Deckbuilding Contest - October 2024

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff","color":"#222222"},"insert":"I love old cards.  I remember a day when Jester’s Cap was considered a powerful card.  I want it to be powerful again.  I want it to be a wincon.  So Jester’s Cap is my secret commander.  In the actual Command Zone is Urza, Prince of Kroog.  The idea is to get Myr Battlesphere or another artifact creature that creates three or more tokens into play, copy it with Urza, then sac the copy and the tokens to Ashnod’s Altar or KCI, getting at least eight mana, using six to run the loop again, netting two mana each time.  I’ll eventually have enough mana to copy the Cap enough times to exile my opponents’ entire libraries on my next turn."},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff","color":"#222222"},"insert":"I’m running artifact tutors to be able to go get the combo pieces I need, as well as a variety of protection spells and counterspells to protect my board.  I also run Millstone and Howling Mine as alternatives to the Cap.  And yeah, I know, since Urza turns them into creatures, I could just swing with my army of Caps (or any other artifact). But I want to do something ridiculous.  I want the achievement unlocked.  "},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"background":"#ffffff","color":"#222222"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/8988194/urzas_cap"},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"My Deck: "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/9517011/fox_and_the_hound_2_straight_to_dvd"},"insert":"Fox and the Hound 2: Straight to DVD"},{"insert":"\nCommander: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dogmeat, Ever Loyal"}},{"insert":"\nHidden Commander: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice"}},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Dogmeat, Ever Loyal"}},{"insert":" is a very good boy who, just like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful"}},{"insert":", is ever loyal to his master. Their master? Hidden Commander "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice"}},{"insert":" . With an armory of auras to play with and a lot of support and synergy from such big name players like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Yenna, Redtooth Regent"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reyav, Master Smith"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sram, Senior Edificer"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Codsworth, Handy Helper"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Danitha, Benalia's Hope"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Danitha, New Benalia's Light"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Calix, Guided by Fate"}},{"insert":". Light Paws makes sure that when your opposition least expects it, you break them in half for painful amounts of damage.\n\nI wanted to utilize Light-Paws in a Naya colored deck mainly because I wanted access to some of the Auras in red and green. Though as it turns out some of the aura's in Red or Boros are not as powerful as Selesnya's god tier weapons but with cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Reyav, Master Smith"}},{"insert":" putting in some extra work you can ride high with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ancestral Mask"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Grim Reaper's Sprint"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Spirit Mantle"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Almost Perfect"}},{"insert":".\n\nOne of the nice things about this deck is its flexibility, If by chance Light-Paws gets "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Farewell"}},{"insert":"'ed, you have access to her team of well trained warriors. So if you need a new champion then you've got access to many of them. Personal favorites are "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Calix, Guided by Fate"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Danitha, Benalia's Hope"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Danitha, New Benalia's Light"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Champion of the Flame"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Champion of Lambholt"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wildsear, Scouring Maw"}},{"insert":".