Last week's column was a refreshing one for me. I had been feeling like I was in a rut of writing up lower powered lists, so a deck that could really slap a table around made for a fun change of pace. Today's commander should also be quite capable of killing a table through combat damage.

Samut, the Driving Force was just the next in a growing line of cards for that character, but Aetherdrift marks the first appearance of this legendary Human Rogue.

Sita Varma is in Simic colors and will give me the same sort of alpha strike capability I got out of Samut. With Sita, this will come in the form of an exhaust ability, meaning I can use it just once. If Sita Varma leaves play, the next time it enters I'll be able to use the new iteration's exhaust ability once. The ability is tied to the instance of Sita that is in place, so a new Sita means a new chance to use her ability. That exhaust ability allows me to pay to put X counters on her. Then I may have the base power and toughness of each other creature I control become equal to her power until end of turn.

For a high-powered deck, the obvious way to build her would be to make infinite mana. Then you could run a bunch of evasive creatures so your alpha strike is going to be hard or impossible to survive. You're in blue so you can protect your wincon with counterspells.

I don't mind combo, but I also don't love taking the easy path. I've done that enough times over the years and I have found that winning feels better when I'm not just taking the shortest path to victory. For this deck that means big mana, but no infinite combos. With infinite mana off the table, I'll be looking for a variety of interesting ways to take advantage of what Sita Varma brings to the game.

I should note that I'm going to be steering away from "game changers" in my brews going forwards unless I'm specifically trying to build a deck that sits firmly into high power or cEDH. That means you'll have some easy upgrades if you decide you want to play your Cyc Rift or Rhystic Study. Just remember that brackets present deckbuilding restrictions but do not perfectly map onto power levels. They're closely related, but not the same thing.

Power Puff Girl

This deck is going to want lots of creatures. That means less mana rocks and more mana dorks. I'm running a healthy number of one-drop elves that tap for one mana, but the important ones are the ones that tap for mana equal to their power.

With Sita Varma in play, I'll want to keep at least one "big mana" mana dork untapped after activating her exhaust ability. Once a Kami of Whispered Hopes has been pumped up to have a base power equal to Sita Varma's power, I'll be able to tap it for a lot more mana.

What I do with all that mana is where things get fun. Fungal Sprouting could give me X 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens equal to the greatest power among creatures I control. Traverse the Outlands will let me tutor up that many basic lands and put them into play tapped. Both of those are powerful plays if done for a dozen or more, but on their own they don't just win the game.

Creatures and lands are nice, but card draw is king, so I'm running a bunch of ways to draw cards once I've made my creatures big. The best of those card draw spells will let me sacrifice a creature. That may seem counterintuitive, but sacrificing Sita Varma will let me play her out again and activate the new instance's exhaust ability. I'm also running Snap and Temur Sabertooth as ways to bounce her to my hand.

How We Win

This is one of those decks that is absolutely trying to win its games in the trenches. I've got a ton of card draw, but I'm not running Lab Maniac and I don't expect to ever draw myself out. If I wanted to do that I'd be running infinit mana combos.

The enchantment Raised By Giants can be run out of the command zone if it's paired with any commander that lets you choose a background. In today's list it's just another card in the 99, but if I get it into play my commander will become a 10/10. That extra eight power could be backbreaking when I use Sita Varma's exhaust ability, as it will get added to however much I can pay into X after the initial three I spend.

Pathbreaker Ibex is the kind of card this deck really wants to have out the turn before I use my exhaust ability, and it's also a great reason to run Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. When Ibex attacks my creatures will get +X/+X where X is the greatest power among creatures I control. My team will already be big if I've just used Sita to pump them, so this should give them trample and put them over the top. Overwhelming Stampede does much the same thing as Ibex, but it's a sorcery so I'll only get one use out of it unless I can get it back with Eternal Witness effects.

The key to this deck going off is all in the timing. I need to have counterspell backup if I'm swinging out against blue players with open mana. I want to get the job done in one turn because I don't want to have to jump through the hoops of finding a way to re-cast my commander to use her ability again. I'm prepared to do that if need be, but my goal is to win in one turn.

Big Fun

If I'm not pulling into what I need to make for a successful alpha strike, I still want to be able to make big, splashy plays. That will sometimes come on the back of a big mana dork and a Sita activation, but not always.

I've got a lot of draw in this list, and it's a mix of cards that care about creatures being cast, creatures entering play, the number of creatures I control, and the greatest power of a creature I control, but that doesn't mean I'll always see my wincons. Fortunately Sita Varma can act as a wincon on her own even without a lot of extra help.

