Deck Rating: 8 out of 10
Deck Strategy: Counter Removal, Combo
The ancient wizard Garth One-Eye, now aware of the threat that New Phyrexia poses to planeswalkers across the multiverse, sets out on a new odyssey. Journeying to icy lands, he searches for signs of an ancient legend, a vast avatar once imprisoned beneath the frigid waters of Dominaria. Old Garth hopes never to have to summon this terrible beast, but he has learned a hard lesson in the crucible between all colors: to walk softly, and carry the biggest stick...
Garth's quest to use Marit Lage as a deterrent against extraplanar invasion is a fun headcanon that underpins the mechanics that comprise this rather unique deck. It may seem like a pile at first glance, but significant thought went into its construction. This deck has three mechanical pillars at its disposal:
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Counter Removal and cards that benefit from it. Magic has a tremendous amount of cards that use or increase counters, but comparatively very little that remove them. and are the kings of this effect; however, the mere 6 (!) cards with this effect are too little to build a Mono-black deck around. I decided to go in the opposite direction, building a 5-color/chromatic approach instead to gain access to all colors' strengths. Some of the counter-removal cards are gradual, like Thrull Parasite, Power Conduit, Ferropede and Nesting Grounds. Others are more dramatic, like Vampire Hexmage, Thief of Blood, AEther Snap and Solemnity, removing or preventing all counters in one fell swoop. Spinal Parasite is inefficient (the fact we're still running it is indicative of our lack of options), but it can combo with Power Conduit to keep on trucking.
The obvious target for the counter removal is Dark Depths; however, we also run a number of Sagas that provide strong benefits. By removing the lore counters they accrue, we can recur specific effects from them, keeping them on the board to provide value. Binding the Old Gods, The Eldest Reborn, The Mending of Dominaria and Kiora Bests the Sea God were my choices, though it was a tough time choosing - just take a look at the Maybeboard below for some alternate options.
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(Token) Copying. The real meat of this deck, made possible mainly through the Populate keyword. Our target is singular: Marit Lage. In a pinch, we can target the tokens created by Kiora Bests the Sea God, Giant Adephage or anything copied by Helm of the Host, but the 20/20 indestructible Avatar is what we strive for. Selesnya Eulogist, Full Flowering, Growing Ranks, Second Harvest, Parallel Evolution, Ghastly Mimicry and Song of the Worldsoul all make the Marit printer go brrrrr. On a stick, we have Sundering Growth and Ghired's Belligerence, both also great for clearing the way for our token army. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is excellent here; every Marit copy that hits the field nets us a cool 20 life for free.
"But wait, SOTC", I hear you yell from behind your screens, "you can't copy Marit! She's legendary!" True enough. And yet - it wouldn't be Magic the Gathering if we couldn't break that rule to suit our needs, would it? With Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Mirror Box, Mirror Gallery all providing redundancy for each other, we don't need to worry about multiples Marit Lages infighting. As an additional avenue, the token copies created by Helm of the Host and Delina, Wild Mage are also not legendary. Problem solved!
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Snow Interaction. This is the least realized of the mechanics, but it still reinforces the deck in various ways. Though we primarily run all snow lands to enable our other way of getting Marit (Marit Lage's Slumber), we make some additional use of it through Jorn, God of Winter
. His God side attacking allows us to untap all our lands for some serious mana acceleration, while his obverse artifact form allows us to recur the Slumber once every turn for free. I would like to do more with the snowy side of this one, though. Expect some iterative improvements in a future version of this deck.
Running the deck properly requires a bit of finesse, as it is not the pile it first seems to be. We will need to carefully progress through these phases:
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Build A Base. This deck can start a bit slow occasionally. Mulligans aiming for at least 3 lands in hand are recommended, preferably producing different colors. Our objective is getting out Garth One-Eye as soon as possible - his capacity to create 6 versatile spells sets us up for success. In particular, his ability to pop out a free token copy of Black Lotus helps us tremendously. Beyond Garth's work, we will use land-fetching spells to fix colors, while playing mana rocks to ramp. At this juncture, we want to keep a low-ish profile, avoiding aggressive moves where possible.
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Fetch the Avatar. When we have a stable mana base and we draw one of our tutor spells, the fun begins. We will dig through our library for Dark Depths or Marit Lage's Slumber, and set to getting Marit out. Seeing one of these cards will probably see your opponents reassess the threat you pose, and act accordingly. Be prepared for this; if you think you can't turn one of these cards into a Marit swiftly, holding back for a moment might be a good idea.
