<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chishiro, the Shattered Blade" href="#" target="_blank">Chishiro, the Shattered Blade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/lasahido">Lius Lasahido</a>)</h6>
<h1>Epic Preparations</h1>
<p>Hello, EDHREC fans! I’m Bernardo, and this is <em>Epic Experiment</em>, a series where we throw all common sense aside and experiment with some unusual strategies, changing how we normally build our deck. Is it going to work? Who knows?! We’re making science here. When you’re an Izzet mage, blowing things up is half the fun.</p>
<p>Let's take a look at <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chishiro, the Shattered Blade" href="#" target="_blank">Chishiro, the Shattered Blade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chishiro, the Shattered Blade"></div></div>
<p>Chishiro is the real deal! A four-mana 4/4 that has two impactful abilities is already pretty good, but when you factor the ways that these abilities complement each other, we see Chishiro's true potential as a commander. Creating a 2/2 token for each Aura/Equipment that enters the battlefield is a pretty good rate, especially since there are many zero-mana Equipment, and Auras are well-known for their sheer versatility. The end-of-turn trigger can also be pretty powerful and can snowball pretty hard if we invest in counters synergies, since +1/+1 counters counts as modifications.</p>
<p>Red is perfect for going wide, and it offers cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Purphoros, God of the Forge" href="#" target="_blank">Purphoros, God of the Forge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for token-centric builds, while green has counter-based support, which we can use to leverage Chishiro's second ability for a more go-tall build.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Epic Ingredients</h2>
<p>Chishiro's kit tends to point towards a go-wide strategy, and leveraging all the extra value from our spells to build a giant board - but what if we instead used our threats to go <em>taller</em>?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thundersteel Colossus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aradara Express"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Esika&#039;s Chariot"></div></div>
<p>Vehicles are cost-effective threats that have an implicit cost of needing other creatures to <em>Crew</em> them (I'll refer to those as 'pilots'). Chishiro provides a constant stream of 2/2s while still allowing us to advance our board by playing Aura-based mana acceleration or removal. It may sound suspicious at first, but the end result is a surprisingly smooth playstyle!</p>
<p>For our Vehicle selection, a good place to start is by looking at <em>Crew</em> costs that come in multiples of 2. For instance, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Esika&#039;s Chariot" href="#" target="_blank">Esika&#039;s Chariot</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an efficient way to make more tokens while maintaining a clock, and we have almost no trouble activating <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mighty Servant of Leuk-o" href="#" target="_blank">Mighty Servant of Leuk-o</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s <em>Crew</em> trigger, so it becomes a reliable source of card advantage that also smashes faces. Given that most of our cards are noncreatures, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mizzium Tank" href="#" target="_blank">Mizzium Tank</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a freebie that also grows, while <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thundersteel Colossus" href="#" target="_blank">Thundersteel Colossus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an exciting top-end threat that can easily push through that last bit of damage that we need.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nylea&#039;s Presence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragon Mantle"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kenrith&#039;s Transformation"></div></div>
<p>Our commander doesn't care who or what our Auras are placed on, merely that they enter the battlefield under our control. As such, we can play around with different effects to fill our Aura quota. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Overgrowth" href="#" target="_blank">Overgrowth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> effects are usually less popular than their traditional ramp counterparts, but they allow us to play a large number of Auras and create lots of 2/2 tokens without sacrificing precious deck space. These Auras come in two different types: the vanilla, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fertile Ground" href="#" target="_blank">Fertile Ground</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which are early-to-mid-game-focused and provide more ramp for less mana; and the utility Auras, which come with small benefits attached to them, such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kenrith&#039;s Transformation" href="#" target="_blank">Kenrith&#039;s Transformation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. These are good draws all around, and they're even better when they knock down a terrible threat <em>and </em>create a creature for us!</p>
<p>Cheap cantripping Auras, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dragon Mantle" href="#" target="_blank">Dragon Mantle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Frog Tongue" href="#" target="_blank">Frog Tongue</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, are the lifeblood of our deck, acting as decent draw effects with excellent upside. One mana to draw a card and create a 2/2 token is dang powerful. We don't even care all that much about any further effects when these cheap enchantments draw cards!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reclamation Sage"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Professional Face-Breaker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Quicksmith Genius"></div></div>
<p>One of the best things about Vehicle decks is that the usual utility creatures become pilots, so there's a lot of space to play around. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Champion of Lambholt" href="#" target="_blank">Champion of Lambholt</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a powerful card for Chishiro in general and gives evasion to our already beefy threats. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Professional Face-Breaker" href="#" target="_blank">Professional Face-Breaker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> gives us an impressive combination of both mana ramp and card draw, which helps us in the early to mid-game, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Quicksmith Genius" href="#" target="_blank">Quicksmith Genius</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is great at filtering cards in our hand.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Mixture</h2>
<div class="header"><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Chishiro Vehicles" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*Chishiro, The Shattered Blade
[/Commander]
[Artifact]
*Accorder&#039;s Shield
*Bone Saw
*Cathar&#039;s Shield
*Kite Shield
*Paradise Mantle
*Sigil of Distinction
*Spidersilk Net
*Sol Ring
*Heart of Kiran
*Lightning Greaves
*Reckoner Bankbuster
*Smuggler&#039;s Copter
*Swiftfoot Boots
*Unlicensed Hearse
*Cultivator&#039;s Caravan
*Darksteel Plate
*Mighty Servant of Leuk-o
*Mizzium Tank
*Renegade Freighter
*Esika&#039;s Chariot
*Fleetwheel Cruiser
*Hoard Hauler
*Nautiloid Ship
*Smuggler&#039;s Buggy
*Surgehacker Mech
*Untethered Express
*Weatherlight
*Aradara Express
*Ballista Charger
*Enchanted Carriage
*Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
*Thundersteel Colossus
[/Artifact]
[Creature]
*Speedway Fanatic
*Champion of Lambholt
*Eternal Witness
*Foundry Inspector
*Professional Face-Breaker
*Quicksmith Genius
*Reclamation Sage
*Shimmer Myr
[/Creature]
[Enchantment]
*Abundant Growth
*Dragon Mantle
*Frog Tongue
*Rancor
*Spider Umbra
*Unbridled Growth
*Utopia Sprawl
*Wild Growth
*Fertile Ground
*Kenrith&#039;s Transformation
*Lignify
*Nylea&#039;s Presence
*Rune of Might
*Rune of Speed
*Wolfwillow Haven
*Grafted Growth
*Overgrowth
*Song of Dryad
*Weirding Wood
*Market Festival
[/Enchantment]
[Instant]
*Chaos Warp
[/Instant]
[Sorcery]
*Blasphemous Act
[/Sorcery]
[Land]
*City of Brass
*Command Tower
*Copperline Gorge
*Cragcrown Pathway
*Exotic Orchard
*Game Trail
*Ghost Quarter
*Inventors&#039; Fair
*Karplusan Forest
*Mana Confluence
*Rootbound Crag
*Spire Garden
*Stomping Ground
*Tectonic Edge
*Temple of Abandon
*12 Forest
*9 Mountain
[/Land]"></span></div></div>
<div></div>
<div>
<hr />
</div>
<p>Aside from our ramp Auras pulling a two-for-one when our commander is out, we also get plenty of value from our utility-based Vehicles: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivator&#039;s Caravan" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivator&#039;s Caravan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hoard Hauler" href="#" target="_blank">Hoard Hauler</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are good ways to get ahead in mana, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Unlicensed Hearse" href="#" target="_blank">Unlicensed Hearse</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nautiloid Ship" href="#" target="_blank">Nautiloid Ship</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are "free" sources of graveyard hate, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Reckoner Bankbuster" href="#" target="_blank">Reckoner Bankbuster</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Copter" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Copter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provide more card draw, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Surgehacker Mech" href="#" target="_blank">Surgehacker Mech</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skysovereign, Consul Flagship" href="#" target="_blank">Skysovereign, Consul Flagship</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are solid creature and planeswalker removal.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bone Saw"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Unlicensed Hearse"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Darksteel Plate"></div></div>
