Hello folks! Do you just adore the Dominarian minded Commander stuff out there? Great! Me too! Dominaria is a fun little set. It appears to be deep and chock full of goods.

But this? This is where the rubber meets the road. Now we are moving past mere theorycrafting. We are moving past sample decks and thoughts. Now cards are entering actual, real life, decks.

Like many of you, I have a ton of decks in real life. I have many Commander decks, as well as a number of 60 card decks and others.

Of those decks, which ones are getting a new shot of love from Dominaria? Where are new dreams coming true?

Let's take a looksee! And oh, at the end, I have a special prize for those who care.

Which cards go where?

Dominaria Adjustments (Commander)

Alphabet Deck

Let's begin with my Alphabet deck. This is a Commander deck that only uses cards (other than basic lands) that begin with "A" the first letter of my name. It's a Angel themed deck with Archangel Avacyn as its leader! It's a fun deck, and always super easy to build around. Any "A" cards of note to add?

Potentially!

Adamant Will -- Is this surprise Giant Growth or "Save-my-Critter" good enough to make the cut? It's not bad, giving both size and indestructible out of nowhere, and there are cards in this vein that I like to pull off. But is it for my deck? Not really, that's what Avacyn, my leader, is for! Flash it out to save my team.

No changes!

Surrak's Beasts and Where to Find Them

My second deck today was designed to be pure Timmy fun. Surrak Dragonclaw leads this fun and powerful deck that uses Beasts and Beast-friendly cards, as well as stuff with high power to abuse both Naya and Temur that play into Beast space, like Spearbreaker Behemoth. Because of that, there can be hard to find new cards here and there.

No changes!

Oros Control

This is my first Commander deck! Using Oros, the Avenger, it was designed as a control deck built around the classic powerhouses of multiplayer such as mass removal (Rout), Urza's Rage, Insurrection, Living Death, Congregate, or False Cure. Today, it's still a fun control deck that really tries to stick a win with removal and answers for anything.

Anything that leaps out at me for inclusion?

Baird, Steward of Argive -- I do like having half of a Ghostly Prison (Or Windborn Muse) effect on the stick. Because I don't run Blue in this deck, the obvious call out to cards like Propaganda or Collective Restraint is not here. So Baird looks pretty cool from where I am looking as a strong supplement to my "Tithe to Attack Me" infrastructure.

Let's try it out!

In Baird, Steward of Argive, Out Blinding Angel

Edric, Spymaster of Trest

Next up is this deck. It features mad tempo, casts cheap 1-drops that have evasion like Scryb Sprites, and then rides them to victory with massive card advantage. It's not your normal deck, as everything is mana sensitive.

Anything in here to recommend?

Yes!!

Karn's Temporal Sundering -- I run a few Time Warps in this deck, and this is a little better for a little more mana. Is it worth the price of admission at 6 mana and the risk of not having Edric out while you play it? I think so, because even if Edric dies, you can recast him once for fewer mana than the Sundering.

Artificer's Assistant -- When you are looking at evasive abilities from 1-drops, the tops after "Unable to be blocked" is Flying. Flying is harder to block in the early game than things like landwalking or menace or anything. I prefer Scryb Sprites to Shanodin Dryads. Thus, the Assistant will find a home, merely for being another copy of Flying Men.

In Artificer's Assistant, Karn's Temporal Sundering; Out Young Wolf, Daze

Ezuri's Pain into Progress

One of my most recent real-life Commander decks is this Green and Blue deck around Prodigal Sorcerer and Fungusaur with Ezuri, Claw of Progress leading the charge. It uses pain to your dorks to trigger good things and kills folks with cards like Basilisk Collar or Cowardice. Anything here to recommend?

Whew, almost. If Sorcerer's Wand hit creatures, then it would have leapt into my deck quickly. Nothing other than that . . . 

