This week is a simple week because we are going to talk about theming. What makes a deck themed? What are some themes? Why would I theme? Questions such as this are important ones that needs be answered. I intend to answer them today and give some examples!
So first thing first a deck can be just a series of cards in certain colors with no real theme. Maybe you just like all those cards. But themes are very important and allow for better deckbuilding and in my opinion more fun decks! A theme can vary from simplistic to complex which can allow for some very unique and cool deck ideas!
So lets begin talking about actual themes, a theme is similar to what it is in other media and things. A general thing that the deck tries to synergize and revolve around. This can be a mechanic such as a deck that revolves around flying creatures or it can be a creature type like Samurais. It can even be a combination of both if people choose to do so. Some themes might even just be words on the card like drawing a card. There are many many varied themes in magic and I am going to try to explain many of them here today with card examples as well.
First we will talk about mechanic themes. The one id like to highlight in this is something called Exalted. Its a mechanic that encourages attacking with a creature alone. There are many creatures with this mechanic but its best to choose a commander that not only shares the mechanic but also highlights it and increases its effectiveness. For Exalted we can use:
Rafiq boosts Exalted creatures and has it himself making him a powerful commander choice for this theme. Picking him is also better as he has a more diverse color combination which allows more creatures, artifacts, etc. This is good example of a mechanic based theme.
The next them is referred to as tribal, which is using a creature type to make most of the deck. One of my personal Favorite examples is Zombies. Zombie tribal is both powerful and fun to play as they have a lot of synergy. Multiple colors and types. An amazing example of a Zombie Tribal commander is:
As you can see from the card, Scarab God is a amazing zombie commander and it is not even a Zombie itself. Using this card to theme a deck makes it not only easier to make but easier to play as well, it makes deck building more fun and interesting as a whole. Tribal decks are very popular and are typically the best baseline to learn how to deck build.
An example of a combo of both mechanics and tribal is a card that says using a certain creature type to make a mechanic work. There are lots of different ways this can work, one of the best examples I can think of is:
Azami, is a great theme for Wizards because she lets you use them to do something. BUT she also like drawing cards so theming the deck to have many wizards but cards that also combo with card drawing. It give a broader selection of cards which allows for a more interesting deck as a whole. Its also usually a bit harder to make but more fun as whole. In my opinion having fun is the key here, not winning. While Azami isn’t powerful she can win games, but in my experience I always have fun using her.
The last major theme is color combos. And this one is tough because there are a lot of combos. First there are the 2 color combos referred to as guilds. There are 10 guilds:
These 10 also usually have there own unique theme mechanics, as the image above shows it sort of gives you an idea of what each like to do build around.
Next are the 3 color combos this is one of the weirder categorys because its split in half there 5 shards and 5 clans, these 10 did not come out at the same time but again they incite a theme. For example Jund likes to sacrifice and attack a lot. And Abzan likes to be defense and responsive.
The last 2 major color combo ideas don’t really have a name, its 4 color combos to which there are only 5 as the main differing factor being the missing color. The last theme is referred to as WUBRG or 5 color it is very obviously the only one in this theme. There are some very interesting decks that use 4 or 5 colors but these are typically much harder to build and I would recommend newer players stray away from until they get more comfortable.
That concludes this weeks post, it is short and sweet this week but its a very key element to commander. Choosing a theme really helps build a deck especially the more fun and interesting ones. I highly recommend that if anyone is new to commander to choose a theme to build around there are many many many options. My favorite of course being Tribal and that will be its own dedicated week. I hope these ideas and deckbuilding examples and yips are helping anyone who is interested in MTG but doesn’t want to spend money on every new set. I look forward to hear any feedback, and or what topic you’d like me to cover next. We will be posting a deck list based around a single color combo with a theme, that theme being vampires for the most part. That being said it will include powerful cards in its colors due to the way the commander works. IM excited to keep updating and informing everyone about MTG!
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