<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sergeant John Benton" href="#" target="_blank">Sergeant John Benton</a> | Art by Wei Guan
Hello there! Welcome back to Archetypes of Imagination, the weekly series where I build decks based on popular Commander archetypes using <a href="https://tagger.scryfall.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scryfall's tagging system</a> and<a href="https://edhrec.com/tags" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> EDHREC's Tag pages</a>. This week, we'll be building a deck focused on being nice to our opponents, also known as Group Hug. 
Partially inspired by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfG67OLpQoU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spice8Rack's recent video on group hug decks</a>, and partially just because I'm such a nice person, we'll be focusing on helping out the other players at the table this week. There's a ton of great group hug commander options, including the recently released <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ms. Bumbleflower" href="#" target="_blank">Ms. Bumbleflower</a> that Spice talked about. But, I'm looking for a more direct way to win the game - a way to leverage my kindness into victory with ease. So, this train of thought brought me to… <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sergeant John Benton" href="#" target="_blank">Sergeant John Benton</a>!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sergeant John Benton"></div></div>
It's one of the simpler Commander designs in recent memory, but it's certainly a powerful card. For , we get a 2/4 with trample and haste. And, when this creature hits one of our opponents, both us and the opposing player will draw an amount of cards equal to the damage it dealt. While Benton only has two base power, he's got some extremely relevant abilities (trample and haste) that make him a prime target for pump spells. But, we'll also need some ways to protect our commander, because our hybrid voltron-group hug game plan will make Benton a prime target for opposing removal spells. 
It looks like we've got a solid road map for this deck. Let's get brewing
<h2>Pump Spells for Sergeant John Benton</h2>
To find pump spells, <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=commander%3Aselesnya+legal%3Aedh+order%3Aedhrec+%28otag%3Aenlarge+or+otag%3Aboost-power+or+otag%3Agiant-growth+or+otag%3Acombat-trick%29&amp;unique=cards&amp;as=grid&amp;order=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I searched Scryfall</a> for cards tagged with “enlarge,” “combat trick,” “boost power,” and “giant growth.” There were a ton of options, so I'll stick to talking about the best ones for this deck. 
Some of my favorite spells are those that provide some benefit beyond just bumping up Benton's power. For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kaya&#039;s Onslaught" href="#" target="_blank">Kaya&#039;s Onslaught</a> also gives him double strike to make sure our opponents feel really, really, really loved by our commander as he smacks them twice. There's also <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Go Forth" href="#" target="_blank">Go Forth</a>, a newer card that can act as a pump spell or fetch a land in a pinch. Although that'll rarely come up with the amount of cards we'll be drawing, I like having that flexibility. 
Then, one of my favorite combat tricks of all time is here too: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gift of the Viper" href="#" target="_blank">Gift of the Viper</a>. Because Benton has trample, we can ensure that all but one of his power gets dealt to our opponents as combat damage. The interaction between trample and deathtouch is super powerful, so it's great that this spell gives our commander a deathtouch counter to ensure it can keep crashing through for damage turn after turn.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kaya&#039;s Onslaught"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Go Forth"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gift of the Viper"></div></div>
There's also more classic pump spells here, like the ever-useful <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Invigorate" href="#" target="_blank">Invigorate</a> (free spells are always good), the math-intensive <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Exponential Growth" href="#" target="_blank">Exponential Growth</a> (to ensure we're spreading the love), and the hard-to-get-rid-of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gryff&#039;s Boon" href="#" target="_blank">Gryff&#039;s Boon</a> (repeatable evasion and a small power boost work well together).
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Invigorate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exponential Growth"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gryff&#039;s Boon"></div></div>
In case our opponents don't take kindly to our kindness, I've also included a whole host of protection spells. These can be found with the “protects creature” tag on Scryfall, but I chose to focus on cards that could also pump up our commander (and thus only primarily used ones from our <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=commander%3Aselesnya+legal%3Aedh+order%3Aedhrec+%28otag%3Aenlarge+or+otag%3Aboost-power+or+otag%3Agiant-growth+or+otag%3Acombat-trick%29&amp;unique=cards&amp;as=grid&amp;order=edhrec" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previous Scryfall search</a>). 
There's a ton of these, but my favorites include <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vines of Vastwood" href="#" target="_blank">Vines of Vastwood</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Take Up the Shield" href="#" target="_blank">Take Up the Shield</a>, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tyvar&#039;s Stand" href="#" target="_blank">Tyvar&#039;s Stand</a> Vines is a classic, protecting a creature for and giving it +4/+4 if we can pay another . This card is great with or without the kicker, so it's got a slot in this deck. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Take Up the Shield" href="#" target="_blank">Take Up the Shield</a> won me many a Outlaws of Thunder Junction Draft last year, so it's possible I'm biased towards this card. But protecting a creature and giving it lifelink for a turn, while also providing it with a permanent (albeit, small) power and toughness boost is a lot for just one card. 
Lastly, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tyvar&#039;s Stand" href="#" target="_blank">Tyvar&#039;s Stand</a> is a great mana sink should we have some extra on hand, or an on-rate protection spell should that suit the game state better. There's not much more I can ask for from a card.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vines of Vastwood"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Take Up the Shield"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tyvar&#039;s Stand"></div></div>
<h2>Making Use of a Full Hand</h2>
Because we're being so nice to our opponents, our hand will usually be full of cards. Aside from effects like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Reliquary Tower" href="#" target="_blank">Reliquary Tower</a>, it'll be hard to use all of those cards before we have to discard them. There's a few effects in this deck that make good use of a full hand, though, like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nostalgic Dreams" href="#" target="_blank">Nostalgic Dreams</a>. This can let us rebuy our best discarded cards, and any other cards that have happened to make their way to the graveyard over the course of the game (like our pump spells). So, in the late game, if we've got a handful of lands, we can exchange those for our favorite power and toughness boosting effects! 
Should we be more interested in killing our opponents with those cards, we can use <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Inner Calm, Outer Strength" href="#" target="_blank">Inner Calm, Outer Strength</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Empyrial Plate" href="#" target="_blank">Empyrial Plate</a> to do just that.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nostalgic Dreams"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Inner Calm, Outer Strength"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Empyrial Plate"></div></div>
Before I show you the full decklist, I wanted to shout out a pair of cards from Lost Caverns of Ixalan that make a big splash in this deck. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar" href="#" target="_blank">Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sovereign Okinec Ahau" href="#" target="_blank">Sovereign Okinec Ahau</a> pair extremely well together: they provide extra power to our already-buffed creatures, protection from our opponents' interactive spells, and even extra card advantage. 
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sovereign Okinec Ahau"></div></div>
I find it so cool that two cards from the same set work so well in this deck! Those Magic designers really know what they're doing, huh. 
<h2>Sergeant John Benton Group Hug Deck List</h2>
Anyways, as promised, here's the full decklist:
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Archetypes of Imagination - Building a Group Hug Deck" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="&nbsp;
[Commander]
*1 Sergeant John Benton
[/Commander]
&nbsp;
[Enchantments]
*1 Exploration
*1 Gryff&#039;s Boon
*1 Hardy Outlander
*1 Season of Growth
*1 Wild Defiance
[/Enchantments]
&nbsp;
[Instants]
*1 Archdruid&#039;s Charm
*1 Beast Within
*1 Become Immense
*1 Blessed Defiance
*1 Blossoming Defense
*1 Choose Your Weapon
*1 Collective Resistance
*1 Crop Rotation
*1 Defend the Rider
*1 Embiggen
*1 Flare of Faith
*1 Fleeting Flight
*1 Gaea&#039;s Gift
*1 Generous Gift
*1 Giant Growth
*1 Gift of the Viper
*1 Go Forth
*1 Groundswell
*1 Inner Calm, Outer Strength
*1 Inscription of Abundance
*1 Invigorate
*1 Kaya&#039;s Onslaught
*1 Might of Old Krosa
*1 Mortal&#039;s Ardor
*1 Mutagenic Growth
*1 Overprotect
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Prey&#039;s Vengeance
*1 Ram Through
*1 Rustler Rampage
*1 Snakeskin Veil
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Take Up the Shield
*1 Titanic Growth
*1 Tyvar&#039;s Stand
*1 Vines of Vastwood
[/Instants]
&nbsp;
[Creatures]
*1 Avacyn&#039;s Pilgrim
*1 Birds of Paradise
*1 Elvish Mystic
*1 Fyndhorn Elves
*1 Guardian Augmenter
*1 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
*1 Leonin Lightscribe
*1 Llanowar Elves
*1 Monastery Mentor
*1 Nyxborn Hydra
*1 Scrawling Crawler
*1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
*1 Sovereign Okinec Ahau
[/Creatures]
[Sorceries]
*1 Bushwhack
*1 Exponential Growth
*1 Nostalgic Dreams
*1 Phytoburst
*1 Promise of Loyalty
*1 Scale Up
*1 Single Combat
*1 Summer Bloom
[/Sorceries]
&nbsp;
[Artifacts]
*1 Caduceus, Staff of Hermes
*1 Empyrial Plate
[/Artifacts]
[Lands]
*1 Bountiful Promenade
*1 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway
*1 Brushland
*1 Centaur Garden
*12 Forest
*1 Horizon Canopy
*1 Hushwood Verge
*1 Krosan Verge
*1 Overgrown Farmland
*11 Plains
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Sungrass Prairie
*1 Witch&#039;s Clinic
*1 Wooded Bastion
[/Lands]"></div>
<h2>Hit the Road, Jack</h2>
Thanks for reading the latest edition of Archetypes of Imagination! Before you go, I wanted to talk about a few cards that I think really make this deck spectacular. We all know that every deck needs board wipes, but the specific ones you choose can make a big difference. Because this deck cares so much about its commander, it would really love to keep it around even when the rest of the board becomes too threatening. That's why I included <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Single Combat" href="#" target="_blank">Single Combat</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Promise of Loyalty" href="#" target="_blank">Promise of Loyalty</a> as this deck's sweepers. It's not too big of an adjustment from the typical <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrath of God" href="#" target="_blank">Wrath of God</a> I'd slam in a -based deck, but little adjustments like this are my favorite part about EDH deck building!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Single Combat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Promise of Loyalty"></div></div>
Thanks once again for reading! I'll see you all next week, for another edition of Archetypes of Imagination: a group slug deck!

