Sandman, Shifting ScoundrelSandman, Shifting Scoundrel | Art by Bartek Fedyczak

You may have noticed I really love green commanders, so when I saw the Marvel's Spider-Man preview for Sandman, Shifting ScoundrelSandman, Shifting Scoundrel I was hoping for something sweet - and the card delivers!

Even if you have zero idea who Flint Marko's villainous Sandman is from the Marvel universe, this design hits all the right notes for a really cool green Magic card to brew around. I had an excellent time building a Commander deck with Sandman at the helm, and today I'm going to walk you through what the deck is looking to do, and how it's going to win some games in spectacular fashion! You'll also find the full deck list below.

I did want to quickly mention two cards I added purely for flavor reasons. Daily Bugle BuildingDaily Bugle Building's ability to give a creature menace is a flavor home-run, and since this is a monocolored deck there's room for a good suite of utility lands. Sandman doesn't have any evasion built into the card, so having a way to make it hard to block without costing a spell slot is awesome!

SandstormSandstorm for obvious reasons, and sometimes it will help you not die to a swarm of tiny token creatures.

What Does Sandman, Shifting Scoundrel Do?

Sandman, Shifting ScoundrelSandman, Shifting Scoundrel's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control, so green ramp cards are going to be part of any Sandman package. This means that Sandman will get bigger and bigger as the game progresses.

And since he can't be blocked by creatures with power two or less, opponents looking to avoid accumulating large amounts of commander damage are going to have to throw real creature cards in front of him.

That last ability in the text box is where the excitement comes from; if Sandman dies, he's got a built-in way to come back from the graveyard. For - at any time - you can return Sandman and target land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

While this means you can't have an instant-speed blocker jump out of your graveyard, it does mean that you can avoid a lot of commander tax when Sandman dies to sweepers or pinpoint removal, and each time he comes back he's going to be a little bit stronger - assuming there's a land to bring back, too.

I built this deck to leverage the excellent land ramp cards available in green to make Sandman quite large, added in ways to give him evasion so he smashes opponents' life totals, and some synergies with his ability to return from the graveyard.

Key Cards for Sandman, Shifting ScoundrelSandman, Shifting Scoundrel

The first thing I went looking for were ways to play additional lands. Gaea's TouchGaea's Touch is excellent at playing an extra Forest each turn, and in a pinch you can sacrifice it for a temporary boost of two green mana.

I mostly avoided one-shot land ramp spells like Rampant GrowthRampant Growth and instead focused on cards like CultivateCultivate and Kodama's ReachKodama's Reach that provide ramp and additional land drops.

Entish RestorationEntish Restoration puts a land in your graveyard to get back with Sandman, and since Sandman is easily going to be four or greater power, this card can be effectively be a four-for-one for you. Since a fair number of my lands enter tapped on their own, or enter tapped due to another effect, SpelunkingSpelunking is an excellent way to get an extra land drop and then give you untapped lands for the rest of the game.

Any deck that regularly wants to make extra land drops is an excellent deck for Case of the Locked HothouseCase of the Locked Hothouse - it's easy to solve, and the effect is incredibly powerful if it's allowed to stick around for a few turns.

Traverse the OutlandsTraverse the Outlands will typically both double your lands and double Sandman's power and toughness. Ojer Kaslem, Deepest GrowthOjer Kaslem, Deepest Growth is a powerful card that is also hard to permanently kill, and when it's in land form it will boost Sandman until you're ready to transform it back.

Now, it's understandable that many will make Landfall a big theme of their Sandman decks, but I decided not to go too far in that direction so that I'd have room for other things. That said, I did pick a fair number of good landfall cards to take advantage of the extra land drops I was aiming to make.

Tireless TrackerTireless Tracker generates Clue tokens you can cash in later for extra cards, while Tireless ProvisionerTireless Provisioner gives you Treasures - or, in a pinch, some Food tokens. And then there's the mana boost from Lotus CobraLotus Cobra.

Territory CullerTerritory Culler hits hard, and in a deck that's 25% creatures, will occasionally draw an extra card, and sometimes put a land into the graveyard to get back later with Sandman. Mightform HarmonizerMightform Harmonizer can make Sandman - or any creature - a terrifying, potentially game-ending size with enough landfall triggers; and if you need to shave a mana to make the cool play happen, it can even be warped in for just three mana!

Eumidian TerrabotanistEumidian Terrabotanist makes an excellent early attacker and blocker, and the incidental life gain is going to be welcome.

Any mono-green deck that cares about lands is going to want the "Titania Package": Staff of TitaniaStaff of Titania, Titania, Voice of GaeaTitania, Voice of Gaea, and Argoth, Sanctum of NatureArgoth, Sanctum of Nature. The Forest Dryad land creature tokens will boost Sandman, and if you can ever meld Titania with Argoth to make Titania, Gaea IncarnateTitania, Gaea Incarnate, you're having a rocking good time!

I included some other creatures that get bigger the more lands you control to pick up the slack in case Sandman gets neutralized. Braulios of Pheres BandBraulios of Pheres Band offers a little extra card draw on attack and potentially an extra land drop. Ashaya, Soul of the WildAshaya, Soul of the Wild makes all your creatures also Forest lands, which makes Sandman and all of these creatures all the bigger.

