Aetherborn Energies (Retired)

Commander / EDH Aggro Energy Mono-Black Theme/Gimmick Tribal

WagiDreams

Creature (21)

• 1x Aether Poisoner
• 1x Aetherborn Marauder
• 1x Ambitious Aetherborn
• 1x Defiant Salvager
• 1x Filigree Familiar
• 1x Gifted Aetherborn
• 1x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Ironclad Revolutionary
• 1x Lawless Broker
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Midnight Entourage
• 1x Night Market Aeronaut
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Syndicate Trafficker
• 1x Vengeful Rebel
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Weaponcraft Enthusiast

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Die Young
• 1x Fortuitous Find
• 1x Live Fast
• 1x Resourceful Return
• 1x Ruinous Path
• 1x Temporal Extortion
• 1x Yahenni's Expertise

Artifact (21)

• 1x Aetherworks Marvel
• 1x Animation Module
• 1x Argentum Armor
• 1x Astral Cornucopia
• 1x Batterskull
• 1x Blade of Selves
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Conjurer's Closet
• 1x Contagion Clasp
• 1x Decoction Module
• 1x Fabrication Module
• 1x Glaring Spotlight
• 1x Gonti's Aether Heart
• 1x Lux Cannon
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Nim Deathmantle
• 1x Ring of Xathrid
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Gonti's Machinations
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Hedonist's Trove
• 1x Underhanded Designs
• 1x Underworld Connections

Commander (1)

Land (36)

• 1x Aether Hub
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 27x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Instant (4)

• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Scour from Existence
• 1x Tidy Conclusion
• 1x Vampiric TutorGC

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Karn Liberated

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Tainted AEther

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A barely-competitive theme deck. While there aren't a bunch of available choices for this relatively new tribe, the Aetherborn have crazy synergy with +1/+1 counters and artifacts, so it only seemed natural to put something together that focused on what they do best.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan, Ambitious Aetherborn, Defiant Salvager, Ironclad Revolutionary, Lawless Broker, Night Market Aeronaut, Syndicate Trafficker, and Weaponcraft Enthusiast are all Aetherborn creatures that generate +1/+1 counters in some manner. Add in the Aetherborn Marauder, who flies and allows us to further utilize those counters, and that's a pretty solid base of creatures to begin an aggro strategy.

Then there's Gonti, Lord of Luxury... He's the coolest creature black has seen in some time. I couldn't, in good conscience, build an Aetherborn-themed deck without the Lord of Luxury, could I? His inclusion added another dynamic to the deck by adding the Blade of Selves, and a package of ETB creatures that can also take advantage of the myriad effect when it's equipped (Grave Titan, Solemn Simulacrum, and Filigree Familiar being some of my favorites in this regard). But how do you build an Aetherborn-themed deck with Gonti and not include Gonti's Aether Heart? It just seemed that the Energy sub-theme demanded that it be included. The Animation Module and Fabrication Module further interaction with +1/+1 counters sealed that deal. Now, not only do I get to take advantage of the Blade of Selves myriad ETB effects, but I'm also gaining more energy tokens off the Aether Heart when it triggers. By adding in a few energy ETB creatures in the Aether Poisoner and Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, a few Aetherborn-themed support cards like Live Fast, Die Young, and Gonti's Machinations, I feel the energy package is pretty solid. Add Contagion Clasp to +1 my creature counters and energy counters as an end of opponent's turn mana sink.

Of course, with it being a mono-colored deck, I needed to deal with the weakness of black by adding some colorless permanent removal, so Karn Liberated, Steel Hellkite, Argentum Armor, Lux Cannon, Walking Ballista, and Scour from Existence all made the cut.

The mana package is pretty straight-forward, but I included Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to keep the Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse producing black mana until I need to trigger Revolt.

In the end, I won't be taking this deck to any competitive tournaments, but I will sit down with my casual group, play a few matches, and have a Hell of a time. This is one of my favorite creature types to hit the game in decades and I'm hoping we'll get some future representatives of the tribe outside of Kaladesh in one way or another. I'm not sure how Wizards will pull that off, but here's to hoping they find a way.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.41
Tokens	Copy Clone, Energy Reserve, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Servo 1/1 C, Zombie 2/2 B