This article is a mix of deck tech and design philosophy. One of the ways I've maintained diversity among my decks, and an essential part of my design philosophy, has been making the effort to use cards that are uniquely synergistic or flavorful with that deck, even if it means cutting a more powerful or effective card. The question I always ask when cutting a card is, “If I don’t use it here, where else can I use it?” If the answer is, “Nowhere,” it usually stays in the deck, regardless of power level. I’ll give you some examples of what I’m talking about, starting with the diversity among my Grixis decks. I should explain that I really hate seeing Commander decklists, so instead of posting lists here, I’m giving you links to the decks at TappedOut.net. You can look at the decklists there, but more importantly, you can playtest them to see how the pieces fit together, and the links will be updated as I evolve the decks.

At the end, I will also give a complete list and description of all of my Commander decks. If you'd like me to talk about a particular deck in a future article, or if you’d like to see a list, let me know!

Grixis Gorillas

When I made my second Grixis deck, it was very important to me that it played differently than Thrax. I built the deck around Planeswalkers and quickly concluded that Thrax was too powerful to serve as the commander because he usually killed everyone before my Planeswalkers could do anything interesting. That’s why I put the more flavorful but much less powerful Tetsuo Umezawa at the helm—and also took out Cruel Ultimatum. The result is a Nicol Bolas Super Friends deck that can build up to a pretty dominant board position and has an unconscionable number of shenanigans,² but it isn't in any way similar to Thrax. The unique mechanical focus on Planeswalkers and proliferation means that it not only contains cards that wouldn’t make the cut anywhere else (Ring of Three Wishes over Demonic Tutor for example), but it also plays differently than any of my other decks.

New Blood

Even though Nekusar is quite focused mechanically (everything is either draw-related, discard-related, or please-don’t-kill-me-related), there are a couple of pet cards. Pain Magnification does nothing immediately and doesn’t interact with much in the deck, as I dish out damage mostly in 1s and 2s, but I like the way it encourages people to send their beats elsewhere—like a satanic Edric. Skull Rend is inefficient both in terms of discard and damage, but that art is so disturbingly awesome I’ve always wanted to play it. Finally, Talon of Pain has a lot of potential with Nekusar, but it has almost no impact on the board in the first turn, and it’s too expensive to be a top-line cockroach. I should replace it with something stronger, such as Bloodchief Ascension, but if I don’t use it in Nekusar, where am I going to use it?

A Rose by any other Theme . . .

• The kind of creatures I want to use in Marchesa are the kind of enters-the-battlefield all-stars that I already use in other decks. If I’m only using Marchesa to recur Mulldrifter, Oxidda Scrapmelter, and Mistbind Clique, why build another deck instead of just adding her to Thrax?
• My buddy Earl made a Marchesa deck right away, and it was exactly the kind of deck that I wanted to make, only better.

Earl found the most obscure +1/+1 counter creatures in the history of the game and combined them with a near-suicidal disregard for his own life total, so that his dudes always gained the dethrone bonus and always came back at the end of turn. It was a dark masterpiece, and I didn’t think I could do anything that wasn’t a pale imitation of his. As a casual player, if I can't take a card and make it my own, I don’t want to build the deck.

Eventually, I realized that Earl was having so much fun with Marchesa that I needed to join the party anyway, but I also found what I hope is a sufficiently different angle that I’m not just net-decking Earl. He was primarily using life manipulation to ensure his creatures gained the dethrone ability, and if they were killed, Marchesa would bring them back. My version (TappedOut link) focuses more on casting dudes with their own +1/+1 counters and saccing them for value—so, for example, I use Stingmoggie instead of the more popular and generally superior Oxidda Scrapmelter. If they can attack and pick up additional counters, so much the better, but I didn’t want to be relying on dethrone to fuel my shenanigans. I also wanted to do more stealing—Marchesa will actually bring stolen creatures back to her side of the board if they die with +1/+1 counters. Conquering Manticore is a total badass in this capacity, and Mark of Mutiny will always have a home here.