Making a Group Hug Commander Deck With Sergeant John Benton

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">Octavia, Living Thesis</a> | art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/simondominic">Simon Dominic</a></h6>
<h1>Octavia &amp; the Unbloctopuses</h1>
Hello! Hi! How are you? Welcome back to Archetypes of Imagination, the series where I build decks based on popular Commander archetypes. I'll be using <a href="https://tagger.scryfall.com/">Scryfall's tagging system</a> and<a href="https://edhrec.com/tags"> EDHREC's Tag pages</a> to build around a new theme each week.
Scryfall has a really cool way of categorizing cards, where each card has specific labels attached to it for later reference. For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dark Ritual" href="#" target="_blank">Dark Ritual</a> has the ramp tag, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Beast Within" href="#" target="_blank">Beast Within</a> has the removal tag. EDHREC's tag system is really cool, too, letting users see popular cards associated with a given strategy.
For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Storm-Kiln Artist" href="#" target="_blank">Storm-Kiln Artist</a> is great in Spellslinger decks, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Juri, Master of the Revue" href="#" target="_blank">Juri, Master of the Revue</a> is great in sacrifice decks. These tagging systems are great ways to get inspiration for certain deck archetypes, and I often start there when it's time for me to build a new deck!
This week, we'll be building a deck focused on unblockable creatures. Magic's combat system can be so complicated sometimes… wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about any of that?
I think the answer to that question is a resounding yes, so this week, I'll be focusing this week's edition of Archetypes of Imagination on creatures that are hard or impossible for our opponents to block, and then taking advantage of that unblockability. To that end, our commander this week is… <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">Octavia, Living Thesis</a>!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Octavia, Living Thesis"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a> is one of my favorite commanders, letting us turn some do-nothing 1/1 creatures into eight power beaters that'll take our opponents down quickly.
A good <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a> deck needs a few key ingredients: unblockable creatures, instants and sorceries to ensure those creatures are huge, and ways to fill the graveyard with instants and sorceries (so we can cast <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a> for just ). It seems like we've got our work cut out for us, so let's get going with this octo-centric deck!
<h2>Slipping through your fingers</h2>
We certainly aren't starved for unblockable creature options. There's <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=otag%3Aunblockable+commander%3Ablue+order%3Aedhrec&amp;unique=cards&amp;as=grid&amp;order=edhrec">108 creatures in our commander's color identity that are unblockable</a>, and even more that have some sort of evasion. But, we're here to take the best evasive creatures and throw them into the 99 of this deck, so let's talk about some of them.
First,there's the evasive creatures that provide some sort of card advantage or card selection. Cards like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ledger Shredder" href="#" target="_blank">Ledger Shredder</a>, a growing evasive flyer that can fill our graveyard with instants and sorceries, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shoreline Looter" href="#" target="_blank">Shoreline Looter</a>, a similar card selection engine that turns into a card advantage engine as the game goes on, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghostly Pilferer" href="#" target="_blank">Ghostly Pilferer</a>, a card advantage engine, unblockable creature, and discard outlet all-in-one.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ledger Shredder"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Shoreline Looter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ghostly Pilferer"></div></div>
There's also other evasive creatures that provide some sort of benefit beyond being hard to block. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Siren Stormtamer" href="#" target="_blank">Siren Stormtamer</a> is a neat pseudo-counterspell that protects whatever our best creature on board is, ensuring that we feel safe suiting one of our creatures up with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a>'s 8-power buff. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Invisible Stalker" href="#" target="_blank">Invisible Stalker</a> provides a similar amount of safety to go along with unblockability, ensuring it'll be safe from our opponents' single-target removal.
Lastly, there's <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mercurial Spelldancer" href="#" target="_blank">Mercurial Spelldancer</a>. This is one of my favorite cards from Phyrexia: All Will Be One. It can very easily provide copies of noncreature spells, which can combine extremely well with some high-mana-cost spells I'll touch on later in this writeup.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Siren Stormtamer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Invisible Stalker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mercurial Spelldancer"></div></div>
Because so many of our creatures will be punching through for combat damage consistently, I added a few “saboteur” effects to this deck: cards that have an effect when a creature deals combat damage to a player. My personal favorite is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Drake Hatcher" href="#" target="_blank">Drake Hatcher</a>.
Although this creature doesn't have much built in evasion, the threat of it becoming an 8/8 (or possibly even larger if we can trigger its prowess ability) is usually enough to let it connect with an opponent. When it does, we get rewarded with 2/2 <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Drake" href="#" target="_blank">Drake</a> tokens.
If my math is correct, this creature will be a 9/9 after we trigger <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a>'s Magecraft ability and the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Drake Hatcher" href="#" target="_blank">Drake Hatcher</a>'s prowess ability, meaning it'll provide us with 3 2/2 tokens after just one combat step. That's a lot of value attached to one creature.
I also really like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Silent Hallcreeper" href="#" target="_blank">Silent Hallcreeper</a>. Although it can only use each of its abilities once, those abilities are all really strong. Plus, it's naturally unblockable, meaning it'll always get to deal combat damage to a player.
Rounding out this group are <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bident of Thassa" href="#" target="_blank">Bident of Thassa</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Indomitable" href="#" target="_blank">The Indomitable</a>. Both of these provide card draw and some other upside (forced combat for the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bident of Thassa" href="#" target="_blank">“Bident”</a> and a 6/6 trampling body for the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Indomitable" href="#" target="_blank">“Pirate</a>), meaning they'll have some utility beyond extra card advantage.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Drake Hatcher"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Silent Hallcreeper"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Indomitable"></div></div>
<h2>Mill AND discard</h2>
This deck really excels with its commander on the battlefield, as its built around buffing evasive 1/1 creatures into much bigger threats. To get <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a> onto the battlefield early, we need lots of ways to fill the graveyard.
Two of my favorites are the pair of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Deranged Assistant" href="#" target="_blank">Deranged Assistant</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Millikin" href="#" target="_blank">Millikin</a>. These are mana rocks (every deck needs ramp), creatures (meaning <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a> can turn them into 8/8s), and they mill us one card per turn (meaning they get us that much closer to casting our commander).
I've also included a selection of some of Magic's best looters, like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Vryn&#039;s Prodigy" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, Vryn&#039;s Prodigy</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kitsa, Otterball Elite" href="#" target="_blank">Kitsa, Otterball Elite</a>. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, Vryn&#039;s Prodigy" href="#" target="_blank">“Jace”</a> flips into a powerful planeswalker, while <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kitsa, Otterball Elite" href="#" target="_blank">“Kitsa”</a> can provide copies of our best spells.
Speaking of planeswalkers, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Teferi, Master of Time" href="#" target="_blank">Teferi, Master of Time</a> works beautifully in this deck. He can fill the graveyard, control our opponents' best threats, and even allow us to take some extra turns should he survive long enough.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Deranged Assistant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kitsa, Otterball Elite"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Teferi, Master of Time"></div></div>
There's also a few spells that can fill the graveyard, like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fact or Fiction" href="#" target="_blank">Fact or Fiction</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Intrude on the Mind" href="#" target="_blank">Intrude on the Mind</a>. I really like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Intrude on the Mind" href="#" target="_blank">Intrude on the Mind</a> with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a>, because the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thopter" href="#" target="_blank">Thopter</a> token that the spell makes can be another evasive threat for our commander to buff up.
There's also the normal suite of cantrips (<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Consider" href="#" target="_blank">Consider</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Opt" href="#" target="_blank">Opt</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Brainstorm" href="#" target="_blank">Brainstorm</a>, etc.) that can provide some nice card selection while also being cheap enough to cast early and stick around in our graveyard.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fact or Fiction"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Intrude on the Mind"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Consider"></div></div>
Here's the full decklist:
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Unblockable Creatures Deck" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Octavia, Living Thesis
[/Commander]
&nbsp;
[Sorceries]
*1 Careful Study
*1 Chart a Course
*1 Cosmic Epiphany
*1 Gitaxian Probe
*1 Lórien Revealed
*1 Mists of Lórien
*1 Rush of Knowledge
*1 Spectral Deluge
*1 Traverse Eternity
*1 Treasure Cruise
*1 Will of the Temur
*1 Windfall
[/Sorceries]
&nbsp;
[Creatures]
*1 Archmage Emeritus
*1 Blighted Agent
*1 Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft
*1 Deranged Assistant
*1 Drake Hatcher
*1 Faerie Mastermind
*1 Ghostly Pilferer
*1 Giggling Skitterspike
*1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore
*1 Invisible Stalker
*1 Jace, Vryn&#039;s Prodigy // Jace, Telepath Unbound
*1 Kitsa, Otterball Elite
*1 Ledger Shredder
*1 Looter il-Kor
*1 Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
*1 Mercurial Spelldancer
*1 Millikin
*1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
*1 Nightveil Sprite
*1 Ornithopter of Paradise
*1 Pteramander
*1 Shoreline Looter
*1 Silent Hallcreeper
*1 Siren Stormtamer
*1 Slither Blade
*1 Spectral Sailor
*1 Threefold Thunderhulk
*1 Triton Shorestalker
[/Creatures]
&nbsp;
[Lands]
*1 Access Tunnel
*1 Demolition Field
*27 Island
*1 Mystic Sanctuary
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
[/Lands]
&nbsp;
[Instants]
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Brainstorm
*1 Consider
*1 Counterspell
*1 Cryptic Command
*1 Dig Through Time
*1 Fact or Fiction
*1 Frantic Search
*1 Into the Flood Maw
*1 Intrude on the Mind
*1 Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins
*1 Mental Note
*1 Not of This World
*1 Opt
*1 Pongify
*1 Rapid Hybridization
*1 Reality Shift
*1 Reenact the Crime
*1 Resculpt
*1 Silundi Vision // Silundi Isle
*1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
*1 Thought Scour
[/Instants]
&nbsp;
[Artifacts]
*1 Bident of Thassa
*1 Sapphire Medallion
*1 The Indomitable
[/Artifacts]
&nbsp;
[Enchantments]
*1 Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
[/Enchantments]
&nbsp;
[Battles]
*1 Invasion of Arcavios // Invocation of the Founders
[/Battles]
&nbsp;
[Planeswalkers]
*1 Teferi, Master of Time
[/Planeswalkers]
&nbsp;"></div>
<h2>Avenged EIGHTfold</h2>
Thanks for reading this week's column, everyone! Before you go, I wanted to talk about a few ways to take advantage of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Octavia, Living Thesis" href="#" target="_blank">“Octavia”</a>'s super high mana value. Although we'll usually be casting her for just , she still technically costs 10 mana.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Traverse Eternity" href="#" target="_blank">Traverse Eternity</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rush of Knowledge" href="#" target="_blank">Rush of Knowledge</a>, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Will of the Temur" href="#" target="_blank">Will of the Temur</a> can each draw us a truly absurd number of cards should they resolve. My favorite among these is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Will of the Temur" href="#" target="_blank">Will of the Temur</a>, partially because I love Tarkir so much but also because it provides utility beyond simple card draw.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Traverse Eternity"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rush of Knowledge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Will of the Temur"></div></div>
Thanks once again for reading! I'll see you all next week, for my next contribution to this series: a group hug deck!

