benthic_druid 2 months{"ops":[{"insert":"We have the August 2025 finalists! \nVoting has concluded!\n\n🥇 TheTalonGates  \n🥈 YoseiMorningStar\n🥉 HydoMTG\n\nEach winner will be contacted via the email associated with their Archidekt account within the next 48 hours. \n\nCongratulations, and thank you to all who participated!\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://edhrec.com/articles/deckbuilding-contest-finalists-august-2025"},"insert":"https://edhrec.com/articles/deckbuilding-contest-finalists-august-2025"},{"insert":"\n\nUser: YoseiMorningStar\nDeck: Lantlaza\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/13413080/lantlaza_august_contest_submission"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/13413080/lantlaza_august_contest_submission"},{"insert":"\n\nUser: HydoMTG\nDeck: Living End - High CMC Control\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/15197780/living_end_high_cmc_control"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/15197780/living_end_high_cmc_control"},{"insert":"\n\nUser: TheTalonGates\nDeck: Super Doomsday!\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/15153109/super_doomsday"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/15153109/super_doomsday"},{"insert":"\n\nHello brewers,\nAs we move into the back half of the year, we're asking a question that Magic players have struggled to answer for decades. How few lands can you get away with running? Or, conversely, how many?\n\nWhat’s The Contest All About?"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nWorking within the parameters of the prompt provided below, construct a decklist with your own creative spin. Three chosen finalists will be awarded store credit to "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://cardsphere.com/"},"insert":"cardsphere.com"},{"insert":".\n\n"},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"For August's deck building contest build a Commander-legal deck with fewer than 30 lands, or more than 50. This includes double-faced cards that are lands on one side."},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"italic":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Decks will be judged on their creativity and originality, as well as how important the total land count is to how the deck functions."},{"insert":"\n\nThe question of how many lands to play has plagued players for nearly as long as Magic has existed. Common wisdom says that slightly more than a third of your total deck size is enough, although the math would suggest a number closer to half is better. Many players stick to the low ends of these ranges, because spells are more exciting than lands, but some archetypes encourage you to play even fewer lands.\n\nPerhaps the best known archetype to play as few lands as possible is Storm. Storm decks want to chain as many spells together as possible, which a couple of lands on top of your deck can easily interrupt. Whether you're chaining artifacts with Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain or paying life with Bolas's Citadel, there's no worse feeling than having your turn end thanks to an unlucky land on top of your deck.\n\nOf course, other cards might encourage you to play even fewer lands. Goblin Charbelcher is a famous combo finisher for decks that play no lands, but you could also play only Mountains to still ensure revealing fewer cards in a lethal blast.\n\nOn the flip side, some decks want to play more lands than usual. Landfall and Lands Matter decks need plenty of lands to fuel their primary engines, and often to win the game as well. Omnath, Locus of Rage, Field of the Dead, and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle are all much less impressive when you don't have any lands to play. Decks with many expensive spells, like Dragons or Eldrazi, usually also want more lands to ensure they can cast their big spells. You might also play more lands than usual to take advantage of creatures like Cavalier of Flame and Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar, which grow more powerful the more lands you have in play or in your graveyard.\n\nHow To Participate"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  Brew an EDH/Commander legal deck on Archidekt that satisfies the prompt."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  Any unreleased cards spoiled during the contest’s duration are allowed."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  Silver-bordered and acorn cards, while cool, are not allowed."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  Digital-only cards (such as those designed for the Alchemy format on Arena) are not allowed."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  Strictly one deck submitted per user."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThis month we're also revamping the submission process. Decks must now be submitted on Archidekt via a button on the newspost. This will make it easier to view all submissions in a single place. Additionally, it will simplify the process of writing a description by sharing the same text on the submission page and the deck page itself. You can also comment on individual decks directly from the submission, making those discussions easier to find and track later.\n\nTo submit a deck, select the orange button labeled \"Submit a deck to this contest\" and follow the form prompt. Submissions are accepted until "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"9:00 pm EST"},{"insert":" (UTC -4, currently) on "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Wednesday, August 13, 2025"},{"insert":".\n\nOnly one submission per user! If you change your mind and want to submit a different deck before submissions close, you may do so by first deleting your submission. To edit your description, you can do so from the deck page itself. From the eligible submissions, we'll select three finalists with lists that we believe best embody the spirit of the prompt. Deck descriptions are not required but certainly may provide valuable context!\n\nOn "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Wednesday, August 20, 2025"},{"insert":", we’ll announce three finalists via the Archidekt Discord and a brief article on EDHREC highlighting each deck.\n\nEach finalist will be awarded credit on cardsphere.com. The value of the credit is in US dollars and depends on the finalist's placement in deck upvotes at the end of the week-long polling period:\n  1st Place Prize - $250"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  2nd Place Prize - $150"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"  3rd Place Prize - $100"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nFinalists will be contacted via email regarding their winnings within roughly 24 hours following the conclusion of voting on "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Wednesday, August 27, 2025"},{"insert":".\n\nPlease note, you must have a Cardsphere account in order to receive your winnings. It's quick and free-- register "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.cardsphere.com/signup?referrer=archidekt_contest"},"insert":"here"},{"insert":" if you don't have an account already!\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/contestRules"},"insert":"Official contest rules."},{"insert":"\n\nIf you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or join our public "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://discord.gg/rYDFFVCmGr"},"insert":"Discord server"},{"insert":". We look forward to seeing what you all come up with!\n"}]}
Edited 8/28/2025, 2:44:29 PM
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99 Problems
Created by: PlayaWon
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"99 Lands and 1 Commander. With Child of Alara, that's all you need. Your opponent has too many creatures? Lazotep Quarry, Keldon Necropolis, or High Market can take care of that. Sacrifice Child of Alara and wipe out everything but lands, then just bring him back! Four solid hits by this commander will bring anyone to their knees!\n"}]}
No deck tags
Land, Ho!
