Welcome back to Stripped Out, where I take a look at a preconstructed commander deck and find a series of cards to remove and take the deck in a bold direction. Today I'm looking at Living Energy, the Temur colored energy deck from Aetherdrift.
I really like energy as a mechanic. It adds a new resource for me to manage in a game. It's hard to just throw energy cards into a deck and expect to get the most out of them. Instead, the mechanic really rewards you for diving into energy and making it a focus of the deck. When energy debuted in Kaladesh it was the first time I heard the term parasitic mechanic. In short, a parasitic mechanic doesn't play well with other themes and needs to suck up slots in your deck to power itself up. A card slot not devoted to energy in this area will just make the energy strategy that much weaker.
A lot has happened since Kaladesh, namely the mechanic returned in the Fallout precon, Science!, and came back in a big way in Modern Horizons 3 with some very pushed cards and the precon Creative Energy. Notably, both these decks were Jeskai in their color scheme. Temur has 2 colors that overlap with Jeskai so there are plenty of relevant cards that would have been printed between those 2 sets. That was a great history lesson. Now let's look at the deck.
Living Energy is strong in its own right. Energy features prominently in the deck but shares space with artifacts. Both commander options in the deck, Saheeli, Radiant Creator and Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic both tie energy to artifacts. Saheeli creates a measly 1 energy when you cast an artifact or artificer while Pia generates a paltry 2 energy when your artifact creatures deal combat damage. Both pay you off by creating artifact tokens. I had my first cut. Pia Nalaar is leaning into vehicles. That's fine, but I would have to balance energy, artifacts, vehicles, and creatures to crew them. I'm not doing that.
Before I made any serious cuts I needed to pick an identity for the deck. For starters, there's energy. A lot of the cards generate energy. Especially the larger creatures. There are also a lot of artifacts in the deck. But do I need the big beaters like Aethertide Whale or Aetherwind Basker? A second shot at a strong ETB is always welcome but I think I can forego a critical mass of 6+ mana creatures. I want to make the most of the tokens Saheeli creates and I think I can streamline that
In the vein of expensive creatures, I'm cutting Duplicant, Triplicate Titan, and Elder Gargaroth. Duplicant is interesting removal but by the point I get to 6 mana it's rather low impact. If I don't Imprint a creature I'm stuck with a 2/4 and if I do hit a creature I don't even get the abilities which are often more important at that stage of a game. Triplicate Titan is 9 mana and has to die to get me the 3 3/3s. I would be in a good position after a board wipe but I'm not in my normal colors to play a ton of boardwipes. Plus, if I'm looking to control the board I'm not going to be casting many boardwipes anyway. Elder Gargaroth has a lot going on. None of the modes are bad but I have to put it in harm's way to get them. If it deters opponents from attacking I'm not getting the benefit anyway. I'm also more likely for it to eat a removal spell.
I earmarked a couple of artifacts for removal as well. Conjurer's Closet is the first. Blinking creatures is one of my favorite things to do in this game. However, it doesn't support the game plan going forward. Saheeli, Radiant Creator needs me to cast Artifacts and Artificers. Blinking isn't going to help me generate more mana. Blinking tokens also sets back part of my plan. You wouldn't think it since I have to sacrifice the tokens anyway, but more on that to come. My next cuts are all mana generators; Ornithopter of Paradise, Sol Ring, and Bootlegger's Stash. I'm not a fan of mana generation on a creature. Fixing is great but not the way Ornithopter does it. In the early game I have to wait a turn before I can use this to generate mana. There are better ways to do that. Since this is a creature it dies to a board wipe. That's when I want mana the most, so I can recover and rebuild my board. I'm not going to elaborate too much on Sol Ring. I always cut it. Bootlegger's Stash is pricey at 6 mana. It also doesn't work well with my commander. There's no benefit to making a copy of it since I can't use the tap ability twice on any lands. The Treasures don't even have Saheeli make energy.
