You know what people like in Commander? Their Commander. It is often a major part of the deck, if not the entire focus - I have complete decks which, with the Commander gone, are basically bricks that can't do anything.

Let's take that joy away from people today.

For a card made long before Commander existed, this is a General-slayer if we've ever seen one. Play this Empress out and people are going to think twice about playing their Commanders, which will seriously hamstring a large number of decks.

But while we're at it, why don't we steal their other stuff too?

Empress Galina | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Empress Galina

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Agent of Treachery
• 1 Beguiler of Wills
• 1 Eluge, the Shoreless Sea
• 1 Empress Galina
• 1 Ioreth of the Healing House
• 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
• 1 Marvin, Murderous Mimic
• 1 Memnarch
• 1 Mind Flayer
• 1 Roil Elemental
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Sower of Temptation
• 1 Thieving Skydiver

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage

• Instants (20)
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Archmage's Charm
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Disallow
• 1 Dramatic Reversal
• 1 Flow of Knowledge
• 1 Gather Specimens
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Narset's Reversal
• 1 Negate
• 1 Opt
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Blatant Thievery
• 1 Blue Sun's Twilight
• 1 Bribery
• 1 Invoke the Winds
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Treasure Cruise

• Enchantments (9)
• 1 Control Magic
• 1 Freed from the Real
• 1 Kitnap
• 1 Leyline of Singularity
• 1 Mind Unbound
• 1 Mind's Dilation
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Unable to Scream

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Bandit's Haul
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Forger's Foundry
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Midnight Clock
• 1 Misleading Signpost
• 1 Patriar's Seal
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Vedalken Shackles

• Lands (40)
• 23 Island
• 1 Arcane Lighthouse
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Demolition Field
• 1 Detection Tower
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Hall of Storm Giants
• 1 High Market
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rivendell
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Tectonic Edge
• 1 War Room

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To pull all this off, we need mana like usual, so our 40 Lands are here. Plenty of Islands and cycling Lands, plus Castle Vantress (which I love), War Room (mono color Commanders, people), and Minamo, School at Water's Edge, which does a nice job of keeping people from teaming up against you in the hopes one of them gets a turn with their Commander. High Market lets us sac stuff which we don't want people to have back, and the destruction Lands should be held for Homeward Path.

I really like these mana rocks which tap for a color. It's a relatively new space to explore (though I've built more than one deck with a Phyrexian Totem), and Blue seems to have a bunch of good ones. Forger's Foundry is super fun in a deck like this with plenty of Counterspells, Midnight Clock gives us a fresh grip if it goes all the way around, and Misleading Signpost is one of those that does great stuff early and late. Plus, we have a couple which draw cards (I'm particularly a fan of Bandit's Haul here, given how many Crimes we'll be Committing) and Patriar's Seal, functioning as another Minamo.

We've got a number of ways to draw extra cards, including Mind Unbound, another favorite of mine. That card does great work if it makes it around the table more than once. But I feel like we need to have a minute to talk about Rhystic Study.

Rhystic Study is very strong. I don't normally put it in decks, mostly because it's annoying at a table. In this case, though, I think it's really strong and worth the inclusion. That said, if your table is one that doesn't like it, ditch it and run... well, anything else. Another card draw spell; probably. It'll be fine.

We have a couple of cards to interact directly without stealing, like Aetherize, but mostly the way we're going to deal with threats is to take them for ourselves. That said, we have a fair number of counters, and I recommend countering something early with this deck - put them on their back foot early. Then, every time someone does something, stop the game, read the card, look around the Battlefield, and say "I'll allow it". Give people the impression you are constantly giving permission, even if you're bluffing. Because someday someone is going to call your bluff and you'll Mana Drain the effect, and it'll be awesome.

Most of the rest of our cards are based around stealing peoples' stuff. Blatant Thievery and Bribery are both classics for a reason. Gather Specimens is wonderful when someone does something silly like makes a million tokens - they're yours now, instead. Control Magic and Kitnap are Enchantment-based examples, and Roil Elemental and Agent of Treachery are Creature-based methods. Memnarch is a slow way to grab things but works just fine, and even Thieving Skydiver can do solid work - I'm especially fond of playing it on turn three and stealing someone's Sol Ring.

The real clutch card here, though, is Leyline of Singularity, which turns Empress Galina into a machine gun of stealing. Everything not a Land becomes fair game for her with this on the 'field, and with a few mana and a couple of ways to untap her you can make some players very sad. I have to say, I'm not sure I would start the game with it on the 'field even if it's in my Hand, because I don't want it to get killed; wait till you need it, then play it out and steal like crazy for as long as you can, holding up counter mana to stop the inevitable Disenchant that will come its way. A couple of ways to give Empress Galina Haste and we've got ourselves a deck.

There are a few things we might want to consider adding but didn't make the cut to my list. Willbender is another card which messes with what's happening, and would be great fun to have around, though it's not specific to the Empress. Conjurer's Closet would work well with a few of our Creatures, plus it lets us keep control of something we've stolen but still flicker it; wonderful if we've stolen something with a great Enters ability. Willbreaker certainly plays into what we're doing, and Inevitable Betrayal would probably be a fun one. There's a lot of fun to be had for the pilot here.

This deck will be annoying even if it doesn't win; no one likes having their stuff stolen, and this one is going to steal all their stuff. Don't be surprised if you become the Archenemy. Because the deck makes enough mana, it can survive Empress Galina being killed a few times and still cause a lot of trouble at a table, so keep that in mind when you shuffle it up to play. That said, a deck like this can be very fun at the right table, and can teach some people a lesson about the social contract if that's what you need. Use it wisely.

Thanks for reading.