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Preemptive Strike. From the very moment that you have a Marit Lage, it needs to be put to use. It doesn't matter if your opponents are in a stronger position than you; as soon as the other players see that 20/20, they will all be gunning for you. That can't be helped; go on the offensive. If you have one Marit, threaten players that can't chump-block, then extort deals/favors from them in exchange for not attacking. If you have already begun copying Marit, forget about politics; eldritch horrors need not negotiate - especially not a legion of them.
As a deck centered around very specific mechanical combos, it needs all the support it can get. These cards can divided among the following pillars:
- Ramp and Fixing are crucial in this deck; with a mana-cost average of 3.55, it trends towards the higher end of the scale. We run Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Commander's Sphere and Cursed Mirror as rocks; to get lands into play quicker, we have Scaretiller, Skyshroud Claim and Tempt with Discovery. Land-fixing can be accomplished in a pinch with Farseek, Sylvan Scrying, Reap and Sow, Expedition Map and Crop Rotation, though the tutors that can fetch any land are primarily intended to get us Dark Depths. Garth's pocket Black Lotus is also no slouch.
- Removal solves single-card problems that stymie our Marits' advance. We get rid of creatures with Blizzard Brawl, Ghired's Belligerence, Ravenform, The Eldest Reborn and Warstorm Surge; if we need to remove other permanents, Reality Shift, Sundering Growth, Binding the Old Gods and Reap and Sow have us covered. Merciless Eviction is, as ever, discriminately indiscriminate. Garth also carries a spare Disenchant and Terror on him, just in case.
- Copy Effects here are mostly geared towards replicating creature tokens. Selesnya Eulogist, Full Flowering, Growing Ranks, Parallel Evolution, Ghastly Mimicry, Song of the Worldsoul, Sundering Growth, Ghired's Belligerence, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, Helm of the Host and Delina, Wild Mage all cater to this. Second Harvest and Esika's Chariot are unique in that they allow replication of other types of permanent token. As if this wasn't enough, we also have cards that become nontoken copies of other cards, either permanently or for a turn. Clever Impersonator, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Mirage Mirror, Mirrorpool and Cursed Mirror.
- Tutor Effects are crucial to a deck that mostly hinges on two cards. Crop Rotation, Expedition Map, Tempt with Discovery, Sylvan Scrying and Reap and Sow can fetch Dark Depths, Idyllic Tutor can fetch Marit Lage's Slumber, Profane Tutor can fetch both. For multiple Marits, we need to turn off the legend rule; the relevant artifacts can be retrieved with Trophy Mage or Fabricate (or, of course, Profane Tutor).
- Recursion is essential to keep this deck's tools in play, and reuse them where applicable. Dark Depths and Mirrorpool can be recurred with Crucible of Worlds, Scaretiller, The Mending of Dominaria and Molderhulk. Kaldring, the Rimestaff gets us back Marit Lage's Slumber. For wider applications Obzedat's Aid and Eerie Ultimatum retrieve our other permanents. Should we fail to draw these in a timely fashion, Garth has a backup Regrowth that he saved just for us.
- Win Conditions, because apparently an army of flying, indestructible 20/20 creatures isn't enough of one. Predictably, our other win conditions interact with the token armies that we expect to make. Warstorm Surge beans any target when a creature pops up on your side; 20 damage from a Marit is spicy, but the rampant growth of 7-damage Giant Adephages might be even worse. A late-game Dominaria's Judgment will let our enormous force waltz in anywhere, no blocks possible. Last but not least, the classic Wrath of God disintegrates blocking boards, leaving our indestructible Marits free to roam.
Combos and Interactions
This deck runs a number of value-enhancing combos, and some of our cards interact with each other in interesting ways. Let's take a look:
- It's worth mentioning that Garth's Black Lotus and Shivan Dragon tokens are legal targets for the copying effects of Second Harvest and Esika's Chariot. Why get 1 Lotus/Dragon if you can have 2, or 3...or even more?
- Solemnity. Damn. What a card. So specific, and yet so mechanically perfect for our purposes. Playing Dark Depths now insta-spawns a Marit! Sagas get hard-locked in their current lore step, the effect of which will then trigger on each of your turns. If that wasn't enough, it shuts down opposing counter-based and infect/poison decks hard.
