As I’m sure you’re well aware, Gatecrash is being previewed as we speak. As of this writing, four of the five guild leaders have been unveiled, but since they’re all made to work with their guilds, it seems a bit rash to build Commander decks for them before the whole set is spoiled. This is the part when I’d like to say, “Don’t worry, there are a lot of other legends just as interesting as Phage the Untouchable and Chorus of the Conclave.” Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. There are a lot of interesting Commander decks to be built, but only a tiny fraction of them arise around a specific commander. For the rest, we let the legends play smaller roles in something bigger. What might you do with this?

If, by some happenstance, you found yourself with 16 power’s worth of other Atogs on the board, Atogatog would let you convert them into 21 points of commander damage right to the face. But Atogs need things to eat, and you don’t want to devour your entire board just trying to kill one person. If only there were another way to make a huge one . . .

But going all-in on Chameleon Colossus isn’t a good idea either; that would lead to games all playing out the same way and would become boring fast. Luckily, there are a lot more changelings and some unexplored ways to take advantage of them.

Part of the Tribe

If you’ve played against a Reaper King deck, you’ve probably seen the work of Skyshroud Poacher and Riptide Laboratory, but what about Magma Sliver? Tuktuk Scrapper? Goblin Recruiter and Dwarven Recruiter?

Channel/Fireball. Some assembly required.

The oft-forgotten Scouting Trek does something similar, and Charbelcher is far from the only way to take advantage of a stacked deck. I’m a fan of insanity, and you can’t go much more insane than throwing big chunks of your library into different zones. Let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

"A Stacked Deck"

• Commander (0)

• Setup (5)
• 1 Goblin Recruiter
• 1 Dwarven Recruiter
• 1 Scouting Trek
• 1 Insidious Dreams
• 1 Gravepurge

• Tutors (8)
• 1 Sylvan Tutor
• 1 Worldly Tutor
• 1 Brutalizer Exarch
• 1 Liliana Vess
• 1 Vampiric Tutor
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Demonic Collusion
• 1 Increasing Ambition

• Draw (9)
• 1 Ad Nauseam
• 1 Treasure Hunt
• 1 Sages of the Anima
• 1 Call of the Wild
• 1 Lurking Predators
• 1 Descendants' Path
• 1 Leaf-Crowned Elder
• 1 Maelstrom Nexus
• 1 Garruk's Horde

• Damage Sources (6)
• 1 Necratog
• 1 Psychatog
• 1 Sarcatog
• 1 Magma Sliver
• 1 Goblin Charbelcher
• 1 Countryside Crusher

• All at Once (6)
• 1 Genesis Wave
• 1 Primal Surge
• 1 Patriarch's Bidding
• 1 Twilight's Call
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Tunnel Vision

• Goblins (3)
• 1 Tuktuk Scrapper
• 1 Tuktuk Grunts
• 1 Goblin Chieftain

• Changelings (15)
• 1 Mistform Ultimus
• 1 Amoeboid Changeling
• 1 Avian Changeling
• 1 Cairn Wanderer
• 1 Chameleon Colossus
• 1 Changeling Berserker
• 1 Changeling Hero
• 1 Changeling Sentinel
• 1 Changeling Titan
• 1 Game-Trail Changeling
• 1 Ghostly Changeling
• 1 Mirror Entity
• 1 Shapesharer
• 1 Taurean Mauler
• 1 War-Spike Changeling

• Ramp (9)
• 1 Carpet of Flowers
• 1 Hermit Druid
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Skyshroud Claim
• 1 Mana Reflection

• Lands (38)
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1 Volrath's Stronghold
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Transguild Promenade
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Savage Lands
• 1 Krosan Verge
• 1 Thawing Glaciers
• 1 Gaea's Cradle
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Taiga
• 1 Savannah
• 1 Tropical Island
• 1 Bayou
• 1 Scrubland
• 1 Plateau
• 8 Forest
• 2 Mountain
• 5 Swamp
• 2 Island
• 1 Plains

Buy This Deck

Let me start off with a disclaimer: Both Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Krenko, Mob Boss would be awesome in this deck, but I’ve left them out because both kill the table in conjunction with a champion changeling and Atogatog. If you don’t want to worry about surviving Wraths, feel free to cut the champion guys for those two along with a Moonglove Changeling.

Anyhow, this deck basically has two modes: It can go from 0 to 60,000 in 0.2 seconds (and comes with way more Cephalids than that new BMW you’re comparing it to). Alternatively, a Descendants' Path or Leaf-Crowned Elder can let you play out like a Mayael the Anima deck, dropping a fatty or two every turn. You probably already know what that’s like, so here’s a game that went the other way.

AwhatAtog?

Things started off normally enough.

Commanders were unveiled, players drew their hands, and everybody started playing mana sources. Trostani cast a Scavenging Ooze, which began to attack around the table, but Zedruu ducked out of the fun with some timely Propaganda. That’s when Horde of Notions pulled ahead in the ramp fight and on its fourth turn cast two Shrines.

