Monarch by JumboChicken43

Format: Commander

Commander: Garland, Royal Kidnapper

Bracket: 2

Deck overview

This is a Dimir theft-and-goad deck commanded by Garland, Royal Kidnapper. The primary plan is to become the monarch via Garland's ETB, then repeatedly steal opponents' creatures whenever an opponent becomes the monarch. A suite of goad effects (Bloodthirsty Blade, Ghoulish Impetus, Coercive Impetus) forces opponents to attack each other while you accumulate a stolen army. Stolen creatures get +2/+2 and can't be sacrificed, turning them into reliable beaters. The deck also runs a dense recursion package to reanimate or return creatures, plus a handful of direct theft spells like Hostage Taker and Mind Flayer. Victory comes through combat damage from a growing board of stolen and reanimated threats - there are no infinite combos. The commander is the linchpin of the theft chain, but the 99 offers enough alternative theft and goad to execute the game plan without him.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Aberrant Return
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Bloodthirsty Blade
  • 1 Bringer of the Last Gift
  • 1 Buzz Bots
  • 1 Chameleon, Master of Disguise
  • 1 Changing Loyalty
  • 1 Charcoal Diamond
  • 1 Charnel Serenade
  • 1 Chasm Skulker
  • 1 Choked Estuary
  • 1 Coercive Impetus
  • 1 Come Back Wrong
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consuming Aberration
  • 1 Darkwater Catacombs
  • 1 Desertion
  • 1 Didn't Say Please
  • 1 Dimir Aqueduct
  • 1 Dream Harvest
  • 1 Endless Obedience
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Extract from Darkness
  • 1 Fake Your Own Death
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Fetid Pools
  • 1 Forgotten Creation
  • 1 Fungal Fortitude
  • 1 Garland, Royal Kidnapper
  • 1 Ghoulish Impetus
  • 1 Gyruda, Doom of Depths
  • 1 H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit
  • 1 H.E.R.B.I.E., Lovable Robot
  • 1 Hithlain Rope
  • 1 Hostage Taker
  • 13 Island
  • 1 Kang Dynasty
  • 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
  • 1 Kitsune, Dragon's Daughter
  • 1 Millikin
  • 1 Mind Flayer
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Minion's Return
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Necrogen Communion
  • 1 Nephalia Smuggler
  • 1 Oft-Nabbed Goat
  • 1 Pain 101
  • 1 Parasitic Impetus
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Renegade Silent
  • 1 S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car
  • 1 Sepulchral Primordial
  • 1 Shark Shredder, Killer Clone
  • 1 Shield Broker
  • 1 Siphon Insight
  • 1 Sly Instigator
  • 1 Soaring Thought-Thief
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Solemn Simulacrum
  • 1 Spinal Embrace
  • 1 Subjugate the Hobbits
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 14 Swamp
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Taskmaster, Mercenary Mimic
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Cyber-Controller
  • 1 The Master, Mesmerist
  • 1 Thief of Sanity
  • 1 Treacherous Urge
  • 1 Vislor Turlough
  • 1 Volatile Stormdrake
  • 1 Wayfarer's Bauble