Conclusion

Finally, as promised, I have documented my disturbing deck-building psychosis for you. Let me know what decks you'd like me to spotlight in the future.

Black (5 decks) — Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed (Braids, Cabal Minion, I mean, Smokestack control); Mirri the Cursed (Vampire tribal aggro); Sheoldred, Whispering One (Phyrexian-themed good stuff); Mikaeus, the Unhallowed (Tombstone Stairwell); Erebos, God of the Dead (The Blackest Deck in the WorldTM)

White (1) — Jareth, Leonine Titan (midrange good stuff)

Green (2) — Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer (midrange); Omnath, Locus of Mana (landfall, Zendikar block-ish)

Blue (1) — Arcanis the Omnipotent (control)

Golgari (2) — Glissa, the Traitor (commander-centric artifact/Planeswalker control); Skullbriar, the Walking Grave (commander-centric aggro)

Orzhov (2) — Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter (good-stuff control); Athreos, God of Passage (commander-centric extort)

Rakdos (2) — Olivia Voldaren (commander-centric); Rakdos, Lord of Riots (commander-centric fatties)

Dimir (3) — Lazav, Dimir Mastermind (Korean-only, commander-centric good stuff); Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker (mill); Ramses Overdark (commander-centric Assassins)

Selesnya (1) — Krond the Dawn-Clad (commander-centric enchantments)

Gruul (1) — Ruric Thar, the Unbowed (commander-centric aggro/midrange)

Boros (1) — J.K. Rolling (Swordless Voltron/metalcraft)

Azorius (1) — Isperia the Inscrutable (wings-themed)

Izzet (1) — Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius (If I Blink, You’ll Miss It)

Bant (0) — TBD (Jenara Tiny Leader, counter control?)

Jund (2) — Kresh the Bloodbraided (commander-centric aggro); Shattergang Brothers (commander-centric control)

Naya (1): Gahiji, Honored One (tokens)

Esper (2) — Sharuum the Hegemon (technically noncombo artifacts); Oloro, Ageless Ascetic (life-gain control)

Grixis (5) — Thraximundar (Grixis Gorillas); Tetsuo Umezawa (Planeswalker control); Nekusar, the Mindrazer (Death by 1,000 Cuts); Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge (commander-centric, big spells); Marchesa, the Black Rose (commander-centric, counters matter)

Sultai (2) — Vorosh, the Hunter (English-only good stuff); The Mimeoplasm (commander-centric),

Mardu (1) — Tariel, Reckoner of Souls (metagame exile)

Jeskai (1) — Ruhan of the Fomori (combat manipulation)

Temur (2) — Maelstrom Wanderer (Melek, Izzet Paragon spell-copying); Surrak Dragonclaw (Morph)

Five-Color (1) — Scion of the Ur-Dragon (commander-centric, legendary Dragons)

Colorless (0) — TBD

¹ I find it is helpful to have a kind of seniority among my decks so that the oldest decks get first dibs on the newest cards and the newer decks know to wait their turn. That way, if there is an amazing new card that could go in all my Grixis decks, for example, I’m not tempted to splurge on five copies of it. Thraximundar gets first dibs (unless it’s a Planeswalker, in which case it goes to Tetsuo Umezawa first), and if it works out I might eventually acquire copies for the others, but there’s no rush. It helps me keep my spending under control, stops me from turning all of my decks into finely-tuned killing machines, and means that when I do replace a card in one of my top decks, I can use it to juice up a second- or third-tier deck.

² Some of the newest additions are the most broken. Teferi, Temporal Archmage is ridiculously powerful, especially when you use his -1 to untap The Chain Veil, Contagion Engine, and Astral Cornucopia. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage’s emblem turns anything into a Capsize, and if you have a cheap proliferator like Grim Affliction (currently being given away at your local game store after Modern Masters 2015 Edition Drafts) to go with her, all of your Planeswalkers can go ultimate every turn. Don’t get me started on the potential counterspell lock with Fuel for the Cause.