Never be the Monarch! by SrumeNecro

Format: Commander

Commander: Garland, Royal Kidnapper

Bracket: 2

Deck overview

Garland, Royal Kidnapper is an upside-down monarch politics build. It deliberately makes an opponent the monarch, then whenever the crown moves among opponents, Garland borrows one of the new monarch's creatures and sends it against the other players. Because every borrowed creature gets +2/+2 and can't be sacrificed, the deck can turn otherwise defensive boards into attackers. Permanent theft spells (Hostage Taker, Mind Flayer, Sepulchral Primordial), goad effects, and graveyard reanimation expand the army beyond the temporary monarch-steal. There is no infinite combo; the deck wins through combat damage from stolen/reanimated creatures, often accelerated by free-cast effects like Dream Harvest. Gyruda appears in the 99, not as companion.

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