Sometimes, it’s fun to mess with our opponents’ heads.

One of the things I’ve been reading about a lot in the world of Commander is scaling. The gist is we build a deck that is designed to play against any playgroup and change our power level to accommodate the group we’re battling. If we wind up in a game with a bunch of highly tuned, really powerful decks, we can hang, but if we’re playing a bunch of people with decks pieced together from their last three Drafts, we don’t just shut them down.

Here’s the thing though: With someone like Yasova, we’re constantly representing the steal. We have a dude and 3 mana (plus a sacrifice outlet), and suddenly, they’re worried about playing their guys. They don’t play anything, and we happily beat the snot out of them. Or they play something, we steal it, whack them upside the head with it, and sac it for value. They think they’re safe playing 6/6s? We untap and equip Yasova, making her big enough to steal that 6/6. Heck, with enough mana, we can play Yasova, equip her, and steal because there’s no summoning sickness for her ability. And if they think Lightning Greaves will save them, well, we have Arcane Lighthouse. A permanent rattlesnake makes for challenging terrain and can lead to some really fun gameplay.

A quick note before we go into the build: Today’s deck was built entirely by my editor. He loves Yasova and what she can do, and he thought a deck built around her could make for a compelling $75 build. He thinks a bit differently than I do though—he likes goofy cards, tends to try to jam more ideas in a deck than I do, and is generally more of a Timmy–Johnny than I am. That’s good though! We want to look at many different ways to build decks and have fun, and one way is by not having me be the architect of every deck. I hope this will encourage readers to submit their own budget builds to share.

There was a good amount of budget for the mana base here, so we have a bunch of great lands we don’t often get to play with. Raging Ravine really stands out—it’s a $10 card that can absolutely beat the tar out of someone out of nowhere. High Market is another fairly pricey card, but it’s one we really want; it can be difficult to make the deck work without a sacrifice outlet, and one on a land is really helpful. Some duals and a Frontier Bivouac help fix. Opal Palace and Oran-Rief, the Vastwood let us buff our somewhat fragile commander. Reliquary Tower, Blighted Woodland, and Ghost Quarter all add some value. And Kher Keep is a great card for just about every deck that has red; those little Kobolds do a lot.

One of the nice things about using everyone else’s stuff is we have to worry less about drawing our own. However, we have a few great ways to put some extra cards in our hands. Skullclamp is always an all-star whenever we have tokens around (Kher Keep, anyone?), and Momentous Fall is even better when the thing we’re sacrificing is someone else’s Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. Mind Unbound is just absurd. Soul of the Harvest is nice in any deck that has creatures, and Drumhunter just wants us to have something big. Since we’ll often have a commander with power 5 or greater, it’ll work just fine.

And the fact that we intend to take our enemies’ things and kill them with them doesn’t mean we don’t have any juice of our own—particularly where our opponents are afraid to play out their own threats, we can’t count on them. Some creatures we have for other reasons—such as the aforementioned Soul or something like Molten Primordial or Plaguemaw Beast—are big and stompy by themselves. A well-timed Archetype of Imagination or a few pieces of Equipment are sometimes enough to just get there. We also have Progenitor Mimic, which in my playgroup is a kill-on-sight card. Left unchecked, that thing gets really silly. Finally, we have a bunch of indestructible cards, a mini-theme from my editor’s mind. He loves indestructible creatures, and here he’s not wrong. A Bonesplitter on a Darksteel Gargoyle (or, I suppose, just a Colossus of Akros by itself) can cause a fair amount of trouble for someone.

Cheap sacrifice effects are really important, so we have a whole bunch. The nice thing is that most of them do pretty useful things, so we don’t mind drawing a couple of extras to have options or let our commander steal and sac multiple creatures. Perilous Forays does work; nothing says, “Ha, ha!” like a Molten Primordial for three big dudes and three extra lands. Bloodshot Cyclops makes playing Demon of Death's Gate a lot less appealing. Trading Post can bring us back lost Equipment, which can be helpful. Evolutionary Leap is fun.

