Lucky the Pizza DogLucky the Pizza Dog | Art by Rudy Siswanto 

Who Let the Dog Out?

This week, we're going to deviate from our usual antics and instead explore a preview! Hailing from the upcoming Marvel Superheroes set is our commander of the week.

One of the many dogs I've live with throughout my life (it's an old photo).

...Wait, that's my Lucky. I meant this one.

Before I go on, let me give you a bit of advice, as a dog owner (and someone who's lived with dogs for most of his life): Do not give dogs pepperoni, let alone pizza (crust is fine, assuming it isn't stuffed and/or seasoned in some way). Pepperoni is high in fats, and food like that can be toxic to dogs.

Ok, with that disclaimer out of the way, we can actually look at the card. This card is sure to be a roleplayer in decks like Sophia, Dogged DetectiveSophia, Dogged Detective or Rin and Seri, InseparableRin and Seri, Inseparable. However, for this week, Lucky is our commander.

He'll want us to run lots of Dogs, Cats, and Heroes. On top of that, we'll need ways to gain life (ironic, considering what I said above) and interact with +1/+1 counters.

Halleujah, it's Raining Cats and Dogs!

To begin, we must add a good assortment of Dogs and Cats. Those two will form the bulk of our creature line up. That said, the list isn't that brilliant. Cats, for example, really benefited from having white, and losing access to it is not small blow.

In a similar vein, Dogs lose some crucial options to make them stay afloat. As for Heroes, there really isn't much to draw from, but I imagine this'll change when Marvel Superheroes releases.

For the Dogs, we take what we can. District MascotDistrict Mascot is one of the best choices. It blows up troublesome artifacts, and gets bigger via +1/+1 counters, thus synergizing with those.

Meanwhile, Undergrowth LeopardUndergrowth Leopard is essentially a colorshifted Cathar CommandoCathar Commando without flash, but will do some work here. Another good kitty is Keeper of FablesKeeper of Fables, which ensures our hand stays full if we connect with our animals.

Lastly, Tanuki TransplanterTanuki Transplanter will provide ramp on attack, and potentially even more when we reconfigure it onto another, larger creature.

Get a Life. Or Three.

In order to get +1/+1 counters on Lucky the Pizza DogLucky the Pizza Dog, we need to gain life. While the Food tokens he creates help us, we can't fully rely on them to get there.

A member of a personal favorite cycle of cards, Healing TechniqueHealing Technique will gain us life while recurring something (twice if we demonstrate it), then exiles itself so we can't reuse it.

While this does help, note that Lucky doesn't care how much life we gain, but rather if we did or not (and triggers each turn to boot).

However, my secret tech for this deck is Ancient CornucopiaAncient Cornucopia. Yes, it's a mana rock in a color that doesn't need it. Also, yes, it's better if we're running multiple colors.

But need I remind you that even one point of life will satisfy the criteria needed to get Lucky a +1/+1 counter. All it takes is one spell, and the mana produced from the Cornucopia helps get us there.

In addition, what's a Lifegain deck without payoffs? Cards like Comforting CounselComforting Counsel will buff our entire board once we get enough growth counters on it.

Hitting five of those is easier than we think. Something like Essence WardenEssence Warden (not in this deck list, mind) will get there very quickly. Again, like the Technique, Counsel only cares about if we gained life, not how much of it.

Counter-Plan

The last piece to our stratagem involves +1/+1 counters. Something that's very easy to exploit. Of course, our creatures tend to be bite-sized compared to the bigger ones our opponents will likely play, so we need to be on even footing with them.

The Earth CrystalThe Earth Crystal will double the counters we put on our creatures, including the ones from Lucky the Pizza DogLucky the Pizza Dog's end step trigger. It can also put counters on our creatures in a pinch (or we got nothing better to spend mana on).

Cards like PridemalkinPridemalkin will put a counter on a creature we control, but will more importantly give them all trample if they have a +1/+1 counter on them.

Lastly, we have no shortage of payoffs for distributing counters around. TerrasymbiosisTerrasymbiosis will draw us cards for each +1/+1 counter(s) we put on creatures.

Be mindful that we only get its trigger once each turn, so choose when you'll put the most counters to use the trigger (thankfully a "may" ability) to get the most value from the card.

Another example of a payoff we can use is Inspiring CallInspiring Call. It draws us cards equal to the number of creatures we have that got +1/+1 counters on them, and makes them indestructible for the turn.

A Tribute to My Lucky

A Bowl of Pizza-Flavored Kibble

Here's my personal list, which hasn't been built yet (Got sidetracked by a couple of other commanders). Here, I incorporated a number of my favorite cards in the game, but also work with our commander in some way.

Genesis StormGenesis Storm is bound to get a few copies because Lucky the Pizza DogLucky the Pizza Dog costs a measly two mana.

A similar deal can be said about Tome of LegendsTome of Legends, which will accrue counters quite quickly, especially with proliferate.

Speaking of proliferate, we have a few cards which do exactly that. For example, Courage in CrisisCourage in Crisis is mainly in there for that reason, plus a way to add a counter.

Meanwhile, Expand the SphereExpand the Sphere has the potential to proliferate multiple times, depending on what we reveal. If we don't have a proliferate card handy, the numerous Hardened ScalesHardened Scales effects will do. Some, like Ozolith, the Shattered SpireOzolith, the Shattered Spire, have additional uses.

Lastly, something I'd advise when running this deck is to not flood the board too much. A well-timed wipe will knock the wind out of our sails, and rebuilding may not be easy. So, I incorporated a few protection spells to help shore up this weakness.

That said, we're also not likely to draw into them. Ironically, the lack of board wipes is a weakness as well, but this is a feature of green as a color. The best "wipe" green has is Ezuri's PredationEzuri's Predation, and I went out of my way to avoid making tokens that weren't Dogs or Cats (or Food).

Well-Rested

I hope very much that the deck appeals to you in some way, even if it does fall on the weaker side of things. In any case, it was meant more as a tribute to my dog (who's still alive, but is very old) than something serious. For that, Lucky the Pizza DogLucky the Pizza Dog's EDHREC page might give you some pointers.

What will you be looking forward to from Marvel Superheroes? I'm not really a fan of the IP, but I do love me an adorable dog with the same name is one of my own.

Also, I may or may not be hoping to plan a scheme while twirling my absurdly comical mustache like some Saturday cartoon villain. I'd love to get that opportunity some day. Tune in next week where we finish off the Commander 2013 precons once and for all.