Armaggon, Future SharkArmaggon, Future Shark | Art by Mathias Kollros

Hello everyone! My name's Jonathan and today I'll be looking at how Armaggon, Future SharkArmaggon, Future Shark, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, fares at the helm of its own Commander deck.

What Does Armaggon, Future SharkArmaggon, Future Shark Do?

As far as the complexity of generals goes, Armaggon, Future SharkArmaggon, Future Shark is definitely on the simpler side. It has a glaring weak point: its hefty mana cost. Eight mana in modern Commander is definitely a lot to ask.

But it more than makes up for it.

First, it has good stats. As a 9/6, it can definitely pack a punch and take out players in three swings.

Then, it has flash, which means we don't have to take our whole turn off to cast it and hope it comes back to us. Instead, we can sneak it into play at the end of the last turn before ours and get attacking.

Last, and most importantly, it can count on a very intriguing effect upon entering the battlefield. Destroying three creatures can be devastating for many strategies. And this becomes especially good when Armaggon, Future SharkArmaggon, Future Shark itself is a potential game-ending menace.

With this in mind, I tried to get the best out of its triggered ability by building a Blink deck around our friendly Shark Horror MutantShark Horror Mutant.

Getting Those Triggers Going

Clearly, we can't count on the typical blink staples, like EphemerateEphemerate or SoulherderSoulherder. But this doesn't mean we can't get our hands on some goodies.

First, Voyager StaffVoyager Staff. What's extra nice about this card is its flexible use. It can be an offensive tool, actively blinking our commanderour commander to get rid of some pesky creatures as soon as possible. Or it can be a defensive option, making Armaggon disappear when needed.

Similarly, the Golden ArgosyGolden Argosy picks up on this latter note, becoming a very powerful proactive tool to reuse several of our creatures' triggered abilities. And later we'll see there's more than just Armaggon, Future Shark to this.

Conjurer's ClosetConjurer's Closet is the gold standard of blink effects. While it has been outclassed by many other cards in recent times, it's still an obvious go-to option in color combinations without white and blue. It's simple and to the point, reliably getting the work done.

We can keep on stealing pages from Blink's book by including Strionic ResonatorStrionic Resonator in our list. While it's not technically a blink effect, it still does a ton of work, doubling a lot of triggered abilities.

But, do you know what's better than "a lot"? All. And that's exactly what PanharmoniconPanharmonicon does. Each creature entering under our control will trigger twice. Just imagine casting your commander and getting rid of six creatures. That's what dreams are made of.

Additionally, we also get to add the "mono-black twist" to this mix of staples: Saw in HalfSaw in Half. Sure, it's a one-time-only card just like Voyager StaffVoyager Staff, but it is also an Instant that leaves behind two copies of the desired creature. That's a lot, if you ask me.

The Mono-Black Way of Reanimation

We also want to take full advantage of the strengths of our color. In this case, instant reanimation, aka, all of those cards that instantly get a creature back from the graveyard as soon as it dies.

Not Dead After AllNot Dead After All is as good as it gets in terms of this specific effect. One mana and an added bonus as the creature re-enters? That's a magical Christmas land.

We're also somewhat forced to run some two-mana versions of this effect as well. In this regard, Fake Your Own DeathFake Your Own Death is the least bad of the bunch, considering it refunds half of its price.

I wanted to reserve a special mention to Kaya's GhostformKaya's Ghostform. Although it loses on the "gotcha" aspect of these cards, it still forces your opponents to play around it. And sometimes they simply can't.

Still, we can't expect our opponents to do all the work for us. In other words, we might have to take our creatures out ourselves in order to use these instant reanimation spells.

Hence, we're running some sacrifice outlet to make sure we can kill them and bring them back whenever we want.

In such a mana-hungry deck, Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar is a brainless inclusion, netting us two mana for each creature we renounce to. Vampiric RitesVampiric Rites is similar, but with cards, another resource we can't never get enough of.

Lastly, I want to highlight VictimizeVictimize as a sweet inclusion. Considering everything we want to do is trigger our creatures' abilities upon entering over and over again, a card that allows us to bring back two of them from the dead is always nice. And just imagine how well it pairs with Undying EvilUndying Evil.

Love You to the Graveyard and Back

Other than our commanderour commander, we want some more creatures to move back and forth from exile and/or the graveyard.

Accursed MarauderAccursed Marauder can get some creatures out of the way before we're able to cast Armaggon, Future SharkArmaggon, Future Shark, while HecteyesHecteyes and the likes aim at disrupting our opponents' hands.

But it's Priest of GixPriest of Gix who takes the spotlight here. If we start blinking it, it'll soon feel like a free Dark RitualDark Ritual each turn. Or a Black LotusBlack Lotus, if you'd like.

Also, our creatures can help us with the scarifying half of the deck. Ayara, First of LocthwainAyara, First of Locthwain makes it repeatable and pairs it with life drain and card draw. Disciple of BolasDisciple of Bolas interprets this same idea but focusing on one huge swing.

The true winner of this category is Faceless ButcherFaceless Butcher, especially if paired with Panharmonicon. We cast it, and exile a creature or two; we blink it, get back the creatures (and their triggered abilities); then Faceless ButcherFaceless Butcher re-enters and we repeat it all over again. How could one decline such value?

I couldn't ever leave GaryGary out of the deck; probably it won't do all that much, but it's simply too iconic to exclude.

CrabominationCrabomination usually doesn't have a great impact on the game, considering it can only target one oppoent. Nonetheless, if our plan is to trigger it over and over again, it'll net us so much advantage that it'll be more than worthy of blinking.

Sower of DiscordSower of Discord falls more or less in the same category as the previous card. Yet, in this specific build, it can be efficiently used as a political tool: just blink it to reset it and see who gives you the best deal to be left out of its effect.

Armaggon, Future Shark Commander Deck List

Final Thoughts

In the end, Armaggon, Future Shark truly surprised me. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from a card that can seem clunky and unimpressive at first glance. And yet, the more I got to add cards to the list, the more I could see an actual plan coming together.

Also, I still think this is an unrefined first version of the deck. By playing it and evaluating the cards it'd be possible to tune some numbers and move away from certain options that don't work as we'd like to.

In any case, this can be a good option for lower Brackets, where a slower and somewhat gimmicky deck can actually have time and space to "do its thing."
Also, don't mind the mana base. While it's true that I wanted to optimize it as much as possible (considering how mana-hungry the deck is), the list can work perfectly fine even without including expensive staples like Nykthos, Shrine to NyxNykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Phyrexian TowerPhyrexian Tower, or Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers.

But now it's on to you! What do you think of the deck? What would you change about it? Let me know in the comments!