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The Kitchen Table #377 – The Nexus Commander

This week at The Kitchen Table, Abe Sargent remakes his old deck, The Nexus, which he’s written about previously. Check out the changes he made to his original 80-card Highlander deck to make it into a fun-to-play Commander deck.

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I was recently looking over my card collection when I decided to remake my old deck, The Nexus. The original deck was an 80-card Highlander deck built around five colors and seven tribes. I took it apart after a few months of playing, but I managed to build a Commander version online using Reaper King as my general. I haven’t had my Nexus built for years, and it’s time to give it another day in the sun!

Allow me to begin by telling you the history of Nexus. I have a giant Highlander deck I call Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy. It’s my flagship product. While it now clocks in at over 2500 cards, about eight years ago it was looking more like 1000. At that time, I decided to build a second five-color Highlander deck that I called The JV Squad. The rules were simple—any card that was in H&J couldn’t be in The JV Squad. If cards did well, they would be promoted to the real deck, and if they did poorly, they were relegated. It was a blast! One of the little combos I built into the deck surrounded a creature named Moggcatcher.

I would tap the Moggcatcher when I already had a creature in play to search my deck for Goblin Assassin. It would come right into play, and then we’d all have to flip a coin. If I lost, I’d sacrifice the other creature. On the next turn, I would search up Goblin Marshal and make two Goblin tokens. That meant everybody got three more coin flips and lost a lot of creatures. Assuming that I lost at least one, I’d sacrifice the Marshal, make two more tokens, and force two more coin flips. The result would be a Moggcatcher, Goblin Assassin, two or three tokens, and nothing else in play. Then I could swing with anything else I Tutored up—like a Goblin Mutant or something.

All of this began when I remembered that Moggcatcher itself was not a Goblin. Oh no, it was a simple Mercenary. Well, the way to fix that was to include the Mercenaries from Masques block that tapped to search out other Mercenaries. Into the JV Squad went guys like Cateran Slaver and friends. I could drop out one of these Mercenaries, tap some mana and them to search up a Moggcatcher, and then a bunch of Goblins.

Since I was including the Mercenary chain and Moggcatcher (and remember I was in all five colors anyway), I just tossed in Seahunter as well. That way I could search up the good Merfolk from my deck. I made sure to include some good ones. My favorite one to search up was Jolting Merfolk. I could tap three mana and my Seahunter and put it into play pulling off however many counters were needed to tap down a bunch of creatures for a major swing.

Therefore, in the JV Squad I had a Mercenary chain plus Goblin and Merfolk grabbers. A few years later, I took apart the JV Squad and absorbed the best one hundred cards into Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy. I loved the Goblin/Mercenary/Merfolk spine that was in the deck, but it wasn’t good enough to make the cut into H&J. What I did instead was to build a new deck around it. I added cards like Dralnu’s Crusade and Zombie love to the deck. After all, I was in the right colors. I tossed in things that never made the cut in the JV Squad, such as Lord of Atlantis and Goblin King. Since chains were so powerful, I tossed in a Rebel chain and Skyshroud Poacher. I could link the Rebels and Mercenaries through the Informers. I finished the deck with some cards that looked at creature type such as Conspiracy and Artificial Evolution. The deck was weak and weird. (You can see an early version here.)

Well, Lorwyn Block was released and that really modified the deck. Shapeshifters with the changeling keyword changed the nature of the deck. The deck was renovated with a lot of new Goblins, Merfolk and other cards. (You can see some of the changes here.)

For a while I played this deck, but I soon got a bit bored and took it apart for cards. I did manage to build an online Commander version with Reaper King as the head guy. (Again, if interested, see the deck here under the name Zombies and Goblins.)

And now we’ve come to the modern era. With all of the great love that the core tribes have had over the years, I’ve decided to make the first truly significant change in The Nexus’s history. I am removing two colors and tribes from the mix. I need to focus the deck on what matters the most. Since the original chain was Mercenaries into Goblins and Merfolk, I’m making my deck red, black, and blue. I know that I lose some great cards like Wort, the Raidmother and Judge of Currents. However, I need to focus the deck, and this is the best way to do it.

