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About the Author
Kai has been playing Magic since Innistrad, but only started playing more seriously in the Khans block. Kai's favorite format is EDH.

Deepfathom Skulker’s Potential in Commander

This is the second article in my series about cheaper alternatives to more expensive cards. First, I want to write a little bit about some of the feedback I got on my pilot article, which received some helpful critique, specifically on the title of the article: Is Stoneforge Mystic Really that Good? Many people disliked the title because I didn’t really cover why Stoneforge wasn’t very good, I mostly focused on why Godo was good. The second criticism was that I was comparing a white card to a red card, because I was comparing [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card] to [card] Godo, Bandit Warlord [/card]. I’ll try to address these concerns when talking about Deepfathom Skulker in this piece.

Today, I will compare [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card], a new card from Oath of the Gatewatch to [card] Bident of Thassa [/card]. Thassa’s Bident are cards played in many unblockable themed Simic decks, including [card] Edric, Spymaster of Trest [/card] and some versions of [card] Kaseto, Orochi Archmage [/card] commander decks.

So, at first glance, Deepfathom Skulker seems to be a two in one, a [card] Thassa, God of the Sea [/card] and a [card] Bident of Thassa [/card] mashed into one card. Thassa herself doesn’t see much play in Edric and Kaseto because of the fact that Kaseto already makes your creatures unblockable, and Edric’s creatures generally already have evasion. But, Bident of Thassa, on the other hand, sees a lot of play because it gives you tons of extra value when you attack with unblockable creatures.

Let’s take a look at how much the Bident is played in Kaseto and Edric. According to EDHREC, the Bident is played in 82% of Kaseto decks, and is played in 51% of Edric decks, which makes sense because Edric already does what the Bident does.

After looking over the Bident and [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card], it kind of seems like [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] is actually pretty bad, because it’s basically the Bident, but it costs 2 more mana and is more vulnerable to removal, because it’s a creature, and the second ability doesn’t seem awfully relevant because as I said before, Kaseto already is able to grant unblockability and Edric’s team usually already has evasion naturally.

Both Kaseto decks and Edric decks are extremely commander-centric, because without Kaseto, the deck cannot function because you can not get your creatures in to hit for value. But, with [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card], even if Kaseto is too expensive to recast, you don’t just lose. [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] allows the deck to still function, albeit at a lower power level.

Edric decks are also very commander-centric, because without Edric, you can’t grind out any value. [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] allows the deck to still generate value, which [card] Bident of Thassa [/card] also does. But, for two extra mana, [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] lets your creatures without native unblockability to hit for extra value.

One last thing that we haven’t talked about yet is the Bident’s second ability. When you’re playing this sort of deck with a bunch of really small creatures that swing for value, you never really want to have someone to swing with all, most likely at you, because you were the one who forced them to do so in the first place, so it’s irrelevant in 99% of games.

Let’s first look at some decklists and then talk about how to maximize [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] in your commander deck. First, let’s look at a [card] Edric, Spymaster of Trest [/card] deck generated by EDHREC:

[deck title=Edric Commander Deck]
[Creatures]
*1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
*1 Acidic Slime
*1 Arbor Elf
*1 Chasm Skulker
*1 Cloud of Faeries
*1 Cloud Sprite
*1 Cloudfin Raptor
*1 Coiling Oracle
*1 Craterhoof Behemoth
*1 Elvish Mystic
*1 Eternal Witness
*1 Flying Men
*1 Fyndhorn Elves
*1 Hypnotic Siren
*1 Invisible Stalker
*1 Jace’s Phantasm
*1 Jhessian Infiltrator
*1 Llanowar Elves
*1 Lorescale Coatl
*1 Murkfiend Liege
*1 Mystic Snake
*1 Oracle of Mul Daya
*1 Prophet of Kruphix
*1 Psychosis Crawler
*1 Reclamation Sage
*1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
*1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
*1 Scryb Sprites
*1 Silhana Ledgewalker
*1 Spellstutter Sprite
*1 Spiketail Hatchling
*1 Spire Tracer
*1 Treetop Scout
*1 Triton Shorestalker
*1 Trygon Predator
*1 Wingcrafter
*1 Zephyr Sprite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Beast Within
*1 Counterspell
*1 Cyclonic Rift
*1 Hinder
*1 Krosan Grip
*1 Mystical Tutor
*1 Negate
*1 Pongify
*1 Spell Crumple
*1 Unified Will
*1 Voidslime
*1 Garruk Wildspeaker
*1 Bident of Thassa
*1 Lightning Greaves
*1 Simic Signet
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Swiftfoot Boots
*1 Cultivate
*1 Green Sun’s Zenith
*1 Notorious Throng
*1 Rite of Replication
*1 Triumph of the Hordes
*1 Beastmaster Ascension
*1 Coastal Piracy
*1 Druids’ Repository
*1 Exploration
[/Spells]
[Land]
*1 Terramorphic Expanse
*1 Misty Rainforest
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Flooded Grove
*1 Alchemist’s Refuge
*1 Thornwood Falls
*1 Simic Guildgate
*1 Temple of Mystery
*1 Yavimaya Coast
*1 Simic Growth Chamber
*1 Breeding Pool
*1 Hinterland Harbor
*1 Command Tower
*1 Reliquary Tower
*17 Island
*4 Forest
[/Land]
[/Deck]

