Magic players universally love being able to get the opportunity to do "their thing." You know what I mean. That could be getting to play the aggro role without being controlled, being the one doing the controlling, or perhaps trying to set into motion some crazy convoluted combo. No one loves it when their plan gets foiled, but you know what they love even less? When everything they try to do gets stolen away from them!

We've had legendary creatures that have done this since the game's early years. After all, you haven't lived until you get stuck in a lock state staring down a Merieke Ri Berit or a Rubinia Soulsinger. Or maybe you'd prefer to get stuck dealing with a Sen Triplets? No? Well, thankfully there's some much simpler options now that tend to feel a bit more fun when it comes to stealing stuff rather than seeming oppressively stifling. Take for instance Gonti, Lord of Luxury.

This card became an instant casual favorite when it first showed up in Kaladesh. Players gravitated to the ability to get a one shot theft effect with a bit of randomness, choice in your ability to select from those random options, and that your choices would be initially hidden. You could steal lots of cards with the card, but you would have to work for it to make it happen, either by finding ways to flicker in Black or else sacrifice the card and bring it back somehow.

Naturally, Wizards took notice of the love this one legendary creature has and decided to expand on it a bit. This sort of play style was perfect for a villain-themed set in Outlaws of Thunder Junction and so a new Gonti appeared helming the Grand Larceny preconstructed Commander deck.

This version of Gonti is way more prone to stealing all of your opponents' stuff and doing it gleefully. You get in some damage and get to take cards off the top of their decks, ready to cast whenever you're able. It might not be super fun for your opponents, but it's something that you can enjoy with absolute glee! We're going to be looking at some cool options to upgrade the deck with, but before we can talk about it, we have to check out the list itself!

Grand Larceny Precon | Commander | Wizards of the Coast

• Commander (1)
• 1 Gonti, Canny Acquisitor

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Baleful Strix
• 1 Bladegriff Prototype
• 1 Brainstealer Dragon
• 1 Cazur, Ruthless Stalker
• 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1 Dazzling Sphinx
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius
• 1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1 Fallen Shinobi
• 1 Felix Five-Boots
• 1 Ghostly Pilferer
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1 Hostage Taker
• 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1 Oblivion Sower
• 1 Ohran Frostfang
• 1 Orochi Soul-Reaver
• 1 Sage of the Beyond
• 1 Savvy Trader
• 1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 1 Silent-Blade Oni
• 1 Silhana Ledgewalker
• 1 Slither Blade
• 1 Smirking Spelljacker
• 1 The Mimeoplasm
• 1 Thief of Sanity
• 1 Thieving Amalgam
• 1 Thieving Skydiver
• 1 Thieving Varmint
• 1 Tower Winder
• 1 Triton Shorestalker
• 1 Trygon Predator
• 1 Ukkima, Stalking Shadow
• 1 Void Attendant
• 1 Whirler Rogue

• Instants (4)
• 1 Baleful Mastery
• 1 Plasm Capture
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Siphon Insight

• Sorceries (12)
• 1 Arcane Heist
• 1 Culling Ritual
• 1 Curse of the Swine
• 1 Extract Brain
• 1 Feed the Swarm
• 1 Heartless Conscription
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Predators' Hour
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Stolen Goods
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Villainous Wealth

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Cunning Rhetoric
• 1 Mind's Dilation

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Chaos Wand
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Dream-Thief's Bandana
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Prismatic Lens
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (38)
• 4 Forest
• 5 Island
• 6 Swamp
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darkslick Shores
• 1 Darkwater Catacombs
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Opulent Palace
• 1 Overflowing Basin
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Twilight Mire
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Viridescent Bog
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

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As you might guess from checking out Gonti himself, the big thing you want to be doing with this deck is getting in some direct damage. After all, the more damage you dish out, the more you can steal, so you want to have ways to get your hits in. This deck offers you a few ways to do that, thanks to keywords like flying, fear, and landwalk. That being said, most of them require you to put in a little bit of work behind them to get through. A creature with flying or fear can still be blocked by the right creatures and landwalkers can only hit select players.

Unless I'm missing something, there are only three creatures in the whole list that can't be blocked outright: Slither Blade, Triton Shorestalker, and Ukkima, Stalking Shadow. Ukkima is actually a pretty great card in its own right, but the other two are pretty paltry offerings, especially in the realm of Commander. You can also make creatures unblockable with Ghostly Pilferer and Whirler Rogue, but that's it. Not even the noncreature stuff really does anything to benefit you here!

