Introduction
I've always been interested in goofy commander decks built around a certain theme rather than a certain strategy (Ladies Looking Left, for example). One theme that struck me as a particular challenge was building a deck that relied solely on lands. 99 land commander decks are not a new concept, but most of them are either built as a meme or with a one turn win combo in mind. The real challenge comes from trying to create a coherent and consistent strategy. How are you supposed to win a serious game of commander without playing any spells in your deck?
In the past, a serious commander deck built around 99 lands was nigh impossible to pull off due to the lack of any coherent or consistent strategy. However, Core Set 2020 changed this with the introduction of Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Field of the Dead. Golos's ability to tutor and ramp, along with the land synergy of Field of the Dead, fix both of the aforementioned issues.
Main Strategy
There are three main ideas that the deck is built around.
1. Ramp out Golos as early as possible.
2. Recur Golos and replay him as often as possible
3. Play lands that fetch or put more lands/tokens on to the battlefield.
Because Field of the Dead requires seven or more different lands on the battlefield to start making tokens, you want to play Golos as early as possible. There are very few lands that produce extra mana early on, so almost all of them are played in the deck.
Ancient Tomb, Teferi's Isle, and Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper are permanent sources of extra mana. They are the most useful extra mana lands because they don't rely on counters or paying mana to make use of them. These are cards that you should always keep in your starting hand.
Peat Bog and the rest of the mono depletion lands increase the consistency with which you can ramp out Golos. While they lack the restrictions that Teferi's Isle and Untaidake have, you can only tap them for mana twice before they are destroyed. You can afford to mulligan these if you don't have any other useful lands in your hand.
Krosan Verge, Myriad Landscape, and Terrain Generator function as both ramp in the early game and fetches for tokens in the late game. These aren't a bad option to keep in your starting hand, but don't crack them unless you know for sure that you need them to ramp in to turn 3 or 4 Golos.
Crystal Vein and lands like it (which I will call Vein Lands) can ramp out Golos without relying on counters or extra mana investment. These have anti-synergy with Field of the Dead, but that doesn't matter if you can reliably play Golos on turn 3.
Gemstone Caverns is the strongest ramp card in the deck as long as it is in your starting hand. It brings you one turn closer to Golos and Field of the Dead with zero downside. ALWAYS keep Gemstone Caverns if it is in your starting hand.
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods and Temple of the False God don't help you play Golos earlier, but extra mana is useful later in the game.
Recursion Show
Sanctum of Eternity is the only land that allows you to consistently recur Golos. Bounce Golos to your hand and replay him every turn to find the lands you need and make more tokens. This should ALWAYS be the first card you tutor up with Golos.
Deserted Temple allows you to re-use whatever land you want. Its main role is to untap Sanctum of Eternity in extreme late game situations to replay Golos.
Endless Sands, Mirrorpool, Safe Haven, and Littjara Mirrorlake allow you to replay Golos, either by exiling him to the Command Zone or using their flicker effects. Mirrorpool is included because you can choose to keep the non-token Golos alive if you don't want to pay command tax, but the option is there.
Copy and Fetch Lands Show
Vesuva and
Thespian's Stage are both top priorities to tutor up after Field of the Dead and Sanctum of Eternity. Each copy of Field of the Dead makes a token as long as conditions are met. Always keep these alongside any early game ramp.
Blighted Woodland, Krosan Verge, and Warped Landscape tap for colorless mana and fetch multiple lands at once, producing extra tokens compared to the other fetch lands.
Terminal Moraine, Warped Landscape, and Bant Panorama + the Panorama cycle are fetches that can also tap for colorless mana. They are useful when you need lands to play Golos early but want to burst out a lot of tokens later in the game.
Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and Flood Plain + the other slow fetches aren't very strong, but being able to fetch + mana fix and produce more tokens is better than nothing.
Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter technically fetch for lands with huge downsides. These are better used as political tools rather than fetches for tokens.
TL;DR: Play Golos early with lands that produce extra mana. Fetch for Sanctum of Eternity and replay Golos as often as possible. Field of the Dead, Thespian's Stage, and Vesuva produce tokens after every land drop, and fetch lands help you play more lands per turn.
Companions
The "Companion" key word released in Ikoria allows for decks to have a pseudo-commander that exists in the sideboard.
My goal with the deck is to run no spells. However, companions exist in the sideboard and not the deck, so I dont feel like it's too much of a flavor fail. Most decks will auto-include certain companions anyways, so I don't feel too bad running one in this deck.With that said, there are currently 10 companion cards, 4 of which are compatible with Golos (horray for commanders technically being part of a deck :D)
Jegantha, the Wellspring and Umori, the Collector are the main companion candidates. I switched to Umori because it makes Golos cheaper to cast.