We also have plenty of ways to pump up Yasova’s power, mostly through Equipment. The focus is on power, so things like Barbed Battlegear and Hero's Blade are really great, and Hero's Blade just clicks right onto our commander when she’s played. Bonesplitter, too, does work, and Trusty Machete and Darksteel Axe both try to be as awesome as Bonesplitter. Sword of the Animist does double-duty, pumping and ramping. Rancor isn’t an Equipment, but it might as well be, and the trample can be surprisingly relevant—don’t be surprised to realize lethal is on board if Yasova has trample. Bow of Nylea, also, can give a counter with some extra mana every turn. The deathtouch is nice, too, in case someone actually wants to block his or her own thing.

Watch for some Control Magic effects—there are a couple. Maybe we’d rather keep the thing they played; Dominating Licid comes in handy when someone has something like Avatar of Woe. (Jin-Gitaxias comes to mind again. If someone plays that against you, steal it and make that player suffer.)

Finally, a few token-makers round out the ninety-nine. Verdant Force is sort of the granddaddy, making you a token on everybody’s turn. Thopter Spy Network keeps them coming as well. Honden of Life's Web gives us at least one dude, and we’ll sometimes have both Hondens out and make a couple. Tokens carry Equipment, can be sacrificed for lands or to destroy things, can block obnoxious Elemental tokens made by Omnath, Locus of Rage, and can suddenly kill someone when Wonder hits the graveyard.

Yasova Dragonclaw ? Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Archetype of Endurance
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Bloodshot Cyclops
• 1 Dominating Licid
• 1 Drumhunter
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Jeering Instigator
• 1 Molten Primordial
• 1 Plaguemaw Beast
• 1 Progenitor Mimic
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Verdant Force
• 1 Wonder
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Colossus of Akros
• 1 Creepy Doll
• 1 Darksteel Gargoyle
• 1 Darksteel Myr
• 1 Stuffy Doll
• 1 Sylvok Replica

• Spells (33)
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Momentous Fall
• 1 Frenzied Tilling
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Life's Legacy
• 1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
• 1 Peregrination
• 1 Sylvan Scrying
• 1 Control Magic
• 1 Evolutionary Leap
• 1 Followed Footsteps
• 1 From Beyond
• 1 Mind Unbound
• 1 Perilous Forays
• 1 Rancor
• 1 Shivan Harvest
• 1 Thopter Spy Network
• 1 Wolfcaller's Howl
• 1 Honden of Life's Web
• 1 Honden of Seeing Winds
• 1 Barbed Battlegear
• 1 Bonesplitter
• 1 Darksteel Axe
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Hero's Blade
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Trading Post
• 1 Trusty Machete
• 1 Cloak and Dagger
• 1 Bow of Nylea

• Lands (40)
• 10 Forest
• 5 Mountain
• 9 Island
• 1 Arcane Lighthouse
• 1 Blighted Woodland
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Frontier Bivouac
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 High Market
• 1 Mystifying Maze
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Raging Ravine
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Kher Keep

Buy This Deck

The mana here works great, but Alchemist's Refuge would be a fun addition. Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep would give our low-toughness commander a welcome advantage in combat. Awakening Zone, like From Beyond, helps to ramp and makes little dudes, so that would be useful. Dragon Broodmother and Master of the Wild Hunt are solid token-makers as well. Champion's Helm, too, is such a great power boost and protection for our rattlesnake for so little mana it’d be a great fit. Assault Suit could be mean—steal a creature, equip it after combat, and give it back, knowing it can’t swing at you.

Bringing Yasova out is key to making this deck work. Play her; then, ask to read every single creature that hits the battlefield from then on. Comment on how much fun it would be to have that creature. Laugh maniacally every time you sacrifice someone else’s stuff—but saying, “Whatcha got for me?” during someone’s main phase may be over the top. Don’t play too quickly either—think through your plays. Often, especially in the first several turns, mana is very tight, and deciding how to play will depend on what you have and what you see.

What do you all do to scale to different play groups? I’d love to hear. I’d also love to see decks you think are budget—you can e-mail me at markwischkaemper [at] gmail [dot] com with decklists. Maybe somebody has designed a cool variation on one of the new Commander (2015 Edition) decks? I may feature your deck in the column!

Take everyone’s stuff, smack ’em with it, and bin it. Mess with their heads!

Total cost: $74.14