Preaching Piracy - Malcolm's Partners In cEDH

Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator is one of the fastest and most resilient partners in cEDH. Out of the plethora of options the format provides, Malcolm has proven itself to be a staple Partner and affords many advantages over the competition. Malcolm is acceleration in the command zone (at a very cheap cost), which is an extremely useful feature in a format noted for its high octane, no-holds-barred games. This efficiency is reflected in its most notable one-card combo win conditions as well; alongside any red pairing, Malcolm also has access to a one-card win condition in Glint-Horn Buccaneer. However, what is a Partner without their friends? And Malcolm has many friends to choose from.

Dimir Pairs

Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

Tevesh Szat is a great friend to Malcolm, offering many useful tools for us to take advantage of. The combination of blue and black in cEDH is already a magnificent start. Between all of the usual suspects for efficient win conditions in the form of Thoracle Consult lines, access to the most efficient tutors, excellent rituals, advantage engines, and counterspells, Dimir is a powerful combo in and of itself. There are costs to being in Dimir, however: we are forced to go all in on Thoracle Pact / Consult lines to win the game. Having access to such an easy instant-win button isn't a cost, per se, but it is considerably less efficient than winning through Glint-Horn Buccaneer.

Dimir makes up for this with a swath of powerful utility effects, such as tutors, stax pieces like Opposition Agent and Dauthi Voidwalker, and card advantage staples, like Necropotence and Ad Nauseam. This card advantage continues with Tevesh Szat's greatest contribution to Malcolm being card advantage in the zone, helping us make use of all those Treasures we'll have laying around. Tevesh's ultimate ability also gives us a fantastic out against decks like Rule of Law stax that try to stop us from using our win conditions, an important get-around to always be mindful of.

Armix, Filigree Thrasher

Armix, Filigree Thrasher is one of the more niche Malcolm Partners, but it pulls its weight in abilities to repeatedly deal with pesky creatures and establish board control. Paired with Malcolm's ability to up Armix's artifact count in order to kill increasingly threatening targets is nothing to scoff at either, making for an excellent midrange commander. Even so, Armix does have a few issues here and there to make note of, primarily the lack of card advantage in the command zone, which sets back the discard options.

This means you will have to lean harder on your card advantage options, such as Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Necropotence, and Dimir's excellent Notion Thief, which shouldn't be too difficult. Notion Thief and Narset, Parter of Veils are notably potent hate pieces combined with our wheel effects, such as Windfall and Timetwister, allowing us to create an insurmountable gap on card advantage which our control-oriented midrange list can easily drag to a victory.

Izzet Pairs

Krark, the Thumbless

This variant has made its appearance only recently, but good lord, does it make me excited. Izzet and Malcolm go together like peanut butter and jelly, giving you access to Malcolm's MVP, Glint-Horn, and efficient back-up lines, such as Underworld Breach and Dualcaster combos. Krark's nondeterministic Storm package pairs well with Malcolm's innate mana generation as you'll be able to run back your spells more often when they get shipped back to your hand. This deck is inherently RNG-oriented in a way Krark decks often are: you're trading the consistency of Krarkashima's clone package for Malcolm's mana output.

Izzet is a great starting place for Malcolm. Advantage pieces, like Professional Face-Breaker and Ragavan, shine with Malcolm at the helm. The disadvantages of being in Izzet for Malcolm is the lack of tutors. Tutoring for Glint-Horn can be a bit of a gamble, so the consistency of the one-card wins is wounded. Krark attempts to make up for this consistency through having innate synergy with important cards like rituals, removal, and cantrips, providing for more explosive games.

Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh 

Rograkh has been noted in the format for its ability to increase the speed of decks through effects such as Springleaf Drum and Mox Amber, so what happens when you stick it next to the second most notable acceleration commander? Polymorph! Polymorph is a fast and consistent way to get Glint-Horn Buccaneers in play because we're playing, you guessed it, Izzet! This list is consistent, it's fast, and it's powerful. It does all the things you would want a Malcolm list to do. While it folds to a handful of common stax pieces, such a vulnerability is common of a lot of turbo decks in the format, meaning we play to win fast with this.

