60 to 100: Domain Overlords

Seizing Pro Tour Aetherdrift Via Eminent Domain

Hello! Welcome to 60 to 100, a series where we convert beloved decks from 60-card formats to Commander.

The results of Pro Tour Aetherdrift are in! One of my favorite parts of competitive Magic: The Gathering is getting to see what the world's best players came up with for the premier event of the new set's Standard format. Domain Overlords dominated the tournament, with the finals coming down to a mirror match between Matt Nass and James Dimitrov. Matt Nass emerged victorious, and in this article we're going to take a stab at recreating his deck in Commander.

How Does Domain Overlords Work?

Domain Overlords is a deck that looks to cast Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Overlord of the Mistmoors for their impending cost and turn them into creatures ahead of schedule by animating them with Zur, Eternal Schemer. This deck also takes advantage of Up the Beanstalk, drawing cards both when you cast either of the Overlords and when you cast removal spells, like Ride's End, Leyline Binding, or Sunfall. Of the 35 nonland cards in the deck, 17 of them trigger Up the Beanstalk.

Aggressive red decks are very common in the current Standard metagame. Domain Overlords plays mana-efficient mass removal spells, like Temporary Lockdown and Day of Judgment, to stave off early aggression. After all, value engines like Up the Beanstalk are fantastic in longer games and quite bad in games where you get run over by rodents on turn four.

From Sideboard to Command Zone

The commander choice is pretty straightforward this time around: Atraxa, Grand Unifier hops straight from the sideboard to the command zone and provides us with access to all of the colors we need to include key cards like Zur, Eternal Schemer and Up the Beanstalk. Zur, Eternal Schemer was also on my short list of possible commanders, as I think having that piece of the strategy in the command zone makes for a more streamlined deck. However, I just couldn't bear losing access to Up the Beanstalk and Overlord of the Hauntwoods. Let's have a look at what I came up with.

Card Draw

We're starting with card draw this time around because these cards are the foundation of the deck's strategy. Up the Beanstalk is the star of Domain Overlords. I'd play 10 of it if the rules of Commander allowed it. Instead of those extra copies of Up the Beanstalk, we play nine cards that let you draw a card either when an enchantment is cast or enters the battlefield. Generally speaking, this deck should never be keeping opening hands that doesn't have one of these effects and enough mana sources to cast them.

Enduring Curiosity really shines in games where Zur, Eternal Schemer hits the board as each time it dies and becomes a noncreature enchantment, Zur can turn it back into a creature. This sequence effectively makes Enduring Curiosity immortal so long as it can dodge exile removal, like Swords to Plowshares or Farewell.

Win Conditions

Okay, so we play a lot of enchantments and draw a lot of cards. How about the part where we win the game? I like to conceptualize all of the enchantments that we're casting to draw cards as the deck's inputs and cards like Sigil of the Empty Throne and Archon of Sun's Grace as outputs. With one of these cards in play, simply going through the motions of casting spells and drawing cards is enough to make progress towards winning the game.

If an army of Angels, Spirits, and Pegasuses isn't enough for you, I present you with a faster option. Auras that increase a creature's power based on the number of enchantments you control are a much more direct approach to eliminating opponents, particularly when they enchant a giant creature like Atraxa. That brings us to my favorite way to win a game with this deck.

For the low, low price of 14 mana, you can create an unassailable board state. Picture the following: Atraxa is already in play, all of your spells are free, and most of your spells allow you to blink Atraxa and find even more spells to repeat this process with. Theoretically, you could use this to create a giant board, phase yourself out with Teferi's Protection, then kill the table on your next turn. Does this plan require you to live in magical Christmasland? Maybe a little bit, but I've done it on a couple occasions! You just have to believe.

