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THE DEEP END

What lies in the depths below?

This weeks randomly selected commander is: Runo Stromkirk//Kruthoss, Lord of the Deep! A little more complex than the last commander, but he still cares about massive creatures! Instead of wurms this time around, Runo likes big sea creatures. Octopi, krakens, leviathans, and serpents all get benefits once he’s flipped! In order to flip him, you have to have a 6+ MV card at upkeep, so this deck is chock full of them, with ways to manipulate your graveyard and library, so you can have them EXACTLY where you want them when you want them there.

FULL DECKLIST

GENERAL GAMEPLAN

Compared to last week’s Baru, Runo has a few more options when it comes to winning. Traditional beatdown via massive creatures to face still works, especially with the size of these sea creatures. You can make them hard to block a number of different ways, whether its tapping opponents pieces with cards like Junk Winder, Elder Deep-Fiend, or Shipbreaker Kraken, you can try bouncing those pieces instead, utilizing Hullbreaker Horror, Brinelin the Moon Kraken or Scourge of Fleets, or even true unblockable with Archetype of Imagination, Thassa, God of the Sea and Serpent of Yawning Depths. If that fails, you can always just mill your opponents out by using Krothuss’ copy on Nemesis of Reason or Fleet Swallower. 

RAMP AND REDUCTION

The creatures in this deck are NOT cheap, and so ramp becomes an important part of getting your gameplan going. The usual artifacts can be found in the deck, splashing in the dimir ones as well. I left out some of the usual black reducers/producers, since the deck is primarily blue cards, but they wouldn’t be too difficult to slot back in in case of any unexpected (and unfound) issues. Another notable ramp piece is Kozileks Unsealing, which gives you two sacrificable mana dorks on a chunk of the deck, while drawing you a large number of cards for several others. High Tide also serves as a one turn ramp, doubling your island output for a single big trick.

DECK MANIPULATION

Since the commander flips on specific cards on the top of the library, this deck has a number of ways to manipulate it. Vesuvan Drifter acts as a nice piece, allowing you to see if you want to try and draw/mill yourself into a better topdeck, while copying creatures off of it in a pinch.  Insatiable Avarice puts exactly what you want directly on top of your library, albeit only at sorcery speed. (I would use Vampiric Tutor as well, but i'm on a budget and its almost 40 bucks for its cheapest print. I would suggest  you use it if you aren’t on a budget like me). A number of Scry/Surveil + draw cards are in here as well, in order to stack the deck in your favor, such as Strategic Planning, Preordain, Otherworldy Gaze, and Opt. Plenty of other card draw is in here, with  Stormsurge Kraken drawing you two cards on block, Military Intelligence drawing you for your attacks, and Ominous Seas giving you some serious bodies after enough card draw.

REMOVAL

With high cost cards like these, the early game can leave you quite vulnerable, especially if you have bad luck with your ramp and draws. Murder, Fell, and similar effects remove key creatures from your opponents fields, while Whelming Wave, Engulf the Shore and similar cards act as mass bounce/removal that acts in your favor. 

SELF MILL/RECURSION

In order to cast your big guys for cheaper, and also maybe thin the deck a little, this list has a minor self-mill/recursion theme. Gyruda, Doom of Depths and Extract from Darkness fill everyone's graveyard, while allowing you a choice pick from any one of them. Persist, Coiling Rebirth, and Victimize can also be used to snag a nice creature (or two) from the yard directly to the field, for various additional costs, and if you need to fill the yard faster, Hostile Negotiations, Buried Alive, and any surveil effects can be used to try and hit ideal pieces.

OTHER CARDS OF NOTE

Hullbreaker Horror, Sol Ring, and Everflowing Chalice combine for infinite mana that can be used, most notably, on the chalice itself, Pull from Tomorrow (for infinite card draw, esp if you want to go for more self mill version of the deck) or Black Sun’s Twilight (for major spot removal + recursion).  Waker of Waves serves two purposes, filling your graveyard for the incidental mill/recursion while also putting cards in your hand. Quest for Ula’s Temple lets you play a creature for FREE once per turn, once her counters are up (which shouldn't be too hard to do, really). The Key to the Vault combines well with the numerous unblockable effects to pop down a big bad for free once per turn as well. Benthic Anomaly is a nice hit, with it providing up to three (potentially) MASSIVE bodies, giving you some nice choices of your opponents creatures while giving them a power and toughness boost. Nadir Kraken, if played early enough, can provide some crucial blockers while growing itself ever larger. Wrexial, the Risen Deep is already hard to block, and casts choice instants and sorceries from your opponents graveyards when it connects.

FINAL NOTES AND CONSIDERED CARDS:

Runo Stromkirk//Kruthoss, Lord of the Deep was selected at random using a complicated method (wheel spins and random number generators. This deck is built using primarily my own knowledge of cards + my raw scryfall ability. Combining these factors with the attempted $150 budget, there are likely a number of cards not in here that should be, due to budget concerns, my own incompetence, or my failure to understand a mechanic/interaction. I ask that you give me some grace, as I learn more about magic and how to better build decks.  I’ll be honest, I’m not confident about this decks mana base. I’m not convinced i have the desired blue to black ratio, but it seems to have worked in my tests. I feel the removal/interaction could also be more plentiful, but again, the deck seems to have performed well enough. I believe that if you do need more removal, the self mill cards should be able to be pulled out to make room for them. Regardless, I like the deck. Some of the most immediate changes I would suggest for a non budget version would be probably more dual lands, especially the dimir shock and surveil lands. Thassa's Oracle would be slotted in if not for the 30 price tag. Other cards worth considering would be Roaming Throne, for extra triggers off of Runo/Krothuss, Titan of Littjara should provide lots of card draw as well. Other than that, the changes would probably just be switching out sea creatures as you deem fit.