\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Secret Stomp Goes Womp Womp"},{"insert":"\n\nThis deck leads out with the rather unassuming and not overly threatening"},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":" Lae'zel, Vlakith's Champion"},{"insert":" as it's commander, with "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Hardy Outlander"},{"insert":" as her selected background. This commander combo and color identity was selected to help facilitate and strengthen this deck's secret commander: "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Heroes' Bane"},{"insert":", an uncommon hydra creature. \n\nThe deck works hard to ensure that an uncommon creature would both grow and survive long enough to actually become a game-ending threat. Artifacts with protection from colors, instants and permanents that grant indestructible or other evasion, and more, all work in concert to provide avenues of survival against all but the most deliberate and concentrated combat and removal efforts by opponents. The deck's planeswalkers also serve to bolster this protection while providing token soldiers to act as chump blockers and to provide necessary resources so the hydra will remain available to attack consistently. This availability will become increasingly important as "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Heroes' Bane"},{"insert":" continues to grow in strength through self-pump, commander-assisted pump, and through the artifacts, instants, and enchantments embedded evenly throughout.\n\nUsed well, the cards in this deck will make one massive, invincible hydra that would make even the most tenacious of heroes pause before engaging with it.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"background":"#fafafa","link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/9514194/secret_stomp_goes_womp_womp"},"insert":"Secret Stomp Goes Womp Womp • (Commander / EDH deck) • Archidekt"},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"This is my Companions of Mithral Hall deck helmed by "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer"}},{"insert":" who just so happens to fit the color identity of all the companions of the hall printed in AFR who are all the secret commanders of the deck ("},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bruenor Battlehammer"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Catti-brie of Mithral Hall"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Drizzt Do'Urden"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wulfgar of Icewind Dale"}},{"insert":")\n\nThe Deck is built around Catti-brie with Equipment and +1/+1 counter synergy with a lot of attack trigger equipments that Wulfgar can get value off of. Bruenor is good in any equipment deck with his colors and Drizzt is a double striking back up to Catti-brie who also gains counters. \n\nYou will most likely get Catti-brie with Rocco on turn five (sooner if you ramp) and the deck runs a few additional tutors to get the other Companions to support Catti-brie including "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Eldritch Evolution"}},{"insert":" Which you can sack Rocco to to get him back to the command zone and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Threats Undetected"}},{"insert":" which can get you at least two of the Companions as they all have different powers. \n\nThe biggest problem with the deck is that it can be slow in the early game but it can very quickly snowball mid to late game. I’ve gotten Catti-brie above 40 power multiple times so the slow start shouldn’t decrease the power level or functionality too much from what I’ve seen.\n\nI also run some flavor cards in the deck like the "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mines of Moria"}},{"insert":" representing Mithral Hall, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Delighted Halfling"}},{"insert":" standing in for Regis Because he wasn’t given a card along with the other Companions, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant"}},{"insert":" who makes Drizzt’s iconic sword when he dies (which also happens to have an attack trigger) and even if he doesn’t reliably die he’s still a vigilant flyer that’s not too bad to have.\n\nOverall in my personal and biased opinion as the creator of the deck I think it's pretty powerful if you can get past the first few slow turns. I had a ton of fun gold fishing and playing the deck and will probably make it in paper sometime soon.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/9471282/the_companions_of_the_hall"},"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/9471282/the_companions_of_the_hall"},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Deck Name: Astral Dragon’s Rainbow Bridge\nDeck Commander: The Prismatic Bridge\nSecret Commander: Astral Dragon\n\nLink: "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/3538980/astral_dragons_rainbow_bridge"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/3538980/astral_dragons_rainbow_bridge"},{"insert":"\n\nLike any good brew, this deck has a story to tell with it, but the TL;DR is that this started as a gimmick deck but rapidly became one of my favorites and is an absolute blast to play. There is only one creature in the entire deck, and it is Astral Dragon.\n\nThe Lore:\nIt was the winter of 2022. I was at the gym and felt the urge to create a new deck. Brother’s War had just come out and was an obvious place to start, but none of the new legends managed to grab my attention. So, I took a look back and reviewed my other options.