Archetypes of Imagination - Making an Unblockable Creatures Deck

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a> | art by <a href="https://www.howardlyon.com/">Howard Lyon</a></h6>
<h1>Da Bears</h1>
Hello again! Welcome back to Archetypes of Imagination, a series where I build decks based on popular Commander archetypes. I'll be using <a href="https://tagger.scryfall.com/">Scryfall's tagging system</a> and<a href="https://edhrec.com/tags"> EDHREC's Tag pages</a> to build around a new theme each week. Scryfall has a really cool way of categorizing cards, where each card has specific labels attached to it for later reference. 
For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spellstutter Sprite" href="#" target="_blank">Spellstutter Sprite</a> has the counterspell tag and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Talisman of Dominance" href="#" target="_blank">Talisman of Dominance</a> has the ramp tag. EDHREC's tag system is really cool too, letting users see popular cards associated with a given strategy.
 For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Xorn" href="#" target="_blank">Xorn</a> is great in Treasure decks and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Infectious Inquiry" href="#" target="_blank">Infectious Inquiry</a> is great in infect decks. These tagging systems are great ways to get inspiration for certain deck archetypes, and I often start there when it's time for me to build a new deck!
This week, we'll be building a deck focused on hatebears: creatures that slow down the game and limit the number or kind of actions that players at the table can take. Most hatebears are small, lower cost creatures. A perfect example is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia, Heretic Cathar" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia, Heretic Cathar</a>. 
She slows down our opponents' board development while also being a nice attacker or blocker. But, today's deck won't just be White and it won't just be led by <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia, Heretic Cathar" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia</a>. We'll be building an Abzan () hatebear deck with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a> as the commander!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a> is a super powerful commander. This card lets us play an extra land each turn, sacrifice a disposable permanent for card advantage, and acts as a positively lethal attacker/blocker. 
Plus, on top of all of that, this commander is a hatebear: they make sure that our opponents creatures and (at least some of their) lands come into play tapped. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a> will give us ample access to card advantage and ramp, it's now up to us what we'd like to do with the resource advantage provided by our commander. 
I think, given that our commander lets us play an additional land each turn, we'll make our win condition based on those lands. We've got a pretty simple two part plan: slow down the game with a large collection of hatebears, then cruise to victory with any number of Landfall payoffs. Let's get going!
<h2>There's a fine line between love and hate</h2>
So, even though <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a> is already a pretty cool hatebear, we're filling the deck with a ton of others. One of my personal favorites is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archon of Emeria" href="#" target="_blank">Archon of Emeria</a>, which provides a slightly-worse backup version of our commander and limits each player to just one spell per turn. 
Although we don't have many creatures that can be flashed in on our opponents' turns, thus breaking parity on this restriction, we're totally fine with a slower overall pace of play here. To that end, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kambal, Consul of Allocation" href="#" target="_blank">Kambal, Consul of Allocation</a> will slowly but surely drain our opponents' life totals. 
He should keep our life total high, something that's important given that our opponents will surely want us out of the game with all of the stax pieces we'll be playing. I also really like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist" href="#" target="_blank">Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist</a>. She can either make most of our team completely unblockable, and then act as a neat defensive tool afterwards. That's a lot of value for just three mana.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Archon of Emeria"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kambal, Consul of Allocation"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist"></div></div>
There's a lot more creatures here, so I'll just talk about a few more big hits. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hushbringer" href="#" target="_blank">Hushbringer</a> prevents all creature ETB abilities, which we truly don't mind. We've only got four creatures in the whole deck with relevant ETB triggers. Plus, should we draw one of those creatures and want to make use of their text, we can just sacrifice the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hushbringer" href="#" target="_blank">Hushbringer</a> to <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a>. 
There's also <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archon of Valor&#039;s Reach" href="#" target="_blank">Archon of Valor&#039;s Reach</a>, which may seem a bit ambitious at six mana. But, because our commander lets us play additional lands, we'll usually be getting this big, stax-y creature on the board on turn five or earlier. Having the ability to completely shut off a card type is extremely powerful, and we can make sure to choose a type that'll have little to no effect on our game plan.
 There's also a few one-sided effects in here, like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aven Mindcensor" href="#" target="_blank">Aven Mindcensor</a>. I feel a little bit mean for playing this card, but it fits so well with the gameplan. It slows our opponents down, can be flashed in on one of their turns to get around our <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rule of Law" href="#" target="_blank">Rule of Law</a> effects, and it's an evasive attacker. So, to make a long story short, the card is good.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hushbringer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Archon of Valor&#039;s Reach"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aven Mindcensor"></div></div>
<h2>Land, ho!</h2>
And, once the game is moving at a more comfortable speed, and we've got access to our commander's extra-land-each-turn ability, it's Landfall time. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Avenger of Zendikar" href="#" target="_blank">Avenger of Zendikar</a> is an obvious choice here. It can provide us with a large army of ever-growing creature tokens that our opponents just won't be able to keep up with. 
The same can be said about <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Felidar Retreat" href="#" target="_blank">Felidar Retreat</a>. It'll either pump up our whole team multiple times per turn, or provide some extra bodies should we need them. The brand-new <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mossborn Hydra" href="#" target="_blank">Mossborn Hydra</a> works so well in this deck, especially if it hits the battlefield early. With the extra land drop <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thalia and The Gitrog Monster" href="#" target="_blank">Thalia and The Gitrog Monster</a> provides, this creature can get troublingly large.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Avenger of Zendikar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Felidar Retreat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mossborn Hydra"></div></div>
And, because we're running a full 40 lands (not counting MDFCs), <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Six" href="#" target="_blank">Six</a> is going to be an absolute star in this deck. We've got a few ways to play lands from the graveyard, so using <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Six" href="#" target="_blank">Six</a>'s retrace ability isn't much of a problem at all, and this creature can help us pull other creatures that we sacrificed to our commander back to life.
 This is one of my favorite cards from last year, and I think it should find a slot in just about every green-inclusive Commander deck. There's also a potent combination of cards that each work super well in the 99 of this deck: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Titania, Voice of Gaea" href="#" target="_blank">Titania, Voice of Gaea</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Argoth, Sanctum of Nature" href="#" target="_blank">Argoth, Sanctum of Nature</a>. Both of these cards are great on their own, either providing some disposable tokens + self mill or some incidental lifegain, but are obviously even better when combined. 
I don't normally like putting meld cards in my decks, but I'll make an exception here because both halves of the eventual <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Titania, Gaea Incarnate" href="#" target="_blank">Titania, Gaea Incarnate</a> are great standalone cards.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Six"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Titania, Voice of Gaea"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Argoth, Sanctum of Nature"></div></div>
This week's decklist is a bit pricier than previous ones in this series because of the mana base. It's full of fetch lands and shock lands, largely because of how well fetch lands synergize with Landfall abilities and how great they are when played from the graveyard. 
If you're interested in buying this deck, I encourage you to try out a cheaper mana base first and see if you like the general flow of the deck. Anyways, financial rant over. Here's the full decklist:
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Archetypes of Imagination - Building a Hatebear Commander Deck" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
[/Commander]

