Commander Overview
If you like drawing a lot of cards, ramping as fast as possible, and zoning out while the combo players sweat, then Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero is the commander deck for you.
Wylie came in under the radar with Outlaws of Thunder Junction, overshadowed by flashy commanders like Rakdos, the Muscle and Marchesa, Dealer of Death. But he provides card advantage in the command zone as well as a beefy 4 power we can use to station spacecraft and crew vehicles.
I originally built this deck as a budget $50 deck, and it’s crept a bit over that since I crafted it, but it’s still a great, cheap deck for anyone looking to hang with bracket 2-3 tables.
Commander Matchmaking System
The average current preconstructed deck.
- No Mass Land Denial
- No Chaining Extra Turns
- No 2-Card Infinite Combos
- No Game Changers
- Few Tutors
How to Play the Deck
The whole goal of the deck is to ramp out Wylie Duke on turn 2, then immediately start using his ability to draw additional cards. There is one win-condition, and that’s Approach of the Second Sun. Ideally, you want to get a solid board of creatures that untap Wylie before you cast Approach, that way you can immediately dig a few cards down, putting the pressure on your opponents.
It’s not uncommon for you to be ignored most of the game. Let the other players think you’re just playing wacky stuff like Ornery Tumblewagg and Cat Collector because it’s fun. Before they know it, you can draw 5 cards a turn and have protection in-hand for Wylie et al.
Synergy’s in the deck
Thankfully, Selesnya is pretty good at supporting the Untap ->Tap gameplan. Almost all our creatures have to do with untapping to do a thing, or tapping to tutor for creatures, bring stuff back from the graveyard, hunt for lands, or create tokens. In that regard, the deck is very versatile.
My favorite card in the deck is Unswerving Sloth. We tap Wylie to saddle him, drawing a card. He attacks, is an indestructible 5/5, and he untaps our board. He’s so good at the gameplan that getting him out ASAP is always a good idea.
Phases of the Game
Early Game: We want to play around getting out a method for tapping Wylie Duke as soon as possible, the mana will follow. If you have a hand with a vehicle, Citanul Stalwart or Gene Pollinator and 2 lands, that’s a keeper. Once Wylie hits the field and can station, saddle, or crew stuff, we’re in business.
Mid-Game: We’re looking to toss out a bunch of innocuous creatures like Samite Healer and Cat Collector to eke out as much value from crewing, stationing, and saddling as possible. Often, you’ll have to discard on your endstep, and dumping lands is usually the best play.
End-Game: Ideally, we want to have enough resources to draw 5-6 cards in a turn or manipulate with scrying before we cast Approach. That ensures we can quickly win on our next turn. A hand full of creature protection is also a good idea, and thankfully most of our protection is cheap to cast, 2 mana or less.
Card Breakdowns
Ramp
I don’t run a lot of ramp in this deck. Cards like Nature’s Lore or Skyshroud Claim end up feeling like dead cards, even in the early game. Instead, I focused on cheap creatures with mana abilities, like Avacyn’s Pilgrim, as well as the typical Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Thought Vessel. On the Trail is also a nice enchantment to have once you start drawing cards off Wylie Duke.
One notable exception, though, is Harvest Season. This card slots in perfectly, oftentimes paying for itself by grabbing 4-5 lands. This card is great to hold until the mid-to-late game as a way to push on your next turn. A massive ramp on turn 5 or 6 won’t really turn heads as much as it would on turn 3. Getting that influx of lands often means you can cast Approach and leave up 1 or 2 mana for protection.
Card Draw/Card Advantage
Wylie Duke is the primary draw engine in this deck, so I focused on finding ways to manipulate the top of our library to find what we need sooner. Mobile Homestead is a pet card in this deck for that reason. You can pretty easily get it out early and start flipping lands off the top of your library with its attack trigger.
Trelasarra, Moon Dancer synergizes nicely with Wylie Duke. Every time you turn Wylie sideways, you draw cards and gain one life, which allows you to scry with Trelasarra. Plus, getting the +1/+1 counters on her is a nice bonus. I’ve had games where she quickly becomes a sizeable threat.
There are a few other cards that I like for card draw and hunting for stuff. Glimmer Seeker gets you a creature and card draw, House Cartographer helps hunt down land cards if you are desperate for mana, and Rip, Spawn Hunter can easily pull you 1 or 2 permanents every time you turn him sideways.
