Codie, Vociferous Codex by Daniel Ljunggren

Usually, the introduction to a How They Brew It sets up the tone or some sort of theme for the rest of the article, typically involving the unchecked power of capital or a conspiracy involving quasi-military inter-dimensional conglomerates. It's just a part of my brand, like annoying judges. For this introduction, however, I would like to take a moment to consider the biology of today's commander, Codie, Vociferous Codex.

• Why does Codie have only one eye? Is there another eye on the back cover that we can't see? Does the placement of said eye(s) mean it's a predator animal? If so, what does Codie consume?
• Does Codie refer merely to the book section, or does it include the bacteriophage-like display stand underneath it? Are Codie's legs organic, or are they like a Kadabra's spoon?
• Does Codie age physically, or does its text simply become more and more uncomfortable in light of the changing standards of the day?
• Can I eat a Codie, or would I find its material too heavy and complex to digest?
• Is Codie considered a person? Does it have a social security number? If not, what is Codie's ISBN? Is that personally identifying information?

Tome Sweet Tome

Good morning, everyone! My name is Michael Celani, and my Discord demanded that I build a five-color deck. There were thirty cards that competed for the spot of Commander's Herald's Next Top Deck, and all of them lost except for Codie, Vociferous Codex, who won by winning instead of losing.

Codie is a 1/4 Construct with a mana ability that adds one of each color of mana. That ability also causes your next spell to cascade into an instant or sorcery in your deck. He comes with a minor drawback, but it's nothing to really worry about. Let's brew!

Honor Roll

Nothing follows the word book like the word club, except for perhaps the word fair. But there won't be anything fair about the club we've put together around this book, because they're all part instant or sorcery. Sure, when Codie's on the field, we're unable to cast permanent spells, but we are allowed to cast Adventures and modal double-faced cards, and since they're not technically instants or sorceries, Codie's cascade will skip right over them!

• Giant Killer is the perfect person to introduce to your mom, because his Chop Down will sweep her off her feet.
• If you want to shut down an opponent for a turn, Revel in Silence will stop them from casting spells or activating loyalty abilities. Target a combo player with a hand full of instants and sorceries and watch them squirm!
• Silverflame Squire is a great way to untap Codie so you can cascade twice in a single turn.
• Nothing says "step on me" like a Bonecrusher Giant, and his Stomp even nullifies damage prevention! It's a great way to counter Fog effects.
• Though it's a flavor-failure that Brazen Borrower can't check Codie out from the battlefield, it can still make a mess of your opponents' plans.
• Stuck with too many high-cost cards in hand? Hire a Merchant of the Vale to Haggle one away.
• No, that's not Nicolas Cage causing your friend to facepalm - you're actually seeing Murderous Rider bring a Swift End to their planeswalker that was one turn away from ulting.
• Five color decks need fixing, and Rosethorn Acolyte will happily provide you the color you need while cascading directly into a Profane Tutor or Ancestral Vision.
• Ted across the table scoffing at you with an army of elves? Realm-Cloaked Giant will show him what it's like to be fi-fi-fo-fu████.
• If you really need to throw out permanent spells, sacrifice Codie to Extus, Oriq Overlord's Awaken the Blood Avatar and cast whatever you need with a 3/6 blocker as payment.
• Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios isn't just terrifying on her front face; the back face basically has an incredibly cheap Buyback that dumps your lands as a side-effect.

Temporary Suspension

Of course, we'll need to eventually cast those creatures on an Adventure, and if we want to do that we'll need to take Codie off the battlefield in one way or another. Here's how you close the book on Codie's continued existence:

• Shepherd of the Flock is an Adventure creature that returns Codie or one of your other creatures to your hand for cheap. Nothing's more devastating than ripping Murderous Rider off the battlefield for another go!
• Personally, I've longed to build a deck with Soul Sculptor and I've finally found the one. Soul Sculptor turns Codie into an enchantment with no abilities until you cast a creature, effectively switching off his restriction for a few spells as it's unlikely that an opponent is casting a creature on your turn!
  • You can use him to nullify an enemy attacker like a Maze of Ith, and it's especially effective against Aura decks, as they'll all fall off as state based actions.
• Vodalian Illusionist and Robe of Stars both phase Codie out, which means it can activate its ability immediately when phased back in.
• You can pick up Codie with Aether Gale and still have five permanents left over to target your opponents with.
• Cast Coastal Breach to pick up everything at once. Its Undaunted ability means you'll only pay four mana, but its value on the stack remains seven, so you can cascade into cards six and cheaper.
• Vanquish the Horde and Blasphemous Act are both extremely high-cost cards that quickly become cheaper as the board gets more cluttered. Activate Codie, cast these for cheap, and cascade into a giant spell and use the remaining mana to cast your permanents!
• Crystal Shard, Portal of Sanctuary and Erratic Portal are all variations on a theme: pay one mana to pick a creature up.
  • Sanctum of Eternity has a similar effect on a land for two mana.

Creature Comforts

We want to cheat out gigantic instants and sorceries like In Garruk's Wake, Ezuri's Predation, and Conflux. But casting gigantic nonpermanent spells to get there sounds really tough, because outside of a few choice spells like Blasphemous Act, huge instants and sorceries don't really discount themselves. Creatures, on the other hand, do that all the time. Not to mention, Codie doesn't say you have to cast an instant or sorcery to get the cascade effect.

• Reaper King exemplifies our strategy as a spell with a mana value of ten that can easily be cast for far less. We spend five mana for a relatively beefy creature and a huge cascade effect!
• Did you know we were secretly playing a Bringer tribal deck? Each Bringer can be cast for one mana of each color, which is conveniently what Codie produces. Tap Codie, bounce him to your hand, then cast one of the following!
  • If someone teleported your Portal of Sanctuary into the graveyard, Bringer of the White Dawn can bring it right back.
  • Move over, Phyrexian Arena! Bringer of the Blue Dawn draws two cards every upkeep.
  • Bringer of the Black Dawn is the best Bringer, because he gives you a free Vampiric Tutor every turn. Robe of Stars is a great hit, but you can also search for your wraths.
  • Bringer of the Red Dawn steals a creature every turn, which can remove a pesky blocker or take advantage of an enemy commander's damage to squeak out a KO.
  • Bringer of the Green Dawn is bad, but at least he costs nine.
• While not all the Avatars are feasible to cast for a reduced cost, Avatar of Woe can often be cast for just two, and Avatar of Fury is just a matter of time.
• Stratadon, Draco, and Scion of Draco each get way cheaper when you control each basic land type. Dryad of the Ilysian Grove gets you there for free, but our multitude of Triomes and dual lands should make it really easy to reach that spot naturally.
• Primeval Protector works like Blasphemous Act, as it gets cheaper with more creatures on the board.

Find a way to remove Codie from the board, then activate its mana ability in response to that effect. Cast your next gigantic spell and hope you cascade into the spell that will win you the game:

The recently unbanned Worldfire exiles absolutely everything from everywhere and brings everyone to just one life, but it can't remove things that are already exiled from exile. Aside from being dumb, you actually have a lot of cards you can cast from exile: everything that's already out on an Adventure!

Knock everything out of the game, use your floating mana to cast a dorky Adventurer, and snipe your opponents one by one!

Bookends

Here's where I say something about how reading is an adventure, but let's not lie: none of us read. If you're about to counter that I could only convey this information to you through text that you've just read, then congratulations, you've beaten me!

View this decklist on Moxfield