“And I hear the sounds of thunder all around.”
Art:Cargo Ship
by Thanh Tuấn
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
We continue our Vehicle journey with a Cargo Ship! A really cool vehicle that is decently stat-ed and more important is a mana-dork for our artifacts, because of this you know we are packed to the brim with strong artifacts as well as strong artifact creatures, wrapping all of that greatness up with a mono-blue control package complete with card draw, counters and bounce effects and we have a really good chance against a creature-heavy format like Pauper EDH. While this deck is a little less control focused than a lot of other control decks in the format we have the benefit of being able to actually kill opponents at a reasonable pace and we with so many affinity affects and our extra mana production we can actually amass a decent board pretty quickly and we are able to protect it. This deck has been a blast to pilot, and after showcasing so many decks that rely on their commander 100%, it’s really nice to have a deck where our commander is in a support role. Without further ado, let’s get it!
The Deck:
Click here to copy full decklist to your clipboard!
Cargo Ship Artifact Control!
Buy This Deck!
Buy this deck using our WnyGaming Affiliate Link: https://www.wnygaming.com/discount/TNTSub Get a 5%discount at checkout when using code TNTSUB or just using our link!
Why Cargo Ship?
Cargo Ship is a really strong support card for the deck, having a mana dork that we can always access not only always gives us a turn two play but can help our later turns as if we are casting artifacts we know we will have that extra mana, while in testing I almost never attacked with our commander if an opponent is close to death we can easily attack with them since they have both flying and vigilance, they are also really easy to crew which is quite nice. Overall Cargo Ship is a great piece of support for our deck but the beauty of it is that we are not reliant on them at all, if they keep getting killed its perfectly ok for the gameplan and really doesn’t change much, sure we ramp a little bit less but the core gameplan is still strong, we are like the opposite of a glass-cannon commander.
Deck Matchups:
Since this is Pauper EDH, there are an absolute ton of things that can tip a game in your favor or out of it. While an archetype may seem favorable, there are absolutely good and bad commanders for our deck to go up against; I have included both these, which were all played among my testing groups using various decks, and I have included the sample size for clarity purposes. This is just meant to be a guide after testing a bunch of games with this deck!
The information below is notes about specific decks that were featured in our testing pods and how we fared against them. Naturally, Pauper EDH is a multiplayer game, so these are just a summary of my notes against different commanders and strategies. When we test these decks we try to test to its strengths and weaknesses to give a full spectrum of what the deck has to offer. Various commanders and archetypes/strategies are used to get the most accurate information.
Commanders, we have a good matchup against:
Fynn, the Fangbearer
Record against Fynn, the Fangbearer 4-2
Finally, a deck matchup where I can happily report that we beat up on Fynn! The main name of the game for our deck is to stop them at all costs; they are pretty much nothing without their commander, and if they don’t have a fast game, we are pretty good against them overall. Their deathtouch can be quite annoying, but we can simply outlast them if we can keep their commander at bay! This is a pretty good matchup for the deck.
Diamond Weapon
Record against Diamond Weapon 5-2
This was a very interesting matchup to me so I tested it quite a lot, overall this matchup is absolutely favorable but just like Fynn we need to keep their commander off of the field as much as we can, with Diamond Weapon on the field they can hit really hard so using cards like Deep Freeze
or Kasmina's Transmutation
is a great way to deal with this deck, pretty much all of our controlling elements are good against this deck.
Bone-Cairn Butcher
Record against Bone-Cairn Butcher 3-1
I was a bit nervous about this one, but it actually went really well! Bone-Cairn is a great commander and one of the strongest in the format but they do not do well when they are heavily contested and just like the other decks we are good against we need to pressure, while its not really their commander I like to take out their big token generators making them not really do much, I had a lot of success using this strategy in testing.
Commanders, we have a tough matchup against:
Arabella, Abandoned Doll
Record against Arabella, Abandoned Doll 1-3
A pretty tough deck for us to deal with, they are really quick and often times we are just getting set up with artifacts and stuff when they start to deal big damage, cards like Unsummon
shine in this matchup mostly using it so we can bounce our opponents Arabella and force them to recast it so we can counter it, if they go after us from the beginning it can be a really rough time.
Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos
Record against Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos 0-3
Alexios is a really good commander that sows a lot of chaos, they can also get huge and get out of hand very quickly, it can be tough for our deck to interact with them if they get resolved, if we can stop them from resolving our opponents will have a really tough time aginst us but if they stick Alexios it was pretty much over for me everytime.
Ley Weaver
& Lore Weaver
Record against Ley and Lore Weaver 1-3
A big mana deck who has the counters to back it up and can combo off in what feels like a million different ways yea, this is a pretty tough one for our deck, they are often combo heavy and counterspell heavy and it can be hard to engage in counterspell wars with a deck that has so much mana, I had a lot of trouble against this crazy duo.
Strategy Overview:
You are in control:
Even though we do a ton of artifact stuff throughout the game, don’t forget we are a control deck at heart, and that is what we do best: set the game to our pace and stop opponents from getting too out of hand.
