Tell me, are you the gamblin' sort?

Care to wager victory on the roll of the dice? Sure, it's a risky prospect. At least without help. On her own, lady luck is quite the mercurial gal, ready to elevate you to greatness at one moment, then ruin you the next. Fortunately for us, we've more than her fickle wiles on our side when it comes to the high roll.

Up until recently, dice rolls have been the territory of Magic's Un-Sets (Strategy, Schmategy, Inhumaniac, etc.), but Rule-Zero considerations aside, only Unfinity has included non-sliver bordered cards for Commander play (Ex. Strength-Testing Hammer). Shame, as Mr. House, President and CEO would love to have Goblin Bookie and Jack-in-the-Mox in the '99. Fortunately, rolling dice is pillar on which Dungeons and Dragons is founded, so both Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate included a slew of synergistic cardboard. Even better, because the classic role playing game scales dice limits well past the standard D6, the odds of rolling high to trigger our Commander increase. Mr. House doesn't care what kind of die we use, meaning we'll want to maximize the number of cards that care about D20's (Vexing Puzzlebox, Chaos Dragon). If we still roll low, the D&D sets also provide help to ignore initial duds (Wyll, Blade of Frontiers, Barbarian Class).

With enough support, Mr. House, President and CEO provides two potential paths to victory. First, he can produce a steady stream of 3/3 Robot Tokens to start beating down on opponents. We can increase the lethality of these machines via artifact synergy (Tempered Steel), token synergy (Anointed Procession, Neyali, Sun's Vanguard), or both (Thousand Moon Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand). Secondly, if we're able to roll high enough, we'll hit the jackpot and receive copious Treasure tokens. These not only work alongside most of our other tokens-matter cards (Idol of Oblivion), but also accelerate us into bigger spells and threats to close out the game if robots aren't enough.

Enter the dragons

So, what expensive spells shall we pour our treasure into? For style points, I recruited the Mardu side of the Ancient Dragon cycle from Battle for Baldur's Gate. Yes, they have to connect with an opponent to 'go off', but each generates a game-swinging effect, especially when paired with the aforementioned dice-roll modifiers. What's more, the D20 roll triggered by each will further fuel Mr. House, provided it doesn't generate enough raw value to win the game on its own. Ancient Copper Dragon can be a wallet-buster, so swap it out for the devastating Ruinous Ultimatum if you're on a budget. Speaking of sweepers, Reckless Endeavor and Valiant Endeavor create more tokens in addition to 'wrathing the board. Shifting to Black, Grave Endeavor generates threats on two levels: first via a resurrected monster, then via life drain. Note that this trio of spells each roll two dice. Mr. House counts the results of both for his trigger, potentially netting double the robots and/or treasure.

Though I've not played Fallout: New Vegas, it took mere minutes to research to discover that Mr. House is the driving force that sets the whole game in motion. Your main character acts as courier for the Platinum Chip, which Mr. House needs to upgrade his long-deteriorating operating system. Normally I'd avoid spoilers, but seeing as artwork for Mr. House, President and CEO depicts his true nature, we might as well dive in. You'll notice how, even though he's an artifact creature, Mr. House still has the Human type. That's not something we see much outside of Esper (Esper Sentinel, Esper Battlemage, etc.), but in the case of Mr. House, the veil between man and machine is even thinner than filigree. Essentially a Howard Hughes/Tony Stark hybrid, Mr. House predicted the nuclear apocalypse and uploaded his consciousness to a computer program, keeping his physical body in a stasis-like life support system. Over the years, his programming began to break down, necessitating the Platinum Chip as a vital upgrade needed to keep New Vegas under his control. Though his mortal body is frail, Mr. House has many hands via his army of robotic servants, which leads us back to the card in question.

Once Mr. House, President and CEO is on the battlefield, our aim is to keep the robots coming at a steady pace. A single 3/3 is little threat in Commander. Look at how negligible the drawback is on Beast Within and Generous Gift, two of the most popular removal spells in the format. The key is strength in numbers, as we'll want to be rolling as much as possible and thus increasing the odds of a ever-growing army. Along the way, utilizing high-numbered dice will increase the odds of treasure, which can further assist the robot-factory if we use Mr. House's activated ability. Alternatively, we can accelerate mana production to the point where we're casting big spells in the mid-game.

Sword of Hours by Brian Valeza

Tick tock, the clock strikes you dead

Much like we previously discussed in our article on Tetzin, Gnome Champion, our biggest hurdle is sheer synergistic quantity. There aren't a ton of high-powered dice roll cards to pair with Mr. House, so we'll presently turn to slower options (Ex. Chaos Channeler). However, like the aforementioned flippy-gnome, the more Magic: The Gathering sets release, the better Mr. House will get. We'll certainly see dice-roll themes again, especially if we go back to Dungeons and Dragons. No worries about licensing when Wizards of the Coast owns both franchises. Or maybe dice-rolls will make a comeback in the next Un-Set, provided they go the route of Unfinity and allow select cards to be legal in Commander (Ex. Clown Car). Sure, it feels kinda weird to include Un-set cards in a Fallout-themed deck, but we work with the tools available to us.

Let's roll those dice, both literally and metaphorically, and see what Mr. House, President and CEO can do!

