Commander 2014 has arrived and with it a fresh new injection of awesome for Commander fanatics everywhere. Getting planeswalkers to be our leaders is
obviously a fun new twist to the official rules of the game. We’ve also got lots of fun cards to consider as well!
My two favorite planeswalkers from the 2014 product are the Lithomancer and the Scrap Savant. Both fill fun voids that didn’t have any ‘walkers to support
them. One is an awesome equipment flavored adjunct while the other is a great artifact themed guy with a strong red flavor. I haven’t built a deck around
any of the cards yet. So let’s do it now!
Only….um….
I’m not sure which one I want to build around first. Which one should I build around?
I really like both, and this is my first time to build around one of these mono-colored Commander-potential planeswalkers. So who is my best option?
Equipment or artifacts? The Lady or the Tiger? Man, I really like both! After all, equipment are artifacts, right? It says it right there on the type line.
So any card that is enabled by artifacts generally also likes equipment heavy themes…
You know what?
I can play both.
Creatures (29)
- 1 Solemn Simulacrum
- 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
- 1 Leonin Shikari
- 1 Goblin Welder
- 1 Bosh, Iron Golem
- 1 Raksha Golden Cub
- 1 Stonehewer Giant
- 1 Sanctum Gargoyle
- 1 Stoneforge Mystic
- 1 Hoarding Dragon
- 1 Wurmcoil Engine
- 1 Steel Hellkite
- 1 Kemba, Kha Regent
- 1 Myr Battlesphere
- 1 Indomitable Archangel
- 1 Etched Champion
- 1 Thopter Assembly
- 1 Hellkite Igniter
- 1 Puresteel Paladin
- 1 Auriok Survivors
- 1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
- 1 Hellkite Tyrant
- 1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
- 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
- 1 Iroas, God of Victory
- 1 Soul of New Phyrexia
- 1 Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient
- 1 Scuttling Doom Engine
- 1 Feldon of the Third Path
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (18)
- 1 Temple of the False God
- 1 Dust Bowl
- 1 Battlefield Forge
- 1 Darksteel Citadel
- 1 Boros Garrison
- 1 Sacred Foundry
- 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
- 1 Urza's Factory
- 1 Ancient Amphitheater
- 1 Arid Mesa
- 1 Buried Ruin
- 1 Clifftop Retreat
- 1 Slayers' Stronghold
- 1 Boros Guildgate
- 1 Temple of Triumph
- 1 Opal Palace
- 1 Wind-Scarred Crag
- 1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
Spells (49)
- 1 Sensei's Divining Top
- 1 Umezawa's Jitte
- 11 Plains
- 1 Swords to Plowshares
- 1 Sol Ring
- 10 Mountain
- 1 Darksteel Ingot
- 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
- 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
- 1 Skullclamp
- 1 Lightning Greaves
- 1 Roar of Reclamation
- 1 Orim's Thunder
- 1 Mass Calcify
- 1 Rise of the Hobgoblins
- 1 Path to Exile
- 1 Crystal Ball
- 1 Prototype Portal
- 1 Argentum Armor
- 1 Bonehoard
- 1 Darksteel Plate
- 1 Batterskull
- 1 Command Tower
- 1 Chromatic Lantern
- 1 Wear
- 1 Hammer of Purphoros
- 1 Spear of Heliod
- 1 Dictate of Heliod
- 1 Unstable Obelisk
- 1 Scrap Mastery
And there we have a Boros deck topped with both planeswalkers, combining their love of all things artificial, and tied together in matrimony by Jor Kadeen.
Jor is certainly not a bad choice for this deck either, in addition to leading the ceremonies that will forever unite Nahiri and Daretti as one.
Anyway, there are tons of artifacts to choose from. I decided to add in the equipment first. Even before I’d added in a single creature, I tossed in Nahira
and Daretti and moved into the equipment love!
Batterskull was my first choice. Then Skullclamp because Boros often doesn’t have a lot of card drawing. Hmmm… in that vein, what about Sword of Fire and
Ice and Sword of Light and Shadow? Both of the original Swords seem well-suited for this deck, as damage dealing, card drawing, or creature returning.
Lightning Greaves should make the cut too. Maybe Jitte? It’s always a flexible choice. Darksteel Plate is a good protective entry for Jor Kadeen or another
creature. And then I called it with Bonehoard and Argentum Armor.
