Vaan, Street ThiefVaan, Street Thief | Art by Jake Murray

Hello hello! Welcome to another Final Fantasy deck tech! This set is full of interesting, powerful commanders, and I'd like to walk you through a brew with one of my favorites. I've long been a fan of mono-colored decks, so it's no surprise that I've been drawn to Vaan, Street ThiefVaan, Street Thief.

This commander is super interesting, and the typal grouping he encourages will make for some interesting deckbuilding.

What Does Vaan, Street Thief Do?

This Human Scout costs , and essentially turns each of our Scouts, Pirates, and Rogues into a worse version of Ragavan, Nimble PilfererRagavan, Nimble Pilferer.

Whenever they deal combat damage to one of our opponents, we'll impulse draw the top card of that player's library. If we don't cast that card, we get a TreasureTreasure. And, when we do cast a spell this way (or any other spell that we don't own), we'll get to buff up our whole board of creatures.

Vaan reminds me of some of my other favorite commanders. He encourages us to cast spells from exile and hands out +1/+1 counters like Inti, Seneschal of the SunInti, Seneschal of the Sun.

I'm also reminded of Mari, the Killing QuillMari, the Killing Quill, who groups together a few creature types like Vaan does, and provides us with an incentive to deal combat damage to our opponents frequently.

But Vaan is most reminiscent of Olivia, Opulent OutlawOlivia, Opulent Outlaw. Both of these commanders care about multiple creature types, make treasures, and provide +1/+1 counters to our whole team. Decks built around these commanders will have a lot of overlap, so we'll be drawing inspiration from their EDHREC pages as we go!

This commander, and the others that its similar to, provide us with a pretty clear direction: we'll fill the deck with cheap and evasive Scouts, Pirates, and Rogues, pair those creatures with some artifact and non-hand casting synergies, and look to end the game with a buffed-up board of similarly-typed creatures.

Let's get brewing!

Key Cards for Vaan, Street Thief

Cheap and Evasive Creatures

Let's talk about the cheap and/or evasive creatures that we'll use to trigger our commander's abilities.

First, and my pick for the strongest of the bunch, is Generous PlundererGenerous Plunderer. This card feels tailor-made for the deck: it's got evasion, it makes us extra Treasure tokens, and it even deals extra damage to an opponent when it attacks.

I'm also a big fan of Gemcutter BuccaneerGemcutter Buccaneer, which will provide us with a stream of Treasures and convert those Treasures into extra damage. There's a total of 14 Pirates in the deck (and a few ways to make Pirate creature tokens), so this card will be a good value engine.

Lastly, I wanted to shout out Robber of the RichRobber of the Rich. This was the first one I added to the deck's 99, because it just fits so perfectly. Reach is always nice to have on a creature, and haste means that this guy can start providing card advantage the turn we cast him.

I was surprised at how many creatures fit this deck's game plan and had relevant types, but the deck's creature suite came together quite nicely.

Artifact and Treasure Synergies

Next, let's talk about our artifact and Treasure synergies. Red decks have no shortage of these cards, so I had a nice pool to draw from.

First, Laurine, the DiversionLaurine, the Diversion is a sweet control piece (and a Rogue, notably) for a deck that lacks significant removal. While we may not be able to destroy an opponent's big creature, we can certainly sacrifice a spare Treasure to ensure it doesn't swing our way.

And if we want to turn those spare Treasures into aggression, Swashbuckler ExtraordinaireSwashbuckler Extraordinaire can do so easily. Plus, double strike works extremely well with Vaan's combat-focused abilities.

There's also Fathom Fleet SwordjackFathom Fleet Swordjack. This creature will take a big chunk out of an opponent's life total when it attacks, and it just so happens to be a Pirate! It's a great fit here.

There's a whole bunch of other Pirate-centric synergies in the deck, too. Both Breeches, Eager PillagerBreeches, Eager Pillager and Breeches, Brazen PlundererBreeches, Brazen Plunderer work well with our supporting cast of crewmates, so there's sure to be a good deal of Pirate synergies on our battlefield at any given moment.

Casting Spells From Exile

Now, let's talk about the ways we'll gain advantage by casting the spells we steal from our opponents.

Passionate ArchaeologistPassionate Archaeologist, Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets, and [/el]Flaming Tyrannosaurus[/el] will each hit our opponents for some significant damage when we cast spells from exile.

Next up, Iraxxa, Empress of MarsIraxxa, Empress of Mars can provide a lot of tokens over the course of the game. Plus, her attack trigger can be a difference maker in clogged board states or close games.

And finally, Wild-Magic SorcererWild-Magic Sorcerer will give us one of our own spells for free after we cast one of our opponents' spells. It's no surprise that this card is good in any deck that casts spells from exile, but I find it particularly interesting that we still get the cascade trigger off of casting a spell we don't own.

How Does This Vaan, Street Thief Deck Win?

This deck ultimately wins through damage. It can sometimes ping our opponents life totals down over time with a card like Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets, but it'll more often win through combat damage with an army of Scouts, Pirates, and Rogues.

Vaan provides a lot of +1/+1 counters over the course of a game, and that can lead to a victory in the mid/late game.

I'm happy to say that, despite being mono-red, this deck has a good few ways to control the battlefield. Through goad effects like Glóin, Dwarf EmissaryGlóin, Dwarf Emissary, one-sided board wipes like Caught in the CrossfireCaught in the Crossfire, and redirection effects like Return the FavorReturn the Favor, we can protect our board state pretty well.

Vaan, Street Thief Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this Final Fantasy deck tech! Before you go, there's a few odd inclusions I wanted to point out.

First among them is Goblin GuideGoblin Guide. While this creature seems better suited for aggressive decks in 60-card formats, it actually works quite well in this deck. It's a Scout with haste, so it works well with our commander's abilities, and its attack trigger means that it can clear lands off of the top of our opponents' libraries.

We'd much rather impulse draw one of their spells than one of their lands, so this one-mana 2/2 slots right into the deck.

In the course of building this deck, I came across a card that I'd never seen before: Fortune ThiefFortune Thief. This creature can prevent us from losing the game due to damage, potentially letting us untap and win the game on the crack back from an opponent's big attack. Plus, it's a Rogue! Vaan loves Rogues.

In all seriousness, paying for a 0/1 creature (or + if we Morph it) is a tough rate. But given that this deck is lower power, it's got room for some fun cards like this.

That's all I've got for this week! I'll see you all again next week for another deck tech.