorite "sub-games" within Magic - I had to make sure no one hit me for a few turns and once I got things going, Ascension closed the game out. Such a thing was doable with one opponent to manage, but having to make it an entire turn cycle in Commander without taking any hits is pretty difficult, especially when the existential threat posed by Luminarch Ascension makes you the Archenemy. I haven't used Luminarch Ascension in a Commander deck in my whole life but when I gave Pramikon another look, it all started to fall into place. If we're building Superfriend, Proliferate is very useful which is great with Luminarch Ascension and cards like Contagion Engine are suddenly doing triple duty - making it easier to get Luminarch Ascension leveled up, removing threats and charging up my 'walkers.
I can run the deck with 0 creatures and still have a ton of tokens to beat down with and have the capacity to take their creatures. If the board gets wiped, I can refill the board pretty easily and win the game with Planeswalkers if I need to whereas my opponents are likely to struggle to recover from wipes. Not only that, if I goad creatures with Pramikon out, I can control who kills whom and which opponent I have to worry about attacking me. If I land a Helm of the Host on Pramikon, no one can attack anyone which means I can set myself up with Approach of the Second Sun to make sure I win the stalemate. I'm getting to force people to play the game my way, I'm stealing creatures, I'm winning with "you win the game" cards and I have access to my favorite cards from 2010 like Luminarch Ascension and Ajani Vengeant? Pinch me, I must be dreaming. This is the most 75% deck I've ever built if I pull this off.
What does my Super Pramkion deck end up looking like?
"It's not called Super Nintendo in Japan" | Commander | Jason Alt
- Commander (1)
- 1 Pramikon, Sky Rampart
- Planeswalkers (15)
- 1 Ajani Vengeant
- 1 Dovin Baan
- 1 Elspeth Tirel
- 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
- 1 Jace, Architect of Thought
- 1 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
- 1 Ral Zarek
- 1 Rowan Kenrith
- 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
- 1 Sarkhan the Masterless
- 1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
- 1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
- 1 The Wanderer
- 1 Venser, the Sojourner
- 1 Will Kenrith
- Instants (7)
- 1 Arcane Denial
- 1 Brainstorm
- 1 Chaos Warp
- 1 Cyclonic Rift
- 1 Dovin's Veto
- 1 Return to Dust
- 1 Teferi's Protection
- Sorceries (7)
- 1 Approach of the Second Sun
- 1 Blasphemous Act
- 1 Disrupt Decorum
- 1 Supreme Verdict
- 1 Tezzeret's Gambit
- 1 Time Wipe
- 1 Vandalblast
- Enchantments (15)
- 1 Assemble the Legion
- 1 Divine Visitation
- 1 Ghostly Prison
- 1 Inexorable Tide
- 1 Luminarch Ascension
- 1 Mystic Barrier
- 1 Oath of Teferi
- 1 Outlaws' Merriment
- 1 Propaganda
- 1 Rhystic Study
- 1 Rite of the Raging Storm
- 1 Sacred Mesa
- 1 Smothering Tithe
- 1 Sphere of Safety
- 1 War's Toll
- Artifacts (18)
- 1 Arcane Signet
- 1 Azorius Signet
- 1 Boros Signet
- 1 Chromatic Lantern
- 1 Commander's Sphere
- 1 Contagion Clasp
- 1 Contagion Engine
- 1 Cursed Totem
- 1 Helm of Possession
- 1 Helm of the Host
- 1 Izzet Signet
- 1 Mimic Vat
- 1 Sol Ring
- 1 Talisman of Conviction
- 1 Talisman of Creativity
- 1 Talisman of Progress
- 1 The Chain Veil
- 1 Vedalken Shackles
- Lands (37)
- 4 Mountain
- 6 Island
- 6 Plains
- 1 Azorius Chancery
- 1 Boros Garrison
- 1 Clifftop Retreat
- 1 Command Tower
- 1 Evolving Wilds
- 1 Exotic Orchard
- 1 Glacial Fortress
- 1 Hallowed Fountain
- 1 Izzet Boilerworks
- 1 Karn's Bastion
- 1 Mystic Monastery
- 1 Prairie Stream
- 1 Reliquary Tower
- 1 Sacred Foundry
- 1 Steam Vents
- 1 Sulfur Falls
- 1 Temple of Enlightenment
- 1 Temple of Epiphany
- 1 Temple of the False God
- 1 Temple of Triumph
- 1 Terramorphic Expanse
This looks like a LOT of fun. Here are some things worth noting.
Without creatures, flickering is pretty difficult. Resetting 'walkers, changing the mode on Pramikon on your turn so neither the person to your left or to your right can attack you and untapping tapped permanents all get some mileage in a deck like this. Without creatures, you may want a few spells that can flicker permanents on top of what I added, which is basically Venser, the Soujourner and Oath of Teferi. I am relying on Mystic Barrier, Helm of the Host and luck to keep players from being able to attack me, but a few board wipes can't hurt since we can rebuild our board fairly easily. You're going to make a lot of tokens with your Enchantments and 'walkers so don't be afraid to wipe down. Ghostly Flicker and other one-shot spells don't feel effective in this deck and Conjurer's Closet and Deadeye Navigator do nothing so test this out and see if you can live without a lot of flickering.
I added a little more Proliferate to the deck since it plays well with Luminarch Ascension and Assemble the Legion as well as our 'walkers. Don't let this article fool you - I keep mentioning Ascension mostly because I'm excited to play it after all these years, not because it's especially essential. We have a ton of ways to make fliers in this deck - if you want to shell out for a Moat it would be quite good. Alternatively, Island Sanctuary is pretty good in a deck with lots of other ways to draw cards, and it's something to consider. Otherwise, keeping everyone from being able to attack and winning through other means is our best bet. They're going to do their best to get rid of Pramikon so let them occasionally and punish them with the tokens you've amassed. Even if you turn into the Archenemy mid-game just remember, you're not locked in here with them they're locked in here with you.
Cursed Totem and Ajani Vengeant are cards I haven't used in a 75% deck before. I think they're fine here, but watch what you do with Vengeant's ultimate. If you're just popping it to pop it, you could end up making the game take a long, boring time, so have a plan for when you do it. Vengeant is much easier to interact with than Armageddon but that doesn't mean you should add time to the game just to do it.
That does it for me this week. What do we think? Did I miss your favorite 'walker or enchantment? Would you have built this with creatures? More Islands to make Shackles better? Do you have questions about my choices? Do I not know what my cards do? Leave it for me in the comments section. Thanks for reading, everyone. Until next time!