zoo by Fischtastic

Format: Commander

Commander: Master Chef and Volo, Itinerant Scholar

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 39

Deck overview

This Simic deck pairs Volo, Itinerant Scholar with the Background Master Chef to create an engine that turns creature typal diversity into immense card advantage and board presence. Volo's Journal records unique creature types cast throughout the game, allowing Volo to repeatedly tap and draw massive bursts of cards. Meanwhile, Master Chef ensures every subsequent creature enters the battlefield with extra +1/+1 counters. The deck accelerates through early green ramp spells, establishes its dual commanders by Turn 4, and rapidly transitions into an overwhelming stompy board. Mid-to-late game turns feature explosive counter multipliers like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower, Branching Evolution, and The Earth Crystal, paired with trample enablers like Giant Ankheg and Badgermole to trample over opposing defenses. Resilient protection spells such as Asceticism and efficient counterspells safeguard the board while pushing through decisive combat damage across the table.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ancient Bronze Dragon
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Asceticism
  • 1 Badgermole
  • 1 Basking Broodscale
  • 1 Beast Whisperer
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Bonny Pall, Clearcutter
  • 1 Branching Evolution
  • 1 Breeding Pool
  • 1 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
  • 1 Broodguard Elite
  • 1 Collective Resistance
  • 1 Colossal Whale
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commandeer
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Cuboid Colony
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Decanter of Endless Water
  • 1 Dreamroot Cascade
  • 1 Elven Chorus
  • 1 Entish Restoration
  • 1 Evolution Witness
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Flare of Denial
  • 1 Flooded Grove
  • 12 Forest
  • 1 Frenzied Baloth
  • 1 Gamma Grotesque
  • 1 Genesis Wave
  • 1 Germination Practicum
  • 1 Ghalta the Unstoppable
  • 1 Giant Ankheg
  • 1 Hardened Scales
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Hydroelectric Specimen // Hydroelectric Laboratory
  • 1 Into the Flood Maw
  • 8 Island
  • 1 Karn's Bastion
  • 1 Knowledge Seeker
  • 1 Legolas, Counter of Kills
  • 1 Long List of the Ents
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Master Chef
  • 1 Nature's Lore
  • 1 Nightshade Dryad
  • 1 Noxious Newt
  • 1 Ornery Tumblewagg
  • 1 Paradox Gardens
  • 1 Part in Friendship
  • 1 Primal Command
  • 1 Radagast of Rhosgobel
  • 1 Radagast the Brown
  • 1 Rampant Growth
  • 1 Ravenhill Flock
  • 1 Ray Fillet, Man Ray
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Rejuvenating Springs
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Renata, Called to the Hunt
  • 1 Simic Signet
  • 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
  • 1 Smuggler's Surprise
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Starwinder
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Talisman of Curiosity
  • 1 Tamiyo's Safekeeping
  • 1 Temperamental Oozewagg
  • 1 Terrasymbiosis
  • 1 The Earth Crystal
  • 1 The Unagi of Kyoshi Island
  • 1 Thriving Grove
  • 1 Transdimensional Bovine
  • 1 Trickster's Elk
  • 1 Troop of Ponies
  • 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
  • 1 Volo, Itinerant Scholar
  • 1 Voracious Varmint