Created by: athatcher90
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"{\"ops\":[]}"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lumra, Bellow of the Woods"}},{"insert":" seemed like a very good choice for a commander for this prompt. I have 52 lands in my deck, giving Lumra a potential power and toughness of 52/52, and that's not even counting when I make all my creatures lands as well, thanks to "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ashaya, Soul of the Wild"}},{"insert":" . Working in green, I have plenty of cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Garruk's Uprising"}},{"insert":" to give my creatures trample and require opponents to block a lot of damage or be killed by commander damage. Not to mention, with Lumra's ability to bring all the lands in your graveyard back into play in a single turn, I can do some major landfall exploitation on cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tifa Lockhart"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Scute Swarm"}},{"insert":", just to name a couple. Furthermore, cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Blossoming Tortoise"}},{"insert":" make landfall even more desirable and deadly in this deck. Making use of the numerous creature tutors available in green to get me to the creatures I need, and running some green recursion to make sure that even if those creatures are milled I can get them back, this deck can easily become a one shot machine with any of the creatures in the deck. Furthermore, taking advantage of land effects from lands like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Field of the Dead"}},{"insert":", to make a bunch of chump blockers, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Command Beacon"}},{"insert":" to return Lumra to my hand and play it again to bring back all my lands again, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shifting Woodland"}},{"insert":" for even more recursion, this deck can get really out of control, really quickly.\n"}]}
No deck tags
Goblin deck
Created by: narutoxblade
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"The new Goblin Commander deck with Slimefoot and Squee creates a great formula but not exactly an original strategy filled with synergy focused aggression and equipped with the durability of recursion in Jund colors. The deck is built to use Krenko, Mob Boss, Sling-Gang Lieutenant, and goblin warchief as the heart of the deck, go wide with mass tokens, and gain value from death triggers. The inclusion of support pieces.\n"}]}
No deck tags
Mana Snakes
Created by: Moorhuhn
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"Mana Snakes does pretty much exactly what the name is about. You play your lands for turn hope for mana searching spells. When you hold 7 lands all you need is one of the big payoff cards to throw down your commander, flip it instantly or in response to removal, tab your mana and go BIG.\n"}]}
No deck tags
IT’S ENOUGH SLICES
Created by: MikeDal02
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":{"card-link":"Fast // Furious"}},{"insert":" \n"}]}
Discover Victory
Created by: Broken_but_alive
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"Race your opponent to see how quick you can discover your victory. Discover so many cards to ensure that you can trample over your opponent for a lethal dose of Hasty action.\n"}]}
Missing the Fist of Krosa for the Trees
Created by: EggplantRyu
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"Baru, Fist of Krosa is acting as an Overrun in the command zone but with an added twist of being able to pull off some grandeur shenanigans every now and then\n\nPlay a Scute Swarm, or Nantuko Springheart early to start going wide before playing Baru and a Scapeshift to swing with your massive army. Or wait until later in the game and make a ton of plants all at once, or just turn your lands into creatures! Kamahl can also turn any land into a 1/1, so once he's on the board your opponents might think twice about wiping all of your tokens while you've got mana open to turn their own lands into vulnerable creatures.\n\nThe deck mostly focuses on the first line of text on Baru, but the Grandeur ability can be used to make a large creature with some set up. Bramble Sovereign lets you make a token copy of Baru when you play him, and then you can either send the original to the graveyard and get it back to hand with something like and Eternal Witness or send it to command zone and use a Command Beacon to get him back in your hand where you can discard him to the token copy grandeur ability to make an X/X that grows with your number of lands!\n\nGet out there and show your opponents the might of Krosa!\n"}]}
No deck tags
The Dumbest Thoracle Combo
Created by: Flying_Penguin
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"For all I know, this is already a well-known meme deck, but I haven't seen it before.\n\nThe combo is very simple: cast "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mana Severance"}},{"insert":" to empty your library, then cast "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thassa's Oracle"}},{"insert":" to win. There are five other non-Islands that all tutor for Mana Severance. Since we can safely mulligan all the way to 1, this gives us a roughly 95% chance of having either Severance itself or one of the tutors in our opening hand. Then casting the commander "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gadwick, the Wizened"}},{"insert":" will give you enough devotion to get through the last few cards in your library with Thoracle.\n\nIf I've done my math right, this combo can win anywhere from turn 4 to turn 7, depending on your luck. So it's certainly not resilient enough to survive against anyone who knows what you're up to, but it might be good for a larf.\n"}]}
