“Death comes for us all, but you first!”
Art:Loot, the Key to Everything
by Gaboleps
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Loot is a commander who was certainly unexpected on the CEDH scene and something that seemed a lot more fit for casual play. After a ton of games with Loot, I have to say that this is one of the best Temur commanders out there. Being able to exile a ton of cards and have them available when we are comboing off or using our commander’s ability to find a ton of combo pieces is just great. While Temur is not the strongest color combination, mostly due to the lack of tutors, this card and deck is just a blast to pilot. I don’t really know how to feel about this commander, especially at a tournament level, but testing against some of the best in the format, It has performed well and been a very great commander. I am so excited to showcase this very interesting deck today. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Loot, the Key to Everything Combo!
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Why Loot, The Key to Everything?
Loot is a huge part of our deck, allowing us to have a ton of card selection and card filtering can help us have protection when we go off or find combo pieces that we need to close out the game. While Loot certainly is great, we need to be careful about when we are casting them because we don’t want to cast them too early and risk exiling ourselves out of some of our combos. Loot is an amazing commander, and we have a ton of cards that help enable him and get his count up, like Destiny Spinner
and Corridor Monitor
. One of the toughest parts about this deck is knowing when to cast Loot, in my experience it is best when we have at least a few types on the field and we are just searching for one additional combo piece.
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! The infinite combos and loops in the deck are listed below in the “Main Win Conditions” Section.
Creatures:
Mana dorks in the early-game are key for us getting our mana established like Delighted Halfling
and Birds of Paradise
, which are both cheap and great ways to get more and more mana production. We also have a ton of fast mana for the early game, like Elvish Spirit Guide
, Simian Spirit Guide
, and Tinder Wall
, which can enable us to make a lot of turn one plays and get our gameplay accelerated quite early. Gilded Drake
is a card I use to often steal commanders which can be amazing if an opponent has a deck that focuses heavily on their commander. Destiny Spinner is a crazy card for us that allows us to have two types to count towards Loot’s ability and, more importantly, prevents our Underworld Breach
from being countered, which is a great way to guarantee that we can go off. Since we are running Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
, we can get a a lot of value out of Orcish Lumberjack
and use it to produce a ton of mana, being able to sacrifice any land and turn it into fast mana can make our mana production go through the roof.
Planeswalkers:
Narset, Parter of Veils
is an extremely strong early-game planeswalker and is great against some of the faster decks in the format; at least my CEDH meta and testing meta are full of fast decks that aim to go off between turn one and three so being able to stick an early Narset can really help shut down their strategy, its also great against cards like Mystic Remora
and Rhystic Study
and can really shut down our opponents gameplan. Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
is a very interesting planeswalker that I think is amazing for this deck; they are easy to cast through all of our mana rocks, and their abilities are great; while we don’t use their first ability that often being able to ping something for one and draw cards is just great and I have used it to kill very strong creatures like Orcish Bowmasters
and even early-game mana dorks. There are certain situations where it is correct to buff up Boo and deal a decent amount of damage and get some more card draw, but often, the one-and-one is perfectly fine.
Battles:
Invasion of Ikoria // Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria
is our only battle and probably one of the only battles that is run in CEDH. It is a one-mana cheaper Chord of Calling
and can grab any non-human; while we do have a lot of great humans, this card is still amazing, and grabbing a Delighted Halfling, or Dockside Extortionist
is great. Being able to grab it from the graveyard can be very strong, too, and a great option if we had played out the card we wanted earlier in the game.
Instants:
At instant speed, we have some cards that make being in Temur absolutely worth it. Two of my favorites are Noxious Revival
and Autumn's Veil
, which are both great and cheap cards that provide a ton of utility if one of our combo pieces gets destroyed or discarded; we are able to recur it for only two life which is simply amazing. On the turn, when we are going to combo off casting Autumn’s Veil, it is a great asset to have and can be great when going off or if our opponents are trying to bounce or destroy our creatures. I love Borne Upon a Wind
, which is a great card that allows us to go off at instant speed, and I have used this many times to get a combo set up on an opponent’s end step. There isnt too much to say about the rest of our instant package, we are pretty good at countering our opponents stuff and protecting ourselves when we need to go off.