Multani, Yavimaya's AvatarMultani, Yavimaya's Avatar's size even counts lands in your graveyard, and with all the extra land drops in this deck, its ability to come back from the graveyard won't typically set you back very far.

Cultivator ColossusCultivator Colossus and Famished WorldsireFamished Worldsire do wild things in a deck with plenty of lands, and make pretty good higher end payoffs for all the ramping. Keep in mind that once Cultivator ColossusCultivator Colossus enters the battlefield its trigger will be put on the stack and resolve, regardless of whether or not an opponent removes it at instant speed.

I must confess the first card I thought about when I saw Sandman was Greater GoodGreater Good - sacrifice Sandman to draw cards, discard a land among the cards you discard, and then bring Sandman and a land back to the battlefield; rinse and repeat until you've drawn a full grip of gasoline.

Momentous FallMomentous Fall gives you a one-shot way to draw cards and gain some life at instant speed. If you sacrifice Sandman to Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar you'll get two of the five mana you'll need to bring it back, potentially letting you activate it several times in a turn, bringing along an extra land each time.

The Golden ThroneThe Golden Throne is another way to sacrifice Sandman for mana to either cast a big spell or to pay to bring back Sandman from the graveyard. And it even has a bit of protection from losing the game! Disciple of FreyaliseDisciple of Freyalise can either be an extra land drop, or it can sacrifice Sandman (or some other big creature) for a rush of new cards and extra life.

Magus of the OrderMagus of the Order can sacrifice itself and Sandman to go get something monstrous from the library. I won't lie - most of the time I'm getting that Cultivator ColossusCultivator Colossus and drawing a bunch of cards!

A lot of lands will put themselves in the graveyard so you can get it back with Sandman, starting with the lovely land ramp lands Myriad LandscapeMyriad Landscape and Blighted WoodlandBlighted Woodland. If your opponents are intent on exiling poor Sandman, you can recycle Command BeaconCommand Beacon in and out of the graveyard to keep Sandman doing his graveyard recursion thing.

Demolition FieldDemolition Field is here to deal with a pesky Maze of IthMaze of Ith, while Urza's CaveUrza's Cave goes and finds one of the utility lands.

Even though Sandman is pretty easy to get back from the graveyard, I can see occasionally wanting to use Tyrite SanctumTyrite Sanctum to make Sandman into an indestructible God. And MirrorpoolMirrorpool is one of my all-time favorite lands that I'm always looking for good places to run. You can use this to copy Sandman if it's being targeted by an exile effect and then sacrifice the real version to the legend rule where it can chill out in the graveyard with MirrorpoolMirrorpool ready to come back at just the right moment.

Green creatures as big as Sandman need a good way to smash through blockers, so I've stuffed the deck with ways to give him trample, starting with RancorRancor and ShadowspearShadowspear.

Not only does Herd HeirloomHerd Heirloom give a big enough creature trample, but you get to draw a card too; and if you're not attacking, it can tap for mana to cast a creature spell.

All levels of Hunter's TalentHunter's Talent are going to be appreciated in this deck, and there will be plenty of mana around to level up. Power MatrixPower Matrix gives Sandman trample and a whole host of other abilities for the turn for just a tap, making blocking tricky. Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising combines trample with card draw, which is perfect.

Summon: TitanSummon: Titan provides a huge creature with reach and trample for a couple turns, and along the way mills you cards, brings back lands from the graveyard, and then targeting (hopefully Sandman!) a creature for trample and +X/+X where X is the number of lands you control. Boom!

Season of GatheringSeason of Gathering provides trample, and vigilance, and usually draws a boatload of cards, but occasionally it will clean up a bunch of artifacts or enchantments that have gotten out of hand.

How Does This Sandman, Shifting ScoundrelSandman, Shifting Scoundrel Commander Deck Win?

This deck is built to rumble into combat with huge creatures with the intention of smashing the life totals of your opponents to dust.

Given how large Sandman can grow, a surprise BerserkBerserk can smash through with trample and kill someone with commander damage from nowhere. In a pinch you can target a creature your opponent is attacking another opponent with, dealing double damage and destroying it at the end of combat.

Overwhelming StampedeOverwhelming Stampede is a finisher if you've got Sandman and a handful of other creatures ready to attack.

The value grind that Kodama of the East TreeKodama of the East Tree provides with extra land drops and Sandman hopping in and out of the graveyard will eventually pull the game in your favor.

Sandman, Shifting Scoundrel Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I built this deck to rock a Bracket 2 (Core) Commander pod, but you can certainly kick up the power level a notch or two by leaning harder into the powerful landfall strategies available. And if you do, there are certainly a handful of Game Changers that juice it up.

Crop RotationCrop Rotation puts a land in the graveyard that Sandman can bring back later, while finding the best land in your deck. Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse can let you sacrifice and bring back Sandman during each of your opponents' turns. And then there's Natural OrderNatural Order which gives another way to go get that awesome Cultivator ColossusCultivator Colossus and giggle madly while the trigger resolves.

Do you, like me, enjoy smashmouth green decks with a healthy amount of graveyard recursion? Give this deck a whirl!

What other sort of cards would you be putting in your Sandman, Shifting ScoundrelSandman, Shifting Scoundrel deck?

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