The Outlaws of Thunder Junction precon express keeps chugging along, and today we’re taking a ride with Grand Larceny. Let’s see if this deck, led by Gonti, Canny Acquisitor has enough steam.

Who Are the Commanders for Grand Larceny?

Gonti is a 5/5 Aetherborn Rogue for five mana that gives you a one-mana discount on spells you cast that you don’t own. And when you hit a player with combat damage from one or more creatures, you can exile the top card of that player’s library and play it for as long as it’s exiled.

Alright, so we’re thieving, and we’re probably running a lot of creatures with evasion. What else?

Felix Five-Boots is our backup commander. They’re a 5/4 with menace and ward 2 for five mana that doubles triggers we get from our creatures dealing combat damage to players. So Felix is gonna give us extra cards from players’ libraries with Gonti’s trigger, but don’t think that’s the only damage trigger in the deck. Not even close.

Here’s the full deck list for Grand Larceny:

What Are the Themes and Strategies of the Deck?

In case the commanders didn’t make it obvious, this deck is all about dealing combat damage to players. Which, if you think about it, is kind of a silly theme. I mean, that’s how most decks win, isn’t it? But with this precon, we’re not just trying to lower life totals. We’re getting value from those combat damage triggers - mostly in the form of stealing from opponents’ decks.

First up are Dazzling Sphinx, Thief of Sanity, Nashi, Moon Sage’s Scion, and Fallen Shinobi, which all snatch stuff from the top of libraries for you to cast from exile when they deal combat damage. Silent-Blade Oni steals from their hands instead. Predators’ Hour gives you a one-time source of this effect for all of your creatures, and Cunning Rhetoric flips it so you steal cards whenever opponents attack you. Villainous Wealth, Stolen Goods, Mind’s Dilation, Brainstealer Dragon, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, and Siphon Insight all give the exile effect without the need for combat damage. There’s also Oblivion Sower, which will grab all the lands you’ve exiled for one opponent.

There are plenty of other combat damage triggers in the deck. For card draw, there’s Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Ohran Frostfang, Shadowmage Infiltrator, and Cold-Eyed Selkie. There’s also Trygon Predator, which blows up an artifact or enchantment, Bladegriff Prototype, which destroys anything of an opponent’s choice that isn’t yours, and Cazur, Ruthless Stalker, who gives +1/+1 counters to creatures when they connect with opponents’ faces.

Of course, if you wanna be sure you hit opponents, you’re gonna need some evasion. The best of course is “can’t be blocked,” which for some reason I don’t understand still doesn’t have a keyword. (I mean, “unblockable” is right there.) For these we have Slither Blade, Triton Shorestalker, and Ukkima, Stalking Shadow, as well as some abilities to grant unblockable…ness, with Whirler Rogue and Ghostly Pilferer.

Also, although the deck doesn’t really play to it, there are quite a few Rogues in the deck - 13, to be precise. It’s strange there’s not even a Path of Ancestry in the deck. There’s also a few Snakes, Ninjas, and Oozes, but there’s nary a typal effect to be found.

How Do You Play Grand Larceny?

Not over webcam - let’s just get that out of the way. If your playgroup is all online, you’ll probably wanna leave this precon on the shelf. Exiling cards from your opponents’ libraries without them seeing the card is too cumbersome to even attempt over Spelltable.

Also, if you do play this deck, prepare to get some hate from your opponents. Folks round these parts don’t take too kindly to thievin’. 

This deck is very easy to play. It’s filled to the brim of a ten-gallon cowboy hat full of ramp, which is crucial for casting all those tasty stolen cards. In multiple playtests I even had Gonti on the board by turn two or three. But the nice thing about this deck is that the commander isn’t actually crucial to the game plan. As I noted above, and will again below, there are several cards in this list with Gonti’s steal/exile effect, or a variation of it. The only thing you’re really missing without Gonti is that cost reduction. Still, they're a solid commander, and great to have in play. Especially if you have Felix on the board as well.

Where the deck is a bit lacking is small creatures with evasion. It has a handful, but not enough where you’re guaranteed to get an attacker out before Gonti. And you really should have an attacker ready before Gonti comes out - more than one if possible. Otherwise Gonti’s just sitting on the board doing nothing for a whole turn cycle. So we know one easy place to make upgrades to the deck.

The biggest struggle you’ll have with this deck is deciding when to cast your own stuff or opponents’ stuff. Sometimes the choice will be obvious based on which cards are best, but other times it might not be so easy. And with a lot of expensive cards in the deck, like Diluvian Primordial, Thieving Amalgam, and Sage of the Beyond, they’re likely to just sit in your hand while you spend your mana on the cool things your opponents brought. Which certainly isn’t the worst problem to have, but these cards are also really fun.

