CUT #10 Finals - You don't CUT with your eyes, you CUT with your heart

Regna, the Redeemer | Illustrated by Randy Vargas

When you get down to 3 players in a Commander game, you sometimes find that one person ends up in the position of a "kingmaker". If you're unfamiliar with that term, it means that, while they have the power to dictate who wins the game, they usually don't have any leverage to win themselves. There are moments when they're just about to get knocked out of the game but cast Hellish Rebuke

Fortunately, this week's CUT we already have eliminated that possibility of a third player and now have 2 finalists to duke it out for the win. Who will we see this week?

Congratulations to Mikhail and Hamilton! You made it back to the finals and one step closer to redemption. Thank you to Ben and his Partner entry of Akiri, Line-Slinger

Now onto the Finals for CUT #10!

Here are the challenges that our finalists had to work with:

•  Max 10 rares/mythics

•  You must use at least 20 nonland cards from previous decks you have created on Cut

•  You must use an uncommon commander and at least 10 nonland cards from the set(s) it was printed in.

First up is Mikhail! I wonder what he brought us today?

Hey, y'all! For this week's submission for CUT! I decided to take all of my favorite cards from my previous CUT decks and build Dina, Soul Steeper

Sacrifice is a major theme of this deck, and Dina's activated ability is an engine you have in the command zone. Dina's ability takes advantage of a creature's power to get in more damage or to get more value with cards like Disciple of Bolas

It helps to have evasion-enablers, whether they're granting trample,in the case of O-Naginata

Along with sacrifice, the major way this deck wins the game with life drain. With each creature death comes a life drain trigger, either from target opponent or from each opponent depending on the drainer. Dina's triggered ability allows you to turn 1 loss of life into 2 with each trigger, and that can make all the difference in certain board states.

The drainers are typically fairly inexpensive, mana-wise, like Blood Artist

This deck works a few different unassuming angles that your opponents, knowing that you don't have Exquisite Blood

Thanks so much Mikhail! Witherbloom has taught us that life is a resource as long as you have plenty of it, so hopefully it can fuel your first victory!

Last but not least, we have Hamilton!

I've been squarely in the Jeskai wedge throughout my CUT entries, but for this article I wanted to get back to my favorite pastime, necromancy. We're dumping things in our graveyard and pulling them right back out, en masse at that.

Garna, the Bloodflame

Your Safety Net is Now a Strategy

Garna is an example of a card that seems decent, if not special, able to flash herself in and return any of our creatures that have gone into our graveyard that turn back to our hand. When she was spoiled in 2018, I thought of her as the kind of commander that could helm a deck filled to the brim with board wipes, but not much else. However, her ability importantly returns EVERY creature that goes into your graveyard. If Garna herself dies (say, due to one of many sacrifice outlets we happen to have in this deck for no particular reason) and we choose to place her in the graveyard instead of your command zone (which you always have the option to do) before her triggered ability resolves, she herself will return to your hand amidst all the others, waiting to be deployed for her effect again.

Abusing this timing trick, we can almost play in a manner similar to a Marchesa, the Black Rose

Minions and Mana

To facilitate this, we have a pretty low curve as well as multiple ramp spells to ensure we can run out several creatures each turn while still being able to use Garna. The usual suspects are there, such as Arcane Signet

We have several creatures in the vein of Blood Artist

When Minions Won't Do, Use a Mook

We've also got a more Big Red Button play if this slow burn playstyle isn't gonna cut it. That button is Dockside Extortionist

Once this Dockside/Garna loop is established, we can plug in any of our creature death value pieces. Add in Solemn Simulacrum

This gives us a deck that is resilient and tricky to disrupt, since removing our creatures is fairly ineffective. Protect your sacrifice outlets and REALLY hope your opponent isn't playing a wheel deck, and you should be able to drain them with a slow death. Or a giant blaze of golden glory. Dealer's choice.

Thanks, Hamilton! Will the sheer amount of value from this Garna deck get you the win? We'll have to wait and see!

Now that they've presented their creations for you for this final round, who will taste glory for the first time, and who will greet their familiar friend, defeat? That's for you to decide! Remember to vote down below on which deck struck your fancy the most.

Check out the next CUT article to see who won! Thanks again for reading and voting on these fabulous decks. If you or a friend would like to be a part of a future CUT article feel free to email the.only.travis.stanley@gmail.com or catch me on twitter @chipman007 ! Remember if you don't love it, CUT it!