Scion of HalasterScion of Halaster by Milivoj Ćeran

Hello, and welcome to the 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.

In the spirit of Valentine's day, February's challenge is to brew a creative and interesting commander-legal deck led by a couple. The couple can be partners, backgrounds, companions, whatever configuration works, as long as they're part of the deck's theme in a way that feels innovative and novel.

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 February's deck building contest - Build a commander-legal deck that has a couple as commanders. Or more than a couple; if you can legally make a polycule work by adding a companion, then more power to you.

Decks will be judged on the creativity and originality of their brew. For example, a deck doing nothing else beyond running the standard Sam and Frodo brew with them at the head probably won't get very far.

Here's a link to the EDHREC page for partners as list of sample decks to get you started.

Partner as a mechanic first debuted in November of 2016 in the Commander 2016 precon decks. Since then multiple iterations have followed, including partner with, friends forever, doctor's companion, survivors, father & son, and character select.

In April 2020 the companion mechanic was introduced in the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths set. Different from partner, a creature with companion can be used in your deck outside the 99 as long as your entire deck meets some set of conditions detailed on the card. For example, Gyruda, Doom of DepthsGyruda, Doom of Depths can be a companion if your starting deck contains only cards with even mana values.

Backgrounds are the most recent twist on partners from the Commander Legends: Battle for Balder's Gate set in June of 2022. With Backgrounds you instead pair the legendary creature you pick with a legendary enchantment from the set that has the Background subtype. That enchantment gives your commander some sort of ability while they're in play, allowing you to almost customize your commander's specific gameplay and abilities.

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.

As of a couple months ago, we've 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 that can be 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 pm EST (UTC -4, currently) on Wednesday, February 11, 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 not required but certainly may provide valuable context!

On Wednesday, February 18, 2026, we’ll announce three finalists via the Archidekt Discord and a brief 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!