Well, Conspiracy: Take the Crown has hit the streets! I’ve done drafts, and opened three boxes of cards from CoolStuffinc.com. I have a lot of the goods out there to get! (Who’s got a foil Berserk?) And I picked up some singles here and there, as well. So I’ve quickly built up a good solid stock to use for my projects and decks.

You know what that means; it’s time to start putting cards into use! No more talking about what might work or what might not. Nope! It’s playing time! So let’s get those cards in gear, and get over here!

Commander Cube:

If you haven’t seen my cool long box, then you might not realize that I am packing a cool commander Cube. Well, I am! So what changes am I making immediately?

Let’s start with the obvious — leaders!

I like to have multiple draftable and intentional archetypes in my colors. Whenever I look at good potential leaders, some of the things I ask are if it’s something I already have in my Cube, if I can easily layer in more support, or if I can add to my archetypes by giving me something new.

What about Queen Marchesa? My five creatures I have leading that color combination are Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Kaalia of the Vast, Zurgo Helmsmasher, Oros, the Avenger, and Tariel, Reckoner of Souls. That gives me the Kaalia tribal theme, Zurgo Beats, Oros control, and Alesha light reanimation. All of those work. But Tariel? There’s not a lot under the hood there. In fact, Queen Marchesa is better from almost any angle. Cheaper, replaces herself when she arrives, has the useful haste and deathtouch, and can, on occasion, spit out some creature tokens. Tariel is worse from every angle. So this is one swap I’m comfortable making:

Out Tariel, Reckoner of Souls; In Queen Marchesa

Of that list, two are duplicative, but the most powerful in the color combination. Meanwhile Damia is too unique to pull. The Mimeoplasm is iconic, and a good control leader. Vorosh is the odd one out, because we’ve just combining themes from other colors (counters). Now, I do like cycles, and all of the wedge-Dragons are here. But a cycle alone is not enough to keep Vorosh in. And I certainly think Leovold is a better leader than Vorosh by far.

Out Vorosh, the Hunter; In Leovold, Emissary of Trest

What other cards would I like to Cube on up?

Kaya, Ghost Assassin — I don’t have an extra copy yet. If I did, I’d be sorely tempted to pull Magister of Worth for it. The Magister is good, but it ain’t no Kaya. And I have Angel of Despair too.

Borderland Explorer — Avatar of the Resolute is a great card. There are a ton of ways to pump it it’s good early as a powerful creature to pressure opponents, and later in +1/+1 counter decks. Either way, it’s pretty good. But is it a good place for Borderland Explorer to make a move? Is there a place for pulling Essence Warden or Wall of Blossoms instead? I’m not sure yet, but it’s on my soon-to-pull list.

Now I do have a few draft trigger cards in my Cube from the first go around here in Fiora. There are a trio of cards from this go around that are sorely tempting me:

• Caller of the Untamed
• Smuggler Captain
• Arcane Savant

I could toss it in for a few cards. But there’s one that’s been a bit disappointing thus far. I needed more reanimation support, and I felt that we could use more sacrifice support as well. Thus Hell's Caretaker went in. But it’s hard to wait to your upkeep to use it. Either it’s not strong enough to matter, or it’s too good and it dies. The incredibly weakened ability to use it when you need to has been a problem. So let’s go ahead and toss in Smuggler Captain for it. You can reveal one card you drafted post-Captain, and tutor for that when your Captain arrives. It’s a very limited Tutor, and yet one that can give your themed deck another option. I’m envisioning using it for a key engine card, like reanimation, Goblin Bombardment, or a powerful card like Liliana Vess or Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath.

Out Hell’s Caretaker; In Smuggler Captain

For now, I want to steer clear of the two off-color cards, for flavor and not-sure-what-to-pull-for-them purposes.

What else strikes me?

Out Kor Sanctifiers; In Recruiter of the Guard

Other cards on my Commander Cube short list include:

• Regal Behemoth
• Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• Skyline Despot
• Subterranean Tremors
• Custodi Lich
• Keeper of Keys
• Stunt Double
• Custodi Soulcaller
• Palace Jailer

Anyways, check out the visual spoiler for my Commander Cube here!