Next, let’s analyze how well [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] can replace [card] Bident of Thassa [/card] in this deck. We have to look at two things in this deck. First, the availability of colorless mana and the number of creatures without native unblockability, which can be granted unblockability with Deepfathom Skulker to hit for extra value. This Edric deck, generated from user submitted decks on EDHREC, has 5 colorless sources, which is more than enough when you’re drawing so many cards with Edric, so you’re almost guaranteed to find to find a few of them to repeatedly activate [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] a few times every turn to keep your deck functioning.

Next, let’s look at our second commander deck, [card] Kaseto, Orochi Archmage [/card]. Again, generated through EDHREC:

[deck title=Kaseto Commander Deck]
[Creatures]
*1 Kaseto, Orochi Archmage
*1 Acidic Slime
*1 Adaptive Automaton
*1 Ambush Viper
*1 Blight Mamba
*1 Broodbirth Viper
*1 Chameleon Colossus
*1 Coiling Oracle
*1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
*1 Eternal Witness
*1 Hooded Hydra
*1 Kashi-Tribe Elite
*1 Lorescale Coatl
*1 Lotus Cobra
*1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
*1 Mystic Snake
*1 Ohran Viper
*1 Orochi Eggwatcher
*1 Orochi Sustainer
*1 Patagia Viper
*1 Patron of the Orochi
*1 Prophet of Kruphix
*1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
*1 Sakiko, Mother of Summer
*1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
*1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
*1 Sakura-Tribe Springcaller
*1 Seshiro the Anointed
*1 Shisato, Whispering Hunter
*1 Shizuko, Caller of Autumn
*1 Skullwinder
*1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
*1 Trygon Predator
*1 Wasteland Viper
*1 Winged Coatl
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*1 Explosive Vegetation
*1 Kodama’s Reach
*1 Overrun
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Sosuke’s Summons
*1 Time of Need
*1 Bident of Thassa
*1 Coat of Arms
*1 Door of Destinies
*1 Obelisk of Urd
*1 Orochi Hatchery
*1 Scytheclaw
*1 Simic Signet
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Snake Basket
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Swiftfoot Boots
*1 Thought Vessel
*1 Beast Within
*1 Cobra Trap
*1 Cyclonic Rift
*1 Krosan Grip
*1 Pongify
*1 Rapid Hybridization
*1 Simic Charm
*1 Snakeform
*1 Beastmaster Ascension
*1 Nature’s Will
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*1 Breeding Pool
*1 Command Tower
*1 Evolving Wilds
*10 Forest
*12 Island
*1 Lumbering Falls
*1 Mosswort Bridge
*1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
*1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Simic Growth Chamber
*1 Simic Guildgate
*1 Temple of Mystery
*1 Temple of the False God
*1 Terramorphic Expanse
*1 Thornwood Falls
*1 Yavimaya Coast
[/Lands]
[/Deck]

So, let’s see how well [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] would replace [card] Bident of Thassa [/card] in this Kaseto EDH decks generated through EDHREC. There are 6 colorless sources in the deck, which is a decent amount to be able to use Deepfathom Skulker as a replacement for Kaseto. I would throw in a few more mana rocks into the deck if you were to replace [card] Bident of Thassa [/card] with [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] because without Kaseto, your deck literally can’t function at all, where as in Edric, the deck can still function without Edric.

To maximize [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card], you’ll want to include 8-10 colorless sources to repeatedly activate it. Though [card] Deepfathom Skulker [/card] and [card] Bident of Thassa [/card] are both inexpensive, I think Skulker can beat the Bident at its own game.

Is Stoneforge Mystic Really That Good?

Let’s face it. Commander can be expensive. Though commander is a casual format, it is becoming harder and harder to build a good commander deck without draining your wallet. As much as we want to, we don’t have unlimited amounts of money. There are often cards that would make your deck really powerful, but are on the other hand, really expensive. Commander shouldn’t be as expensive as formats like Standard. I believe there is a way to find the effects you need in your commander deck without having to pay too much to do it.