[mizts-magic-blog]

Weekly Brew #1 Baru, Wurmspeaker Commander Deck

The Wurms are Coming!

This week's randomly selected commander is: Baru, Wurmspeaker!  Printed first (and only) in Dominaria United Commander, Baru is a simple commander with a simple plan. Wurms! Wurms are the plan.  With him at the helm, this deck is sure to rain wurmy wrath down on your foes!

FULL DECKLIST

GENERAL GAME PLAN

As I said previously, this Baru deck is very straightforward. Play big wurms for as little as possible, and swing them at face until you win! Not enough wurms? Wurmquake, Crush of Wurms, Wurmcalling, Sandwurm Convergence and even Baru can help you generate plenty of wurms! Wurms not big enough? Caged Sun,  Unnatural Growth, Sylvan Anthem, and similar cards add constant boosts! Having trouble casting the wurms? A fair amount of reduction and ramp has been splashed throughout the deck in order to get you to your wurms faster!

RAMP AND REDUCTION

A fair number of your wurms (read:almost all of them) are a little on the pricy side, so ramp and cost reduction are a must have. We have our usual suspects, with Emerald Medallion and Rhonas’s Monument providing a decent reduction to all your spells. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma provides a minus 2 to the cost of 28 creatures out of the 39 in the deck. If you’re looking for true ramp, this list uses some pretty standard stuff for it. We hit the usual Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Thran Dynamo, and Moss Diamond for artifacts, while throwing in a Caged Sun for good measure.  As far as creatures go, you’ll see the typical Fyndhorn Elves type cards, as well as Sakura Tribe Elder  and Karametra’s Acolyte. If those don't push enough, cards like Cultivate, Explore, and Rampant Growth have been slotted in as well (plus a few more)

CHEATING INTO PLAY

If the ramp simply isn’t enough, a number of cards in the deck will allow you to cheat your massive wurms in for a much smaller cost.  Monster Manual and Elvish Piper allow you to repeatedly play a much bigger creature for only 1 or 2 mana, and Mosswort Bridge allows you to slot away a card to cast later, provided you have enough power (you probably should have enough power with a deck like this).

GENERAL VALUE

This deck has a lot of big, expensive creatures. Garruk’s Uprising and Colossal Majesty take advantage of this to keep your hand full as much as they can. The aforementioned Mosswort Bridge and Fight Rigging take advantage of the massive creatures to try and activate their abilities as quickly as possible. Runadi, Behemoth Crawler and Goreclaw take advantage of their high power to boost them even further beyond!  Since most of the deck is green, a handful of cards are designed to take advantage of that as well. Wurm’s Tooth gives you small lifegain for each spell you cast, and Caged Sun and Sylvan Anthem pump (almost) every creature you control!

OTHER CARDS OF NOTE

Defiler of Vigor provides a handy decrease in green costs, while also pumping the full field when you cast your spells. Panglacial Wurm can be cast off the numerous “search your library for a land” spells for a fun surprise. Dirtcowl Wurm gets bigger every time an opponent has the audacity to try and play a land while Deathcoil Wurm (try not to get them mixed up) gets to totally ignore the fact that creatures are blocking it. Sifter Wurm, Ravenous Lindwurm, Pelakka Wurm, Bookwurm and Bramblewurm all provide some lifegain, with Voracious Wurm getting nice and fat off them if you can cast them in the same turn. Worldspine Worm slows down mill a smidgeon, and Elderscale Wurm will help keep you from dying to (most) combat damage. Having trouble closing out the game? Bellowing Tangleworm makes it harder to block your massive creatures, just in case trample isn't doing enough, and Unnatural Growth doubles the size of your already massive wurms.

FINAL NOTES AND CONSIDERABLE CARDS

Baru was selected at random using a complicated method (wheel spins and random number generators). This deck is built using primarily my own knowledge of cards + my raw scryfall ability. Combining these factors with the attempted $150 budget, there are likely a number of cards not in here that should be, due to budget concerns, my own incompetence, or my failure to understand a mechanic/interaction. I ask that you give me some grace, as I learn more about magic and how to better build decks. This deck’s raw power is not the highest, but I can’t say I'm too surprised. Combining the budget with an odd tribe, I really can’t say I was expecting much better. If you decide you need better lands, Three Tree City and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can slot in quite well over any old forest. Garruk, Primal Hunter can ult for a large number of wurm tokens if you are inclined to use him. Last March of the Ents and The Great Henge are fantastic options for the deck if you are less budget inclined then I am.  Heroic Intervention is good to slot in for protection, as are other fogs and fog likes. Better and more ramp can obviously also be done, once again for a higher budget. If you feel any worms are not working, or that you need more, there are a LARGE number of them that could easily be considered, with some being notably better than others (looking at YOU Mungha Wurm).