You can draft it as well (set it to 8 players and 6 packs). If you do, please make a deck and save it! That way I can look back and see what folks were looking at.

After my Commander Cube, what else is out there that intrigues me?

Diaochan’s Beauty Parlor

One of my favorite decks out there is this lovely concoction. Mono-Red control, bad creatures, indestructible stuff, and surprisingly useful chaos like Capricious Efreet and Starke of Rath. We have recursive elements like Phoenixes, grindy cards like Hammer of Bogardan, and tons of exotic but surprisingly synergetic craziness. The result is one of my favorite Commander decks I’ve ever built or played.

Trust me, when you drop Lightning Greaves onto Diaochan, Artful Beauty, equip, tap and can’t be targeted due to shroud, you’ll feel that you’ve found the Shangri-La of funky Red synergy that just hammers the multiplayer metagame in odd ways.

One of the crazy cards in here is Liar's Pendulum. But it’s not reliable enough. One of the best cards just added to Red is Subterranean Tremors. That’s a powerful and strong element of control. My deck could really use it. And the Pendulum, while it fits the fun theme, isn’t really a card that is going the distance for me. So:

Out Liar’s Pendulum; In Subterranean Tremors

Fumiko Fun Times

I really like goad for this deck, because I can goad stuff that had to attack anywhere, but now you are forced elsewhere. Repeatable sources of goading is key to empowering Fumiko, who requires folks to attack anyways. The first place I’m looking is Grenzo, Havoc Raiser. He’s an early drop, and I can turn my team into a goad machine (as folks have to attack anyways, this usually keeps defenses down)

I don’t see a need for Goblin Racketeer yet, but I could later if goad appears to play as well as I think it will. In my limited experience, (in Limited) goad has been a gold mine with my stuff so far (check out my first draft deck below). I could even hit up Besmirch if I need to. Although I think the repeatable goad is better.

Out Dragon Throne of Tarkir; In Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

Oros Control

My very first Commander deck is still together! It’s a fun multiplayer sensitive control deck built around colors, featuring cards like Akroma's Vengeance, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Yosei, the Morning Star, Guiltfeeder, Damnation, and Urza's Rage. All of my favorites are here. Go to cards like Orim's Thunder, Oblation, Grab the Reins, and False Cure. Oh and Divine Deflection as well. Avatar of Woe. Glory. Newer stuff like Hythonia the Cruel or Utter End. The best of the best in my personal mind. My best control deck. Reforge the Soul. Volrath's Stronghold. Kor Haven. Vault of the Archangel. Soul of New Phyrexia. Chromatic Lantern. And of course, what would this deck be without Commander Eesha? That’s right, Commander freakin’ Eesha, one of the best multiplayer creatures ever printed. Period.

So there you are.

Now, there is a card that just got printed I think has an argument to make for inclusion. Queen Marshesa. She’s on color, cheap, and has all of the benefits I outlined above in my Cube. Is there a home for her here as well? I think so . . . 

There are a few creatures that I might be interested to pull for her to give her a tryout. Flametongue Kavu. Lieutenant Kirtar. Mogis, God of Slaughter. Hex Parasite. Are these good enough? Or is her highness worth one of their spots?

I have no blink/flickering elements, so there’s no need to run the FTK. But I do have stuff like Nekrataal, Shriekmaw, Bogardan Hellkite, Karmic Guide, Kor Cartographer and such in here. It’s not a lot. This deck prefers repeatable removal (like Visara the Dreadful or mass removal like Rout).

Hex Parasite is an ideal planeswalker hunter. I like having a few answers here and there for stuff you aren’t expecting, like Suffer the Past for graveyard smashing. Is the God of Slaughter enough of a clock in this 40 life format? Is Kirtar enough of a removal threat? Actually, now that I think about it, I know what needs to be pulled. None of those!

Out Kor Cartographer, In Queen Marchesa

Those are the immediate swaps for my Commander decks. What else is out there?

Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy

This is my extremely fun 3000+ card Highlander multiplayer fun deck. As Conspiracy: Take the Crown is a multiplayer fun format, there are a lot of cards heading on in. I also feel that the second round of multiplayer-centric cards is more self-aware of the format. It uses concepts that are a lot more subtle, powerful, and interesting. Compare a card like Borderland Explorer to Veteran Explorer or look at the subtle interactions of Hold the Line.

So you can expect a good number of the good stuff from this set to make the cut in my happy deck. Here’s a list of the ones heading right on in!

Additions:

The ones I am most excited for include Custodi Soulcaller and the subtle replacement of Thorn of the Black Rose.

Want to Know about my First Draft on release Weekend?

Here was my first draft deck for Conspiracy: Take the Crown. Now, I went deep and was one of the last to die. I call it the Rareless Wonder, because of the lack of rares and mythics in the deck itself (I only drafted three, one of which was Recruiter of the Guard, so I was fine fiscally).

The Rareless Wonder ? Conspiracy: Take the Crown Limited | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (16)
• 1 Canal Courier
• 1 Crown-Hunter Hireling
• 1 Ill-Tempered Cyclops
• 1 Messenger Jays
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Omenspeaker
• 2 Coveted Peacock
• 2 Jeering Homunculus
• 2 Stormchaser Chimera
• 4 Illusionary Informant

• Spells (7)
• 1 Garbage Fire
• 1 Fiery Fall
• 1 Negate
• 1 Repulse
• 1 Traumatic Visions
• 1 Twin Bolt
• 1 Flame Slash

• Lands (18)
• 9 Island
• 9 Mountain

Buy This Deck

Yes, I had 41 cards.

Conspiracy:

Hired Heist set to Illusionary Informant

Weight Advantage

I had also drafted 2 Vaporkin, 3 Spire Phantasm , 2 Cloaked Siren, 1 Skittering Crustacean, another Jays. 1 more Fiery Fall. I drafted 2 Incendiary Dissent as well.

My Garbage Fire was set to 5. I was looking for an aggressive deck early, with a lot of flyers, and then grabbing the Conspiracies to make them better. Imagine Incendiary Dissent’ed Vaporkin and such. No one was taking Dissents, and you could get them around picks 11-14 easily. Then in pack three it all changed, and I grabbed Weight Advantage, which totally changed the nature of my deck. I moved from higher power stuff to lower, and slid to cards like Canal Courier and Jeering Homunculus. Those were amazing cards for my draft. And suddenly, I had the fastest, most reliable beating deck in the draft if I wanted with four 2-mana Phantom Monsters.

I started in Black, and took cards like Infest and Inquisition of Kozilek. Someone next to me showed Regicide, and I slid to other stuff immediately. I grabbed Illusionary Informant and Spire Phantasm in my next two picks to see what others were taking, and to show I was Blue. I got tons of Blue cards. I also showed Garbage Fire at five to show I was taking Red and to send that signal. I never got another — sad to say. I often passed removal early for flyers I was sure were going to make the cut, and then they didn’t (by the way, I missed on all three of my Phantasm guesses. I guessed a Green player would take Overrun, a Black player would take Infest, and a White player would take, at the 10th pick, Guardian of the Gateless. I missed them all, so none of them arrived and drew me cards. No reason to play them then. I’d rather have the now 3/3 Chimera. (Note that Weight Advantage was a non-bombo with a lot of my early decks).

By far, my MVPS were the Peacocks with their 4/4 capabilities, and the goad is really powerful and useful. I’d force really big creatures like a built up Hamletback Goliath to swing at someone not named “Abe.” They were often killed by opposing removal, which was sad. If I had known I was doing Weight Advantage, I would have emphasized powerful tricks and better creatures early, instead of leaning on stuff that I wasn’t playing, like the Vaporkin or Cloaked Sirens.

With my flyers, I was Monarch more often than anyone else by the by.

I am finding the Conspiracies to get undervalued heavily right now. We had a guy with two Hold the Lines.

So that’s my first draft expedition.

Overall, the set has been a solid hit for me from all angles. Draft. Cube. Commander. Multiplayer. It’s got the goods!

So what are your thoughts post-opening? Which cards are heading in? What are you exited to try out?

It’s time to Steal that Crown!