Let me introduce myself. I’m Kai Chang, and my mission is to try to help commander players in the same situation as myself, by writing about ways you can save money playing commander. I want this series to cover cheap, underrated commander cards, alternatives to expensive commander cards, which ultimately leads you to be able to have more powerful decks, play more commander, and have more fun playing Magic. Let’s dive right into it! Voltron decks, decks focused on killing your opponents with commander damage, need to suit up their commander with lots of equipment, to do more commander damage to win more quickly. Well, you don’t just need any equipment, you need certain equipment to get through certain board states. Well, how do you find the equipment in your deck? Tutors.

When thinking of equipment tutors, what first card comes to mind is [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card], but [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card] is a 25$ card, too expensive for many commander players. So, let’s look at some cheaper alternatives. We’re not going to look at equipment tutors like [card] Stonehewer Giant [/card] or [card] Steelshaper Apprentice [/card], because they are already heavily played as equipment tutors, and the goal of this series is to help uncover hidden gems, underrated commander cards, not to promote already heavily played equipment tutors.

First, we have [card] Godo, Bandit Warlord [/card]. It has the same enter the battlefield as [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card], so that’s not any worse than [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card] in that aspect. It does not have [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card] ’s second ability, and costs considerably more to cast. Commander is a slower format, so
Godo’s high mana cost isn’t very much of a downside.

Though Godo is red, Boros are the best Voltron colors, including Tajic, Aurelia, and more recently Kalemne, so they can usually include both [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card] and Godo, but I want to convince you that Godo isn’t just a budget substitution, that it’s even better than [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card].

[card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card] ’s second ability isn’t very powerful in commander, because, when you think about it, many of the powerful equipment in commander are two or less mana to cast already, such as [card] Umezawa’s Jitte [/card], [card] Lightning Greaves [/card], [card] Trailblazer Boots [/card], [card] Skullclamp [/card] et cetera. Sure, you can drop the Swords one turn earlier, but in commander, [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card]’s second ability is near useless. [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card]’s second ability also requires it to tap, so limiting it to only be able to drop only one equipment per turn isn’t very strong. The second ability does have one upside though; the equipment played by it can’t be countered, but Godo’s effect already automatically puts the fetched equipment onto the battlefield, so the downside of not having the second effect is lessened by that.

On the other hand, at first glance, Godo’s second ability seems very weak. It seems like something you wouldn’t play outside of a Samurai tribal deck, but, in fact, the ability is very strong in commander. Though they aren’t Samurai, vigilance creatures can still attack during the extra combat phase, because they are still untapped from the first combat phase. What good vigilance creatures are already played in commander? Well, as I mentioned earlier in the article, [card] Stonehewer Giant [/card] is usually in this sort of deck, and that has Vigilance, so it can take advantage of Godo’s second combat phase. Another card that you probably are including in your deck is [card] Sun Titan [/card]. Don’t tell me that attacking twice with [card] Sun Titan [/card] isn’t good. When your commander is suited up with some equipment, it probably also has vigilance. Attacking twice
with your commander is huge.

Let’s look at Godo versus Stoneforge Mystic in a Tajic decklist generated by EDHREC:
[deck title= Tajic Commander Deck]
[Creatures]
*1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
*1 Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran
*1 Angelic Overseer
*1 Anger
*1 Archetype of Courage
*1 Aurelia, the Warleader
*1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
*1 Boros Reckoner
*1 Captain of the Watch
*1 Firemane Avenger
*1 Frontline Medic
*1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
*1 Hero of Bladehold
*1 Iroas, God of Victory
*1 Legion Loyalist
*1 Mentor of the Meek
*1 Odric, Master Tactician
*1 Puresteel Paladin
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
*1 Silverblade Paladin
*1 Solemn Simulacrum
*1 Stoneforge Mystic
*1 Stonehewer Giant
*1 Sun Titan
*1 Sunhome Guildmage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*1 Assemble the Legion
*1 Cathars’ Crusade
*1 Gleam of Battle
*1 Glory of Warfare
*1 Land Tax
*1 Legion’s Initiative
*1 Mobilization
*1 Oblivion Ring
*1 True Conviction
*1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
*1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
*1 Boros Cluestone
*1 Boros Keyrune
*1 Boros Signet
*1 Darksteel Ingot
*1 Lightning Greaves
*1 Loxodon Warhammer
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Sunforger
*1 Swiftfoot Boots
*1 Sword of Feast and Famine
*1 Sword of Fire and Ice
*1 Worldslayer
*1 Aurelia’s Fury
*1 Boros Charm
*1 Chaos Warp
*1 Condemn
*1 Enlightened Tutor
*1 Master Warcraft
*1 Oblation
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Return to Dust
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Austere Command
*1 Blasphemous Act
*1 Day of Judgment
*1 Martial Coup
*1 Steelshaper’s Gift
*1 Wrath of God
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*1 Battlefield Forge
*1 Boros Garrison
*1 Boros Guildgate
*1 Clifftop Retreat
*1 Command Tower
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Mountain
*1 Plains
*1 Rugged Prairie
*1 Sacred Foundry
*1 Slayers’ Stronghold
*1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
*1 Temple of the False God
*1 Temple of Triumph
*1 Wind-Scarred Crag
[/Lands]
[/deck]
Out of the eight equipment in the deck, five are worth putting onto the battlefield with Stoneforge. Though more than half of the equipment are worth Stoneforging (new word), you are usually saving one or two mana, which is not very powerful. Meanwhile there are five vigilance creatures. Having five creature that can attack twice is better than having five equipment that you can play at a cheaper price, so in this decklist of Tajic, Godo would well outclass [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card], and should probably have [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card]’s spot in the deck.

