Shirtless Studs (Thrasios and Bruse)

Commander / EDH RGWU

GayBlackNerd

Land (37)

• 1x Arctic Treeline
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 4x Forest
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Glacial Floodplain
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 4x Island
• 1x Jetmir's Garden
• 1x Ketria Triome
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 4x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Spara's Headquarters
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Volatile Fjord

Artifact (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Prismatic Geoscope
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (7)

• 1x Ajani Unyielding
• 1x Ajani Vengeant
• 1x Domri, Chaos Bringer
• 1x Garruk Wildspeaker
• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
• 1x Oko, Thief of Crowns
• 1x Xenagos, the Reveler

Creature (20)

• 1x Archetype of Courage
• 1x Daxos of Meletis
• 1x Doomed Artisan
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Dwarven Miner
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Frost Titan
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Keranos, God of Storms
• 1x Komainu Battle Armor
• 1x Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
• 1x Kumano, Master Yamabushi
• 1x Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
• 1x Maraxus of Keld
• 1x Mystic Snake
• 1x Orcish Lumberjack
• 1x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 1x Sage of Hours
• 1x Tovolar, Dire Overlord  ^Flip
• 1x Xenagos, God of Revels *f-etch*

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Collective Restraint
• 1x Cowardice
• 1x Damping Field
• 1x Dress Down
• 1x Frozen Aether
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Gratuitous Violence
• 1x Impatience
• 1x Lifegift
• 1x Simic Ascendancy

Instant (6)

• 1x Bind
• 1x Forbid
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Ignite the Beacon
• 1x Savage Beating
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Commanders (2)

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Balancing Act
• 1x Bribery
• 1x Cleansing Meditation
• 1x Earthquake
• 1x Govern the Guildless
• 1x Hammer of Bogardan
• 1x Howl of the Horde
• 1x Karn's Temporal Sundering
• 1x Winds of Abandon
• 1x Winds of Change

---

The first of my 4-color decks is one with a theme that is very near-and-dear to me. Although the best of them are in black, I decided to go with a shirtless men theme for this one. It was even more of a definite choice when I realized that both Bruse Tarl and Thrasios are shirtless! When I realized that, I felt that my decision to make this deck was divinely-ordained! Haha, but anyway, yeah, this is a deck where each non-artifact and non-land card depicts a shirtless male character.

This deck has a wide mix of cards, but there are two main themes to it; Beatdown and Pillow-fort-y Control. I guess some would call it a Midrange deck, but I have never been too clear about what midrange actually is. In any case, this deck can prevent us from being clobbered by making it harder for our enemies to attack us via interaction and tax effects. It can also straight up clobber our enemies with big, value-generating creatures. It is a bit janky, but that arises more from the gimmick of requiring shirtless hotties on so many of the cards.

We spend the early game setting up, doing things like ramping and protecting ourselves. Playing Thrasios early is usually the best bet, because he can make our draws better as we approach the mid-game. We also tend to play signets and small value-generating creatures like Orcish Lumberjack and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove in the early game. Expect to do very little in the first 4 turns, and spend that time sizing up your opponents so that you can decide what strategy you will be using in the later turns.

For the pillow-fort-aspect of the deck, we have a few interesting tools at our disposal. Collective Restraint and Ghostly Prison are the obvious pillow-fort cards. We also utilize interactive planeswalkers like Ajani Vengeant and Oko, Thief of Crowns to further keep pressure off of us. Oko is probably the best card in the deck, and the games this deck wins usually involve using Oko to turn off enemy commanders. Komainu Battle Armor is great at making threatening opponents attack people other than us, while Frozen Aether slows opponents and keeps hasty decks at bay. Balancing Act is a very interesting Balance-effect that can really save us when we fall far behind our opponents, or when one opponent gets really far ahead of everyone else.

And for the Beatdown-aspect of the deck, we have plenty of muscular studs to crush our opponents. Frost Titan and Inferno Titan do a lot of work when they land, and are absolute houses if they are able to attack a few times. It is a crime that there isn't a version of Sun Titan that depicts him shirtless, but we make do. Ruric Thar, the Unbowed just shuts down entire archetypes that our opponents are playing while also being a very good attacker. Xenagos, God of Revels turbo-charges our team, especially after we play Bruse Tarl to give our biggest creature double strike and lifelink. Also, never underestimate the power of Garruk Wildspeaker's -4 to overrun everyone, especially since he can do it the turn after you play him. And lastly, an entwined Savage Beating is oftentimes enough to destroy at least one opponent when we have at least 3 big boys out.

This deck can be fun to play, but keep in mind that it isn't much stronger than a precon. If you are playing in a high-power playgroup, this deck will not perform well enough to keep up. This is a slow deck whose win-condition involves attacking with creatures. There is only one infinite combo in this deck that can't even be tutored for, involving Sage of Hours and Simic Ascendancy. I've never pulled it off before, probably because it takes a total of 19 mana to win with it. If you are fine with a silly low-powered deck that has a lot of variance between games, this is a great deck for you. Pull it out when you are playing with a bunch of new players for maximum enjoyment.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 9 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.54
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Beast 4/4 RG, Day, Elk 3/3 G, Emblem Domri, Chaos Bringer, Food, Night, Satyr 2/2 GR, Sculpture */* C, Wurm 6/6 G