Ramp

Keeping with the enchantments theme, the deck's ramp package is almost entirely enchantment based. Sanctum Weaver is the most explosive ramp option, often tapping for five or more mana in the later turns. The rest of the ramp comes in the form of Auras that enchant lands and make them tap for additional mana. Estrid, the Masked takes advantage of these Auras to create explosive turns where you generate ludicrous amounts of mana by untapping all of your enchanted permanents.

Protection

Admittedly, this deck has some lofty goals. If we're to achieve them, we're going to need time. Zur, Eternal Schemer is here to protect our enchantments and help us gain a lot of life. While he's doing that, Sphere of Safety and Ghostly Prison are here to disincentivize opponents from attacking us in the first place. I was once very critical of Ghostly Prison, as the card's text really reads something along the lines of "Opponents cannot attack you unless they really want to", but in recent years I've uncovered a secret about Commander players: they're lazy. Nobody wants to pay mana to attack you, they want to spend that mana to cast their big Dinosaurs. If they have to choose between the two, they will most often choose the latter.

You may notice that shroud effects, like Sterling Grove and Greater Auramancy, are missing. I'm a big fan of opponents not being able to touch my enchantments, but unfortunately shroud prevents me from messing with my enchantments as well. Having either of these cards in play renders Zur, Eternal Schemer's activated ability totally useless. Not good for business.

Enchantments

Speaking of Zur, Eternal Schemer, we need some cool enchantments to animate with his activated ability. Each of the four Overlords are present, in the spirit of our source material. Alongside them, I've included some of my favorite Theros Gods. They all enter as enchantments and become creatures once you've reached a certain devotion threshold. However, Zur can animate them before those devotion requirements are met. Even better, all of the Gods come with indestructible. Some of them even have other relevant abilities, like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling's ability to blink a creature at each end step, which is perfect for replenishing your hand by blinking Atraxa.

Interaction

Domain Overlords is basically a Selesnya() deck that splashes for Zur, Eternal Schemer. For that reason, I've decided to leave counter-magic out of the suite of interaction. Instead, I'm focusing on interactive spells that will trigger Up the Beanstalk or are enchantments to trigger our enchantress effects, ideally both. Leyline Binding is the best of both worlds and it can be cast for less than its hefty mana value of six if you can get all four of your basic land types into play.

Doomwake Giant offers a repeatable source of removal. I was initially skeptical of including this card because its triggers can get pretty hard to track over long turns, but it is simply too powerful to omit. The best cards in this deck are the ones that reward you for doing things you were going to do anyways.

Recursion

A strategy that relies so heavily on enchantments is uniquely vulnerable to mass enchantment removal, like Cleansing Nova and Back to Nature. To combat that, we need strong recursion options. Dance of the Manse is a perfect fit, bringing back enchantments as creatures so they can receive the benefits of Zur, Eternal Schemer's protection from the moment they return. Brilliant Restoration sets up ridiculous turns, particularly when Eidolon of Blossoms is among the enchantments making their return. These two should be sufficient for keeping the deck chugging along through all of the removal your opponents can throw at you.

Tutors

Zur the Enchanter is a repeatable tutor that can fetch many of the deck's most critical cards, like Up the Beanstalk or Enchantress's Presence. Idyllic Tutor is here to help find enchantments that Zur can't, like Omniscience or Doomwake Giant. Finally, here primarily to tutor up Zur, Eternal Schemer and Zur the Enchanter, we have Worldly Tutor. I've decided to run fairly light on tutors as this deck draws such an obscene amount of cards that you really shouldn't need them very often. Plus, I think drawing the cards naturally is just more fun.

Lands

Matt Nass's main deck only included two cards from Aetherdrift: Ride's End and Wastewood Verge. It's no secret that I am absolutely in love with this cycle of lands, and this deck plays all six of them that are in our colors. With fetch lands here to find dual lands with basic land types, like shock lands and surveil lands, none of this cycle's requirements should be difficult to meet. Unless you feel the urge to spring for a copy of Serra's Sanctum, there isn't really much else to discuss in the mana base.