Let’s take a look at another deck, this time a EDHREC generated [card] Aurelia, the Warleader [/card] deck:

[deck title= Aurelia Commander Deck]
[Creatures]
*1 Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran
*1 Angelic Overseer
*1 Anger
*1 Archetype of Courage
*1 Aurelia, the Warleader
*1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
*1 Boros Reckoner
*1 Captain of the Watch
*1 Firemane Avenger
*1 Frontline Medic
*1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
*1 Hero of Bladehold
*1 Iroas, God of Victory
*1 Legion Loyalist
*1 Mentor of the Meek
*1 Odric, Master Tactician
*1 Puresteel Paladin
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
*1 Silverblade Paladin
*1 Solemn Simulacrum
*1 Stoneforge Mystic
*1 Stonehewer Giant
*1 Sun Titan
*1 Sunhome Guildmage
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*1 Aggravated Assault
*1 Assemble the Legion
*1 Land Tax
*1 Legion’s Initiative
*1 Oblivion Ring
*1 True Conviction
*1 Austere Command
*1 Steelshaper’s Gift
*1 Waves of Aggression
*1 World at War
*1 Wrath of God
*1 Argentum Armor
*1 Boros Keyrune
*1 Boros Signet
*1 Darksteel Ingot
*1 Darksteel Plate
*1 Lightning Greaves
*1 Loxodon Warhammer
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Sunforger
*1 Swiftfoot Boots
*1 Sword of Feast and Famine
*1 Sword of Fire and Ice
*1 Sword of Light and Shadow
*1 Aurelia’s Fury
*1 Boros Charm
*1 Chaos Warp
*1 Enlightened Tutor
*1 Master Warcraft
*1 Oblation
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Return to Dust
*1 Savage Beating
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Wear // Tear
*1 Ajani Vengeant
*1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*1 Arid Mesa
*1 Battlefield Forge
*1 Boros Garrison
*1 Boros Guildgate
*1 Clifftop Retreat
*1 Command Tower
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Mistveil Plains
*1 Mountain
*1 Plains
*1 Rugged Prairie
*1 Sacred Foundry
*1 Slayers’ Stronghold
*1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
*1 Temple of the False God
*1 Temple of Triumph
*1 Terramorphic Expanse
*1 Wind-Scarred Crag
[/Lands]
[/deck]
Out of the ten equipment in the deck, seven are Stoneforgable. In all the creatures, four have vigilance. Though there are more Stoneforgable equipments than vigilant creatures, the commander has vigilance, so that makes Godo super worth it in this deck. This generated deck squeezed in Godo, though it’s only played in 33% of the Aurelia decks. I think it would probably still be profitable to cut Stoneforge from the decklist and add another different card, and save some money. So, in this deck, since the commander has vigilance, Godo is better than [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card].

To maximize the juice you can get out of Godo, try including some of these vigilance ­enablers: A good equipment that grants us vigilance is Ring of Thune, which is also just a great Voltron card Even if the card doesn’t do much or anything else other than to grant vigilance, if you have Godo out, those equipment become pure powerhouses, so cards like Avacyn’s Collar and Accorder’s Shield are also great additions to any deck with Godo. One last card that synergizes extremely well with Godo is Slayer’s Stronghold, because you can choose a new target every turn, so if your commander already has vigilance, you can your other big dude vigilance for the turn. These cards work fantastically well with Godo, but with Stoneforge, these cards are pretty trashy.

After looking at these two decklists and concluding that Godo is better in both decks, I think it’s worth it to play Godo over Stoneforge. Godo is only 3$, it’s one eighth as expensive as [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card], so not only is it better than [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card], it’s also cheaper. I hope this article has helped illustrate why Godo is so good in commander, and why you should play it over [card] Stoneforge Mystic [/card].