Let's suppose one of your friends purchased one of the recently released Commander (2014 Edition) decks. As a lot of folks do, this friend played with it for a bit and then started making some changes. As he or she made some fun modifications, your friend pulled out a few cards and handed you a couple that he or she wasn’t interested in. But you could build a Commander deck of your own around one of these guys!

Or perhaps you are looking for a fun way to build around one of the recently printed mono-colored legendary critters from Commander (2014 Edition). You can push the deck in a non-Planeswalker direction.

You've been given that Stitcher Geralf. What can do you with it? How can you make a quality Geralf deck?

A Stitch in Time ? Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Academy Elite
• 1 Armored Skaab
• 1 Body Double
• 1 Chancellor of the Spires
• 1 Clever Impersonator
• 1 Dakra Mystic
• 1 Deranged Assistant
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Dreamborn Muse
• 1 Geralf's Mindcrusher
• 1 Havengul Runebinder
• 1 Hedron Crab
• 1 Jace's Mindseeker
• 1 Laboratory Maniac
• 1 Mindshrieker
• 1 Riddlekeeper
• 1 Rotcrown Ghoul
• 1 Soul of Ravnica
• 1 Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1 Tolarian Serpent
• 1 Undead Alchemist
• 1 Wonder
• 1 Millikin
• 1 Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1 Ambassador Laquatus

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Jace Beleren
• 1 Jace, Memory Adept
• 1 Jace, the Living Guildpact

• Spells (31)
• 1 Countermand
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Fervent Denial
• 1 Oona's Grace
• 1 Think Twice
• 1 Visions of Beyond
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Increasing Confusion
• 1 Spelltwine
• 1 Switcheroo
• 1 Telemin Performance
• 1 Traumatize
• 1 Tunnel Vision
• 1 Compulsion
• 1 Spellweaver Volute
• 1 Web of Inertia
• 1 Well of Ideas
• 1 Altar of the Brood
• 1 Bonehoard
• 1 Cellar Door
• 1 Crucible of Worlds
• 1 Keening Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Nim Deathmantle
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Staff of Nin
• 1 Volrath's Laboratory
• 1 Whetstone
• 1 Coldsteel Heart

• Lands (40)
• 27 Island
• 1 Dust Bowl
• 1 Halimar Depths
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Moonring Island
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Remote Isle
• 1 Shelldock Isle
• 1 Soldevi Excavations
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Tolaria West
• 1 Tower of the Magistrate
• 1 Wasteland

Buy This Deck

And there's our Stitcher deck!

There are a lot of fun ways you can take the new five potential commanders. Ghoulcaller Gisa suggests one sort of deck, and Jazal Goldmane quite another. Feldon of the Third Path and Titania, Protector of Argoth each can be built in a variety of ways and are quite flexible masters. Of the group, I felt that Geralf was the one that was probably the most limited in the direction you wanted to head. So I did him first!

For example, we can just dump creatures into that graveyard in the sky with abilities such as Wonder’s, Soul of Ravnica’s, and Soul of New Phyrexia’s. That way, if you accidentally flip one over when you Geralf everyone, it's not the worst thing that's ever happened around the kitchen table. You know what? Since everyone has chunky graveyards, let's add in some guys that can use that. Chancellor of the Spires and Diluvian Primordial can both turn great spells in opposing graveyards into strong, game-winning propositions. Body Double will Clone a dead thing. So you can add in these guys and give your deck some strong graveyard loving.

Meanwhile, that Havengul Runebinder can exile a dork from your 'yard that you weren't using anymore to make some Zombie friends for Geralf to play with. Don't forget that the Runebinder will also pump those Zombies as well with counters of love. (For more Zombie loving, take a look at Undead Alchemist.)

Don’t forget that a simple card like Ambassador Laquatus can have a lot of uses beyond just a mere milling of cards. Want to give someone with Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library another three cards? Maybe he or she is looking for a spot of removal for a mutual enemy. On the other hand, the Ambassador can fight against a Top, too. Did you just put that Top on top to avoid removal? Ah . . . here’s my Ambassador putting it in your graveyard. How sad . . . 

Whetstone is a strong artifact in the same vein. I added in some graveyard-sensitive effects in support roles where I could. Card-draw? Sure, toss in Fact or Fiction and Sphinx of Uthuun! Counterspell? Countermand is here for you! Cards like Altar of the Brood and Keening Stone join our daily Mill-a-Thon, so call in your winning number now, and use those with Bonehoard. I even included a few fun spells to help out (Traumatize, Tunnel Vision).

There are many spell-based mechanics that work well in a deck that mills your stuff. Retrace is solid because you can replay the card over and over again just by drawing lands. You have obvious stuff like flashback to dip into as well. It's too bad we can't mine dredge for some fun reuse of spells, too.

One of those cards is Spelltwine, which can reuse a fun spell in your 'yard as well as someone else's and give us two spells for one. If you cast the right stuff, Spelltwine is often backbreaking fun. And with Geralf as your leader in pain and shame, you should have the perfect set of targets to just blow out some folks.

I know it's probably a bit high for a lot of budget-minded folks out there, but Crucible of Worlds does really good stuff here, bringing back fun lands that were milled from your library. Don't be that person who reuses Strip Mine and Wasteland to blow up mana lands. Friends don't let friends do junk like that.

The fun doesn't end there! This is a strong deck to toss in Well of Ideas from Commander (2014 Edition). I also like Cellar Door and Volrath's Laboratory to make some Zombies for folks. We have crazy cards a-go-go! Who doesn't like stuff like Spellweaver Volute or Compulsion? Telemin Performance is always a fun run. Are we going to flip a big beater, like Terastodon? Or a junky little Elvish Mystic? Let's find out! This is a deck that's running Switcheroo. Come on now!

This is a very synergistic graveyard-based deck that can mill folks out or just play with their graveyards for a while—whichever suits your fancy this game.

You could also toss in stuff like Chill of Foreboding or Decimator Web, Helm of Obedience or Riptide Replicator, Jace's Erasure or Cyclonic Rift.

Looking to build a Stitcher Geralf deck? Are there any cards here that speak to you? Whatever your future deck-building plans, I hope you found something here of value.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent