Whtz, the BibliophileWhtz, the Bibliophile | Art by Leanna Crossan

Hello, and welcome to August's Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest.

This is a monthly contest with a different theme each month. The goal is to build a Commander-legal deck that fulfills the prompt in a creative or unique fashion, and at the end of each month, three finalists will be selected for you to vote on. Whoever gets the most votes will be crowned the winner, although all three finalists will receive a prize.

August's challenge is to brew a creative and interesting Commander-legal deck using a legal non-reprint Commander from the just-previewed Mystery Booster Commander Edition set.

Introduced at Gen Con several days ago, Mystery Booster cards are acquired at MagicCon events or through Festival in a Box, and this newest group of Commander-legal legends (and Vehicles, planeswalkers, and spells) features deep callbacks to past Magic lore as well as obscure mechanics from the game's past. Whatever you brew up, it should be an innovative, novel, and attention-getting take on a deck using one of these new Commanders.

What’s the Contest All About?

Working within the parameters of the provided prompt, construct a deck list with your own creative and compelling spin. Three chosen finalists will be awarded store credit to use on Cardsphere.

For August's deckbuilding contest: build a deck featuring a commander from the new Mystery Booster Commander Edition. Decks will be judged on the creativity and originality of their brew. For example, plenty of people will probably want to build a Whtz, the BibliophileWhtz, the Bibliophile deck running Battle of WitsBattle of Wits, but since Whtz was clearly designed for that purpose, a straightforward take on that win condition probably isn't going to cut it.

A complete list of these legal commanders can be found here.

As we noted in previous contests, we have so far been very forgiving regarding picking finalists with meager deck descriptions, but moving forward we're going to be a lot more discerning. Every month this contest gets larger, and that makes sorting through entries more and more of a time commitment. If you don't have a decent description, we're going to find ourselves a lot less willing to try to connect those dots, because we simply cannot.

Back in Commander's early days, when it was known as Elder Dragon Highlander to all us graybeards, your commander could only be a Legendary creature. Technically it could only be one of the original five Elder Dragons, but that changed fairly quickly.

Commander 2014 (C14) introduced the first planeswalkers that could be legally used as commanders. Planeswalkers to this day can't be commanders unless an exception is made via the card's rules text, as with the five first premiered in C14.

Fast forward to July 2025, when legendary Vehicles and Spacecraft became legal to have as a commander in your command zone. And with the release of Mystery Booster Commander Edition, for the first time, a non-permanent spell will be legal in Ashaya's Enduring BondAshaya's Enduring Bond using the same mechanism as the C14 commanders with a rules exception on the card text.

How to Participate

• Brew a Commander-legal deck on Archidekt that satisfies the prompt.
• Any unreleased cards spoiled during the contest’s duration are allowed.
• Silver-bordered and acorn cards, while fun, are not allowed.
• Digital-only cards (such as those designed for the Alchemy format on Arena) are also not allowed.
• Strictly one deck submitted per user.

A couple months ago, we also revamped the submission process. Decks must now be submitted on Archidekt via a button on the newspost. This will make it easier to view all submissions in a single place. Additionally, it will simplify the process of writing a description by sharing the same text on the submission page and the deck page itself.

There's also a new, easy-to-remember landing page for anything contest-related, found at archidekt.com/contest.

You can also comment on individual decks directly from the submission, making those discussions easier to find and track later.

To submit a deck, select the orange button labeled "Submit a deck to this contest" and follow the form prompt. Submissions are accepted until 9:00 p.m. EDT (UTC -4) on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

Only one submission per user! If you change your mind and want to submit a different deck before submissions close, you may do so by first deleting your submission. To edit your description, you can do so from the deck page itself.

From the eligible submissions, we'll select three finalists with lists that we believe best embody the spirit of the prompt. Deck descriptions are now required, and the more detailed the description the better; we just have too many submissions to try to put together what your deck is doing without some commentary and context.

On Wednesday, August 19, 2026, we’ll announce three finalists via the Archidekt Discord and an article on EDHREC highlighting each deck.

Please note, you must have a Cardsphere account in order to receive your winnings. It's quick and free — register here if you don't have an account already!

Here are the official contest rules. If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or join the Archidekt public Discord server. We look forward to seeing what you all come up with!