The Windmill at Wijk Bij Duurstede by Jacob Van Ruisdael (1670). Seal Away by Joseph Meehan.

Today I'm going to look at a commander that's a bit out of the ordinary. Once upon a time we were restricted to playing legendary creatures as our Commanders in EDH. In 2014 we got a set of precon decks that introduced the idea of having a Planeswalker in the command zone. For the most part these oddball commanders have been outliers and Wizards of the Coast has stuck with commanders having to be creatures, but today's subject just happens to be an exception.

Shorikai, Genesis Engine is no Herbie the Love Bug, though that might be a pretty fun alter for this card. Today's commander is a Legendary Artifact Vehicle and looks more like a giant mech than anything else.

This 8/8 vehicle can be turned into a creature by crewing it with 8 power worth of creatures. You tap a creature to crew, forcing you to think about the trade-off between crewing your vehicle and having that many fewer blockers. Shorikai can help produce creatures to use to crew it. For 1 mana Shorikai can tap to let you draw two cards, discard a card and create a 1/1 colorless Pilot creature token that crews as if its power were two greater. That still doesn't get you halfway there, but this can be combined with other cards in some pretty interesting ways.

Choosing a Direction

The first big question is what direction we want to take Shorikai, Genesis Engine. I think there are a number of pretty cool builds you can do with this commander.

The most obvious and lowest-powered is probably just a generic Vehicles deck. You play the greatest hits of vehicles and toss in the occasional boardwipe to let you hit your opponents in ways that won't hurt you as badly as it will hurt them. This would be one of those decks that hopes for the best and runs a good amount of interaction, but probably has no clear "I win" button you're trying to hit.

The other obvious build this commander is setting you up for is a combo build involving Intruder Alarm. You turn Shorikai into a creature, pay 1, tap him, create a Pilot, untap Shorikai, and do it again and again and again. You'll draw 2 cards and discard one each time. All you need is either an altar you can use to turn your Pilot into mana or a mana dork that will untap so you can pay Shorikai's activation cost. You'd probably win with something like Laboratory Maniac, Thassa's Oracle or even Jace, Wielder of Mysteries.

The third option that comes to mind is a polymorph deck. You have a somewhat reliable source for token creatures. If you run a limited number of heavy hitters in the 99 and a mess of cards that will let you turn a Pilot token into a creature from your deck, you can have some fun cheating Eldrazi, Praetors, Colossi or anything else onto the field. The real fun with polymorph decks is in not knowing what you're going to get when you pop a creature token.

My sweet spot for deck-building seems to be somewhere in the middle of all these types of decks. I love playing a build that might end up taking me in any number of directions so I'm going to blend these ideas together and see what I end up with.

Untap Combo

As it turns out, there are 2 powerful cards that can help you launch into a pretty ridiculous series of Shorikai activations.

When I pay a mana and tap Shorikai, I create a Pilot creature token. If I've managed to make Shorikai into a creature, it will untap alongside all of my other creatures so I can do it again. If I've got a mana dork I can use it to pay Shorikai's activation cost each time. If I've got more than one, I can make infinite mana alongside my now huge Pilot army. If I've got an Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar I can sacrifice my new creature token to pay for another activation.

Dramatic Reversal will also untap Shorikai, so if I can get Isochron Scepter imprinted with that powerful instant, I can also combo off. I just need enough mana dorks or mana rocks to pay for the one-mana Shorikai activation and the two-mana Scepter activation.

This combo lets me draw my entire deck because with each activation I'll be drawing 2 cards and discarding a card. If I were to run a shuffle Eldrazi like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, I can truly go infinite by discarding the Titan and shuffling my graveyard into my library.

The logical wincon for this kind of combo is a familiar face - Laboratory Maniac, Thassa's Oracle or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. I'm running the first two in this list, but one could argue that Jace is better than Lab Man because there are fewer removal spells that can hit a planeswalker in response to drawing the last card of my library.

