Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest - November 2025 (Locked)

{"ops":[{"insert":"Exactly What it sounds like; a blue red insect tribal deck. Heavy group draw to grow your insect swarm, plenty of tribal boost and way too many bugs. \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"There is a buy one get one free special on hands in the market, and you're looking like a prime customer. Meet Azula and the Grixis Hand-Throwers, a bunch of bare-knuckled baldies that love to meditate and then chop someone's throat with a Tainted Strike. \n\nThis deck is rated Grixis because it is all about the wonder of Monks punching the ever living daylights out of people. They're the kind of bad boys who learned karate so they could spin nunchuks dramatically and then get kicked out of Applebee's. \n\nCopy your spells, prowess your foes in the face, draw cards, and may the five counts of assault and battery be ever in your favor. \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":{"card-link":"Rendmaw, Creaking Nest"}},{"insert":" is here, and he's brought his kindred friends with him. He could lead an army of Scarecrows, but that's "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reaper King"}},{"insert":"'s job. Instead, he's leaning into a new side of him: the side that \"helps\" everyone at the table moderately equally. That's right, he has become kindred with Birds.\n\nAt first glance, this has a lot of the standard synergies that Rendmaw looks for. It's got the artifact lands in "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tree of Tales"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Darkmoss Bridge"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Treasure Vault"}},{"insert":". It's got the artifact creature mana-dorks like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Twitching Doll"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ornithopter of Paradise"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Copper Myr"}},{"insert":". It's even got some of the Kindred removal suite with cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lignify"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Eyeblight's Ending"}},{"insert":". And of course, it comes complete with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Biotransference"}},{"insert":" to turn all of our non-artifact creatures into artifacts, giving us more and more "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rendmaw, Creaking Nest"}},{"insert":" triggers. \n\nBut then you look a little closer and you see some of the usual cards good in any Kindred strategy: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vanquisher's Banner"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Herald's Horn"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Metallic Mimic"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Adaptive Automaton"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Obelisk of Urd"}},{"insert":". Some of the colored ones like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Pact of the Serpent"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kindred Dominance"}},{"insert":" make their way in as well. Even "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Species Specialist"}},{"insert":" helps us draw cards when any of Rendmaw's birds die. \n\nAnd then a card with the text Affinity for Birds was released with Final Fantasy and the rest of the strategy came together: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bartz and Boko"}},{"insert":". This is a card that cares about the number of birds you control, and unlike "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Choco, Seeker of Paradise"}},{"insert":", it's strictly outside of Blue and White. Green birds felt like a color pie break for the creature type, but it's really not. More vulturous birds have been printed in black for a while, and great 1-drop dorks like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Birds of Paradise"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gilded Goose"}},{"insert":" are in green, but they felt more like mana dorks and not true birds. But looking at the cards released since January 2024, there have been a bunch of great birds outside of Blue and White, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Maha, Its Feathers Night"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sinkhole Surveyor"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Summon: Fat Chocobo"}},{"insert":" to name a few.\n\nThis deck really focuses on "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rendmaw, Creaking Nest"}},{"insert":"'s ability to pump out birds for everyone, only yours will become more powerful with your anthems. There are enough birds in Golgari colors that don't feel awful to play also. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vulturous Aven"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Owlbear Cub"}},{"insert":" can gain some card advantage."},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bone Picker"}},{"insert":" is a great blocker, and having the conditional casting cost of 1 black is a huge upside for this combat-focused deck. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Silumgar Scavenger"}},{"insert":" requires an answer if it sits around for too long. And even a card like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sanctuary Raptor"}},{"insert":" becomes a threat here, usually being a 4/1 flying first strike at a minimum.\n\nSome cards might feel strange, but they're included because they affect ALL creatures of a certain type, and we really want to keep our opponents' goaded birds around if we can. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Steely Resolve"}},{"insert":" makes spot removal on the birds difficult, and it has the added benefit of protecting nearly every one of our creatures as well. Since we aren't targeting our own creatures with spells or abilities anyway, we don't lose anything with the shroud. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cover of Darkness"}},{"insert":" helps every bird on the board get through the boards of most chump creatures, and they sneak past most angels, sphinxes, and dragons. Most creatures with Reach are also green, so this gets the birds through them as well. