One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was visit my friends who had hamsters. Why? They were so cute! They were snuggly and cuddly and soft and would just sit there in your hand, then they'd hang out in their cage and eat lettuce or drink from their little water thing or run in their wheel. And a hamster ball? Fuggetaboutit!

There is one rather impressive Hamster in Magic, and he comes along with his owner. Let's see what we can do with this particular (rather nasty!) pet.

This is kind of a Partner set up - we get a 1/1 Creature and a Planeswalker for four mana. The 1/1 has Trample and Haste, and the 'walker can either buff up the Creature or sacrifice it to do damage (and draw cards). Haste means sacrificing Boo for the cards isn't as painful, since we'll get our Hamster back the following turn and can attack again, right away. Heck, Boo can even be an overqualified chump blocker, if we find ourselves on our back foot. These are all good things.

Since we're using our Top 5 Tips for Beginning Deck-builders, let's walk through them and see where we wound up.

40 Lands. We always start with 40 Lands. So, we're building with 40 Lands! There are a bunch of duals here to help us hit our color requirements. We also have several which have the Basic Land type lines so they can be found by Nature's Lore or Farseek. A bunch of slow fetches are here, too, because Landfall matters in a very particular corner case we'll get to later. Kessig Wolf Run and Karn's Bastion are both ways to use excess mana, and Rogue's Passage will be very important to us going forward.

Now we move to ramp and draw. With a four-mana Commander, we set aside nine slots for ramp, and we have a mix of them. I generally prefer Land fetch whenever possible (specifically in ), but in this case the hope is to hit Minsc & Boo on turn three, so we really want ramp that costs two mana. That means Rampant Growth and the earlier mentioned Farseek and Nature's Lore, but it also means Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Ebony Fly. In addition, we've got Emerald Medallion and Ruby Medallion, plus Goblin Anarchomancer, which reduce the costs of many of our spells. In play-testing, I was able to get the Commander out on turn three almost every time.

The rules propose 10-12 slots for draw, going lower if they're repeatable and higher if they're one-shot. In this case, I leaned heavier even though they're often repeatable, because they're not guarantees - a lot of our draw is tied to a Creature connecting with an opponent, like Rogue's Gloves. Toski, Bearer of Secrets, Snake Umbra, and Family's Favor all draw Cards when Creatures do damage. It's a shame Garruk's Uprising won't trigger with the new Boos, but it's still worth running here. Then we have Harmonize and Season of Gathering, plus Momentous Fall and Return of the Wildspeaker to do massive grip fills. I love Trash the Town here. Then there's Hunter's Insight, which is an awesome trick and works great with our plan. (Note Hunter's Prowess is not here, which matters and we'll talk about as well.)

Now for some interaction. We're going to be on the front end of the game, here, so hopefully we won't need a ton, but a few answers for key problems is always important. Beast Within feels pretty obvious, as is Ancient Grudge, which I feel should probably be run in every deck. Decimate and Blasphemous Act round us out.

Now we get to build to our Commander, and that's where we get to be really creative. There are a few versions of this deck, but my first thought was: Extra Combat steps! I want to attack with Boo several times in a turn, and I want each one of those attacks to be relevant in some way.

So, we kind of end up being a Voltron deck that attempts to get Boo through over and over, hopefully with some repeating or growing effect. We need a few things to make this happen.

1. We need ways to take extra Combat steps. We could run the one-shot ones, but I felt it was better to limit them some, focusing on effects which can be repeated (though Great Train Heist gets a pass because that spell does so much for us). That means Aggravated Assault, of course, but also Hellkite Charger, which limit us only by how much mana we can make. Moraug, Fury of Akoum is why we have the fetch Lands. With a Terramorphic Expanse, we can get two extra steps out of that one. Port Razer can buy us as many as we have opponents. Karlach, Fury of Avernus, Hexplate Wallbreaker, and Akki Battle Squad both work every turn they exist, keeping in mind Akki Battle Squad needs Boo to be Modified with something to be useful. Also, if all of those effects are out at the same time, they will stack, so you'll get three more Attack steps, one for each.
2. We need to get Boo through. Trample is helpful, but we can do better. Rogue's Passage is great, of course, but we have several other ways to sneak a Creature through, like Trailblazer's Boots, Sonic Screwdriver, Silver Shroud Costume, and Key to the City. There are a few more, but it's really helpful for us to have one of these available all the time, even if Boo isn't around. Don't feel obligated to play them out just because you have them; if you can keep an extra method in your Hand, it'll help if someone plays a Shattering Spree or whatever.
3. We need to make things happen! I think my favorite example of this is Two-Handed Axe. If Boo is a 4/4 and we Equip this to him and attack three times in a single turn, on the first attack, his power will be eight. Then 16. Then 32 on the third attack! This works similarly with Bone Sabres, but it doesn't double, just keeps adding counters. Scepter of Celebration will keep spitting out little guys. Sword of Hours is likely not the best thing, but it's too much fun, adding a counter and giving us a shot at doubling. Halana and Alena, Partners and Xenagos, God of Revels both do a lot of work, Xenagos in particular. Giant Inheritance makes Boo really big and keeps making him bigger, and Argentum Armor will continue to destroy things with each attack.

