Building a Deck is Just the First Step
Hello, and welcome to Deck Forge! In this series I'll be choosing a cool Commander deck built by a Magic creator - or occasionally my own - and compare it to the example decklist that's generated by EDHREC through analyzing all the many builds for that commander in the deck database. Checking out the differences -- and similarities -- provides insight into what makes these decks tick and hopefully highlights some fun card choices along the way!
All this is easy due to the really cool deck comparison feature from Archidekt! Simply generate the sample decklist for the commander you want to compare, import it into Archidekt, and click on the deck comparison button on the upper right hand corner of the deck you want to compare against.
Today I chose the Commander deck Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes: Bombs Away created by Dana Roach. Dana is one of the cohosts for the awesome EDHREC podcast and of course writes for EDHREC, and he plays a ton of Commander and makes a bunch of decks. The "bombs away" in the deck title gives us a hint as to the style of deck Dana built!
I also have a Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes deck, so I'm hoping some insight from analyzing the similarities and differences between the average Minsc & Boo deck will give me some ideas for my own deck. Let's throw Dana's list into the forge with the heat of 6,400 Minsc & Boo decks from EDHREC and see what we can learn!
In Both Decks 46.5%
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes is a powerful planeswalker, but it's also just a super fun design. You get a Hamster token named Boo when it enters, and a replacement Boo during your upkeep if you lose your Hamster before then. Minsc can boost Boo or any other creature you control that has trample or haste with +1/+1 counters, or it can sacrifice a creature and deal damage equal to its power to any target, and if the sacrificed creature is a Hamster you get to draw cards equal to its power. No worries if you sacrifice Boo because he'll be back the next upkeep or when you cast Minsc & Boo again. Since Magic players love drawing cards, there's incentives to grow Boo as big as you can before sacrificing it to draw even more cards.
Planeswalker Synergies
All Will Be One works great with planeswalkers generally since they put loyalty counters on themselves when they enter, but it's even better in this deck since Minsc & Boo adds counters when it boosts a creature, and both Dana and the average deck lean into +1/+1 counter synergy. Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider is similarly awesome with both planeswalker loyalty and +1/+1 counters, and has the added benefit of hosing opposing planeswalker and counter strategies. If an opponent happens to be playing Sagas, like Binding the Old Gods, Vorinclex turns them completely off while it's on the battlefield.
Creatures With Counters
Managorger Hydra and Mossborn Hydra are both awesome creatures that add their own +1/+1 counters, taking advantage of those synergies and quickly growing large enough to be more threatening than an angry Hamster.
Adding Counters
Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and Halana and Alena, Partners typically throw around counters right awa, and make pretty good lightning rods for removal spells before Minsc & Boo hit the battlefield. If either lives long enough to go to work then things can get crazy fast!
Court of Garenbrig is more of an investment card. You'll get to draw a card during your end step by being the monarch, and once your upkeep rolls around you'll get to distribute two +1/+1 counters among up to two target creatures. If you're still the monarch during your upkeep, you'll get the big payoff: doubling the number of +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.
+1/+1 Counter Synergies
There are a ton of cards supporting +1/+1 counter strategy and both Dana and the average deck has a bunch of them. There are cards like Ozolith, the Shattered Spire that add extra +1/+1 counters, and Branching Evolution which doubles them. Kami of Whispered Hopes adds extra +1/+1 counters to creatures, and if you can boost Kami's power it tap to add more and more mana.
Large Creature Synergies
Both decks aim to make creatures large and then taking advantage of their size with cool spells like Chandra's Ignition, which can do damage to each other creature and each opponent, and Rishkar's Expertise which draws you cards equal to your largest creature and lets you cast a spell that costs five mana or less for free.
And then of course there's Fling, which mimics part of Minsc's ability to "fling" a creature for damage. Definitely on theme!
Removal/Interaction
Any good Commander deck worth its salt plays removal and interactive spells, and both decks tap into that with Beast Within and Chaos Warp as flexible removal spells, and Heroic Intervention to protect your permanents by having them gain hexproof and indestructible until the end of turn.
Land/Mana Ramp
All Commander decks run some level of mana ramp and it almost always starts with Sol Ring, and green decks will also tap into two-mana land ramp cards, like Nature's Lore, which helps you cast Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes a turn earlier, which hopefully means it's more likely to stick around for a turn or two so you can boost Boo and fling him at something and draw some cards!
Lands
The various two-color lands are to be expected, and it's nice to see Kessig Wolf Run there which can boost the size of a creature with any extra mana you have lying around, and give it trample, too. Note you can target any creature, not just your own, which can come into play in a multiplayer game.
In Dana's Deck, Not Average Deck
Dana's deck is called "Bombs Away", and it quickly becomes obvious that he's having a lot of his deck following Minsc & Boo's mechanics of growing the size of creatures and then dealing damage based on the size of the creature.
Planeswalker Synergies
Dana's deck rocks Doubling Season, which is another perfect way to support planeswalkers along with the +1/+1 counter synergies. It will also double tokens, but since Boo is a legendary token the extra token will be sacrificed to the legend rule. Doubling Season is an expensive card, so it doesn't surprise me that it doesn't show up in the average deck list.
Creatures With Counters
Dana's deck has a lot more creatures with +1/+1 counters than the average deck, and he makes some really interesting choices. Giggling Skitterspike is a wild choice from the recent Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander decks: since it's indestructible, it makes an excellent recipient of any effects that add +1/+1 counters (including its own monstrosity ability), and when it gets big enough it can really inflict a bunch of damage to each opponent. Gyre Sage can grow with its evolve ability, and the more +1/+1 counters it gets the more mana it can produce.