Fill that Board:
Since we have affinity creatures like Myr Enforcer
, Frogmite
, and Bastion Inventor
, we can fill up our board pretty quickly. Being able to fill our board allows us to actually contend with a lot of the midrange decks in the format.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
Our mana production is honestly kind of insane in this deck, from our commander to cards like Foundry Inspector
and Etherium Sculptor
, we are pretty much never paying full price for our cards, which always feels good as it allows us to have mana for more important things like counterspells, card draw and more artifacts! These discounts feel even better with some of our affinity creatures like Bastion Inventor, Myr Enforcer, and Frogmite, which are almost always free and can easily help us stabilize a board. If we are able to drop these really early, they also can put a considerable amount of pressure on our opponents. Speaking of pressure Filigree Attendant
can be a huge attacker for our deck, and if an opponent goes all in in combat, we can absolutely take advantage of them. Filigree is just one example of some of our good late-game creatures. While these creatures aren’t gigantic, they are certainly big enough to put pressure on opponents as we control the pace and whittle them down. Some of our other great late-game creatures include Shardless Outlander
, Tidal Terror
, and Mirrorshell Crab
. These are all great attackers for the deck. The last creature I want to focus on is Mirran Spy
, which is a crazy card that can allow us to activate our commander a bunch of times a turn. With some of our cheaper artifacts, we can just keep on casting.
Instants:
Being an artifact deck that also is control has a lot of benefits, with quite a few cards that get cheaper for us like Metallic Rebuke
, Stoic Rebuttal
, and Into Thin Air
, all being great examples of cards that work super well with our artifact package and get a lot cheaper! Bounce Off
and Unsummon are also really good in this deck, whether we utilize these to bounce a big blocker from an opponent or bounce a problematic creature or commander, these are great cards for the deck, they also have the benefit of being really cheap, which helps us if an opponent tries to stop it and we engage in a counter war. Beyond that, our instant package is really nothing more than a bunch of counterspells with true classics like Arcane Denial
, Counterspell
and Dissolve
, just to name a few. While our instant package may not be super flashy or exciting, it allows us to execute our game plan how we want to and maintain control over the game.
Sorceries:
If one of our big artifacts or vehicles gets killed, which is pretty likely throughout the course of the game, we do have Argivian Restoration
, which can help us reestablish tempo and rebuild our board. Inaction Injunction
is a great card if we need to take an opponent’s best creature out of combat for a couple of turns, perfect against glass-cannon strategies or Voltron decks. We round out our sorcery package with a ton of draw with amazing cheap cards like Ponder
, Preordain
, and a card that is almost always one-mana for us in Thoughtcast
. While our sorcery package isn’t that flashy, that card draw goes a long way and allows us to keep the pressure up on our opponents.
Artifacts:
We have a lot of mana rocks that we arguably don’t need because of our commander, but it is still nice to get value out of a card like Mind Stone
for a few turns and then sacrifice it for a card. We have quite a few cheap artifacts that are meant to get our artifact count high so we can utilize bangers like Thoughtcast or some of our affinity creatures like Myr Enforcer. Using our commander for artifact abilities is really nice as well and works perfectly with cards like Bumbleflower's Sharepot
and Goblin Firebomb
, both of these being one-mana cheaper with our commander, can make a big difference for the deck. Since we have a pretty big creature package within the deck, we get double value from cards like Haunted Cloak
and Brass Knuckles
, which can help us end games pretty quickly. We round out our artifact package with some awesome vehicles like Hulldrifter
, which is not only a strong attacker/blocker but is also a very nice piece of card draw with the deck. We also have Thundersteel Colossus
, which is a very nice finisher for the deck and can put quite a bit of pressure on our opponents. Our artifact package provides a ton of utility and support for our deck!
Enchantments:
Against decks that are super reliant on their commander, I love using both Deep Freeze, Frogify
, and Kasmina's Transmutation, which are just great ways to take out combo creatures or any problematic creatures we may encounter. While our enchantment package is really small, it does pack a punch and can impact the game quite a bit.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are a control deck that actually has a decent creature package, so not only can we control the pace of the game, but we are also able to end games pretty easily.
- We can actually fill up the board quite quickly since we have quite a few affinity cards as well as our commander, which can help us speed up our game plan.
- We are pretty strong against aggressive strategies because we can bounce and counter most of their big hitters, leaving them with not very much.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Control vs Control matchups can be tough for us, mostly because we are a control deck that is not as counter-heavy as a lot of decks.
- Weak to artifact hate, especially on a mass scale.
- If we don’t find our late-game pieces, we can have some trouble in combat, especially against stompy decks.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Conclusion:
Thanks so much for reading to the end! Cargo ship is a really fun commander, and I can not wait for them to become legal when Rule Break Month Two starts in July! Cargo ship is nothing but a mana dork and an ok attacker/blocker but being able to have a consistent mana dork that allows us to speed up our gameplan while we have the benefits of our control package allowing us to have the game at our pace and control what our opponents can and cannot do. This deck is a blast, and I hope you all enjoyed it! Stay tuned and tap in!