As any good Magic player knows, sometimes the best-laid plans get foiled. Your carefully sculpted Hand is disrupted with a Raven's Crime off the top. Your perfectly-planned attack is complicated by a Creature with Flash, or a perfectly-timed combat trick you didn't know they had. Your Wrath of God gets hit with Arcane Denial.

We soldier on, though, right? We plan, then we roll with the punches as our plans change. We pivot to a new strategy. We consider other options. We adapt.

That's what I'm having to do. You see, I had this idea. It comes from a fundamental part of my personality.

I have always liked to bend rules. Not break them - bend them. I like showing how rules don't work through absurdity and example. It's one of the reasons I like Magic so much - it is, in many ways, a game about bending the rules. Don't like having one Upkeep? Figure out how to have two. Want to draw more Cards? Figure it out. Card are designed to change the way the game works - I dig that.

I've also found myself frustrated in recent months at the strong way in which some Commander content creators talk about certain cards. I've heard sentences like "everyone was playing all these terrible three-mana ramp spells" and "a card like that just doesn't do enough in today's Commander."

Thoughts like that make my eyebrows go up - because not only do I disagree, I want to show how. Not every game is a cutthroat gladiator-style match of who can kill the table fastest. Some games are about showing how your artwork goes together, or just to showcase a favorite set of cards. Some games are more about a few people sitting around a table and having a conversation as friends while they play. Some games are about splashy plays and funny interactions. One writer's narrow view doesn't get to speak for all of us.

In that spirit, I thought it'd be fun to look at some top-ranked cEDH decks and build them again, but use suboptimal options for many or even all of the cards. Worn Powerstone instead of Sol Ring. Temple of the False God instead of Ancient Tomb. Counterspell instead of Force of Will.

Turns out that doesn't work. Why? Because cEDH is weird, and I know almost nothing about it. The first deck I chose, for example, is a combo deck which seeks to win no later than turn four with infinite combat steps, but it does that with the Commander, a single other card that has no replacement, and a set of fast mana tutors. I could build a deck that achieves that same combo slower, but that doesn't feel different enough - that's just a bad version of the same deck. I wanted to show you can choose to do things differently and end up with a different but satisfying result.

So, I pivoted. Instead of doing my initial thought, we're going to take some cEDH commanders - and at least one of the goals of the cEDH deck built around each commander - and rebuild the pile for a casual audience. These decks will still play, will still win some of the time, and should be fun (assuming you enjoy playing decks like them).

One note before we jump in: these are not budget versions of cEDH decks. While these versions will likely cost substantially less than their cEDH counterparts, these are not meant to be played at that level. I'm also not taking budget into account as I build.

So, my first choice?

When Najeela showed up, she set the cEDH world on fire with her low casting cost and relevant ability. The idea is to figure out how to consistently provide over and over during a single turn, effectively creating infinite attack steps and attacking people to death. It does this with, mostly, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, though Nature's Will and Grim Hireling also both work. You attack with some amount of Creatures (Derevi requires five, Hireling, three, and Nature's Will just one, but your Lands have to be able to produce the colors). That generates the mana you need in some way, so you give yourself another attack step and you're off to the races.

It's worth noting being in five colors means a Thassa's Oracle/Demonic Consultation combo is also often used: you Demonic Consultation for something you don't have, get rid of your entire deck, then play Thassa's Oracle and just... win. It also means you have access to the best tutors and responses in the game - five colors means you can play anything.

So, a traditional Najeela cEDH deck wins with a Combat combo, using extra Combat steps, tutors, and redundant combos to attempt the win as early as possible.

Here's what I came up with.

Najeela, Blade-Blossom | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
• 1 Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
• 1 Aven Wind Guide
• 1 Blood-Chin Rager
• 1 Brighthearth Banneret
• 1 Brutal Hordechief
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Chief of the Edge
• 1 Combat Celebrant
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Devilish Valet
• 1 Enduring Curiosity
• 1 Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan
• 1 Gornog, the Red Reaper
• 1 Hardened Tactician
• 1 Herald of Dromoka
• 1 Isshin, Two Heavens as One
• 1 Kargan Warleader
• 1 Karlach, Fury of Avernus
• 1 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
• 1 Lovisa Coldeyes
• 1 Mardu Siegebreaker
• 1 Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
• 1 Marneus Calgar
• 1 Mindblade Render
• 1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1 Ogre Battledriver
• 1 Peregrine Drake
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Rushblade Commander
• 1 Samut, Vizier of Naktamun
• 1 Shanna, Sisay's Legacy
• 1 Stadium Headliner
• 1 Zurgo Stormrender
• 1 Zurgo, Thunder's Decree

