My buddy Cameron issued me a challenge the other day: “Make a deck with no more than five rares or mythics, not including the commander.”

Challenge accepted.

Saskia the Unyielding ? Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Saskia the Unyielding

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Beetleback Chief
• 1 Belfry Spirit
• 1 Brood Monitor
• 1 Catacomb Sifter
• 1 Cloudgoat Ranger
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Eyeless Watcher
• 1 Gatecreeper Vine
• 1 Juniper Order Ranger
• 1 Kathari Bomber
• 1 Marsh Flitter
• 1 Phantom General
• 1 Ponyback Brigade
• 1 Sporemound

• Instants (11)
• 1 Acrobatic Maneuver
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Cloudshift
• 1 Rith's Charm
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Seed Spark
• 1 Sigil Blessing
• 1 Sprout Swarm
• 1 Sundering Growth
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Trostani's Judgment

• Sorceries (16)
• 1 Acorn Harvest
• 1 Battle Screech
• 1 Captain's Call
• 1 Cenn's Enlistment
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Death Mutation
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Goblin Offensive
• 1 Goblin Rally
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Hordeling Outburst
• 1 Hunting Triad
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Lingering Souls
• 1 Morbid Bloom
• 1 Spider Spawning

• Enchantments (11)
• 1 Assemble the Legion
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Fires of Yavimaya
• 1 Fists of Ironwood
• 1 Gratuitous Violence
• 1 Hidden Stockpile
• 1 Intangible Virtue
• 1 Necrogenesis
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 True Conviction

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (40)
• 6 Forest
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Swamp
• 6 Plains
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Foundry of the Consuls
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Korozda Guildmage
• 1 Nomad Outpost
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1 Savage Lands
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Spawning Bed
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Urza's Factory
• 1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

Buy This Deck

Saskia also seems to want to do one of two things: go big or go wide. Going big would probably look something like a Xenagos, God of Revels deck, running that very card and figuring out ways to make a single creature gigantic and evasive. The problem here is, that kind of deck is going to want to be chock-full of rares. Dragons, angels, and beasts most often carry a gold or orange set symbol, and we’d want to do things like slam Dragonlord Atarka or Avacyn, Angel of Hope, give it Double Strike, and turn it sideways.

Going wide, on the other hand, means making a bunch of little tokens and not worrying so much if they die, because they’re replaceable. For us, this is better, because Lingering Souls and Cenn's Enlistment are uncommon. We can make a bunch of tokens and leverage our rares carefully to give us more power.

We’re mostly going to be off the top when it comes to draw, but Harmonize will give us a few more cards. The thing is, tokens and mana ramp are virtual card advantage, so even though we don’t necessarily draw a bunch, we’re getting extra stuff for our cards — four tokens off a single Lingering Souls means we’ve sort of drawn three extra cards.

So let’s make those tokens go to work. The vast majority of our creatures make us tokens; some like Cloudgoat Ranger and Brood Monitor make three. Sporemound makes one each time we put a land on the battlefield. Kathari Bomber will make four over its lifetime. Sprout Swarm only makes one, but we can buy it back and do it again, which is invaluable. Goblin Offensive is our only spell, but it’s a doozy if we hit it for a bunch, especially with a Fires of Yavimaya on the battlefield.

Acrobatic Maneuver and Cloudshift are the only two Flicker effects we’ve got, but that’s probably the right number. We don’t want Saskia to have to die and be recast in order to reset her target, so we can flicker her and pick a new player, hopefully because the first one is dead. In a pinch, that can save something important or remake a Ponyback Brigade for three more tokens, which could make the difference.