<p>Our Equipment suite is a lot less flashy than our Aura suite, but don't sleep on them. We have two types of Equipment: 'cheerios' and protection pieces. The first type, cheerios, are zero-mana Equipment, which serve as a great way to fill our board with tons of tokens all at once. I recommend sandbagging cheerios, holding them in hand to help rebuild after someone plays a board wipe and we need to reestablish our board. The second type are the usual protection Equipment, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Darksteel Plate" href="#" target="_blank">Darksteel Plate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. These are crucial because they help us keep our commander around, and we need that extra time for Chishiro to spit out all those pilots!</p>
<hr />
<h2>Methodology</h2>
<p>For our opening hand, we're mostly looking for some cheap threats and enablers (Auras and Equipment). While it's true that our gameplan starts after we get our commander into play, that doesn't mean we have zero meaningful choices in the prior turns. Setting up our board by playing our Vehicles is one important step, and so is knowing when to commit our commander to the board. Usually, it's better to wait until we can cast him <em>and </em>several Auras on the same turn, to get immediate value out of him.</p>
<p>By the mid game, we should have a couple of Vehicles out and should start pressuring our opponents by activating them and attacking frequently. Usually, this stage of the game is when the board wipes start coming out, but this is why Vehicles work so nicely with Chishiro in the first place - our pilots are destroyable, but our actual threats dodge board wipes extremely well. We only need to care about keeping our commander safe. If he's removed too many times, we may have a rough go of it, but since so many of our Auras are also cantrips, it's hard for this deck to ever run out of steam!</p>
<hr />
<h2>Epic Results</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Enchantress&#039;s Presence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Daretti, Scrap Savant"></div></div>
<p>Chishiro is a versatile commander, and many readers may see the decklist and seek to make some adaptations. There are two main directions I think the list above could take when deciding upon future upgrades and evolutions: artifact/Equipment matters, and enchantments/Aura matters. I went for a more balanced build between the two, but there's plenty of power to be had when streamlining along just one of these themes.</p>
<p>The enchantment route has plenty of draw power, especially with Enchantress cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Enchantress&#039;s Presence" href="#" target="_blank">Enchantress&#039;s Presence</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Setessan Champion" href="#" target="_blank">Setessan Champion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which makes the ramp and removal suite even more effective. Meanwhile, the artifact route feels a bit better against removal-heavy games, since it gets a lot of recursion pieces like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Daretti, Scrap Savant" href="#" target="_blank">Daretti, Scrap Savant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Making tons of 2/2 tokens after a huge <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scrap Mastery" href="#" target="_blank">Scrap Mastery</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does sound pretty wild. Enchantment themes lean into green's strengths, while artifact themes lean into red's, so the choice of streamlining the deck may depend upon your favorite color for modifications!</p>
<p>That’s it for this <em>Epic Experiment</em>! What do you think of this list? Do you have any questions about the deck? Which cards did you like? Which did you not? Was this Epic Experiment a success? Please let me know in the comments below!</p>


Epic Experiment - Chishiro

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cosima, God of the Voyage" href="#" target="_blank">Cosima, God of the Voyage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="http://www.micahepsteinart.com/">Micah Epstein</a></h6>
<h1>Epic Preparation</h1>
<p>Hello, EDHREC fans! I’m Bernardo Melibeu, and this is <em>Epic Experiment</em>, a series where we throw all common sense aside and experiment with some unusual strategies, changing how we normally build our deck. Is it going to work? Who knows?! We’re making science here. When you’re an Izzet mage, blowing things up is half the fun.</p>
<p>In this article, let's take a look at one of the Gods from <em>Kaldheim.</em> Dual-faced commanders have always intrigued me, since the added flexibility gives us space to play around with both aspects of the card. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cosima, God of the Voyage" href="#" target="_blank">Cosima, God of the Voyage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a powerful commander with two separate sides that are very synergistic with each other, but you can also build with only one of them in mind.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cosima, God of the Voyage"></div></div>
<h3>Cosima Side</h3>
<p>Cosima's side is quite the powerhouse, providing a slow-building clock that will even give us cards to protect itself in the process. It plays better in a control shell where we're guaranteed to have consistent land drops and can play it early and leave it exiled for a few turns to restock our hand afterward. It's worth noting that while the Vehicle side does offer synergy with Cosima, it might be too slow to try to keep switching between sides.</p>
<h3>Omenkeel Side</h3>
<p>While Cosima is a slower and more control-ish card, The Omenkeel is better suited for aggressive decks that want to abuse its land-stealing ability and play fewer lands. A Vehicle that cares about other Vehicles is also pretty new for this color, since Vehicles-matter effects are usually either white, red, or Boros. This offers us some cool interactions that we often don't see in the archetype, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ensoul Artifact" href="#" target="_blank">Ensoul Artifact</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> effects.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Epic Ingredients</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mindcrank"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sword of Body and Mind"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Maddening Cacophony"></div></div>
<p>The Omenkeel is interesting because, while its kit is designed to find lands for its controller to play, it can also be used as a way to mill our opponents by exiling their cards. The best part is that since the lands are already exiled, we don't need to worry about graveyard-based synergies.</p>
<p>However, with a one-to-one damage-to-card ratio, we won't be that effective; after all, each player starts with 40 life vs. 99 cards in a deck. They'd lose to damage long before losing to mill! Luckily for us, there's a lot of support that can help us out, such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mindcrank" href="#" target="_blank">Mindcrank</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or even <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sword of Body and Mind" href="#" target="_blank">Sword of Body and Mind</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. In other words, if we're deciding between good mill and good combat, we can just say: why not both?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smuggler&#039;s Copter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cultivator&#039;s Caravan"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Weatherlight"></div></div>
<p>Our Vehicle suite must therefore be very aggressive, since it helps us to get the ball rolling in the mill department. Vehicles are almost always very aggressively costed, which allows for our early game to be quite powerful, although they can get out-scaled if we don't draw our support cards. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aethersphere Harvester" href="#" target="_blank">Aethersphere Harvester</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heart of Kiran" href="#" target="_blank">Heart of Kiran</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sky Skiff" href="#" target="_blank">Sky Skiff</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Copter" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Copter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are cheap, evasive beaters that are great to put the pressure on most stages of the game. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivator&#039;s Caravan" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivator&#039;s Caravan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an impressive role-player in this type of shell, being both a mana rock and beater, while <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skysovereign, Consul Flagship" href="#" target="_blank">Skysovereign, Consul Flagship</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Weatherlight" href="#" target="_blank">Weatherlight</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provide a lot of utility while being great top-end.</p>
