It’s no secret that I am a fan of building five-color decks for Magic: the Gathering and of weird deck ideas in the first place. However, I used to focus on building decks in order to be more powerful instead.

Cards on the table: I don’t think I’m a very good Magic: the Gathering player. I make dumb mistakes, I am awful at a drafting table, and I regularly lose games against more skilled players. Losing so often can get pretty demoralizing.

For a while, I quit Magic: the Gathering. This actually wasn’t due to my frustrations with losing but rather due to money and lack of opportunities to play. When I returned, I wanted a change. I wanted to win.

My return to Magic: the Gathering started a phase of my gameplay where I built decks to be powerful. The goal was to win. In the process, I learned some valuable lessons and swore off this play pattern for good. I am much more content now building weird decks that happen to be powerful instead of making power the goal.

Osgir’s Solitare

Returning to Magic: the Gathering, and to the Commander format, in particular, I tried a few different decks. I already had a Ur-Dragon deck, but it wasn’t very good (yet). I wanted something super powerful that could win games against some of my friends’ better decks. Enter “Osgir, the Reconstructor.”

When he was revealed, Osgir caused some stir. His color combination of Red and White mana is considered one of the weakest in Commander, but Osgir laughed in the face of this assumption. Every review I saw unanimously agreed that Osgir’s abilities to sacrifice and copy artifacts was extremely powerful.

After a bit of deliberation, I bought the Osgir deck. Then, I upgraded it. I even traded one of my highest-value cards, a Kaladesh Invention “Staff of Domination”, to get the pieces for it. This let me buy powerful cards like Ugin’s Nexus, which let me take extra turns. Powerful creatures like “Wurmcoil Engine,” “Phyrexian Triniform,” and “Triplicate Titan” joined the deck’s roster.

However, when I finally looked up from my frenzy of making this deck better and looked around at the table, I had a horrible epiphany. No one was having fun.

Powerful Decks: The Price of Power

My Osgir deck was miserable to play against. It was good. It was too good. When I played the deck, I would quickly amass huge amounts of mana. I even had a combo to make infinite mana with “Rings of Brighthearth” and “Basalt Monolith.” With unlimited mana, I would begin making an army of creatures, killing those creatures, and copying those creatures. By the time I would look up from a turn, ten minutes would have passed.

This type of deck is sometimes referred to as a solitaire deck. Commander is played at a table with three other players, all eager to play their own decks. With a Solitaire deck, everyone has to watch you play yours instead. Solitaire decks are not fun to play against. You don’t get to do anything. Instead, you get to miserably watch someone else have fun… without you.

Despite Osgir’s power, I tried to keep playing his deck. I made the deck better and cooler. The whole time, I was desperately missing the point. The deck wasn’t fun to play against… It was barely fun to play. Playing the deck almost required me to have all 100 cards memorized. I would rush through my turns in order to be respectful of the table, stressed because of all the time I was taking.

I no longer play “Osgir, the Reconstructor.” In fact, I have steadily stripped this deck for parts. Various pieces of it now fill other decks. That’s good. It’s better this way. I never want to see my friends as miserable as they were when I brought out Osgir.

After shelving “Osgir, the Reconstructor,” I tried to play decks that were more fun to play against and more fun to play. I didn’t always succeed, but I had made the first step.

The Ur-Dragon Comes

I love dragons! Who doesn’t? Dragons are some of the most iconic creatures in all of fantasy, and they can be some of the best cards in Magic: the Gathering. I feel like I am a kindred spirit with Sarkhan Vol.

Sarkhan is a planeswalker whose obsession with dragons led him to alter his homeland’s timeline so that dragons now rule the plane. Just like Sarkhan, my obsession with dragons has led me to some unwise places.

As a dragon lover, when the Ur-Dragon deck was announced, I knew I had to get it. I loved playing this deck, but it underperformed against the decks it premiered alongside. When I returned to Magic: the Gathering, I still had my Ur-Dragon deck, but I decided not to play it since it got demolished at tables, and dragons are expensive. That changed when I stopped playing Osgir.

After I abandoned my Osgir deck, I reinvested in my Ur-Dragon deck. A few more casual games showed me that “The Ur-Dragon” is actually very good and very fun to play with. With the lessons from my time with Osgir under my belt, I put effort back into my Ur-Dragon deck with a vengeance. I was determined to make the Ur-Dragon fun.

