"The Thing" 1982 Movie Deck

Commander / EDH Budget BUG (Sultai) Casual Eldrazi Investigate Jank Shapeshifter Theme/Gimmick Tokens Vorthos

TheMeadiator

Creature (31)

• 1x Bane of Bala Ged
• 1x Conduit of Ruin
• 1x Deceiver of Form
• 1x Desolation Twin
• 1x Eldrazi Mimic
• 1x Endless One
• 1x Matter Reshaper
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Mockery of Nature
• 1x Drownyard Behemoth
• 1x Vexing Scuttler
• 1x Birthing Hulk
• 1x Slaughter Drone
• 1x Elder Deep-Fiend
• 1x Thing in the Ice  ^Flip
• 1x The Mimeoplasm
• 1x Amoeboid Changeling
• 1x Body Double
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Dimir Doppelganger
• 1x Evil Twin
• 1x Identity Thief
• 1x Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
• 1x Moritte of the Frost
• 1x Progenitor Mimic
• 1x Renegade Doppelganger
• 1x Stunt Double
• 1x Kessig Prowler  ^Flip
• 1x Shrill Howler  ^Flip
• 1x Ulvenwald Captive  ^Flip
• 1x Tangleclaw Werewolf  ^Flip

Land (35)

• 8x Snow-Covered Forest
• 1x Rimewood Falls
• 9x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Ice Tunnel
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Faceless Haven
• 1x Frost Marsh
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shimmerdrift Vale
• 1x Spawning Bed
• 1x Thawing Glaciers
• 7x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Woodland Chasm

Instant (10)

• 1x Confirm Suspicions
• 1x Confront the Unknown
• 1x Deathsprout
• 1x Grave Birthing
• 1x Graven Lore
• 1x Grim Affliction
• 1x Grisly Spectacle
• 1x Induce Paranoia
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Murder

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Rime Transfusion
• 1x Winter's Rest
• 1x From Beyond
• 1x Inexorable Tide
• 1x Marit Lage's Slumber
• 1x Simic Ascendancy

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Blessing of Frost
• 1x Blizzard Brawl
• 1x Blood on the Snow
• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Contentious Plan
• 1x Courage in Crisis
• 1x Fractured Sanity
• 1x Gone Missing
• 1x Growth Spasm
• 1x Into the North
• 1x Press for Answers
• 1x Profane Transfusion
• 1x Root Out

Artifact (4)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Icebind Pillar
• 1x Tamiyo's Journal

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Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Cankerbloom
• 1x Undercover Operative

Instant (3)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Infernal Grasp
• 1x See Double

Artifact (1)

• 1x Smuggler's Copter

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MacReady: Somebody in this camp ain't what he appears to be. Right now that may be one or two of us. By spring, it could be all of us.

Childs: So, how do we know who's human? If I was an imitation, a perfect imitation, how would you know if it was really me?

INTRO I recently rewatched this perfect horror film and was hit with inspiration to make a commander deck based on it. There were actually so many different ways I could have taken this, but this is where it ended up. Halfway through building, I found jabarnes18's John Carpenter’s “The Thing” EDH Deck, which is also brilliant. It was a toss up between Volrath, the Shapestealer and Lazav, Dimir Mastermind as commander, but I ended up with Volrath for the green splash.

MIMICKING THE MOVIE The deck is just one big flavour-bomb. The creatures are all Things in their different forms - shapeshifters are a given, but instead of doing horrors, I chose to go the Eldrazi route. The mechanics are as theme-based as possible: investigate, proliferate, emerge, and making little scuttling scions. The setting is Antarctica, so specific snow spells pack a good wallop too.

Some cards were chosen specifically to mimic scenes in the movie. Profane Transfusion is the closest thing to the blood test scene that I could find. For the dog scene, I wanted to run some basic green wolves or black dogs and hit them with emerge costs, but I liked the flavour of werewolves like Ulvenwald Captive   bursting into crazy things on their own. And though the deck isn't horror based, I included Thing in the Ice   for obvious reasons. Grotesque Mutation doesn't really functionally make sense in here, but the art is just SO GOOD.

PILOTING THE DECK I haven't playtested this at all yet, so tweaks may happen when I do. The general idea is: play small creatures, cloning yours and others', build mana base with scions and card draw with investigate, play Volrath to start throwing -1/-1 counters around, find the big boys and either play or clone them (or play AND clone them), and swing. Win cons are turning sideways and one sneaky little treat in the text of Simic Ascendancy.

SUGGESTIONS I would love any suggestions you may have for making this deck more focused, or more theme-heavy! Cards like Splendid Agony do nothing for the theme, but are functionally nice - so swaps are needed. Same with Simic Ascendancy and Inexorable Tide. Mana rocks like Dimir Signet and Arcane Signet are kind of necessary, but I'd be open to themed ramp instead. Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think!

Top Ranked	Achieved #5 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 23 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.91
Tokens	Clue, Copy Clone, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Eldrazi Horror 3/2 C, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Marit Lage, Horror */* C
Folders	All My Decks, Something Themes Off Here, Bookmarked CMDR, cool, $350 Budget EDH Decks, EDH Decks, Favourites