[Creatures]
*1 Alms Collector
*1 Archivist of Oghma
*1 Archon of Emeria
*1 Archon of Valor&#039;s Reach
*1 Augur of Autumn
*1 Avacyn&#039;s Pilgrim
*1 Aven Interrupter
*1 Aven Mindcensor
*1 Avenger of Zendikar
*1 Birds of Paradise
*1 Bloom Tender
*1 Boromir, Warden of the Tower
*1 Charismatic Conqueror
*1 Collector Ouphe
*1 Dauntless Dismantler
*1 Deathrite Shaman
*1 Doorkeeper Thrull
*1 Drana and Linvala
*1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
*1 Elves of Deep Shadow
*1 Esper Sentinel
*1 Glissa Sunslayer
*1 Heartwood Storyteller
*1 Hushbringer
*1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
*1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
*1 Manglehorn
*1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
*1 Mossborn Hydra
*1 Mosswood Dreadknight // Dread Whispers
*1 Ohran Frostfang
*1 Opposition Agent
*1 Scute Swarm
*1 Serra Paragon
*1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
*1 Six
*1 Springheart Nantuko
*1 Tireless Provisioner
*1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
*1 Titania, Voice of Gaea
*1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
*1 Wandering Archaic // Explore the Vastlands
*1 Windborn Muse
*1 Yasharn, Implacable Earth
[/Creatures]

[Sorceries]
*1 Agadeem&#039;s Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
*1 Ascend from Avernus
*1 Life from the Loam
*1 Retribution of the Meek
*1 Toxic Deluge
[/Sorceries]

[Instants]
*1 Anguished Unmaking
*1 Assassin&#039;s Trophy
*1 Entish Restoration
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Revitalizing Repast // Old-Growth Grove
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Tear Asunder
[/Instants]

[Lands]
*1 Argoth, Sanctum of Nature
*1 Arid Mesa
*1 Bloodstained Mire
*1 Bountiful Promenade
*1 Command Tower
*1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
*1 Exotic Orchard
*1 Flagstones of Trokair
*1 Flooded Strand
*5 Forest
*1 Godless Shrine
*1 Indatha Triome
*1 Lush Portico
*1 Marsh Flats
*1 Misty Rainforest
*1 Overgrown Farmland
*1 Overgrown Tomb
*5 Plains
*1 Polluted Delta
*1 Prismatic Vista
*5 Swamp
*1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
*1 Temple Garden
*1 Undergrowth Stadium
*1 Vault of Champions
*1 Verdant Catacombs
*1 Windswept Heath
*1 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]

[Enchantments]
*1 Felidar Retreat
*1 Walk-In Closet // Forgotten Cellar
[/Enchantments]

[Artifacts]
*1 Conduit of Worlds
[/Artifacts]"></div>
<h1></h1>
<h2>The machine marches on…</h2>
That's it for this week, folks! Before you go, though, I wanted to chat about a few pieces of recursion that make the deck more resilient. One of my personal favorites is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Conduit of Worlds" href="#" target="_blank">Conduit of Worlds</a>. This is a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Crucible of Worlds" href="#" target="_blank">Crucible of Worlds</a> effect with upside, and I think this card will work fantastically with all the lands we'll be sacrificing to our commander. Notably, this is the only artifact that I included in this deck.
 That just makes cards like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heartwood Storyteller" href="#" target="_blank">Heartwood Storyteller</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Collector Ouphe" href="#" target="_blank">Collector Ouphe</a> even better. I also really like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Agadeem&#039;s Awakening" href="#" target="_blank">Agadeem&#039;s Awakening</a>. If you've read any of my writing before, you'll know I love MDFCs (maybe even a little bit too much). But this card can either be an extremely powerful reanimation spell OR an untapped -generating land. What more can you ask for? 
Lastly, I wanted to show off <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Serra Paragon" href="#" target="_blank">Serra Paragon</a>. This is another card that I think should see more play. This card is already a relatively efficient attacker/blocker, but then we also get to recur a land or a small permanent on EACH turn AND gain life when that permanent dies later. This card does a little bit of everything, and fits so well in the 99 of our deck.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Crucible of Worlds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Agadeem&#039;s Awakening"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Serra Paragon"></div></div>
Thanks for reading! I'll see you all next week for a deck based around unblockable creatures.

