Dakkon Smackblade

Commander / EDH Casual Control Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick WUB (Esper)

Philoctetes

Land (37)

Sorcery (8)

Instant (29)

Enchantment (4)

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

Creature (10)

OKAY BROTHERRRRRRRR

Welcome to WWE RAW: Commander Night! Join our Hero/Villain/Actor, Dakkon Smackblade as he deftly maneuvers his way through a veritable gauntlet of Chokeslams, Suplexes, and Obviously Staged Stunts to emerge as our victorious Actor/Villain/Hero! It's almost a Miracle when you think about it! If you like Esper control decks piloted by giant bros swinging chairs powered by your land count, you've come to the right place!

I designed this deck because:

A) I love the Legends set and artwork, and...

B) I wanted an Esper control deck that didn't hit the table and scream "kill me before I make your life a living hell!"

Why this Jank? Why not just play the John Cena of Esper?

Esper Control is one of my favorite archetypes. I feel that the colors offer the best interaction, both proactive and reactive, and certainly the best card draw engines in the format. In my opinion, there is nothing better than designing a finely tuned control deck, with plentiful answers and card selection. Dakkon offers us a way to play all the fun parts of a control deck (see: answers, card selection), and cut down mightily on the less fun parts (see: Win Conditions). When your pilot turns into a 2 turn clock late game, having a well developed set of win conditions isn't a necessity! To add to the fun and make my list a bit less generic, I've also included a Miracles package, which adds some more finesse to the playstyle.

Additionally, most players do not view some goof playing an original legendary legend from Legends as much of a threat. If you play the usual suspects You are likely to get hated out of a game. Even amongst my usual playgroup, I've found that Dakkon gets no respect. He's your typical grinder, your average Joe. That is the where we want to be as a control deck. We aren't the crowd favorite, but we hang tough and have a legendary chin. And once we eat our spinach we get big ol' muscles and cartoonishly punch the other wrestlers in the teeth.

A Brief Word about my Playgroup

It is important to put anything you see into the context of my own experience. I make these decklists and fleshed out explanations because I'm seeking feedback. If I can deliver some inspiration to you, dear reader, then all the better!

That being said, here are the contours of my group: we like to win and are competitive people, but we are fundamentally casuals. This means that things like infinite combos are no-nos for us. We have one unofficial house rule, that if you assemble and demonstrate an infinite loop you can utilize it no more than 5 times per turn. This keeps any wanna-be combo players in check and leads to longer developing games.

We do encourage aggro decks to keep the filthy control players like myself in check. As such, a lot of my deck building prioritizes curve very heavily. I typically don't like to play more than six-eight four-drops, and ideally no more than five 6+ drops. I have found that the sweet spot on the commander curve is really around three-four mana. If we prioritize this spot in our curve, we can almost always drop multiple spells in a turn later game, which can often change the board state significantly more than playing an eight drop that fishes out a board wipe in response.

What kind of Props are Available to Us?

Let's go over how to use the ropes to our advantage, what vertebrae to hit with our chairs, and determine the best time to stage a fall!

My overall theory of building EDH decks follows a basic philosophy - play 10+ ramp and draw spells, and select effects based on Quadrant Theory. This idea, borrowed from the Limited Resources Podcast, applies just as well to Commander as it does to Limited. The idea is that we should evaluate cards based on 4 game states - Early Game, From Behind, At Parity, and While Ahead. The least important Quadrant is While Ahead. The most important is While Behind. The quadrant that helps setup for the other 3 is Early Game. In general, this philosophy causes me to undervalue Win-More type cards and place much higher value on consistent effects that always work or help drag us back into a game.

Additionally, my theory for this deck is as a 75% deck. I don't want this deck to be oppressive - by designing it with some optimal cards left out, we compete with strong decks while being able to play in less developed metas without feeling like a turd.

Protein! (Ramp)

We have one main goal for each performance, er.... exhibition - look totally yoked. Our hero gets buffer and buffer with each land we play. There are two ways to accomplish that - putting lands directly into play, or surviving long enough and hitting a land drop each turn. This deck ascribes more to the latter method. We just want to hang around on the edges of the Ring and build our strength. To that end,

Trinket Mage - A truly amazing card that belongs in most blue decks. He can fit into basically any category as a bona fide tutor. The most basic use during the early game is to grab a Sol Ring and turn him into a 2 part Ur-Golem's Eye. Can also grab Wayfarer's Bauble to get Dakkon more swole.

Solemn Simulacrum - The saddest of robots. Esper Control really needs value plays, and this guy also disincentives opponents taking pot shots at us. Plus he buffs Dakkon up. One of our few sorcery speed 4 drops.

Sol Ring - An obvious inclusion in any deck, doubly so with Trinket Mage. Run it.

Wayfarer's Bauble - Colorless Rampant Growth is good. Criminally underplayed trinket that is doubly important in Dakkon to buff up.