\nI’m a blue mage at heart, but I wanted to branch out and try to build something I hadn’t before. I looked at Rakdos, Selesnya, Mardu, and others, but I never found a commander that truly captivated my attention. Then I looked at WUBRG. Again, not all of the options interested me, but one of the ones that did was Esika, or more specifically, the Prismatic Bridge. After all, this deck could be anything, and had a fun commander that ensured every game would be different. Ironic, in retrospect.\nI opened the EDHRec page for the bridge, but most of the recommendations were generalist, as is the nature of the commander. So, I took a look at some of the decks others had made. Most were what you’d expect, but one in particular intrigued me. The description showed 97 lands, 1 creature, and 1 instant. Obviously I had to know what they were, so I opened the list to reveal a Cultivator Colossus and a Comet Storm. Hilarious, but after initially dismissing it, I took a moment to actually consider: what if I also built a deck like this? One that also contained only a single creature, ensuring I hit it every time (and one that ideally also didn’t get boring to play after one or two times)? I decided, why not at least look and see what creature could possibly fulfill this role. I inputted a few filters onto the advanced search of Scryfall and hit search, and there it was, one of the first results: Astral Dragon\nAstral Dragon was my favorite card from Battle for Baldur’s Gate. Like I said, I’m a blue mage at heart and I love copying. And so it always pained me that I didn’t have a deck to put it in (where it wouldn’t be more than a pet card). The moment I saw Astral Dragon on those search results, I knew immediately that this would be my next deck.\nBuilding the deck itself was more of a challenge than I anticipated. I didn’t want to just throw a joke deck together for a cheap laugh. I wanted something real. I started with a fairly standard land and ramp base, but I didn’t want to just throw in a bunch of staples and call it a day. I thought about what the deck would do, put Astral Dragon onto the field and make a bunch of copies, and the special requirements it had, namely protection. So, I looked to my interaction to synergize with these. Both Chaos Warp and Oblation serve as both removal spells and protection for Astral Dragon, and cards like Oblivion Ring I could copy and remove a bunch of stuff. It was at this point I realized Astral Dragon goes infinite with Oblivion Ring and many other cards like it and reigned them in, leaving only Touch the Spirit Realm and Journey to Nowhere still in the deck. As for card draw and win cons, I looked to cards that both synergize with dragons and stack multiplicatively. Cards like Kindred Discovery and Dragon Tempest, two of the best cards in the deck. Throw in some blink, shuffling, and graveyard “recursion”, and I had a clean list of 100 cards. With my deck complete and proxies, I waited for game night and went down to show my pod my newest creation.\nI knew the deck would be decent, but I had no idea what it was capable of. I’ll list some of the deck’s highlights in the gameplay section below, but suffice to say, it is extremely effective and a ton of fun to pilot. I expected to eventually get bored of this gimmick deck and move on, but to this day it is still part of my usual deck rotation. A particular guilty pleasure of mine is to pull out my “dragon tribal” deck against people new to our pod and watch as they slowly realize there is only a single creature in the deck\nIf you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope this deckbuilding journey was at least entertaining if nothing else.\n\nHighlights:\nDealt hundreds of damage to the table with Dragon tempest\nCopied Crucible of Fire a single time with Astral dragon and had 37 hasty power in the sky on turn 5\nUsed proteus staff to STACK MY ENTIRE DECK (and then promptly shuffled it next turn since Prismatic Bridge is not a may trigger)\nAsked people “how much do you want to pay?” as they look at my 7 rhystic studies\nUsed Kindred Discovery to deck myself for the moral victory\n\nAgain, thanks for reading! Also, if you have any suggestions please let me know. A card I’ve been considering myself is Song of the Worldsoul, but I’m having trouble finding a cut\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Love this and I actually just build a deck with a hidden commander and this defiently has a double meaning when you say hidden ;)\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Th"},{"attributes":{"background":"var(--light-background)","color":"var(--color)"},"insert":"is isn't your typical "},{"attributes":{"background":"var(--light-background)","color":"var(--color)","link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/7764843/its_high_tide_somewhere_in_the_world"},"insert":"High Tide deck."},{"attributes":{"background":"var(--light-background)","color":"var(--color)"},"insert":" Normally High Tide is used in mono blue decks, however we can do it in Sultai colors too."