Archetypes of Imagination - Making a Hatebear Deck

Archetypes of Imagination - Making a Flicker Deck

Archetypes of Imagination - Making a Card Draw Deck

Archetypes of Imagination - Making a Death Triggers Deck

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria, Riptide Rogue</a> | Art by <a href="https://borjapindado.com/">Borja Pindado</a></h6>
<h2>One odd otter</h2>
Hello! Welcome to Archetypes of Imagination, a brand new series where I'll be building decks based on popular Commander archetypes. I'll be using<a href="https://tagger.scryfall.com/"> Scryfall's tagging system</a> and<a href="https://edhrec.com/tags"> EDHREC's Tag pages</a> to build around a new theme each week. 
Scryfall has a really cool way of categorizing cards, where each card has specific labels attached to it for later reference. For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivate" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivate</a> has the ramp tag and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Carrion Feeder" href="#" target="_blank">Carrion Feeder</a> has the sacrifice outlet tag. EDHREC's tag system is really cool too, letting users see popular cards associated with a given strategy. 
For example, the toughness matters tag shows users that <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wall of Denial" href="#" target="_blank">Wall of Denial</a> works well with the strategy and the Blink tag does the same for <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ephemerate" href="#" target="_blank">Ephemerate</a>.
This week, we'll be taking some really, really long turns. We're building a deck based around cantrips! For those who don't know, a card is considered a cantrip when it provides its caster with a card draw in addition to some other effects.
 One famous example, which you'll see in this week's full decklist, is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Opt" href="#" target="_blank">Opt</a>. There's tons of commanders that work well with cantrips, especially cantrips that happen to be instants or sorceries, and I'm pretty happy with the one I picked. From Bloomburrow, my favorite recent set, this deck's commander is… <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria, Riptide Rogue</a>!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bria, Riptide Rogue"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a> provides all of our creatures prowess, meaning they'll get temporarily bigger when we cast a noncreature spell. 
She also makes one of our creatures unblockable for a turn when we cast a noncreature spell, meaning that they'll be able to chip in for damage with their buffed-up power and toughness. 
While <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a>'s abilities encourage a somewhat straight-forward gameplan, there's still a lot of room for creativity in this decklist. Let's get going, and I'll show you what I mean!
<h3>On the prowl…</h3>
Because <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a> gives all of our creatures prowess, we want to ensure that we've got a relatively wide board to capitalize on that ability. 
But, we also need to ensure that we've got enough noncreature spells in the deck to actually trigger that prowess. Some of you may already know where I'm going within this: token creators! 
There's a ton of creatures in Izzet colors that make tokens when we cast instants and sorceries, so I've included a whole host of them here.
My favorite is the ever-popular <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shark Typhoon" href="#" target="_blank">Shark Typhoon</a>. Not only is this a noncreature spell (which will trigger prowess), but it makes big, evasive creature tokens.
 I also think that <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Young Pyromancer" href="#" target="_blank">Young Pyromancer</a> is an all-star here. It only costs two mana, meaning that we can have it hit the board well before our commander, and start churning out tokens as early as turn two. 
Lastly, I'm a big fan of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Drake Hatcher" href="#" target="_blank">Drake Hatcher</a>. I know this card came out recently, but I don't think it got nearly the amount of popularity it's due.
 This creature has prowess already, and our commander will give it a second instance of prowess, meaning it'll grow by +2/+2 for every noncreature spell we cast. 
And, it acts as a sneaky efficient way to make evasive tokens at any time. This is the exact kind of card I want to play in my commander decks, and I think this deck is a perfect home for it.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Shark Typhoon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Young Pyromancer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Drake Hatcher"></div></div>
Just like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Drake Hatcher" href="#" target="_blank">Drake Hatcher</a>, there's a cadre of creatures that already have prowess (or an ability that's very close to it) in the 99 of this deck. 
Another card I think is underplayed finds a slot here: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Khenra Spellspear" href="#" target="_blank">Khenra Spellspear</a>. With our commander out, and this creature transformed, it has three separate instances of prowess. With just one noncreature spell cast, that means we've got a 6/6 trampler with ward . 
The rate only gets better from there. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kiln Fiend" href="#" target="_blank">Kiln Fiend</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Crackling Cyclops" href="#" target="_blank">Crackling Cyclops</a>, and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slickshot Show-Off" href="#" target="_blank">Slickshot Show-Off</a> are all very similar, growing progressively larger when we cast certain types of spells.
 Plus, because our commander can make some of our creatures unblockable, meaning that the less evasive creatures from among this bunch can be sure to punch through for damage. 
Lastly, I wanted to shout out <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Balmor, Battlemage Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Balmor, Battlemage Captain</a>. This is, essentially, a cheaper and slightly-worse version of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a>. 
He provides +1/+0 to our whole team when we cast an instant or sorcery (slightly worse than <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a>'s +1/+1), and provides our whole team trample (arguably on par with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a>'s ability to make one creature unblockable at a time).
If our commander ever becomes too expensive to recast, or is otherwise locked out of the game, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Balmor, Battlemage Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Balmor, Battlemage Captain</a> is a great second option.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Khenra Spellspear"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kiln Fiend"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Balmor, Battlemage Captain"></div></div>
<h3>Dancing the can-can</h3>
This deck is, at its core, based around cantrips. So, let's talk about a few of the best ones I've included. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Crimson Wisps" href="#" target="_blank">Crimson Wisps</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Expedite" href="#" target="_blank">Expedite</a> are functionally identical cards, and the ability to provide haste to any one of our creatures (particularly a creature with an instance of double prowess), can be game-ending when combined with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a>'s ability to make one of our creatures unblockable. 
If we can land a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kiln Fiend" href="#" target="_blank">Kiln Fiend</a> on the board, make it unblockable, and give it haste, we can easily knock out a player in the late game. 
I also wanted to point out the inclusion of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychotic Fury" href="#" target="_blank">Psychotic Fury</a>, which can provide double strike to our commander and a select few other creatures in the deck. When combined with a pump effect like prowess, double strike is obviously immensely powerful in this deck. 
There's a bunch of other cantrips too, like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Opt" href="#" target="_blank">Opt</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thought Scour" href="#" target="_blank">Thought Scour</a>, but those cards just aren't as much fun as the others I've mentioned.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Crimson Wisps"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Expedite"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Psychotic Fury"></div></div>
There's also a small package of cards that care about our graveyard, all of which work quite well together. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dragon&#039;s Rage Channeler" href="#" target="_blank">Dragon&#039;s Rage Channeler</a> will provide some nice card selection while also becoming a threatening attacker as the game goes on.
 <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Haughty Djinn" href="#" target="_blank">Haughty Djinn</a> will reduce the cost of our most important spells, while also becoming huge as the game goes on. And, should we need a boatload of tokens, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rise from the Tides" href="#" target="_blank">Rise from the Tides</a> can provide that easily.
 Combined with some cantrips to fill the graveyard (like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Consider" href="#" target="_blank">Consider</a>, these cards will be super effective here).
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragon&#039;s Rage Channeler"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Haughty Djinn"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rise from the Tides"></div></div>
Lastly, I wanted to talk about a few cards in the deck that provide extra combat steps. Every extra combat card in this deck is either an instant or a sorcery, meaning that they all trigger prowess. 
Because prowess lasts until the end of the turn, our creatures will keep their pumped-up stats for all the combat steps we go through. 
Again, because of the immense power of double strike, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Savage Beating" href="#" target="_blank">Savage Beating</a> is one of the top choices here. 
For 7 mana, we can push through a crazy amount of damage with a sufficiently wide board of creatures. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="World at War" href="#" target="_blank">World at War</a> is great too, providing a cast trigger twice (triggering prowess again)! 
And, a new addition, Aetherdrift's <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Full Throttle" href="#" target="_blank">Full Throttle</a> can provide two extra combats for the price of one card. That's really strong, and I think this card will become an instant staple in EDH.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Savage Beating"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="World at War"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Full Throttle"></div></div>
And, here's the full decklist:
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Archetypes of Imagination - Building a Cantrip Deck" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Bria, Riptide Rogue
[/Commander]

[Instants]
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Brainstorm
*1 Consider
*1 Counterspell
*1 Crimson Wisps
*1 Cryptic Command
*1 Disdainful Stroke
*1 Expedite
*1 Fists of Flame
*1 Flame of Anor
*1 Frantic Search
*1 Great Train Heist
*1 Leap
*1 Mental Note
*1 Opt
*1 Pongify
*1 Psychotic Fury
*1 Rapid Hybridization
*1 Rush of Inspiration // Crackling Falls
*1 Savage Beating
*1 Strix Serenade
*1 Swan Song
*1 Thought Scour
*1 Untimely Malfunction
[/Instants]

