Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel Show, and today we're highlighting a commander that might just be my card of the year - Gonti, Night Minister. Naturally, I had to put a decklist together to showcase some of the awesome things this deck can do. To help build the list, I brought in my co-hosts from The Thought Vessel. We actually brewed this very list on a livestream on Twitch. For this particular deck, we're aiming for more mid-to-low power gameplay, letting boards get a bit wild. But before we dive into the deck, let's take a closer look at our commander: Gonti, Night Minister.

Gonti, Night Minister

Gonti is all about mind games, encouraging your opponents to hit each other rather than you to gain card advantage and generate treasure. Gonti also forces some tough decisions - since permanents controlled by one player but owned by another leave play if the owner is eliminated, opponents must carefully choose who to attack. This tactical, chaotic gameplay is exactly the kind of experience I love, and Gonti is perfect for it. Let's break down the deck.

Midnight Mass - The Deck Overview

The goal of this deck is to flood the board with evasive and deathtouch creatures that can chip away at opponents and bank up stolen cards. We aim for small, low-cost creatures to keep the curve tight and avoid drawing too much attention. Eventually the pod will turn against us to try to stop our strategy. To account for this inevitability, we are running a strong package of pillowfort and protection spells to keep our life total healthy. Unlike most decks, our win condition depends on what we can steal from our opponents. Ideally, cards like Exsanguinate can finish the game for us. Here is the full deck list.

Midnight Mass | Commander | Levi Perry

• Comnmander (1)
• 1 Gonti, Night Minister

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Academy Manufactor
• 1 Arvinox, the Mind Flail
• 1 Assassin Initiate
• 1 Author of Shadows
• 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1 Brainstealer Dragon
• 1 Changeling Outcast
• 1 Crypt Ghast
• 1 Dauthi Slayer
• 1 Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1 Draugr Necromancer
• 1 Faerie Dreamthief
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1 Grim Hireling
• 1 Hope of Ghirapur
• 1 Mastermind Plum
• 1 Necropolis Regent
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Nighthawk Scavenger
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 1 Rev, Tithe Extractor
• 1 Royal Assassin
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1 Stronghold Rats
• 1 Thieving Varmint
• 1 Tinybones, the Pickpocket
• 1 Tormented Soul
• 1 Vashta Nerada
• 1 Wei Scout

• Instants (4)
• 1 Costly Plunder
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
• 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Praetor's Grasp
• 1 Read the Bones
• 1 Syphon Mind
• 1 Toxic Deluge

• Enchantments (9)
• 1 Bitterblossom
• 1 Court of Ambition
• 1 Court of Locthwain
• 1 Cunning Rhetoric
• 1 Marchesa's Decree
• 1 No Mercy
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Revenge of Ravens
• 1 The Meathook Massacre

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Chaos Wand
• 1 Crawlspace
• 1 Dream-Thief's Bandana
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Extraplanar Lens
• 1 Knowledge Pool
• 1 Sceptre of Eternal Glory
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Throne of Eldraine
• 1 Vorpal Sword

• Lands (36)
• 28 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Cabal Stronghold
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 1 Koskun Falls
• 1 Terrain Generator
• 1 Urza's Cave
• 1 War Room

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For deck stats, we're running:

• 12 Card Advantage
• 12 Ramp
• 2 Sweepers
• 5 Spot Removal

These numbers may look a little lean, but that's because the rest of the deck is focused on maximizing stolen cards. Let's go over some highlights from each category.

Ramp

Thieving Varmint - This little guy is a Swiss Army knife - providing deathtouch, life gain, and ramp all in one. Each effect is useful at different stages of the game, and ramp is crucial to cast the spells we steal from opponents.

Sword of Feast and Famine - Few decks are as well-suited for this sword as ours. Untapping our lands after combat allows us to use our Swamps to cast stolen spells. Plus, forcing opponents to discard keeps their hands small, making them desperate for more options - which means more attacking each other!

Rev, Tithe Extractor - If Gonti had an associate minister, it'd be Rev. He helps us steal even more spells while generating treasure. You can even use Rev as an alternate commander for a fresh take on the deck.

Card Advantage

Syphon Mind - A classic draw spell with a twist: it's a draw-three for us while each opponent discards a card. Keeping opponents low on resources is key to controlling the game.

Court of Ambition - This introduces the monarch into the game, encouraging opponents to fight over the crown. If we can hold onto it, Court of Ambition becomes punishing - forcing opponents to either discard two cards or lose six life on each of our upkeeps.

Deadly Dispute - With all the small creatures and treasure tokens lying around, this is an efficient, instant-speed draw two that often replaces the treasure you sacrifice. Simple and effective.