Making big mana outside of my mana dorks is one way to get there. Zendikar Resurgent is in the list and will let my lands tap for an extra mana. It also gives me more card draw. Nyxbloom Ancient will let me make three times as much mana. With both of these in play, and with 7 lands on the field, I can tap for (1 x 3) + 1 = 4 mana per land, so I could be making 28 mana. Nyxbloom doesn't triple that extra mana made by Zendikar Resurgent, as it isn't generated by tapping a permanent.

Playing Sita and activating her exhaust ability costs 5 mana, so starting with 28 mana, I'd have 23 mana left to put into X. If I had an Ornithopter in place and an opponent without flying or reach blockers, it could swing over their army to hit them for 23 damage. Chances are good I'll have more than just an Ornithopter in play.

Big mana can let me play big spells and I couldn't leave out Last March of the Ents from this list. It costs eight mana, it can't be countered, and it will let me draw cards equal to the greatest toughness among creatures I control. Then I'll put any number of creature cards from my hand onto the battlefield. The real trick will be figuring out how much mana to hold back when trying to launch into a big turn off of this LoTR sorcery spell. Keeping three mana in reserve could be invaluable if I draw into Swiftfoot Boots and play one of my big-mana dorks.

If my Last March of the Ents plops an Archetype of Imagination onto the battlefield, my army will get flying and my opponents' creatures will lose (and can't gain) flying. They might have some creatures with reach, but that should still set me up for a pretty nice attack.

Simic Beats

This is a Simic deck, but in reality it leans very heavily towards Green. I don't feel obligated to split a deck's color footprint right down the middle when I'm in two colors, but I usually don't lean this heavily in one direction over the other. My focus on mana dorks and creature-based card draw was what led to this deck being mostly green, but I could see an argument that the list needs Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift, a few blue unblockable creatures, and more countermagic.

My first drafts are always going to need some tweaking and that's probably where I'd start. The last edit I made before committing to this list for the column was to take out Constant Mists and Moment of Peace in favor of Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots, but it's entirely possible the deck will lose as many games for not having a fog in hand as it might win for having stylish (and protective) footwear. My trip to the shoe store was probably a smart choice, as I'm not in red and there will be times that my mana dorks will really want haste.

Sita Varma EDH | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Sita Varma, Masked Racer

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Ancient Bronze Dragon
• 1 Ancient Silver Dragon
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Bighorner Rancher
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Caustic Caterpillar
• 1 Curiosity Crafter
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Heartwood Storyteller
• 1 Heronblade Elite
• 1 Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1 Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1 Old Gnawbone
• 1 Ornithopter
• 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1 Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Regal Force
• 1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Springbloom Druid
• 1 Temur Sabertooth
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Viridian Joiner
• 1 Voracious Varmint

• Spells (22)
• 1 AEtherize
• 1 Aetherspouts
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Dramatic Reversal
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Momentous Fall
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Snap
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Fungal Sprouting
• 1 Last March of the Ents
• 1 Life's Legacy
• 1 Overwhelming Stampede
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Soul's Majesty
• 1 Traverse the Outlands

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Guardian Project
• 1 Raised by Giants
• 1 Zendikar Resurgent

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 The Great Henge
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (36)
• 13 Forest
• 13 Island
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl

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To power this list up, I think the aforementioned blue game changers make a lot of sense, but the addition of infinite mana is what will make winning games the easiest. Unblockable creatures also make sense if you only need a single huge creature to get through blockers. Adding in Dramatic Scepter combo (Dramatic Reversal / Isochron Scepter) and mana rocks could let you make infinite mana. That sets you up for both huge alpha strikes and the chance to win off of a Lab Man / Jace, Wielder of Mysteries by drawing cards based on the power of an absurdly large creature you control.

While I think this deck can win games at mid-to-high powered tables, I don't see a lot of cards you'd cut to power this list down. Nyxbloom Ancient and The Great Henge could get pulled out, and you could simply replace whatever cards happen to be the most expensive until you get down to a budget you can afford. Dropping the cost of a deck does not necessarily drop the power level, but for many players it's a convenient way to make the deck fit in better with a low powered, low budget playgroup.

I don't think Sita Varma is going to see much play in cEDH, but I might be underestimating how well it can win a game when playing Dramatic Scepter combo. Blue and green decks can sometimes hang at that highest level of power in Commander, but I don't see Sita Varma being anywhere near as good an option in cEDH as Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy.