Vela's Night Children

This is one of my flavor-filled decks. This deck is built around Night themes, and uses Ninjas and shadow creatures to hit people with cool attacks, all inspired by Vela the Night-Clad. Anything not a Ninja or shadow has to have a Night theme, so I have creatures on theme like Shadowmage Infiltrator, as well as removal like Victim of Night.

Because in order to make the cut, a given card needs to meet both flavor and mechanical themes, finding the perfect addition can be tough . . . 

Nothing noticed save for . . .  maybe . . . 

Blackblade Reforged -- This is a cool consideration for the deck. Equipping something and then swinging with the high likelihood of hitting for a lot of damage with this is key. The problem is that I have almost no legendary creatures, and this is an equip: 7 instead and that's not easy. Even Vela costs 6 mana, so it'd be the 7th turn before I could bash with her. As a result, the Night-Clad won't be adding it to the team.

No additions. So sad.

Commander Shadow

Bontu's Nether Shadow deck has Bontu the Glorified as my leader of choice here. This deck is built around Nether Shadow, Ashen Ghoul, and other self-recursive stuff as well as a number of sacrifice engines for them to hit the 'yard and then pop on back. Anything I like for this deck?

Definitely!!! Get ready!!!

Final Parting -- I run cards like Buried Alive and Entomb that fill up my 'yard with the right dorks. This is perfect for that. It just adds 1 mana to my current Diabolic Tutor and adds another option to full up my graveyard with the good stuff. Enter my deck forthwith! You are awesome!

Lingering Phantom -- Do you like the Phantom? So my two questions to the Phantom are as follows:

I think I do have the first qualification down. I have many artifacts in the form of engines, like Carnage Altar. I also have a number of legendary dorks rocking the block. Also, it's a Spirit, which is a super-secret bonus! Why does that matter? One of the best ways to fill up my graveyard with the goods (most are Spirits) is this . . . 

That's right! Iname, Death Aspect, on arrival, will pull out that Nether Shadow, Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, and more and toss them right on into my 'yard.

So here is the final question . . . 

Is a 6-drop with no other abilities save for self-recursion to my hand worth it? I'm unsure.

Whisper, Blood Liturgist -- Whisper is great at adding another sacrifice engine to my deck, but I won't always have two creatures that are fodder. (You can sacrifice herself as one of the dorks). I am unconvinced that she's strong enough normally. I'll need to think about her more, as she is innately card disadvantage (two dorks into one) unless those dorks can come back. In theory, swapping Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton for Scion of Darkness feels right. But will it play that way? I feel like that may require too much setting up to work.

So, for now . . . 

Nothing else!

In Final Parting, Out Diabolic Tutor

Diaochan's Beauty Parlor

This remains one of my favorite Commander decks I've ever made. It just plays so much better than it looks. You use Diaochan to kill another's creature and then let them kill something else (which doesn't have to be yours). If they want to look askance at your Diaochan, well have some built-in protection on her like Lightning Greaves so they can't kill her! Another card that works is Sword of Fire and Ice's protection from Red, and so forth.

And you have dopey cards that already did their thing on arrival and now you don't care about (Fanatic of Mogis is a good example), something with indestructible (Darksteel Sentinel), something that's not a creature right now (vehicles like Smuggler's Copter), something that is about to help them (Humble Defector) or something that comes back after it dies (Firewing Phoenix). That means there's often better stuff elsewhere to target! That gives this deck a long, grinding, game that works well and has a bigger win ratio than you would normally expect.

Anything in here to toss in?

Squee, the Immortal -- Because Squee can be recast from your graveyard, it fits here perfectly. I doubt that Squee would ever be targeted by someone you choose for Diaochan unless they had no other options, given its status as a ground-based 2/1 for three mana that can come back. It's not a threat. I just don't see it though. It's not strong enough, and yes, it has synergy, but so what? It can't block flyers, and it can't swing through anything. I don't think there is anything here. I don't want my stuff that comes back merely to survive, but to be a threat.

