It’s finally the new year, and I want to start things out on a weird note: failure. Last year, I created several weird decks for the Magic: the Gathering EDH/Commander format. I’m not done either. More decks are coming soon. However, this year, I tried to make three big deck ideas work, but they just didn’t pan out.
Not every deck idea works out. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying to make them work. New cards come out every year, and eventually, I might find a way to make these ideas work in a way I’d never considered before.
Traditionally, I don’t go in for New Year’s resolutions. However, I really want to make at least one of these decks work next year. So, in the context of Magic the Gathering, this article may be my New Year’s resolution and my to-do list. If you’re struggling with a deck idea like me, I hope my struggles inspire you to overcome your problem.
#1: Landing Myself in Trouble.
This deck started with two cards: “Maze’s End” and “Monument to Perfection.” When I built my Victory deck, I learned how fun it was to play a gate deck. I was hooked, wanted a similar experience, and I wanted to see what other land types offered. “Monument to Perfection” was my way forward.
In Monument to Perfection, I saw an opportunity to build a crazy deck. Monument already cared about two different nonbasic land types (Sphere and Locus lands). How hard could it be to build a deck that cared about ALL land types? Pretty hard, it turns out.
Aside from the five basic land types, there are seven non-basic lands types. In attempting to make the deck work, I did extensive searches on all of them. Unfortunately, I found that very few of these non-basic land types had any support or pay-off.
Gates cards were the most promising type, since Maze’s End was a well-documented win-con. However, I’ve already built a decklist that utilizes Gates, and I wanted to try something more than that. Locus and Sphere lands may help to activate the Monument, but there are only three Locus lands and nine Sphere lands. While that can make up a substantial portion of a deck, these land types hardly have any support outside the Monument.
Everywhere I looked, this problem repeated itself. There were a limited number of cards in each non-basic land type. To make matters worse, these land types lacked any compelling cards like “Monument to Perfection” to build around.
The notable exceptions to my disappointment were Urza and Desert lands. These cards support each other, have a distinct purpose and reason to play them, and can be powerful in the right deck. Sadly, I still didn’t find a good way to play a bunch of different land types. My deck was left without a viable win-con, and I’ve learned my lesson on that front.
To Boldly Go…
For now, I’ve shelved this idea. There are still some compelling cards that might help this strategy work, but without better build-around cards, it’s just not worth it. Luckily, the continuing rise of Modern Horizons and Universe Beyonds sets keeps innovating with existing mechanics and ideas. Hopefully, this could bring some irregular land types back into prominence and bring some much needed attention back to the lesser-known land types.
#2: Line in the Sand
One of my earlier ideas from last year was a deck built around Leyline cards. Leylines are a type of magic card that can start on the battlefield if they are in your opening hand. Starting with free enchantments out on the battlefield is incredibly powerful, and I had a clever way to exploit this.
The idea was to run Leylines paired with the Theros gods. The Theros gods care about devotion – the amount of colored mana symbols on cards in play. Since Leylines can enter for free on the first turn, it is possible to start a game with a respectable devotion count.
With Go-Shintai of Life’s origin at the helm in this deck, I had a solid enchantment-themed deck idea. This deck idea seemed great. Until I started to playtest it. That was when I realized an unfortunate truth: the Leylines are generally pretty bad.
Ley(line) of the Land
While Leyline cards can be powerful, and some cool new Leylines were printed last year, they are actually pretty limited. Leylines can provide some powerful options to augment how you play, but running them all at once might actually be a mistake. Leylines are all very unique and encourage many different strategies. It’s challenging to make a deck that benefits from having all of the Leylines.
I still want to make this deck work someday, and this year might be it. Wizards of the Coast released five new Leylines last year. I’m hoping this indicates that Leylines might become a recurring type of card seen across story sets. If so, more Leylines might make it possible to craft a functioning deck, even if the core themes need to change a bit.
For now, I’ll just have to keep my eye out on Leylines and other cards that care about your opening hand. Eventually, I may find a way to get this novel deck idea to become viable enough to play. Until then, I’ll simply have to patiently wait.
#3: Commanding Your Attention
If this list of failed deck concepts proves anything, it is that I am obsessed with cycles of cards, especially abnormal ones. Cycles are cards that share mechanics and even sometimes pieces of names, typically released in one set or sometimes across many. I especially love building decks with cards that started as a limited cycle before being expanded later. I previously built a deck centered around the Ultimatum and Charm cycles of cards. This new deck pursued a similar idea.
Commands are a cycle of cards that has existed for quite a while now. These cards offer four different options, allowing you to pick two. Outside of the original cycle of commands, new commands have been printed more recently.
When workshoping the deck, the Confluence cycle seemed like it would pair up excellently with these. Both cycles are modal spells, offering four different options to pick and choose from. The thematic pairing of Confluences and Commands was exactly what I was looking for.
I ran into one big problem with this deck idea: I don’t have a good commander to pair it with. I want to run all five colors with this deck, but my options for spell slinger commanders in five colors are limited. While Riku is currently the only commander who cares about modal spells, he limits the colors I can play in this deck. Additionally, I don’t want this deck to be too similar to my Omnath spellslinger deck. This limits the cards I felt comfortable playing.
A Confluence of Ideas
I am absolutely determined to make this deck idea work. This idea started with a cycle of cards I liked and expanded from there. Luckily, there are a wide variety of spell cycles I can try to make this work. This includes some spells I’d forgotten about. By expanding my net to include more spell cycles, I may be able to make something interesting.
I know I can make this deck work. I just have to find the right combination of spellslinger cards and spell cycles that pair well together. This deck is a puzzle I have yet to solve, but I am eager to unravel it.
New Year, New Decks
I’ll probably never stop creating commander decks. This year is sure to bring a surge of new deck ideas. However, the new year is also a time to exorcise unquiet ghosts from previous years.
Some of these deck ideas I’ve created and fixated on this past year may end up getting dropped. However, this year may also be an opportunity to finish and complete some of them. Either way, I look forward to seeing what this new year brings for Magic: the Gathering.