The next place I dipped was into the obvious artifact and equipment-minded creatures. Obviously, we are including stuff like Stoneforge Mystic and Godo,
Bandit Warlord. What else? Puresteel Paladin gives me another way to draw the occasional card, and a 0 equip cost is marvelous in this sort of deck. We
have to play it. Leonin Shikari enables me to move equipment as an instant. That turns Lightning Greaves into a free shroud of any of my creatures. If I
have something like Darksteel Plate, as long as I keep the mana open, I can threaten to move it to equip any creature that might otherwise be targeted for
death.
So the Shikari and Paladin are fun choices. I also looked at classic red artifact enablers, like Goblin Welder and Bosh, Iron Golem. In leapt Etched
Champion as a strong anti-removal card that can often block anything or attack through anything. Alright, that’s a good start. I might come back later if
I’m liking the theme more.
How can I support this theme? I need more artifacts! Originally, I envisioned myself running classic white beaters with equipment backup, guys like Akroma,
Angel of Vengeance or Avacyn, Angel of Hope. But you what? This is not that deck. As I started building it, priorities shifted. Let’s
make my beaters artifacts too!
No, I don’t want Darksteel Colossus and its Blightsteel Colossus friend. This is not that deck either. It’s also not going to be another issue of “add in
Eldrazi.” I can run fun traditional Commander-stuff. Stuff like Steel Hellkite, Soul of New Phyrexia, Wurmcoil Engine, and Scuttling Doom Engine. All of
those meet our theme’s requirements while also bringing some heat. None of them embarrass us. It’s not like we’re running Bronze Horse and Lotus Guardian.
Meanwhile, we add in Solemn Simulacrum and Thopter Assembly to add some more strong metal to the deck. But we need more artifacts. Mana rocks? Sure thing,
how about Sol Ring and company. Let’s try out that Unstable Obelisk. It seems like a fun card that we can harness here. Actually, let’s push that a bit.
How about adding in Kurkesh? Oh yeah!
In fact, we can add in some more artifact friends. Indomitable Archangel will protect them all when we have metalcraft. The one issue is that we can’t
equip an artifact creature when that happens (she gives out shroud, not hexproof), but she still seems worth it to me. Hoarding Dragon is a solid guy. Oh
yeah, dragons! Hellkite Igniter gets really big really fast – like player killing fast. But that’s not the real treat. Say hello to Hellkite Tyrant!
I like the direction we are going here! Let’s toss in both weapons of the gods, Spear of Heliod and Hammer of Purphoros. And while we’re at it, Dictate of
Heliod seems pretty useful as either a combat trick and/or a permanent double-pump. Actually, that reminds me. Doesn’t this seem like the sort of deck that
could use an army of creatures? After all, with metalcraft, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer pumps all of your guys.
How about Myr Battlesphere? It makes artifacts and creatures. There’s no reason that Elspeth can’t join our planeswalker twosome. Both the Sun’s Champion
and Knight-Errant seem to favor this deck. You know what would be a fun card? Rise of the Hobgoblins! First of all, you can use it to churn out a lot of
tokens. But then you can activate it to make all of our non-artifact creatures get first strike. First strike plays really well with Jor Kadeen pumping
their attack.
This deck is starting to look like a deck! Let’s add in stuff like Tajic, Blade of the Legion (battalion seems like a strong option, and indestructible
makes him a useful equipment-wielder) and Iroas, God of Victory. To Victory!
I feel comfortable enough to add in the two leonin leaders (Raksha and Kemba). I think we should get an equipment out reliably enough to run them. And this
is a fun place to run Feldon of the Third Path, since he can make a creature to add to our army. Sanctum Gargoyle pushes the artifact envelope just a tad
more. And that’s about it!
After that it’s just removal and card drawing and recursion. Oh, and how about Prototype Portal? We can imprint a nasty equipment and churn out tokens of
Sword and Fire and Ice or Batterskull. Nasty! Shoot, even a humble Sanctum Gargoyle or Crystal Ball is a potent selection for the Portal. I had thought
about Masterwork of Ingenuity, but I felt the Portal was a bit better. What do you think?
For lands, I wanted Darksteel Citadel, obviously. But I steered clear of the other lands because I find them to be too vulnerable to removal (Ancient Den,
Great Furnace). Slayers’ Stronghold and Sunhome are powerful creature enablers. Then Buried Ruin is the last synergetic card, and it’s all mana lands and
random abilities from there on out.
And that brings us to the conclusion of our deck, built spiritually around both the Lithomancer and the Scrap Savant. Are you building a deck around either
one? I hope you found something in here that sparked an idea for ya!
Commander 2014 is going to be another blast of cards that’ll invigorate the format. Get ready!