200 Card Deck
- bonzaientertainmen
- Jan 6
- 9 min read
Welcome back! It's a new year, and I'm still looking to Make EDH Weird Again. I'm glad you're along for the ride with me. Hold on tight.
Sometimes you get an idea that is too big. An idea that shakes a foundational part of something you care about. Today's deck came from one of those ideas. There have been a lot of shakeups around the rules of commander. We can have vehicles as commanders now and Wizards has been telegraphing a future change to hybrid mana. It got me thinking about the other core identities of the format. Commander Damage, Color Identity, 100 Cards, Singleton. Those are some heavy-duty pillars to hold up the format. I wanted to experiment with one of those and see where I can push the format, but without breaking it. I'm going to build a deck with 200 cards.
Commander is set at 100 cards. Companions came along and provided the opportunity to have 101. Heres a math lesson for you: 101<200. Where would I get the other 99 cards from to fill out this idea? I've seen gimmicks where people randomly choose piles of cards to shuffle up into a deck. Like if you had a 5 color deck with 50 core cards and you have a 25 card pack for each color and randomly choose 2 to shuffle up and make a deck. That kind of thing has been done before, and if I'm playing 200 cards, I want to have access to all of them every game, so I can see where a deck's strengths and weaknesses lie.
What really moved this deck along were the Pathway lands. I could play a card like Riverglide Pathway and have access to Blue, or I could play Lavaglide Pathway on the reverse side and get Red mana. There was my hook. Each card in my deck was going to be two cards, or at least give me the opportunity to cast it two distinctive times.
Who could really lead a deck like this? Are there any contenders that happen to be a Legendary Creature and another spell? I knew there were categories and sets that made this a reality. For instance, Strixhaven had the Dean cycle, which are castable creatures on both sides of the card. Kaldheim had the cycle of gods that were non creatures on the back end. A lot were Artifacts, like how Tergrid is a Legendary Creature on the front and on the back, Tegrid's Lantern is an Artifact. Everyone always forgets about the back half of that card. The last big category I want to mention comes from Adventure Spells. These would offer me a castable Instant or Sorcery and then a Creature to cast from exile. You're probably familiar with my Kellan Curses deck (if not, you need to check it out). These would be my most ubiquitous, but I would lose some of my normal support for the archetype.
My first roadblock came from my mana base. We're talking about a pool of around 60 cards that are a land on one side and anything else on the back half. I have my Pathways that are lands on both sides, but then there are Modal Double Faced Lands that are spells on one side and lands on the other. You've seen me play Witch Enchanter before, so you know the drill. I couldn't afford to only go two colors, which the majority of Kaldheim gods and Strixhaven Deans are. I needed another color.
My Commander pool dwindled down big time. My 3 front runners at this point were Beluna Grandsquall, Jorn, God of Winter, and Extus, Oriq Overlord. Belluna Grandsquall is an anomoly since she's cheaper to cast as a creature rather than her non creature half. As a 3 mana 4/4 she's a welcome threat early on. Her mana reduction could be useful for a portion of the deck, but only late in the game since I have to have some number of Adventure spells in exile to make this worthwhile. She does nothing for my other spells. Seek Thrills is similarly skewed. Jorn, God of Winter would give me access to three powerful colors, but nothing else in the deck would be Snow relevant. I would essentially get to attack with Jorn and untap him. Extus is simple to cast since either side only requires 2 colors, so I didn't need to be as worried about fixing as much. Extus also allows me to bring back some of my MDFCs in the graveyard to my hand, so I can either recast them or make sure I hit my land drop. Unfortunately, Awaken the Blood Avatar is very expensive, I'm unlikely to be able to play this more than one time in a game.
These cards are individually interesting, but all have the same issue: a mana base of around 30 lands. Nothing else I could do would matter. I needed more lands. Luckily, I had one more option: Esika, God of the Tree. She brings with her access to all 5 colors, and therefore all 60 lands that I would need. She's the most practical option too. She taps to make a mana of whatever color and extends the ability to my other Legendary Creatures. The back half, The Prismatic Bridge, would be great later, once I have my mana situation worked out in the game. The Bridge lets me free cast a creature every turn. The more resources you use, the more spells you cast in a game, the more likely you are to win.