Competitive EDH is all about winning as quickly or as reliably as you possibly can. I am sure a fringe cEDH build of Shorikai, Genesis Engine could be built, and I'm just as sure that my list today isn't quite at that power level. I think that high powered combo is just fine in high powered games of EDH even if you're not winning on or before turn five.

Polymorph Targets

I love Polymorph. I love effects that let you reveal cards off the top of your deck until you hit the right type or just reveal the right number of cards. I've won and lost games because of those types of cards and even when a "reveal" activation utterly fails to help you in any way, it can still be incredibly entertaining.

This deck is running a few polymorph effects and way, way too many bad Polymorph targets. I don't care - it's still a fun way to get through turns where you don't have much going on and you're hoping to draw into something relevant...

Any commander that can poop out creature tokens makes for a great excuse to turn those tokens into real creatures. This deck is running a lot of artifact mana dorks along with the aforementioned Lab Man and "Thoracle." There is a relatively small chance I'll hit Avacyn, Angel of Hope, but I'm not running Eldrtazi Titans and I'm not running Praetors.

If you wanted to lean into Polymorph as a strategy, load up on bombs that you'll be happy to hit. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant would all fit right in. My choice to run so many mana dorks is related to my focus on that untap combo. By focusing on that combo I've made my polymorph plan a lot weaker.

I still think it's worth it and I'll tell you why. When you durdle around with turning your Pilots into a Solemn Simulacrum, Etherium Sculptor, Research Thief or some other not-very-scary support creature, you might not be putting fear into the hearts of your tablemates, but that's OK. It's entertaining for you, it will make you not seem like a threat, and you will actually benefit from having those extra support creatures around. Hanna, Ship's Navigator isn't going to crush any tables, and Sai, Master Thopterist isn't exactly a one card wincon, but both bring real value to this list.

That said, when you end up launching into a winning combo, if you did manage to Polymorph a few creatures you'll probably end up using them when you combo off. That Alloy Myr nobody cared about can be untapped by both Intruder Alarm and Dramatic Reversal.

Fast and Furious: Genesis Engine

This deck isn't really built to be a vehicles deck, but we're probably going to be making those Pilot creature tokens that can crew vehicles as if they were 2 power greater. I might as well give them some vehicles to crew before I spirit them away with Jalira or Proteus Staff to cheat a creature into play from my library.

Smuggler's Copter, also known as the "Looter Scooter", will give me another way to dig through my library. Colossal Plow, Raiders' Karve and Cultivator's Caravan (not shown) can all help with my mana, though each does so in a very different way. Cultivator's Caravan is literally a mana rock with crew 3 that can be turned into a 5/5 creature.

Imposter Mech enters as a copy of a creature your opponent controls, except that it isn't a creature - it's a vehicle. I can't tell you that will make it better in every instance, but I can say that it makes Imposter Mech so interesting, I simply can't leave it out of this list. Parhelion II might be prohibitively expensive for cEDH play, but I will always love the idea of getting those 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying and vigilance every time it attacks. This is not a cEDH strategy, but if you can keep attacking with it, the value you're going to get is undeniable.

The Weatherlight gives us a way to dig for more artifacts or legendary cards and fits in nicely in a deck with creatures like Hanna, Ship's Navigator and Raff. I'll probably just crew it with one of my 1/1 Pilots, but I still love the flavor of having this venerable airship in the 99.

A Little Bit of Everything

This list wound up being a bit more pushed in terms of power levels than I expected, but it leaves you with a pretty clear path to increase or decrease its competitiveness. As it stands, I think I've dipped into all three of the game plans I laid out at the beginning and I think this would be a fun deck you could pilot in a way appropriate for the table you were playing at.

To push it up toward cEDH, I would drop out the extra vehicles and add in more control (boardwipes, Pongify, Rapid Hybridization and Chain of Vapor at the minimum) and some enchantment tutors so you can more reliably tutor up Intruder Alarm. That very much feels like the "win button" of this version of the deck.