Atogatog entered the battlefield, Copy Enchantment gave Zedruu a second Propaganda, and with no corpses to feed upon, Scavenging Ooze was burned down by the red Honden. Horde of Notions came out and immediately tried to attack Trostani, but the G/W player responded with Swords to Plowshares, leaving Atogatog free to swing at Horde of Notions before I cast Magma Sliver. Zedruu finally saw fit to come down herself, but Trostani sent out a Baneslayer Angel as her champion.

Both Trostani and I dished out damage for the next couple of turns while Zedruu started donating lands and Horde of Notions used Trinket Mage to find Sensei's Divining Top and then cast Sphinx's Revelation (with X equaling 5). Trostani laid down Greater Good, and then Zedruu turtled up further with Collective Restraint—and not a moment too soon. Horde of Notions had a present for the table:

Next came Verdant Catacombs into Eternal Witness to give Sphinx's Revelation another go. Trostani sacrificed Baneslayer after attacking for some new cards, including an Entreat the Angels, which spat out two 4/4s. I passed without much action, and Zedruu summoned a Sun Titan, which she donated to Trostani after it persuaded Horde of Notions not to attack with its Plants.

Sun Titan attacked to bring back Trostani’s Gavony Township, and then the Selesnya guild leader dropped a Mimic Vat and cashed the Titan in for cards before passing. Now it was finally my turn! End step: Vampiric Tutor.

Untap.

At this point, Zedruu piped up. “Oh, so it’s a combo deck.”

“Well, sort of, this isn’t going to kill everyone.”

It did, however, kill Horde of Notions and bring Trostani from 48 to 14 before Zedruu’s Ghostway into Day of Judgment put an end to that. Trostani answered with an Aura Shards into Crovax, Ascendant Hero and a Sun Titan from Mimic Vat to knock down Zedruu’s wall of Propaganda. That left me free to employ Brutalizer Exarch in dismantling Mimic Vat, but Trostani seemed unconcerned when she drew her card and tapped sixteen lands.

Zedruu sat there for a second, then looked down at her hand and then began counting lands. Then she smiled.

With a bunch more mana, a Venser, Shaper Savant/Venser, the Sojourner tag team, and a couple of Darksteel Swords, Zedruu was looking tough. The Phantasmal Image that copied my Brutalizer Exarch to deal with Trostani’s Aura Shards turned “tough” into “ridiculous.”

I cast Goblin Charbelcher and used it to kill Phantasmal Image, but Zedruu cleared a path with Inferno Titan and hit me with a dual-wielding commander. Trostani decided not to wait around for any more Sword triggers.

Big dudes and artifacts bit the dust, and my follow-up Maelstrom Nexus then joined Trostani’s Greater Good in a Return to Dust. I would say the coast was clear if Zedruu’s Venser, the Sojourner didn’t already have 7 loyalty! But it seemed that all of Trostani’s card-drawing had paid off because her response was to lay down an Emeria Angel to join her Oracle of Mul Daya and then cast Boundless Realms for seven Birds.

After another round of turn-passing, Trostani set to work. First was Green Sun's Zenith for Eternal Witness, which brought back a discarded Mirari's Wake. Next, Birthing Pod turned the Witness into a Solemn Simulacrum so that Karmic Guide could bring the Shaman back to recur Austere Command. Bird tokens and Emeria Angel brought me to 2. It was now or never.

Zedruu targeted me with the zombified Inferno Titan’s trigger and said. “So . . . you’re dead, right?”

“Hold on a sec, let things play out.” Trostani’s triggers resolved, and now it was time. Gaea's Cradle made 24 mana, and I activated Shapesharer. “Mistform Ultimus becomes a copy of Scavenging Ooze.”

“There aren’t any more creatures in the ’yard, and you can’t cast you general . . . ”

“I know, I know, hold your horses. Activate Amoeboid Changeling to make Goblin Recruiter lose all creature types.”

“Um . . . ”

“Goblin Chieftain gives it haste. Okay, now Crovax’s shrinking kills it, and I’ll exile it with Ooze. Activate Shapesharer; Ghostly Changeling becomes a copy of Amoeboid Changeling. Then I’ll use it to make Amoeboid Changeling lose all types and exile that with Ooze. Inferno Titan’s trigger resolves; I’m at 1.”

“Okay, didn’t see that one. Nice.”

I activated Mirror Entity for 19 with the rest of my mana and went to attack when I noticed I’d forgotten the champion triggers. Now an attacker short of busting through Trostani’s mass of tokens, I contented myself with smacking Zedruu for about 400 damage.

“So, somehow I imagine you can deal enough damage with all of those, huh?” I jested, gesturing at Trostani’s nearly fifty creatures.

Trostani’s eyes sparkled as she cast Echo Chamber. After a second, I grinned, pointed to Mirror Entity, and promptly took 2,000 to the face.

Going Crazy

I’m always on the lookout for more crazy ideas to try, but I’m not sure if that’s up your alley. If it is, I’d love to see a comment about a crazy card you want to see built around, a cool synergy you’ve found, or a unique deck you’ve built, and either way, make your preference known.

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