Warcry Phoenix -- My deck is arguably a Phoenix deck. I love them in here (and other places) as resilient bodies that will keep on coming and causing problems for your foes. Unlike Squee, it'll come back with a 2/2 flying and haste body, so it's useful, and recast able. But three additional creatures might be one too many for a deck that's as creature light as my own. Sorry Warcry Phoenix!

Karn, Scion of Urza -- My deck wants cards. Karn will get you the hook up. I run things like Arch of Orazca and Staff of Nin to get my card fix on, and this will work tremendously! Slide it in, right? Well . . .  here's the thing. This is a real-life deck. And this is a real-life price machine. If I add Karn into every deck he fits in today (Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy, this, Fumiko below, Commander Cube, and more), then you get the idea. It's going to cost hundreds of dollars. So, for now, no Karn until I have enough copies to matter, sorry!

No additions for now!

Fumiko's Fun Time

This is my other Mono-Red build. This deck is built around Fumiko the Lowblood. The goal is to force people to attack, and then to punish them for doing so, using cards like Caltrops, Circle of Flame, and Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, as well as Ben-Ben, Akki Hermit to kill them. Fumiko is an odd control deck that plays into a fun space.

The only card in here that would push for entry is Karn, Take 3. As you can see above, that's not realistic right now. Sorry!

Wildfire Commander

Omnath, Locus of Rage fuels this odd Gruul Ramp and LD deck. The goal of the deck is to use land ramp to ramp out a ton of lands, and then drop mass LD cards like Wildfire that will leave you lands, while clearing out opposing stuff. All of those cards like Wildfire, also tend to kill stuff, so it runs cheap bodies that will survive a Wildfire effect (or Lavaball Trap or what have you.)

Anything in here to recommend itself? It's not often that I find something printed in a modern set that works for that core concept.

Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar -- Perhaps Multani would fit, right? You can drop Multani after the mass sweeping and his size remains consistent. Multani can survive your own damage based removal removal. What really helps is the creature type. This is not an Elemental deck, but having another Elemental in the deck to trigger Omnath's Rage seems like a valuable addition, right?

RIGHT!

In Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar; Out Akroma, Angel of Fury

Sorry Red-kroma!

Vhati's Machine

I love this deck. It's another of my top favorite Commander decks. The goal of this deck is to tap Vhati il-Dal to drop someone's toughness to one and then kill it with lots of options, from dealing damage with Staff of Nin to giving it -2/-1 with Liliana, the Last Hope.

Thoughts?

Nothing. Swing and a miss. Sorry!

Equinaut

I have a machine of a Commander deck built around Derevi, Empyrial Tactician that uses self-bounce creatures (such as Whitemane Lion) to layer triggers for "Enters the Battlefield," "Returns to your hand" and "Cast" triggers for cards like Equilibrium, Azorius Aethermage, and Aura Shards. The deck has a load of self-bouncing fun in order to rack up synergy, and it has a hugely high creature count and it is very tight mana concerns. It can't afford to be pricey on the mana.

Shanna, Sisay's Legacy -- In a deck with a creature count as big as mine, Shanna is likely bigger than Watchwolf most of the time. She'll always be a 1/1, and it's not hard to see mana-dorks like Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch adding to her size quickly. She has an odd iteration of hexproof that isn't really, and that's weird. She's the perfect set of colors as well, given that my lords at Wilt-Leaf Liege and Tolsimir Wolfblood will both pump her +2/+2.

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle -- Almost. Teshar is almost an amazing engine for me. Remember that the self-bouncing creatures will rack up "Cast triggers" for things like Equilibrium. So, if I have a dense enough number of artifact or legendary dorks, then when I cast them, Teshar is going to go nuts. This is especially true when you consider the cheap cost of the vast majority of my stuff.

But other than my leader, Derevi, my legendary list is mostly smaller and fewer in number -- Saffi Eriksdotter, Gaddock Teeg, and such. Now there is something to be said for casting and recasting Derevi and then getting this trigger. So, it's still under consideration! But I just don't think I have enough value to add in Teshar.

