Commander Journaling is the term I’ve given to writing thoughts in a journal that collects your thoughts from the mental paths you take in the deckbuilding process. I did this recently for a commander with a fun limit: Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger

After assembling over 100 cards, including the mana base, I wrote some thoughts as I whittled down to the deck. Here is what I wrote:

I built a Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger deck because I want to curate an experience on the table. A game that feels kind of staxy because of the discard, but with luck they can still function with their deck.

I have 11 pieces of varying interaction types, but only one board wipe. But this is because Kroxa itself does a lot of hand interaction, which is a kind of removal. Furthermore, cards like Teval’s Judgement and Waste Not allow me to gain resources as a benefit to hand interaction and making use of things I discard as well. Wheels are great for this reason.

Regarding discard based value cards like Faithless Looting, I have more than I possibly need and could cut those. But I appreciate having more than I need in that department so that I can keep the graveyard full enough to “escape” Kroxa. Discarding also helps if I need to recur other creatures from the graveyard. Abyssal Harvester is a great way to achieve that function.

A good critique and weakness of the deck is that I don’t have a ton of threats aside from Kroxa. But hand interaction means that players will have to choose between wincons and value, so I can grab those when they hit the graveyard. But a lack of combat threats means that when players team up to end Kroxa’s symmetrical effect directly, aka killing me. But cards like Necrogoyf and Aclazotz either make blockers or get stronger when things are dead.

I do run a somewhat silly combo with Oriq Loremage and Ignite the Future, which is hardly a real combo. I just want to immediately flashback Ignite the Future to cast three things for free. But I should probably just remove these to make room for cards that interact with discard.

After writing this, I did play one game with a friend who plays an upgraded Aminatou Miracle deck. I honestly underestimate that deck every time, but it’s very consistent if you approach it casually, or rather, to say that you run less game changers and removal.

I have moved twelve cards to the Considering section as a result of that game. Feel free to submit suggestions and we’ll review possible replacements in next Monday’s Article.

This card was incredible for setup. Consider playing him in any discard deck that plays with Red.