(Experiment OneExperiment One | Art by Chase Stone)

It's time to announce the finalists for this month's Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest!

In case you missed the announcement post, this is a monthly contest with a different theme each month.

Your goal is to build a Commander legal deck that fulfills the prompt in a creative or unique fashion.

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 receive a prize.

As a reminder, this month's prompt was to brew a Commander-legal deck that fit into the Exhibition(1) Bracket of the new Commander Bracket Beta.

We collected submissions from the Archidekt Discord and Archidekt newspost and evaluated them based on how effectively they turn the commander's drawback into an advantage.

Now, it's your turn to decide who will be crowned the winner.

Read about each deck list below, then visit your favorite and upvote them on Archidekt.

Whoever has the most upvotes by Wednesday, March 26, 2025 will be the winner, and receive $250 credit to cardsphere.com.

Second and third place will receive $150 and $100 cardsphere.com respectively.

Finally, here are the three finalists chosen for this months contest, presented in no particular order. Follow the link in each decklist to vote on your favorite!

Some of these creatures are possibly justifiable. Weeping AngelWeeping Angel is made of stone, Myojin of Cryptic DreamsMyojin of Cryptic Dreams is clearly sitting on clouds not flying among them, and Cosi's TricksterCosi's Trickster is merely floating above the water.

But couldn't they float higher then? Isn't floating just another kind of flying.

Many of these are much harder to explain away, however.

Both Iname, Life AspectIname, Life Aspect and Iname, Death AspectIname, Death Aspect have wings larger than their body. Reckless StormseekerReckless Stormseeker is even wearing a magical jetpack.

Uro, Titan of Nature's WrathUro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is descending from the sky, while Sovereigns of Lost AlaraSovereigns of Lost Alara are literally made of clouds. And yet their card is anchored firmly to the battlefield.

Well, TTSJ isn't having it. They've included several ways to give these creatures the flying they so clearly deserve.

LevitationLevitation and Akroma's MemorialAkroma's Memorial affect all your creatures, while Take FlightTake Flight, Shimmering WingsShimmering Wings, and FlyFly only affect one at a time.

Dragon WingsDragon Wings is useful for the large creatures in the deck, ensuring you can always give your most impressive monsters the gift of flight.

This deck contains primarily cards that depict moths, have a lantern in the art, represent moth-like behavior, or otherwise demonstrate the temptation of the lamp.

This includes a few creatures that become moths, like ChillerpillarChillerpillar, and everything from Lantern of InsightLantern of Insight to Lantern of RevealingLantern of Revealing.

Many spirits also have lanterns in their art, including Kodama of the West TreeKodama of the West Tree and Infernal KirinInfernal Kirin. Of course, if you need a lamp, you need look no further than Innistrad.

From Lantern SpiritLantern Spirit and Lantern BearerLantern Bearer to Patrician GeistPatrician Geist and RattlechainsRattlechains these spirits definitely understand the allure of the lamp.

Additionally, TheUnEase has several rules they follow when playing this deck. First and foremost, moths can only attack a player who has been affected by or controls a card with a lamp in the art.

Without that irresistible glow, they have no direction. But once an opponent is illuminated, the moths immediately swarm them to claim the glorious lamp.

Most of the creatures in this deck are spirits however. Since they are tied to their lamps, they cannot attack unless you control one of the many lanterns in the deck.

Without them, the spirits are but empty shells without light.

Supporting a strong visual theme with gameplay restrictions helps the theme of this deck shine, on and off the playmat.

Goblin BombGoblin Bomb is an enchantment for that let's you flip a coin in your upkeep. If you win the flip, Goblin BombGoblin Bomb gets a fuse counter.

If you lose, it loses a fuse counter. If you ever make it up to five fuse counters, you can remove them and sacrifice Goblin Bomb to deal 20 damage to target player.

That's a lot of damage, that requires a ton of luck to actually pull off. And if you do, it won't even take out a single player.

Luked has attempted to solve both those problems by making as many copies of Goblin BombGoblin Bomb as possible.

This deck is packed with ways to make copies of Goblin BombGoblin Bomb.

Some work after you've cast the enchantment, like Court of VantressCourt of Vantress and Extravagant ReplicationExtravagant Replication, but a few need to be in play first, like Storm of SarumanStorm of Saruman and Tomb of Horrors AdventurerTomb of Horrors Adventurer.

These two make the many draw spells in the deck even better, helping you dig to find the deck's namesake card.

Many of those spells, like Pirate's PillagePirate's Pillage and Quarrel's EndQuarrel's End also make tokens.

The more tokens the better, so Brudiclad, Telchor EngineerBrudiclad, Telchor Engineer can turn them all into copies of Goblin BombGoblin Bomb.

Asinine AnticsAsinine Antics and Faerie Slumber PartyFaerie Slumber Party both make a lot of tokens at once, while Ripples of PotentialRipples of Potential not only proliferates your fuse counters, but protects all your token Goblin Bombs from removal.

None of this guarantees that Goblin BombGoblin Bomb will go off, but it does make sure you get to say Goblin Bomb until Goblin Bomb stops sounding like actual words.

And there you have it, the three finalists for the March 2025 Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest.

Which is your favorite? Be sure to follow the links in the headers of each section to visit the deck pages and upvote the one you think should win!

The final rankings based on your votes will be announced on Wednesday, March 26th, 2025.

Ben Doolittle

Ben was introduced to Magic during Seventh Edition and has played on and off ever since. A Simic mage at heart, he loves being given a problem to solve. When not shuffling cards, Ben can be found lost in a book or skiing in the mountains of Vermont.