Anafenza, the ForemostAnafenza, the Foremost| art by James Ryman

Welcome back to Bottom of the Barrel! This is a series where we pick a theme from EDHREC and look at the “bottom of the barrel.” This means that we look at the least played color-combinations and pick a commander in those colors to brew a spicy new deck around!

In honor of Aetherdrift's release, this week's episode is based around a theme that I've never built around before: vehicles! The new "death race" set provides us with a ton a sweet tech for this archetype, and I couldn't wait to brew around it!

Thanks to Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty's vehicle precon, the most popular color combination for this archetype is Azorius (white and blue).

Looking at the "bottom of the barrel", one of the least played color combination for this archetype is Abzan (white, black, and green), with 47 decks in the database.

Seeing this color combination, I immediately thought of an old legend from the original Tarkir block: Anafenza, the ForemostAnafenza, the Foremost.

Anafenza is well known for her "Leyline of the VoidLeyline of the Void"-style ability, but this deck makes her first line of text really shine.

When Anafenza attacks, she can put a +1/+1 counter on another tapped creature, and since crewing a vehicle requires you to tap a creature, this seemed like the perfect match!

Category #1: Kind-of Vehicles (Mounts!)

Our first category acts similarly to our overall vehicle plan, as the new "Mount" sub-type requires us to tap a creature for an additional benefit. Mounts are interesting because they are still creatures that can attack without being saddled.

Because of this, they get around a common vehicle downside: without a creature to crew the vehicle, it usually does nothing.

Unfortunately, being creatures right off the bat also means that mounts are more susceptible to removal, so that's something to keep in mind.

Mounts were introduced in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, but there are a few new ones from Aetherdrift that needed to be in this deck.

Bulwark Ox doubles down on the +1/+1 counter sub-theme and provides our modified creatures with much needed protection; District Mascot provides artifact removal in an adorable package (I mean, just look at him!!); Guardian Sunmare may be the strongest mount in the deck as it provides a consistent tutor effect for nonland permanents under 4 mana value; Seraphic Steed comes down early and provides extra power in the air via 3/3 Angel tokens; and The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride can allow us to draw an absurd amount of cards and put any number of those cards into play if they're lands.

Category #2: Creatures that want to be tapped

Any vehicle deck can benefit from creatures that have triggers when they become tapped, and we are lucky to have a suite of great new options thanks to Duskmourn's "survival" mechanic.

For example: Kona, Rescue Beastie lets us drop any permanent if it is tapped in our second main phase; Rip, Spawn Hunter allows us to dig for more creatures and vehicles; and Reluctant Role Model just gets better and better each time its survival ability triggers!

Outside of these picks from Duskmourn, there are a few other stars of the show: Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero gives us great card draw; Emmara, Soul of the Accord creates a 1/1 soldier token with lifelink (which is nothing to scoff at); Stonybrook Schoolmaster also creates a 1/1 body; Sanwell, Avenger Ace lets us dig for more vehicles; and King Macar, the Gold-Cursed provides removal and a gold token for the low price of untapping him!

Category #3: Creating "Pilots" and/or "Cowboys"

We need creatures to crew our vehicles and saddle our mounts, and outside of that, just having consistent ways to generate creatures is never a bad thing!

Esika's Chariot was a standard all-star for a reason, and it allows us to double up on any creature token that we choose; Virtue of Loyalty lets us create a knight token at instant speed, all while being an absolute power house when we cast the 5-mana side; Parhelion II is expensive, but the pay-off for attacking with it is insane; Valor's Flagship is a fantastic new card that we can cycle in a pinch for some actual pilot tokens; The Prydwen, Steel Flagship gives us benefits for casting artifact spells; March of the Multitudes can create an instant board; Thousand Moons Smithy creates a huge Gnome token, which is hilarious; and Rolling Hamsphere creates hamster tokens, which is also hilarious.

Category #4: The "Secret Spice"

There are 2 cards that round out our "secret spice" category this week, and one of them is a popular finisher in white token decks: Halo Fountain.

This card is an absolute house, and can do just about anything. Need to create a token? Done. Draw a card? Done. Win the game?

Well, harder than the first two, but still an option. With all of the token makers in this deck, getting to 15 creatures should be no problem at all!

Our second "secret spice" is a card that I've been trying to brew around since it was spoiled: Mechtitan Core.

With the sheer amount of vehicles in the deck, creating Mechtitan should be a breeze. The best part about this card?

If Mechtitan somehow gets removed, we get everything we exiled back to the battlefield! (Minus Mechtitan core, but hey, at least we did the cool thing once!)

Closing Thoughts

Now that Aetherdrift is here, it was the perfect time to build this deck. I hope this article builds some excitement for Aetherdrift, and I hope you can use my decklist as inspiration for your own vehicle deck!

This brings us to the end of our sixth edition of Bottom of the Barrel! I hope you enjoyed exploring a lesser-played color-combination in the world of vehicles!

Check out my decklist below!

Nick Benstead

Nick is a full-time educator of America's youth, teaching them to love stories, and write for expression. Outside of teaching, his life is steeped in Magic the Gathering, whether it be through playing commander with his wife, or coming up with wacky brews to take to Friday Night Magic at his local game store.