I tend to like doing things a little differently, especially in Commander. That's part of why I've spent so much time with Uncommon Commanders recently. They tend to get overlooked, and they can be quite fun. I also like doing things which aren't quite as obvious. A good example is this Vial Smasher the Fierce deck I did about six and a half years ago (!). I own that deck in real life and play it often. It is great fun, gives me a place to play a bunch of cards I otherwise wouldn't play, and most important (to me, at least), people are so confused when they see it. "Why would you build a Partner deck with no Partner?"

On the other hand, sometimes it's fun just to do what the card is asking us to do.

Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier functions as a Lord for Outlaw Kindred decks. She doesn't give us a boost (our Outlaws don't get +1/+1, for example), but we benefit from playing a bunch of them. At first, I thought it'd be fun to try to win with her ability - figure out a way to drop 120 Outlaw tokens all at once and just kill the table - but looking at it and the associated Creature types, I thought it'd be fun just to build a simple Outlaw deck. Extra bonus: It's super budget!

Vial Smasher Outlaws | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Blood Hustler
• 1 Boneyard Desecrator
• 1 Breeches, Eager Pillager
• 1 Captain Lannery Storm
• 1 Forsaken Miner
• 1 Gisa, the Hellraiser
• 1 Graywater's Fixer
• 1 Hellspur Brute
• 1 Hellspur Posse Boss
• 1 Impulsive Pilferer
• 1 Kaervek, the Punisher
• 1 Kellogg, Dangerous Mind
• 1 Laughing Jasper Flint
• 1 Mari, the Killing Quill
• 1 Mine Raider
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Nezumi Linkbreaker
• 1 Prickly Pair
• 1 Rattleback Apothecary
• 1 Reckless Lackey
• 1 Rodeo Pyromancers
• 1 Servant of the Stinger
• 1 Treasure Nabber
• 1 Vadmir, New Blood
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Instants (24)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Bedevil
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Breathe Your Last
• 1 Caught in the Crossfire
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Corrupted Conviction
• 1 Dead Before Sunrise
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Explosive Derailment
• 1 Great Train Heist
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Hurl Through Hell
• 1 Infernal Grasp
• 1 Kolaghan's Command
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Murder
• 1 Outlaws' Fury
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Shoot the Sheriff
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Unfortunate Accident
• 1 Unlicensed Disintegration
• 1 Village Rites

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Back in Town
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Mourner's Surprise
• 1 Sign in Blood

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 At Knifepoint
• 1 Brimstone Roundup
• 1 Daring Piracy
• 1 Discreet Retreat
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Rakish Crew

• Lands (40)
• 12 Swamp
• 10 Mountain
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Bloodfell Caves
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Foreboding Ruins
• 1 Jagged Barrens
• 1 Mines of Moria
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Shadowblood Ridge
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 1 Tainted Peak
• 1 Temple of Malice
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse

Buy This Deck Export text

One nice thing about a two-mana Commander is we can worry less about ramp. In fact, the whole deck tops out at 5 mana, with the only exception being Blasphemous Act, which never costs as much as it says. We have a few ways to make some Treasure tokens which should help us along the way, but mostly we're going to play our 40 Lands and hit our drops; we should be fine. An early Captain Lannery Storm wouldn't hurt anything, but it's not necessary.

We do have a few Lands which come into play tapped, so think carefully about the first few turns of the game when you look at the Hand you draw. If you can't play Vial Smasher on turn two because you have nothing but CIPT Lands, probably throw it back and hope. On the other hand, don't feel bad about playing a Temple of Malice, a Swamp, then a Terramorphic Expanse on turn three, especially if you have a two-mana play on turn three. Vial Smasher into Servant of the Stinger isn't a bad line of play at all. And note Bojuka Bog counts as committing a crime.

has a bunch of card draw now, and I'm here for it. We get Sign in Blood, we get Village Rites, and we get Big Score. All of them cost us something - life, a Creature, a card - but it's worth it to push through the deck and keep seeing more cards. Discreet Retreat will draw us some extras, and Morbid Opportunist can end up being very strong in a deck like this.

To win the game, we're probably going to have to turn our Outlaws sideways. There might be a fun win off Laughing Jasper Flint if we manage to steal something huge. A well-placed Back in Town might get us there for a big Alpha strike. Great Train Heist could probably complicate combat math enough to eek out a win, assuming we have a few Outlaws on the 'field. But we don't have a dedicated win-con, and that may be a mistake. A couple of large fliers or some pocket combo that wrecks everyone with direct damage might be worth inclusion in a future draft.

On the other hand, we should have great fun committing crimes. These are the colors of point removal, and we've got it, from Lightning Bolt to Terminate to Hurl Through Hell. Dead Before Sunrise can be a great way to take out a number of bad guys, especially with Mari, the Killing Quill on the 'field. On the other hand, Breathe Your Last is as straightforward as they come. Explosive Derailment is fantastic, functioning as a kill spell and an Artifact removal spell, depending on what we need.

The real problem with Kindred decks like this (it's certainly the problem with my Rogues deck) is when the Creature Type tends to be small (as Outlaws often are) Creatures and there's no way to generate a TON of tokens (like Elves or Goblins), we end up outclassed at a table by decks which aren't restricted and happily run some demons or giant Trampling monsters. You could run a Vein Ripper or a Blaster Hulk, and possibly should, but they felt out of character for what this deck was trying to do - assemble a rakish group of little Creatures all working together to pull off some sort of heist. Some huge flying Vampire Assassin wouldn't be part of the team, y'know? But, that means it'll cost us game in exchange for fun and theme.

The other problem with this deck specifically is Outlaws are fairly parasitic with committing crimes, and that costs us. Rather than running more Outlaws, we're running point removal and other spells which target to trigger what happens when we commit crimes. But that means less threat on the actual 'field. On the other hand, we could ignore the committing crimes part and just run more Outlaws, but we do that and we lose a lot of the strength of theme. Finding the balance will be tricky, and the deck will probably benefit from between-session tinkering. Play five games, then add two Outlaws and pull two crimes and see if that changes anything, that sort of thing. Do a couple of beefy Creatures make a difference? Or is it better to just make as many tokens as possible and trigger Vial Smasher more? You'll just have to try it and find out.

On the other hand, this deck is, as mentioned before, budget. A lot of the cards are bulk, and most of them are from recent sets, so if you have a playgroup it's likely several of them are just kicking around and will be free. (Same is true if you drafted OJT at all.) The Lands are adjustable, which can also keep prices down. There are a couple of difficult mana costs (I'm looking at you, Bedevil) but a few more Basics won't slow it down too much. I'm guessing done correctly this deck can be built for under $50, probably less if you hustle and get some stuff for free. That means it should be relatively easy to adjust over time, without costing too much.

If you want to spend a bunch more money on a deck like this, it really wants a Bitterblossom (those are Faerie Rogues) and a Dockside Extortionist. I wouldn't, though - this is a deck designed for casual games, low-power and low-stakes. It's great to loan to someone who's learning or less experienced, because Kindred decks tend to make sense to newer players and this one plays with stuff they've seen if they've started playing in FNMs or at a local shop. No, this is a fun one to have just kicking around for the last game of the night, or a Commander night with unfamiliar players to get the lay of the land.

And people will definitely wonder why you're running him, which is always a great reaction. A good answer to a question about him might be "why, is he too strong?"

Thanks for reading.