Today, I want to build a brand new Commander deck, in real life, around Zombies, Goblins, Mercenaries, and Merfolk.

Let’s discuss the various sections in detail. There are a few cards I don’t own (such as Wort, Boggart Auntie or Taurean Mauler). Here are the ones I am playing:

Mercenaries — This is where everything begins. The Rebel chain goes up the casting costs—and each search costs more mana than the creature you retrieve. For example, one-drop Ramosian Sergeant takes three mana to tap for a-two drop. It goes up the chain, but costs extra mana to do so. The Mercenaries go down the chain, but cost the exact same amount of mana as the searched card. Take Rathi Intimidator for example. It costs three mana to play, and it can tap for two mana to search for a two-mana creature. Both search for a two mana or less Rebel or Mercenary, but the Intimidator uses two mana to tap and three to play, whereas the Sergeant takes three mana to tap and one to play.

Anyway, the mercenaries that can search up a four-cost creature are essential. There are exactly three: Cateran Slaver, Cateran Overlord, and Cateran Enforcer. Since I’m searching up Mercenaries anyway, there are three other ones I love to search up. The first is Doomed Necromancer. In a deck with this many creatures, recursion is key. It can also protect any dying Mercenaries. I love to search one up when someone tries to kill my Slaver. I’m just one mana and a tap to sacrifice it and bring back my dead 5/5 swampwalker. I also like both of the Assassins: Rathi Assassin and Silent Assassin. The Silent Assassin is a great surprise, because if you have the mana you can use it immediately. The Rathi Assassin is fine for what it does, plus it can search up more Mercenaries. Remember that although this deck only has eight natural Mercenaries, it does have all of the Changelings to search up as well. You can grab an Amoeboid Changeling or Skeletal Changeling or whatever.

Goblins — This is my favorite tribe, and it has a lot of important creatures. As mentioned before, the Moggcatcher loves Goblin Assassin and Goblin Marshal. Siege-Gang Commander is essential as well. I have more Goblins than any other tribe. I include Goblin Tutors as well—Goblin Matron, Boggart Harbinger, and Goblin Recruiter. Each of them is great to Moggcatcher out, and you can grab any Goblin card. Since we’re often spitting out Goblins and tokens, I wanted some sacrifice outlets. The Siege-Gang Commander doubles here.

Tar Pitcher and Arms Dealer are my other essentials. You can tap a Tar Pitcher to throw a Goblin at a target for two damage. Since it’s mana free, you can use it without competing with the searching the deck is doing. You can use it and the Siege-Gang Commander to throw Goblins at people’s face and try to kill them with Goblin damage a-go-go. Since we already have Goblins, some Lords go in as well: Goblin King, Goblin Chieftain, Mad Auntie, and Dralnu’s Crusade. The Crusade is one of the most powerful cards in the deck, so you want to drop it whenever you draw it. Finally, I included three Goblin cards for their utility: Warren Pilferers to Raise Dead something, Mogg Maniac to jump in front of something, and Tarfire to be a Tutorable form of removal.

Merfolk — Ah yes, the fishies. Superficially, the Merfolk section resembles the Goblin section, but not really. Sure, we have Lords (Lord of Atlantis, Merfolk Sovereign, and Merrow Reejerey). Everybody likes Lords! We also have a Merrow Harbinger to Tutor for other fishies. However, that’s where the resemblance ends. We have a lot of utility Merfolk to give us a variety of abilities. I like to draw cards — Whirlpool Warrior, Silvergill Adept, and Merfolk Looter will suffice. In addition to the Mercenary assassins and the Goblin damage dealing, I wanted a bit more creature control. The fishies help me out. Stonybrook Angler can tap down enemy creatures while Vodalian Illusionist phases them out. While I usually use Jolting Merfolk to tap down blockers for a big swing, I can also use it for a few turns to lock down one or two creatures. Finally, I have some ability to fight opposing decks with Ambassador Laquatus and Rootwater Thief. The Merfolk bring utility more than power, which suits the deck quite well.