[Creatures]
*1 Archmage Emeritus
*1 Balmor, Battlemage Captain
*1 Crackling Cyclops
*1 Dragon&#039;s Rage Channeler
*1 Drake Hatcher
*1 Goblin Electromancer
*1 Harmonic Prodigy
*1 Haughty Djinn
*1 Khenra Spellspear // Gitaxian Spellstalker
*1 Kiln Fiend
*1 Murmuring Mystic
*1 Pinnacle Monk // Mystic Peak
*1 Slickshot Show-Off
*1 Stormcatch Mentor
*1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
*1 Third Path Iconoclast
*1 Valley Floodcaller
*1 Veyran, Voice of Duality
*1 Young Pyromancer
[/Creatures]

[Sorceries]
*1 Blasphemous Act
*1 Chart a Course
*1 Crash Through
*1 Enter the Enigma
*1 Full Throttle
*1 Gitaxian Probe
*1 Haze of Rage
*1 Jeska&#039;s Will
*1 Ponder
*1 Preordain
*1 Relentless Assault
*1 Renegade Tactics
*1 Rise from the Tides
*1 Season of Weaving
*1 Serum Visions
*1 Slip Through Space
*1 Warlord&#039;s Fury
*1 World at War
[/Sorceries]

[Lands]
*1 Cascade Bluffs
*1 Ferrous Lake
*1 Fiery Islet
*12 Island
*11 Mountain
*1 Otawara, Soaring City
*1 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
*1 Riverpyre Verge
*1 Shivan Reef
*1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
*1 Stormcarved Coast
*1 Training Center
[/Lands]

[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Izzet Signet
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Talisman of Creativity
[/Artifacts]

[Enchantments]
*1 Shark Typhoon
[/Enchantments]"></div>
<h3><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wave Goodbye" href="#" target="_blank">Wave Goodbye</a></h3>
That's it for this week, everyone! I really like this deck, as it's a more focused version of a classic Spellslinger deck. 
Instead of just casting spells and hoping to eventually find a wincon like, this deck goes for our opponents' life totals aggressively.
 I think that's a more fun way to build this archetype of deck, as it avoids the bad feelings that result from long turns without game state advancement.
I'd love to know: who's your favorite Spellslinger commander? <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bria, Riptide Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Bria</a>'s probably my new favorite, for all the reasons I listed above and because she's from my favorite set from last year. Let me know your favorite in the comments below!
I'll see you all next week, when we make a deck focused on death triggers!