Powerful Decks 2: Electric Boogaloo

Surprise, surprise, I didn’t quite learn my lesson. “The Ur-Dragon” was more fun to play against and way more fun to pilot than Osgir. However, I had forgotten something critical. Games are no fun if you’re always losing. 

The perfected version of my Ur-Dragon deck was so good that I basically never lost. I was so focused on getting better and cooler dragons that by the time I was satisfied, the damage was done. 

My Ur-Dragon deck wasn’t exactly miserable to play against, but it wasn’t fun to play against, either. I’ll never forget when I played this deck against a friend of mine, who was a new Magic: the Gathering player. I closed out several games without ever losing the game, and even one once without taking damage. He now avoids playing Magic with me as much as possible, especially against “The Ur-Dragon” in particular.

I knew something had to change. My Ur-Dragon deck was causing very similar problems to the type I had with Osgir. There were two main observations I took away. First: The Ur-Dragon was too powerful for every table and shouldn’t be played against newer players. So, I needed a new deck. However, my second observation was just as eye-opening: I didn’t need to scrap the Ur-Dragon deck. I just needed to re-examine my focus.

Sarkhan’s Strongest Soldier

My goal when building my Ur-Dragon deck was fundamentally different from my goal with the Osgir deck. I play with “The Ur-Dragon” because I want to play cool dragons, not because I want to win. This realization changed everything.

I am Sarkhan Vol’s strongest soldier. I love dragons in all shapes and sizes. Whether they’re five color cycles of dragons, dragons from the same plane, draconic rulers… I just really love dragons, okay? So, my solution to my problem with the Ur-Dragon deck was simple: start playing different dragon cards.

To continue having fun with my Ur-Dragon deck but make it less grueling to play against, I turned it into a dragon shell. I now have nearly 100 dragons and dragon-themed cards that I can switch out every time I play.

Each time I play with this deck list now, the experience is always different. All of the cards in the maybeboard are ones that can be swapped in or out as I please. I’ve had a lot of fun experimenting. I’ve shuffled all of my dragon-themed cards together and chosen a bunch at random. I have removed all dragons except Elder Dragons and dragons who lead planes. Sometimes, I’ve swapped out dragons for a bunch of different dragon planeswalkers. Other times, I have gone for the simplicity of many red dragons. My deck runs many types of dragons, including artifact-themed dragons, sacrifice-themed dragons, and cycles of uncommon dragons. 

With Sarkhan’s Menagerie at the ready, my experience at the tabletop has dramatically improved. Still, this deck is quite powerful and that’s okay. Some Commanders make for very strong decks, and the Ur-Dragon is notorious for being strong. However, I am more careful with who I play this deck with, and I no longer play with the goal of winning. That changes a lot.

Carth the Lion’s Superfriends

After sticking with “The Ur-Dragon” for so long, it was clear I needed another deck. Sarkhan’s Menagerie can be overwhelming to play against and is not appropriate for all tables. Then, one evening, I opened “Carth the Lion” while pulling from a Magic the Gathering pack.

I’ve always loved planeswalkers, and so does Carth. Planeswalkers are special cards with a few different abilities that steadily build power to unleash an ultimate ability. However, “Carth the Lion” is only in Black and Green colors, which poses an interesting deck restraint. Most Commander decks that focus on planeswalkers, also known as Superfriends decks, play five colors. A Superfriends deck with only two colors sounded interesting.

After I pulled Carth, I cracked open my own collection to see if it was even feasible to play Superfriends with only two colors. Not only was it feasible, but while pulling out all my Black and Green cards, I found that I had almost enough cards to build a deck. So, that’s what I did! 

Using only what I had on hand, I cobbled together a Carth the Lion Superfriends deck. The experience of doing so was super fun and incredibly rewarding. Because I was just using my own collection, I was left without a lot of staples I would have normally bought. As a result, this deck felt very unique and played very interestingly. 

Eventually, I brought my Carth deck to a play group with the rest of my friends. It was a hit! I had a lot of fun, and people really seemed to like it and were excited to see it play. There was just one problem… it wasn’t strong enough.

