Deckbuilding Contest Finalists - October 2025

by
Jeremy Cassidy
Jeremy Cassidy
Deckbuilding Contest Finalists - October 2025

Surprise DeploymentSurprise Deployment | Art by Bradley Williams

It's time to announce the finalists for this month's Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest!

In case you missed the announcement post, this is a monthly contest with a different theme each time. The 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.

As a reminder, this month's prompt was to brew a Commander-legal deck that features a "jumpscare." In other words, decks should appear to be doing one thing, then quickly shift in an unexpected and threatening direction.

We collected submissions from the Archidekt newspost and evaluated them based on their creativity and originality.

Now, it's your turn to decide who'll be crowned the winner.

Read about each deck list below, then visit your favorite and upvote them on Archidekt. Whoever has the most upvotes by Wednesday, October 22, 2025 will be the winner, and receive $250 credit to cardsphere.com.

Second and third place will receive $150 and $100 cardsphere.com credits, respectively.

Finally, here are the three finalists chosen for this month's contest, presented in no particular order. Follow the link in each deck list to vote on your favorite!

Beware the Hidden Cellarspawn by erisaurolophus


Beware the Hidden Cellarspawn

View on Archidekt

Commander (1)

Cost Reduction (16)

Secret Commander (1)

Recursion (7)

Removal (8)

Big Cheatable (10)

Draw (8)

Tutor (8)

Mill (3)

Lifegain (1)

Copy (1)

Lands (36)

Kethis, the Hidden Hand

When someone pulls out a Kethis, the Hidden HandKethis, the Hidden Hand deck, you're probably expecting to see powerful legendary creatures, some legends-matter effects, and maybe a bit of self-mill. That is, in fact, how a game with erisaurolophus' deck is likely to start.

Ancient Cellarspawn

Then they tutor for Ancient CellarspawnAncient Cellarspawn.

Serah Farron
Honest Rutstein
Alisaie Leveilleur

Suddenly, you realize that every piece of ramp they've played has come in the form of cost reduction. Not only are their spells dirt cheap to cast, each one is triggering Ancient CellarspawnAncient Cellarspawn and hitting someone for a few damage.

"Okay, no big deal," you think to yourself. "It's only a few damage at a time and they have three opponents to work their way through."

Gorex, the Tombshell
Ghalta, Primal Hunger
The Capitoline Triad

Then they cast a Diamond WeaponDiamond Weapon for . Next a The Cauldron of EternityThe Cauldron of Eternity for . Then — good grief, is that a free Excalibur, Sword of EdenExcalibur, Sword of Eden?

Now you're getting domed for six or more left and right and you begin to question what choices in life brought you to this moment.

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle
Bortuk Bonerattle
Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Removing Ancient CellarspawnAncient Cellarspawn will certainly help, but erisaurolophus has come prepared with a suite of recursion spells. Unfortunately for you, most are legendary so they can be recurred themselves by Kethis should the need arise.

This is an incredibly synergistic deck that does little to give away the jumpscare until one of its many tutors can grab it. Check out erisaurolophus' description in the Archidekt link for additional details!

Omenpath to Zendikar by Pandalk


Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds - Omenpath to Zendikar

View on Archidekt

Commander (1)

Copy (15)

Draw (14)

Land Animation (9)

Ramp (4)

Removal (4)

Tutor (8)

Recursion (1)

Ally (7)

Lands (37)

Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds

"So that Ancient CellarspawnAncient Cellarspawn deck is pretty spooky," you reflect, "but at least Pandalk is just playing a cute Allies deck. Making token copies of Allies with cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror BreakerKiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker then copying those tokens with Ghired, Mirror of the WildsGhired, Mirror of the Wilds is pretty clever!"

Harabaz Druid
Turntimber Ranger
Splinter Twin

It is pretty clever. So clever and effective on its own that surely it's the only thing the deck has going on... right?

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Then the Valakut, the Molten PinnacleValakut, the Molten Pinnacle drops.

Haru, Hidden Talent
Vastwood Animist
Embodiment of Fury

You might initially dismiss it as a flavor inclusion in this Zendikar-heavy list, but warning bells should start going off when Valakut is animated into a creature with something like Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent. Those bells should turn into air-raid sirens when Pandalk makes a copy of the animated Valakut with their Kiki-Jiki, Mirror BreakerKiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker effects and then copies that copy with Ghired.

Staring down the barrel of several Valakuts, you realize that all Pandalk needs to do is animate a humble MountainMountain, copy it, then copy that token copy to trigger each of their Valakuts multiple times.