What Are the New Cards in Grand Larceny?

In addition to the two new legends, this precon comes with eight other new cards to play, plus three bounties! 

First up is a creature type that is brand new for this set: Varmint. It’s Thieving Varmint, a 2/1 with deathtouch and lifelink that you can tap and pay one life to make two mana that can only be used to cast spells that you don’t own. The mana use is pretty seriously limited, but it’ll certainly find homes in other theft decks like Xanathar, Guild Kingpin or Sen Triplets.

Smirking Spelljacker is very similar to Crackling Spellslinger from the Quick Draw deck, in that it costs five mana and has flash. When this Djinn comes into play, you can exile a spell on the stack, and then when Spelljacker attacks you can cast that spell for free. Like other expensive counterspells with benefits before it (Access Denied, Spell Swindle), you have the problem of holding up the mana to cast it, which usually broadcasts your plans. This is pretty comparable to Desertion, except you can cast any kind of spell, but with the drawback of having to attack to get it. I’m not a fan of expensive counterspells, regardless of the benefit, but this might have some uses. Also keep in mind that, like Ashiok’s Erasure, this doesn’t actually counter a spell. So it gets around things that can’t be countered, like Dovin’s Veto, or spells protected by Cavern of Souls.

Orochi Soul-Reaver is visiting from the Kamigawa plane. It has Ninjutsu for four mana, and when creatures you control hit a player, you make a Treasure and manifest the top card of that player’s library. Great for Aristocrats decks that need more sacrifice fodder, or, obviously, Treasure decks. Savvy Trader’s cost reduction is pretty fantastic in a lot of decks, including ones with an expensive commander. Then there’s Tower Winder, a strange bit of card design. Not many cards in Magic dig through your deck for a specific card, outside of those Planeswalker decks they don’t make anymore. Obviously the weak point here is that it puts the land in your hand. If it went into play, we’d have an instant format staple. As it is, I’m not sure this will be played outside of the most color-desperate decks.

Dream-Thief’s Bandana is literally just Gonti’s ability but on an Equipment. But the plus side here is that it can go in any Commander deck. So if you’re playing an Equipment deck and looking for some card advantage, this might just be for you. Certainly could do a lot of work attached to something like Port Razer, or anything with double strike.

Arcane Heist brings back the Cipher mechanic that, sadly, doesn’t get much love in this format. It lets you cast an instant or sorcery from an opponent’s grave without paying its cost, then you can keep doing it any time the encoded creature hits a player. Great with full graveyards, but not a welcome sight in the first half of a game.

Ironically, this last card is probably my favorite in the deck, despite the fact that it does one of my least favorite things. Heartless Conscription exiles all creatures, which, if you followed all that drama with Farewell, you know is a contentious effect. But where this card excels is that you can then cast all those (non-token) creatures. It gets around one of the biggest drawbacks of board wipes, which is a lack of things to do after it. And the effect is permanent, so you have access to all those creatures for the rest of the game. And no, I won’t be discussing the eight-mana cost at this time.

Oh yeah, we have bounties to discuss! For a full explanation of what bounties are and do, please check out my review of the Desert Bloom precon, where I go into full detail.

This deck includes:

• The Outsider - if you cast a spell from anywhere other than you hand this turn, collect
• Gorra Tash and Silas - if all opponents were dealt combat damage this turn, collect
• Frankie the Fang - if the player with the most life, or tied, we dealt combat damage this turn, collect

Is Grand Larceny Worth Buying?

Is this deck good? Is it worth spending your loot on? Here’s my grade:

C+

The deck plays solidly, and you’re gonna have a lot of fun playing with other people’s toys (even if they aren’t happy about it). The commanders are great, and either one could be strong leaders of the deck. The synergy is really solid, with not many cards that look like automatic cuts for the upgrade.

The dents in the grade come from its new cards and the reprint value. The new cards are…okay. I’m a big fan of Heartless Conscription, but I know it’s more of my playstyle than other people’s. But the rest of these cards are pretty forgettable, including Tower Winder, which could’ve been so much more. The reprint value is especially low here, with the only standouts being Brainstealer Dragon, Mind’s Dilation, and Twilight Mire. But I did give the reprint score a bit of a boost because the land package is generally really solid, with good inclusions like Flooded Grove, Hinterland Harbor, Overflowing Basin, and Underground River. None of which have to come in tapped!

Can I make this deck better? Find out in my Upgrade Guide. And don’t forget to check back often for all the precon fun, here on EDHREC.

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