Our five rares are specific. Assemble the Legion gets out of hand pretty quickly and is worth the slot, as is Mimic Vat. We’ve got so many creatures which drop tokens when they enter the battlefield, the Vat can make sure we’re really cranking them out, plus it helps us when the board inevitably gets blown up. Cathars' Crusade can make our tokens huge; they all get big when we make four creatures at once. Gratuitous Violence works really well with Saskia. If we have a token do one damage to a player, it does two. But then that creature did two, so Saskia has it do equal damage to your chosen opponent, and Gratuitous Violence doubles it to do four damage. That can add up when four or five tokens get through. True Conviction also doubles our damage, plus the lifelink is helpful. Juniper Order Ranger is a mini Cathars' Crusade in an uncommon shell.

If making a deck with minimal rares isn’t for you, it’d be easy to pump this up. Any token-making Planeswalker — Elspeths of all shades, Garruks, Ajanis, even Xenagos, the Reveler — would be excellent. Beastmaster Ascension and Craterhoof Behemoth are always good in token shells. Anthems, too, might be worth it; certainly Marshal's Anthem is worthwhile for the value.

Convertible Commander is pretty specific. We offer a small amount of cards to swap in so we can change the feel and style of the deck. Today we’re breaking that mold; forget a small amount of cards. It’s a whole new deck.

Saskia V2 ? Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Saskia the Unyielding

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Blight Mamba
• 1 Contagious Nim
• 1 Core Prowler
• 1 Corpse Cur
• 1 Cystbearer
• 1 Fallen Ferromancer
• 1 Flensermite
• 1 Flesh-Eater Imp
• 1 Glistener Elf
• 1 Hand of the Praetors
• 1 Ichor Rats
• 1 Ichorclaw Myr
• 1 Lost Leonin
• 1 Necropede
• 1 Phyrexian Crusader
• 1 Phyrexian Hydra
• 1 Phyrexian Swarmlord
• 1 Plague Myr
• 1 Plague Stinger
• 1 Putrefax
• 1 Razor Swine
• 1 Reaper of Sheoldred
• 1 Rot Wolf
• 1 Septic Rats
• 1 Shriek Raptor
• 1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1 Spinebiter
• 1 Spirit en-Dal
• 1 Tangle Angler
• 1 Tine Shrike
• 1 Viridian Betrayers
• 1 Whispering Specter

• Instants (15)
• 1 Become Immense
• 1 Colossal Might
• 1 Emerge Unscathed
• 1 Groundswell
• 1 Invigorate
• 1 Might of Oaks
• 1 Might of Old Krosa
• 1 Mutagenic Growth
• 1 Outmaneuver
• 1 Predator's Strike
• 1 Rush of Adrenaline
• 1 Soul's Fire
• 1 Stonewood Invocation
• 1 Vines of Vastwood
• 1 Volt Charge

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Caress of Phyrexia
• 1 Larger than Life
• 1 Spread the Sickness

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Angelic Destiny
• 1 Dauthi Embrace
• 1 Gratuitous Violence
• 1 Gruul War Chant
• 1 Rancor
• 1 Spirit Mantle
• 1 Wild Defiance

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Mage Slayer
• 1 Mimic Vat

• Lands (40)
• 3 Mountain
• 5 Forest
• 5 Swamp
• 6 Plains
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Foundry of the Consuls
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Inkmoth Nexus
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Nomad Outpost
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1 Savage Lands
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Spawning Bed
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse

Buy This Deck

Spinebiter is an all-star here; buff that guy a couple times and two players are just out of the game. Spirit-en-Dal can give Shadow to your creature, if you remember that Forecast must be declared during upkeep, and note that Emerge Unscathed’s Rebound occurs at the beginning of your upkeep. But beware — poison tends to make people grumpy – and with Sasika, maybe twice as grumpy. Play at your own risk.

Restrictions breed creativity. Commander is about demonstrating who you are in deck form. Sometimes that means building something which wins, but other times it’s about doing something else. This deck deliberately eschews some obvious strategies – like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death to resurrect your small Infect critters – so your only attacking creatures will deal Infect damage. Try building a deck with a serious restriction sometime, and see what you can do. It’s fun, and it makes you a better player with more knowledge of the game.

In the meantime, have fun going wide with Saskia – or just spreading the sickness.