Hunter's Insight and Trash the Town both need special notice here. If you cast Hunter's Insight on Boo, for example, at the first Combat step with Two-Handed Axe equipped, you could find yourself drawing your entire library pretty quickly. It's less likely with Trash the Town, but it's worth considering if you're about to attack a whole bunch of times.

As long as we're attacking a lot and have ways of getting our attackers through, a few extra attackers wouldn't be a bad idea. I've chosen ones which will benefit from all the attack steps, like Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, Balor, Elder Gargaroth, and Rolling Hamsphere. Load them up and attack and watch the benefits roll in.

The final thing to mention is Savage Ventmaw and Bear Umbra. In various combinations, these combine with Aggravated Assault and Hellkite Charger and make infinite Attack steps. (Note you'll need to have something like Beamtown Beatstick or another way to make one extra mana in order for Savage Ventmaw and Hellkite Charger to work together.) The rules say specifically to avoid combos, but the spirit of that rule is not to take them out, just to not actively pursue them. We're not hunting the combo, nor do we expect to win with one, and each of these cards is valuable in our deck in its own right. Sword of Feast and Famine, which would function as Bear Umbra number two, would work similarly if you wanted to increase the likelihood of the combo.

Minsc & Boo | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Akki Battle Squad
• 1 Balor
• 1 Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
• 1 Elder Gargaroth
• 1 Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1 Halana and Alena, Partners
• 1 Hellkite Charger
• 1 Hexplate Wallbreaker
• 1 Karlach, Fury of Avernus
• 1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1 Port Razer
• 1 Savage Ventmaw
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Xenagos, God of Revels

• Instants (8)
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Great Train Heist
• 1 Hunter's Insight
• 1 Momentous Fall
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Trash the Town
• 1 Two-Handed Axe // Sweeping Cleave

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Decimate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Season of Gathering

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Aggravated Assault
• 1 Bear Umbra
• 1 Family's Favor
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Giant Inheritance
• 1 Lion Umbra
• 1 Snake Umbra

• Artifacts (23)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Argentum Armor
• 1 Beamtown Beatstick
• 1 Bilbo's Ring
• 1 Bone Sabres
• 1 Brotherhood Regalia
• 1 Ebony Fly
• 1 Emerald Medallion
• 1 Hot Soup
• 1 Key to the City
• 1 Manifold Key
• 1 Power Fist
• 1 Prowler's Helm
• 1 Psychic Paper
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Rolling Hamsphere
• 1 Ruby Medallion
• 1 Scepter of Celebration
• 1 Silver Shroud Costume
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sonic Screwdriver
• 1 Sword of Hours
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots

• Lands (40)
• 9 Forest
• 7 Mountain
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Drannith Ruins
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Forge of Heroes
• 1 Game Trail
• 1 Highland Forest
• 1 Jund Panorama
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Mountain Valley
• 1 Naya Panorama
• 1 Raging Ravine
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Restless Ridgeline
• 1 Rockfall Vale
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Wooded Ridgeline

Buy This Deck Export text

This deck is a way to kill your opponents with a cute l'il Hamster. It will be fun, explosive, and potentially hilarious, particularly if your opponents are flinging giant flying Dragons around the board. I also like that Boo is not indestructible in this iteration, because it feels less oppressive and more fun. Any time I beat someone with a giant Creature, people don't feel as bad as if I did something to keep them from playing the game.

There are two specific cards I feel need to be mentioned because they're not in. Blackblade Reforged is probably just better than Sword of Hours, but Sword of Hours is more fun and less mean. Unnatural Growth would be good, but I didn't like the casting cost and couldn't find anything I wanted to trade out for it. Feel free to run it if you wish; it'll be great.

And if you've never gotten to play with a hamster, I recommend it. They're really very cute.

Thanks for reading.