I guess I'm all about the free spells right now, huh? Today's Commander may not cast just anything for free, but we should still be able to generate some quality value out of this guy.

Discover is just Cascade where the value is something other than the Mana Value of the card being cast, right? Or triggered off something other than casting? That seems useful. There are some great spells which cost three or less.

Caparocti Sunborn | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Caparocti Sunborn

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
• 1 Attentive Sunscribe
• 1 Curator of Sun's Creation
• 1 Digsite Conservator
• 1 Lizard Blades
• 1 Loyal Apprentice
• 1 Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival
• 1 Puresteel Paladin
• 1 Sram, Senior Edificer
• 1 Volatile Wanderglyph

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Basri Ket
• 1 Quintorius Kand

• Instants (7)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Delayed Blast Fireball
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Stroke of Midnight
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Two-Handed Axe // Sweeping Cleave
• 1 Wear // Tear

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Hit the Mother Lode
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Seize the Spoils
• 1 Sevinne's Reclamation

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Chained to the Rocks
• 1 Etali's Favor

• Artifacts (33)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Beamtown Beatstick
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Bladehold War-Whip
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Brass's Tunnel-Grinder
• 1 Buried Treasure
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Clay-Fired Bricks
• 1 Diamond Pick-Axe
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Goldvein Pick
• 1 Haunted Cloak
• 1 Key to the City
• 1 Liquimetal Torque
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 Maul of the Skyclaves
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Mithril Coat
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sonic Screwdriver
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swashbuckler's Whip
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 The Irencrag
• 1 The Reaver Cleaver
• 1 Thousand Moons Smithy
• 1 Thran Power Suit
• 1 Tinker's Tote
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Urabrask's Forge

• Lands (40)
• 7 Plains
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Ancient Den
• 1 Axgard Armory
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Furycalm Snarl
• 1 Great Furnace
• 1 Hidden Courtyard
• 1 Hidden Volcano
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Mines of Moria
• 1 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 1 Pit of Offerings
• 1 Restless Bivouac
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Rustvale Bridge
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 Temple of Triumph
• 1 Volatile Fault

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This deck has a pretty big advantage of not being overly complicated, so let's walk through it piece by piece, starting with mana.

We've got 40 Lands, as per usual. Most of them help with colors, a few of them help in other ways. Slayers' Stronghold and Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion are both great when you're trying to push a particular Creature through. Additionally, we have 10 mana rocks, which serve two purposes. First, almost all of them accelerate casting Caparocti. Second, they function as Artifacts we can tap to activate his ability. It may seem like a lot of mana, but it'll be worth it in the end, so we can Equip things and speed along to our goal of attacking with our Commander.

We've got a few ways to draw some cards and a few others to thin our deck; nothing like a Sword of the Animist to keep the gas flowing. Puresteel Paladin and Sram, Senior Edificer aren't operating at top speed in this deck, but there is enough Equipment they should allow us a few extra cards. One nice thing about a deck like this, though, is we get a free spell every time we attack, so the fact we're not drawing as much shouldn't be too terrible. I do like Volatile Wanderglyph, which lets us Rummage whenever we tap it down, so we can use it to activate Caparocti and get a free Rummage out of it. Key to the City is really strong here, too, since it lets us get our Commander through and draws us an extra card.

While our real goal is to cast free spells using Caparocti, our real real goal is beating people with him. We're going to suit him up and send him in and do Commander damage and before people know it they'll be dead. Mostly, we're going to use Equipment like Lizard Blades and Thran Power Suit to get us there, but we've also got the Lands mentioned before and Etali's Favor for extra bonuses. Maul of the Skyclaves is particularly good, as are the ways of granting Haste. Beamtown Beatstick is fantastic, too.

We have a Swords to Plowshares and a Chained to the Rocks (a pet card of mine, but feel free to run Abrade or Path to Exile in this slot) for a bit of Creature control, plus Generous Gift and Stroke of Midnight for more general removal. Wear // Tear is always solid, even if you can't cast both halves off the Discover trigger. Delayed Blast Fireball is this fun Pyroclasm which will almost always be a one-sided wrath for us. And Akroma's Vengeance is one of the most versatile mass-removal spells we have access to, but again, feel free to run whatever you'd like in that spot.

Basri Ket works on a variety of levels for us; he buffs up Caparocti and protects him from removal or dying to a combat trick, but he also gives us Creatures to tap should we need them. His Emblem would be pretty good, too. But it's Quintorius Kand I really like here. In addition to making little dudes or Discovering for us (or making a pretty big play with that ultimate), it's the static ability that's so much fun. Every time we Discover, we're casting a spell from Exile... and doing that little nudge of damage, gaining that little bit of lift. Synergies like that make me smile.

Curator of Sun's Creation and Strionic Resonator both work the same way here, except the Resonator costs mana and the Curator only doubles up on the Discover triggers. (I suppose we could use the Resonator to make extra Treasure with the Beatstick or make four tokens with Tinker's Tote.) Finally, we've got a variety of Artifacts which are just kind of cool but end up being things we can tap to activate Caparocti. Tinker's Tote is one example, as is Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand and Brass's Tunnel Grinder // Tecutlan, the Searing Rift, though both of those last two can ultimately be Transformed into useful Lands.

This deck is fun. Discover adds a sense of variety and inconsistency while still always providing power and interest, so each flip is a fun little surprise. Additionally, it allows some space for your opponents to mess with you in unusual ways; maybe they can't stop your attack, but perhaps they can stop you from having what you need to tap in order to Discover? Could be fun.

As we wrap up this year, I hope you had a good one and the next is looking to be even better.

Thanks for reading.