One of the most exciting cards from the recent set is Ketramose, the New Dawn, and it's easy to see why. Drawing cards when things go into Exile might seem silly at first, but once you realize you can blink cards with effects like Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel to trigger the effect (plus generate any benefits from the Creature you're blinking), the value starts to snowball.

That's great, and there are a number of solid lists made by colleagues around the Magic world if you're interested in a supercharged deck.

But the recent bracket announcement got me thinking about what those brackets mean - and one thing it proves is there are those of us who aren't interested in supercharging everything. I don't need every deck I have to be a supercar - sometimes it's nice just to take an afternoon drive in something comfortable and fun.

So, let's build Ketramose in a different way. We'll still use his ability, and this deck isn't going to be some navel-gazing exercise in Kindred or combo development (although you know I am not above that). But instead of blinking things for value and generating as much use out of him as possible, instead let's see if we can make a deck that plays a bit more casually... while still being a solid Orzhov () deck that makes people realize they probably need to be prepared for someone who actively engages with the Battlefield.

Honestly, blinking stuff makes sense here. Blinking a Sun Titan or a Sepulchral Primordial would be pretty strong, and certainly Gray Merchant of Asphodel could be a solid win-con. But I feel like we're missing something key on the card: it doesn't have to be our stuff that Exiles. And Orzhov is really, really good at Exiling stuff.

Ketramose, the New Dawn | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Ketramose, the New Dawn

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Banisher Priest
• 1 Fairgrounds Warden
• 1 Hanged Executioner
• 1 Lion Sash
• 1 Sun Titan

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Kaya, Intangible Slayer

• Instants (16)
• 1 Abstruse Appropriation
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Complete Disregard
• 1 Crib Swap
• 1 Despark
• 1 Dire Tactics
• 1 Excise the Imperfect
• 1 Grotesque Demise
• 1 Last Breath
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Pillar of Light
• 1 Reaver Ambush
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Unmake
• 1 Utter End
• 1 Vanishing Verse

• Sorceries (13)
• 1 Bring to Trial
• 1 Deadly Cover-Up
• 1 Declaration in Stone
• 1 End Hostilities
• 1 Epic Downfall
• 1 Final Act
• 1 Flay Essence
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Legion's End
• 1 Legions to Ashes
• 1 Rite of Oblivion
• 1 Shatter the Sky
• 1 Soul Transfer

• Enchantments (17)
• 1 All That Glitters
• 1 Banishing Light
• 1 Borrowed Time
• 1 Chains of Custody
• 1 Citizen's Arrest
• 1 In the Trenches
• 1 Journey to Nowhere
• 1 Makeshift Binding
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Ossification
• 1 Prison Realm
• 1 Profane Procession // Tomb of the Dusk Rose
• 1 Sheltered by Ghosts
• 1 Silkwrap
• 1 Soul Snare
• 1 Stasis Snare
• 1 Suspension Field

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Ace's Baseball Bat
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Ghost Vacuum
• 1 Perilous Snare
• 1 Portable Hole
• 1 Relic of Progenitus
• 1 Scrabbling Claws

• Lands (40)
• 17 Plains
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Emergence Zone
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Pit of Offerings
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Shineshadow Snarl
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Vault of Champions

Buy This Deck Export text

We... we Exile stuff. It's really all we do. I mean, we do a few other things, like make mana and draw cards, but basically we're going to draw cards that Exile stuff and we're going to Exile that stuff, drawing more cards to Exile more stuff.

We have 40 Lands, and we know from previous math running 40 Lands gives more than a 60% chance of hitting our fifth Land drop. So, we're sticking with that, running no ramp of any kind - we don't need it. We'll draw a lot of cards with this deck, so we'll hit our Land drop pretty often, and our chances of getting three mana on turn three are really, really high thanks to the Land count.

I'm excited about a few of the Lands here, none more than Pit of Offerings, which Exiles stuff for us when it enters! Thank you, free card. Otherwise, we have a few utility Lands like Rogue's Passage and Emergence Zone, but mostly they help us fix our colors.

Our draw is similarly limited to just Ketramose. Considering what we're doing, they'll draw us plenty of cards, but I acknowledge this is a risk. A deck designed more for competition would certainly want to run some backup methods of card flow, but we're going all-in on our strategy here, knowing it's not always going to work. That said, Ketramose isn't that expensive so if we have to recast them, we can, and in the meantime, they're devilishly difficult to remove. So, we'll probably be okay with almost everything we'll do having the "draw a card and lose a life" rider.

We probably win with Ketramose. In that spirit, we've included Blackblade Reforged, Ace's Baseball Bat, and All That Glitters as ways to buff up Ketramose's power when we attack. We're not really expecting to go that fast, so only a few ways to make our attacks more relevant is fine, and even the Bat makes Ketramose a three-hit kill. The other two should be pretty problematic for your opponents. In the meantime, we can always attack with Ketramose even if they're not buffed up; Menace makes them harder to block, and barring some random Creature with Wither or something, we can attack whenever we want.

But it's our interaction where the deck really shines. We have approximately 8,000,000 ways to Exile things. The goal is to play Ketramose on turn three, then start Exiling at least one thing every single turn. We have Enchantments like Oblivion Ring and Soul Snare, Instants like Utter End and Dire Tactics, Sorceries like Bring to Trial or Flay Essence, Creatures like Banisher Priest and Fairgrounds Warden, even a Planeswalker who can Exile stuff for us.

We've also got a few sweepers which don't Exile, like Final Act and Fumigate (a little incidental life gain won't be bad considering how much life we'll burn through drawing cards). This is in part because if we played Merciless Eviction or Farewell, Ketramose would go to Exile too, which defeats the purpose. That's fine, though, because we also have cards like Ghost Vacuum and Scrabbling Claws to move cards from 'yards to Exile... drawing us more cards and allowing us to Exile more stuff. Lion Sash is particularly interesting, doing that same thing but improving itself as it does, plus it can attach to Ketramose as a way to buff up their Power.

That's really the deck. Clear the Battlefield, draw cards, attack with your Commander. It should work sometimes. Sometimes it'll be seriously under-powered. Other times it'll absolutely wipe the board. But it should be fun.

One more thing: as someone who loves decks like this, there is a problem with a scorched-earth strategy like this one. Once people are on to you, they will stop playing things out if they think those things are just going to die immediately. In order to keep fodder, I recommend being careful when you sequence. Don't just Exile every single thing willy-nilly. Instead, note the timing of your spells, choose carefully, and try not to let on you have another answer. Clear the way for an attack with Sorcery-speed removal. Save Instant speed for when you're attacked; if people are bothering each other, let them do it! The key is to keep a healthy amount of targets on the 'field so we don't run out of ways to draw more cards.

Having decks at different levels isn't as simple as not choosing a cEDH Commander. Building a deck like this one shows you can still have fun and affect a game of Commander even when you don't build optimally, but instead choose to do something else. And this isn't dumbed-down, it's just a different approach which, while not necessarily as strong, will be fun, challenging, and a good deck to have in your stable.

Thanks for reading.