Recently, I've been into flavorful brews built around a central theme.

So, every week, I've been creating one of my Extreme Theme decks. That's a deck where every single card relates to whatever theme I chose, unless it's a basic land. From the Commander to simple mana rocks, and also, the deck needs to be in one plane and place too, barring a Planeswalker.

This one is based around the land called "Arena," so we're going all in on that as the theme. Let's see where it takes me.

Who is my Commander?

Five mono-colored legendaries fought in Otaria on Dominaria, like Kamahl, so that angle could work. That also points us toward Green, since we would want fight effects to represent the Arena space.

Wayta, Trainer Prodigy and Neyith of the Dire Hunt both fit that idea well, and Gahiji, Honored One is not bad either. I like the name of Cait, Cage Brawler as well, but she is tied to the Fallout world, so she does not quite fit here. We do not know Neyith's plane, but Wayta is from Ixalan.

But let's go a little outside the box here.

We end up in Jund (). Our leader is Kresh the Bloodbraided, a 3/3 for . He's got a great triggered ability. When any other Creature dies, we can put +1/+1 counters on Kresh equal to that Creature's power.

As the cannon fodder and others bite, he gets bigger and nastier and perfectly suits my theme.

Lands, Mana and Such

I'll start with some thematic lands. Most of the Battlebond cards here work, like this Rakdos Land (), Luxury Suite.

In multiplayer formats, this card comes out for free, untapped, if we have more than two opponents at the table. Suites are often found in stadiums, or arenas, so it fits well.

The other one, Arena of Glory, is an obvious fit. This one will enter tapped unless we already have a mountain on the board. It taps for Red, or we can Exert it if we pay one .

When Exerted, Arena of Glory can pay two Red mana toward a spell. Any Creatures played this way gain Haste for the rest of the turn. Nice.

Next, Stadium Vendors, an obvious addition. This is a 3/3 Goblin for . It comes with a cool Enter the Battlefield (ETB) ability; we choose a player to make two mana.

That's not us so you can help someone who's been mana screwed or to make friends. Then that classic land is next, War Room. The Hypogeum of the Colosseum was a war room, so that's that sorted.

I picked these three because they have good names.

The Cathedral of War is a Land we can tap for colorless mana, and it also has that Exalted keyword ability. That means any time a Creature we control attacks by itself, it gets a +1/+1 pump for that turn.

Cabal Pit has great art for my Arena. We can use it for if we can afford the life and need the mana. What's really good here is the Pit's Threshold ability but we can only access it if our graveyard has seven cards in it. If we pay and sacrifice it, any target Creature gets -2/-2 for the turn.

Also, the three-drop Victory Chimes is a great mana rock. It arrives untapped and untaps during every player's untap step. We can use it for colorless mana for ourselves or another player, too. And we can't ignore the perfect name.

Synergies and Win-Cons

Entering the Arena next, we've got some fun synergies and win-cons and both are Enchantments for .

Familiar Ground is up first. I will say, the name fits well since Arena fighters would have an advantage on their home turf. It gives all our dorks some evasion, as every Creature we control is only able to be blocked by one creature.

Next, with "fight" right in the name, is Fight Rigging. It comes with Hideaway five, so we get some deck manipulation; we Exile one card and stick the rest on the bottom of the library. Every combat turn, we get a +1/+1 counter on target Creature.

Once we control a Creature with power seven or better, the Exiled card is free.

Time for some tricky, aggressive Red stuff. Fighting Chance is a cheap, but fun little Instant. For each Blocker, we flip a coin. For every flip we win, that dork can't block this turn.

Archetype of Aggression is an Enchantment Creature that comes in at 3/2 for . It pulls double duty for us, giving all of our Creatures Trample, and making it so none of our opponents can have or gain it until they get him to the graveyard. Everyone is aggressive in Arenas.

Now, a charging Ox. Charging Cinderhorn is a four-drop 4/2 with Haste, which ain't bad for fighting. As an added bonus, if a foe doesn't swing on their turn, we get a fury counter. Then, they get dinged one life for each of those counters.

Let's have some Gladiators enter the Arena.

Matching our Commander in Jund, the lovely Maarika, Brutal Gladiator is here. She's a 7/4 with forced blocking, and Indestructible on our turn. Maarika is guaranteed to do damage to a Creature when we swing, so we can faithfully trigger her combat ability. If her seven power is greater than the dork we go after's toughness, their controller has to sac a permanent (no lands or creatures).

The first Black card of my brew, Undead Gladiator is a 3/1 with a cost. We can cycle it for to draw a card, and during our upkeep, we can discard a card and get it back from the graveyard. This is a great way to help manage the flow of our cards during a game.