Mr. House, President and CEO | Commander | Matthew Lotti

• Commander (1)
• 1 Mr. House, President and CEO

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Academy Manufactor
• 1 Ancient Brass Dragon
• 1 Ancient Copper Dragon
• 1 Ancient Gold Dragon
• 1 Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
• 1 Celebr-8000
• 1 Chaos Channeler
• 1 Chaos Dragon
• 1 Delina, Wild Mage
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Goblin Engineer
• 1 Grim Hireling
• 1 Illustrious Wanderglyph
• 1 Iron Mastiff
• 1 Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter
• 1 Mirkwood Bats
• 1 Mondrak, Glory Dominus
• 1 Neyali, Suns' Vanguard
• 1 Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization
• 1 Securitron Squadron
• 1 Wyll, Blade of Frontiers
• 1 Xorn

• Instants (11)
• 1 Berserker's Frenzy
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Contraband Livestock
• 1 Hagra Mauling
• 1 Kabira Takedown
• 1 Malakir Rebirth
• 1 Myrkul's Edict
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Sejiri Shelter
• 1 Valakut Awakening
• 1 Wyll's Reversal

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening
• 1 Danse Macabre
• 1 Grave Endeavor
• 1 Organic Extinction
• 1 Reckless Endeavor
• 1 Shatterskull Smashing
• 1 Valiant Endeavor

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Anointed Procession
• 1 Barbarian Class
• 1 Black Market Connections
• 1 Maddening Hex
• 1 Prosperous Partnership
• 1 Roar of Resistance
• 1 Tempered Steel

• Artifacts (19)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Clown Car
• 1 Component Pouch
• 1 Ebony Fly
• 1 Idol of Oblivion
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Staff of the Storyteller
• 1 Strength-Testing Hammer
• 1 Sword of Hours
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 The Deck of Many Things
• 1 Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand
• 1 Vexing Puzzlebox
• 1 Wand of Wonder

• Lands (33)
• 4 Mountain
• 4 Plains
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Savai Triome
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Underdark Rift
• 1 Urza's Saga

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Having our Commander make two different varieties of token can be very useful. Much like we discussed in our article on Teysa, Opulent Oligarch, one variety of token can lead into the next. At the minimum, we can use Treasure tokens to multiply Mr. House's own dice-rolling ability, though on his own, he'll only ever use D6's. Let's start things off by scaling up our odds with higher dice. The aforementioned Ancient Brass Dragon, Ancient Copper Dragon, and Ancient Gold Dragon are great ways to close out a game, but some earlier troops include Chaos Dragon, Chaos Channeler, and Delina, Wild Mage. Iron Mastiff may seem risky, but its drawback is more than worth it when you consider it rolls a separate D20 for each player being attacked.

Token-creation also leads to synergy with various multipliers (Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Securitron Squadron), engines (Grim Hireling, Illustrious Wanderglyph), sacrifice outlets/payoffs (Jans Jensen, Chaos Crafter, Goblin Engineer, Mirkwood Bats), and sources of card advantage (Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Academy Manufactor). And that's just talking about our creatures. Once we jump from barracks to spellbook, options for even more shenanigans abound.

Our non-creature permanents also split the bill between dice-rolls and token-centric synergies. Strength-Testing Hammer, Maddening Hex, and Clock of Hours assist Plan A: winning via Robot- or Ancient Dragon-combat damage. Wand of Wonder and The Deck of Many Things provide more card advantage, now attached to our casino-centric strategy. Even our mana rocks get in on the action via Ebony Fly, Component Pouch, and Vexing Puzzlebox. *Sigh* And as bizarre as it feels to include, Clown Car actually fits our theme on two fronts: both in rolling multiple dice and in producing robot tokens. Yea, they're clown robot tokens, but as I mentioned earlier, we gotta adapt to the options at hand. Silly as Clown Car may be, it rolls multiple dice at once, so even though they're only D6's, the odds of triggering Mr. House, President and CEO are high.

Unlike dice, token-tools stretch far past the likes of Un-sets. Tempered Steel, Barbarian Class, and Roar of Resistance power up our Robots, alongside incidental Clown, Construct, Gnome, Faerie Dragon, or Citizen tokens. On that note, Prosperous Partnership takes full advantage of our ever-growing ranks to accelerate mana production. Black Market Connections serves as a perfect segue from token-production to card advantage, with additional engines like Staff of the Storyteller and Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand keeping draw and army production in full swing as we play out the rest of our deck.

As we jump from thematic to support spells, we still strive to include dice. For spot removal, Contraband Livestock, Danse Macabre, and Myrkul's Edict provide Indestructible-proof kill spells with a free D20 roll on top. Wyll's Reversal will often operate in a similar fashion, pointing an opposing removal spell back at an enemy creature while sometimes providing a free copy. Mass removal is covered by the aforementioned Valiant Endeavor and Reckless Endeavor, who's variance is balanced by the rolling of multiple dice per spell. Our robot n' treasure factory also warrants Organic Extinction, which will leave Mr. House, President and CEO and his armies intact while nuking everything else on the battlefield. Gotta keep New Vegas safe, after all.

Rounding out the 99, we bring in versatile staples like Rakdos Charm and Boros Charm for utility. I'm also a fan of the Battle for Zendikar modal lands. Our deck's penchant for making multiple creatures boosts Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau to similar levels of lethality as Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit, while Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier and Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge help insure the health of our Commander and hand, respectively. As the game goes late, our skill at Treasure-production can fuel massive Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass or Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt plays for a big swing in creature count on the battlefield.

Securitron Squadron by Jonas De Ro

Casinos spare no expense on security.

Unlike Mr. House, President and CEO, you may not be able to predict every calamity that'll befall the Commander table. Fear not, humble Vault-dweller, for our mechanized overlord will ensure there's ample means to look after the future. Granted, that doesn't mean we'll be part of said future, but at least the egocentric genius/tyrant is on our side. For now.

Thanks for reading, and may your lucky numbers always come up.

-Matt-

@Intrepid_Tautog