Sweepers

The Meathook Massacre - When the table turns against us, Meathook is our lifeline. It clears the board and drains our opponents, then sticks around to gain life whenever creatures die. This card is an absolute powerhouse.

Spot Removal

Grim Hireling - This is also a great ramp card since a lot of our creatures have evasion or are unblockable. In the event we have plenty of treasure tokens, we can start trading that mana in an -X/-X opposing creatures that are problems for us. This is a repeatable effect and can really control a board if left unchecked.

Fell the Profane // Fell Mire - With most of our spells focused on stealing out opponents cards, we are leaning into our lands with this MDFC. This spell can destroy either a Planeswalker or Creature.

Royal Assassin - This is a great threat for opponents. When a creature goes into combat to attack us, Royal Assassin can simply destroy the tapped creature.

Midnight Mass also has three other important categories that help the deck function properly. They are our evasive creatures, theft cards, and protection/pillow fort cards. Here are some of the strongest card from those categories.

Evasive Attackers

Dauthi Voidwalker - One of the best evasive creatures in the game, Dauthi Voidwalker does everything we want. Not only is it unblockable with shadow, but it also exiles opponents' cards when they'd go to the graveyard and lets us cast one for free. This serves as both graveyard hate and an extra theft effect, giving us even more tools to work with. The fact that it costs only two mana makes it an absolute steal - no pun intended.

Changeling Outcast - This is our perfect turn-one play. Changeling Outcast is unblockable and hits consistently without drawing too much attention. Once Gonti, Night Minister hits the field, this little rogue becomes a card-stealing machine. Its low cost means it fits perfectly into our curve, and while it might seem unimposing, it plays a critical role in our strategy by keeping the hits coming and exiling cards for us to cast later.

Nether Traitor - Another shadow creature, Nether Traitor is one of our more resilient threats. With haste, it can swing the same turn it enters the battlefield, making it excellent for surprise attacks. What sets it apart is its built-in recursion - whenever another creature dies, we can pay one Black mana to bring it back from the graveyard. This ability makes it a repeatable source of pressure and card-stealing synergy with Gonti.

Theft Cards

Tinybones, the Pickpocket - Graveyards are often full of juicy targets, and Tinybones, the Pickpocket is the perfect graverobber. This sneaky little thief allows us to cast creatures from our opponents' graveyards, turning discarded or destroyed threats into valuable assets for us. Since our deck already encourages discarding and creature deaths, Tinybones is frequently active, giving us access to an ever-growing pool of options.

Chaos Wand - This artifact is a hidden gem in theft decks. Opponents' decks almost always have useful instants and sorceries - whether it's ramp, card draw, or removal - that we can hit with Chaos Wand. Since we generate treasure whenever we cast an opponent's spell, every activation of the Wand pays us back in value. It's not just a fun card; it's one that can swing the game in our favor by turning our opponents' tools against them.

Dream-Thief's Bandana - Another piece of equipment that fits perfectly with our game plan, Dream-Thief's Bandana gives us additional redundancy in accessing opponents' spells. Once attached to one of our evasive creatures, it allows us to exile and cast a card from a player's library every time we deal combat damage. Combined with our evasive threats, this Bandana ensures we'll always have something new to steal and cast.

Protection/ Pillowfort

No Mercy - No Mercy is one of the best deterrents in the game. Any creature that deals damage to us is destroyed, making it a nightmare for opponents to attack. This card is key to our survival, especially in a deck that wants to prolong the game and keep our life total high. The mere presence of No Mercy on the board will often stop attacks cold, forcing opponents to look elsewhere or risk losing their creatures for minimal gain.

Cunning Rhetoric - This enchantment is a flavor win for our strategy. Whenever an opponent attacks us, we exile the top card of their library, and we can cast it for the rest of the game. This puts opponents in a tough position - do they attack us and risk giving us more resources, or do they leave us alone and let us chip away at them with our evasive creatures? Either way, it plays right into our game plan, making it one of my favorite cards in this list.

Crawlspace - Crawlspace is a classic card for control-heavy decks. It limits each opponent to attacking with only two creatures, which makes it far easier for us to manage combat. Combined with our deathtouch creatures and Royal Assassin, we can effectively deal with smaller attacks while keeping larger swarms at bay. Crawlspace forces opponents to be more selective in their attacks, giving us time to build up our stolen resources and make our move.

And there you have it! Gonti, Night Minister leads to some incredibly fun and unpredictable games. I can't recommend this card enough. If you're interested in picking up a copy of Gonti or any cards from this deck, check out CoolStuffInc! Until next time, happy gaming!