In Shanna, Sisay's Legacy; Out Watchwolf

Five Color Planeswalker

Currently Cromat is the leader of this Five Color Planeswalker deck that also features a full slate of Shrines (Honden of Seeing Winds, and such) and Sanctuaries (Raka Sanctuary, and such.) It's fun!

Jodah, Archmage Eternal -- Is Jodah my new leader for this deck? Let's compare:

How good in the Fist? Well, it doesn't reduce the cost for anything. My most expensive 'walkers are 7 or 8 mana, and they are colorless, so dropping Karn Liberated from 7 to 5 mana and making it all colors isn't something I need that often. Cromat is just better for my build. Sorry Jodah!

Oath of Teferi -- You might think that I am out there running all of these Oaths for my deck, but I'm not. I only run a few. This one? It feels like something serious. Getting two loyalty abilities per turn is already something I adore with The Chain Veil. This has to make the cut as well, right?

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria -- If I am tossing in his Oath, shouldn't Teferi follow? Possibly. My 'walkers need to provide answers and card advantage to really be worth including. It does draw me cards, great! But untapping at the end of my turn isn't as useful in a Friends deck that doesn't always have instants to cast. That's superfluous here. Where he's amazing is that Time Ebb answer for any non-land permanent, from dorks to opposing planeswalkers. That's saucy. And netting that is pretty useful, in addition to raw card draw. So Teferi is clearly the best 'walker from Dominaria for my deck.

Mox Amber -- If Mox Amber is strong enough for any Commander deck, it'll be here. If my Commander remains Cromat, then this taps for all five colors of mana for sure when Cromat is around. With Jodah it's less useful. The problem with Mox Amber is that it won't fix mana until that color has arrived, nor will it tap for colorless by itself. There's no mana acceleration here.

Swaps:

In Oath of Teferi, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria; Out Ajani Vengeant, Sterling Grove

Welcome home Teferi!

And there we are!

Ready for a quick little bonus? Great!

Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy

This is my almost 4000 card deck that is multiplayer friendly, five colors and all Singleton cards, save for basics. What's making the cut here?

Dominaria Additions to Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy -- Casual | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Academy Journeymage
• 1 Arvad the Cursed
• 1 Aryel, Knight of Windgrace
• 1 Baird, Steward of Argive
• 1 Darigaaz Reincarnated
• 1 Daring Archeologist
• 1 Demonlord Belzenlok
• 1 Excavation Elephant
• 1 Garna, the Bloodflame
• 1 Ghitu Chronicler
• 1 Grunn, the Lonely King
• 1 Howling Golem
• 1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
• 1 Jodah, Archmage Eternal
• 1 Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1 Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood
• 1 Keldon Overseer
• 1 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
• 1 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
• 1 Naru Meha, Master Wizard
• 1 Rona, Disciple of Gix
• 1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 1 Skittering Surveyor
• 1 Squee, the Immortal
• 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1 Territorial Allosaurus
• 1 Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle
• 1 Thallid Soothsayer
• 1 Untamed Kavu
• 1 Verix Bladewing

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

• Instants (4)
• 1 Cast Down
• 1 Invoke the Divine
• 1 Unwind
• 1 Wizard's Retort

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Broken Bond
• 1 Dark Bargain
• 1 Fight with Fire
• 1 Final Parting
• 1 Grow from the Ashes
• 1 Karn's Temporal Sundering
• 1 Settle the Score

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 In Bolas's Clutches
• 1 Phyrexian Scriptures
• 1 Precognition Field
• 1 Song of Freyalise
• 1 The Eldest Reborn

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Forebear's Blade
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 1 Thran Temporal Gateway
• 1 Weatherlight

• Lands (6)
• 1 Memorial to Folly
• 1 Memorial to Genius
• 1 Memorial to Glory
• 1 Memorial to Unity
• 1 Memorial to War
• 1 Zhalfirin Void

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And there we go! A lot of cards on the slate to get added to my deck!

I hope that you enjoyed looking through some of the changes I am making to my own projects and such. What about your own? What's making the cut in your decks?