Counterspells give us a layer of protection to aid us in getting our combos through, and they're also great at buying time against an opponent who's moving faster than us. The blue aspect of our color pair really shines in this style of list, between tried and true counterspells, bounce removal, and card advantage. Rograkh is one of the most consistent Malcolm Partners for turbo style combo kills, and for the Spikier players of the format, I think this list is just for you.

Breeches, Brazen Plunderer

And of course, Malcolm's "intended" Partner has to make an appearance here. Breeches again puts us in the tried and true Izzet space while offering us an interesting card advantage option. With Breeches and Malcolm in play we effectively have two Ragavans. Ragavan is a powerful card, and having consistent access to Ragavan seems like a pretty solid way to start any game, and then you realize not only do you have two Ragavans but your Ragavans triggers can trigger twice! The amount of value there is insane. This variant of the list also gets uniquely strong use out of Pirate synergy pieces like Lightning-Rig Crew, Warkite Marauder, and Spectral Sailor. This is also the most Pirate-oriented of the list, which gives you immense style points. This deck also gets the most value out of turning non-Pirates into Pirates with effects like Maskwood Nexus, a card seldom seen elsewhere. This list is absolutely on the midrange axis of Malcolm lists. Izzet highlights this strength through card advantage effects and counterspells above all else. The issue with a midrange style in Izzet is that we are missing out on a plethora of potent stax and disruption options. This isn't to say we are at a complete loss, however. Blood Moon-style effects and Narset, Parter of Veils are great one-sided tools against our opponents' progress. Red also allows us to propel ourselves forward at a blistering pace, with key pieces such as rituals and Dockside Extortionist launching us forward. Back to the commanders, the potential of using your opponents' cards against them through Breeches's trigger can give you a Haldan // Pakko lite effect, which is immeasurably useful against most of the metagame's more familiar decks, allowing you to adapt on a game to game basis. Flavour, style, flexibility, and value. All in one.

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar

Kediss is an absolutely insane value engine for Malcolm. This lizard is potent! Kediss triples Malcolm's once-a-turn combat trigger, an explosion of ramp very few decks can even attempt to keep pace with. And, of course, we're playing Izzet, so we've got turn-one Buccaneer wins if you're lucky. Kediss even circumvents your card draw issue with some neat tricks of its own, turning Curiosity effects into an Ancestral Recall each combat. So, what are we going to spend all this mana on? The best insane haymakers which are otherwise usually a bit too slow for cEDH. I'm talking cards like Consecrated Sphinx and the almighty Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Have you ever used Magda as a tutor for Niv-Mizzet? It's absolute gas. Magda is a card particularly worth highlighting in this list as Treasures are abundant when backed by Kediss, and by tutoring for Maskwood Nexus we can make any of our creature combo pieces a single Magda activation away, entirely circumventing Izzet's tutoring issue. This is remarkable at enabling backup wins through Reckless Fireweaver, as (if it becomes a Pirate thanks to Nexus) it will infinitely loop with Malcolm, killing our opponents. Kediss stretches the limits of what is possible with more traditional Izzet Malcolm pairings and highlights the commanders' strength in the extremes. (If you would like to see my take on this list, it's linked here).

