So far, all the Commanders I've looked at are all ones I've built in real life. When upgrading a deck you've put together yourself, I think you have to have played it a fair bit in order to know where it fires and where it doesn't, so I have focused on decks I've both owned for a while and have played a fair bit.

Today is going to be our exception.

When I first built this deck, it was my editor (who's also my dad) who built it. I think we were both a bit surprised at how effective it was. It was reasonably cheap to put together (all my decks back then cost under $75) and Voltron strategies were a bit more viable (I feel like we see more point removal these days). Soramaro would come flying in out of nowhere a 15/15 or whatever, and people just died to Commander damage a turn or two later. It was kind of annoying.

As I've thought about it, a deck like this is sort of Commander's version of Aggro - a single-minded focus on killing your opponent at all costs. The difference between Commander and heads-up 60-card is that whole pesky multiple opponents thing: one-for-one card trades (common in Aggro strategies) are terrible. So rather than cheap early damage and cheap removal, instead we focus on making a huge Commander who can get through defenses and kill opponents really fast.

And the gist of the original was exactly that. We draw a bunch of cards, we attack with a flying (or otherwise unblockable) Commander, and we do enough damage to simply kill one opponent in that attack. But, in the nine years since this deck was first built, the technology has improved substantially.

One funny thing is in the original I made a big deal about running 40 Lands and seven pieces of acceleration. That's normal for me now! In fact, I've increased the number of rocks to nine, because they're a lot better now. In every case, they either give us no maximum Hand size (a key thing this deck needs) or draws us cards. Commander's Sphere and Mind Stone are the basics of trading rock-for-draw, but Bonder's Ornament and Magnifying Glass both turn extra mana into cards over and over. Dreamstone Hedron counts as acceleration, though I think it's a stretch to call a six-mana spell acceleration; however, it's a slow way to draw three cards, and we might need that extra 3 mana sometime!

We've also got Lands which draw us cards. Bonders' Enclave is awesome, Arch of Orazca is too, and Memorial to Genius was desperate to be in the first version of this deck. Reliquary Tower is probably our best way to have no max Hand size, and Tolaria West is here to go get it. Witch's Clinic was more for fun, but there's nothing like giving your 26-power Commander Lifelink as a way to rub salt in a wound. Play your Lands. You'll be tempted to hold them back to keep your Hand size up. Don't - play your Lands. You can always bounce them with Soramaro for an extra push, and you'll need the mana to draw more cards.

Normally I'd talk about draw and threats next, but we're going to jump straight to answers because there aren't that many: We've got some counterspells. Counterspell, in fact, plus Arcane Denial, Mana Drain, Spelljack, Force of Negation, Draining Whelk, and Cryptic Command, plus Stubborn Denial because we'll often be Ferocious. Keep these for clutch moments - Spelljack in particular. Mana Drain can also be great, if we manage to get something decently big, since it can turn into cards.

We're going to win the game with a giant Soramaro, and we're going to do that by drawing a lot of cards. The first thing we need is a way to make our Hand size not be limited, and we've got quite a few. Thought Vessel and Decanter of Endless Water are both new since the first version, and they're both searchable with Tribute Mage and Trophy Mage, and Spellbook is searchable with Trinket Mage. Graceful Adept is fragile but can get us there, and if we can get in with a single hit off Ancient Silver Dragon, that'll do it too. Body of Knowledge will probably draw a kill spell but is too good to ignore. Nezahal, Primal Tide is pretty big and decently annoying. Triskaidekaphile could hilariously win us the game out of nowhere, but even if it doesn't it's a slightly more expensive Graceful Adept with a card-drawing rider. Wizard Class is hard(er) to get rid of, and Finale of Revelation should be able to be X=10 or more pretty easily. It's worth noting there were five ways to do this in the first one, which was every possible way. Lots more options now, which makes the deck a lot more effective.

Then we draw cards.

