So my friend Daniel has this deck he calls Ex-Men.

I’ll let him explain it.

Thanks, Daniel! Here’s his decklist—and a cost on CoolStuffInc.

Experiment Kraj ? Commander | Daniel

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Aetherling
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1 Devoted Druid
• 1 Dominating Licid
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fathom Mage
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Kiora's Follower
• 1 Krosan Restorer
• 1 Lotus Cobra
• 1 Master Biomancer
• 1 Morphling
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Omnibian
• 1 Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1 Prophet of Kruphix
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Spike Weaver
• 1 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Thornling
• 1 Tuskguard Captain
• 1 Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1 Vigean Graftmage
• 1 Woodfall Primus
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Triskelion
• 1 Zameck Guildmage
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
• 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade

• Spells (27)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Bioshift
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Dissolve
• 1 Fuel for the Cause
• 1 Plasm Capture
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Retraction Helix
• 1 Vitalize
• 1 Ancestral Vision
• 1 Curse of the Swine
• 1 Explore
• 1 Green Sun's Zenith
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Primal Vigor
• 1 Quest for Renewal
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Yavimaya's Embrace
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Thousand-Year Elixir

• Lands (38)
• 13 Island
• 14 Forest
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Yavimaya Coast
• 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge

Buy This Deck

Total Cost: $185.31

I’ve played against this deck several times, and as you can imagine, it plays like a combo deck—an amazing combo deck. It struggles against Wrath effects, but if it has the time to assemble one of its numerous combos, that’s it—he just wins. He also has some crazy interactions that lead to awesome board states and great plays. However, I think we can apply My Deck Tickled a Sliver and possibly shore up some of those weaknesses. We’re also going to have to replace several of the more expensive cards to drop below our $75 mark.

First of all, we’re going to up the land count to forty. There are a lot of activated abilities that cost mana, and we’re sometimes going to want to do them multiple times per turn, so the extra mana will come in handy. We’re also going to add some mana sinks to the deck. We’ve dropped some of the more expensive duals for several of our budget go-to’s such as Evolving Wilds and Thornwood Falls. We’ve added Peregrination and the fantastic Realm Seekers to the existing Kodama's Reach and Fertilid. Realm Seekers is great, and it can lead to situations in which we simply pull every basic land out of our library. We do have to lose Minamo, School at Water's Edge; if you have one, definitely run it.

Threats in this deck are kind of funny; more often than not, we’ll simply create a board state so absurd for our opponents we won’t actually have to win—they’ll just scoop because they know they’ll eventually lose. However, there are a few ways to victory all on their own here—Sphinx of Magosi, again, shows up as a possible route to winning in the red zone. Constructed powerhouse Aetherling was the control player’s win con for a reason; it can sometimes run away with games. Get it and Kraj on the ’field at the same time, and a lot of beating down will occur. The primary threat is probably Triskelion though. With Kiora's Follower, Illusionist's Bracers, and Experiment Kraj on the board, we can make infinite +1/+1 counters on Triskelion and just shoot everyone to death—equip the Follower with the Bracers, tap her to untap Kraj and herself, and then repeat. (It works with Pili-Pala and Argothian Elder as well, but there’s an extra step. With both those cards and Kraj on the ’field, tap Kraj to untap two lands. Use those two lands to pay for Pili-Pala’s ability and untap Kraj to make . Repeat for infinite , or , or both. Then, use that mana to pay Pili-Pala’s ability, instead tapping Kraj to put a counter on Triskelion each time.)

Adding Pili-Pala and Argothian Elder doubles up on at least one of our infinite combos of Kiora's Follower and Illusionist's Bracers. Retraction Helix plus Follower and Bracers means returning all opposing creatures to their owners’ hands. Spike Weaver can make it so no one else can win in the red zone. Ulvenwald Tracker lets us pick off creatures as we’re able. Horseshoe Crab and Simic Ragworm together with Kraj read, “: Add a +1/+1 counter to target creature,” which seems good all by themselves. Combined with, say, Arcanis, we’re suddenly drawing 3 × X cards, where X is the number of times we can produce . The addition of Deadeye Navigator gives us shenanigans with enters-the-battlefield effects, too; Eternal Witness joins the Prime Speaker as amazing targets, but we can also reset a graft creature or save a creature from removal with the Navigator.

Experiment Kraj ? Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (35)
• 1 Aetherling
• 1 Argothian Elder
• 1 Azure Mage
• 1 Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Devoted Druid
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fathom Mage
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Horseshoe Crab
• 1 Kiora's Follower
• 1 Krosan Restorer
• 1 Master Biomancer
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Omnibian
• 1 Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1 Prophet of Kruphix
• 1 Realm Seekers
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Simic Ragworm
• 1 Sphinx of Magosi
• 1 Spike Weaver
• 1 Thornling
• 1 Tuskguard Captain
• 1 Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1 Vigean Graftmage
• 1 Wickerbough Elder
• 1 Zameck Guildmage
• 1 Pili-Pala
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Triskelion
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade

• Spells (24)
• 1 Bioshift
• 1 Cancel
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Dissolve
• 1 Evacuation
• 1 Fuel for the Cause
• 1 Plasm Capture
• 1 Retraction Helix
• 1 Rewind
• 1 Stoic Rebuttal
• 1 Vitalize
• 1 Curse of the Swine
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Peregrination
• 1 Whelming Wave
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Mind Unbound
• 1 Quest for Renewal
• 1 Treasure Trove
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Seer's Sundial
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Thousand-Year Elixir

• Lands (40)
• 13 Forest
• 18 Island
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thornwood Falls

Buy This Deck

(Editor's Note: This list above is short seven creatures, and will be updated accordingly as soon as possible.)

There are more interactions in this deck. Pretty much each time you play it, you’re likely to see a new combination, just because there is so much synergy. Just remember to hold your counters to protect your combo or your ability to stay in the game—otherwise, let it happen. (Though I suppose if someone is going to Condemn Kraj, that’s worth countering.)

Prodigal Sorcerer almost made the cut, but while the interaction is cute—with the combo of Kiora's Follower and Illusionist's Bracers, we deal infinite damage—it was too narrow.

How did you feel about today’s article? Did you like my starting with a source deck? Or would you rather see a deck built out of scratch each time? Please let me know in the comments!

Decks like this are really fun and complicated to play; they create wild board states with insane interactions. If you or your playgroup loves making combos and breaking cards, give the Ex-Men a try!

Total Cost: $71.33