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Brass Herald"}},{"insert":" may seem like a standard include, but we aren't using it for its ETB. instead, we want to use its ability to buff ALL creatures of the chosen type, doubling their damage output by pumping those pesky crows to 3/3s. Not to mention it gives everyone a crow as well since it's an artifact creature. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Maelstrom Pulse"}},{"insert":" is also here on the off chance that an opponent is able to buff their birds larger than ours. It's like a failsafe, but also it hits any nonland permanent on the field and is a solid removal spell. And yes, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Coat of Arms"}},{"insert":" is there to end the game almost on the spot. It's a ton of math, but birds are naturally evasive with flying and can hopefully get through to swiftly end our opponents. And if we don't kill them, their crows are goaded anyway and will attack each other first.\n\nThe deck sits comfortably in Bracket 2. It takes a little bit of work to get going, but at its core it's an aggressive Golgari flying pile that should be able to end games quickly once "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rendmaw, Creaking Nest"}},{"insert":" hits the field. We're a little susceptible to board wipes, and outside of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Golgari Charm"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire"}},{"insert":" serving as any source of protection, but we have plenty of removal to keep us afloat while we rebuild. And besides, if simply playing our commander and some unimpactful cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Universal Automaton"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thaumaturge's Familiar"}},{"insert":" are enough to warrant a board wipe, that seems pretty worth it.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"This deck is (theoretically) a cleric tribal. Since Izzet, had the least clerics out of the 2-color combos, I went with The Fifteenth Doctor as the commander, with Martha Jones as his Doctor's companion. Since Clerics don't have much support in Izzet, I decided to include some Investigate cards, to give more triggers from Martha Jones. Furthermore, I added Grinding Station, academy Manufactor, and Nuka-Cola vending machine ,as it allows for a combo to mill out each opponent. Similarly, with Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal, we are able to get infinite storm count, if we have an available 2 mana in non-land mana abilities, or infinite mana as well if we have 3 mana in non-land mana abilities\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Birds are Azorius.\nWhat if they are not.\nJund Birds.\nPretty much every bird in Jund in one deck.\nThe deck struggles with getting hit on the back swing so Disa provides blockers after you swing all out with your bad birds.\nThe deck has minimal interaction but all interaction is bird based.\nEverything is bird themes but in Jund.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"I went with green wizards! There werent any options for commanders here outside of the typical blue, so I chose Johan to incorporate some of the green wizards that had additional costs in red and white. Johan also naturally wants your creature attacking, so filling out the rest of the creature list with exert creatures was a natural progression to finding what this deck's identity is. Attacking with green wizards! Adding in the gates was an easy inclusion with Sage of the Mage that enables not only the Maze's End win, but if that fails you can simply kill your opponents with the Maze itself. There's also small anthem and +1/+1 counters subthemes as a backup that I really think could be replaced, but they kept with the theme so I left them in, reminding me of a precon. I love making decks outside of color identities and this was an excellent exercise in discovering something new that I might end up trying some time. \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"All the Myr! All the synergy! (Win-cons can be swapped for more of anything else.)\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Mono Green Spirits\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Made this for the november 2025 deck building contest I chose dimir dinos for the typal play that is not common and with dimir having only 12 dinos I am playing them all with clones and recursion the goal is to try to clone as many big creatures as possible to swing for game.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"tricolored zombi white/blue/red control and token :) \ntry it and have a fun\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"This deck starts aggressive, dropping knights and then buffing them with a litany of anthems and kindred synergies. Later on, we use our commander to swoop in and create armies of undead knights to conquer our opponents! Kindred - Check. Resilient - Yes. Edge - Lord.\n\nWe can start of the game with some early game threats, such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Stormfist Crusader"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Knight of the Ebon Legion"}},{"insert":" , or the namesake "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Blood Knight"}},{"insert":" . We apply more pressure with our litany of anthem effects, from small ones such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Icon of Ancestry"}},{"insert":" to more aggressive ones such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shared Animosity"}},{"insert":" .\n\nWhy anthems? What better creature tyope to embody the spirit of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Patchwork Banner"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Coat of Arms"}},{"insert":" than knights? Riding into battle with one's crest has been a tale as old as time, and our knights are no different. The great part about our anthems, both big and small, is that even when our early game armies get wiped, the tokens our commander makes are knights as well. This means they will get buffed too! This scaling makes our anthem effects good in both the early and late game.