<p>Our pilots provide a lot of passive utility, either by having useful ETBs, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Amphin Mutineer" href="#" target="_blank">Amphin Mutineer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or by providing constant value, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sai, Master Thopterist" href="#" target="_blank">Sai, Master Thopterist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Meanwhile, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diligent Excavator" href="#" target="_blank">Diligent Excavator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dreamborn Muse" href="#" target="_blank">Dreamborn Muse</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sage&#039;s Row Denizen" href="#" target="_blank">Sage&#039;s Row Denizen</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> have the added benefit of also acting as constant mill sources, which are an important part of an unconventional mill deck like ours. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chief of the Foundry" href="#" target="_blank">Chief of the Foundry</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etherium Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Etherium Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Foundry Inspector" href="#" target="_blank">Foundry Inspector</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Padeem, Consul of Innovation" href="#" target="_blank">Padeem, Consul of Innovation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sai, Master Thopterist" href="#" target="_blank">Sai, Master Thopterist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are a pretty decent "Artifacts Matter" pilot suite.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fractured Sanity"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mesmeric Orb"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Diligent Excavator"></div></div>
<p>Aside from our beatdown plan, we still want to have a few mill cards that aren't reliant on combat, both to boost our mill potential and act as a back-up in those games where our beatdown might otherwise be lacking.</p>
<p>We have two different types of mill cards: one-shot and constant effects. The first type is great at bursting down libraries and providing an immediate return on our mana investment; <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fractured Sanity" href="#" target="_blank">Fractured Sanity</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Maddening Cacophony" href="#" target="_blank">Maddening Cacophony</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tasha&#039;s Hideous Laughter" href="#" target="_blank">Tasha&#039;s Hideous Laughter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are very cost-effective global mill spells that won't get in the way of our main gameplan. The second type is crucial for our success; after all, milling in Commander is more of a marathon than a sprint. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Altar of the Brood" href="#" target="_blank">Altar of the Brood</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mesmeric Orb" href="#" target="_blank">Mesmeric Orb</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hedron Crab" href="#" target="_blank">Hedron Crab</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ruin Crab" href="#" target="_blank">Ruin Crab</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychic Corrosion" href="#" target="_blank">Psychic Corrosion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> consistently put pressure on our opponents and can also act as a lightning rod for potential removal spells.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Mixture</h2>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Cosima Mill" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*Cosima, God of the Voyage
[/Commander]
[Creature]
*Hedron Crab
*Overwhelmed Apprentice
*Ruin Crab
*Siren Stormtamer
*Diligent Excavator
*Etherium Sculptor
*Vantress Gargoyle
*Animating Faerie
*Chief of the Foundry
*Foundry Inspector
*Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
*Sage&#039;s Row Denizen
*Sai, Master Thopterist
*Skilled Animator
*Tribute Mage
*Trinket Mage
*Amphin Mutineer
*Dreamborn Muse
*Glen Elendra Archmage
*Padeem, Consul of Innovation
*Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
*Sakashima the Impostor
*Sower of Temptation
*Whirler Rogue
*Archetype of Imagination
*Sphinx Mindbreaker
*Workshop Elders
[/Creature]
[Enchantment]
*Ensoul Artifact
*Psychic Corrosion
*Levitation
[/Enchantment]
[Instant]
*Cyclonic Rift
*Reality Shift
[/Instant]
[Sorcery]
*Maddening Cacophony
*Rise and Shine
*Fractured Sanity
*Ravenform
*Tasha&#039;s Hideous Laughter
*Baral&#039;s Expertise
[/Sorcery]
[Artifact]
*Altar of the Brood
*Sol Ring
*The Blackstaff of Waterdeep
*Funeral Longboat
*Guardian Idol
*Heart of Kiran
*Key to the City
*Mesmeric Orb
*Mindcrank
*Sky Skiff
*Smuggler&#039;s Copter
*Aethersphere Harvester
*Cultivator&#039;s Caravan
*Fountain of Ichor
*Mobile Garrison
*Renegade Freighter
*Sleek Schooner
*Sword of Body and Mind
*Fleetwheel Cruiser
*Thundering Chariot
*Untethered Express
*Weatherlight
*Ballista Charger
*Dusk Legion Dreadnought
*Enchanted Carriage
*Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
[/Artifact]
[Land]
*Castle Vantress
*Crawling Barrens
*Dread Statuary
*Faceless Haven
*Faerie Conclave
*Mishra&#039;s Factory
*Mobilized District
*Mutavault
*Hall of Storm Giants
*26 Snow-Covered Island
[/Land]"></span></div></p>
<hr />
<p>We're also packing some cards that turn our artifacts into creatures, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ensoul Artifact" href="#" target="_blank">Ensoul Artifact</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. These are a bit of a double-edged sword. They provide some quality-of-life improvement, making it so that we don't have to worry about the <em>Crew </em>costs of our Vehicles, but they also leave us more vulnerable to board wipes, which are normally a non-issue for Vehicles. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Blackstaff of Waterdeep" href="#" target="_blank">The Blackstaff of Waterdeep</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Animating Faerie" href="#" target="_blank">Animating Faerie</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skilled Animator" href="#" target="_blank">Skilled Animator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ensoul Artifact" href="#" target="_blank">Ensoul Artifact</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rise and Shine" href="#" target="_blank">Rise and Shine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provide a solid base for this type of effect and are great early-game ways to further accelerate our already aggressive gameplan.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Skilled Animator"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ensoul Artifact"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Animating Faerie"></div></div>
<p>The last piece of the puzzle is ways to give our Vehicles evasion, which is very important for a deck that wants to deal combat damage. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archetype of Imagination" href="#" target="_blank">Archetype of Imagination</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, while a bit on the expensive side, basically makes our creatures unblockable. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Workshop Elders" href="#" target="_blank">Workshop Elders</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> pulls double duty as both an animator and evasion-granter. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Whirler Rogue" href="#" target="_blank">Whirler Rogue</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provides a few key creatures unblockability while also creating a few bodies we can use to pilot our vessels. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Levitation" href="#" target="_blank">Levitation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is just <em>borderline</em> playable, but I think the extra redundancy is worth this somewhat lackluster effect.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Methodology</h2>
<p>For opening hands, we're mainly looking for a Vehicle and a pilot or two. It's important to start putting pressure as soon as turn 3, when we untap with our commander, because those early turns are less likely to have blockers, so we get to rain down some terror before we start having to worry about evasion.</p>
<p>Our deck plays like an Aggro deck, which means that our early game is where we'll be doing the most damage. Being able to curve out effectively is important, and having an aggressive curve is usually recommended. However, there are some inclusions that make our deck stronger than the average combat-centric list.</p>
<p>By the mid-game, our creatures might start losing a bit of their spark, but luckily for us our threats are very resilient to board wipes, thriving in the post-board-wipe battlefields (especially since our creatures can <em>Crew</em> on the same turn they enter play). That being said, this is the point of the game where evasion starts making the most difference.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rise and Shine"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tasha&#039;s Hideous Laughter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hall of Storm Giants"></div></div>
<p>The late game isn't as bad as it might seem. Here, our "Plan B" cards work great, allowing us to flip the switch and play a bit more like a conventional mill strategy for anyone we haven't already worn down. Plus, we have a lot of creature lands to go full aggro if all else fails. Our biggest weakness is the lack of good control elements, which can mean that we might get taken out by an unanswered threat that overstays its welcome.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Endless Possibilities</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bident of Thassa"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grand Architect"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Court of Cunning"></div></div>
<p>The deck already has a lot of different packages, so it's hard to keep a streamlined list without sacrificing a bit of versatility. One package that I felt didn't play out that well, but had potential, were the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bident of Thassa" href="#" target="_blank">Bident of Thassa</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> effects that draw cards on combat damage. These cards could be played in a more tempo-oriented shell, but I feel that we'd need be a bit faster than we are right now.</p>
<p>The pilot suite is very flexible too, and there's always plenty of room for changes. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grand Architect" href="#" target="_blank">Grand Architect</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can be a great card for this type of shell, providing solid mana and the anthem effect. Our mill suite can be very easily changed, too! <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Court of Cunning" href="#" target="_blank">Court of Cunning</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> could be great on less aggressive metas, where we could try to maintain <em>Monarch</em> for one or two turns during the game. Mixing mill and combat keeps our enemies on their toes, and this could also be explored further by other Omenkeel voyagers.</p>
