Commander Deck - Depala, Pilot Exemplar (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Commander Deck - Depala, Pilot Exemplar

Commander / EDH* Aggro Artifact RW (Boros) Tribal Vehicle

Brian_The_Brewer

Creature (23)

Sorcery (8)

Enchantment (2)

Land (35)

Instant (7)

Planeswalker (1)

1x Daretti, Scrap Savant

Commander (1)

Artifact (23)

Back when me and my fiance first started dating, she got curious about the game she had always seen me play and asked if I could build her a deck. When we started talking, she mentioned her fanatical love of The Hobbit, specifically, it's dwarven company. My initial plans were to build her Balthor the Stout and had begun picking up cards for the deck, and then the Kaladesh spoilers dropped. As soon as I laid eyes on Depala, Pilot Exemplar, I knew I had to build it for her instead. The early version of this deck was very simple and on a budget, however she began to pick up on the game much faster than anticipated, even understanding things like the "Crew" mechanic with little to no difficulty, she quickly fell in love with not only the deck, but Magic the Gathering as a game. Seeing her fall so in love with the deck, I decided to give her a birthday gift, which was foiling the deck out as much as I could afford too and buying Dragon Shield Matte sleeves and KMC Perfect Size sleeves. So without further delay, here's the deck!

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Card Selection

Lands

Plateau: Not sure how much explaining this one needs, we're in two colors, so our Dual Land seems like a good choice to include.

Sacred Foundry: Similar to the dual land above, the Boros colored Shock Land seemed like an auto include, since price is no issue.

Arid Mesa: Ahh Fetch Lands, help us fix our mana and reset the top of our library for Divining Top, truly beautiful.

Battlefield Forge: I am a big fan of Pain Lands, they come in untapped and give us colored mana early game for a minimal cost, and later in the game provide us with colorless mana, perfect.

Clifftop Retreat: Buddy Lands, AKA Check Lands, are another favorite of mine in EDH, it's easy enough to bring them in untapped, making them perfect both early and late game.

Inspiring Vantage: Fast Lands are debatably good in EDH, I am personally a fan of them in aggressive decks since they are perfect in the early game and acceptable in the late game, though in the mid game, they tend to be kind of awkward.

Temple of Triumph: Scry Lands are yet another personal favorite of mine, especially in colors like ours that tend to have a difficult time ensuring we have good draws.

Rugged Prairie: Filter Lands are a favorite of many in the format and for good reason, they come in untapped and act as better version of the Ravnican Signets.

Boros Garrison: Say what you want about Bounce Lands, but I love them, yes they are premium Strip Mine and Wasteland targets, but they greatly help once we've missed a land drop.

Reflecting Pool: Being an aggressive deck, we need as many sources of untapped colored mana as we can get, Reflecting Pool fits the bill nicely!

Spire of Industry: Being an artifact heavy deck, this land fits in perfectly! It's essentially a second pain land for us. Hard to go wrong.

Command Tower: If I have to explain this card to anyone, you're probably in the wrong place, we're playing commander, Command Tower seems pretty good for us.

Path of Ancestry: This card is wonderful for us, Boros has a hard time with card advantage so, getting to scry every single time we use this land to cast a dwarf, is pure value.

Cavern of Souls: Being a tribal deck, this land was an auto include, we have several dwarves we want to hit the battlefield and, counterspells are nasty in that they stop us from doing so, not with a Cavern in play though ;)

Ancient Den, Great Furnace and Darksteel Citadel: We're an artifact deck with a few Metalcraft effects, these lands all help us turn those effects on.

Strip Mine, Wasteland and Tectonic Edge: There are alot of problem lands in the format like Gaea's Cradle and Cabal Coffers, so having ways to deal with them is mandatory.

Inventors' Fair: We're both Boros and an Artifact deck, making this card especially good. It provides life gain, albeit minimally but also allows us to tutor for an artifact, tutoring tends to be one of the biggest weaknesses Boros possesses, so this land really helps.

Mountain and Plains: It's always good to include some Basics in your deck, afterall, Ruination effects are certainly a thing.

Creatures

Adaptive Automaton and Metallic Mimic: One key part of any aggressive tribe is "Lord" effects, and aside from Depala, dwarves don't get any, so in typical dwarven fashion, they built a couple.

Dwarven Bloodboiler: Now this guy is a beast, often acting as finisher in this deck, he's useful for making small creatures crew big vehicles, as well as helping one of our swingers get big enough to end the game.

Duergar Mine-Captain: One of my favorites, he makes our swinging creatures bigger, as well as being capable of crewing multiple vehicles by himself late game. Perfect include.