\n\nWe have a litany of draw effects to make sure we have enough creatures to keep our board, and evenutally our graveyard, full. Cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Stormfist Crusader"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Midnight Reaper"}},{"insert":" ,and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kain, Traitorous Dragoon"}},{"insert":" are aggressive threats that keep our hands full. And because of our anthem effects, we'll often get more value our of Kain than our opponents will! We also have some great kindred synergy that works perfectly with our commander. Cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Descendants' Fury"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Pyre of Heroes"}},{"insert":" , and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Heirloom Blade"}},{"insert":" allow us to keep our board full of threats while also filling our graveyard for later.\n\nAlso, we are in black, so we have some thrown in some tutors to make our deck more consistent. Most likely we'll be searching up one of our big haymaker anthems, such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Banner of Kinship"}},{"insert":" . But, if we have one in hand or on the field already, we can find a draw engine such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Black Market Connections"}},{"insert":" (which is CRACKED in this deck btw) or an insurance policy such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Locthwain Lancer"}},{"insert":" . Removal is handy to, and searching up a "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cavalier of Night"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kindred Dominance"}},{"insert":" can swing a game. I went with relaticely effecient, while also not very expensive tutors. And easy upgrade would be to swap them out for better tutors such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Demonic Tutor"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Grim Tutor"}},{"insert":" , but I went middle of the road for this deck submission.\n\nLastly, what about things seem like they are missing? "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Haakon, Stromgald Scourge"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Patriarch's Bidding"}},{"insert":" seem like aut-includes, don't they? I had them in the deck for a while, but after playtesting it, I decided to take them out. We don't have a high enough density of discard outlets to get Haakon in the graveyard, so often times it was just sitting in hand, taunting me. And while Patriarch's Bidding is on theme for our kindred synergies, we actually WANT creatures in our graveyard for our commander. Taking them all out after a board wipe instead of steadily building an army with bladewing was counterintuitive.\n\nIf you've read this far, thank you for checking out and considering my deck! It was a fun project and hope to do so again!\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"\tWhen you look up Humans on EDHrec or think about Humans in Commander, some decks pop to mind. Some precons even, namely the ones helmed by Jirina Kudro and Eowyn, Shieldmaiden. and Leinore, Autumn Sovereign. These three decks share a color, one that a lot of human typal decks tend to include. This color is white. When it comes to building an off-color humans deck, it is important to identify what colors need to be excluded and the two most common are white and black. When those two colors are taken out of the picture, we are left with red, blue, and green. \n\t\n\tAfter looking at Scryfall and filtering down the search criteria to legendary humans of the temur color identity, I came across Me, the Immortal and Riku of Two Reflections as possible commanders (Riku of Many Paths was also considered, but then I read that creatures do not count as casting modal spells and that idea was quickly shot down). I ended up choosing Me, the Immortal because there are actually quite a few synergies with temur humans and counters matters cards. Agatha of the Vile Cauldron from Wilds of Eldraine makes a really good secret commander, and I was able to add quite a few humans with activated abilities that would otherwise be really bad into the deck because of her! \n\n\tWith this tricky challenge pushing me to find interesting builds, I am glad this challenge came up as typal decks are some of my favorite decks to play, hence why I have so many and this scratches my itch of building a deck that varies wildly from typical colors for one of my favorite tribes!. This is one of the idea decks I have that I am genuinely considering bringing into paper, but may end up tweaking it a little bit more before doing so.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"🐦 The Raven Man: A Cycling Bird Primer"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThe General Gameplan"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The general gameplan of this deck is to use "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"The Raven Man"},{"insert":" and cycling cards to create up to four birds a turn cycle, drawing through your deck and creating an overwhelming presence in the sky.\nThis deck allows you to take what could be an \"unfun\" discard commander and turn it on its head. This creates a unique gameplay experience not often found in Magic.\nBelow is a breakdown of the deck's categories and what they do.\n\nDeck Breakdown by Category"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"1. The Birds"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This category is self-explanatory: a variety of birds with useful abilities.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Utility Birds:"},{"insert":" Cards like Silumgar Scavenger and Vulturous Aven allow you to use the birds created from your commander to generate a variety of effects."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Situational Wipe:"},{"insert":" Maha and Death's-Head Buzzard can create a board wipe if they come up together."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Core:"},{"insert":" Generally, this section is just some of the best birds in this color identity."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Future Additions:"},{"insert":" We also have three new birds in the upcoming Avatar set that would make excellent additions!"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n2. Bird Feed (Cycling)"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"These are cards in the deck whose only purpose is to be cycled. This fuels our commander and a variety of our payoffs.