Zombies — The Zombie tribe is small, but it grew a lot in the last few sets. It’s the most Lord-laden tribe with five entries: Undead Warchief, Cemetery Reaper, Diregraf Captain, Lord of the Undead, and Death Baron. Remember that these will assist the Goblins under a Dralnu’s Crusade or just generally. After that, it’s all about utility Zombies to round out the creature base of my deck — Gravedigger and Havengul Lich for extra recursion, Twisted Abomination for land search, Withered Wretch to give me at least one way to fight graveyards, and Skinrender, Pyre Zombie, and Cruel Revival to take out opposing creatures.

Shapeshifters — The final group of creatures are Shapeshifters, with three “other” creatures included. I don’t have any of the rare Changelings in my colors to spare. I do have some good ones though. The obvious essential is Amoeboid Changeling. It can tap to make any one of my creatures the right tribe for a bit. Now that Cateran Enforcer is a Zombie too, it can gain +3/+2 and deathtouch (for example). After that, we have other Changelings that have every creature type that’s pertinent. I don’t want too many, because I need creatures that do things, but we have Mistform Ultimus, Fire-Belly Changeling, Changeling Berserker, Ghostly Changeling, Skeletal Changeling, and Turtleshell Changeling.

We also have three other creatures that fit the deck but none of the tribes. Imagecrafter is a simple Human Wizard, but it has all of the power of Amoeboid Changeling when it comes to adding creature types. Brass Herald and Adaptive Automaton may not have the right types, but they pump whatever is in play at the time. The Herald might draw you some cards and the Automaton will take the creature type of whatever you want, so both have added value beyond being a simple Shared Triumph on legs.

Cards 5

The Other Stuff — The rest of the deck includes cards that make the multi-tribe theme work. The first is Artificial Evolution. It can make a Lord pump another tribe or enable your commander to have the Zombie tribe to pump with your Lords. It’s very good. Unnatural Selection is a virtual essential in this deck, since one blue mana is all it takes to change something to another type—great for changing Lords. Conspiracy is massive here, because if you make everything one tribe, then your Goblin Matron Tutors any creature or your Mercenary tappers will search up any creature, or whatever. Runed Stalactite is another neat way to make a creature the right types, in this case by giving them every type. Finally, we have the duo of Peer Pressure and Standardize. They help to steal creatures or make your creatures the right type for fun and frolicking.

I don’t want Coat of Arms in this deck, because it often helps out your foe more than you. Unless you have out Conspiracy, it’s not that effective. Because the Door of Destinies requires you to choose a creature type, it’s a bit too scattered for this deck as well. Xenograft would be good, but I don’t have any extra copies. I used them all in a deck for my 100 Combo Decks in 20 Weeks challenge over on another site. (I combined them with allies and Eldrazi spawn!) Other cards that would warrant slots include the aforementioned Wort, Taurean Mauler, Nameless Inversion, probably Shapesharer, and a few other guys.

I had difficulty finding a good general for the deck. I needed a legendary creature that had my three colors, which I had a copy of, and that didn’t suck. I didn’t have many choices, so I just went with Sol’kanar the Swamp King. He’s always good! Anyway, it’s time to show you the Commander deck in all of its glory.

Nexus, Commander Style
Abe Sargent
Test deck on 03-11-2012
Commander
Magic Arena

Creatures (54)

Lands (36)

Spells (9)

Magic Card Back


Whew! There’s the deck. I hope you enjoyed a look at my most recent concoction! It’s not meant to be uber-powerful or anything crazy, just to be fun to play. It certainly is that! Let me know what you think in the comments, and we’ll see you in two weeks.

Until Later,
Abe Sargent

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