Cryptic Commander: What's in a Theme?

Posted on July 3, 2017

When it comes to Commander decks, I imagine the common starting point for deck-building is to pick a Commander that lets you play the cards you want. For some people, the Commander isn’t as important as the colors and cards it lets them play. Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable way to build decks. Playing the cards you want to play is how a lot of people have fun, so why rain on their parade? I want to take this opportunity to focus on an alternative method for building Commander decks that can lead to some pretty interesting, and flavorful, results. I’m talking about building around a theme.

When I say theme, I’m not talking about an archetype. Tokens, Voltron, and Prison decks aren’t themed so much as they are mechanically focused. That is not to say that mechanically focused decks can’t be themed, because they certainly can be(as my example for this article will point out). A themed Commander deck requires that card choices be made to adhere to some sort of flavor standard. For instance, building a deck with Jaya Ballard, Task Mage at the helm and filling it with pyromantic instants, sorceries, and creatures. Or you could build a deck full of nothing but fungus with Ghave, Guru of Spores as the Commander. Which brings us to the deck I’ll be talking about for the rest of the article. Tumblr user @sarkhan-volkswagen has graciously allowed me to feature his Temporal Themed Rashmi, Eternities Crafter decklist, a list that manages to lean heavily on theme without sacrificing power. So, check out the list below and let’s dive in!

Don?t Rashmi, I?ve Still Got Five Turns Left! ? Commander | sarkhan-volkswagen

Commander (1)
1 Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

I talked to Zach briefly about his deck’s themes and how the deck came to be. He described it like this: “The deck is filled with cards that focus on history and researching the flow of time. Some cards, like the extra turn effects, are pretty self explanatory. Future Sight and Vedalken Orrery peer into the future, Dig Through Time, Eternal Witness, and Scroll Rack remember the past. Rewind turns back the clock while Time Stop brings it to a screeching halt. Teferi, Temporal Archmage culminates these effects together, accessing what is yet to come while rewinding resources to their unexploited state.” Zach then goes on to explain the reason for the deck’s theming: “The deck came to be themed this way after reading a line in one of the Aether Revolt stories where Rashmi's assistant, Mitul, suggests that the two of them research the progression of aether through time, so it just seemed perfect.”

Taking one look at the deck will show you just how true this statement is. Many of the cards focus on timing, gaining knowledge of things to come, and manipulating that knowledge for personal gain. Even some of the staples that hold the deck up can be argued to be on theme. Ramp spells like Rampant Growth and Explosive Vegetation push your gameplan forward, effectively transporting you a turn or two into the future in terms of mana availability. The idea of accelerated growth also fits into the overall theme of the deck as well. The mechanical intertwining with the thematic is on full display in this list.

Of course, not everything in the deck completely lines up with this theme, which is totally fine. A deck doesn’t have to be 100% on theme in order for it to be an effective example of a themed Commander deck. Cards like Disallow, Baral, Chief of Compliance, and Metallurgic Summonings are explicitly present for power level and flexibility reasons. Even still, many of those cards are adjacent to the overall themes of the deck. For example, Insidious Will can be thought of as the manipulation of someone else’s time, either rendering their efforts futile, cashing in on their hard work, or taking the reins and deciding the fate of their spell. Torrential Gearhulk and Snapcaster Mage dig up spells from the past to cast them again. Treasure Cruise makes use of the past to push you into the future by drawing you further into your library. Hell, even the Eldrazi can be thought of as temporal aberrations, since they normally exist in the space between planes. We don’t know what goes on in there, or how time flows in the Blind Eternities. It’s a mystery!

That’s the thing I really like about Zach’s deck. He keeps on theme without sacrificing power level in a format where being able to keep up with the rest of the table is crucial. This may be due to the fact temporal themed cards are inherently powerful and have a lot of support. That is definitely true. However, with as many cards as there are in the game at this point, there will almost always be appropriate on-theme answers for whatever you decide to build your deck around. So, take Zach’s deck as an example of what is possible when it comes to theming your Commander deck, get out there, and make your own!

— Robert Burrows

@ironmanphoenix