Monarch by Bonzanabros

Format: Commander

Commander: Garland, Royal Kidnapper

Bracket: 2

Deck overview

This deck is a Dimir theft-and-goad strategy helmed by Garland, Royal Kidnapper. The core plan revolves around making an opponent the monarch, then using Garland's triggered ability to permanently steal their best creature for as long as they hold the crown. A dense suite of theft effects - Hostage Taker, Mind Flayer, Treacherous Urge, Shield Broker, Spinal Embrace - strips opponents of their threats, while goad auras like Bloodthirsty Blade and Parasitic Impetus force stolen and native creatures to attack each other, keeping the table in chaos. Reanimation spells such as Extract from Darkness, Endless Obedience, and Aberrant Return provide a secondary way to reanimate opponents' best creatures from graveyards, and the commander's static ability gives all stolen creatures +2/+2 and sacrifice immunity, turning them into formidable beaters. Mill subthemes via Consuming Aberration, Gyruda, Doom of Depths, and The Cyber-Controller fuel the graveyard for reanimation. The deck wins through combat damage using a growing army of stolen creatures and occasional blowout spells like Bringer of the Last Gift to wipe the board and reanimate everything.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Aberrant Return
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Beseech the Queen
  • 1 Bloodthirsty Blade
  • 1 Bringer of the Last Gift
  • 1 Chameleon, Master of Disguise
  • 1 Chasm Skulker
  • 1 Choked Estuary
  • 1 Coercive Impetus
  • 1 Come Back Wrong
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Consuming Aberration
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Darkwater Catacombs
  • 1 Desertion
  • 1 Diabolic Tutor
  • 1 Didn't Say Please
  • 1 Dimir Aqueduct
  • 1 Dream Harvest
  • 1 Drown in the Loch
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Extract from Darkness
  • 1 Fact or Fiction
  • 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 Hostage Taker
  • 13 Island
  • 1 Kang Dynasty
  • 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
  • 1 Kitsune, Dragon's Daughter
  • 1 Mind Flayer
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Minion's Return
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Necrogen Communion
  • 1 Necrologia
  • 1 Nephalia Smuggler
  • 1 Parasitic Impetus
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 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 Swan Song
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Taskmaster, Mercenary Mimic
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Cyber-Controller
  • 1 The Master, Mesmerist
  • 1 Thief of Sanity
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Treacherous Urge
  • 1 Volatile Stormdrake
  • 1 Wayfarer's Bauble