The Commander Format is inherently misleading because it leads you to believe you must build around your Commander. It’s in the name, after all. This often forces beginning deckbuilders to include cards that synergize or act as a backup for the commander, but in reality, your Commander is the eighth card in your hand that you always have. Thus, you don’t have to think of it as your Win Condition or the Engine that powers your deck. Instead, the Commander can serve as a setup piece to achieve a greater effect. Enter: my Shorikai, Genesis Engine deck, titled “Brilliant Comeback.”
With this in mind, let’s review the deck itself.
The Mana Curve: this deck has a huge spike at 2 and another at 4, which is thanks to the mass of mana rocks we assemble and the 4 drops that we can play the turn after playing a mana rock on turn 2. However, the real reason this deck has so many mana rocks is to have a few to pitch to Shorikai’s ability or other draw/discard effects.
Card Type Breakdown: The breakdown of card types is unsurprising for this deck. It’s mostly built on artifacts, with a solid number of creatures and some instants/sorceries for interaction. We also have two enchantments that either provide unblockability for our Commander or reward us for our artifact creatures hitting our opponents.
Card Review: The cards that I found noteworthy include:
Riptide Gearhulk, a great double-striking beater that also removes a nonland permanent from each opponent.
Peacewalker Colossus is a handy creature that, if we don’t have pilots made with Shorikai, we can use to make our commander a creature.
Unctus, Grand Metatect, turns our artifact creatures into looting machines, allowing us to build our graveyards even faster, whether they’re attacking or piloting Shorikai.
We have five copies of Triumphant Recoking - type effects, meaning we are likely to come across this effect at least once.
Argentum Masticore not only provides a discard outlet, but also specifically turns our bigger cmc creatures (like the two 7 cmc angels in this deck) into removal.
Deck Plan Review: We want to win through overwhelming value/board presence created by an explosive use of Triumphant Reckoning - effects. To achieve this, we need to fill our graveyard to enable that powerful turn.
So, with all that in mind, here’s our Eight Card: Shorikai, Genesis Engine.
Our deck plan is built to set up the eventual use of Triumphant Reckoning and similar effects. Until then, we use Shorikai and similar effects to fill our graveyards with artifacts that will help us get far ahead of our opponents when we mass reanimate. Other ways to win include swinging in with out 8/8 Commander, if all else fails, but cards like Golem Artisan can ensure any of our creatures can get in for damage (as well as providing haste) by giving them Flying and/or Trample.
Want a cheaper version of this deck? No problem. You can bring the budget down quite a bit by swapping out the cards below, depending on your budget (prices written here are as they are at the time of writing):
Cyberman Patrol (4.73)
Cybermen Squadron (10.78)
Giggling Skitterspike (5.40)
Master Transmuter (3.39)
Phyrexian Metamorph (4.42)
Riptide Gearhulk (2.29)
Access Denied (2.60)
Dovin’s Veto (3.41)
Render Silent (3.22)
Three Steps Ahead (3.69)
Reaver Titan (18.18)
Thran Dynamo (3.05)
Academy Ruins (9.47)
Deserted Beach (4.87)
Hallowed Fountain (12.04)
Meticulous Archive (15.00)
Reliquary Tower (2.50)
Sea of Clouds (14.61)
Removing all of these cards brings the budget from 167.77 to 44.12. This gives you a lot of flexibility, because, to be honest, you don’t need a staple-packed deck, despite the list I’ve compiled. Especially Reaver Titan, I don’t think anyone needs to play that card, but I wanted to because it’s been burning a hole in my binder. I think some interesting swaps would be equipment that provides value on ETB or gets better the more artifacts you have on board.
If you like controlling the board until you’re able to win with one explosive turn, I recommend trying to build your deck and pick your Commander to set up for the explosion, while not necessarily being the explosion itself.