<p>That’s it for this <em>Epic Experiment</em>! What do you think of this list? Do you have any questions about the deck? Which cards did you like? Which did you not? Was this <em>Epic Experiment</em> a success? Please let me know in the comments below!</p>


Epic Experiment - Cosima Mill

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valduk, Keeper of the Flame" href="#" target="_blank">Valduk, Keeper of the Flame</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/victoradameart">Victor Adame Minguez</a>)</h6>
<h1>Epic Preparation</h1>
<p>Hello, EDHREC fans! I’m Bernardo Melibeu, and this is <em>Epic Experiment</em>, a series where we throw all common sense aside and experiment with some unusual strategies, changing how we normally build our deck. Is it going to work? Who knows?! We’re making science here. When you’re an Izzet mage, blowing things up is half the fun.</p>
<p>In this article we'll take a look into an aggressive mono-red commander, one that, because of its powerful kit, hasn't been fully explored yet. I'm talking about <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valduk, Keeper of the Flame" href="#" target="_blank">Valduk, Keeper of the Flame</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Valduk, Keeper of the Flame"></div></div>
<p><strong>At the beginning of combat on your turn, for each Aura and Equipment attached to Valduk, Keeper of the Flame, create a 3/1 red Elemental creature token with trample and haste. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.</strong></p>
<p>Observation 1:</p>
<p>Valduk's kit feels a lot like a modern <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kemba, Kha Regent" href="#" target="_blank">Kemba, Kha Regent</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, except it's in a better color, it's more aggressive, and it's more versatile.</p>
<p>Observation 2:</p>
<p>While it's pretty easy to just put Equipment onto Valduk and aggro people out of the game, I think that the consistent flow of enter- and leave-the battlefield triggers, not to mention the number of bodies on the battlefield, can be exploited to our advantage in a less obvious way.</p>
<p>Observation 3:</p>
<p>It's a shame that red lacks a proper Aura support. Valduk's ability also counts Auras, which is a nice added bonus, but it's hard to compete with the support that Equipment gets from red cards. Auras can potentially be more explosive, though, since they almost always will cost less mana to get onto Valduk than an Equipment.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Old Formula</h2>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Sig.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-66078" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Sig-1024x517.png" alt="" width="1024" height="517" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Sig-1024x517.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Sig-300x151.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Sig-768x387.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Sig.png 1219w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Top.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-66079" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Top-1024x516.png" alt="" width="1024" height="516" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Top-1024x516.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Top-300x151.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Top-768x387.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Valduk-Top.png 1226w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></p>
<p>Most Valduk lists are heavily invested in enabling both the combat and non-combat aspects of creating a huge token army. It's important to note that this is only one half of Valduk; it only explains the 'why' and not the 'how'.</p>
<p>Additionally, most lists are more heavily biased towards Equipment, which isn't a surprise, since red offers a ton in the way of artifact support.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Epic Ingredients</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Heart of Kiran"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Skysovereign, Consul Flagship"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Weatherlight"></div></div>
<p>Valduk's ability to put lots of bodies on the field is powerful in a color like red, where we have some great go-wide support. However, we could use the bodies to fuel a completely different archetype: Vehicles. Valduk's kit is great for the archetype because the tokens that we create all have 3 power, which is a very good value to <em>Crew </em>almost all the relevant Vehicles out there. This allows us to tune our Equipment suite to be mostly about protecting our commander, and, as a result, we get some added consistency because we're not as threatened by removal as we would normally be.</p>
<p>Vehicles are cheap threats that, very often, dodge board wipes by being noncreatures on everyone else's turns. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivator&#039;s Caravan" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivator&#039;s Caravan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one of the best Vehicles in the deck: it both ramps and provides a threat in a very cheap body. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Copter" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Copter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Weatherlight" href="#" target="_blank">Weatherlight</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> give us a much-needed way to dig for new cards. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mizzium Tank" href="#" target="_blank">Mizzium Tank</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a powerful self-piloting Vehicle that grows even when we're developing a board state. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skysovereign, Consul Flagship" href="#" target="_blank">Skysovereign, Consul Flagship</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a powerful "titan-esque" threat that threatens to Bolt something every turn.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Darksteel Plate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hammer of Nazahn"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Champion&#039;s Helm"></div></div>
<p>Our Equipment suite is mainly there to protect our commander. Making sure our commander is always available to create tokens is crucial for our deck to run smoothly. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hammer of Nazahn" href="#" target="_blank">Hammer of Nazahn</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a great source of indestructibility that not only protects our commander but also makes future Equipment that much more effective. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Champion&#039;s Helm" href="#" target="_blank">Champion&#039;s Helm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Swiftfoot Boots" href="#" target="_blank">Swiftfoot Boots</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mirror Shield" href="#" target="_blank">Mirror Shield</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> all help us dodge spot removal, while <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Darksteel Plate" href="#" target="_blank">Darksteel Plate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shield of Kaldra" href="#" target="_blank">Shield of Kaldra</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are both crucial pieces that let our commander avoid board wipes, just like our Vehicles do.</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Mixture</h2>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Valduk Vehicles" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards=""></span></div></p>
<p>[Commander]</p>
<p>*Valduk, Keeper of the Flame</p>
<p>[/Commander]</p>
<p>[Artifact]</p>
<p>*Bone Saw</p>
<p>*Everflowing Chalice</p>
<p>*Cliffhaven Kitesail<br />
*Commander's Plate<br />
*Consulate Dreadnought<br />
*Sai of the Shinobi<br />
*Shuko<br />
*Skullclamp<br />
*Sol Ring<br />
*Arcane Signet<br />
*Fellwar Stone<br />
*Funeral Longboat<br />
*Heart of Kiran<br />
*Lightning Greaves<br />
*Mind Stone<br />
*Mirror Shield<br />
*Sky Skiff<br />
*Smuggler's Copter<br />
*Swiftfoot Boots<br />
*Aethersphere Harvester<br />
*Champion's Helm<br />
*Cultivator's Caravan<br />
*Daredevil Dragster<br />
*Darksteel Plate<br />
*Mizzium Tank<br />
*Raiders' Karve<br />
*Renegade Freighter<br />
*Sword of Fire and Ice<br />
*Sword of Truth and Justice<br />
*Sword of War and Peace<br />
*Whispersilk Cloak<br />
*Bomat Bazaar Barge<br />
*Fleetwheel Cruiser<br />
*Hammer of Nazahn<br />
*Hedron Archive<br />
*Ovalchase Dragster<br />
*Shield of Kaldra<br />
*Thundering Chariot<br />
*Untethered Express<br />
*Weatherlight<br />
*Aradara Express<br />
*Ballista Charger<br />
*Forsaken Monument<br />
*Skysovereign, Consul Flagship<br />
*Demolition Stomper</p>
<p>[/Artifact]</p>
<p>[Creature]</p>
<p>*Brass Squire<br />
*Foundry Inspector<br />
*Thopter Engineer<br />
*Godo, Bandit Warlord</p>
<p>[/Creature]</p>
<p>[Enchantment]</p>
<p>*Epiphany Storm<br />
*Prophetic Ravings<br />
*Invasion Plans<br />
*Bedlam<br />
*Berserkers' Onslaught</p>
<p>[/Enchantment]</p>
<p>[Instant]</p>
<p>*Abrade<br />
*Price of Progress<br />
*Thrill of Possibility<br />
*Chaos Warp<br />
*Valakut Awakening</p>
<p>[/Instant]</p>
<p>[Sorcery]</p>
<p>*Faithless Looting<br />
*Vandalblast<br />
*Shatterskull Smashing<br />
*Seize the Spoils<br />
*Chain Reaction<br />
*Blasphemous Act</p>
<p>[/Sorcery]</p>
<p>[Land]</p>
<p>*Buried Ruin<br />
*Inventors' Fair<br />
*Ghost Quarter<br />
*Tectonic Edge<br />
*30 Mountain</p>
<p>[/Land]</p>
<p>[/Deck]</p>
<hr />
