Previous deck: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Adeline, Resplendent Cathar // Next deck: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Liesa, Forgotten Archangel
We're taking a break from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt to go to the all-together scarier plane of… Hawkins, Indiana. Wizards of the Coast is partnering up with Netflix to release 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Secret Lair x Stranger Things, a limited-time print of nine Stranger Things-themed 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic the Gathering cards.
Though these Stranger Things-branded versions will only be available until November 15, Magic-flavoured versions that are mechanically identical will be reprinted in Set Boosters sometime next year (presumably alongside the release of Streets of New Capenna in Q2 2022, though this hasn't been confirmed). That means if you don't like Stranger Things, or miss out on the Secret Lair, you'll still be able to play these Commanders by the end of next year.
Thanks to the new Friends Forever keyword Stranger Things x Secret Lair introduces, this week we're building two Commanders: .
Chief Jim Hopper is a 4/4 Human Soldier with Menace that costs two generic, one red and one white. Whenever he attacks, you investigate (make a Clue artifact token) for each nontoken creature that's attacking. Partnering up with him is Lucas, the Sharpshooter, a 1/3 Human that costs one blue and one red. Lucas can tap and sacrifice an artifact to deal one damage to a creature, and then goad it. Goading means that creature must attack the next time it's able to, but it can't attack you.
The plan here is to make a load of artifacts with Chief Jim Hopper, and then let Lucas sacrifice them to goad your opponents 𒁏into attacking each other.
Ramp
Unfortunately, we've got three colours, and none of them are green. That means we're going to have to be a little bit creative with how we get our hands on mana.
First, mana rocks (artifacts that produce mana) help a lot. We're running all three relevant signets: Azorius Signet, Izzet Signet, and Boros Signet, as well as staples Sol Ring and Arcane Signet. We're also using a new card from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt that might become a new Commander staple, Moonsilver Key. Moonsilver Key lets you pay one, tap it, and sacrifice it to search for either an artifact with a mana ability (a mana rock, usually) or a basic land and🍒 put 🌊it into your hand. Need a Sol Ring or a Plains straight away? Moonsilver Key can help with that.
Because this deck relies on giving Lucas, the Sharpshooter artifact tokens to fire off, we're going to make a lot of treasure tokens. Dockside Extortionist, Xorn, Academy Manufactor, Goldspan Dragon, and Smothering Tithe are all great for this. Just make sure you don't burn through them all too quickly, or you run the risk of shutting down your Commander.
An incredible card for this deck is Inspiring Statuary. It's an artifact that gives any non-artifact spell you cast Improvise, allowing you to tap artifacts to pay for its mana cost. This lets you use treasure tokens to pay for things without having to sacrifice them, keeping them available for when Lucas needs to sling them at a creature.
Draw
As long as Chief Jim Hopper keeps swinging, we should make a lot of clue tokens that can be sacrificed for card draw when we need it. We'll also include Thorough Investigation, which does pretty much the ♓same thing as Chief Jim Hopp𝔉er and gives us clue tokens whenever we attack.
Again, combining it with A𒊎cademy Manufactor to make a clue whenever you make a Treasure or a Food is always a good call, but we need to ensure Lucas has some things to ping and goad enemies with as w﷽ell.
A few taxing effects help out nicely here: Esper Sentinel and Rhystic Study give us card draw for opponents playing spells. This deck actively tries to prevent other players from attacking us, making Emberwild Captain an excellent inclusion. We become the monarch, draw an extra card at the end of our turඣn, and dissuade opponents from attacking us, all in one.
Goad Everybody Into Violence
Goad is a nasty little mechanic that forces a creature to attack when it's next able to. However, it can't attack the player who goaded it, meaning anything we goad becomes a weapon aimed right at the other opponents.
First, we'll focus on Lucas' goad ability. While he taps to goad a creature, we can work around that with Pemmin's Aura or Freed From the Real; enchantments that let us pay one blue mana to untap the enchanted creature. Line up enough tokens and you could goad potentially the entire board in one turn, simply by paying to untap Lucas each time. This synergy is why we're including Goldspan Dragon. Say we have Academy Manufactor out doing its thing, we can use Goldspan Dragon's ability to float two blue mana with each treasure we sacrifice, letting Lucas untap even more frequently.
Other than Lucas, there are a few other ways to force creatures to attack. Vengeful Ancestor is a red Spirit Dragon that goads another creature whenever it enters the battlefield or attacks, and pings a goaded creature that does attack for one damage. While we're not including it in this deck, you could easily combine Vengeful Ancestor with an infinite blink combo (as outlined in the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Adeline, Resplendent Cathar guide) to goad every creature every single turn.
A great end-game play is Disrupt Decorum, a Sorcery that goads every creature. If the rest of the table has lots of creatures ready to wreak havoc, playing this can guarantee a few players are knocked out, and completely lowers any survivor's defences ready for you to swing in and take the win. Combine it with a Mob Rule, which gives you control of all creatures eithe𒁏r above or below four power, and 🃏you may not even have to have a single creature of your own out to secure a victory.
Although they lack Goad's requirement that the creature not attack you, Avatar of Slaughter, Pursued Whale, Bident of Thassa, and Goblin Spymaster are all adequately chaotic by forcing every creature to attack every turn. You'll want to hold off on these until you've set up the pillow fort elements below, but they can make things very tricky for your opponents without even needing Lucas in play.
Hunker Down
With all these creatures attacking, we need to take extra steps to assure none of that combat is headed our way. This is why Chief Jim Hopper and Lucas work so well together: when partnered up with the Friends Forever mechanic, they have the best 'pillow fort' colours of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:white and blue at their disposal.
"Pillow fort" means a strategy based around stopping other players from hurting us. It's different from a Stax deck, which taxes opponents for doing anything, in that they tend to still allow players to impact anybody but you. Norn's Annex, Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Archon of Absolution, Baird, Steward of Argive, Sphere of Safety and Windborn Muse all stop opponents attacking you unless they pay a certain amount per creature. Crawlspace is also handy, limiting the number of creatures that can attack you each t🍰urn to just two.
Pramikon, Sky Rampart is an interesting creature. It's a flying wall that lets you decide a direction in which players can attack: for example, if you choose left, only the player to your right can attack you, and you can only attack the player to your left. Limiting yourself to only one potential avenue of damage is a good strategy, though make sure not to goad any creatures the opponent who can attack you controls, as goad doesn't work if that player has no other option but to attack you.
If all else fails, and enemies are gearing up to smash you with everything they have, there's always Teferi's Protection. It phases out all of your permanents, but it also means your life total can't change until your next turn.
Time To Win
You've successfully goaded your opponents into taking each other out, and now it's just you and one other player. Goad won't work anymore, as your opponent can't attack anyone but you, and so you need a plan on how to close out the game.
The primary way of winning now is to just deal a lot of damage and hope it's enough. For this, we've got Broodstar, a flying beast whose power and toughness are equal to the number of artifacts you control. By now you should have a lot of artifacts to make Broodstar nice and big, but a spare Akroma's Will can help if you can't get by on that damage alone. There's Emberwild Captain again, who can deal a lot of damage to an opponent who has to swing at you with every creature they control while you're the monarch.
Alternatively, Hellkite Tyrant can win you the game just by having enough artifacts. Deal combat damage to a player and you'll take all of their artifacts, and if you control 20 or more at the beginning of your upkeep, you automatically win the game. It's a long shot way of winning if the combat strategy has completely fallen apart, but the option is always there.
Power The Deck Down
Honestly, this deck's not too oppressive as it is. Pillow fort and goad decks might rub some players the wrong way, but with a lack of counterspells and recursion, once your pieces are off the board, they're gone for good.
If you want to pull the deck down for your playgroup, though, you could remove Pemmin's Aura and Freed From the Real to limit Lucas to goading only one creature per turn. You might also choose to take out some of the pillow fort aspects to make yourself a bit more fragile if you need to.
Alternatively, there are a few pieces in here this buff you up when other creatures attack. Cards like Patron of the Kitsune and Righteous Cause give you life whenever any creature attacks, and if you're sat behind a wall of defensive enchantments, they could push you out of reach of the rest of the table. Whipping them out is a good way of lowering your deck's power without completely gutting what we want it to do.
--
To see the full decklist for Chief Jim Hopper and Lucas, the Sharpshooter, check ouꦍt the deck page. These Commanders will only be available until November 15, though Magic-themed versions of them will be reprinted iಞn set boosters next year.
