By Jeremy Rose
‘Tis the season! This time of year, it’s important to take stock of the people in your lives who you’re thankful for and go out of your way to pit them against each other in awesome games of Commander!
Our weekly playgroup has been together for years and we’re all pretty close friends by this point, so I wanted to do something special for them all this Christmas. I decided to build each of them a budget-friendly deck that I think they would enjoy playing and upgrading for years to come, like a homemade preconstructed deck. Each of them has a pretty distinct playstyle so I knew I’d have to nail the deck choices and build them in such a way that they would all have a blast, without breaking the bank. Let’s go over what I came up with.
Shay: Orvar, the All-Form
Shay is the guy who taught me how to play Magic and is the best player in our playgroup. He likes to do neat things with his cards way more than he likes to win, which is good because we tend to target him early so we all don’t lose too quickly. His favorite color in Magic is blue and he likes combos more than anything else.
I built Shay an Orvar, the All-Form deck. This deck looks to make a ton of copies of really good creatures and overtake the game with its army of Mulldrifters and the like. There are quite a few ways to go infinite with Peregrine Drake and a few ways with Mystic Sanctuary as well. My favorite part of building this deck was seeing all the possible combo lines and ways this deck can win, it kind of does it all.
Orvar Deck List: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/x-mas-present-precons-orvar/
Wintley: Toski, Bearer of Secrets
Wintley is one of the newer Magic players to our group, but he’s been a friend forever. He loves green decks and creature-based strategies that allow him to knock out his opponents (usually Shay) with regularity. He recently hit Mythic rank in Standard on Arena with a mono green deck, so I definitely wanted to commemorate that a little bit.
I built Wintley a Toski, Bearer of Secrets deck. This deck wants to go wide and flood the board with a ton of cheap, aggressive creatures in order to draw cards with Toski’s ability. Many of these creatures have some sort of evasion to make it a little easier. There is also a small Voltron package to help suit Toski up a bit and make him more of a threat to draw attention away from the more vulnerable creatures in the deck. The deck plays a variety of Overrun-type effects as well in order to close out games. It’s aggressive, cheap, and draws a ton of cards.
Toski Deck List: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/x-mas-present-precons-toski/
Alex: Wulfgar of Icewind Dale
Alex is a friend I met a long time ago and reconnected with through Magic. He’s a big time Timmy player and loves to do big, splashy plays or knock out opponents with super big creatures. His favorite colors are in Temur (blue, red, and green), so I started there. He loves tribal decks, but I couldn’t find any that I thought he’d really enjoy. I eventually decided to lean into the big and splashy nature of his playstyle.
I built Alex a Wulfgar of Icewind Dale deck. This deck knows only combat, only violence. It’s all about attacking with some excellent value attack triggers and extra-large creatures. As a bonus, Alex has always wanted to pull off a sweet attack with Etali, Primal Storm so this deck can get him there too. Most of these creatures are great on their own, but Wulfgar really just puts them over the top.
Wulfgar Deck List: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/x-mas-present-precons-wulfgar/
Corwin: Blim, Comedic Genius
Corwin is another one of my closest friends, so I knew almost immediately what I would be building for him. Corwin likes to play decks that annoy other players at the table, and he focuses more on messing with his opponents than he does on winning. His favorite color combination is Rakdos (black and red), so I had a great starting point and, as far as I was concerned, there was only one correct commander for Corwin.
I built Corwin a Blim, Comedic Genius deck. Much as the name suggests, this deck is hilarious. There were multiple occasions when I was looking at cards online that I actually laughed to myself because of how ridiculous this deck can be. It plays a ton of bad cards and passes them off to its opponents, so they have to deal with the downsides instead. Corwin gets to watch his opponents squirm while they deal with him derailing their entire gameplan.
Blim Deck List: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/x-mas-present-precons-blim/
Writing these little love letters to my friends was a blast and I had a blast both building the decks and getting to watch them play against each other. So far, everyone really enjoyed their deck and they’re already doing some research into how they want to upgrade them. Building a deck for someone else and, more specifically, building it to suit their playstyle has been one of my favorite ways to stretch my deck building muscles. I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who is considering doing something similar! Happy holidays, everyone!
Jeremy Rose is a relatively new Magic player, having only started in Battle for Zendikar. When he's not being a filthy, filthy blue player, he enjoys jamming fun games with his friends. He's also a lifelong martial artist and a professionally employed teacher. He sometimes paints minis adequately. Find out more about him on his Twitter @jermytrose.
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