},{"insert":"\n\nHigh Tide gives any island the ability to tap for an additional blue mana, so let's make all lands into islands. You can do this with cards like Stormtide Leviathan or Quicksilver Fountain but they are either too expensive or too slow. Instead we will use Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth which make all lands Forest or Swamps. With a card like Mine Bend, we can change the Forest/Swamp text permanently to Island so they make all lands Islands instead. With this in play, all of our lands will tap for an additional blue under High Tide, making our mana production levels insane.\n\nThere are some ways to get High Tide back from the graveyard to either cast again on the same turn (as the effect stacks) or on another turn with cards like the classic Eternal Witness. Riftsweeper can get the card back from exile should someone cause that to happen. The best repeatability is with Isochron Specter, making it so we can High Tide every turn.\n\nDoubling Cube and Nyxbloom Ancient allow us to make even crazier amounts of mana when we High Tide to allow for even crazier turns. Along with extra land drops like Azusa, Lost but Seeking we can keep the mana coming. Magus of the Candelabra let's us retap our 2 mana producing lands to let them produce effectively 3 mana.\n\nVarious ways to search for High Tide are included as well as for Yavimaya and Urborg since those are important to make High Tide optimal. Obviously Mystical tutor and Spellseeker are some of the best tutors for High Tide but others like Mystical Teachings are extra good as it can not only get High Tide but also Mind Bend effects need to make Yavimaya give us all Islands.\n\nFinally we have the pay offs for all this mana. Our commanders Thrasios and Tevesh Szat are very useful for drawing us cards to find these pay offs but they won't win us the game. The pay offs we want are ones like Torment of Hailfire or Walking Ballista as those can deal massive amounts of damage to our opponents. While those are some of the best, we have others if those can't be found. Helix Pinnacle is a classic alternate win condition that can be done over many turn or all at once. Pest Infection is great for making a massive army as well as clearing the board of artifacts and enchantments.\n\nHigh Tide is a great card and while normally it's limited to mono blue, with some tricky spells and lands you can make it work for basically any color.\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Hey, i´m happy to brew this funny Deck for you!\nThe deck plan is to keep play a little bit of zombie action ( right before halloween there was no way to avoid this ;) ) while searching for the one ultimate zombie -> the Unstoppable Slasher. Once it´s in play there are several ways to protect it. If you get the 2nd \"main card\" (Dino DNA) out of your deck, make sure you can let Unstoppable Slasher go to your graveyard for example by sacrificing (2 times if required) for mana.\nExile Unstoppable Slasher from your graveyard with Dino DNA and bring him back as a 6/6 green dinosaur token with trample as often as you can pay for it.\n\nhttps://www.archidekt.com/decks/9535240/liliana_is_and_is_not_the_commander_\n\nHave fun with this deck! And don´t hesitate to give any feedbacks ;)\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Chromanticore Secret Commander October '24"},{"insert":"\nCommander: Jared Carthalion"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Secret Commander: Chromanticore "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"I love the Chromanticore, but being pentacolor and not being legendary I have never managed to play it in commander, so my secret commander is it. I tried to make a simple deck that takes advantage of the color identity as much as possible, so that Chromanticore is enhanced. I added just a few Tutors to make it a little less difficult to find. I used Jared Carthalion as a commander because it seemed like the most logical choice given his synergies with the pentacolors\n\n"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/9535847/chromanticora_secret_commander"},"insert":"https://archidekt.com/decks/9535847/chromanticora_secret_commander"},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Commander: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon"}},{"insert":" \nHidden Commander: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Luxior, Giada's Gift"}},{"insert":" \n\nSuperfriends, but fighty. For everyone that wants to try a planeswalker deck but also wants to engage with the combat phase, I give you"},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/7479088"},"insert":" Swordwalkers "},{"insert":"\n\nEarly game is about playing small value creatures that draw cards or ramp you, with lots of bounce lands to make sure your catch-up ramp is online. As soon as you find a Planeswalker with a good + ability (ideally one that puts counters on a creature*) you use Kellan's adventure to find Luxior, suit up, and start swinging.