Mirror Entity: Hey look, it's a dwarf!! And an elf and a goblin and a.... Kavu? All jokes aside, the Entity is awesome, it can help our board dodge power related board wipes like Retribution of the Meek as well as make our creature big swingers or simply more capable pilots when crewing.

Master Trinketeer: Look, it's Balin! Some dwarves are tinkers, others are toymakers, and Trinketeer is both! He's great for making sac fodder or simple chump blockers, as well as pumping said fodder to be more dangerous when blocking.

Taurean Mauler: Another Changeling, this guy is seriously a decent card for any red tribal deck, he gets big FAST in multiplayer, and can take advantage of universal tribal effects our opponents might be playing like Goblin King or Winged Sliver.

Gearshift Ace: One of our best pilots for our vehicles, perfect to crew any of our vehicles to help them get through easier.

Veteran Motorist: Another very experienced pilot, this guy helps set up the top of our library and it great to crew a vehicle with later.

Toolcraft Exemplar: This guy ends up being a 3/2 first strike for one white most times, certainly not bad value ;).

Restoration Specialist: So we don't have alot of enchantments in the deck, but the ability to bring back artifacts that died is beyond valuable. Having that effect on a dwarf that Depala can snag for us? Even better.

Aerial Responder: Ahh look, it's Vampire Nighthawk before he was bitten ha ha, flying is something we get little of, so this guy is pretty nice for us.

Pardic Miner: This card is evil, your opponent hurting on lands? Good, help them keep it that way.

Dwarven Miner and Dwarven Blastminer: These are powerhouses in this deck, reusable land destruction is certainly a powerful effect in EDH.

Duergar Hedge-Mage: One of the BEST dwarves in the game, being able to potentially hit both and artifact and enchantment upon cast, is pure value.

Fairgrounds Warden: More removal that happens to be a dwarf? It's almost too good to be true, this Banisher Priest with dwarfism is certainly an auto include.

Dwarven Recruiter: You guys all know Goblin Recruiter right? Well, the dwarves have one too, and it's just as good in this deck as it's goblin counterpart is in it's own. Find removal, find power or find both, the Recruiter is one of the best dwarves in the entire deck.

Solemn Simulacrum: Not a dwarf but, it's ability to mana ramp and draw cards, make it too good to not put in the deck, pure value if I've ever seen it.

Sram, Senior Edificer: Boros as a color combination, has a hard time drawing cards, so Sram seemed a perfect include, he draws when we play out vehicles and a couple equipment, and is a dwarf himself. Auto include.

Renegade Wheelsmith: This guy is a pilot if I've ever seen one, high enough power to crew most vehicles and helps the vehicle get through.

Deadeye Harpooner: Another piece of removal, this makes the cut simply because it's also a dwarf. Not bad at all.

Solemn Recruit: Another excellent pilot due to it's ability to grow stronger and stronger, is also makes a formidable warrior to send in attacking.

Artifacts

Sol Ring: I feel this doesn't need much explaining, it helps get our big permanents on the battlefield faster, pretty simple.

Gilded Lotus: One of the best rocks in the format, the Lotus can provide us with three mana of any color every turn, certainly not bad to have.

Boros Signet: We're playing two color, so having our respective Ravnican signet is a must.

Urza's Incubator: We're playing tribal, and this is easily one of the best tribal spells in the format, making our dwarves cost two less makes our plays even faster than normal. Auto include if I've ever seen one.

Sculpting Steel: What is it? It's whatever you want it to be baby ;). Ha ha there's alot of awesome artifacts in the format, not just our own. The Steel is great to copy a mana rock or vehicle, as well as an opponents awesome artifact like a Darksteel Forge or Wurmcoil Engine.

Sensei's Divining Top: You know it and either love it or hate it, it's the most annoying toy in the format, the Top is great for helping with draws when we really need them. A staple for a reason.

Lightning Greaves: Another staple for the format, providing both haste and shroud, the Greaves are a must to protect Depala from removal.

Aradara Express: Sometimes, it's nice to just go simple. Say what you want, but converting a 4 power dwarf into an 8/6 menace, seems pretty sweet to me.

Ballista Charger: The Charger is definitely a decent vehicle, converting 3 power into 6 is definitely powerful, adding the ability to deal 1 damage to something is actually not irrelevant, as there's alot of combo creatures in the format with low toughness.

Bomat Bazaar Barge: I love cards that replace themselves, especially when it can also convert 3 power into 5.

Cultivator's Caravan: Wanna convert 3 power into 5? No? How about add one mana of any color to the pool? This card is diverse and I love that about it. One of the better vehicles for sure.