Powerful Decks 3: The Reckoning

The first time I played my Carth the Lion deck with friends, we had a fun game, and I definitely emerged victorious… but I didn’t exactly win. Instead, after about three turns straight of activating my Planeswalkers ultimate abilities without winning the game, everyone just conceded. They gave up due to sheer exhaustion. I was firmly in control of the game, and it was essentially over; it was just taking me forever to actually win.

This experience sent me back to the drawing board to rework my Superfriends deck. In truth, I had known beforehand that I didn’t have a great win condition, a way to solidly close out the game. I had even explained that beforehand. However, the experience of having players concede out of exhaustion and having a game end with a whimper instead of a bang was eye-opening.

This time, my lesson was the opposite. To be respectful of my playgroup and of everyone’s time, I actually had to make my deck more powerful.

Carth the Magnanimous

My original plan for The Lion’s Superfriends was to keep this as a collection-only deck. I wanted to acquire all of the cards either from pulls or trades or by being gifted them. To some degree, it still is. Most of my favorite cards come with a story that I get to tell when the card is played. After my initial experience with the deck, however, I knew I couldn’t simply pull from my collection. I had to set out to buy cards to round out it out.

The Lion’s Superfriends is now one of my most played and most reliable decks. It is good for a lot of playgroups, and it is also my most requested deck. I’ve frequently been brought to new tables and been asked to play it against someone else’s deck. That’s a great feeling!

After playing again and again, The Lion’s Superfriends is almost perfect… almost. Truthfully, this deck may be a little too strong now. While I don’t win with this deck every time I play, I can win with it pretty consistently. 

I’ve considered handling this deck the same way I did with the Ur-Dragon, but for now, I’ve decided against it. There are more Planeswalkers I could add to this deck and a few changes I could make to the support cards. However, I think this is a fine deck! What’s more, this deck taught me that powerful decks are not necessarily a bad thing and a little bit of power might even be good for a table.

Omnath, the Angry Jellybean

“Omnath, Locus of All” is the last of what I consider to be my core Commanders. While I may eventually buy and sleeve up other decks, Omnath is the last of three that are ready to play at a moment’s notice.

I built Omnath to play Ultimatums. The original Ultimatum cards were a cycle of five cards that required seven mana of specific colors and produced amazing effects. These cards are no longer as strong as they once were, but they are still as hard to cast. Even with a new cycle to round out the Ultimatums to an even ten, most of these cards don’t see play. Let alone all of them in one deck.

The ability on “Omnath, Locus of All” intrigued me because it was the perfect Commander to play Ultimatums with. While Omnath’s ability is wordy, in short, every Ultimatum is able to trigger the ability, netting the deck mana and making the Ultimatums easier to cast.

What’s more, I realized I could play another underappreciated cycle: the charms. Charms are modal spells that can each do one of three limited things but are usually bad. Charms have been printed for a long time and continue to be printed, but once again, usually don’t see play. Bringing a deck full of charms is usually seen as a meme, a cheap joke, and not even a very good one. 

With Omnath at the helm of my deck I knew I could bring the full power of charms and Ultimatums to bear. I also sated my inner demons by adding a cavalcade of wild five-color spells and creatures that normally never get played. This deck is a tribute to the unloved cards of Magic: the Gathering, and it is a monster.

No One Expects the Charm Inquisition

My Omnath deck is a meme that will steal your lunch money, kick your dog, and leave you dead in a ditch. The Angry Jellybean hits hard. When I built this deck, I thought it was bad. In many ways, I still do. This deck doesn’t run the best cards or format-defining staples worth dozens of dollars. I run multiple cycles of MtG cards commonly considered to be nearly unplayable. That is a big part of why this deck is so strong.

It may seem counterintuitive in a format where every card is available to play, but Commander thrives off of predictability. In fact, most of Magic as a whole does. Even in a format like Commander, people generally know what to expect if you have two blue mana open: “Counterspell.” If you have seven mana open, and one of them is blue, they expect an overloaded Cyclonic Rift. If you have three mana open and one of them is green, they could predict “Beast Within.”

No one expects Abzan Charm. Very few people even know what it does, let alone what all three modes of it do.

