$0.10 Outlaws of Thunder Junction Legend Creates Infinite Damage and Draw Combos

As much as Commander is the most open and creative MTG format around, sadly, it’s often very expensive. The game’s growing popularity has only pushed prices of staples up, making new decks a real investment. Thankfully, there are a fair few Commanders that can still work wonders on a budget, like Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot.

Beyond being able to pick up this entire deck for under $80, Taii Wakeen supports a genuinely interesting Commander strategy. Fusing burn and group hug together into a bizarre yet powerful brew, this legend has some serious potential.

MTG Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot

Thanks to rewarding you for kill shots and supercharging your non-combat damage, Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot is an insane value engine. With just a little extra mana, you can turn spells like Blazing Volley Blazing Volley Blazing Volley deals 1 damage to each creature your opponents control. into board wipes that’ll draw you tons of cards. You can even use Zirda, the Dawbreaker, to reduce Taii Wakeen’s ability cost, further amplifying your damage.

Speaking of damage, Taii Wakeen does a lot more than board wipes, as there are tons of direct damage sources. Between Coruscation Mage Coruscation Mage Offspring {2} (You may pay an additional {2} as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it.)
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. , Electrostatic Field Electrostatic Field Defender
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. , and Thermo-Alchemist Thermo-Alchemist Defender
{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, untap this creature. , just casting a spell can pack a serious punch. Thanks to cards like Firesong and Sunspeaker Firesong and Sunspeaker Red instant and sorcery spells you control have lifelink.
Whenever a white instant or sorcery spell causes you to gain life, Firesong and Sunspeaker deals 3 damage to target creature or player. , the spells you cast can heal you too, while hybrid spells like Lightning Helix Lightning Helix Lightning Helix deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life. dish out even more damage.

If anything, the only trouble with Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot is that it’s too good at removal. While this is usually the opposite of a problem, if your opponents run out of creatures, you run out of gas. To combat this, running cards like Akroan Horse Akroan Horse Defender
When this creature enters, an opponent gains control of it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent creates a 1/1 white Soldier creature token. , Varchild’s War-Riders Varchild’s War-Riders Cumulative upkeep—Have an opponent create a 1/1 red Survivor creature token. (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)
Trample; rampage 1 (Whenever this creature becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each creature blocking it beyond the first.) , and Genesis Chamber Genesis Chamber Whenever a nontoken creature enters, if this artifact is untapped, that creature's controller creates a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token. can work wonders.

Similarly, since Taii Wakeen doesn’t care whose creatures are being killed, you can run plenty of weak creatures and token makers yourself. Empty the Warrens Empty the Warrens Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.) , Mad Ratter Mad Ratter Whenever you draw your second card each turn, create two 1/1 black Rat creature tokens. , and even Twinflame Twinflame Strive — This spell costs {2}{R} more to cast for each target beyond the first.
Choose any number of target creatures you control. For each of them, create a token that's a copy of that creature, except it has haste. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step. can give you a huge expendable board to turn into card draw. If you want to keep your creatures around, however, Unbreakable Formation Unbreakable Formation Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Addendum — If you cast this spell during your main phase, put a +1/+1 counter on each of those creatures and they gain vigilance until end of turn. and Your Temple Is Under Attack Your Temple Is Under Attack Choose one —
• Pray for Protection — Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
• Strike a Deal — You and target opponent each draw two cards. will give everything Indestructible.

Speaking of Indestructible, Darksteel Mutation Darksteel Mutation Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is an Insect artifact creature with base power and toughness 0/1 and has indestructible, and it loses all other abilities, card types, and creature types. is a godsend in this deck. Not only does it nullify an opponent’s creature, but you also get a consistent target to draw off. Technically, Deathless Angel Deathless Angel Flying
{W}{W}: Target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. can facilitate the same thing, although this card is more of a combo engine.

Infinite Damage and Draw

If you can give a damage-redirecting card, like Boros Reckoner Boros Reckoner Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to any target.
{R/W}: This creature gains first strike until end of turn. , Indestructible, then Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot can draw your entire deck. Just deal three damage to Boros Reckoner with something like Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target. , and keep redirecting the damage to itself infinitely. Notably, you can easily stop this combo whenever you want, too, making it fairly trivial to win.

If you want to make a win guaranteed, however, adding Chains of Plasma into the combo lets you deal infinite damage. So long as you have a spare card in hand, you can discard it to copy Chains of Plasma when targeting Boros Reckoner. Since Taii Wakeen will replace the discarded card, you can do this infinitely, while Reckoner redirects the damage wherever you want.

While this combo is a bit flashy and all-or-nothing, it does have a fair bit of redundancy. Both Spitemare Spitemare Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to any target. and Truefire Captain Truefire Captain Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to target player. can work in place of Boros Reckoner. While this can make winning fairly reliable, even without a combo, you can just Storm off on your own.

Upgrades People, Upgrades

Admittedly, Storming off on your own is rather difficult, as the vast majority of mana generators are very expensive. In the default 99, we’ve only got Runaway Steam-Kin Runaway Steam-Kin Whenever you cast a red spell, if this creature has fewer than three +1/+1 counters on it, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove three +1/+1 counters from this creature: Add {R}{R}{R}. , which only really works with cheap spells. Even with Taii Wakeen handling the card draw, realistically popping off with a Grapeshot Grapeshot Grapeshot deals 1 damage to any target.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.) isn’t guaranteed, but it’s not impossible.

Realistically, if you do want to go for a full Storm win, you’re going to need to upgrade your Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot deck. If you are going down the upgrade path, Urabrask Urabrask First strike
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, Urabrask deals 1 damage to target opponent. Add {R}.
{R}: Exile Urabrask, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery and only if you've cast three or more instant and/or sorcery spells this turn. , Seething Song Seething Song Add {R}{R}{R}{R}{R}. , and Mana Geyser Mana Geyser Add {R} for each tapped land your opponents control. are all natural auto-includes. You’ll also get to run generally more powerful cards, too, like Gut Shot Gut Shot ({R/P} can be paid with either {R} or 2 life.)
Gut Shot deals 1 damage to any target. , Repercussion Repercussion Whenever a creature is dealt damage, this enchantment deals that much damage to that creature's controller. , and Spiteful Banditry Spiteful Banditry When this enchantment enters, it deals X damage to each creature.
Whenever one or more creatures your opponents control die, you create a Treasure token. This ability triggers only once each turn. . Even Game Changers like Jeska’s Will Jeska’s Will Choose one. If you control a commander as you cast this spell, you may choose both instead.
• Add {R} for each card in target opponent's hand.
• Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play them this turn. and Smothering Tithe Smothering Tithe Whenever an opponent draws a card, that player may pay {2}. If the player doesn't, you create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") become strong inclusions to push things further.

Should you really want to go all out, you can even cut the creature-gifting side of Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot, for a more focused Storm/Burn list. At the very least, this allows you to get a lot of variety out of Taii Wakeen, which is really a steal at $0.10. Even if the rest of your deck isn’t as budget-friendly, this Commander can seriously pull its weight.

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