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Core Strategy:"},{"insert":" I make it a point to "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"not"},{"insert":" cast these cards, as they often stray from the deck's game plan."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Key Enabler:"},{"insert":" The only card of note is Fluctuator. This reduces the cost of your cycling to allow you to cycle more often."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n3. Anthems"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This is a small group of anthem effects that produce massive results.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Key Anthems:"},{"insert":" Specifically, Coat of Arms and Obelisk of Urd."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Impact:"},{"insert":" You can often go into your turn 5 with 6-10 birds in play. Both of these anthems allow you to create a very intimidating board early in the game."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n4. Interaction"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"One point with this deck is that all of the interaction is relatively situational, but it "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"all has cycling"},{"insert":".\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Design Choice:"},{"insert":" This was a choice to allow for more \"bird feed.\""},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Flexibility:"},{"insert":" You can use any of these cards to handle various threats, but if you find them not being useful, you can simply cycle them for a new card and a bird!"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n5. Recursion"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Tortured Existence: This is extremely powerful in this deck. If you have two creatures and a Tortured Existence every turn, you can spend a black mana to make a bird. This also allows you to trigger some of your payoffs, such as Monument to Endurance."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Oversold Cemetery: This brings back one of your cycling cards at the start of your turn to allow you to continuously have fuel."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Other:"},{"insert":" The last two cards are basic recursive pieces that also have cycling."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n6. Payoffs"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"All of these cards allow you to use your discard triggers to generate additional advantage.\n\nDying to Serve: Creates additional bodies."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Hostile Investigator: Creates Clue tokens to allow you to draw through your deck faster."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Mirkwood Bats: Drains the table as you create your birds."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Archfiend of Ifnir: Lets you turn these discards into board control."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Monument to Endurance: Does everything you want and more."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n7. Land-Cyclers"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This has allowed me to cheat on the mana base a little bit. Between the deck being halfway made up of cycling effects and these five dedicated land-searching cards, we can free up a lot of space in our deck.\n\n8. Lands"},{"attributes":{"header":4},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"This section includes all the cycling lands and discard outlets we can afford.\n\nThree Tree City: This can quickly produce 5 to 10 mana as long as you are cycling aggressively."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Animal Sanctuary: This is just a funny card, but that is important when playing in lower brackets."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nSummary"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"In summary this deck is one of my favorites. I play it regularly and it lines up great in lower brackets. It allows for continuous play on everyone's turns without being overwhelming or disruptive. I love it and feel that it lines up perfectly for November's contest prompt!\n\n\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"If there is one thing that WOTC gets wrong constantly it's cats. What are cats known for? They are egotistical, clever, sneaky and temperamental. That doesn't scream Selesnya to me. Cats, like real cats, are Grixis. That's what we love them for. They don't need societal norms, they don't need nature. They are going to thr loo on their own. Try teaching that to a dog. Now I get lions, who live in prides and humanoids building societies being green white, but any other cat? No way!\n\nHaving gotten that of my chest, I tried building my deck around etbs, beside my feline friends. There are not very many relevant etbs, but "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sunspine Lynx"}},{"insert":" can do serious damage if the etb is multiplied somehow."},{"insert":{"card-link":"Displacer Beast"}},{"insert":" allows you to wander the "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lost Mine of Phandelver"}},{"insert":", while "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Cauldron Familiar"}},{"insert":" slowly drains everyone. Its "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Displacer Kitten"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Y'shtola Rhul"}},{"insert":" will allow you to reapeat these effects regularly. To enable even more etbs the deck also lends itself to selfmilling and firing of a "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Haunting Voyage"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Patriarch's Bidding"}},{"insert":" .\n\nAs for the Commanders, I wanted to have a cat in the zone and since "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar"}},{"insert":" is one of the few elegible creatures in this slice of the the color pie, I decided to pair it with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist"}},{"insert":" to achieve my Grixis dreams, because I assume "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kraum, Ludevic's Opus"}},{"insert":" will rarely trigger in bracket 2.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Hearthull sacrifice deck"},{"attributes":{"header":1},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"}]}