Most players are prepared for their creature to be killed with a card like “Path to Exile” or “Hero’s Downfall.” No one expects their creature to be whisked to the top of their library with “Jeskai Charm.”

The Angry Jellybean is full of tricks like this. This deck does not follow a lot of the usual strategies at a table or rely on a lot of the most recognizable cards. It doesn’t even run “Sol Ring,” which is nearly unheard of!

Powerful Decks 4: The Last Ride

After getting my Omnath decklist to the perfect state, I once again realized I had made a powerful deck that dominates at a table. Once again, I had to grapple with the decision of whether or not to take the deck apart and consign it to oblivion. I’m still grappling with it, but as of right now, I haven’t.

The Angry Jellybean effectively functions like a mix between a control deck and spellslinger deck. That is, it runs a lot of spells to control the board and the state of the game. Then, it finds ways to play them repeatedly and eventually win.

My old Osgir deck has a lot of similarities with my Angry Jellybean deck. I have almost every card memorized. The deck takes long turns. Players at pick-up games can get demoralized when I play it. So, why haven’t I taken it apart? There are three core reasons.

First of all, as I said above, my Omnath deck is powerful for weird reasons.  The Angry Jellybean is so far removed from “the meta” that it performs really well. The deck isn’t strong as a result of powerful cards; it’s strong because of the way they’re put together. That doesn’t feel like a good reason to tear the deck apart.

The second reason this deck still exists is that I still have fun playing it. I don’t leave players demoralized with the Angry Jellybean like Osgir did. The Angry Jellybean interacts with other players in a way Osgir just didn’t. Additionally, because the Angry Jellybean functions like a control deck, the long turns feel more acceptable. After all, control decks usually take long turns. 

The final reason I haven’t taken this deck apart is because of one last realization I’ve had. To put it simply…

I’m the Bad Guy. Duh.

Every table I play at turns into a game of Archenemy, where three players end up facing off against one big bad. This is just the kind of player I am. I just have to accept it.

I build powerful decks. No matter what deck I build, I’m unconsciously going to fine tune it until it’s strong. Even if I limit my budget, even if I build a deck using only a certain type of mana, no matter what, I’m going to build something powerful. Even with a deck cobbled together out of cards from my own collection, I brought a table to a halt with Carth the Lion.

I’m not quite sure how I ended up at this point. Somehow, even though I thought I was bad at this game, I became one of the most dreaded players at the table. It seems that somehow, building these decks turned me into a powerful player. Playing with powerful cards taught me how to string together powerful interactions and use unusual cards to best other players.

I’d love to turn this into some gloating monologue about my ultimate power or revel in the heights of my villainy, but I’m honestly torn. It’s fun to play up the role of the bad guy at a table, to languish in my triumph, and to say lines like “Do I look scared to you?”  It feels great that I’ve grown from being the newbie at a table to being a veteran. It’s another thing entirely to have my playstyle drive friends away from this hobby.

I’ve had players passive-aggressively check the time while I play my decks. There have been times when my nervous laughter while winning has been interpreted as malicious and has ruined relationships with others at the table. A lot of the time, while playing my powerful decks, I’ll be extremely stressed that I’m being too mean, taking too long, or having too much fun at someone else’s expense.

Ultimately, the biggest reason my decks are powerful isn’t due to the cards I put in them. It’s me. No matter what, I am always going to fine-tune a deck until it breaks people over my knees. I’m always going to memorize all my cards, whether I mean to or not, and micromanage the crap out of my gameplan. The only way to stop all of that is if I stop playing.

Anybody Up for Game Night?

I don’t plan to stop playing Magic: the Gathering. Likewise, I don’t plan to stop making weird decks. I’ve done the work to identify what kind of player I am and what kinds of problems I can cause. Now that I’ve done that, I can avoid some of the traps I’ve fallen into before. 

Osgir taught me not to build decks for power anymore. The Ur-Dragon (and Sarkhan) have taught me not to prioritize strength over my true goals for a deck. Carth taught me that sometimes, a bit of power is necessary. Finally, Omnath taught me that power isn’t always a measure of the cards in a deck. All of my decks together have taught me to accept the type of player that I am.

I will continue to play Magic: the Gathering, build weird decks, and have fun with this game I love. I hope to see you at the table one day!