Mind Stone - A fine way to ramp early and recoup some card advantage as necessary late.

Thaumatic Compass - A nice little draw spell that flips into a real land Maze of Ith. Completely awesome card in a control deck like ours that never wants to miss land drops.

Temporal Trespass - Interesting to call this "Ramp", but this is something close to Explore at it's worst, and wins us the game at it's best.

Temporal Mastery - Going along with the Miracles sub-theme in this deck, Temporal Mastery is a stellar effect that follows the same rules as Trespass above.

Myriad Landscape - Harrow out of the land drop slot. Not quite free to urn ramp in a 3 color deck, as coming into play tapped and forcing us to consider our basic land count are both not ideal, but in this deck we easily fit it in.

Terrain Generator - An often included ramp spell in mono-colored decks, this can occasionally do work with all of our card draw and relatively high basic land count. Well worth the inclusion, also has synergy with Karoo Lands.

Notable Exclusions

You probably have ideas from other Esper Control decks that you will suggest, and I absolutely encourage you to do so! Here are some cards that I have tinkered with or used to be considered worth a slot that I no longer feel the same way about, or that I would like but do not currently own.

Search for Azcanta - I strongly want to include this card. If the price ever comes down or I find a good trade it will find a way in.

Trophy Mage - Not currently enough trophies to justify.

Other mana rocks - As described above, I am prioritizing playing a controlling game with constantly open mana and winning super late over ramping early to make big palys before the opposition. As such, pure ramp spells are lower value than in other EDH decks.

Treasure Map - A solid card that I cut at some point. I really like the effect and would like to get it back into the deck. All the Ixalan and Rivals flip lands are pretty nice.

Burnished Hart - I ended up cutting this card awhile back. Strong ramp effect that really buffs Dakkon, problem is that its really durdly and I'm not a proponent of heavy ramp spells in this deck that bring no other value. We would rather just exist for 2 more turns and keep our mana open to deter attackers.

Kor Cartographer - Sad Robot without the card =(.

Walking Atlas - Not giving us card advantage makes this a no-go. Theoretically strong effect with an active Phyrexian Arena or something.

Boost Our Ratings! (Draw)

When we are the crowd favorite, we get all the advantages. Clearly, our number one priority should be to get the people going, if we can do that then all of the resources will fall into our laps.

If I'm being honest, I'm already running out of ideas to make this strangely themed primer funny.... But I'm too deep - I'm all in!

For this deck, instant speed card draw is where it's at. We want to hold up mana and represent answers at all points of the game, basically. We do have some engine cards as well, because duh, and also a few different ways to setup miracles that we will go over again in a later section.

Notion Thief - A spicy creature to start things off right! If there is anything better than drawing cards, it has to be drawing other people's cards! I think Notion Thief is an amazing card, and can quickly turn a game around when played at the opportune moment.

Solemn Simulacrum - As per our "Protein" section, Sad Robot does work. Definite value play.

Baleful Strix - Another value card. Strix does a lot of little things that add up to an amazing card. Replaces itself immediately, smooths our early game, and of course plays protection against stupid quick combat based draws. Great card!

Thirst for Knowledge - I love to get thirsty. This card is obviously at it's best with some excess artifacts to discard, but with a lot of other card advantage already in the deck, the ability to filter out useless answers or uncastable miracles is not a bad ability. Plus, it helps fuel up our graveyard for big Delve Spells. The ability to play most of our card draw spells at instant speed is also key.

Esper Charm - I love charm spells. Esper Charm in particular is useful. At it's base it is an instant speed Divination, and when we need to clear the way against an opponent on fumes in the late game or remove that problematic enchantment it makes those modes available.

Ancient Excavation - I think basic landcycling is a powerful effect to replace a land with for some decks. Ancient Excavation is also powerful when we don't need to cycle it, allowing us to sculpt an ideal hand and stock up our graveyard.

Fact or Fiction - A do-it-all classic draw spell that takes on extra power in our build as a way to play politics or stock the graveyard. If you have a potential ally in the wings, choose him/her to sort your piles and reap the rewards.

Pull from Tomorrow - X draw spells are the heart and soul of this deck. By including 3 of the most powerful iterations of that effect, and all at instant speed, at some point we can start chaining with some degree of success combined with tutors. Pull is a new favorite of mine, as it maintains total card parity for the mana cost when compared with Blue Sun's Zenith, but it helps fuel the graveyard a bit and always digs 1 extra card.

Blue Sun's Zenith - X draw spells are the heart and soul of this deck. By including 3 of the most powerful iterations of that effect, and all at instant speed, at some point we can start chaining with some degree of success combined with tutors. Zenith is a classic, and can be re-used or found with tutor effects for extra value. Very corner case for this build, but it can technically kill opponents as well.

