Equinaut 2015!

One of my longest running decks is a now-Commander deck called Equinaut. The deck is very simple at its core. You use self-bouncers such as Fleetfoot
Panther and Whitemane Lion alongside triggers like Equilibrium and Aura Shards. The result is a powerful combination of three major components – quick
beats, fun feats, and nasty treats. And that’s the deck!

It has a lot of elegance built into it with the self-bouncing theme. I originally built it for Standard back when Invasion block was legal, and it
performed quite well at local tournaments. Since then it’s become a favorite of mine, and I’ve been writing about it in my articles quite frequently.

Last year I updated you with the additions to this iconic deck. I have a Commander version that I run for fun and happiness.
You can check out the edits and the version we are editing today if you prefer
.

If you want to read the whole primer about the deck, the various complexities and layers it has, and a bunch of ways of building it, check out my Primer. This is a very long article, so get ready!

What I want to do today is to go over a lot of the cards that were released over the last year that could fit into my latest Equinaut build, and then
update my deck with the appropriate changes.

We’ll begin with the first set released – Journey into Nyx–and then move forward from there, counting down all of the hotness you can find!

Journey Into Nyx

Aegis of the Gods
– We do have some solid hate-bears in Equinaut, as Meddling Mage was a four-of in the very first iteration of the deck, and a valuable one at that. A
cheap, high-powered hate bear can really do a lot for our deck. I don’t think Aegis gives me enough though.

Dictate of Heliod –
My deck runs a lot of smaller creatures, and having an enchantment that can instantly turn them into a real force is going to be really useful. It’d be
nice to see my hate-bears and Watchwolves trade with bigger guys.

Eidolon of Blossoms
– An enchantment-based version of Equinaut would find this essential as a card-drawing engine of doom.

Kruphix, God of Horizons –
Adding in a mana-ramper and a hand-size enabler is strong. Equinaut often gets a clogged hand because I often find I’m using my mana each turn to play and
replay stuff and activate various hijinks. The combination of a Spellbook and a self-controlled Upwelling has a lot of interesting strategies to offer.

Mana Confluence –
It certainly seems useful to help that mana; this deck guzzles mana more than a gas hog on Friday night.

From Journey we have a few cards that enter the conversation. But it won’t be anywhere near the volume of cards from the next set!

Magic 2015

Quickling
– Let’s start with the obvious addition to my deck. I like it when my self-gating creatures have flash. You can use them in response to fun stuff as well
as roll them out at the end of someone’s turn to use up your spare mana. They can be used to save a creature from removal, jumpstart another set of
triggers, and generally have fun with things. Quickling is cheap, flashes, but doesn’t self-gate. It gates another critter I control. That’s probably good
enough though, so it’s likely to head in.

Spirit Bonds
– I also want to show you a strong engine right off the bat as well. Every time one of your critters arrives (and especially self-gating stuff) you can
spend a white mana to churn out a 1/1 flyer. That’s pretty good. Then you can sacrifice one of those flyers later on to make a key dork indestructible for
a turn, which is a solid adjunct. As a two-mana enchantment, it can be played early, and it quickly becomes a vital path to churning out the tokens and
having a powerful impact on the board. This is exactly the sort of card I’m talking about when I mention trigger effects.

Shaman of Spring –
There’s definitely a place for cards like Elvish Visionary, Wall of Omens, and Shaman of Spring in these sorts of decks.

Frost Lynx
– It rocks an interesting tempo-based enters-the-battlefield (ETB) trigger, which you have to adore. Anything of your opponent’s which is not bounced can
be tapped down. It’s interesting but probably will lose out on numbers.

Reclamation Sage
– Kor Sanctifiers has been in my deck for ages. It’s been an adequate answer to all things artificial (enchantments and artifacts). But I’ve said for years
that I’d love a cheaper option that blows up one or the other, unlike things such as Uktabi Orangutan which only takes down artifacts. The Sage is a huge
upgrade for an existing card in my deck.

Invasive Species
– Invasive Species is an interesting card. It’s a self-gater for any permanent upon arrival, so I can send back a land or enchantment if I prefer. I can
use that to reload Venser, the Sojourner’s counters, for example. But a non-flash self-gater that’s more expensive than Watchwolf and can’t gate itself may
not be immediately playable for the mana.

Kapsho Kitefins
– Did you like that Frost Lynx idea of tapping stuff on arrival? The Kitefins will give the deck essentially another Twiddle effect, and unlike Spirit
Bonds, it won’t require the use of mana to activate. Unlike Bonds, it’s also a creature itself, so playing the Kitefins triggers all of my good stuff too!
If you want to lock some stuff down, this could be your new best friend! The only issue? It’s six mana to play. Insert sad face.

Military Intelligence –
This is a bit outside the box, but bear with me. This deck often attacks with some small fry to get in a few smashes. It’s happy to clear out some paths
for later face-smashing. You can get the card-draw trigger quite reliably as you get going. You can play this early to maximize your drawing-potential.
Drawing cards is always a sexy thing, right? Right!

That’s a lot of stuff from M15, but what about another set released at roughly the same time, Conspiracy? Did any new cards debut from it that I think are
strong Equinaut contenders?

Conspiracy

Brago, King Eternal –
Because you tend to get in hits with your creatures, this little saboteur that flickers your whole side (if you want) is a pretty nifty way to turn a
gamestate from a bit in your favor to downright game-winning. But it needs a lot of the ETB creature madness, and as I’ve said many times before, Equinaut
is not a Bant Blink deck. It may look similar, but it’s not. It’s different. Brago’s value may not be enough.