Seton was a legendary fighter in the Pits that tutored Kamahl, so Seton, Krosan Protector is here, even though he costs and cares for Druids, so there is little synergy. He's a 2/2, so nothing special but perfect for flavor. Along the same lines, Kamahl, Pit Fighter and Jeska, Warrior Adept are here, too.

Also in this group of dorks, I have Black Market Tycoon a 2/2 for . We can tap him to make Treasure tokens, if we'd like, but we get hit for two life for each Treasure we control at the beginning of our upkeep. It's a solid sac fuel engine, though.

Fighting in the Arena is clearly a Rite of Passage. It's here as a Enchantment that turns all damage to our Creatures into +1/+1 counters. That goes for combat damage and Fighting.

Also on-theme, I've included Gratuitous Violence. I love the name and the art is set in the Arena pits. This card is a little expensive to cast at but, it doubles all the damage we dish out to Creatures or players.

I wanted to add some Voltron things here and there because we need to fortify our fighters for battle. So enters the Two-Handed Axe.

This is a three-drop Artifact Equipment that has some flexibility. We can use it as an Instant to give one Creature Double-Strike for a turn with Sweeping Cleave for , then Exile it to cast as a permanent later. Or we can cast it straight out; when equipped, it doubles the Creature's power whenever it attacks.

Another weapon for our fighters, Sword of Vengeance drops for three, and equips for three. It gives +2/+0 and so many abilities. Our dork gets First Strike, Trample, Vigilance, and Haste. That is a lot of punch, perfect for dealing out vengeance in the Arena.

I also tossed in Chariots that would be there for combat like Chariot of Victory and Short Sword.

Here's some more strong Equipment.

Infantry Shield is great for . Once it's on the board, we can equip it for two of any color. Whichever Creature get to carry the shield gets Menace and Mobilize. That means we can create 1/1 Warriors in Red for that Creature's power.

It's fast and it has great synergy as our Commander grows over time.

For , I've included Sword of War and Peace. We can equip it for two and give one of our guys +2/+2 and protect them from Red and White.

We get a great combat damage trigger, too. Whenever we deal damage to a player with the Creature carrying the Sword, they also get dinged one life for every card in their hand while we gain a life for each card in ours. Of course we need some armor, so I threw in Brawler's Plate as well.

Next up, I have these two spells.

The Crowd Goes Wild is up first, with a nice name. It's another X Green spell, where we benefit from how much mana we used to cast it. It's a Sorcery with Assist, so another player can pay for part of our mana cost.

Based on that X, we can put a +1/+1 counter on that number of creatures. They also gain Trample until the end of the turn.

Then, Heat of Battle, which is a two-drop Red Enchantment. I love its name for the theme. Whenever one of our creatures blocks, their controller takes one damage.

I've picked these three cards from Battlebonds, too.

Cheering Fanatic is a 2/2 Goblin for just . This guy has an attack trigger that allows us to reduce the cost of spells of a certain name by one for this turn. I would love to add in Cheering Crowd here, too since that makes Treasures and has a fitting name. Since it is in the Spider-Man set, the art doesn't really work.

Decorated Champion is another great card, this time in Green. He's a 2/2 Elf Warrior with a cost of just two. He's great here because any time another Warrior enters, our Champion gets a +1/+1 counter.

The most expensive, mana-wise, of the bunch is Fan Favorite. He's a Human Rogue 2/2 that we'll need to cast unless we get someone else to Assist here. The card name is great for the theme, and the effect is pretty good.

Any player can pay two mana to pump him up +1/+1 for a turn.

Answers and Card Draw

Of course we need some answers, tricks, and card draw to be strong in Commander.

Let's start with Instant-speed fighting, with Prizefight. This has a Creature of our choosing fight one of our opponent's dorks. We also get to create a Treasure token we can sac for mana.

Pit Fight is a two-drop we can pay for with Red or Green, so it's easier to cast. I didn't toss in fight spells that didn't make sense in an Arena or with Kresh, so no Tail Swipe, although moves like that would make sense strategically.

Another Gladiator entering the ring, I picked Cyclops Gladiator. He might be a little bit hard to get on the board with a cost of , but he's a 4/4 with a good fight trigger that works here. When he attacks, we can pick a target creature and deal our four damage.

The trick is, we can pick the Creature that has to attack us back, so we don't have to take too much damage.

Also, for fighting, I picked Melee. This is an Instant that we can use right before blockers are declared. It allows us to choose which Creatures block us and how. Creatures that attack and don't get blocked get removed.

That could line up strongly with killing some of their dorks in combat.

These two are some fun cards.

The first is a Green Enchantment aura that will cost us to cast. It has both an ETB effect and a lasting one once we equip it. When it enters, the Creature we put it on fights a foe's Creature of our choosing.