The main set, Aetherdrift, is full of vehicles. I was surprised not to see a lot in the commander decks, but that's where I started looking. Bespoke Battlewagon does a lot, from making energy to drawing cards and more in between. I wanted cards that could generate energy repeatedly so this card stays. Cultivator's Caravan is a better version of Manalith. I never find myself using this to full effect. You would think that once I ramp out I would use this as an attacker but more often than not it sits there not being crewed. There are cheaper ramp options out there. This didn't make the cut.
The last cuts are ones that generate energy. Peema Aether-Seer is first up. The floor is 3 energy. However, it competes with my commander for how to spend that energy. Servant of the Conduit is another mana producer I'm cutting. It doesn't make mana without energy and I'm being very tactical with how I spend that resource. It also suffers from all the same problems as Ornithopter of Paradise without the benefit of generating an energy if I have Saheeli out. Territorial Aetherkite has a powerful effect. He's going to be good at sweeping small tokens and value creatures. Realistically my limit to pay into this is 3. After that, I start knocking out key creatures to my plan, including my commander. At 5 energy it kills the copies I'm going to be making.
I keep mentioning these copies I plan to make and I'm being pretty protective of them. Why? Saheeli's ability makes it so they sacrifice at the beginning of the end step. You can't keep them anyway. But that's not exactly true. This color combo opens up some key spells for me, Spells that End The Turn. Time Stop and Discontinuity do it at instant speed which is what I need. I have to begin my end step and then end the turn. That will clear the stack of the sacrifice requirement and leave me with that key token. I invested that energy into making the token copy, I might as well get the most use out of it. Those are one shot effects. Sundial of the Infinite improves on that as it's repeatable. Since it's such a key part of my strategy I allowed myself Tribute Mage to go find the thing. A couple of copies of the mage wouldn't be so bad either. I have about a half dozen 2 drop artifacts to play that this would enable me to find. That includes Myr Retriever which can get the Sundial back from the graveyard if it happens to get destroyed.
Since I'm leaning into “end the turn” spells as part of the game plan to save my tokens I'm going to maximize my ability to generate the usually temporary tokes. Feldon of the Third Path is a classic choice for this. He doesn't even exile the card he targets from the graveyard so I can recur it multiple times in a game. Jaxis, the Troublemaker behaves similarly but with a little more cost. In the event I don't have an end the turn effect I'll have to sacrifice the token she creates. I'll also get rewarded with a card.
I cut a fair amount of ramp options and some energy producers from the original 100 and I need to account for that. Conversion Apparatus is a little slow since it makes colorless mana by default. If I'm ever up on mana or energy I can use that resource to produce the other. I was surprised not to see Izzet Generatorium in the original deck list. It's cheap at only 2 mana and stretches the energy I'm already making. It even rewards me for using that energy with card draw. My favorite addition in this category is Gem of Becoming. Sacrificing this artifact nets me 2 lands. It also triggers Saheeli and I can copy it as a 5/5 to sacrifice later at a time of my choosing. Armiliary Sphere is the same thing and just as viable.
I noticed one more piece about my Commander's ability I wanted to exploit. Saheeli's Ability triggers at the beginning of combat. So why not have more combats? Hexplate Wallbreaker untaps all my attacking creatures after my first combat and gives me a second. The 2/2 is an added bonus as is the +2/+2 the equipped creature gets. The combat phase consists of 5 parts, the first of which is the beginning of combat. I'll get to pay 3 more energy and make a second copy of a creature that turn. The deck already has Lightning Runner which has amazing combo potential. Regardless of whether or not you want to go infinite or not this will be a juicy target to copy if I have a surplus of energy. Since I'm going for additional combat steps I'm including a key card that will get me an additional combat albeit wrapped in an additional turn. Gonti's Aether Heart is that card. I can see why this was left out of the precon. Saheeli can use her ability to copy the Heart. If I can reliably generate 3 energy for the copy and 8 for the ability I would be able to take infinite turns. I'm not going that far with this build, but you certainly could.