<p>Aside from the protection suite, we need to run a few more Equipment to give a bit more consistency to our commander. We're running some cheap options that are only there as a way to get more bodies on the field faster. Some, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sai of the Shinobi" href="#" target="_blank">Sai of the Shinobi</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cliffhaven Kitesail" href="#" target="_blank">Cliffhaven Kitesail</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, are cheap Equipment that attach when they enter the battlefield, and there are others, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bone Saw" href="#" target="_blank">Bone Saw</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shuko" href="#" target="_blank">Shuko</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skullclamp" href="#" target="_blank">Skullclamp</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, that are just cheap Equipment with a cheap Equip cost. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Epiphany Storm" href="#" target="_blank">Epiphany Storm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Prophetic Ravings" href="#" target="_blank">Prophetic Ravings</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are the only Auras in the deck, but they offer a very useful looting ability for our commander.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Methodology</h2>
<p>For our opening hand, we're looking for one or two Vehicles to get things going. We can worry about having Equipment later as our Vehicle army grows.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smuggler&#039;s Copter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bomat Bazaar Barge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Consulate Dreadnought"></div></div>
<p>In the early game, we usually have two lines of play: aggressive, playing Vehicles first, or passive, playing mana rocks first. The first line is better when we have a tight curve for turns two, three, and four, which reduces the immediate need for extra mana from mana rocks. The passive line is where we're mostly trying to accelerate to one of our bigger Vehicles, or we're just fishing and betting on a more explosive turn. Sometimes it's efficient because we get to play our commander on curve and then an expensive Equipment plus its Equip cost.</p>
<p>By the mid game, we should have a few Vehicles out and should always be looking to hit someone with our creatures. At this point it starts to show the importance of finding one of our indestructible Equipment because losing our commander is a huge hit in our tempo. This is where we risk running out of steam, but if we can protect our commander, we can reach the point that just our tokens alone are a significant threat.</p>
<p>In the late game, random <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vandalblast" href="#" target="_blank">Vandalblast</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>s aside, we can dish out some consistent damage. One area we're lacking is big haymakers - between Equipment and Vehicles, finding deck slots without compromising is a hard task - but lucky for us, with the right amount of support, our commander can help us grind through longer games, because we're now attacking on three different axes, so one of them is bound to burst through.</p>
<hr />
<h1>Epic Results</h1>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Purphoros, God of the Forge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ghirapur Aether Grid"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goblin Welder"></div></div>
<p>The good thing about our commander is that there are plenty of ways to take advantage of his tokens. Investing in non-combat-related ones, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Purphoros, God of the Forge" href="#" target="_blank">Purphoros, God of the Forge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Warstorm Surge" href="#" target="_blank">Warstorm Surge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, is a good way to help us chip down our opponents, relieving some of the pressure on our Vehicles.</p>
<p>With almost half of our deck as artifacts, there's a lot in the payoff department that we can use. Some recursion, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Goblin Welder" href="#" target="_blank">Goblin Welder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, can go a long way to help us fight against removal, while cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghirapur Aether Grid" href="#" target="_blank">Ghirapur Aether Grid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Reckless Fireweaver" href="#" target="_blank">Reckless Fireweaver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are more thematic ways to chip our opponents.</p>
<p>That’s it for this <em>Epic Experiment</em>! What do you think about this list? Do you have any questions about the deck? Which cards did you like? Which did you not? Was this <em>Epic Experiment</em> a success? Please let me know in the comments below!</p>


Epic Experiment - Valduk Vehicles

Evasive Maneuvers — Misfits

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sigiled Starfish" href="#" target="_blank">Sigiled Starfish</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.originalmagicart.store/collections/nils-hamm">Nils Hamm</a>)</h6>
<h1>Krakens on Horseback with Swords</h1>
<p>Welcome back, everyone, to another iteration of <em>Forgotten Harvest,</em> the article series where I highlight cards in 300 decks or less on EDHREC. This week will be all about sticking to a challenging deckbuilding restriction, and the underplayed cards that can look great with those restrictions in mind. I'm also super-excited, because this means I can talk about my most favorite deck ever!</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-30586" src="https://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/giphy-2.gif" alt="" width="500" height="349" /></p>
<p>Travel back with me to the year 2015. It's a Saturday morning around 10:00 AM. Past-Kyle has popped into his local gaming store, <em>Gabi's Olympic Cards and Comics</em> in Olympia, WA, to take in the goings-on. He has a reputation at the store for adoring the jankiest builds, and for hunting through box after box for a copy of some obscure card that he looked up on Gatherer the other night. Scott, the gentleman tending the <em>Magic</em> counter, brings up his latest Commander build for sale at the store, called <em>Water Polo</em>. The premise of the deck hearkens back to a previous conversation about how much fun it would be to put Equipment on creatures that obviously wouldn't be able to use the item, like putting <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Champion&#039;s Helm" href="#" target="_blank">Champion&#039;s Helm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> on a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Stillmoon Cavalier" href="#" target="_blank">Stillmoon Cavalier</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This lead to thoughts of an Octopus wielding a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Loxodon Warhammer" href="#" target="_blank">Loxodon Warhammer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> while riding on horseback, and thus the deck was born. After a quick peek at the contents, Kyle decides <em>Water Polo</em> will be coming home with him.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Loxodon Warhammer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lorthos, the Tidemaker"></div></div>
<p>I've spent the last 4 years improving, tweaking, and "fancifying" the deck. When <em>Kaladesh</em> introduced Vehicles, they were quickly slotted in. When I finally landed a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jace, the Mind Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Jace, the Mind Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, it was an immediate add. All the while, I've held true to three rules:</p>
<ol>
<li><em>Water Polo</em> must be about Krakens on horseback with swords. There must always exist the themes of big sea creatures and Equipment in the deck.</li>
<li><em>Water Polo</em> isn't a control deck. I can't run a bunch of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Counterspell" href="#" target="_blank">Counterspell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> variants. Some removal is okay, but always keep the deck about Rule #1.</li>
<li>With the exception of it's general, <em>Water Polo</em> can't have anthropomorphic creatures. No Humans, no Merfolk, no Pirates, no Spirits. Every creature in the 99 must look ridiculous when equipped, or on horseback, or crewing a Vehicle.</li>
</ol>
<p>Rule #3 is the big challenge. I've had to make some very interesting design choices in order to keep Merfolk out and still manage a decent mana curve. We'll get more into that later, but first I should get into some of the heavy-hitters in the deck.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Denizens of the Deep</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sun Quan, Lord of Wu"></div></div>
<p>Commanding the <em>Water Polo</em> team is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sun Quan, Lord of Wu" href="#" target="_blank">Sun Quan, Lord of Wu</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. I grant him a special exception on the anthropomorphic rule, as he is the only way I can get all my sea creatures on horseback. While this is primarily there for the gimmick, it also greatly affects my choice of which big bubble-blasting beasts to include in the 99. In Commander, <em>Horsemanship</em> essentially keeps my creatures from being blocked in all instances, so already-unblockable creatures like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Deep-Sea Kraken" href="#" target="_blank">Deep-Sea Kraken</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scrapdiver Serpent" href="#" target="_blank">Scrapdiver Serpent</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tidal Kraken" href="#" target="_blank">Tidal Kraken</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are no longer necessary. It also makes <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Stormsurge Kraken" href="#" target="_blank">Stormsurge Kraken</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> far worse than normal, hence its exclusion from the list.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tromokratis" href="#" target="_blank">Tromokratis</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> technically falls into that category as well, but it has proven to be an excellent opportunity to take advantage of opponents' misplays. Those on the other side of the table have been so focused on making sure they have a way to stop this big'un that they avoid the red zone or hold off on activated abilities.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Blue Beasties" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards=""></span></div></p>