Sorceries:
Not being in black, we can’t run the CEDH powerhouse in Praetor's Grasp
, but don’t fear we are able to run Extract
. While it certainly isn’t as powerful as Praetor’s Grasp, it is certainly a great card to have, and against decks that try to go for one specific combo, we can easily disrupt it. We have an amazing pair in Neoform
and Eldritch Evolution
, which are both great ways to grab out combo creatures like Temur Sabertooth
and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
. While we are not a pod deck by any means, we can get a lot of advantages out of these cards using Eldritch Evolution + our commander is a great and easy way to grab Kiki-Jiki and we can easily Neoform a mana dork to grab cards like Corridor Monitor. Both of these cards are amazing for the deck, and we can easily turn a dead board into a powerhouse and sometimes a combo off with just one of these cards. Finale of Devastation
is arguably one of the best cards in our deck, and once we make infinite mana, we are able to take out our opponents; additionally, in a game in testing, I had a ton of mana and was actually able to kill an opponent by just casting Finale x10 and swinging for the fences. Being in Temur does not let us play the best tutors in the world, but we do have Gamble
, which is quite good, especially in the early-game; naturally, statistics will eventually make us discard the card we want, but due to the lack of viable tutors, we just have to live with this.
Artifacts:
We only have one non-mana rock artifact, and that is The One Ring
. I don’t think I need to show why this card is absolutely busted and an amazing source of both protection and card draw. Our mana rocks are huge for us in the deck as we are able to speed out our gameplan and cast and keep on casting cards. Having this mana presence early can be very strong in the game plan and helps a ton.
Enchantments:
Utopia Sprawl
and Wild Growth
may look a little weird, especially in CEDH, but getting extra mana and colors established, as well as having an extra type to trigger Loot, is absolutely worth it. Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora are absolute auto-includes as they always are, and this card draw is honestly insane and can be game-warping.
Land Base:
Our landbase is focused on getting all of our colors established as fast as possible and being able to cast anything in our hand or anything we draw as quickly as possible. We are greatly helped by Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, which is a great way to provide mana fixing, and we have quite a few green cards in the deck, so it is a great asset to have. Arguably the best land in the deck is Gaea's Cradle
even though we aren’t running 30+ creatures, we can still get a ton of value out of this, and it can be great to cast more and more mana rocks as well as a decent Chord of Calling to grab a combo creature or even just a utility creature. I also love Boseiju, Who Endures
, especially against some of the faster decks in the format because we can easily disrupt their mana and really hurt them. I like this landbase a lot, and while we are running a little heavy at twenty-seven lands, I find it to be strong and effective for the deck.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Quite a few of the combos in our deck are adaptive, allowing us to go off from many different board states and situations, which helps us go off against even the best of the best.
- Our commander is a value machine, especially in the mid-game, and is great to have protection or to find combo pieces on our turn.
- Even though we don’t have access to the best of the best tutors in cards like Demonic Tutor
or Vampiric Tutor we still have some great cheap tutors like Mystical Tutor and Imperial Recruiter.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Stax can be a tough matchup for us.
- While our commander is quite powerful there is a right and wrong time to cast them, casting them early does not always net value as we may exile something that we need and be unable to cast it.
- We need to be extremely aggressive with our mulligans, hands we are typically looking for have 1-2 lands, some counterspells for stopping our faster opponents, as well as some mana rocks to accelerate our gameplan; there isn’t really anything specific, naturally any hand with one or more combo pieces is a great place to start as well.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Since this is CEDH, our main win conditions are our combos; due to our commander, we have access to a ton of different combos, and their ability helps us dig for protection for when we go off, and the combos piece themselves. We are an adaptive deck with many different ways to go off and end the game. Due to our commander costing three and running cards like Eldritch Evolution, we can easily grab cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breakeras a viable way to end games. We also have quite a few infinite mana combos which allow us to use Finale of Devastation to close out the game. Below are all of the combos in the deck explained:
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Corridor Monitor
Requires:
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker must be on the battlefield. Corridor Monitor must be on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Kiki-Jiki by tapping it, creating a token copy of Corridor Monitor with haste.
- The Corridor Monitor token enters the battlefield, untapping Kiki-Jiki.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite creature tokens with haste. Infinite ETB.
Requires:
Dualcaster Mage must be in hand. Twinflame must be in hand. At least one creature on the battlefield. Mana needed: 2RRR
Steps:
- Cast Twinflame by paying 1R.