That’s really it for Conspiracy. It’s not really a strong Equinaut-flavored set. Sorry!

Now, let’s move to Khans of Tarkir – what about it?

Khans of Tarkir

Altar of the Brood
– One of the things I like about the Altar is that you can throw it down as early as you draw it, and then, for the rest of the game, it provides a little
bit of milling. After just a few turns of dropping lands, critters, and enchantments, this thing could mill a lot of cards. The only issue is that I don’t
run any other milling as a supplement, and I don’t run other artifacts, so I’m not sure how much of a team player it’d be.

Clever Impersonator

– Clones are great. Getting one that can duplicate any non-land permanent is greater. You can get a mana artifact or a planeswalker, anything that’s great
in creature-land, or double triggers of your best enchantment. Don’t forget that you can self-bounce it back (if a creature) to reuse another time!

Sagu Mauler
– As I mentioned earlier, one of the most important things this deck does is beat-down. It needs creatures like Watchwolf and Fleecemane Lion to bring the
pain. I’ve run Baneslayer Angel and Tarmogoyf in this thing. Efficient beaters are a key strategy, and Sagu Mauler certainly qualifies! It’s got a solid
trample/hexproof combo married to that 6/6 body. If you are going to run a pure beater, it qualifies.

Wingmate Roc
– This 3/4 flyer can bring a twin to the party given that you dropped it post-combat and attacked. I’ve mentioned before how often you attack, so the raid
clause is easy to use and abuse. Meanwhile you get two dorks for the price of one, and we add flying to the deck. This is a deck that needs a lot of
flyers, so this is a useful role-player.

Commander 2014

Containment Priest
– It may be very expensive on the secondary market, but this flashing hate-bear is pretty saucy. The only issue is that it can shut down your own Equinaut
tricks if you are flickering. But since this deck is actively playing and replaying its creatures, the Priest isn’t going to hose you that badly. It’ll be
worse for them.

That’s it, unfortunately, from C14.

Now, once more with feeling.

Fate Reforged:

Temur Sabertooth
– I don’t run much of the self-bouncing activation, such as Vedalken Mastermind or Crystal Shard. In my old 60-card decks, I would run four-of Fleetfoot
Panther. It made the deck work. It gave you an efficient body for red zone activities, allowed you to ambush attackers, you could flash, self-gate for
saving creatures or triggering abilities, and it was amazing. I nicknamed it the “Death Kitty.” After Whitemane Lion was released, I named it “Kitty, Jr.”
because of how well it mirrored the Death Kitty. Could Temur Sabertooth be “Kitty, Sr.?” Sure, it doesn’t self-bounce on arrival, but it can reset all of
my other bounce/rebounce shenanigans. Plus, unlike most of the other entrants, this guy is pretty beefy and serves for damage. No one is scared of a
Vedalken Mastermind, but this? Oh yes…

Jeskai Barricade
– If you like self-gaters that flash, this is the best thing coming. It can block big stuff and swaps into combat early and often to mug up the ground.
It’s a solid contender for a space on the varsity squad.

Shamanic Revelation
– As you’ll see in a bit, my deck has a ton of critters in it. With that many creatures, the Revelation can easily draw an epic amount of cards.
It’s not uncommon to rock two or three engine creatures, one or two mana creatures, and then one or three real creatures easily enough.

Alright, so with that stated, what cards am I moving into my deck?

Here are the new cards:

Here is what is coming out:

I’ve been eyeing Drift of Phantasms for a while. It can tutor for some of the engine spells in the deck (Aura Shards, Equilibrium, Azorius AEthermage,
Fleetfoot Panther). But I’ve pulled a lot of three casting cost cards from my deck, and it’s time to retire the Drift.

The Seed Spark is a remnant from back when my deck used to run stuff like Dismantling Blow to handle this crap. It made two tokens because some of our
triggers work on tokens arriving as well, so you’d blow something up and get two triggers. But I feel we’re in a strong place right now, and I’m giving it
some time off for good behavior.

I can’t see myself falling below my five spell-based counters for now, but I’m swapping out Absorb for the token-making Mystic Genesis. It’ll help fill a
slot the Seed Spark is removing. I am down to seven instant/sorceries, and Eladamri’s Call is never coming out (and probably not Wargate either, for that
matter).

There are a few cards in my deck that are more adjuncts to the theme than essentials. Selesnya Guildmage, for example, can churn out tokens or pump the
team. But it’s not doing a lot of essential work. Meanwhile, Kitty, Sr. supports the theme better, so it’s time to head in and mix some things up.

The Weathered Wayfarer is a great one-drop, but it’s not reliable as a way of fetching lands. I’m pulling it out as well in order to give the deck more
on-theme cards to use from here going forward.

And here is the deck is its entirety:

Derevi's Equinaut Engine

Abe Sargent

Test deck on 03-09-2015

Commander

Creatures (45)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Venser, the Sojourner

Lands (22)

Spells (32)

The result of these changes gives the deck two more self-bouncers, another engine with Spirit Bonds, better support cards around the edges, and perhaps a
new cat threat for the battlefield. Our creature count is now up to 45 cards, baby; get your claws ready!

So what do you think? Are there other cards, like Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, that spark your Equinaut juices? Did I forget something really good that was
brand new this year for my deck?