It's clear that Wizards' intention here was to focus more on a newer player experience with this deck, so they don't want to lean too much into these effects. After all, it's not so fun for someone just picking up the game if they get attacked by unblockable creatures right out of the box! By having less of them, it provides a better play experience for a group all playing at the same precon level. If you're checking out this article, though, you're probably a little more experienced and want something a little more beneficial. We're not Wizards and therefore, we're free to add in a few things to help get through!

The most obvious solution here is Whispersilk Cloak. The Darksteel classic has been a Commander mainstay for years and is an easy way to make your creatures unblockable while also protecting them to ensure they keep getting through. Using Trailblazer Boots also practically guarantees you'll get some free hits as your opponents will almost certainly be running nonbasic lands. The big surprise of the actual preconstructed list is that it doesn't include Rogue's Passage! I can forgive the other two not being included as they can feel somewhat egregious, but the land is so costly in its activation - particularly in a three color deck - that it makes for such an easy inclusion.

If you're willing to put in a bit more of an investment, you can also go in on various configurations of the various Swords of X and Y. Much like, say, landwalk, you won't always get through with them, but the double protection should enable you to get in for some regular damage and also bring some particularly potent triggers into the picture as well. If those fail, you can always fall back on some trample granting options like Rancor or Loxodon Warhammer. They're not guaranteed hits either, but will allow you to push damage through more frequently than you would without them.

In addition to a lack of ways to push damage through, I was also surprised by how few theft effects were in this deck aside from Gonti themself. There's certainly some cards like Brainstealer Dragon, Fallen Shinobi, and Thief of Sanity to get the job done, but you can go so much farther than that if you want. It's almost criminal that there isn't even a Blatant Thievery among this list if nothing else, just as a splashy thematic effect to steal something from each player around the table. That right there is an easy inclusion!

You can also dip quite heavily into all manner of Control Magic effects including, well, Control Magic itself! Even without that, though, using the strictly worse Mind Control or dropping a temporary steal in Sower of Temptation provides great options for stealing away your opponents' best creatures in a way that doesn't feel terribly overbearing. If you really want to get aggressive with your stealing, though, perhaps try a nice Beguiler of Wills. It's a fairly cheap card that can take tons of creatures provided it doesn't get removed.

If you want to get a little spendy, there's some other fun theft cards that you can really make great use of. Bribery - and its affordable artifact counterpart Acquire - can pull the best things out of your opponents' decks, and is great if you're in a pod of friends where you know what they're packing. Praetor's Grasp functions similarly, allowing you to grab whatever you want in this case, or you can go extra deep and run Breach the Multiverse. Using that gets lots of cards out of your opponents' decks and simultaneously gives you plenty of threats for your board as well.

You can get way more aggressive with your thievery effects too. Both Dauthi Voidwalker and Thada Adel, Acquisitor are super evasive creatures that also happen to give you the opportunity to steal your opponents' stuff as well. Dauthi Voidwalker only lets you do it once, but once is enough, especially when it's basically unblockable in most instances and also prevents your opponents from having a graveyard at all. As for Thada Adel, it's almost comical trying to make use out of her. Land a hit, go grab a Sol Ring, and play it for an easy one mana. The value just builds and builds!

Oh, yeah, and there's one other critical thing I need to mention for this deck as far as mandatory inclusions go: get some land destruction in here ASAP. You don't need to go super hard on it, so I'm not saying slam Sinkhole into your deck or anything. However, you absolutely want a copy of Demolition Field, Ghost Quarter, or perhaps the newly reprinted Dust Bowl to get rid of one extra pesky land that's bound to show up in games all over.

That card is Homeward Path. It's basically a free inclusion for almost any deck and can quickly undo everything your deck is working toward. With one simple tap, every one of your opponents gets their stuff back. What's worse is if you don't stop it, you'll basically just be shut off of your entire strategy because it can be used every turn! Making sure you have some way to stop that card is critical, and can be done in ways that don't dilute your core strategy in the process. I would also recommend bringing in some tutors to help find these lands in a pinch. Even if you don't have Demonic Tutor money, a Diabolic Tutor or Mastermind's Acquisition goes a long way.

There's probably a few additional things I'd recommend changing out here and there, like how the deck's Darksteel Ingot should absolutely be swapped out for a much better Chromatic Lantern. However, these are what I feel are some of the more core things you want to be looking for when you try upgrading the deck. There's plenty of ways to flesh out each of these precons and this one is no different, but you don't always need the top of the line pricey options to make it happen. Many of the ones here are quite affordable and are great ways to ensure you have a fun time at your next Commander night! Just don't be surprised if your opponents don't feel quite the same as you steal their stuff and cackle wildly.

Paige Smith

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