Mark Wischkaemper

Commanding Partners - Alora, Merry Thief and Raised by Giants

markwischkaemper@gmail.com

Ever since the Partner mechanic was announced, I loved the idea of building decks with Partner and not using a Partner. I liked this idea enough I actually did it at least once for my column, and I ended up building this deck in real life. It's uproariously fun to play, it keeps the table active and the game moving along but no one gets wildly mad when they take 7 to a dice roll, and anyone who's never seen it before asks "who's the Partner?" They're always shocked when I say "no one!" There's a laugh every time someone learns it's Rakdos Big Enchantments, because who on Earth does that? (This deck also wins about half time, which is surprising on two levels: I didn't actually build it to win, but rather to push the table along, and I'm always kind of surprised when a deck I build is able to actually win sometimes.)

The more recent ability, Choose a Background, is super similar to Partner, of course. And I suspect there are some decks built around Commanders with Choose a Background and just... not choosing one. But today? Today is not that day. Despite a lot of content coming out when the ability was released, there were still a bunch of pairings which didn't make sense. They were not the pair-ups Wizards was pushing you toward. Instead, they were the misfits, the weirdos, the combinations people look at and say, "meh." We're going to spend some time with those combinations. And we're honestly going to try to win.

Today's deck can absolutely win.

Sometimes it's just about reading cards. Alora makes something unblockable every turn. If that thing is a Commander, we can kill with Commander damage. If that Commander damage is high enough, we can kill with just a couple of hits, or even just one if things go really well. And one of the fastest ways to buff a Commander is with a static ability. Raised by Giants puts that static ability in the Command Zone.

We want to cast Alora, then we want to cast Raised by Giants the next turn and start attacking. This means Lands and ramp, so we've got 'em. Our 40 Lands do a decent job of fixing our mana, and a few of our utility Lands end up being quite useful. Alchemist's Refuge lets us Flash Alora back onto the Battlefield before we untap, so she can attack right away. Rogue's Passage is a way to use excess mana now so we don't have to recast Alora later (or, I suppose, push something random through. You never know in Commander). Reliquary Tower helps us keep our cards when we draw a bunch, and we'll draw a bunch most games. Novijen, Heart of Progress is an interesting one, because while giving Alora +1/+1 is huge (if we double her at 10, she does 20 and doesn't kill someone. If we double her at 11, she does 22 and does), we have to do it every turn. That's three Lands we're using for just that ability, which may not be worth it. Corner case it is, and it doesn't hurt anything, so it stays.

We've also got a decent spot of ramp, including a number of two-mana spells I tend not to use because of the added benefits the three-mana spells provide. The thing here, though, is the strange way we need to curve out. We'd have to get really lucky for a turn two Alora, but she's not doing much until we can cast Raised by Giants, so we want to cast Raised by Giants early and cast Alora sometime along the way. That means we want a mix of spells so we can fit them in where they make sense. It might make sense to play something else on two, Cultivate on three, then Alora and Rampant Growth on four, rather than just running out the Growth on two. Look at what you have and what your gameplan will be, and work through the math to maximize your mana use. In the early turns when we first start attacking, every mana we have will count.

When in Blue, often the best thing to do is run Rhystic Study and a bunch of Divinations and Brainstorms and call it a day. However, we can get more bang for our buck using Green spells, which tend to be linked to a large Creature. Our Background makes it so we get minimum 10 Cards for a Soul's Majesty in this deck, and that's a better deal than Divination any day. Because Alora gets by sneakily, we can also lean on Coastal Piracy effects to keep cards moving along even when we don't just draw 14 or whatever off a Return of the Wildspeaker. One of the best examples of this is on The Pride of the Hull Clade, which is hilarious because most of the time it'll cost us Green. Again, count your mana carefully. It can be tempting to just play one of these spells early on, but that can lead to a massive grip and no way to keep it all. The correct move is probably doing it and keeping the seven best cards, but I hate doing that, so I do the math and try to sculpt a turn where I can draw that 14 and still have enough mana to play the Thought Vessel - or still have the Land drop for Reliquary Tower.

We win the game with an unblockable 10/10 Commander. That's our threat. We can do it relatively quickly, and her annoying tendency to bounce herself back to our Hand every turn makes her a bit harder to kill. If we can get her power up +1, we kill someone in two hits. If we can get her power up +1 and then double her power somehow, she'll kill in a single hit. And she can't be blocked, so if we can get her through people are going to be knocked out of the game.

