You may remember a recent post where I hit on the idea of using assassins along side the ninjas in one of my thematic Commander deck ideas for a Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow Ninja deck.

So I present the creature cards I’ve got so far (commander in bold). Have I any glaring omissions? Obviously there are considering I’ve only got 12 creatures so far.

Creatures:12

1 Skullsnatcher
1 Thrill-Kill Assassin
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Darkblade Agent
1 Walker of Secret Ways
1 Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
1 Etrata, the Silencer
1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Throat Slitter
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Silent-Blade Oni

As all decks I’m brewing sometimes I go all out and focus solely on that deck until it’s built. It’s like I have to build that deck, nothing else matters.

Just like Richard Dreyfuss’s character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (great movie, I even had the Marvel movie adaption of it) and the mash potato mountain he had to make at the family dinner table. Once that “got to build it” bug bites, everything else doesn’t exist.

Or like this one and some of the other deck ideas they are a slow brew, quietly sitting there getting the odd card added to them as and when. That when is usual when I’m watching some deck tech video on YouTube. Naturally edhrec also gives me ideas for cards to use. While the deck is slowly simmering away in the background, new ideas do sometimes jump ahead due to the above character flaw described poorly above. But they are waiting for their turn in the spot light, and to get the star treatment.

One such deck idea nearly ready for prime time and its 15 minutes of fame is the death and taxes deck. The reason this may be the next to receive the hyper focus is to produce a deck that would punish this Niv-Mizzet deck I’ve heard of. I know cards I have would definitely punish that card, or deck entirely. The main draw back is a Commander. At the moment I have no idea which legendary creature to use.

Azor was my initial idea for the Commander. But I want access to black too, unless I can find a white or blue card that punishes card draw of an opponent. It’s time to hit the books as they used to say and see if I can solve the problem.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.