Monday MtG: Artisan Commander

To meet my goal of three posts per month, I've decided to resurrect an older feature of mine, Monday MtG.  As before, it will focus almost entirely on the Commander format and today is no exception.

It seems there is a format called Artisan Commander, where only cards that were printed at common or uncommon at some point may be used.  In theory, building these decks ties in with my desire to reduce spending on MtG, but we shall see.

Happily, much of the best removal and card draw show up in these rarities, so that shouldn't impact my deckbuilding too much.

The big change is that most of the combo-related wins and all of the alternate win cards are no longer options, leaving damage and mill as the main threats, perhaps the only threats.  Frankly, this is a wonderful thing for me, at least.

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Honestly, I suspect it's the limited commander choices that will stymie me.  Then again, Scryfall kicked back just under 400 Common and Uncommon legends.  Subtracting the Universes Beyond (I refuse to run such cards - if I want those IPs, I will play those games/watch those shows), I end up with 300ish options that are mostly one or two colors, with very few three-color outliers.  30 of these have Partner, and 20 allow for Backgrounds, opening up more options.

Still, that is too many options for me to absorb, so I will break it down by color and theme. 

Hearkening back to my Away Decks, I will go with two color pairs and a monocolor deck, to keep things interesting.

I think I want GW, BR, and U for my decks. I know that RW allows for several strong equipment-based commanders, as well as usable equipment and Boros Charm, but that seems too easy.  

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Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar is draw in the command zone, which is always welcome.  Yes, it is conditional, but that condition is easily met with cards that add +1/+1 counters, Giant Growth and Anthem variants, and equipment.  While I doubt I can go all-in on cat tribal, that won't stop me from trying.

I'm wondering how many hatebears I can find in these rarities.  Hopefully more than I can call to mind.

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Tor Wauki the Younger is a deck I have tried in the past, but it didn't gel.  With Firebrand Archer, Guttersnipe, Thermo-Alchemist, and Josh Lee Kwai's decklist as a start, this should be a playable spellslinger deck, quickly built out of what I have lying about.

That said, my favorite B and R (and BR) instants and sorceries tend towards rare, so maybe not.

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Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea effectively gives my critters Ward while encouraging me to go heavy on the devotion.  While I love the devotion mechanic, this deck will force the most research as my go-to heavy Blue devotion cards are all rares and mythics.  

To be honest, though, I am looking forward to it, if only because it gives me the best reason to run Thassa's Rebuff, as well as all the U enchantments that render opposing creatures harmless. 

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All that said, I don't know how these will fare against non-Artisan decks.  I guess only time will tell.

To the card boxes and binders!