And then there's Ignition Team, and oddball card from Conspiracy that I had forgotten even existed. It costs a whopping seven mana, but it has the potential of entering the battlefield with a ton of +1/+1 counters on it, which you can remove to turn a target land into a 4/4 Elemental creature until the end of the land. Notably, you can target an opponent's land to punish them for playing a battlefield sweeper like Wrath of God.
+1/+1 Counter Synergies
Dana has some cool choices for +1/+1 counter synergies. Clamavus is an excellent follow up the turn after you cast Minsc & Boo, potentially making Boo with +1/+1 counters even larger than expected, perfect for flinging and drawing cards! I also love the backup abilities on Conclave Sledge-Captain, which can throw around some +1/+1 counters and add more of them when the creatures deal combat damage to a player. And then there's Vigor, which will put opponents in a tough position, not wanting to get into creature combat and grow Dana's creatures.
Large Creature Synergies
Dana's deck really leans into the theme of turning a creature's size into damage. I especially love that two of them -- Kazuul's Fury and Stump Stomp -- double as lands if you need to make a land drop.
The amusingly -- but appropriately -- named Thickest in the Thicket adds +1/+1 counters and more than likely will end up drawing you extra cards if you control a creature that has the greatest power.
Removal/Interaction
I love the flexibility of Collective Resistance as either removal, protection, or both if you escalate. Ruinous Intrusion is a spicy choice that's super on-theme with the +1/+1 counters, which makes it worth the extra mana. Song of the Dryads is a flexible removal spell that is a good way to neutralize an opposing commander that's otherwise difficult to handle.
Card Draw/Selection
Dana makes use of draw spells like Embrace the Unknown and Jeska's Will, which gives you access to more cards for a limited time so you've got to play them or lose them to exile. And then there's raw card draw like Harmonize for three extra cards, no questions asked.
Land/Mana Ramp
Dana goes further on the two-mana land search spells Farseek and Glimpse the Core, making it even more likely to cast his commander on Turn 3. I love seeing Mana Geyser in Dana's list, which has the potential for a huge rush of mana in the mid-game for a big, big turn.
Lands
Dana adds a lot of utility lands into his deck, from the ramp of Ancient Tomb and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, to the card draw of Bonders' Enclave and War Room, and to the graveyard removal of Pit of Offerings and Scavenger Grounds.
In Average Deck, Not Dana's Deck
The average deck is a bit less "punchy" than Dana's deck but still has a lot of the same themes, if different card choices.
Planeswalker Synergy
I'm bummed Dana doesn't have my one of my all-time favorite Commander cards Blackblade Reforged, but I'm thrilled to see it in the average deck. Since Boo is a legendary Hamster token, he's totally able to pick up the Sword to get swole.
The average deck has a couple more planeswalkers, with Lukka, Bound to Ruin being an interesting choice since its -4 loyalty ability gets better the bigger your biggest creature is. Evolution Sage's proliferate ability works great both with planeswalkers and all the +1/+1 counters.
Creatures With Counters
The average deck has some interesting choices here, with Champion of Lambholt making it unlikely that opponents can chump block your creatures. Defiler of Vigor can shave mana costs from your green permanent spells and throw around +1/+1 counters for your team. And then there's the adorable Grumgully, the Generous, who generously adds a +1/+1 counter to non-Human creatures that enter under your control.
+1/+1 Counter Synergies
Kodama of the West Tree and Quilled Greatwurm are both excellent choices for a deck full of +1/+1 counters. Treetop Snarespinner is a bit of a head-scratcher to me, other than the fact that it's a pretty decent way to protect against flying creatures?
Large Creature Synergies
Fanatic of Rhonas is a fantastic source of big mana when your plan is to have huge creatures. Ram Through can turn into a "burn" spell if your targeted creature is big enough and has trample, potentially killing an opponent out of nowhere. Unleash Fury is a fun way to boost the size of Boo before you "fling" it with Minsc's ability to draw even more cards.
Removal
Abrade is a flexible removal spell that I run in some of my decks, and Blasphemous Act is the red Wrath of God.
Interaction
I love Rhythm of the Wild in any creature-heavy deck, the riot ability doesn't work on tokens -- sorry, Boo -- but there are plenty of other creature cards in the deck to enjoy it. And I absolutely love the flexibility of Untimely Malfunction, each of the choices can be clutch for various board states.
Card Draw
I'm a little dubious about Tribute to the World Tree outside of a mono-color deck due to that heavy green mana cost, but there's no doubt it does great work in this deck once you get it on the battlefield. Having Boo enter the battlefield and put two +1/+1 counters on it means Minsc can fling him and let you draw extra cards right away.
Land/Mana Ramp
The average deck has an eye-popping number of one-mana creatures, like Birds of Paradise, which makes it much more vulnerable to creature sweeper spells than I'm comfortable with. If you go this route, make sure you also play the new Spinner of Souls to give you some resilience to mass removal. I also don't think green decks need to use "mana rocks" like Arcane Signet when you have so many spells that can search your library for a land card and put it directly onto the battlefield, which are less vulnerable to sweeper spells that could destroy all artifacts.
Lands
You've got to admire the card-drawing aspirations of the average deck to run Reliquary Tower. And Rogue's Passage can be surprisingly helpful in the late game where battlefields might be too cluttered with blockers to break through.
Tempering The Steel
Which are your favorite cards to include in a Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes Commander deck? Are there any other spicy tech cards you'd run that don't show up in Dana's or the example deck?
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