<p>[Creatures]<br />
*1 Draining Whelk<br />
*1 Shipbreaker Kraken<br />
*1 Aethersquall Ancient<br />
*1 Colossal Whale<br />
*1 Fleet Swallower<br />
*1 Scourge of Fleets<br />
*1 Tromokratis<br />
*1 Elder Deep-Fiend<br />
*1 Kederekt Leviathan<br />
*1 Lorthos, the Tidemaker<br />
*1 Stormtide Leviathan<br />
*1 Inkwell Leviathan<br />
[/Creatures]</p>
<p>[/Deck]</p>
<hr />
<h2>Swords and Hammers and Boots, Oh My!</h2>
<p>I want to make sure my <em>Water Polo</em> crew has only the best polo equipment, so a good chunk of the deck is filled with the best attachable artifacts I could find. This also serves a second purpose of helping to drop the mana curve. It isn't enough on its own, which is why there are plenty of mana rocks to help.</p>
<p>Equipment generally serve one of three purposes: protect the team, do something great when attacking, or provide help when blocking. There's not much need for additional pump or making my creatures unblockable, but keeping something alive with a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Darksteel Plate" href="#" target="_blank">Darksteel Plate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is more along the lines of what the deck needs. The same is true of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sword of Feast and Famine" href="#" target="_blank">Sword of Feast and Famine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> untapping lands. The Vehicles work better with the smaller sea creatures, and potentially offer something on their own, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivator&#039;s Caravan" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivator&#039;s Caravan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Quartermastery" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards=""></span></div></p>
<p>[Artifacts]<br />
*1 Basilisk Collar<br />
*1 Lightning Greaves<br />
*1 Sword of the Animist<br />
*1 Umezawa's Jitte<br />
*1 Cultivator's Caravan<br />
*1 Darksteel Plate<br />
*1 Loxodon Warhammer<br />
*1 Strata Scythe<br />
*1 Sword of Feast and Famine<br />
*1 Sword of Fire and Ice<br />
*1 Sword of Light and Shadow<br />
*1 Conqueror's Galleon<br />
*1 Fleetwheel Cruiser<br />
*1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship<br />
[/Artifacts]</p>
<p>[/Deck]</p>
<hr />
<h2>Those in Under 300 Leagues</h2>
<p>The cards mentioned above are classics of the genre, but the deck is also full to brimming with underused cards that show up in less than 300 decks on EDHREC. Let's see what gems lurk beneath the depths.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Giant Oyster"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sand Squid"></div></div>
<p>One of the critical pieces this deck struggles with is removal. There's plenty of bounce from the Leviathans above, and from <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Whelming Wave" href="#" target="_blank">Whelming Wave</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cyclonic Rift" href="#" target="_blank">Cyclonic Rift</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but repeatable removal is lacking. Offering some support with this, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Giant Oyster" href="#" target="_blank">Giant Oyster</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (174 decks) can help tap down a problem creature and slowly crush it to death. Another creature tapper is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sand Squid" href="#" target="_blank">Sand Squid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, an oft-forgotten gem from <em>Mercadian Masques</em>, only appearing in 105 decks. It fills a similar role, just without the -1/-1 counters, trading them for a 2/2 body capable of crewing a Vehicle, not to mention the very relevant <em>Islandwalk,</em> given the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Stormtide Leviathan" href="#" target="_blank">Stormtide Leviathan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in the deck.</p>
<p>These creatures not only aid in removal, but they meet the non-anthropomorphic requirement and drop the mana curve slightly. I've found these cards to be just powerful enough to provide removal without drawing the ire of the table. I've never had either removed before getting to use them at least once, and usually they stick around far longer. There's also nothing like throwing some Equipment on either of them and swinging in with a bizarre Jitte-wielding Oyster.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Spiny Starfish"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chambered Nautilus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dandan"></div></div>
<p>Talk about weird abilities in blue! <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spiny Starfish" href="#" target="_blank">Spiny Starfish</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> from <em>Alliances</em> is one of the hard-to-find aquatic regenerators. Not only that, it also makes baby starfish when the regeneration triggers! What a kooky three-drop that slots perfectly into the sea creatures theme. Found in 121 decks on EDHREC, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spiny Starfish" href="#" target="_blank">Spiny Starfish</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> provides some excellent hard-to-remove defense while the deck ramps up to dropping its first Kraken.</p>
<p>Another three-drop helping out in the early game is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chambered Nautilus" href="#" target="_blank">Chambered Nautilus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. With its "when blocked" trigger, this mollusk is an excellent target for Equipment. When the Nautilus is holding a sword, it becomes a lot harder to just let it on through. It's only seeing play in 10 decks right now, but I think that number could be much higher.</p>
<p>I expect to get <em>so</em> much grief for including <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dandan" href="#" target="_blank">Dandan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in a Commander deck, but hear me out: it's a cheap sea creature, it's a threatening blocker, and it can <em>Crew</em> any Vehicle in the deck. Somehow, it sees play in 42 decks right now. Honestly, I think that number is high, likely due to some <em>Islandhome</em>-themed builds. In this specific instance, I've had trouble finding something as effective as this two-drop, especially since I'm not running any Merfolk or Wizards.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kraken&#039;s Eye"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mystic Decree"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Homarid Spawning Bed"></div></div>
<p>One of this deck's (many) faults is difficulty recovering in the late game. To help keep life totals from dipping too low, I've included <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kraken&#039;s Eye" href="#" target="_blank">Kraken&#039;s Eye</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. All of these life-gaining artifacts tend not to see much play, with the Eye only included in 245 decklists. As a bonus, I get some life from other players' blue spells as well. The only hard part is remembering the trigger.</p>
<p>Another weakness for this deck is facing down flyers. Luckily, the world enchantment <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mystic Decree" href="#" target="_blank">Mystic Decree</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> helps out a bunch! Sure, lots of sea creatures will end up losing their <em>Islandwalk</em>, but the ability isn't very relevant when they already have <em>Horsemanship</em>. I especially like dropping this right after <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Stormtide Leviathan" href="#" target="_blank">Stormtide Leviathan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> hits the battlefield. The break from combat can be a big help, and serves as a political play as well.</p>
<p>Finally, I've found it necessary to prepare for spot removal against the big Leviathans. Blue doesn't offer much in the way of recursion, but <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Homarid Spawning Bed" href="#" target="_blank">Homarid Spawning Bed</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does offer something before the beastie hits the bin. The Camarid tokens it generates function as great chump blockers, or can be used to <em>Crew</em> vehicles. While it's only in 165 decks, I think this is a great option for most blue/black reanimator builds.</p>
<p>Let's have a look at the full list:</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Water Polo" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards=""></span></div></p>
<p>[Commander]<br />
*1 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu<br />
[/Commander]</p>
<p>[Creatures]<br />
*1 Dandan<br />
*1 Sigiled Starfish<br />
*1 Chambered Nautilus<br />
*1 Chasm Skulker<br />
*1 Guard Gomazoa<br />
*1 Man-o'-War<br />
*1 Spiny Starfish<br />
*1 Giant Oyster<br />
*1 Reef Worm<br />
*1 Sand Squid<br />
*1 Draining Whelk<br />
*1 Shipbreaker Kraken<br />
*1 Aethersquall Ancient<br />
*1 Colossal Whale<br />
*1 Fleet Swallower<br />
*1 Scourge of Fleets<br />
*1 Tromokratis<br />
*1 Elder Deep-Fiend<br />
*1 Kederekt Leviathan<br />
*1 Lorthos, the Tidemaker<br />
*1 Stormtide Leviathan<br />
*1 Inkwell Leviathan<br />
[/Creatures]</p>
<p>[Instants]<br />
*1 Spell Burst<br />
*1 Cyclonic Rift<br />
*1 Reality Shift<br />
[/Instants]</p>
<p>[Sorceries]<br />
*1 Whelming Wave<br />
*1 Inundate<br />
[/Sorceries]</p>
<p>[Artifacts]<br />
*1 Basilisk Collar<br />
*1 Bident of Thassa<br />
*1 Sol Ring<br />
*1 Kraken's Eye<br />
*1 Lightning Greaves<br />
*1 Sky Diamond<br />
*1 Sword of the Animist<br />