What initially appeared as a slightly off-beat Allies list is now threatening lethal with a gaggle of Valakuts that probably shouldn't be allowed to exist but do anyway because WotC didn't like making lands legendary for a bit.

Pir's Whim
Kura, the Boundless Sky
Toph, the First Metalbender

With plenty of land tutors like Pir's WhimPir's Whim and Kura, the Boundless SkyKura, the Boundless Sky, and because earthbending returns destroyed and exiled lands to play for some reason, this is a remarkably consistent and resilient list.

Check out Pandalk's description in the Archidekt link for more about it!

All the Legends... All at Once! by ryankgress


All the Legends... All at Once!

View on Archidekt

Commander (1)

Haunted House (2)

Hall of Legends (42)

Removal (5)

Land Tutor (7)

Backup Bands (6)

Draw (5)

Lands (33)

General Marhault Elsdragon

You look to your final opponent in this hellscape of a game you've found yourself in and breathe a sigh of relief. General Marhault ElsdragonGeneral Marhault Elsdragon is a pretty straightforward card, so surely ryankgress is playing a run-of-the-mill Gruul aggro list. Finally, someone normal!

Bard Class
Reki, the History of Kamigawa
Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard

You spot a Bard ClassBard Class and Reki, the History of KamigawaReki, the History of Kamigawa — there must be a legendary subtheme. Cute, but not overly worrisome.

Nemesis Mask
Taunting Elf
Goblin Grappler

Then ryankgress casts a Nemesis MaskNemesis Mask. Synergizing incredibly well with General Marhault ElsdragonGeneral Marhault Elsdragon's triggered ability, it could represent a pretty large creature coming your way. Spicy, but still pretty manageable.

Adventurers' Guildhouse
Mountain Stronghold

Then they cast one of their many land tutors and play an Adventurers' GuildhouseAdventurers' Guildhouse.

The first thing you do is grab your phone and look up the official rules for banding. The second thing you do is close that tab and Google "explanation of banding mtg."

It takes a couple minutes, but you get the gist: Attacking creatures with banding can form a "band" that can only be blocked as a group rather than as individual creatures. When blocked, the attacking player gets to decide how any blockers' combat damage is assigned within the band.

Conversely, when a creature with banding blocks, the defending player gets to decide how an attacking creature's combat damage is assigned.

With horror, you realize this means that a single creature that blocks a band controlled by the player with General Marhault ElsdragonGeneral Marhault Elsdragon will trigger the General's ability for each creature in that band.

Bombadil's Song
Mogg Infestation
Urza's Engine

The numbers get out of control pretty quickly.

In addition to easy "taunting" options like Nemesis MaskNemesis Mask, ryankgress includes a few Ring temping cards (Bombadil's SongBombadil's Song, The Ring Goes SouthThe Ring Goes South) to turn their Taunting ElfTaunting Elf or Goblin GrapplerGoblin Grappler into a legendary creature for the band.

To get even more General Marhault ElsdragonGeneral Marhault Elsdragon triggers, they play cards like Varchild's War-RidersVarchild's War-Riders and Mogg InfestationMogg Infestation. If ryankgress forces six of your creatures to block their band of three, each of those three attackers will get +18/+18.

Throw in some trample from an Urza's EngineUrza's Engine or Khenra CharioteerKhenra Charioteer and you might just be dead.

For more about this banding jumpscare, check out ryankgress' description in the Archidekt link.

Who Pulled off the Best Jumpscare?

I'm not sure which player won in this hypothetical game from hell, but I am confident I'd be sweating bullets by the end.

So who do you think pulled off the best jumpscare? Follow the Archidekt links in the headers of each section to upvote the deck you think should win!

The final rankings based on your votes will be announced on Wednesday, October 22, 2025.

Jeremy Cassidy

Jeremy Cassidy


Jeremy works as the Head of Product Management at Space Cow Media. When not chasing his toddler around, Jeremy can be found brewing up yet another hidden commander list on Archidekt.

Want more Commander content, right in your inbox?
To stay on top of all our news, features, and deck techs, sign up for our EDHRECap e-mail newsletter.

EDHREC Code of Conduct

Your opinions are welcome. We love hearing what you think about Magic! We ask that you are always respectful when commenting. Please keep in mind how your comments could be interpreted by others. Personal attacks on our writers or other commenters will not be tolerated. Your comments may be removed if your language could be interpreted as aggressive or disrespectful. You may also be banned from writing further comments.