Ellie, Vengeful HunterEllie, Vengeful Hunter | Art by Irvin Rodriguez

Welcome back to Beyond the Multiverse, where we make decks using only Universes Beyond. I cannot stress enough how much of a relief it is that we finally have more Jund () options in the Universes Beyond card pool. For too long, Jund lagged behind when the other three color combinations got more and more toys.

Before now, there was only Indoraptor, the Perfect HybridIndoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid, Zangief, the Red CycloneZangief, the Red Cyclone, and two Doctor Who pairings, both involving The Fugitive DoctorThe Fugitive Doctor.

Then, a crack. The Spider-Man set came out with Eddie BrockEddie Brock, and I rejoiced when a new Jund option appeared. Then two Secret Lair drops were announced, both being "starter kits" for more Jund options!

But that's enough of my little rant, let's get into it.

The Last of Jund

...Wait. Three commanders? What's going on here? I'll get to that in a moment. First, a background for all three. To start, all three are from the The Last of Us games, where America was ravaged by a Cordyceps brain infection, leading into a post-apocalyptic world.

Joel lost his family to it, and eventually became a ruthless survivor while protecting Ellie, his surrogate daughter. He would eventually be killed by Abby for not euthanizing Ellie to create a vaccine to cure the virus. Meanwhile, Abby set out for revenge because Joel killed her father, then proceeded to do some soul-searching afterwards.

Now, to answer the question above: We're going to work it that all the combinations work at the helm. The Jund-related ones anyway. No giving Ellie an identity crisis this time. However, we're going to approach the deck as if Joel and Rakdos Ellie are at the helm, but the other two partners can work at the helm, giving us four possible commander options.

For the Greater Good

At its heart, this deck plays like an Aristocrats deck, but without white. While we have Rakdos Ellie in the command zone, we don't have to worry too much about losing access to a sacrifice outlet.

Otherwise, we have a few options. Both The Golden ThroneThe Golden Throne and Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar let us sacrifice creatures for mana. We'll be making lots of tokens, especially the Cordyceps InfectedCordyceps Infected ones. Having Ellie, Brick MasterEllie, Brick Master or Abby at the helm is especially useful here for that reason.

On the other hand, Yawgmoth, Thran PhysicianYawgmoth, Thran Physician has us lose a creature to draw a card, weakening an opponent's creature in the process.

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER has us sacrifice a creature when he enters or attacks. If we flip him (which shouldn't be difficult to do here), then the game plan kicks into overdrive.

On the other hand, MycolothMycoloth makes us sacrifice a bunch of creatures to get even more fodder out on each of our upkeeps. This is a card to protect, as our opponents will be targeting it.

An honorable mention is SkullclampSkullclamp, which may as well be a sacrifice outlet if the equipped creature has one toughness. This is good, because we get two cards for the price of losing one creature. What a steal!

The question then becomes: What are we sacrificing?

Tasty Snackrifices

The answer is tokens, of course! The above cards all create tokens for us to sacrifice (though I feel queasy about sacrificing a Chocobo) through various ways, be it via combat damage, entry, or by a triggered ability.

I also dipped into this earlier in the above section when I mentioned Mycoloth, and the commander options. However, those aren't the only ones that make tokens here. Firstly, Krenko, Tin Street KingpinKrenko, Tin Street Kingpin floods the board with Goblins whenever it attacks, assuming its power is high enough. On the other hand, Royal WardenRoyal Warden makes tokens on entry, albeit tapped. That said, we can unearth it to make more one last time.

As a rare treat, we have access to a few planeswalkers that help us here, too. Chandra, FlamecallerChandra, Flamecaller's plus ability drops a pair of temporary tokens for us to use. Meanwhile, Freyalise, Llanowar's FuryFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury makes a token mana dork, giving it multiple uses.

Finally, as of recently, we have access to Garruk RelentlessGarruk Relentless, which can repeatedly make us a token, and flips into a token maker, a sacrifice outlet, and a way to win all in one.

Ellie, Vengeful Hunter and Joel, Resolute Survivor Commander Deck List

Curing the Virus

How does this deck win? One way to do it is also my most hated: death by a thousand cuts. Cards like Mirkwood BatsMirkwood Bats and Al Bhed SalvagersAl Bhed Salvagers ping opponents for each time our stuff bites the dust.

In addition, we can lock down the board with enough Dictate of ErebosDictate of Erebos triggers. Joel can also get big enough for commander damage to be a path, but that's not ideal (unless we can take advantage of the built-in menace). He'll need some time to get into lethal range.

We could always swarm our opponents with all the tokens we're making. For instance, Overwhelming StampedeOverwhelming Stampede will make those tokens big enough to swing. However, this would potentially create a friction with the game plan - something that bothers me about the Squirrel precon from Bloomburrow.

Otherwise, like I said, we have the flip side of Garruk Relentless to do the job, given that we can get enough loyalty counters.

Beyond a Ruined World

Incorporating in-universe cards will do much to improve our card quality. Firstly, we gain access to better drain triggers, like Zulaport CutthroatZulaport Cutthroat and Nadier's NightbladeNadier's Nightblade. Meanwhile, we get all-stars like Mayhem DevilMayhem Devil and Drivnod, Carnage DominusDrivnod, Carnage Dominus.

We also gain access to even better token producers, like Tendershoot DryadTendershoot Dryad and BitterblossomBitterblossom. There's even a new, more thematic win condition in Mazirek, Kraul Death PriestMazirek, Kraul Death Priest.

Speaking of threats, there's Grismold, the DreadsowerGrismold, the Dreadsower, who's bound to get big very quickly.

Then there's Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed King. This card does it all, and might even be a better commander than the four options combined. A sac outlet, win condition, and card draw all in one card is an immensely powerful thing.

Alternatively, there's the infamous Prossh, Skyraider of KherProssh, Skyraider of Kher if we're keen on having a token maker in the command zone.

There's also more token doublers to take advantage of. The decklist has only Parallel LivesParallel Lives, but we don't want to be symmetrical about it. Cards like Second HarvestSecond Harvest and Doubling SeasonDoubling Season are sure to give us a surplus of tokens to work with.

Speaking of tokens, one altar not cutting it? In go Phyrexian AltarPhyrexian Altar and another win condition in Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia. Lastly, we get Grave PactGrave Pact to compliment the Dictate of ErebosDictate of Erebos in the list.

A Brighter Future

It certainly feels great that Jund is finally getting more love within Universes Beyond, and I sure hope it continues. That way, it can catch up to the other three-color combinations in terms of commander options.

Before I go, I do want to call attention the Final Fantasy holiday release. The stuff in that looks great, and I look forward to using them. I definitely have a Final Fantasy-only deck up my sleeve for next week, but which commander will be a mystery for you until then.

Come back next time when I make that reveal, and showcase the deck.

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