- With Vampire Hexmage and Dark Depths in hand, a turn 3 Marit is easily achieved. Even better, an opponent will have to decide to counter/remove the Hexmage while not having seen the Depths. If they decline to do so, as soon as you drop the Depths on Turn 3, it's too late to stop it - the Hexmage sacs as a cost, at instant speed.
Pet Cards
To me, Commander is a format where fun is first, and competition second. As such, almost every deck I make will have some cards that are probably not the best choice for inclusion. They're there to stay, though, for no other reason that I like their art/flavor/design.
- Skyshroud Claim - This may seem like an odd inclusion between the tutors that can fetch Dark Depths. However, its capacity to fetch Forests instead of 'basic lands' means we can grab two snow dual lands (like Woodland Chasm and Arctic Treeline), allowing us to fix our mana while giving us more to work with.
- AEther Snap - This may seem like an odd addition in a deck that runs on token-copying. However, it is an excellent redundancy for insta-triggering Dark Depths, and if your opponents run token boards that are better than yours, this one will set them straight.
- Asceticism - Like snapping the last puzzle piece into place, this covers the final weaknesses of our Marit Lage army, rendering them only vulnerable to boardwipes that exile and forced-sacrifice effects. Not too many of those around, fortunately. Oh, and it also regenerates our non-indestructible creatures. Great stuff.
- Esika's Chariot - The mental image of Garth pulling up in a cat-drawn chariot, yelling "Get in nerd, we're copying Marits" made this card too goddamn funny not to include. Jokes aside, this is a good early play and serves even if you don't have a Marit out. It also provides copying value beyond just creatures!
- Mirage Mirror - Mirage Mirror's utility is almost unrivaled. Any great thing you or your opponents have, you can get it (again)! This card rewards good gamestate knowledge and creative thinking. Who ordered the extra insta-triggering Dark Depths?
- Delina, Wild Mage - One of my favorite things from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was the introduction of dice-rolling to Magic. I'm honestly surprised it took this long to add! While Delina's utility is a bit niche normally, if we have a Marit Lage and one of our cards that rescinds the legend rule in play, we are looking at a guaranteed extra 20 damage on the attack per copy. With some lucky rolling, we can end up with a whole new army of Avatars.
Maybeboard Musings
As with all my decks, I've made a note of the cards that didn't quite make the grade or were beyond my reach. If you have them, you might consider swapping these in. Most of these cards are Sagas, as they synergize perfectly with the deck's counter-removal mechanic.
- Arni Slays the Troll. A Saga that provides creature removal, gives +1/+1 counters and mana, and gains us life. I might sub this one in if opposing creatures prove to be a consistent threat to the deck.
- Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle. With our counter removal powers, we can launch Arixmethes into his creature form nearly immediately. The problem is that he is quite vulnerable to removal spells when we do so. However, pairing it with Helm of the Host is the start of some curious mana ramp shenanigans that I'd love to give a try sometime.
- Time of Ice. A Saga that locks opposing creatures in a tapped state, and eventually bounces every tapped creature back to hand. In concert with Solemnity, this will slowly lock your opponents' boardstates down permanently. Definitely down to give that a shot.
- Elspeth Conquers Death. A Saga that exiles higher-CMC permanents, imposes a tax on your opponents' noncreature spells, and recurs one of our creatures or planeswalkers with an additional counter on them. I cut this one because of its inability to get rid of low-CMC cards and tokens, but I might trial it at a later junction.
- Waking the Trolls. This Saga provides land destruction, land recursion and appropriation, and creates 4/4 trampling tokens. Honestly, holding this at 0-1 lore counters is just mean. Should my table get more cutthroat, this might find its way back in.
- Decree of Silence is a good card already, but in this deck it becomes absolute nonsense. I don't own it, but I am actively looking for it, because it is a perfect fit. If you can ever get this plus Solemnity out together, that's it. You've soft-locked your opponents out of the game.
Garth gazed down at the frozen form through the ice. It seemed to go on forever, coiling black tentacles curling down into the depths below. Suddenly, in his innermost mind, there came a voice:
HOW WILL YOU BUY MY ALLEGIANCE, LITTLE GALIN?
The 'walker absentmindedly twirled the precious metal flower between both fingers, and squeezed. Coils of black mana sprang forth, consuming the exquisite craftsmanship and coursing down, deep into the icy floes that lay beneath his feet. With his one good eye, he thought he spied the tiniest of stirrings.
IT'S A START.
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