The Barebones Series
The barebones series was created to design the cheapest possible option for a deck that would still hold its own in a competitive environment/meta. Anyone who has been playing Commander for at least a month may already have the cards needed to upgrade this deck. For example, the simple addition of Command Tower is a breath of fresh air and a huge step in the right direction to making these decks run smoother. These decks serve as an affordable first step for any player new to cEDH or simply a more competitive mindset. They are meant to be played similar to how you would play any 100% cEDH deck. Any comments and criticism are welcome. To end, a disclaimer is needed. These decks are meant to be step one of a person's cEDH journey; maybe even step zero. Improvement of the deck should be a priority as of the first day of construction. The deck is designed to continue functioning no matter how far a player as progressed on its improvement, but a player who is truly interested in cEDH should have a goal to someday make the deck the best it can be. The current builds for 100% versions of these lists can be found elsewhere. Enjoy.
Win Cons
Non-Win Cons
Outlets
Activate Chandra's 0 ability to create two hasty Elementals. Sacrifice Chandra to a Korvold ETB trigger. Cast Nantuko Tracer, putting Chandra on the bottom of your empty library. Bounce Nantuko Tracer back to hand with Temur Sabertooth. Re-cast Korvold, sacrifice a token, draw Chandra. Re-cast Chandra, activate her 0 ability again for two more hasty Elementals. You've just demonstrated a loop for infinite hasty elementals. Swing for maximum profit.
If you have assembled your combo during your Main Phase I and Mayhem Devil has been exiled, this line is now a fun option. After drawing most/all of your deck and after successfully resolving Mortuary, cast and sacrifice Krosan Wayfarer to put a land into play. Mortuary will trigger, returning Krosan Wayfarer to the top of your library. To draw it, I suggest casting Korvold, Fae-Cursed King and sacrificing a Treasure Token, drawing Krosan Wayfarer. You can then use Temur Sabertooth's activated ability to return Korvold to hand. This demonstrates a loop that lets you place all land cards from your hand into play. Now, cast Destiny Spinner and all every Enchantment in your hand (as of me typing this, it was 7~). Activate Destiny Spinner's activated ability on each of your lands, animating them into 7/7 creatures with Trample and Haste. Go to combat and swing for lethal damage at your opponents.
To deal the 120~ damage needed to kill three opponents, you will need to swing with a minimum of 18 land creatures. If even after playing every land in your deck you do not have 18 untapped lands (maybe it's been a long game and you have a lot of tapped lands), you can animate your tapped lands with Destiny Spinner and sacrifice them to a Korvold ETB trigger. Mortuary will trigger for animated lands and place the land on top of your library, you can then repeat the usual process of drawing that card, and then replaying it with Krosan Wayfarer as shown above.
In case you have not caught on, the paragraph above unlocks the potential to "loop" lands of our choosing. This gives access to a few more outlets for pinch situations. If it's been a very convoluted game, and you simply don't have a lot of lands left in your hand or deck (maybe lots of milling and exiling?), you can still win via the combat phase, but only with three untapped lands, Centaur Garden, and Threshold. Just like before, prepare and animate your three untapped lands with Destiny Spinner and loop Centaur Garden until those lands are massively capable of smashing in for a solid win.
I would say that this line is simply showing off or "winmoar" but it servers a unique purpose as a line that's usable when winning at instant speed through the use of Emergence Zone. Just like the few combos mentioned above, this will be a loop putting Barbarian Ring in play with Krosan Wayfarer, activating Barbarian Ring's ability to ping an opponent for 2 damage, animating it with Destiny Spinner, saccing it to Korvold, putting it back on top of the library via Mortuary, and redrawing it Korvold. It's convoluted, but maybe you'll need it someday.
Side-notes
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Instant speed wins are possible by popping Emergence Zone.
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To avoid killing yourself after drawing most of your deck, you will have to either bounce or kill Korvold, the Fae-Cursed King. With infinite mana, Korvold becomes an ETB sac-outlet, so there's nothing to worry about, you'll be casting him again momentarily.
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Working with an empty library - Using Korvold as an ETB sac-outlet is dangerous when working off an empty library. The Treasure Tokens you sacrifice to activate Temur Sabertooth's ability will trigger Korvold before he's returned to your hand, killing you if you have an empty library. The way to get around this is either floating an arbitrarily large amount of mana before you begin your loops, while also maintaining an arbitrarily large amount of un-used treasure tokens, or first casting creatures that sacrifice themselves like Blood Pet or Skirk Prospector, looping them to the top of your library with Mortuary, and then proceeding to work with Korvold so you will draw those self-saccing creatures instead of losing the game. Obviously, option one is much more convenient than option two, but it is up to you to remember to mention that you float the mana. A third option is available by bouncing Korvold in response to his own ETB. He will not be in play to see his ETB trigger resolve and thus not cause a draw trigger to occur.
More Barebones Decks