Tri-Color Partners

Tymna the Weaver

This is the first time white makes an appearance on our list! Tymna is a ludicrously strong card engine in the zone that pairs well with Malcolm's mana generation and evasive nature to guarantee cards. Now, the main question you must be asking yourself is what sets this list apart from blue farm? We're down a color but have a similar turbo Ad Nauseam gameplan. The key difference? One word: mana. The consistent mana Malcolm outputs is a thoroughly useful tool for a turbo list such as ours, giving us some kind of assurance on expensive game-winning pieces, such as Bolas's Citadel, Peer into the Abyss, and the aforementioned Ad Nauseam. Consistently being in a position in which we can cast these threatening cards is extremely effective. Being in Esper does prevent us from using Glint-Horn lines similar to Dimir. Despite this issue we have white at our disposal, which allows our list to midrange threateningly well. Our ability to shut down our opponents' gameplan in Esper is extremely useful for longer games. Dauthi Voidwalker and Opposition Agent are as effective as ever but are now backed by Teferi, Time Raveler, Silence, and the one and only Drannith Magistrate. Esper gives us all the options we need and then some. This tried and true Esper list combines card and mana advantage to produce excellent results.

Bruse Tarl

Bruse Tarl, one of Magic's most beloved farmers. How does he match up with our Pirate friend? Absolutely excellently. Jeskai puts us, yet again, on Izzet with a bonus color for support. This color trio also opens up consistent Underworld Breach lines through Intuition and Sevinne's Reclamation, which we happily take as back-up for Glint-Horn. White is a resilient color backing color for Izzet. We do continue in our trend of having a difficult time tutoring for Glint-Horn. The pros of being in white are incredible midrange options, such as Esper Sentinel, Silence, and

Vial Smasher the Fierce

I've sung the praises of Dimir and Izzet Malcolm, so how about both at the same time? Grixis is one of the strongest color combinations in cEDH, although Malcom does leave you in a three-color position as opposed to forming the back of another four-color pair. Ultimately, this is absolutely a fair trade off here! You're giving up a utility piece in the zone for access to Glint-Horn, Ad Nauseam, and so much more. One-card win conditions are always a tantalizing option in cEDH, and having access to that in arguably our format's strongest colors is good. Real good. Vial Smasher, unfortunately, doesn't do as much here as she does in curio control lists, and the passive damage is occasionally relevant but not particularly game-breaking. What she does do excellently, however, is add a wild toolbox to our deck. Grixis's suite of tools pairs perfectly with Malcolm's Treasure production. Tutors, Ad Nauseam, Dockside Extortionist, and counterspells are all the big boogeymen of cEDH. Malcolm pairs well with synergistic options in this regard such as Grim Hireling and Professional Face-Breaker. The mana generation here pairs well with Grixis's card advantage monsters like Notion Thief, Rhystic, Mystic, Necropotence, and of course Ad Nauseam. Grixis is potent; Malcolm is potent. Enough said.

Tana, the Bloodsower

Tana is the quintessential Malcolm partner. Nine times out of ten when people are discussing Malcolm in cEDH they are talking about this Tropical variant. Tana brings a lot to the table in the Temur trio. Arguably the perfect pairing with Malcolm and everything it tries to accomplish, this list is not to be trifled with. Green creature tutors make the decks as consistent in their Glint-Horn wins as the Polymorph variants. Similar to the Vial Smasher lists, however, you're trading relevance on your secondary commander for a color. That color being green, which elevates Malcolm's consistency immensely, is what truly takes this deck to the next level. Black tutors and card advantage are incredibly effective, and so with almost any other commander I'd argue the Grixis list would be stronger. However, when your on-card win condition is in green, creature tutors become more effective. This list is always a Neoform, Eldritch Evolution, or Finale of Devastation away from victory. Green also makes the notably fast Malcolm faster with access to green creature ramp and Carpet of Flowers. Green's acceleration allows you to play notably difficult cards like Consecrated Sphinx and Niv-Mizzet in a similar vein to the lightning-fast Kediss variants. Temur Tana is fast and consistent.

Conclusion

Malcolm is a high power acceleration engine in cEDH and one of the strongest Partners in the format. I highlighted some lists today I believe are especially powerful and poised for success in the format. Did I miss a variant? Are there any spicy Malcolm inclusions you think are underexplored? Reach out and let us know!