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Speculative Elbrus

This week: I examine the impacts of having a Legendary Equipment in the Command zone that transforms into a Legendary Creature.

There is so much potential in EDH, from a creative perspective. With an ever expanding card pool, the number of choices you can make in deck design is limitless. That’s why I find it futile to build speculative decks. Why devote my creative energies to decks that aren’t legal to play? A few months ago, Wizards made a change to the commander rules and allowed Legendary Vehicles to be your commander. This was followed with an unban of Lutri, the Spellchaser, with the caveat that it can not be your Companion. All this shows me that Wizards is willing to change existing rules to the game. So, I asked if there were any other cards that are not Legendary Creatures in their own right, but become them through the course of the game. Could these be potential commanders in the future? My search uncovered some interesting options.

The big ones are Westvale Abbey/Ormendahl, Profane Prince, Bushi Tenderfoot/Kenzo the Hardhearted, Elbrus, the Binding Blade/Withengar Unbound, a series of Battles, and Throne of the Grim Captain/The Grim Captain. All of these brought interesting conversation as to if they should be commanders. For example, Westvale Abbey is a land. If it gets removed, do I have to pay commander tax to replay the Land? Is it too strong to have a land in the Command Zone? You may laugh at that point, but if I’m guaranteed a land that way I can accept fewer lands in my opening hand or maybe even deck overall because I know I’ll always have early game resources available.

Bushi Tenderfoot was the most straight forward. It just happens to be a non Legendary Creature at the start. Throne of the Grim Captain would be cool as a payoff to a graveyard strategy. You can argue it would “fold” to a graveyard hate, but high risk strategies are exciting. The upfront cost of 2 mana is very low and I could be loading up my graveyard immediately.

For today’s exercise I’ll actually be looking at Elbrus, the Binding Blade. There are some strengths to playing an Artifact in the command zone. For starters, I’m less worried about removal. There are 3 colors that are very well suited at destroying artifacts, Red White and Green. Black and Blue have fewer straight forward weapons to throw at this weapon. The Equipment is also low threat on its own. +1 power is not very threatening to opponents, especially when it’s limited to one creature. 

This equipment has one big downside, its cost. 7 mana is a lot, and then you have to pay an additional mana to equip it. That’s a lot of mana to throw around in addition to the other set up costs, like needing a creature to attack and connect to enable my commander to transform. I’ll have to be very methodical in the turns leading up to when I cast Elbrus. There is an additional challenge to be aware of, timing. My Commander will transform after dealing damage. That means I lose out on an attack with Withengar Unbowed for a full turn. Withengar may be listed as a demon, but with 13 power he’s a total beast. Without some sort of extra combat spell in effect, I can’t tap into that potential right away.

Once I had all those factors in mind I solidified my strategy: this will be an equipment deck with some tricky effects to take advantage of Withengar’s high power.

Black is certainly not the leading color I have in mind when it comes to equipment based strategies. That just means there is some untapped potential in the idea (pun intended for foreshadowing). I started with some traditional options and then branched out. Foundry Inspector and Jhoira’s Familiar offer cost reduction and can even be equipped to attack if need be. This cost reduction also helps with my ramp options, I can play cheap mana rocks like Liquimetal Torque or Mind Stone, maybe for free, and get access to more mana. Brass Squire may be one you’re scratching your head over. Afterall, Elbrus' equip cost is only1 mana. I want to be tricky though. I can give one creature Elbrus and send it to attack, but if it gets blocked or removed then I’m stuck. Not with Brass Squire. I can tap it to attach the equipment at instant speed to an unblocked creature triggering the transform requirement.

My equipment should allow me to do 2 things in this deck, protect my creatures and kill my opponents. The protection piece is straight forward. I included Hammer of Nazahn and Darksteel Plate to provide my commander Indestructible. I have some additional ways to protect my commander, but those are some of my well tested equipment options. When it comes to eliminating my opponents, my mind immediately went to double strike. Withengar has 13 power, 2 hits from him and any opponent will lose due to commander damage. So why stretch this over 2 turns when I can just give my commander double strike? So Fireshrieker, and Brass Knuckles made it to the list.

I said double strike would let me eliminate an opponent in one turn, and that’s true. It’s not the exclusive mechanic that will let me win that way. At 13 power Infect will knock out an opponent in 1 hit. So Grafted Exoskeleton made the cut. I branched out from equipment to include Phyresis and Glistening Oil to my deck. I even wanted Tainted Strike due to the surprise nature of the instant. My decklist was getting more deadly by the minute.

Any time I build a deck around commander damage, or just combat damage broadly, I ask myself if there is another way for the deck to win. I made it a priority to search that out. One of my favorite spells when I have a high power creature is Essence Harvest. I just drain the life from one opponent, all relative to the power of my biggest creature. That 13 power on Withengar only gets higher with all those equipment attached to it. Rite of Consumption is a similar card. The big difference comes from the fact that it requires me to sacrifice my creature to get the effect. That is generally saved for a guaranteed kill. Essence Harvest and Rite of Consumption are only Sorceries, so they’re not very tricky. Dying Wish may be an Aura, but it’s very tricky. Opponents have to ask “who will he target if the creature is removed?” It’s not enough for an opponent to choose not to block my commander, but it's enough to give an opponent pause, or to chump block Withengar rather than using that deathtocher against him.      

That’s what happens when I have my commander in play, but how do I guarantee I can put him into play. For that I need lots of mana and some sneaky creatures. A card like Jet Medallion is powerful in a mono black deck, but it doesn’t help me play Elbrus since it’s colorless. Jhoira’s Familiar and Foundry Inspector close that gap for me. Sword of the Animist and Wayfarer’s Bauble are great since they put lands into play for me. All that pairs well with Cabal Stronghold and its ability to generate mana relative to the number of Swamps I have. Inspiring Statuary allows me to turn my Equipment into mana. Tapping an Equipment does nothing to its effects or abilities, so why not tap it to help pay for my Nonartifact spells? 

Elbrus needs to be carried into battle effectively to transform, so who is best equipped to carry it? Vampire Cutthroat has Skulk, which means he can sneak past any creature with greater power. Elbrus only brings him up to 2 power, still very sneaky. You might think it’s 3 times as good as Farbog Revenant since they have the same key words but at only 1 mana as opposed to 3. Luckily, I have Skeleton Key to extend the ability to everyone, and do some card filtering too. Dauthi Voidwalker is good here for Shadow, graveyard hate, and the ability to cast those exiled spells. Shadow is practically unblockable, so Dauthi Embrace is a must. Shadow Alley Denizen is not on par with Dauthi Embrace, but she’s still very reliable in making a creature evasive. Intimidate is another overlooked mechanic that enables combat based strategies. 


Let’s take a look at the list.


This is straight forward, but effective. I don’t know if they’re going to change the rules and allow cards like this to be commanders one day, but if you’re not afraid to have a “Rule 0” conversation with the table, or you want to be prepared in case the Commander eligibility rule is further changed, this deck is for you. Tell me what you think. Is the deck something you would play? Do you think the eligibility rules should be changed at all? Sound off below.   


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,




 
 
 

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