Bria, Riptide RogueBria, Riptide Rogue | Art by Borja Pindado

One odd otter

Hello! Welcome to Archetypes of Imagination, a brand new series where I'll be building decks based on popular Commander archetypes. I'll be using Scryfall's tagging system and EDHREC's Tag pages to build around a new theme each week.

Scryfall has a really cool way of categorizing cards, where each card has specific labels attached to it for later reference. For example, CultivateCultivate has the ramp tag and Carrion FeederCarrion Feeder has the sacrifice outlet tag. EDHREC's tag system is really cool too, letting users see popular cards associated with a given strategy.

For example, the toughness matters tag shows users that Wall of DenialWall of Denial works well with the strategy and the Blink tag does the same for EphemerateEphemerate.

This week, we'll be taking some really, really long turns. We're building a deck based around cantrips! For those who don't know, a card is considered a cantrip when it provides its caster with a card draw in addition to some other effects.

One famous example, which you'll see in this week's full decklist, is OptOpt. There's tons of commanders that work well with cantrips, especially cantrips that happen to be instants or sorceries, and I'm pretty happy with the one I picked. From Bloomburrow, my favorite recent set, this deck's commander is… Bria, Riptide RogueBria, Riptide Rogue!

BriaBria provides all of our creatures prowess, meaning they'll get temporarily bigger when we cast a noncreature spell.

She also makes one of our creatures unblockable for a turn when we cast a noncreature spell, meaning that they'll be able to chip in for damage with their buffed-up power and toughness.

While BriaBria's abilities encourage a somewhat straight-forward gameplan, there's still a lot of room for creativity in this decklist. Let's get going, and I'll show you what I mean!

On the prowl…

Because BriaBria gives all of our creatures prowess, we want to ensure that we've got a relatively wide board to capitalize on that ability.

But, we also need to ensure that we've got enough noncreature spells in the deck to actually trigger that prowess. Some of you may already know where I'm going within this: token creators!

There's a ton of creatures in Izzet colors that make tokens when we cast instants and sorceries, so I've included a whole host of them here.

My favorite is the ever-popular Shark TyphoonShark Typhoon. Not only is this a noncreature spell (which will trigger prowess), but it makes big, evasive creature tokens.

I also think that Young PyromancerYoung Pyromancer is an all-star here. It only costs two mana, meaning that we can have it hit the board well before our commander, and start churning out tokens as early as turn two.

Lastly, I'm a big fan of Drake HatcherDrake Hatcher. I know this card came out recently, but I don't think it got nearly the amount of popularity it's due.

This creature has prowess already, and our commander will give it a second instance of prowess, meaning it'll grow by +2/+2 for every noncreature spell we cast.

And, it acts as a sneaky efficient way to make evasive tokens at any time. This is the exact kind of card I want to play in my commander decks, and I think this deck is a perfect home for it.

Just like Drake HatcherDrake Hatcher, there's a cadre of creatures that already have prowess (or an ability that's very close to it) in the 99 of this deck.

Another card I think is underplayed finds a slot here: Khenra SpellspearKhenra Spellspear. With our commander out, and this creature transformed, it has three separate instances of prowess. With just one noncreature spell cast, that means we've got a 6/6 trampler with ward .

The rate only gets better from there. Kiln FiendKiln Fiend, Crackling CyclopsCrackling Cyclops, and Slickshot Show-OffSlickshot Show-Off are all very similar, growing progressively larger when we cast certain types of spells.

Plus, because our commander can make some of our creatures unblockable, meaning that the less evasive creatures from among this bunch can be sure to punch through for damage.

Lastly, I wanted to shout out Balmor, Battlemage CaptainBalmor, Battlemage Captain. This is, essentially, a cheaper and slightly-worse version of BriaBria.

He provides +1/+0 to our whole team when we cast an instant or sorcery (slightly worse than BriaBria's +1/+1), and provides our whole team trample (arguably on par with BriaBria's ability to make one creature unblockable at a time).

If our commander ever becomes too expensive to recast, or is otherwise locked out of the game, Balmor, Battlemage CaptainBalmor, Battlemage Captain is a great second option.

Dancing the can-can

This deck is, at its core, based around cantrips. So, let's talk about a few of the best ones I've included. Crimson WispsCrimson Wisps and ExpediteExpedite are functionally identical cards, and the ability to provide haste to any one of our creatures (particularly a creature with an instance of double prowess), can be game-ending when combined with BriaBria's ability to make one of our creatures unblockable.

If we can land a Kiln FiendKiln Fiend on the board, make it unblockable, and give it haste, we can easily knock out a player in the late game.

I also wanted to point out the inclusion of Psychotic FuryPsychotic Fury, which can provide double strike to our commander and a select few other creatures in the deck. When combined with a pump effect like prowess, double strike is obviously immensely powerful in this deck.

There's a bunch of other cantrips too, like OptOpt and Thought ScourThought Scour, but those cards just aren't as much fun as the others I've mentioned.

There's also a small package of cards that care about our graveyard, all of which work quite well together. Dragon's Rage ChannelerDragon's Rage Channeler will provide some nice card selection while also becoming a threatening attacker as the game goes on.

Haughty DjinnHaughty Djinn will reduce the cost of our most important spells, while also becoming huge as the game goes on. And, should we need a boatload of tokens, Rise from the TidesRise from the Tides can provide that easily.

Combined with some cantrips to fill the graveyard (like ConsiderConsider, these cards will be super effective here).

Lastly, I wanted to talk about a few cards in the deck that provide extra combat steps. Every extra combat card in this deck is either an instant or a sorcery, meaning that they all trigger prowess.

Because prowess lasts until the end of the turn, our creatures will keep their pumped-up stats for all the combat steps we go through.

Again, because of the immense power of double strike, Savage BeatingSavage Beating is one of the top choices here.

For 7 mana, we can push through a crazy amount of damage with a sufficiently wide board of creatures. World at WarWorld at War is great too, providing a cast trigger twice (triggering prowess again)!

And, a new addition, Aetherdrift's Full ThrottleFull Throttle can provide two extra combats for the price of one card. That's really strong, and I think this card will become an instant staple in EDH.

And, here's the full decklist:

Wave GoodbyeWave Goodbye

That's it for this week, everyone! I really like this deck, as it's a more focused version of a classic Spellslinger deck.

Instead of just casting spells and hoping to eventually find a wincon like, this deck goes for our opponents' life totals aggressively.

I think that's a more fun way to build this archetype of deck, as it avoids the bad feelings that result from long turns without game state advancement.

I'd love to know: who's your favorite Spellslinger commander? BriaBria's probably my new favorite, for all the reasons I listed above and because she's from my favorite set from last year. Let me know your favorite in the comments below!

I'll see you all next week, when we make a deck focused on death triggers!

Cooper Gottfried

Cooper is a student at Brandeis University, where he’s Editor in Chief of its community newspaper, The Brandeis Hoot. Outside of Magic: The Gathering, his hobbies include weightlifting, writing, and Dungeons and Dragons.