Our Creature gets a lasting +2/+2 pump.

Then there's the aptly named Jund split card, Flesh // Blood. You could even pair it with Assault // Battery for a similar vibe. Flesh comes in for and lets us exile target creature from a graveyard; this can be ours or another player's.

In exchange, we get X +1/+1 counters where X was the exiled Creature's power. Blood is also a Sorcery, and lets pick a Creature to swing at one of our opponents.

And now, I've got some combat tricks and mass removal.

Aim High is a two-drop Instant. When we cast it, we can untap one of our Creatures and it gets +2/+2 and gains Reach for the rest of the turn.

For , we also have Last One Standing. This one is a Sorcery that lets us pick one Creature, and destroy all the rest.

And finally, card draw like Grab the Prize, Phyrexian Arena, or Painful Lesson all work here, as well as Mindblade Render which I included.

She's a 1/3 Warrior for two mana. While this Creature is on the board, if we deal damage with a Warrior, we draw a card and lose one life.

So, how does the deck look?

Let's take a look at the deck list in full.

My Jund Commander Extreme Theme "The Arena" Brew | Commander| Abe Sargent, NA

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kresh the Bloodbraided

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Archetype of Aggression
• 1 Arena Athlete
• 1 Arena Trickster
• 1 Battle Brawler
• 1 Battlefield Scavenger
• 1 Black Market Tycoon
• 1 Cabal Patriarch
• 1 Carnage Gladiator
• 1 Charging Binox
• 1 Charging Cinderhorn
• 1 Cheering Fanatic
• 1 Cyclops Gladiator
• 1 Decorated Champion
• 1 Fan Favorite
• 1 Mindblade Render
• 1 Jeska, Warrior Adept
• 1 Kamahl, Pit Fighter
• 1 Maarika, Brutal Gladiator
• 1 Magus of the Arena
• 1 Night Market Lookout
• 1 Ogre Battledriver
• 1 Prizefighter Construct
• 1 Stadium Headliner
• 1 Stadium Vendors
• 1 Trophy Hunter
• 1 Undead Gladiator

• Instants (8)
• 1 Aim High
• 1 Brawl
• 1 Crowd's Favor
• 1 Fighting Chance
• 1 Melee
• 1 Pit Fight
• 1 Prizefight
• 1 Rise to the Challenge

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Blood Feud
• 1 Bushwhack
• 1 Combo Attack
• 1 Flesh // Blood
• 1 Grab the Prize
• 1 Last One Standing
• 1 Painful Lesson
• 1 Return to Battle
• 1 The Crowd Goes Wild

• Enchantments (9)
• 1 Familiar Ground
• 1 Fight Rigging
• 1 Frantic Strength
• 1 Gratuitous Violence
• 1 Heat of Battle
• 1 Pitiless Fists
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Rite of Passage
• 1 Seton's Desire

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Accorder's Shield
• 1 Boxing Ring
• 1 Brawler's Plate
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Infantry Shield
• 1 Instruments of War
• 1 Short Sword
• 1 Sword of War and Peace
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 Victory Chimes
• 1 War Horn
• 1 War Chariot

• Lands (35)
• 8 Forest
• 9 Mountain
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Arena
• 1 Arena of Glory
• 1 Cabal Pit
• 1 Cathedral of War
• 1 Grand Coliseum
• 1 Havenwood Battleground
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 War Room

Buy This Deck Export text

I love how cards like Brawl let your whole team tap and throw damage around, or even just Arena itself keeping things on theme.

Instruments of War can flash in to pump a chosen creature type like Warriors, while War Horn keeps the pressure up. Don't sleep on Ogre Battledriver, either, which is on theme and gives my team Haste and boosts their power by two. I would love Grand Melee here, too.

Seton's Desire can turn a creature into bait with a Lure effect once you hit threshold, and Crowd's Favor or Rise to the Challenge play nicely in that same space. Combo Attack and Blood Feud make sense too.

Cabal Patriarch can take over a game and even gives you a sacrifice outlet, which the deck doesn't have much of otherwise. You could toss in Fanatical Offering to appease the crowd or grow Kresh. If this were set on Rath, Death Pits of Rath would be both flavorful and powerful, and Death Pit Offering is another fun option that would also bulk up Kresh.

There are plenty of other flavorful options you could explore. You might toss in Battle Hymn but that might put this brew into more than mere flavor. Cards like Battle Strain, Duel for Dominance, Dueling Rapier, or Impetuous Protege all play in similar space.

Generous Patron is strong here if you don't mind the power level, too. As you can see, it's still a customizable build, even if you want to keep it on theme.

Welcome to the Arena! Enter and watch the next game!