No deck tags
Somewhere Between 13 and 70 Forests
Created by: NotVoss
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"This is a landfall deck with 27 lands, which soundd a bit crazy, but makes more sense with the commander. Ashaya makes all of your nontoken creatures forests in addition to their other types. That means that a creature entering triggers landfall. If that creature has landfall it sees itself enter and triggers landfall. \n\nThis also means that Panharmonicon and Ancient Greenwarden effectively mimic eachother too. Cards that normally ask you to sacrifice lands or return them to hand may now target creatures or use them in their costs.\n"}]}
No deck tags
Tifa Voltron (Cardsphere Contest)
Created by: Quininin
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"{\"ops\":[]} This is Tifa Voltron, I have 50 lands in the deck and I'm just here to punch people to death with Tifa and my land count\n"}]}
No deck tags
Leg Day for the Elements
Created by: ShanShan444
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"This deck is all about bulking up elementals and nature's beasts using landfall. Made for August 2025 competition\n"}]}
LandBirbs
Created by: CerealDevourer
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"The primary idea is to drop a lot of birds on your opponent and drop the land to make them bigger. Because who doesn't want to see flying fat birds. \n"}]}
No deck tags
The First Sliver to be Epic
Created by: k.burford@live.com.au
2 months
{"ops":[{"insert":"The First Sliver to be epic is a tale of jank, dreams, and way too many lands. So many lands, in fact, that there was only room for two spells in the whole deck, plus a commander, of course. Oh well. Guess I’ll just have to settle for playing my opponents’ decks instead. This build uses cascade and one of Magic’s most bizarre and forgotten mechanics: Epic. \n\nFirst, what is Epic, and how does it function? According to Scryfall, the definition is: "},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":"Epic \""},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff","italic":true},"insert":"For the rest of the game, you can’t cast spells. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, copy this spell except for its epic ability.\". There are only five cards that have the Epic keyword, one for each color. For this deck, we will be focusing on the blue one: "},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":"Eternal Dominion, a 10 mana sorcery (7UUU) that reads: \""},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff","italic":true},"insert":"Search target opponent’s library for an artifact, creature, enchantment, or land card. Put that card onto the battlefield under your control. Then that player shuffles.\" "},{"insert":"This spell has Epic, so once we cast Eternal Dominion, we can no longer cast any other spells. However, at the beginning of each of our upkeeps, we’ll copy and cast Eternal Dominion again.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":"Now that we understand Epic, and that the deck is built around Eternal Dominion and "},{"insert":"basically play our opponents’ decks for them — how does it actually work?"},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":" "},{"insert":"Naturally, we want to get our game plan online quickly, but where’s the fun in just playing a boring old ramp and tutor package to do it? "},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":"Too easy, if you ask me! So, instead, we've developed a janky, glass-cannony plan, "},{"insert":"one so fragile that if our opponent has any interaction, we may as well scoop and move on to the next unsuspecting pod."},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":" We are going to play good ol' fair magic, just as Richard Garfield intended. "},{"insert":"Play five lands, cast The First Sliver, and cascade into Tibalt’s Trickery — countering The First Sliver (still on the stack) — then exile cards until we hit the only other nonland card: Eternal Dominion."},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":" From here, does it even matter what happens next? I think not. "},{"insert":"\n\nOf course, there are so many ways this plan could go wrong. Our opponent could counter Tibalt’s Trickery. We could draw one of our two nonland cards too early. Or we could whiff completely — milling over Eternal Dominion as Trickery resolves. And that’s just what can go wrong before the combo even gets online! However, in this time of adversity, fellow jank lords, let me remind you: our goal has always, and will forevermore be, to confuse and bewilder our opponents with the depths of our Scryfall knowledge, and unwavering faith in ‘the bit.’"},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff"},"insert":" And so, fear not, your slim-to-zero chances of actually winning, for you have already won. "},{"insert":"\n\n\n"}]}
No deck tags