Removal
We have the classic suite of removal here, with Swords to Plowshares for individual disruption and Farewell for mass removal. Split Up is also a great card in this deck, but it can be tricky to time correctly. It’s nice to play once you’ve tapped all your creatures to blow up vigilance creatures or newly minted tokens.
I’ve also included Run Over and Throw from the Saddle for thematic, cowboy spice. They act as nice ways to leverage that 10/10 Tresalarra for more than just combat.
Protection
This deck goes heavy on protection, but the protection helps us untap and draw more cards. The cheap protection like High Stride, Ornamental Courage, and Rustler Rampage are all ideal for untapping Wylie while also giving you the opportunity to push with him to draw more cards afterwards.
Lorwyn Eclipsed also brought us Adept Watershaper, which is an exceptionally strong card in this deck. Being able to tap your creatures without worrying about most removal is awesome. It also opens us up to the option for combat damage as a win condition, since our non-vigilance fellas can swing without threat of death.
Similarly, Saryth, The Viper’s Fang and The Wandering Rescuer can make our creatures hexproof, adding a layer of protection from targeted effects. Miriam, Herd Whisperer does a similar thing, but for our mounts and vehicles.
Utility / Support
Like I mentioned earlier, most of the support in this deck is designed to untap Wylie, and tap him, as much as possible.
I love cards like Citanul Stalwart, Gene Pollinator, or Survivor’s Encampment as ways to tap Wylie while also adding mana.
I’ve also added in some of the spacecraft and planets to help us tap our creatures more reliably. The Seriema is great tutor, Exploration Broodship can help us get high-value creatures back from the graveyard, and Adagia, Windswept Bastion can get us copies of mana rocks, vehicles, and auras.
To untap our creatures, I added Seeker of Skybreak and Fortune, Loyal Steed.
Mana Base
The mana base is pretty simple here, we don’t need to drop alot of money on fancy lands. We almost always have mana, and we’d just be adding in utility. In a pinch, we can use Bucolic Ranch to manipulate the top of our library, or Country Roads to get a quick pilot for a vehicle.
Win Conditions
Obviously, we aren’t going to win with Approach of the Second Sun every game, so how else can we win?
Combat damage is pretty much the only other way we can win, and we have access to some good flying creatures to smack for damage. Exemplar of Light gets bigger when we draw cards with Wylie, and Seraphic Steed makes us flying angels.
We have a nice trick up our sleeve with Veteran Beastrider. This card is so cheap, like $0.10, and yet it gives us a way to untap all our creatures on our end step and can buff the squad for only 4 mana.
Strengths of the Deck
Drawing multiple cards each turn, and on opponents’ turns.
Flying under the radar until you’re ready for a win/.
Presenting a big board with lots of little creatures that can saddle or crew.
Weaknesses of the Deck
Not super resilient to boardwipes.
If Approach gets countered we are usually cooked.
Deck Upgrades
If you start playing Wylie Duke and really like the gameplan and the way we get to use unique, valuable creatures, there are a few ways to make the deck a bit more threatening.
Synergy Value Improvements
I know I raved about Beastrider, but Drumbellower or Seedborn Muse are much better for us, allowing us to reliably draw cards on everyone else’s turn, often multiple times each turn.
The Elixir makes you a bit more of a threat, but being able to tap creatures with activated abilities is huge, bringing mana dorks and Gene Pollinator online a turn earlier.
The Cartographer is great for crewing vehicles and stuff, but being able to see the top of our library, cast dorks off the top, and activate any creature’s “When tapped” ability by adding mana is huge for us.
Conclusion
As it stands, Wylie Duke is one of my favorite budget builds. It’s fast, it plays well almost every time, and you get to run cool creatures no one else plays. I’ve played the Unswerving Sloth so many times against new folks and they’ve never seen it before, it’s awesome.
I think that at some point, I’ll upgrade the deck to support a few other win conditions. Halo Fountain is a good add here, and could easily slot in to replace a spacecraft. To support that win, I’d probably throw in a few other ways to make token creatures just to make it faster. The Millenium Calendar is also hilarious, but perhaps not the best win con for this deck.