{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Henzie, \"Toolbox\" Torre's Oops! All Creatures"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Henzie \"Toolbox\" Torre"}},{"insert":" is by far and away my favorite commander of all time. It's the deck I've played the most, tinkered with the most, and replaced sleeves on the most (Dragonshields have met their match: me). This should probably come as no surprise to many, as if there's anything you've heard about this commander before, it's that Henzie players are OBSESSED with him. Part of my obsession with this deck comes from its very strange and aptly named deck restriction, which is that the deck's only nonland cards are creatures.\n\nThis is because of the deck's Companion, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Umori, the Collector"}},{"insert":" , which can only be played if all nonland cards in your deck share a card type. I've actually never played a non-Umori decklist before, since the way I discovered Henzie was because I found an \"Oops, all creatures\" decklist online. Not only did the concept seem exactly like my type of jank, but I also love arbitrary deckbuilding restrictions that force me to think creatively about my card choices. If all you have is creatures, how do you run land lamp? Removal? Protection? Recursion? All of the usual things a deck needs to succeed must be stapled to creatures, and I loved the challenge.\nTo be honest, as this deck has evolved and grown more focused, I have found myself actually casting Umori less and less (the nerf to Companions that came shortly after I finished the deck also didn't help), but I simply refuse to remove it from the deck as I'm worried I'll be too tempted to introduced noncreature cards to the list, and eventually ruin what makes this deck so special to me. Henzie and Umori are a deck that exists on the razor's edge of jank and high-power, and even the slightest change can be enough to throw it off balance.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"How does the deck work?"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"If you've ever seen the card "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sneak Attack"}},{"insert":" before, then you have a pretty good idea of how a Henzie deck works. Blitz allows you to cast all your creatures with haste, with the \"downside\" that they must be sacrificed at the end of the turn. Henzie also offers a mana discount to those creatures, allowing us to cheat high-cost creatures in early and grant us the most bizarre mana curve of all time. One major upgrade Blitz has over the previously mentioned Sneak Attack is that every Blitzed creature will draw you a card when it dies, no matter how it dies. This effectively means every Blitzed creature is \"card neutral\" and replaces itself, resolving a major weakness typically found in these styles of decks. I also mentioned how the sacrifice element of blitz is not really a true downside, since our access to Black gives us plenty of reanimation and recursion, plus ways to profit off creatures hitting the graveyard turn after turn. Ultimately, the deck combines three of my favorite things to do in Magic: Be aggro, play giant creatures, and draw cards!\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"The Strengths"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The deck is very fast and aggressive. Assuming you manage to land a turn 2/3 Henzie, the deck can deploy most of its threats immediately the turn after. Additionally, almost every card in the deck wants to be blitzed and is the appropriate mana value, meaning you can be Blitzing multiple creatures a turn for essentially the rest of the game."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The high density of creatures not only allows for consistent Blitzing, but it also means that creature-based synergies and payoffs are even more powerful."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The deck features a hefty amount of recursion and reanimation, allowing us to reuse powerful creatures that have been Blitzed previously. It also means the deck is resilient to most removal and sweepers that would slow down our mid-to-late game, as many of our cards will let us build back stronger. Not to mention, our commander's Blitz discount grows for each time he's been cast from the command zone, further speeding up our ability to rebuild and acting like a pseudo-ward ability to discourage our opponents from removing him."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"You get to see a lot of your deck each game, since the card draw of Blitz and other aristocrat payoffs helps keep our hand stocked with gas. Even if we do manage to have our card draw slowed down, your graveyard acts as a second hand as mentioned earlier with the reanimation and recursion gameplans. This deck runs virtually no tutors (there's a single card that can search for Eldrazis), so it's unlikely you'll play the exact same creatures every game."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"The Weaknesses"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Although the deck comes packed with recursion, early game sweepers and removal are fairly devastating to our ability to move quickly, as is true with any aggro deck. Since most of our early ramp comes from mana dorks, losing them before we get a chance to ramp for lands can send us back to the stone ages. It can also make it difficult to mana fix, since it's vital we find all three colors in the first few turns of the game."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"In addition to this problem, any deck that comes packed with edicts, creature hate, or graveyard hate, absolutely nukes our deck. Since, you know, that's pretty much all we do. If somebody at the table plays a deck that doesn't let creatures last a turn cycle, you might consider a different deck."