No matter where you play Commander, figuring out Rule Zero can be a hassle. While there are bracket-based deckbuilding restrictions in place to help make games more balanced, decks in the same bracket can still have massive power level differences. Stomping a table and being unable to compete are both unfun experiences for anyone in your pod, making finding a balance paramount.
All of this is to say that, sometimes, you’ll need to take power balancing into your own hands, and it’s an extremely hard thing to do. Fortunately, there is a Commander that, in theory, can adjust its power level according to what cards the table is playing.
The Most Balanced Commander
It might seem like a bad-mannered strategy, but stealing your opponent’s cards is actually one of the best ways to create a balanced Commander deck. After all, your deck will only ever be as strong as your opponents when you’re mostly playing with your opponent’s cards. Whether you’re in a bracket five pod with Game Changers galore or having a casual bracket one match, you’ll be able to fit right in.
Unfortunately, while this card-stealing balancing act is sound in theory, it’s not guaranteed to work every match. For starters, there’s no guarantee your opponents will be playing cards worth stealing. Typal decks, for instance, often rely on built-up synergy, rather than individually powerful cards. This can leave unprepared thief decks with a mediocre pile of cards and nothing to do with them.
On the other end of the spectrum, some card-stealing Commanders are simply too good at what they do. Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, for instance, is a self-contained card-stealing engine, allowing the 99 to focus on other things. Due to this, Gonti can often run away with games even when stealing dud cards, as they almost become purely optional.
Thankfully, there is one Commander in MTG that solves both problems at once. Released as part of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan’s Ahoy Mateys precon, Don Andres, the Renegade is a nearly perfectly balanced Commander.
MTG Don Andres, the Renegade
Thanks to Don Andres’s abilities, any card you steal can become part of a larger, cohesive gameplan. Even a stolen Llanowar Elves can become a 3/3 Deathtouch Menace, which is a great deal for one mana. Similarly, any stolen non-creature spell becomes a mana generator, even if it’s just a mediocre cantrip like Consider.
These abilities raise the floor for your thief deck, allowing it to compete at lower power tables where your lack of synergy would otherwise put you behind. At the same time, this deck is still easily able to steal high-bracket value engines and spells, allowing you to keep up at more competitive taples.
Notably, because Don Andres doesn’t steal spells himself, you’ll have to play a lot of cards in your main deck that enable your Commander. Siphon Insight and Thief of Sanity are perfect in this role, for example, as they can each steal multiple cards throughout a game. On top of these, Don Andres’s Grixis color identity provides access to over 550 card-stealing spells.
While card stealing is definitely the name of the game with Don Andres, the Renegade, he can also fall back upon Pirate Typal support. Thankfully, plenty of this is provided within the Ahoy Mateys precon, which works as a fantastic base to upgrade from. Between Admiral Beckett Brass, Dire Fleet Daredevil, and Malcolm, Keen Navigator, this deck certainly has no shortage of powerful support.
Outside of loading your deck up with Pirates, Don Andres, the Renegade can also tap into Treasure and exile-based synergies. Using cards like Kellogg, Dangerous Mind and Prosper, Tome-Bound, Don Andres should have no trouble casting any stolen spells. All in all, this should allow Don Andres to keep up, while not overly relying on either its 99 or the opponent’s decks.
Some Adjustments May be Necessary
Thanks to getting most of its value from the cards that you steal, Don Andres should do a decent job of naturally reflecting the power level of the table. That said, one area where you may need to adjust things is how quickly you get your cards out. Since most higher bracket games end very quickly, you may need to play some strong mana accelerants and free interaction to keep up with higher Bracket tables.
Due to this, you may also want to run a small unofficial sideboard of cards you can swap in to speed up your strategy. This could also be used to power down a Don Andres deck, depending on which direction you end up taking it, even. Even outside of this archetype, having an extra sideboard of cards to better match your pod’s power level isn’t a bad idea.
Ultimately, Don Andres, the Renegade should give you a great shell that adjusts to what your opponents are doing, and building it should be reasonably cheap. Thanks to many of the core cards and the Commander itself, being from a Precon, picking this all up in one place should be quick and easy.
Stick with us at mtgrocks.com: the best place for Magic: The Gathering coverage!