With a gimmick deck like this, I'm going to need to lean on the core pillars of a deck to keep up with opponents until I can reach a critical mass. Those 3 core functions are draw, ramp, and removal. If you focus on those and use them wisely, you can punch above your weight class in most games.
Draw, or card advantage more broadly, provides me with advanced access to every other category of my deck. Disciple of Freyalise is expensive, but I can get at least 3 cards out of it, and gain an equal amount of life. Rush of Inspiration is a Gamble since I'm not going to have the 2 energy laying around. Sea Gate Restoration has a very low floor for costing 7 mana, but the ceiling is incredibly high. Bloodsoaked Insight helps me fill in gaps by giving me access to my opponent's cards.
Surprisingly, removal is very broad with this card pool. Fell the Profane and Hagra Mauling are both 4 mana creature removal spells. Each has a little extra going for it, though. Sink into Stupor works as a Counterspell and Unsummon. That's a potent combo for 3 mana. Of course, I'm adding in Witch Enchanter to deal with problematic Artifacts and Enchantments. Boggart Trawler gives me access to graveyard removal, a critical and often overlooked category in many decks. I even have more than 1 board wipe in the deck. Realm-Cloaked Giant is great to cast after Cast Off. He can be both aggressive and defensive in the same turn cycle thanks to Vigilance. Ondu Inversion goes even further and clears everything from the board except lands. Timing is key with a spell like this, so if you're ever unsure of a good time to cast it, don't be afraid to play Ondu Skyruins instead. But I would make that a last resort.
Ramp is a little trickier. Of course, I have my Commander that does ramp with its own color fixing, and extends the ability to my other Legends. Tangled Florahedron is simple ramp, like a Llanowar Elves. Beanstalk Wurm would be exceptional here as it lets me play an additional land. Well, Plant Beans does, not Beanstalk Wurm. It got tricky from there since a lot of the ramp options tutor up a Basic Land. So forget adding in Beanstalk Giant since Fertile Footsteps only finds a basic land. Instead, I'm adding in Brightcap Badger to turn my Fungus into Llanowar Elves. Luckily, Fungus Frolic will make 2 Saporlings the turn before I cast the Badger. At least Tail the Suspect allows me to play an additional land the turn I cast it. Added bonus, Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy, fits into my previous category of removal. Another card that splits categories is Grabby Giant / That's Mine. That's Mine converts 2 mana into a Treasure, while the Giant allows me to sacrifice Artifacts and Lands to draw cards. Young Red Dragon works the same way to make a treasure.
A deck like this is going to have small pockets of synergy rather than a singular overarching theme or universal direction. Toralf, God of Fury is a good way to demonstrate this. He takes extra non combat damage and redirects it. He's good to machine gun down multiple small value creatures or dump large amounts of damage onto an opponent. It works well with Kabira Takedown and Kazuul's Fury, which have a high ceiling when it comes to non combat damage. These also happen to pair well with Heartfame Duelist, which gives Instants and Sorceries I cast lifelink. Heartflame Slash also happens to pair well with Toralf as it can knock out 3 small creatures or let me divide the damage in another way.
Indulge me in one more 2 card synergy. It all starts with Waterlogged Teachings. It lets me tutor up another Instant, which is important when you have a theme of meme style deck. The hidden gem here comes from Hydroelectric Specimen. This MDFC has Flash, so I get added versatility in having this soft counter spell in hand. So save the specimen to eat a key piece of removal or even a utility spell that starts the wheels turning on a combo.