Techs and Other Strategies
Tokens + Board Pump Show
2/2 zombies are strong, but how can we make them stronger without any spells?
Novijen, Heart of Progress and Gavony Township put +1/+1 counters on some or all of your tokens. Nothing super interesting, but it makes your tokens exponentially bigger the longer the game goes on. Karn's Bastion doubles up on counters when you have extra mana, and can even replenish your depletion lands if they are still in play.
Kessig Wolf Run and Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion pump a single creature more efficiently than the +1/+1 lands. They are also useable with Golos to kill via commander damage. Lavaclaw Reaches is an honorary mention here as it is a man-land, but it achieves a similar goal.
Castle Embereth doesn't permenantly buff your board, but +1/+0 still goes a long way when you have a board full of tokens.
Westvale Abbey
creates a large token that is difficult to remove and attack around.
Protection + Stall Show
Sometimes making a billion tokens isn't enough to win a game of commander. Heavy aggro and control matchups often necessitate a more conservative strategy.
Kor Haven, Labyrinth of Skophos, and Maze of Ith help you survive against decks that focus on combat to kill you. These lands are especially good at shutting down commanders that could otherwise kill you easily with commander damage.
Prahv, Spires of Order is useful against both aggro and combo/otk decks. Damage prevention can target most sources, even those that are on the stack. This card doubles as protection from damaging board clears, and can be used as a political tool if you are falling behind.
Vault of the Archangel Turns your zombies in to lifelink deathtouchers that can't be easily blocked or attacked against.
Counters and Removal Show
Creature Removal:
Arena and
Blighted Fen are some of the only lands that can remove creatures consistently. You can even combo Arena with
Vault of the Archangel to guarantee that your opponent loses a creature, given that they don't have one that is indestructable.
Graveyard Strategies: Bojuka Bog and Scavenger Grounds give you a few shots at exiling an opponent's graveyard.
Land Destruction: Petrified Field is a one-off check for games where your Sanctum or Field get Strip Mine'd.
Upgrades
If you are wondering why X card isn't being played in the deck, chances are it's either inefficient or too much of a financial burden to be worth putting in the deck.
Fetch Lands Show
The fetch lands in the maybeboard are all better than the fetches in the deck. However, they are only slightly better and not worth it unless you have them on hand.
Other Lands Show
Phyrexian Tower and
Scorched Ruins have potential roles in the deck. However, I feel like they are counter-intuitive as they both set you behind in some way. Phyrexian Tower can help you ramp later in the game and even send Golos to the command zone, but I dont feel like these are good reasons to run it. Scorched Ruins sets you behind on lands, and playing Golos slightly more consistently on turn 4 isn't worth the anti-synergy with Field of the Dead and other ramp lands.
Scrying Sheets paired with snow lands gives you the chance to draw in to basic lands, but I'd rather use lands that straight up draw a card anyways.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle has a weak effect, and it forces the deck to run a lot more basic lands and other mountains to be worth considering.
Mishra's Workshop makes turn 3 Golos consistent, and turn 2 Golos possible outside of very specific land combinations.
CHANGE LOG
9/10/2020 - Replaced Ghost Quarter with Fabled Passage because of reprint. Replaced Arena for Crumbling Vestige because of the ETB Mana, which is useful when fetched with Golos.
4/9/2020 - Replaced Maze's End + Gates for Vein Lands. Makes Turn 3/4 Golos more consistent.
4/10/2020 - ̶A̶d̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶J̶e̶g̶a̶n̶t̶h̶a̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶e̶l̶l̶s̶p̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶a̶n̶i̶o̶n̶.̶ ̶H̶e̶l̶p̶s̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶v̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶i̶l̶i̶t̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶w̶/̶ ̶m̶u̶l̶t̶i̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶n̶a̶ ̶s̶y̶m̶b̶o̶l̶s̶.̶ *check note at 2/23/2021
5/25/2020 - Replaced Cycling lands for Triomes. Replaced 1x copy of each basic for snow lands, to make fetching with Myriad Landscape proc Field of the Dead sooner.
2/23/2021 - Replaced partner Jegantha, the Wellspring for Umori, the Collector. Replaced Grove of the Guardian and Kjeldoran Outpost for The World Tree and Littjara Mirrorlake for additional mana fixing + copying Golos.