We have three things we need to deal with. First, because Alora bounces herself back to our Hand at the beginning of our end phase every time she uses her ability, we need to give her Haste. We have Swiftfoot Boots but not Lightning Greaves (the Shroud from the Greaves is too annoying. We have to be able to target her with stuff and we often won't have another Creature to move the Greaves to). Chariot of Victory and Haunted Cloak are two of my favorites. Strider Harness and Sting, the Glinting Dagger are both decently cheap and provide Haste and that really valuable +1 to power. Sword of Vengeance is expensive but awesome here. Beware playing out more than one of these at once; if you get hit with a Shatterstorm, you want to be able to play out another Haste-enabler.

Second thing is that +1 to power. Several of the cheap Haste Equipment give a small power and toughness boost, We also have Sword of the Animist, which pays for itself in two hits. Shadowspear gives the power boost and helps us target stuff our opponents have. Some of our tricky spells also grant +1, so if it's the difference between winning and not, we can use them in a pinch. We have Llanowar Reborn's Graft for one shot, and Novijen if we have the mana. Most often we'll draw into a Strider Harness or something like it and be fine.

Third thing is doubling power. This is more of a bonus, but it seems too fun to go for the one-hit Commander kill. Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is expensive, but often it's just the turn after Raised by Giants, so it's a solid choice. We also have Brass Knuckles, Fireshrieker, and Grappling Hook, all of which will suck our mana dry but will grant Double-Strike. We're not necessarily looking to double Alora's power, we just want it as an option.

Because we'll spend most of the game either wide open (in the early turns when all we're doing is making mana and playing weird Equipment) or the threat (people don't like it when your first attack is for 11 unblockable Commander damage), we want a mix of answers to deal with problems. We have a selection of Counterspell-like cards, including a couple of expensive ones like Draining Whelk and Spelljack. Feel free to switch those out for counters of your choice. We also have the Green idea of Counterspell, Tyvar's Stand, and a few other spells like it, so we can protect her when someone uses Swords to Plowshares or something. Then we have a suite of Bite Down effects, where we can have our dude do damage to someone else's dude. Beast Within rounds out the team as a catch-all solution.

The Pride of the Hull Clade is our most expensive card, but a decent second is also one of the most fun: the Skullspore Nexus. This Artifact is going to pretty much always cost us . Then it's going to sit there and threaten to leave us with a Creature as big as our Commander if they try to stop us from attacking, plus it can double our Commander's power. It's big, it's strange, and it should be really fun to play out and watch everyone read.

Alora, Raised by Giants | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Alora, Merry Thief

• Background (1)
• 1 Raised by Giants

• Creatures (6)
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission
• 1 The Pride of Hull Clade
• 1 Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

• Instants (18)
• 1 Archmage's Charm
• 1 Bane's Contingency
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Bite Down
• 1 Choose Your Weapon
• 1 Cosmic Hunger
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Deprive
• 1 Gaea's Gift
• 1 Hunter's Insight
• 1 Legolas's Quick Reflexes
• 1 Master's Rebuke
• 1 Momentous Fall
• 1 Mortal's Resolve
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Snakeskin Veil
• 1 Spelljack
• 1 Tyvar's Stand

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Hunter's Prowess
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Life's Legacy
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Rush of Knowledge
• 1 Soul's Majesty
• 1 Three Visits

• Artifacts (25)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Bilbo's Ring
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Brass Knuckles
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Ebony Fly
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Fireshrieker
• 1 Goggles of Night
• 1 Grappling Hook
• 1 Haunted Cloak
• 1 Hero's Heirloom
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sting, the Glinting Dagger
• 1 Strider Harness
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 The Skullspore Nexus
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Worn Powerstone

• Lands (40)
• 10 Island
• 11 Forest
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Hedge Maze
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Lumbering Falls
• 1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Restless Vinestalk
• 1 Rimewood Falls
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Tangled Islet
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl

Buy This Deck Export text

This deck will win games. Often it will do it out of nowhere as people don't put together what you're about to do. It'll be fun and challenging and interactive and very often you'll be the biggest threat at the table, so be prepared for that. It's certainly not cEDH ready, but this would be a real heavyweight at my tables.

What strange Creature/Background combo have you wondered about? I'd love to hear on socials - I might do it next!

Thanks for reading.