I mentioned one of the driving factors for this deck was the changing of rules in Commander. That's true, but not the whole story. I originally touched on the concept of a 200 card deck months before that. Many, many months. The original draft was a little light. I was forced to play some non synergistic cards to stretch out the theme. Since then, we had new card subtypes that fit the two card type motif. The first one I want to talk about is Omens. These Tarkir Dragonstorm cards are like adventures, but instead of going to exile get shuffled back into the deck. The likelihood of seeing that card again is a little lower than average in this deck, so be extra careful on deciding to play the dragon or the Omen. There aren't a lot of cards in this category, but I added some key options. Flush Out is a better Thrill of Possibility since it goes back to my deck instead of the Graveyard. Stormshriek Feral isn't great, but can be a sneaky threat with haste and bad Firebreathing. Disruptive Stormbrood, again, isn't much of a threat, but the fact it enters as a removal spell gives it a higher ceiling. Petty Revenge is a fine removal spell in its own right. A lot of Commanders cost 3 or less these days. Marang River Regent rounds out the category. This Dragon is the biggest threat of the group and comes with the highest mana cost. It enters and bounces back 2 permanents. These could even be my own, meaning I could cash in on a MDFC creature and replay it as a land if I find myself needing more mana in the late game.
The other card type worth mentioning is Rooms. I can only cast one side of the Enchantment, and then I can unlock the room and get the same effect as if I cast it. These have been overperforming for me lately, like in my Hidetsugu deck and my Glarb Companion deck. So I gave them a shot here. Dazzling Theatre/Prop Room becomes a great ramp option. The Theatre gives my creature spells Convoke, so I can get away with playing the creature side of a MDFC in the mid game rather than having to play the land side. Greenhouse lets me do a lot of fixing, but does not ramp me, but it is an important function. Rickety Gazebo provides needed redundancy by letting me return 2 creatures, or other permanents, from my graveyard ot my hand. It's a second lease on life.
Here's the final list
Barkchanneler Pathway | ||
Riverglide Pathway | Bala Ged Recovery | Grabby Giant |
Blightstep Pathway | Beyen Veil | Rowan, Scholar of Sparks |
Branchloft Pathway | Blackbloom Rogue | Valki, God of Lies |
Brightclimb Pathway | Alrund, God of the Cosmos | |
Clearwater Pathway | Boggart Trawler | Birgi, God of Storytelling |
Cragcrown Pathway | Bridgeworks Battle | Halvar, God of Battle |
Darkbore Pathway | Kolvori, God of Kinship | |
Hengegate Pathway | Drowner of Truth | Reidane, God of the Worthy |
Needleverge Pathway | ||
Heartflame Duelist | Glasspool Mimic | Augmenter Pugilist |
Hearth Elemental | Glasswing Grace | Young Red Dragon |
Crystal Dragon | Flamescroll Celebrant | |
Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios | ||
Embereth Shieldbreaker | Jwari Disruption | Pestilent Cauldron |
Murderous Rider | Restricted Office/Lecture Hall | |
Khalni Ambush | ||
Mosswood Dreadknight | Legion Leadership | Cosima, God of the Voyage |
Merchant of the Veil | Makindi Stampede | Fotsam/Jetsam |
Giant Killer | Malakir Rebirth | Heartflame Duelist |
Foulmire Knight | Response/Resurgence | |
Leave/Chance | Pinacle Monk | Revival/Revenge |
Never/Return | Razorgrass Ambush | Kazandu Mammoth |
Revitalizing Repast | Pelakka Predation | |
Vastwood Fortification | ||
Zof Consumption | Sejri Shelter | Valakut Awakening |
Song-Mad Treacherery | Shatterskull Smashing | |
Agadeem's Awakening | Silundi Visions | Supression Ray |
Emeria's Call | Sundering Eruption | |
Pelakka Predation | Skyclave Cleric | Stump Stomp |
Valentin, Dean of the Vein | Spikefield Hazard | Strength of the Harvest |
Overall, the deck is a gimmick deck. It can devolve into good stuff very quickly. Luckily, Lorowyn is on the horizon and will bring with it new dual sided cards. There will only be more in the future, so stay tuned for future updates.
Thanks for reading and all the support to date. I have affiliate links with Mana Pool and TCG Player to help fund these off the wall strategies. It's what makes all this possible.
I like the idea of each card doing double duty!