(Sigarda's Aid

| Art by Howard Lyon)

The Hidden Way

Dedicated to those tired of the same old same
And dedicated to the people advancin' the game

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first installment of Hidden Strings! In this series we'll build quirky decks revolving around a card in the 99 and pick dummy commanders whose sole purpose is to pave the way for the true leaders of our creations.

With almost 350 official new commanders printed in 2022 alone (and the additional 960 unique Background pairings that came with them), deckbuilding options nowadays appear to be virtually unlimited, yet having millions of fellow players constantly brewing and toying with the most recent cards means that coming up with something truly unique and fresh can still be a tall order. Indeed, even new builds often feel "on the rails", and it's all too frequent for them to end up as different riffs on old tropes rather than as completely novel experiences.

One way I've found to break the mold in this regard is to actually flip the script on the format, turning our attention away from the command zone and building around one of the cards hidden in the 99. This method helps with carving out unusual deckbuilding space and fighting deck homogenization, making for a worthwhile alternative to the more traditional commander-focused philosophy; in fact, I'd go as far as saying that every player should venture into this kind of territory at least once during their deckbuilding journey.

The aim of this series is to showcase the potential of this approach as well as some ways to overcome the challenges it brings.

Ideas Unbound

With available commanders comprising less than 7% of all format-legal cards, removing the requirement for the centerpiece of our deck to be a legendary creature opens up a lot of options.

Indeed, secret commanders can range anywhere from big rule-twisting enchantments

«So, now what?» you ask. Well, now it's the part where I try to sell you on my

Sigarda's Aid

The Deck

Before we can start getting our hands dirty, I'm gonna have to throw out a quick disclaimer regarding my overall deckbuilding philosophy in this context: as a rule of thumb, I feel like upgrading a decklist (both financially and in power level) is generally easier than downgrading it; for this reason, I will try to build on a budget whenever possible.

This will mostly result in decks averaging around precons power level--which, to be honest, is what I'd aim at anyways, since I feel like that's the kind of environment where more creative deck ideas have enough room to thrive and feel rewarding.

And with that out of the way, let's dive right into this!

From Aid to Zur

First things first, we need to choose an appropriate frontman for the deck, preferably one that can consistently fetch Sigarda's Aid

Well, that was quick, so maybe this is a good occasion to elaborate a little on a different point. "Tutor commanders" can often be so powerful that they end up getting sucked into cEDH, never to come out the same again. In fact, they usually become synonymous with their most competitive strategies and build up a stigma that eventually bleeds into casual tables. To me, this makes for a wonderful opportunity: I think it's time we try to breathe new life in some of these ghosts of the format, forgetting about their ability to consistently enable certain degenerate strategies and, rather, shining a light on the extreme flexibility they should actually be renowned for.

Double or Nothing

We're in the privileged position of running a face commander whose ability to find our key card requires minimal effort; this is something that won't always happen during this series, so we should take the free ride when we get it. The precious deck slots and in-game turns that we're saving this way will be better spent on developing and taking advantage of our main engine. This ultimately boils down to having low-costed, effective beaters that are ready to attack alongside Zur

When I think about ways to maximize Equipment, double-strikers are constantly at the top of my list; after all, what's better than one good hit? Remember, we're adding flash

MtG rules have this funny thing where a raging Gigantosaurus

Weaponizing Card Draw

Once Zur

Goggles of Night

Hit Fast, Hit Often, Hit Hard!

This deck has but one path to victory, and that is smashing. Half of our Equipment will then be comprised of the deadliest weapons

As learned from the previous section, damage triggers are also something we should look into: a Quietus Spike

We Attac, But We Also Protec

Voltron strategies have a natural tendency to lead to high-risk/high-reward situations, since in order to be effective they usually require you to put all eggs in one basket. This gameplan has the potential to offer huge payoffs, but can also backfire pretty badly if we're not taking due precautions. That is why we should devote some slots of our decklist to spells that can protect our weapon-wielding weenies.

Forget sacrificing style for safety: sharp suits

Swift Reconfiguration

No matter how hard we'll try, ruinous Paths

When it comes to reassigning Equipment that have fallen off, Ardenn

Swiss Army Knives

There are a few cards that provide good value to the deck based on their great flexibility rather than their raw power.

Tutors are the epitome of this category, and Open the Armory

Covering the (Non)Basics

With our secret plan fully outlined, we just need to close the gaps in our list and make sure we have enough pieces of acceleration and interaction. There's nothing too fancy in here, but I like to try and stick to the deck's theme as much as possible even when I'm just tying the loose ends.

In the mana department, qualifying creatures are cheap artifact-friendly cost-reducers

As for interaction, Imprisoned in the Moon

Getting to the mana base, the deck is it is mostly white-blue, so the taplands from Lorwyn, Jumpstart and Baldur's Gate are going to reflect that. I did also manage to sneak in a couple utility nonbasics: in a deck that revolves around casting Equipment after having tutored an enchantment, Roadside Reliquary

Potential Upgrades

At the time of writing, low prices for this list put it below the $50 mark (with Sigarda's Aid

$2-5

Perhaps surprisingly, in this price range we can already find a lot of the pieces that would significantly increase the deck's power level.

The Reality Chip

$5+

Simply ranking the 10 Swords of This and That

As implied in the above section, getting from the previous price point to this one will probably grant a less noticeable jump in power level. Here we mainly find redundancy pieces and marginal upgrades. Among the most notable ones, Glenn

Final Parting

And there you have it! An off-the-wall (and legitimately hipster) Zur

Do you love it? Do you hate it? Let me know in the comments! And while you're at it, feel free to leave a suggestion for a card you'd want to see as a hidden commander: I'm always up for a deckbuilding challenge.

Until next time!