Sphinx's Revelation - X draw spells are the heart and soul of this deck. By including 3 of the most powerful iterations of that effect, and all at instant speed, at some point we can start chaining with some degree of success combined with tutors. Sphinx's Rev, standard all-star and favorite of control players everywhere, just does it all. Not many cards simultaneously bury the opponent in card advantage and pull out of reach of the combat step in the same swing.

Dig Through Time - One of our two Delve spells. Very strong card selection, at instant speed, with cost modifiers. What's not to love?

Rhystic Study - Old Faithful. While this card can be annoying from a gameplay perspective, it is too good not to include. Often draws us 4+ cards.

Underworld Connections - In this deck, I actually prefer to Phyrexian Arena. The arena can eventually put us in awkward spots with our life total, and force us to use removal on our own permanent. Connections let's us draw on our own time, and cancel it whenever we want. Often this deck just has enough gas anyways, so the ability to turn the faucet on and off can be nice, and typically not detrimental to spend 1 mana per turn on it.

Brainstorm - A cantrip effect that is key for enabling our miracles. The more shuffle effects the better, but we are typically saving this for a Miracle setup.

Sensei's Divinining Top - Our most important miracle enabler. Very strong effect that can not only re-order cards to hit a miracle, but also hit miracles on our opponent's turns with the second draw ability. Fantastic Legacy port, one of the more expensive cards I have left in the deck.

Conch Horn - An old school effect that I discovered recently. Another way to enable a miracle similar to a Brainstorm.

Thaumatic Compass - A guaranteed way to hit land drops, that eventually flips into Maze of Ith #2!

Arch of Orazca - Getting value from the land slot is key. While this will rarely be our only way to draw cards, and certainly less efficient than other options, sometimes this can help us out of jams or even just be used to help preserve better draw and use our mana efficiently.

Thawing Glaciers - Slow as hell, but I love that this let's us never miss another land drop. Control decks already don't want to miss land drops, but doubly so with Dakkon as our commander.

Notable Exclusions

Scroll Rack - I own a gold-bordered Rack, but I'm trying to cut those from my decks recently. Also, with the intent of this deck as a 75% deck, some people may not view it that way when I start pimping out like this. That being said, it is the Perfect miracle enabler. Probably need to find a copy.

Land Tax - When I cut Scroll Rack, I cut the Tax as well. It can make games draw in a way that feels actually worse than Sensei's Divining Top sometimes - I feel like I only have so much bandwidth for clunky annoying search effects before I stop enjoying my own deck.

Weathered Wayfarer - Another cut post Scroll Rack. A great card, but I have another deck that fits with the land search theme far better.

Treasure Cruise - A great delve effect, but I feel like without a high fetch count it is too clunky. Dig Through Time is superior and there is only so much room for delve cards.

Alms Collector - I may eventually add this in as Notion Thief #2. It is clearly less powerful than the Thief, but it is not a bad effect. My main issue is that it does nothing against Rhystic Study, Phyrexian Arena, etc type engines that draw 1 card at a time with regularity.

Phyrexian Arena - I love Arena, but I think in this deck it can be a dangerous card. Often we have to take pot shots early from some random jank like Managorger Hydra until we get a reasonable mana to hold up, or some other type of defense. Arena can pressure or kill us while we're trying to win in the long game.

Counter Moves! (Interaction)

Every good performer needs a strong suite of counter moves to block the opponent's signature moves with and get the Billy's goin'. A strong fist batting away the hold, or a menacing stare down to strike fear into our enemies hearts. Both work equally effectively, for some reason?

This category is going to be the largest set for this deck. Essentially the deck is built on having a multitude of answers for any given situation. Proactive removal and reactive counter magic are valued roughly in equal parts.

[[]] -

Notable Exclusions

[[]] -

****

[[]] -

Notable Exclusions

[[]] -

****

[[]] -

Notable Exclusions

[[]] -

****

[[]] -

Notable Exclusions

[[]] -

****

[[]] -

Notable Exclusions

[[]] -

Mana Base

****

[[]] -

Notable Exclusions

[[]] -

Suggestions

Updates Add

Image View Timeline

Card Odds v1 Draw hand

Add to folder Copy

Download / Export / Embed Code

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Comment:

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

Revision 3 See all

(6 years ago)

+1	Arch of Orazca	main
+1	Chasm Skulker	main
+1	Conch Horn	main
+1	Entreat the Angels	main
-1	Island	main
-1	Land Tax	main
+1	Magosi, the Waterveil	main
-1	Phyrexian Arena	main
-1	Plains	main
-1	Scroll Rack	main
-1	Swamp	main
+1	Thirst for Knowledge	main
+1	Underworld Connections	main
+1	Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth	main
-1	Weathered Wayfarer	main
-1	White Sun's Zenith	main

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.13
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Bird 2/2 U, City's Blessing, Squid 1/1 U
Votes
Ignored suggestions
Shared with
Views

Magic the Gathering, FNM is TM and copyright Wizards of the Coast, Inc, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This site is unaffiliated. Articles and comments are user-submitted and do not represent official endorsements of this site.