- Holding priority, cast Dualcaster Mage by paying 1RR.
- Dualcaster Mage enters the battlefield, copying Twinflame.
- Resolve the Twinflame copy, creating a token copy of Dualcaster Mage.
- Repeat from step 3.
Results:
Infinite creature tokens with haste. Infinite ETB. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Dualcaster Mage
and Heat Shimmer
Requires:
Dualcaster Mage must be in hand. Heat Shimmer must be in hand. You control at least one creature. Mana needed: 3RRR
Steps:
- Cast Heat Shimmer by paying 2R.
- Holding priority, cast Dualcaster Mage by paying 1RR.
- Dualcaster Mage enters the battlefield, copying Heat Shimmer.
- Resolve the copied Heat Shimmer, creating a token copy of Dualcaster Mage.
- Repeat from step 3.
Results:
Infinite creature tokens with haste. Infinite ETB. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Underworld Breach and Lion's Eye Diamond
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Lion’s Eye Diamond must be on the battlefield. Wheel of Fortune must be in the graveyard. You have at least six other cards in hand and/or graveyard.
Steps:
- Activate Lion’s Eye Diamond by discarding your hand and sacrificing it, adding RRR.
- Cast Wheel of Fortune from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling 3 cards from your graveyard.
- Resolve Wheel of Fortune, causing each player to discard their hand and draw seven cards.
- Cast Lion’s Eye Diamond from your graveyard for its escape cost by exiling 3 cards from your graveyard.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers. Infinite looting. Infinite looting for opponents. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach and Lion's Eye Diamond
and Brain Freeze
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Lion’s Eye Diamond must be on the battlefield. Brain Freeze must be in the graveyard. You have at least six other cards in hand and/or graveyard.
Steps:
- Activate Lion’s Eye Diamond by discarding your hand and sacrificing it, adding UUU.
- Cast Lion’s Eye Diamond from your graveyard for its escape cost by exiling three cards besides Brain Freeze from your graveyard.
- Cast Brain Freeze from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 1U and exiling three cards from your graveyard.
- Brain Freeze’s storm ability triggers, creating at least one copy of Brain Freeze targeting yourself, and any remaining copies targeting an opponent.
- Resolve each Brain Freeze, causing yourself to mill six cards and, if applicable, an opponent to mill three cards for each Brain Freeze remaining.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite self-mill. Near-infinite colored mana. Near-infinite magecraft triggers. Near-infinite mill. Near-infinite storm count.
Underworld Breach and Wheel of Fortune
and Jeska's Will
Requires:
Underworld Breach must be on the battlefield. Wheel of Fortune must be in the graveyard. Jeska’s Will must be in the graveyard. You have at least six additional cards in your graveyard, plus an additional six cards between your hand and/or graveyard. An opponent has at least six cards in hand. Mana needed: 2R
Steps:
- Cast Jeska’s Will from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard, adding at least six R.
- Cast Wheel of Fortune from your graveyard for its escape cost by paying 2R and exiling three other cards from your graveyard, causing each player to discard their hand and draw seven cards.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite draw triggers for all players. Infinite looting for all players. Near-infinite magecraft triggers. Near-infinite storm count.
Dockside Extortionist and Temur Sabertooth
Requires:
Dockside Extortionist must be in hand. Temur Sabertooth must be on the battlefield. Opponents control at least four artifacts and/or enchantments. Mana needed: 1R
Steps:
- Cast Dockside Extortionist by paying 1R.
- When Dockside Extortionist enters the battlefield, it triggers, creating at least four Treasure artifact tokens.
- Activate four Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing them, adding 2RG.
- Activate Temur Sabertooth by paying 1G, returning Dockside Extortionist from the battlefield to your hand.
- Repeat.
- If opponents control at least five artifacts and/or enchantments, this combo nets infinite Treasure tokens.
Results:
Infinite blinking of green creatures. Infinite colored mana. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite storm count. Infinite Treasure tokens.
Conclusion:
Loot is an extremely interesting CEDH commander and a deck that will likely go through multiple different iterations and versions within the community. For me the deck is purely fun and more of an example of if we could vs if we should. While certainly not a tier one deck I think this deck is fun and can hold its own against the best of the best in the format. I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!