*1 Umezawa's Jitte<br />
*1 Crawlspace<br />
*1 Cultivator's Caravan<br />
*1 Darksteel Plate<br />
*1 Extraplanar Lens<br />
*1 Loxodon Warhammer<br />
*1 Proteus Staff<br />
*1 Strata Scythe<br />
*1 Sword of Feast and Famine<br />
*1 Sword of Fire and Ice<br />
*1 Sword of Light and Shadow<br />
*1 Conqueror's Galleon<br />
*1 Fleetwheel Cruiser<br />
*1 Quicksilver Amulet<br />
*1 Thran Dynamo<br />
*1 Gilded Lotus<br />
*1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship<br />
[/Artifacts]</p>
<p>[Enchantments]<br />
*1 Quest for Ula's Temple<br />
*1 Homarid Spawning Bed<br />
*1 Imprisoned in the Moon<br />
*1 Propaganda<br />
*1 Rhystic Study<br />
*1 Mystic Decree<br />
*1 Treachery<br />
[/Enchantments]</p>
<p>[Planeswalkers]<br />
*1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor<br />
*1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets<br />
*1 Tezzeret the Seeker<br />
[/Planeswalkers]</p>
<p>[Lands]<br />
*1 Academy Ruins<br />
*1 Ancient Tomb<br />
*1 Coral Atoll<br />
*1 Darksteel Citadel<br />
*1 Evolving Wilds<br />
*1 Halimar Depths<br />
*1 Haunted Fengraf<br />
*21 Island<br />
*1 Lonely Sandbar<br />
*1 Mage-Ring Network<br />
*1 Myriad Landscape<br />
*1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx<br />
*1 Remote Isle<br />
*1 Seat of the Synod<br />
*1 Soldevi Excavations<br />
*1 Teferi's Isle<br />
*1 Temple of the False God<br />
*1 Tolaria West<br />
[/Lands]</p>
<p>[/Deck]</p>

<hr />
<h2>The Tide's Going Out</h2>
<p>Well, that's about it for this time on <em>Forgotten Harvest</em>. Got a question, comment, or snide remark? Leave it for me in the comments. What are some interesting restrictions you've used when building a deck? Are there any neglected cards in 300 decks or less on EDHREC that you'd like to see featured? Or maybe there's a less-than-popular deck idea that you'd like to see fleshed out, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis" href="#" target="_blank">Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> enchantress or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Muldrotha, the Gravetide" href="#" target="_blank">Muldrotha, the Gravetide</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Voltron. Let me hear all about it below!</p>


Forgotten Harvest – Water Polo

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Raff Capashen, Ship&#039;s Mage" href="#" target="_blank">Raff Capashen, Ship&#039;s Mage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="http://stankoillustration.com/">John Stanko</a>)</h6>
<h1>Start Your Engines</h1>
<p>Well, well, look at this! We are back again with some more <em>Uncommonders</em> goodness! My name is Seth Cross, but my friends call me DM. This series was inspired by the <em>Dominaria</em> set and its twenty legendary creatures printed at the uncommon rarity. Together, we dive into each one of these, along with callbacks to the many uncommon legendary creatures printed in <em>Magic: the Gathering</em>’s past, and brew something fun and exciting for the kitchen table and our best friends to “ooh” and “aah” over. Since we got excited over a recently rare-shifted legendary creature in last week’s article, we are back to <em>Dominaria</em> this week. I asked the <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/praetormagic">Twitch Subscribers</a> that have special access to the subs-only channel on the <a href="https://discord.gg/CrNHmTE">Praetor Magic Discord</a> to supply me with their favorite <em>Dominaria</em> Uncommonders, and naturally has a <a href="https://www.twitter.com/DM_Cross">Twitter poll</a> to find the victor! The four options were <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hallar, the Firefletcher" href="#" target="_blank">Hallar, the Firefletcher</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Danitha Capashen, Paragon" href="#" target="_blank">Danitha Capashen, Paragon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slimefoot, the Stowaway" href="#" target="_blank">Slimefoot, the Stowaway</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and of course, the winner for today's article:</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Raff Capashen, Ship&#039;s Mage"></div></div></p>
<p>Raff is one of <em>Dominaria's</em> uncommon legends - actually, one of the legends, regardless of rarity - that piqued my interest during preview week. What makes Raff slightly more interesting to me than some of the others are his colors. I talk about being a Golgari mage all the time, so Azorius can sometimes be a bit foreign to me. Raff is one of the <em>Dominaria</em> commanders that deal with the new 'historic' label. This new categorization of cards encompasses artifacts, spells that have the legendary supertype (whether they are creatures, artifacts, enchantments or even instants or sorceries), or the new Saga subtype. Come to think of it, if we get new Sagas in future sets, a Bant historic-based commander could make for an interesting Enchantress theme... oops! Sorry. We're not here for enchantments. We're actually here for Raff's historical artifacts!</p>
<p>Another fairly recent development within <em>Magic: the Gathering</em> is the Vehicle subtype. These artifacts become creatures when they are <em>Crewed</em> by tapping creatures with the right amount of power. The reason I find these so interesting is that a well-timed board wipe leaves us with part-time creatures on an empty field, putting us farther ahead in the game. Combined with Raff's ability to cast these artifacts with flash, it'll be even easier to finagle that timing to our advantage. That's right, this week we are talking about…</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Raff Capashen, Pod Racer!</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smuggler&#039;s Copter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Weatherlight"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Peacewalker Colossus"></div></div></p>
<p>First, I want to draw attention to a simple fact: there are only 25 Vehicles in all of <em>Magic: the Gathering</em>. My first impulse was to throw them all into the deck to fulfill the theme, but looking at the list, I realized that some of them just did not need to be in the deck. I trimmed it down to a total of 17 Vehicles. Some were cut out because their payoff was lackluster (like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fell Flagship" href="#" target="_blank">Fell Flagship</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>), and others were trimmed out based on their <em>Crew</em> cost (like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Consulate Dreadnought" href="#" target="_blank">Consulate Dreadnought</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>).</p>
<p>Only two Vehicles in the deck have a <em>Crew</em> cost of 4 or more, meaning that they are the only Vehicles that Raff cannot bring to life on his own. The first such Vehicle is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Peacewalker Colossus" href="#" target="_blank">Peacewalker Colossus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> which made the cut because we can pay mana to animate other Vehicles without needing to <em>Crew</em> them. The second Vehicle with a <em>Crew</em> cost of 4 is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Conqueror’s Galleon" href="#" target="_blank">Conqueror’s Galleon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which I kept for the chance to transform it into <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Conqueror’s Foothold" href="#" target="_blank">Conqueror’s Foothold</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> as a means of recurring our cards from the graveyard.</p>
<p>Some other Vehicles also stood out in the list. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivator’s Caravan" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivator’s Caravan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> doubles up as ramp. (In case you were not sure, it can indeed tap the turn it enters the battlefield, because if it's not a creature, it doesn't have summoning sickness.) The famous and nostalgic <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Weatherlight" href="#" target="_blank">Weatherlight</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler’s Copter" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler’s Copter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> double up as forms of card advantage, helping dig deeper into the deck to keep our hand happy and full. Hailing from <em>Kaladesh,</em> the native plane of Vehicles, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skysovereign, Consul Flagship" href="#" target="_blank">Skysovereign, Consul Flagship</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> allows us to swing at our opponents’ life totals while also bolting either creatures or planeswalkers. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mobile Garrison" href="#" target="_blank">Mobile Garrison</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> allows us to untap the creature that <em>Crewed</em> it, leaving up potential for some crafty blocking plays. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Daredevil Dragster" href="#" target="_blank">Daredevil Dragster</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a unique card that only gets two attacks and/or blocks in before being sacrificed, but that sacrifice draws us two cards. With a recursion package - which we will talk about next - there is potential to keep bringing Dragster back for more and more card advantage. Let's be honest, no one says no to more cards, right?!</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Spit, Polish, and Maintaining Our Pods</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Padeem, Consul of Innovation"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hanna, Ship&#039;s Navigator"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Teshar, Ancestor&#039;s Apostle"></div></div></p>
<p>It is important to realize that there are many effects that are popular in Commander that wipe out or surgically remove artifacts, regardless of whether or not they are creatures. With that in mind, we want to run a few ways to protect or bring back our artifacts.</p>
