Disclaimer: Totally got this concept from the Command Zone, a commander themed podcast I 100% recommend to any player looking to deepen their understanding of the format. There's also a more condensed card-purpose list at the bottom, if you don't want to deal with me being excessively wordy. I kept the budget for this around $100 dollars to keep it accessible for everyone, particularly myself. Some more expensive very worthy includes are Staff of Domination and Gaea's Cradle(And an overhaul of the rest of the manabase, obviously)
You're probably noticing about now that the commander here isn't Tim the Enchanter. Perhaps you even came here because I had "enchanter" in the title but wasn't in Zur's colours. I don't know why you're here, really. But I can say that this is going to be one of the more interesting decks you've experienced, milking maximum effectiveness out of minimally powerful mechanics.
The commander to this deck is really rather irrelevant. Any commander with RUG will do. Riku is a decent choice, as he lets you double up on each of the creatures you play, and you'll be playing quite a few. Surrak gives you some protection from control, making sure you get to do your thing when you want to. Maelstrom Wanderer is a board state in a black bordered box, helping you recover from wipes and speeding up your plays. I've opted for Kydele and Ludevic. This deck does rather like to draw cards. Though there aren't many cards that do it, they get it done quite nicely. Because of this, Kydele can get rather ridiculous, tapping for as much as 6 mana regularly. The deck also will have quite an easy time triggering Ludevic. Which brings us to the meat of the deck, and the commander hiding in the 98. Prodigal Sorcerer.
Prodigal sorcerer. 2U. Tap, deal 1 damage to target creature or player. There are many cards like him (quite a few of which we run), but he's the OG. This effect seems minor at first glance, and without modification it is. However, once you begin applying modifiers to this, it quickly transforms from a piddly little sting to a toolbox of many possibilities. Do you want to kill things? Equip it with one of our four deathtouch enabling weapons of mass destruction. Do you want to steal things? Charisma talks the talk, and Willbreaker walks the walk. But only using these abilities once around would be rather whelming. So let's avoid that.
Cards such as Fatestitcher, Kiora's follower, and Niblis of the Breath let us use tap abilities more often, and can even be used as ramp. They're general purpose multipliers for everything else we want to do here.
One of our main weaknesses is board wipes, so not over-committing to the board can be important. We're outside of the best reanimator colours, so our options there are limited at best. Reloading our hand and building back up is generally the way to go. To achieve this, I've included a good number of cards that can draw us new hands when we need them, and keep us well-stocked even if we don't. Curiosity and Ophidian Eye let us do this with our Prodigies. Archivist and Arcanis do this by default. You can get to the point where you're drawing so many cards Laboratory Maniac could become a viable win-con, even without combo, so he's in there too.
We can in fact combo out too, however. I'll give a quick list of the one's that I've seen so farAphetto Alchemist + Illusionist's Bracers: Infinite mana and tap abilitiesGoblin Sharpshooter + Quietus Spike/Gorgon's Head/Gorgon Flail/Basilisk Collar/Venomous Fangs/Sword of Kaldra: Infinite spot removal
Any Prodigy + Thornbite Staff + the deathtouch suite: Infinite spot removal
Jolrael, Empress of Beasts + Infinite removal suite: Destroy all lands target player controls
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind + Ophidian Eye/Curiosity/Snake Umbra/Keen Sense: Infinite card draw/damage
Argothian Elder + Wirewood Lodge + Any land that produces at least mana, one of which is green: Infinite mana
Argothian Elder + Pemmins Aura/Freed from the Real: Infinite mana
(Vizier of Tumbling Sands/Kiora's Follower/Fatestitcher) x 2 + Illusionist's Bracers: Infinite tap abilities+mana
So, the promised TL;DR card justification list
DO THINGS
Cunning Sparkmage
Frostwielder
Izzet Staticaster
Goblin Sharpshooter
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Prodigal Pyromancer
Prodigal Sorcerer
Razorfin Hunter
Vulshock Sorcerer
Zuran Spellcaster
DO THINGS OFTEN
Aphetto Alchemist
Captain of the Mists
Fatestitcher
Freed from the Real
Illusionist's Bracers
Kiora's Follower
Magewright's Stone
Murkfiend Liege
Niblis of the Breath
Pemmin's Aura
Puppeteer
Quest for Renewal
Thornbite Staff
Thousand-Year Elixir
Tideforce Elemental
Vizier of Tumbling Sands
DO THINGS DANGEROUSLY
to CREATURES
Basilisk Collar (Gains life)
Dismiss into Dream (Navigates around indestructible)
Gorgon Flail
Gorgon's Head
Quietus Spike (Oh boy does this hurt once all the creatures are gone)
Sword of Kaldra (Also gets around indestructible, and reanimator to boot)
Venomous Fangs
to ARTIFACTS
Karn, Silver Golem (Makes them creatures for our much more comprehensive anti-creature tech to deal with)
Viashino Heretic
to LANDS
Dwarven Miner (Non-Basics, but the most one-sided and independent of them. Probably least likely to lose you friends)
Jolrael, Empress of Beasts (Makes them creatures for the Anti-creature suite to handle, one-sided, discourages wipes)
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa (One at a time, don't need deathtouch to pop them, and overrun on legs if that ever matters)
Nature's Revolt (High risk, high reward. Losing player may wipe, but you may also have removed the mana to do so)
to PLAYERS
Quietus Spike
Repercussion (Experimental. Seems powerful with all the deathtouch. Wouldn't even be mad losing to Blasphemous Act)
Throne of the God-Pharoah (Cheap, universal, and rewards you for doing what you would have done anyway)
DO THINGS SOONER
Argothian Elder
Cryptolith Rite
Cultivate
Dawn's Reflection
Kodama's Reach
Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix
Market Festival
Sakura-Tribe Scout (We're going to have quite a few lands in hand with all the draw)
Skyshroud Ranger
Sol Ring
Walking Atlas
DO MORE THINGS
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Archivist
Curiosity
Keen Sense
Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist (Also gives some modicum of political power to toss around)
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Ophidian Eye
Snake Umbra
DO THINGS FASTER
Anger
Thousand-Year Elixir
DO YOUR OPPONENT'S THINGS (These can be paired with DO THINGS DANGEROUSLY to LANDS for shenanigans)
Charisma
Willbreaker
DO NOT LET YOUR OPPONENT DO THEIR OWN THINGS (Yeah that titles a stretch)
Archetype of Endurance (This stops your opponent from stopping you, and keeps hexproof off of them)
Disruptive Pitmage
Disruptive Student
Sigil of Sleep
And I think that covers everything. I am very much open to suggestions, and this deck is very much still growing and evolving. I've only just built it, so it's still in testing. I may have included too few lands, so that's something I'll be paying special attention to as I test it. I hope to avoid running tutors, as the people in my personal meta get kinda grumpy if you start tutoring up combos. I also tried to avoid including cards that dont do anything for the deck other than combo with another. Again, I recommend you take a look at the Command Zone podcast if you have interest in learning more about the Commander format, and any and all advice you give me is much appreciated. I'm still looking for a good re-usable enchantment removal card. Do try to keep it to cards under 7.50 USD, though.
Anyone who is so inclined, I would love to see a less budget-restricted version of this for the more competitively minded.