The first version had one Planeswalker, most likely because of budget; this one has six. All four of them have a top ability to draw a card. The thing about Planeswalkers is they tend to scare the heck out of a table, so even if we only draw a card or two, it's worth it because it means someone has wasted resources or attacks killing that instead of us. If not, they just sit there and add to our Hand every turn, which is also worth it.

There are two pieces which have been dropped from the original. The first is we no longer need to run anything which taps to draw. We have a lot more options which don't; the ones which don't are substantially better, so this is a clear upgrade. We've also dropped any of the "when this Creature does damage, draw a card" stuff because that only helps Soramaro next turn, and we have plenty of ways of getting the cards before he attacks.

So mostly, we have Treasure Trove: some version of "pay some mana, draw a card." We have so many of them, we can afford to play them out one at a time and hold the rest in our Hand (bigger Soramaro!). Should the one we've got die, play out another one and keep going. Don't worry about upgrading them as you go. Just play one and use it 'til your opponents are dead or it is.

There are some other things. I still like Seer's Sundial in this deck, because we'll hit our Land drop almost every turn. Mind's Eye is a classic Commander card which doesn't get much love anymore, but it solid here. Blue Sun's Zenith and Jushi's Apprentice (when flipped) both let us draw for X, as does Folio of Fancies (sort of...). Ever-Watching Threshold and Teferi's Ageless Insight are both fantastic new additions, and Windreader Sphinx will trigger on attack. The Magic Mirror will draw a bunch of cards if it's left out for more than a couple of turns, plus it pulls double-duty with no max Hand size.

Finally, we have a few ways to get Soramaro through. Whispersilk Cloak is probably the best one, because we don't need to target him with anything, but Prowler's Helm and Trailblazer's Boots also help make sure he can get through, and Bilbo's Ring is similar to the Cloak but also draws us cards. Loxodon Warhammer and Chariot of Victory both give Trample, and Chariot of Victory grants Haste as well.

(A quick aside: with decks like this I tend not to run a ton of ways to grant Haste. I like the idea of giving the table one turn to respond before I start knocking players out of the game. If your table isn't like that, go for it: Haunted Cloak would be great too, and of course Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots would be fantastic to push Soramaro through sooner.)

Soramaro, First to Dream | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Soramaro, First to Dream

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Ancient Silver Dragon
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Azure Mage
• 1 Body of Knowledge
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Ghostly Pilferer
• 1 Graceful Adept
• 1 Jushi Apprentice
• 1 Kefnet the Mindful
• 1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1 Spectral Sailor
• 1 Sphinx of Magosi
• 1 Tribute Mage
• 1 Trinket Mage
• 1 Triskaidekaphile
• 1 Trophy Mage
• 1 Windreader Sphinx

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 1 Jace, Arcane Strategist
• 1 Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• 1 Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
• 1 Teferi, Timeless Voyager

• Instants (9)
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Force of Negation
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Mystic Confluence
• 1 Spelljack
• 1 Stubborn Denial

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Finale of Revelation

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Ever-Watching Threshold
• 1 Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1 Treasure Trove
• 1 Wizard Class

• Artifacts (21)
• 1 Bilbo's Ring
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Diviner's Wand
• 1 Dreamstone Hedron
• 1 Folio of Fancies
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 Magnifying Glass
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Mind's Eye
• 1 Orazca Relic
• 1 Prowler's Helm
• 1 Seer's Sundial
• 1 Spellbook
• 1 The Magic Mirror
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (40)
• 24 Island
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Coral Atoll
• 1 Cryptic Caves
• 1 Memorial to Genius
• 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Roadside Reliquary
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 The Surgical Bay
• 1 Tolaria West
• 1 War Room
• 1 Witch's Clinic

Buy This Deck Export text

It's pretty straightforward. Play some Lands, maybe some acceleration, and start drawing cards. Get a way to have no maximum Hand size. Play Soramaro and swing for the fences. It'll happen fast. Enjoy it.

Did I miss any obvious inclusions? Let me know!

Thanks for reading.