Archetypes of Imagination - Making a Cantrip Commander Deck

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Visionary</a>| art by <a href="https://danscottart.com/">Dan Murayama Scott</a></h6>
<h2>Which <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=Niv-Mizzet">Niv-Mizzet</a> is it?</h2>
Hello! Welcome to Archetypes of Imagination, a brand new series where I'll be building decks based on popular Commander archetypes. I'll be using<a href="https://tagger.scryfall.com/"> Scryfall's tagging system</a> and<a href="https://edhrec.com/tags"> EDHREC's Tag pages</a> to build around a new theme each week.
 Scryfall has a really cool way of categorizing cards, where each card has specific labels attached to it for later reference. For example, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrath of God" href="#" target="_blank">Wrath of God</a> has the sweeper tag and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mirari&#039;s Wake" href="#" target="_blank">Mirari&#039;s Wake</a> has the mana increaser tag. EDHREC's tag system is really cool too, letting users see popular cards associated with a given strategy. 
The Equipment tag shows users that <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Puresteel Paladin" href="#" target="_blank">Puresteel Paladin</a> works well with the strategy and the Landfall tag does the same for <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rampaging Baloths" href="#" target="_blank">Rampaging Baloths</a>.
This week, we'll use those two systems to build a Commander deck centered around everybody's favorite 60-card archetype: burn! Burn can sometimes struggle to keep up in a format with three players who each start with 40 life, but I've got some plans that should power this strategy up well. 
To that end, I've chosen a super cool commander: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Visionary</a>!
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary"></div></div>
This is Niv's seventh appearance on a Magic: The Gathering card, which is quite something. I do think that this version is my favorite so far, and that's coming from someone who played <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Parun" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Parun</a> in cEDH for years.
 And, hilariously, this version of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv</a> goes infinite with two of his previous iterations. Check out these combos from Commander Spellbook, a database with information on over 40,000 EDH combos:
<div id="2353-6092" style="width: 100%; position: relative; overflow: visible; display: flex; justify-content: center;"><img decoding="async" id="csbLoad" src="https://commanderspellbook.com/images/gear.svg" alt="csb logo" width="300" /> 
<script id="2353-6092" src="https://commanderspellbook.com/embed.js?v=1&uses=%5B%22Niv-Mizzet%2C%20Visionary%22%2C%22Niv-Mizzet%2C%20Parun%22%5D&requires=%5B%5D&produces=%5B%22Near-infinite%20damage%22%2C%22Infinite%20card%20draw%22%2C%22Infinite%20draw%20triggers%22%5D&id=2353-6092&color=UR&extraRequirementCount=1"></script></div>
&nbsp;
<div id="4971-6092" style="width: 100%; position: relative; overflow: visible; display: flex; justify-content: center;"><img decoding="async" id="csbLoad" src="https://commanderspellbook.com/images/gear.svg" alt="csb logo" width="300" /> 
<script id="4971-6092" src="https://commanderspellbook.com/embed.js?v=1&uses=%5B%22Niv-Mizzet%2C%20Visionary%22%2C%22Niv-Mizzet%2C%20the%20Firemind%22%5D&requires=%5B%5D&produces=%5B%22Near-infinite%20damage%22%2C%22Infinite%20card%20draw%22%2C%22Infinite%20draw%20triggers%22%5D&id=4971-6092&color=UR&extraRequirementCount=1"></script></div>
&nbsp;
That aside, let's talk about <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Visionary" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Visionary</a>. This card wants us to do non-combat damage to our opponents, rewarding us with tons of card draw when we do so. So, I've packed this deck with lots of ways to ping our opponents for little bits of damage, lots of ways to hit them hard with big amounts of damage, and leaned hard into an Izzet spellslinger theme this week. I'm excited to show you what I've come up with, so let's go!
Burn, baby! Burn!
This deck is focused heavily on instants and sorceries, having a total of 32 cards that fall into those categories. And, out of those cards, 11 of them can deal damage directly to our opponents. My favorite from this sub-group is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fiery Confluence" href="#" target="_blank">Fiery Confluence</a>, which can act as a board wipe, a way to hit our opponents in the face, and even some targeted artifact removal. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cave-In" href="#" target="_blank">Cave-In</a> is from all the way back in 1999's Mercadian Masques, and can draw us a total of 6 cards for free if we cast it with our commander on the field. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wheel of Misfortune" href="#" target="_blank">Wheel of Misfortune</a> is extremely interesting too, adding even more complexity to its already-difficult mini-game by punishing our opponents who pick a high number. If one of our opponents wants to outbid us so that they can draw a full seven-card hand, then we'll be be drawing a ton of extra cards.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fiery Confluence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cave-In"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wheel of Misfortune"></div></div>
And, with all the instants and sorceries we'll be casting, there's some sweet payoffs to let us draw even more cards. My favorite pinger in the deck is <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Coruscation Mage" href="#" target="_blank">Coruscation Mage</a>, acting as a typical two-mana one-damage pinger with the option to become a four-mana two-damage pinger if we cast it later in the game. 
I think <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch" href="#" target="_blank">Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch</a> is another fantastic card, both pinging our opponents whenever we cast a spell and rebuying a card at random on each of our turns. 
And, as a pretty cool storm enabler, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urabrask" href="#" target="_blank">Urabrask</a> is here too. This Praetor will ping our opponents, as most of the creatures in this deck do, while also providing us some extra mana to keep slinging spells. And, should we choose to, he can flip into a saga that synergizes perfectly with our deck.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Coruscation Mage"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urabrask"></div></div>
But, I hear you asking, what if we run out of instants and sorceries to cast? Well, I hope that never happens. But, in case it does, there's a few other ways to deal noncombat damage to our opponents.
 One of my favorite cards from last year, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Razorkin Needlehead" href="#" target="_blank">Razorkin Needlehead</a> will ensure at least one point of noncombat damage on each of our opponents' turns, and will usually provide even more pings as they inevitably take game actions. 