• Instants (2)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Simic Charm

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Bear Umbra
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Curiosity
• 1 Nature's Will
• 1 Raiders' Spoils
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission
• 1 Within Range

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Agility Bobblehead
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Charisma Bobblehead
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Endurance Bobblehead
• 1 Intelligence Bobblehead
• 1 Luck Bobblehead
• 1 Perception Bobblehead
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Strength Bobblehead
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine

• Lands (40)
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Forest
• 2 Plains
• 2 Island
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Cascading Cataracts
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Crumbling Necropolis
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Frontier Bivouac
• 1 Indatha Triome
• 1 Jetmir's Garden
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 1 Mystic Monastery
• 1 Nomad Outpost
• 1 Opulent Palace
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 1 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1 Savage Lands
• 1 Savai Triome
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Spara's Headquarters
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 The World Tree
• 1 Three Tree City
• 1 Xander's Lounge
• 1 Zagoth Triome
• 1 Ziatora's Proving Ground

Buy This Deck Export text

This is Najeela Warrior Kindred, with a side of extra Combat steps.

One thing I'm noticing is cEDH decks run on very little mana. As such, they run very low mana counts. We're... not. 40 Lands and some ramp, baby. Since we're not going to try to get Najeela out early, we can run ramp whenever we want, so let's run some of those three-mana spells and hit the Bobbleheads. Why Artifacts and not Land search, despite having access to Green? Honestly, not enough Basic Lands. I'd rather have the Bobbleheads as a place to use my excess mana in this case, because they're all relevant.

Since we're not winning with the first 11 Cards we draw, we need to keep some parity. We will, however, be attacking, so we have a number of Coastal Piracy effects. Sticking one should keep cards flowing well enough to keep us in the game, but it's possible some larger spells are needed - I'm thinking Hunter's Insight, for example. On the other hand, we've got a fair few Warriors who help us with card draw, like Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, Marneus Calgar, and Mindblade Render.

We're working with some Warrior Kindred strategies to win; the idea here is to have a bunch of Warriors and attack with them. Then, when we can, we use Najeela's ability to attack again. We can absolutely go infinite with the right set of cards and circumstances, but that will be luck; more often we'll be able to get an extra step or two. That's much more fair and fun for a slower, more casual game.

Blood-Chin Rager basically gives our Warriors Menace. Aven Wind Guide puts our tokens into the air. Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan buffs our whole team at the cost of one Permanent. Kargan Warleader and Chief of the Edge both just give us a boost. Lovisa Coldeyes gives us a big boost and Haste. And of course, Najeela spits out dudes as well, all of which will get the boosts.

We are lacking in the answers department. We've got a pair of Charms - Boros Charm and Simic Charm - because they can protect our team, but the hope is to function as an Aggro deck and just attack like crazy for the win. Everything is cheap (mostly), so rebuilding is just a question of having enough Cards in Hand, but it's possible the deck should cut some Warriors for some classic answers like Hero's Downfall, Oblivion Ring, or Beast Within. A board wipe or two might be a good idea too.

We do, though, have ways to go infinite. We can make the mana we need to take infinite Attack steps in a few ways. Bear Umbra and Sword of Feast and Famine both let us untap our Lands when we connect, just like Nature's Will. If we can get through with one of these active, we most likely can just go off and keep attacking.

We've also got Deadeye Navigator and Peregrine Drake as another way to make mana go infinite. Deadeye Navigator is not great here: it's expensive and we don't have a lot of ETB abilities, so it's likely to spend time in your Hand. Peregrine Drake is basically a free flier, but if we can Soulbond her to Deadeye Navigator, we can make all the mana we want (just flicker the Drake for , untap five Lands, then tap them all and repeat the process as much as you'd like, netting 3 mana each time). This is here for a couple of reasons: I wanted a fourth way to go infinite, and I wanted to nod to the cEDH deck's alternate combo win (even though it's a different combo). However, it's decidedly possible these two cards should drop for interaction: I'd seriously consider a Swords to Plowshares and an Abrupt Decay in their spots. Just depends on how hard you want to go for the combo.

This is a Najeera deck I can get behind. I think this deck will be fun to play both with and against. It will not be oppressive, but will likely be fun and challenging. It will certainly force the table to deal with it or die, which can be a good thing. But more importantly (to me, at least) is it serves my initial desire - to show there is no one Commander with right answers. cEDH Najeera may be the right deck for some people, but this one may be the right one for another. No such thing as a bad card. They're just different cards.

Thanks for reading.