Cut #5 Finals - Cut Fast, Cut Furious

Wow! Can you believe this is the 10th article of the CUT series already? Time sure does fly when you're having fun. I hope to continue writing this series for years to come because seeing the creativity that the deck builders bring, makes my heart beam with joy and all the good feels, and I hope it does yours as well. When I first put forth this series, I wanted to shine a light on more unconventional deck building, and show that maybe the most efficient way to do things isn't always the "right" choice. I hope to show folks that they have so many different options to spice up their commander decks, or ways to switch up game nights with their playgroups.

Breaking the streamlining of Commander is a lofty goal, but as we all know that's where it has its roots, big decks played against one another to kill time at events. The next challenges I have coming up are sure to test the brains and deck building prowess of future contestants. As I always put at the end of each article, if you or anyone you know wants to be on this series and take a stab at building a deck following restrictions to really test your deckbuilding skill, send an email to the.only.travis.stanley@gmail.com. I can't wait to meet and work with more folks in the future and see what they will come up with!

Alright, now on to the main reason why you're here let's check out who made it to the second round of CUT #5!

Wow! Congratulations Jordan!...and me!?

A big thank you to Mike and his Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker

The challenges that were sent to our two finalists were as follows:

• Commander must be from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commander

• Max 15 Mythics/Rares

• All creatures in the deck are either a Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Paladin*, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock, Wizard

* I realize now that there are not officially any Paladin creatures, the challenge still stands.

The first to show off their party is Jordan!

When you told me I had to work with only certain creature types and a rarity restriction, I was largely looking for a commander that worked with cards that, well, aren't rare or creatures. I found that, largely, in Minn, Wily Illusionist

By the looks of things, most people are running Minn as Illusion tribal, which I can respect. However, considering the only Illusion I can play in the deck is Jace's Projection

I'm not going to beat around the bush. There are 33 instants in this deck, and most of them say the word "Draw" on them. I deliberately avoided using effects that only draw cards on your own turn, such that we can reliably draw 2 on at least one of our opponent's turns, two if we're lucky, 3 if we're popping off. In addition to these draw effects, we have a handful of counterspell

However, Minn also has another few lines of text, as it turns out, and those are what can really get this train rolling. Most of the time, we're probably looking to drop a land whenever an Illusion dies, so we can keep up with other decks mana-wise as well as draw-wise, seeing as mono-blue isn't known for its ramp. But there's a bunch of permanents that are worth sliding into play as well, Ior Ruin Expedition

There are also a few cards in this section I'd call "lubricants", though that term is a little odd when there's already so many cantrips in the list. Teferi, Master of Time

Fabricate

Vedalken Aethermage

The first is just combat damage, which should be obvious. Minn's tokens get big quick, and can be granted evasion through Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

The next wincon is a series of loops involving Minn and the old classic, Meloku the Clouded Mirror

The final wincon is Thassa's Oracle

Thanks Jordan! It is no illusion that your deck comes to play!

And, presenting next is me!

First of all I wasn't expecting to make it to the finals of this article, so thank you to all you kind folks who voted for me!

I pondered over which commander I'd build a deck around for a while, Prosper, Tome-Bound

After I decided on my commander my first steps were deciding which creatures I would have in my deck. Well, to my surprise the challenge was exactly that, challenging. Turns out, a lot of the cards that work with Wulfgar are warriors, and what creature type isn't listed as part of the challenge? You guessed it.

Making due, I fit in as many synergistic creatures in the deck that I possibly could, keeping in mind the rarity restriction as well. Arbor Elf

To help out with ramping us to our awesome creatures we have the staples: Arcane Signet

How does this deck win? Good question reader. There are a few creatures that come down and make an impact right away like Earthshaker Giant

Wulfgar of Icewind Dale

Minn, Wily Illusionist

As for next time, here are the challenge's our next deck builders will face! Keep an eye out for that one, we have some really fun guests lined up!

• Commander must have been released in either Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored, Shadows Over Innistrad or Eldritch Moon
• At least 15 creatures must share a type with your Commander
• Limited to 6 Non-Basic Lands

Remember if you don't love it, cut it!