I also love <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scalding Viper" href="#" target="_blank">Scalding Viper</a>, a creature that can hit our opponents pretty easily combined with a (somewhat lackluster) removal spell. 
While neither half of this card is absolutely stunning, the two halves combine to make a pretty good whole. Lastly, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Descent into Avernus" href="#" target="_blank">Descent into Avernus</a> has a slot here too.
 This card can speed up the game drastically, lowering life totals and raising the amount of mana available to players. We break parity on this card easily, drawing a boatload of cards once we have our commander and this card on the board together
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Razorkin Needlehead"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Scalding Viper"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Descent into Avernus"></div></div>
Now that's a <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gut Shot" href="#" target="_blank">Gut Shot</a>!
So, we'll be dealing a lot of noncombat damage to everyone at the table. But, most of that damage is coming in small increments (usually in ones). Let's see what we can do to bump those numbers up. Foundations' <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Twinflame Tyrant" href="#" target="_blank">Twinflame Tyrant</a> is an awesome card, doubling damage dealt to our opponents and providing a combat-relevant 3/5 flying creature all for just five mana! 
Not to sound like a broken record, but this is yet another of my favorite cards from the past year. There's another damage doubler here too: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus" href="#" target="_blank">Solphim, Mayhem Dominus</a>. 
Again, this creature can double damage while also acting as a pretty big 5/4 creature. Plus, this one can defend itself from removal at the low cost of discarding two cards, paying four life, and paying one mana. 
Lastly, there's <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might" href="#" target="_blank">Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might</a>. This card is fantastic, usually quadrupling the damage that we'll be dealing to our opponents. 
And, much like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus" href="#" target="_blank">Solphim</a>, this card is quite hard for our opponents to get rid of permanently.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Twinflame Tyrant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might"></div></div>
Here's the full decklist:
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Archetypes of Imagination - Burn" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="&nbsp;
[Commander]
*1 Niv-Mizzet, Visionary
[/Commander]
&nbsp;
[Creatures]
*1 Archmage Emeritus
*1 Archmage of Runes
*1 Ashling, Flame Dancer
*1 Chandra&#039;s Incinerator
*1 Coruscation Mage
*1 Electrostatic Field
*1 Erebor Flamesmith
*1 Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
*1 Firebrand Archer
*1 Goblin Electromancer
*1 Guttersnipe
*1 Harmonic Prodigy
*1 Kessig Flamebreather
*1 Laboratory Maniac
*1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
*1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
*1 Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power
*1 Pink Horror
*1 Psychosis Crawler
*1 Razorkin Needlehead
*1 Scalding Viper // Steam Clean
*1 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
*1 Stormcatch Mentor
*1 The Locust God
*1 Thermo-Alchemist
*1 Twinflame Tyrant
*1 Unruly Catapult
*1 Urabrask // The Great Work
*1 Veyran, Voice of Duality
[/Creatures]
&nbsp;
[Instants]
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Brainstorm
*1 Desperate Ritual
*1 Fierce Guardianship
*1 Flame of Anor
*1 Frantic Search
*1 Ghostfire Slice
*1 Gut Shot
*1 Into the Flood Maw
*1 Lightning Bolt
*1 Opt
*1 Pongify
*1 Pyretic Ritual
*1 Rush of Inspiration // Crackling Falls
*1 Seething Song
*1 Untimely Malfunction
[/Instants]
&nbsp;
[Sorceries]
*1 Boltwave
*1 Cave-In
*1 End the Festivities
*1 Fiery Confluence
*1 Flame Rift
*1 Gitaxian Probe
*1 Inner Fire
*1 Jeska&#039;s Will
*1 Mana Geyser
*1 Ponder
*1 Rite of Flame
*1 Season of Weaving
*1 Slagstorm
*1 Tectonic Hazard
*1 Wheel of Misfortune
[/Sorceries]
&nbsp;
[Enchantments]
*1 Descent into Avernus
*1 Ominous Seas
[/Enchantments]
&nbsp;
[Lands]
*1 Cascade Bluffs
*1 Command Tower
*1 Ferrous Lake
*1 Fiery Islet
*12 Island
*11 Mountain
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
*1 Riverpyre Verge
*1 Shivan Reef
*1 Stormcarved Coast
*1 Sulfur Falls
*1 Training Center
[/Lands]
&nbsp;
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Thought Vessel
[/Artifacts]
&nbsp;"></div>
Some of you may notice upon looking at this list that there's very few mana rocks. This is on purpose, I promise! For a spellslinger deck, I much prefer to run rituals. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mana Geyser" href="#" target="_blank">Mana Geyser</a> has much more synergy with the rest of this deck than something like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Izzet Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Izzet Signet</a>. 
Plus, I get to run some super cool, powerful rituals like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Inner Fire" href="#" target="_blank">Inner Fire</a> that can provide enough mana to end the game outright.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mana Geyser"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Izzet Signet"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Inner Fire"></div></div>
<h2><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fiery Finish" href="#" target="_blank">Fiery Finish</a></h2>
Thanks for reading this week's edition of Archetypes of Imagination! Before you go, I wanted to talk about a few of my favorite cards in the deck. I like <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archmage Emeritus" href="#" target="_blank">Archmage Emeritus</a>, but I love <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archmage of Runes" href="#" target="_blank">Archmage of Runes</a>. It's exactly the kind of big, dumb five-mana creature that I think commander is all about. 
I think that <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chandra&#039;s Incinerator" href="#" target="_blank">Chandra&#039;s Incinerator</a> is great in this deck too, both as an easy-to-cast big creature and as a payoff for all the noncombat damage we'll be dishing out. Finally, I also wanted to shoutout <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ashling, Flame Dancer" href="#" target="_blank">Ashling, Flame Dancer</a>.
 This card does everything that this deck wants out of a creature: it adds mana, burns our opponents, and even provides card selection.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Archmage of Runes"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chandra&#039;s Incinerator"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ashling, Flame Dancer"></div></div>
I'll see you all next week, when I build another EDH deck centered around cantrips!

Cooper Gottfried