Early Results

I was able to get this list into a game in my weekly Thursday night Tabletop Simulator game and I'm happy to report that the deck "did its thing" pretty well.

I was up against Orah, Skyclave Hierophant, Marchesa, the Black Rose and Brago, King Eternal. I was figuring Orah would gain a bunch of life. I was right and I was pleasantly reminded that Marchesa tends to single-mindedly go after the player at the highest life total. Brago had me nervous from the outset, and I was not surprised when Brago turned out to be a fairly well tuned and powerful build.

The only notable thing in the early game was that the Marchesa player randomly chose to put a +1/+1 counter on Brago with Forge of Heroes. I didn't really understand the logic until I remembered that Marchesa can gain control of creatures that die with +1/+1 counters on them. That never happened but that +1/+1 counter ended up mattering.

The Brago player spent much of the game flickering their Solemn Simulacrum and Aether Channeler, among other cards with useful enter-the-battlefield triggers. While they were doing that, the Orah deck was gaining life and draining the table on their turn to the point where the Marchesa player and I were both under 20. Brago always had blockers and had been swinging at all of us, so they managed to stay a bit higher.

I was steadily growing my board and got to a point where I could tap out to play one of three seven-mana spells: Zendikar Resurgent, Nezahal, Primal Tide, or Old Gnawbone. I chose the first, hoping it would be there on my next turn so I could play both of the other creatures. Orah must have done something notable because Brago's attention wasn't on me, and I was able to untap with my big mana enablers still around. I drew into Zendikar Resurgent, played it, and then cast my two big creatures.

That next turn cycle felt like forever, as I knew I'd be able to attempt an alpha strike if my stuff didn't get bounced to my hand or removed. The Marchesa player was now down around 11 and was fully focused on swinging their commander at the Orah player. The Brago player had been proliferating that +1/+1 counter he had gotten from Forge of Heroes and was slowly growing to be a genuine commander damage threat. Brago had sent attacks at everyone, but was mostly concerned with the Orah player and that mounting life total.

When my turn came around I spent a few minutes in the tank trying to figure out what to do. I had lands that were tapping for four mana each. I had an Overwhelming Stampede, an Eternal Witness and a Fungal Sprouting in hand. I ended up tapping four lands to make 16 mana, and putting it into Sita's exhaust ability giving her 13 +1/+1 counters and making my other creatures have a base power and toughness of 15. I then played Overwhelming Stampede to give my team an additional +15/+15 and trample.

The Brago player had open mana, but after a moment's hesitation I remembered the old adage that you miss 100% of the shots you don't attempt. I swung lethal damage at everyone, hoping I'd caught them without an answer in hand.

Brago played it cool, letting the table think for as long as possible that it was game over, but at the last minute he revealed that he had a Mandate of Peace, ending combat and preventing his opponents from playing any more spells that turn. I had four mana left up to make an army of 30 saprolings with Fungal Sprouting, but I never got to cast it.

Without anything to do on my second main phase, I passed the turn to a delighted Orah player, who then had to kill the Marchesa player or get killed by Marchesa through commander damage. I was left alive for the Brago player to finish off. Brago did that, as I was without blockers and they knew I could get Stampede back. A turn or two later, Brago was able to kill the Orah player with commander damage. Orah's life total was up over 60 at that point, and Brago didn't have the ability to send an alpha strike like I had attempted earlier.

It was an entertaining game, though much of my time was spent building up my board and then hoping I didn't lose too many pieces before I could swing out to try to kill the table. If I had been sitting on a counterspell I might have been able to win, but it's just as likely the Brago player had counterspell backup for their Mandate.

I was really happy to be able to see the deck do its thing, even if that alpha strike didn't end up working out. I put the fear of death in the rest of the table, and I've had plenty of games where I wasn't even able to be the problem that had to be answered. This time they had an answer, but I'm sure the deck would win its share of games if I built it in paper and played it a bunch.

Final Thoughts

One of the coolest things about Sita Varma, Masked Racer, is that there are a bunch of different ways you could build her. I was really hoping to pump my team and then be able to tap a "big mana" mana dork, but I was able to make big mana and I did present a real threat. I could also see builds for Sita Varma that focused on little unblockable creatures, on going wide with tokens, or even on winning with creatures that have infect. However you build her, you're probably going to be winning by attacking.

The past few weeks have been fun, but next week I'm going to be turning my attention to a new card that's going to be in the Final Fantasy set. It's scary, it's green, and I've been told that if you're a fan of Final Fantasy, you'll think it's really flavorful. I'm going to see if I can break it.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!