Daredevil Dragster: Boros always seems to have a hard time drawing cards, and while Depala does a great job at keeping our hand full, the ability to draw a couple extra cards is always welcome, add on that it converts 2 mana into 4, definitely a playable card.

Weatherlight: This card was a gift from Iroas, God of Victory for us. Boros has such a hard time getting card advantage even once, having a repeatable source of card advantage on a flying vehicle is just gravy for this deck.

Fleetwheel Cruiser: So lemme get this straight, for four mana I get a 5/3 trample haste vehicle that I don't have to crew that turn and later crews for only 2 power? Hell yes!

Sleek Schooner: This card practically immediately replaced Sky Skiff in this deck, while still not amazing, converting 1 power into a 4/3 was good enough for me.

Dusk Legion Dreadnought: Yet another card that replaced an under performing vehicle in this deck, in this case, it replaced Ovalchase Dragster as it's less fragile and safer to swing in with.

Conqueror's Galleon : This is the one card from Ixalan that actually got me excited for this deck. While the other vehicles were certainly okay, this offered an amazing utility land once it's flipped, that will allow this Boros deck to do things most Boros decks can't do. Draw cards and recur them from the graveyard? Gotta love it. For those who don't know, have a look at Conqueror's Foothold.

Renegade Freighter: This is another very decent vehicle, it converts 2 power into 4 but also gets +1/+1 and trample when it swings? Not bad at all.

Skysovereign, Consul Flagship: One of if not the best vehicle in the entire deck, this card is nuts. It converts 3 power into 6 and has flying, but in addition, it Lightning Bolts a creature or planeswalker both when it ETBs and attacks? Hell yes, sign me up!

Smuggler's Copter: A personal favorite, once again we get a flyer with a great conversion rate. 1 power becomes 3 and it lets us loot when it attacks and when it blocks. Big fan of this one.

Mobile Garrison: Another vehicle with a decent conversion rate however this one is here for it's ability to untap an artifact or creature when it swings, untapping a mana rock or a larger creature for us to block with.

Untethered Express: Amazing conversion rate on this one, turning 1 power into 4 and gaining trample AND +1/+1 counters, this is an amazing beater.

Peacewalker Colossus: Another vehicle for a strong conversion rate, this one makes the cut for it's amazing power to crew vehicles without needing to use creatures, VERY strong in this deck.

Sorceries

Blasphemous Act: One of my favorite board wipes in the game, while it won't always clear the board, it can often be played for only one mana, making it very efficient.

Day of Judgment and Wrath of God: Board wipes are essential to the format, both of these are pretty simple but damn effective.

Dusk / Dawn: Similar to those above, this often ends up being not only a one sided board wipe, but later in the game, casting Dawn from the graveyard allows us to refill our hand, a trait rarely found in Boros.

Vandalblast: What's better than a board wipe? A one sided board wipe. This card is awesome and if it's not in your red deck, then you're playing your deck wrong.

Board the Weatherlight: Card advantage is very hard to come by in Boros, this helps us find our vehicles or other artifacts, and might even grab us a Sram, Senior Edificer if we're lucky.

Gamble: Tutors are something Boros doesn't do very well, but we can always take a gamble and play, well Gamble.

Wheel of Fortune: Reloading our hand is a must, we can't allow ourselves to run out of gas and just die. Wheel is the best way to help us with that.

Instants

Boros Charm: This card is seriously awesome, it can be a finisher when giving double strike and in some cases even just dealing 4 damage, or can protect your board from a board wipe.

Enlightened Tutor: Once again, we tend to lack tutors in our color combination, so we take them where we can get them, besides, tutoring for an artifact is usually good enough for us.

Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares and Dispatch: Removal is vital to the format, and it just so happens these three spells all do it well and for only one white mana.

Crib Swap: This spell is both removal and a dwarf, meaning we can tutor for it with Dwarven Recruiter and even put it in our hand with Depala.

Chaos Warp: Being able to tuck any permanent on the battlefield is a very powerful ability to have.

Enchantments

Tempered Steel: This card is a beating, pumping all of our vehicle +2/+2 is nothing to scoff at.

Stranglehold: Blue players are annoying and our biggest threat as they tend to outvalue us very quickly, similarly black players do more of the same. Shutting down opponents tutors and extra turns? Yes please, plus it's funny watching the green player attempt to cast Cultivate, only to find out Stranglehold stops them too.

Planeswalkers

Daretti, Scrap Savant: In here primarily for his +2 to rummage, his -2 and -10 are also very powerful for this deck, when we need them and can get them off successfully.

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Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	Emblem Daretti, Scrap Savant, Morph 2/2 C, Servo 1/1 C, Shapeshifter 1/1 C
Folders	#1: Current Commander Decks, Commander
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