I don't usually mess with the land base when I do an article like this. I'm making an exception here. I noticed Architect of the Untamed and the new Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker are in the deck. Their landfall abilities can have me generate a ton of energy very quickly. I was so inspired I decided to add Roil Cartographer to the list. It generates energy the same way and has the potential to draw me cards. There was more. I could turbocharge the energy production though. Why settle for 1 land drop per turn? The deck has Evolving Wilds already, Terramorphic Expanse is an easy way to double the effect. It was such a good plan I quadrupled it. The New Capenna automatic sacrifice lands are perfect. Maestro's Theatre, Riveteer's Overlook, Cabaretti Courtyard, and Broker's Hideout can each search out 2 different options for color fixing purposes. They also net me a life in addition to 2 landfall triggers.
So what does this turn stopping, token saving, energy generating final draft look like? Like This
Saheeli, Radiant Creator
Loyal Apprentice | Saheeli, Sublime Artificer | Jaxis, The Instigator |
Reckless Fireweaver | Attune with Aether | Feldon of the Third Path |
Architect of the Untamed | Arcane Denial | Myr Retriever |
Peema Trailblazer | Reality Shift | Junk Diver |
Rogue Refiner | Chaos Warp | Discontinuity |
Sai, Master Thopterist | Disallow | Time Stop |
Stridehangar Automaton | Explosive Vegetation | Sundial of the Infinite |
Whirler Virtuoso | Glimmer of Genius | Tribute Mage |
Druid of Purification | One With The Machine | Roil Cartographer |
Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker | Confiscation Coup | Armiliary Sphere |
Solemn Simulacrum | Blasphemous Act | Gem of Becoming |
Whirler Rogue | Retrofitter Foundry | Conversion Apparatus |
Lightning Runner | Soul-Guide Lantern | Gonti's Aether Heart |
Combustible Gearhulk | Adaptive Omnitool | Izzet Generatorium |
Aethersquall Ancient | Arcane Signet | Hexplate Wallbreaker |
Decoction Module | Lightning Greaves | Cyclonic Rift |
Solar Transformer | Talisman of Curiosity | Cursed Mirror |
Aerthic Amplifier | Chromatic Lantern | Overclocked Electromancer |
Commander's Sphere | Midnight Clock | Electrostatic Pummeler |
Aetherworks Marvel | Bespoke Battlewagon | Blaster Hulk |
Panharmonicon | Aetherflux Conduit | Era of Innovation |
Vileglimmer Snarl | Thopter Spy Network | |
Riviteer's Overlook | Academy Ruins | Frostboil Snarl |
Maestro's Theatre | Aether Hub | Hinterland Harbor |
Cabaretti Courtyard | Command Tower | Sheltered Thicket |
Broker's Hideout | Evolving Wilds | Slagwoods Bridge |
Terramorphic Expanse | Frontier Biouvac | Sulfur Falls |
Tanglepool Bridge | Temple of Epiphany | Treasure Vault |
Forest x5 | Island x5 | Mountain x5 |
There's a lot of potential in this upgrade. I kept 44 out of the original 62 non land cards in the deck for a keep rate of 71%. I'm not far off from other decks in this series with those numbers. That 71% only tells part of the story though. The original deck came with a whopping 38 land count. Even at 3 colors, I couldn't play that high of a land count. I repurposed 2 of those slots to new spells for the deck. With my fixing options, it makes sense. I tried to mitigate the loss of speed from land entering tapped by removing lands that also came in tapped.
Enjoy the build and making copies of key creatures. If you're picking up either of the preconstructed decks or any singles from the set please use my links. Your support keeps me building these unique decks and lets me take more chances. Whether you're buying from ManaPool or TCGPlayer
Every bit helps.
Comments