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Since so many of the creatures in the deck are meant to be Blitzed (and the ones that aren't are usually pretty weak), we usually leave ourselves open to crack-backs once all our Blitzed creatures die at the end of the turn. This problem usually goes away later as we no longer are required to Blitz creatures to get value from them, but it can put us in a tricky spot when we don't have much in the way of blockers."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Although this deck does have some creatures with solid removal and boardwipes stapled to them, almost all of them function only at sorcery speed. This means the deck is not very interactive and will have a hard time stopping other people's wins. "},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nDeck Breakdown"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"I've separated the list into categories based on what the primary role of the card is meant to be, including cards that want to be Blitzed, and cards that want to stick around.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Mana Dorks"},{"insert":"\nThese help cast Henzie as early as turn two. I tried to stick to dorks that can produce a color other than green to help with color-fixing. The odd ones out here include:\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea"}},{"insert":" . A three-drop in a deck where playing our three mana commander ASAP seems odd, and normally you'd be right to avoid competing with Henzie. However, Gwenna is just so ridiculous at accumulating mana once we start casting large creatures (basically all of them), that she not only produces MUCH more mana than you'd think, but she also turns into a sizable beater herself."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bloom Tender"}},{"insert":" is a common include in many Henzie decks, and it's easy to see why. Similar to Gwenna, this is actually the kind of mana dork you're happy to draw after you've already played Henzie, since it will immediately pay for its own mana cost and then some."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Ramp"},{"insert":"\nMost of the creatures in this category start at mana value 4 for a reason: They help search up a land when they enter, attack, die, or some combination of the three. This means we can play them the turn after Henzie hits the board.\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nikya of the Old Ways"}},{"insert":" is such an awesome inclusion that really only works because of our \"Oops, all creatures\" theme. Without any noncreature spells, her restriction might as well be flavor text, and we get a Mana Reflection on the cheap because of it!"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Honest Rutstein"}},{"insert":" . Similar to Gwenna, Rutstein has to earn his keep in the three-drop spot, and he certainly does. It combines a Eternal Witness-style effect with a permanent mana discount on creatures into one body, making it useful at every stage of the game."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Roxanne, Starfall Savant"}},{"insert":" is more cute than powerful, but is still not something to be underestimated. Blitzing her almost guarantees two Meteorites the turn she enters, and not Blitzing her lets you hang on to her mana-boosting ability for not just your Meteorites, but any treasures you make."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Primeval Herald"}},{"insert":" is an all-star, grabbing a land both on enters AND attacks. It's also a trampling body for some early game damage."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rampant Rejuvenator"}},{"insert":" guarantees us at least two lands as it dies, and other anthems and power-buffing effects can have it searching for even more if we manage to draw it late game."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Solemn Simulacrum"}},{"insert":" has persisted despite many upgrades and much powercreep. It's ability to both fetch a land AND draw us an extra card when it dies helps accelerate us. An underrated aspect of Solemn is that it's colorless, meaning it can help with fixing no matter what our mana looks like."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Seedguide Ash"}},{"insert":" One of those truly janky cards that was given new life by just the right commander. Being able to fetch THREE forests for effectively 4 mana would already make it the best ramp spell in the game, but the fact that they are Non-basic makes this an absolutely must-have."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Conduit of Ruin"}},{"insert":" The only card in the deck I'd consider a \"tutor\", since it lets us look for one of our three Eldrazis. If you choose not to Blitz it, it also becomes one of the strongest mana discounts for creatures."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vibrance"}},{"insert":" It's ability to serve a both a removal spell AND a land searching effect is amazing useful, but its ability to be evoked means we can play it for just 2 mana if we only need one of these effects."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"World Shaper"}},{"insert":" Another all-star in Henzie. Not only does it help fill the graveyard, but it also gives us a Splendid Reclamation-style effect when it does, often ramping us several lands all at once. My recent addition of fetch lands has made this card even crazier."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nylea, Keen-Eyed"}},{"insert":" A permanent mana discount that eventually becomes an indestructible beater is very solid. Although I don't often use her last ability, the hit rate on it is extremely good due to our density of creatures."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma"}},{"insert":" Probably the single best piece of acceleration in the whole deck. Nearly all our creatures (especially the ones we are Blitzing) meet the power requirement of both of its abilities, making it an extremely easy way to put a lot of power on the board shortly after untapping with Goreclaw."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n\n\n\n"}]}