\n\nBecause of the way Luxior works with counters, walkers like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Elspeth Resplendent"}},{"insert":" are especially fun - once she's equipped her +1 can target herself, giving an effective +4/+4 and a keyword (+3/+3 because there are 3 extra counters between loyalty, +1/+1, and the keyword, and then the actual boost from the +1/+1 counter) . "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Wandering Emperor"}},{"insert":" is similar, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker"}},{"insert":" gets to be a base 4/4 with flying, and loyalty counters boosting him to 9/9 on his first +1\n\nLosing your hidden commander is always a risk, but luckily there are lots of recursion options for artifacts, and even "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Karn, the Great Creator"}},{"insert":" to retrieve Luxior from exile if the worst should happen. \n\nNote: there are no Planeswalker Auras or instant-equip spells in here, because the Talents would fall off once they became creatures, and stuff like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sigarda's Aid"}},{"insert":" don't work because they're not creatures to target until *after* Luxior is already equipped. \n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"So for my submission towards secret commander decks, I have my deck: "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/7776167/the_great_underworld_bakeoff"},"insert":"The Great Underworld Bakeoff"},{"insert":"\n\nOriginally this deck didn't have a secret commander, it was primarily a deck I made to see if I could. I was intrigued by the command "},{"attributes":{"background":"#1f1e1e","color":"#ffffff"},"insert":"Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar and how stupid the whole card was. So I set out to make a deck focusing on just getting as much food tokens out as possible in red/black/colorless. What really made this deck switch from a janky deck to a more hidden sleeper, was the release of Nuka-cola machine and Transmutation Font. With those I was able to pump some infinite combos for sacking and token generation, which couples nicely with Mirkwood Bats."},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"background":"#1f1e1e","color":"#ffffff"},"insert":"But then I released the second ability of Transmutation Font had so much more possibilities than just getting combo pieces. I was able to also search for artifact creatures... Boom now we have Blightsteel Colossus. Wiping that bad boy out when no one is expecting it from a deck pumping out food and rat tokens is pretty cool. Sure my deck can be optimized more and certain cards added/removed but I've specifically put in cards that don't get played just to have them. Where's the fun always having the same cards, some times you need stupidity like Midnight Scavengers and Graft Rats to make Chittering Host."},{"insert":"\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/9470848/rookie_king_origin\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"https://www.archidekt.com/decks/9532913/deckbuilding_contest_october_2024\n\nThe commander is mishra, tamer of fak fawa but the real one is Trazyn, the infinite as it is the finisher and the deck wouldn't win without his combo kill anyway. Mishra is just here to get access to red and to reanimate trazyn if he is in the graveyard. Basically one third of the deck is either self mill, either draw, either tutor to find Trazyn, one third is to survive (mass and spot removal, bold bend,...), the last third is the combo pieces that need to be discarded or milled.\nWhen Trazyn is on the board, he either generates infinite mana, infinite damage or both. To do so, we just need to put 2 artifacts that combo together when trazyn has both abilities which is not difficult as there is a lot of overlap between the combos and because we are drawing/self mill a lot anyway. The fastest way is: casting buried aive (or disciple of gix), fetching trazyn and 2 combo pieces and then use mishra to unearth trazyn for the win\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"insert":"Here is my submission, a Golgari Skeletons/Recursion deck built around the Emperor of Bones from MH3 as my secret commander. \n\nOld Stickfingers is a good commander for the deck: giving me access to Green and Black mana, milling creatures into my graveyard, and sometimes getting really big. But the engine really revolves around getting Emperor of Bones onto the battlefield.\n\nhttps://archidekt.com/decks/9480429/golgari_bone_zone\n"}]}

{"ops":[{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/decks/3168841/endless_night"},"insert":"Endless Night"},{"insert":"\nThis is a Secret Commander deck, with Tovolar, Dire Overlord as the Hidden commander.\n\nAll l have to do is tutor him up using Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer, and I'm golden!\n\nI know full well that Tovolar is a powerful commander on his own, but l wanted to be able to keep my werewolves transformed, and to give myself a steeper advantage. Hence, I've put in several Rule of Law style effects, not normally available to Gruul colors. \n\nI also run several flash enablers to best take advantage of the spell limitations, once again hoping to keep an endless night. \n\nAs far as win conditions, it's a fairly straightforward werewolves deck that wins through combat\n"}]}