CUT! Commander's Herald Authors Face Off

Eureka Moment

by Anna Steinbauer

Welcome to CUT!, the article where we take deck builders, not unlike yourself, and put them through multiple deck building challenges to test their brewing capabilities and stretch their tinkering skills. If you are new here, catch up here, if not, continue on!

Third time's the charm, as they always say. Let's take another crack on a list that may (or may not) be led by Riku of Two Reflections

Before getting to this week's builders, we have to crown and announce the winner from the last CUT challenge...drum roll please...

Congratulations Cody! Cody presented us with his Maja, Bretagard Protector

Thanks to all three deck builders from the last CUT challenge, and I hope to see them all again in the future.

Now to get to this week's entries! Here is a refresher on the challenges our deck builders had to work with:

• Commanders from Strixhaven (Standard Set)

• 15 or more Instant/Sorceries

• Cards must be Historic-Legal

First up, we have Hamilton!

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!

I decided to go a little off the reservation and use a commander that doesn't actually incentivize me to run a bunch of spells like a lot of the Strixhaven legends do (I actually BARELY met the 15 spell requirement on the technicality of Flamescroll Celebrant

Haunting Advantages

Hofri allows us to have our creatures recur themselves when they die, allowing us to give resiliency to powerful threats. Our opponents will be very reticent to target our Goldspan Dragon

Blink and You'll Miss It

Hofri creates token copies that can give us rebuys on the ETB effects of our creatures. Token-producers like Siege-Gang Commander

I Bounce Back Fast

We are playing 5 board wipes in this deck, even though we are very aggressively slanted. With a Hofri in play, a wipe will immediately resurrect any non-token creature we kill as a more powerful spirit. Single Combat

Open Up a Sac of Spirits

Aristocrats is a tried and true strategy in Commander, and even if we're not dipping into black for that stupid cat, there is a surprising number of sacrifice outlets in Lorehold colors. Barrage of Expendables

Forging a Victory

Landing cards like Anointed Procession

- Hamilton

Hamilton has his work cut out for him this week, going up against him we have two writers from Commander's Herald! Lets see what they brought to the table! First up is Mike, writer of the "Am I The Bolas?" series!

I love an aristocrats deck. Sue me!

I think the strategy is fun. I used to scoff at black cards requiring a sacrifice when I first started playing in like '99 or whatever. I used to think, "Who would ever want to do that?" I didn't know that sacrificing your stuff could be so beneficial to you.

Luckily the historic pool goes back far enough to reach out to some all stars like Liliana, Dreadhorde General

I initially designed this deck with Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root

Instants and sorceries in the deck carry a lot of ramp and removal, but also bring in my favorite new card Plumb the Forbidden

I also wanted to build a few decision points into the deck. If it's just straight forward, where's the fun in that? Bolas's Citadel

I love love love aristocrats. My Thalisse, Reverent Medium

- Mike

That deck seems steeped in value! Next up may I introduce Michael, writer of the "How They Brew it" series!

What's the first thing you think when you hear the phrase "mono-white commander''? Yup, that's right, it's "I'd better not." But I'm nothing if not impractical, so I'm here to spread that the bird's the word: Mavinda's in da house.

Mavinda, Student's Advocate

Our blink spells are efficient, effective, and insanely annoying to play against. You'll dodge incoming targeted removal like a drunken master and effortlessly fizzle enemy auras. Plus, if you've got one in the graveyard, your opponents are basically children on the side of a six-lane highway: afraid to cross you and liable to get hit by a car if they try.

Once your opponents waste their removal, unleash your army with a bevy of zone-change effects. Visionary Augmenter and Angel of Invention are each packaged with two bonus Servo tokens, and Myriad Construct builds myriad constructs. Leverage your devotion to white and summon Reverent Hoplite to flood the battlefield with soldiers, then use Harmonious Archon's ability to make each fight fair. That's just scratching the surface.

Your suite of enchantments duplicates your tokens and turns them all into angels in addition to buffing them up. Artifacts like Mace of the Valiant slowly turns Mavinda herself into more and more of a threat, and Panharmonicon boosts your already-doubled blink spells to twice as effective. Basic math tells us that this makes your deck four hundred thousand times more threatening.

Once you've readied your army, leverage your protective instants and sorceries one final time to boost your creatures' power and toughness for a lethal lunge. Hero of the Pride and Hero of the Winds are certainly quite heroic and daring. Leonin Lightscribe reminds me of the defunct DVD-label technology from 2004, but that doesn't stop him from burning a hole in your opponent's hopes and dreams.

Mavinda's an effective commander if you're looking to play white at instant speed. You certainly won't flicker out of existence with her at your side - unless that's exactly what you're intending to do.

- Michael

Mono-white? Well I hope it was the mono-right deck choice for Michael! With two Mike's and a Hamilton I thought I was seeing double there for a second! Remember to scroll down and vote for your favorite deck, or your favorite Mike, I don't judge. Until next time everyone, remember if you don't love it, CUT! It!

If yourself or anyone you know would like to be a part of a future CUT! Article, feel free to send an email to the.only.travis.stanley@gmail.com