<p>Before we begin, my list is not running <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Darksteel Forge" href="#" target="_blank">Darksteel Forge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and honestly, how dare I, right? In all honesty, I felt like artifacts have so many ways to be recurred that simple indestructibility is just too easy and a touch boring. Cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Junk Diver" href="#" target="_blank">Junk Diver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Myr Retriever" href="#" target="_blank">Myr Retriever</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and the artifact staple <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trading Post" href="#" target="_blank">Trading Post</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> help our artifacts come back to the battlefield. We also have <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sun Titan" href="#" target="_blank">Sun Titan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and even another <em>Dominaria</em> addition, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle" href="#" target="_blank">Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which is slightly more restrictive. In addition to Teshar, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hanna, Ship’s Navigator" href="#" target="_blank">Hanna, Ship’s Navigator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> uniquely synergizes with Raff because she counts as a historic card that can be flashed in. Then, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Indomitable Archangel" href="#" target="_blank">Indomitable Archangel</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Padeem, Consul of Innovation" href="#" target="_blank">Padeem, Consul of Innovation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> making targeting our artifacts much more difficult for our opponents.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Fuel for the Engines</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jhoira&#039;s Familiar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smothering Tithe"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Etherium Sculptor"></div></div></p>
<p>Ramp in an artifact deck can be deceptive. Sure, running eight or more mana rocks can easily give us access to twice as much mana as anyone else on the board. When combined with discounting effects like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etherium Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Etherium Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> we can suddenly cast ultra-big artifacts multiple times a turn. However, my main issue with this thinking is that mana rocks are not permanent sources of mana in the way that lands are. At least, not unless your meta is more comfortable with land destruction. If they are, then good for you! I personally think we are too against the idea of balancing mana sources, but I digress. My point is that we should be careful with vulnerable mana sources.</p>
<p>Because artifacts have such great recursion and we are running so many effects in the deck, I went with the classic <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Burnished Hart" href="#" target="_blank">Burnished Hart</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Solemn Simulacrum" href="#" target="_blank">Solemn Simulacrum</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to fetch for lands. While for most decks, that does not seem that odd, I was surprised at the folks who suggested them as cuts when I was slimming down the deck. The mentality was that we ran enough discount effects and rocks to ramp hard enough already, but did not sit right with me, so I stuck with my gut, and these should diversify our mana capabilities. Plus, they can <em>Crew </em>Vehicles!</p>
<p>I was excited to include <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smothering Tithe" href="#" target="_blank">Smothering Tithe</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in the list, a new card from Ravnica Allegiance that seems like it is going to become very popular in most white decks. I debated going a bit more tax-based with a few other cards, but realized something like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grand Arbiter Augustin IV" href="#" target="_blank">Grand Arbiter Augustin IV</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does not benefit us enough, considering most of our cards are colorless. Since we don't get the classic Arbiter, we are running three kinds of discounts for artifacts (or historic cards) in the form of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etherium Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Etherium Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Foundry Inspector" href="#" target="_blank">Foundry Inspector</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and the newer <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira’s Familiar" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira’s Familiar</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Throw everything together with some more draw, ramp and then the right removal and Wrath effects, and the list looks like this:</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Pod Racer Champion Raff" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Raff Capashen, Ship&#039;s Mage
[/commander]
[Creatures]
*1 Ballista Charger
*1 Bomat Bazaar Barge
*1 Conqueror&#039;s Galleon
*1 Daredevil Dragster
*1 Dusk Legion Dreadnought
*1 Fleetwheel Cruiser
*1 Mobile Garrison
*1 Peacewalker Colossus
*1 Renegade Freighter
*1 Sky Skiff
*1 Sleek Schooner
*1 Untethered Express
*1 Cultivator&#039;s Caravan
*1 Smuggler&#039;s Copter
*1 Junk Diver
*1 Jhoira&#039;s Familiar
*1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
*1 Scrap Trawler
*1 Foundry Inspector
*1 Burnished Hart
*1 Myr Retriever
*1 Duplicant
*1 Etherium Sculptor
*1 Indomitable Archangel
*1 Sun Titan
*1 Aeronaut Admiral
*1 Trophy Mage
*1 Heart of Kiran
*1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
*1 Weatherlight
*1 Teshar, Ancestor&#039;s Apostle
*1 Sram, Senior Edificer
*1 Hanna, Ship&#039;s Navigator
*1 Sai, Master Thopterist
*1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
[/creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*1 Tezzeret, Artifice Master
*1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
*1 Tezzeret the Seeker
[/Planeswalkers]
[Enchantments]
*1 Bident of Thassa
*1 Smothering Tithe
*1 Rhystic Study
*1 The Antiquities War
[/enchantments]
[Artifacts]
*1 Trading Post
*1 Unwinding Clock
*1 Azorius Signet
*1 Blinkmoth Urn
*1 Commander&#039;s Sphere
*1 Hedron Archive
*1 Mind Stone
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Lightning Greaves
[/artifacts]
[Instant]
*1 Enlightened Tutor
*1 Crush Contraband
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Reality Shift
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Cyclonic Rift
[/Instant]
[Sorcery]
*1 Fabricate
*1 Open the Vaults
*1 Remember the Fallen
*1 Cleansing Nova
*1 Wrath of God
[/Sorcery]
[Lands]
*1 Academy Ruins
*1 Buried Ruin
*1 Command Tower
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Flooded Strand
*1 Ghost Quarter
*1 Hallowed Fountain
*1 Inventors&#039; Fair
*10 Island
*1 Lonely Sandbar
*1 Minamo, School at Water&#039;s Edge
*12 Plains
*1 Scavenger Grounds
*1 Secluded Steppe
*1 Strip Mine
*1 Temple of Enlightenment
*1 Terramorphic Expanse
[/lands]"></span></div><br />
</p>
<p>NOTE: For the sake of the list, I included the Vehicles as creatures, which makes it look like there are tons of creatures. As we touched on earlier, some of the Vehicles fulfill different categories or simply do not need to be creatures in order to provide value. Just something to keep in mind when looking at the list!</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Beep Beep, Outta the Way!</h3>
<p>When Raff first came out in a set with twenty uncommon legendary creatures and a host of rare and mythic rare legendary creatures, my first thought was to flash in all the white and blue legendary creatures I could stick into a deck. Then, when Sagas were revealed, I had the idea to do an Azorius Enchantress-type deck. Sadly, only six Sagas exist in these colors, so that idea quickly went out the window. I resisted the urge to do a basic artifact deck with Raff, because <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> exists in the same set and she seems like such a better artifact commander. In the end, the Vehicle idea seemed fun, and brewing the list proved it to be true, especially with all the surprise combat shenanigans Raff is capable of sneaking into play. I enjoy a unique twist on my decks, so this is the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>To wrap this up, my favorite comment from last week’s article came from /u/GRxBerserker on the /r/EDH subreddit. They said:</p>
<blockquote><p>This looks like an awesome budget deck! I play Shirei without consideration for budget and it still looks awfully similar. Good work.</p></blockquote>
<p>I enjoyed this comment so much because it illustrates how powerful of a deck you can build in the 3DH format. To recap, 3DH is 3 Dollar Highlander, where we play Commander on <em>Magic: the Gathering Online</em> and each deck can cost no more than 3 TIX (which equates to $3). Because of the unique Online economy, there are very powerful cards that sometimes cost next to nothing. My favorite example is always that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vampiric Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Vampiric Tutor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> only costs a penny for Season 3.</p>
<p>If this sounds like fun for you, make sure you check out the <a href="https://discord.gg/CrNHmTE">Praetor Magic Discord</a>! We talk about the format and you can sign up to play on the games <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/praetormagic">I stream</a> every Wednesday and Friday at 9 PM EST. You can also throw questions at me on the big blue bird site by following me there and see some of my older games on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/praetormagic">Praetor Magic YouTube channel</a>.</p>
<p>Until next time, keep brewing and keep casting those bombs!</p>


vehicle tribal

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