(DownsizeDownsize | Ryan Pancoast)
Welcome to spring! My name is Ben, and you may know me from Conditions Allow, my article series on EDHREC and Commander's Herald. It is my great pleasure to bring the Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest to EDHREC.
This will be a monthly contest with a different theme each month.
Your goal is to build a Commander legal deck that fulfills the prompt in a creative or unique fashion. At the end of each month, three finalists will be selected for you to vote on.
Whoever gets the most votes will be crowned the winner, although all three finalists receive a prize.
This month, we're getting into the spring cleaning spirit by cutting a color from our decks.
What’s The Contest All About?
Working within the parameters of the prompt provided below, construct a decklist with your own creative spin. Three chosen finalists will be awarded store credit to use on Cardsphere.
For April's deckbuilding contest, construct a Commander-legal deck that uses fewer colors than are in the commander's color identity. You may include lands to cast your commander, but spells and abilities must not require the color you're omitting.
For example, if you choose to build an Izzet deck with Eshki DragonclawEshki Dragonclaw as your commander, you cannot include any cards that require green mana to cast or use, but you can include green lands to cast Eshki. As always, decks will be judged on creativity and originality.
This contest prompt is inspired by the growing list of commanders that don't require all of their colors to be cast. Commanders like Alesha, Who Smiles at DeathAlesha, Who Smiles at Death, Keruga, the MacrosageKeruga, the Macrosage, and Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's SecondJinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second can all helm decks that leave out one color in their identity.
Two color decks often have cheaper mana bases, or you might prefer how a deck with fewer colors plays. Some of these commanders also naturally push you to prioritize one color over the others.
An Alesha deck with no other red cards can more easily optimize it's mana base to pay for her activated ability. On the other hand, you can build Simic Yasova DragonclawYasova Dragonclaw to play the rare theft deck without red.
Of course, you can choose any commander for this challenge, not just ones that abridge their own mana costs. This is a great opportunity to push strategies outside of their normal colors while having support from a strong commander.
Nethroi, Apex of DeathNethroi, Apex of Death can lead a Selesnya reanimator deck, or a Golgari aggro deck that cheats its smaller attackers into play en masse. Raffine, Scheming SeerRaffine, Scheming Seer could make for an interesting Orzhov or even mono black tempo deck.
Perhaps the easiest route to take is to choose a commander that doesn't need to be cast at all. You can easily build a deck of any color with The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon, and Oloro, Ageless AsceticOloro, Ageless Ascetic has been helming mono white lifegain decks for almost as long as Commander's been around.
These commanders tend to be more specific to a creature type or theme, however, so building a creative deck that stands out will be more difficult.
How To Participate
- Brew an EDH/Commander legal deck on Archidekt that satisfies the prompt.
- Any unreleased cards spoiled during the contest’s duration are allowed.
- Silver-bordered and acorn cards, while cool, are not allowed.
- Digital-only cards (such as those designed for the Alchemy format on Arena) are not allowed.
- Strictly one deck submitted per user.
Reply to the Archidekt newspost, or submission post on the Archidekt Discord with a link to your deck before 9:00 pm EST (UTC -5, currently) on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 (do not submit the same deck in multiple places).
Only one submission per user! From the eligible submissions, we'll select three finalists with lists that we believe best embody the spirit of the prompt. Deck descriptions are not required but certainly may provide valuable context!
On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, we’ll announce three finalists via the Archidekt Discord and a brief article on EDHREC highlighting each deck.
Each finalist will be awarded credit to use on Cardsphere. The value of the credit is in US dollars and depends on the finalist's placement in deck upvotes at the end of the week-long polling period:
- 1st Place Prize - $250
- 2nd Place Prize - $150
- 3rd Place Prize - $100
Finalists will be contacted via email or Discord (depending on where they submitted) regarding their winnings within roughly 24 hours following the conclusion of voting on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
Please note, you must have a Cardsphere account in order to receive your winnings. It's quick and free-- register here if you don't have an account already!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or join the Archidekt public Discord server. We look forward to seeing what you all come up with!
Ben Doolittle
Ben was introduced to Magic during Seventh Edition and has played on and off ever since. A Simic mage at heart, he loves being given a problem to solve. When not shuffling cards, Ben can be found lost in a book or skiing in the mountains of Vermont.
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