If you wanted to lower the power level, you might drop out your fast mana and Force of Will, and probably ditch the Lab Man wincons. You might still be able to build toward a polymorph strategy and not find yourself creeping up toward cEDH power levels, but it depends upon what you're cheating into play and how reliably you're turning those polymorphs into wins.

Intruder Alarm Shorikai | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Shorikai, Genesis Engine

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Alloy Myr
• 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1 Dreamscape Artist
• 1 Drumbellower
• 1 Etherium Sculptor
• 1 Foundry Inspector
• 1 Gold Myr
• 1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
• 1 Jalira, Master Polymorphist
• 1 Laboratory Maniac
• 1 Metalworker
• 1 Palladium Myr
• 1 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage
• 1 Renowned Weaponsmith
• 1 Research Thief
• 1 Riddlesmith
• 1 Sai, Master Thopterist
• 1 Scuttlemutt
• 1 Shimmer Myr
• 1 Silver Myr
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Thassa's Oracle
• 1 Vedalken Engineer

• Instants (13)
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Dramatic Reversal
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Reality Shift
• 1 Stoic Rebuttal
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Synthetic Destiny

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Anointed Procession
• 1 Divine Visitation
• 1 Intruder Alarm
• 1 Mystic Remora
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Smothering Tithe

• Artifacts (20)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Basalt Monolith
• 1 Colossal Plow
• 1 Cultivator's Caravan
• 1 Imposter Mech
• 1 Isochron Scepter
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Parhelion II
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Proteus Staff
• 1 Raiders' Karve
• 1 Rings of Brighthearth
• 1 Smuggler's Copter
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 Unwinding Clock
• 1 Weatherlight

• Lands (37)
• 13 Island
• 13 Plains
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Sea of Clouds

Buy This Deck Export text format

If my suggestion of piloting this deck in a way that is "appropriate" for the table sounded weird, you might not be the kind of player who can take their foot off the gas when it's clear you might be about to pubstomp a pod.

I get it. I'm not usually one to slow my roll either and prefer to just switch to a weaker deck if my first game had me pulling out ahead of the competition too quickly or too emphatically. I try to even out my power levels over the course of multiple games, but some players prefer to just sandbag powerful combos and play in a suboptimal way if it's clear their deck is way too strong for the table they're playing at.

Final Thoughts

I can't count how many times I've thrown "Dramatic Scepter" into a column over the past few months, but I'm aware that it's become a drumbeat lately. I think Commander has a basic tension between building powerful decks and building fun, casual decks. Both are important for the health of the format. There are and always will be players who appreciate both ends of our format's power spectrum. Many players, myself included, enjoy both high-powered games and more casual pods.

When deciding whether to throw a tired old combo into a list, I always come back to the fact that I will always have readers showing up to read about a commander who have never read my work before. I don't think you can properly discuss a card like Shorikai, Genesis Engine, without bringing up the high-powered combos that can work with Shorikai to just win the game. Powerful abilities interact with powerful cards to do powerful things and it's worth talking about them even if you prefer to play a more casual game.

I suspect the most fun version of this deck might be load up with better Polymorph targets, but that's because I always enjoy the surprise of finding out what creature I can cheat into play. I also enjoy combo and could see the first few Intruder Alarm wins being entertaining for me but nobody else. Not everyone has it in them to appreciate a good Thassa's Oracle / Lab Man win.

On a personal note, I grew up in the 70's and 80's but managed to not fall in love with Battletech, Gundam, Metal Gear, Transformers or any of the giant robot / mech games, cartoons and anime that started to spring up in those years. Now that I'm altering cards, I'm sure there must be a ton of great giant robot card alters one could do to really pimp out a vehicle-focused Shorikai deck. It's a great idea and I'm sure some artist is working on such a deck, but that artist won't be me. I've altered a few vehicles by now, but have yet to paint any giant robots.

That's all I've got for today. Up next might be that Norin the Wary column I promised to put together. I and my fellow CSI writers are always happy to hear from readers, and Norin was a special request that I'm looking forward to digging into.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!