Haldan and Pako / Ultimate Thieves

Commander / EDH Exile Haste RUG (Temur) Scry

Gurt_The_Hurt

Land (36)

• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 6x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 6x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Lumbering Falls
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Rockfall Vale
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Fury of the Horde
• 1x Irenicus's Vile Duplication
• 1x Jeska's Will
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Portent
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Primal Command
• 1x Relentless Assault
• 1x Seize the Day
• 1x Tempt with Discovery

Creature (16)

• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald
• 1x Hellkite Charger
• 1x Karlach, Fury of Avernus
• 1x Mina and Denn, Wildborn
• 1x Mizzix, Replica Rider
• 1x Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1x Nalfeshnee
• 1x Sage of the Beyond
• 1x Sapphire Dragon
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Uvilda, Dean of Perfection  ^Flip
• 1x Wild-Magic Sorcerer
• 1x Wulfgar of Icewind Dale
• 1x Young Blue Dragon

Artifact (14)

• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Empowered Autogenerator
• 1x Fractal Harness
• 1x Helm of the Host
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lithoform Engine
• 1x Ring of Kalonia
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Tenza, Godo's Maul
• 1x The Reaver Cleaver
• 1x Tome of Legends
• 1x Wand of Wonder

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Mind's Dilation
• 1x Octopus Umbra
• 1x Passionate Archaeologist
• 1x Simic Ascendancy
• 1x Stolen Strategy

Commanders (2)

Instant (10)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Commit / Memory
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Double Major
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Hinder
• 1x Memory Lapse
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Reclaim
• 1x Swan Song

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1x Zariel, Archduke of Avernus

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Double Vision
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Precognition
• 1x Psychic Surgery
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Swarm Intelligence

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Creature (6)

• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Wandering Archaic  ^Flip
• 1x Wayward Swordtooth
• 1x Wildfire Devils

Instant (1)

• 1x Vanishment

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Explore
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Gone Missing
• 1x Temporal Spring

Artifact (3)

• 1x Lantern of Insight
• 1x Ornate Kanzashi
• 1x Spellbinder

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Pako and Haldan, a man and his living elemental war machine that steals power for his master with every bite. They may look friendly but these two are master thieves.

Our goal is to utilize Pako to steal our opponents cards as fast as possible and beef up our goodest boy in the process. We swing as fast and as often as Pako can while building our defenses in the background. Opponents are often far too focused on not getting chomped on to worry about the real dangers.

Each Attack from Pako potentially gives Pako +4 counters before damage and builds up resources from our opponents decks.

To ensure it's not our own creatures we exile, we play Ponder, Portent, Preordain, and Serum Visions to manipulate our topdeck.

Cards like Stolen Strategy, Wand of Wonder, Nassari, Dean of Expression  , and Mind's Dilation all help us exile and steal opponent's cards before they play them.

If they make it beyond those we have Primal Command, Memory Lapse, Hinder, and Commit / Memory to launch their permanents back to their library and potentially stolen for us via Pako. Try to play these before the combat phase so we can snatch it before they have a chance to reclaim it.

Since all of our stolen cards via Pako are all exiled, We Use Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, Nalfeshnee, Passionate Archaeologist, Wild-Magic Sorcerer, and Sage of the Beyond to capitalize on the cards cast from exile.

To get maximum thievery we utilize cards like Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, Strionic Resonator, and Lithoform Engine to copy Pako's exile effect.

We use Helm of the Host, Double Major, Spark Double, and Irenicus's Vile Duplication to copy Pako. One is scary enough as is.

We can get even more value from Pako through multiple combat phases utilizing Karlach, Fury of Avernus, Moraug, Fury of Akoum, Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, Hellkite Charger, Seize the Day, Fury of the Horde, and Relentless Assault. More phases = more exiles and counters

For Ramp we have the classics of course. Even better though, is that lands exiled via Pako can be played by us with Haldan. To capitalize we use Druid Class, and Mina and Denn, Wildborn to play those stolen lands.

We've got counter spells but primarily for protection. With Fierce Guardianship, Turn Aside, Commit / Memory, Deflecting Swat, Hinder, Memory Lapse, Swan Song, and Sapphire Dragon, we have a handy amount of defenses to protect the precious magic doggy.

This deck even has a few combos!

With Bear Umbra and Hellkite Charger and at least 7 lands we get infinite combat phases!

With Fractal Harness we cast the X for 0 and just equip it to Pako. Since it doubles with attacking, let Pako resolve first, then the equipment, then damage. This way pako can potentially swing for a max of 11 if he's just got out! Better yet if Pako lives with the harness then chaos ensues. I had a game run with Pako getting 1000+ counters from just 1 attack, pure insanity.

Putting Aqueous Form on Pako and letting it resolve first lets us scry our deck and potentially protect our utility creatures from pako's fetch. The unblockable aspect is a nice touch too.

The The Reaver Cleaver on Pako is proper scary, especially if Pako managed to stay alive a few combats. Plus if we manage multiple combats, 1 turn can ramp you to mana heaven.

Despite all of these strategies, there's a big problem with this deck:

Pako is one scary poochie.

Every attack buffs him and gives us opponent's cards to use, making him a big target. He'll inevitably be removed despite our protective cards, but that's the plan. Once he's back in the commander's pen we summon Haldan to utilize the stolen goods. Having both out is asking for a board wipe. Hopefully we exiled a bunch of lands so we can mitigate the extra cost of Pako's revenge.

I'm thinking of adding more lands but am unsure. If I do I'll remove some of the redundancies in place but I'm happy with sitting at 36. Any feedback or card recommendations is greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: I removed Oko, Thief of Crowns in favor of making an Oathbreaker deck. I also removed Turn Aside, Serum Visions, and Thran Dynamo in favor of Bolt Bend, Ring of Kalonia, Tenza, Godo's Maul, and Simic Ascendancy

I realised evry time Pako swings he just gets blocked by chumps. With Embercleave, Tenza, Godo's Maul we can trample through our foes.

Simic Ascendancy is also a great card for Pako. It only takes a few turns to win and draws targets away from Pako.

I've also realized I prefer redirecting spells like Bolt Bend and Deflecting Swat over straight counterspells. I'll be using more cards like these.

Further Update: I've replaced Bolt bend with Jace the mind sculpter after acquiring the card. That and bbolt bend fits into a Stangg deck i'm working on and he needs the counterspells.

Replaced Druid class with Azusa after getting the card

Date added	1 year
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.64
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Devil 1/1 R, Emblem Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, Fractal 0/0 GU, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	Want, Pako and Haldan lover