Vhal, Candlekeep Researcher art by David Gaillet

Welcome to Bottom of the Barrel! This is a new series where we pick a theme from EDHREC and look at the “bottom of the barrel.” This means that we look at the least played color-combination and pick a commander in those colors to brew a spicy new deck around!

It’s likely that this commander has not been considered for this theme before, and that’s the point! This allows us to play around with themes that we enjoy while keeping our decks unique and interesting.

Our theme for our first excursion into the “bottom of the barrel” is: Equipment. This is an extremely popular theme, especially in Boros/Lorehold colors (red and white).

There have been a plethora of commanders that have been printed with Equipment in mind, and we’ve even gotten a couple of Esper (black/white/blue) options this year in Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain and Ratonhnhaké:ton.

Esper Equipment provides an interesting new territory to explore, and I personally loved the idea of adding new colors into an already-developed theme. With this being said, I believe today’s deck shows just how interesting Equipment strategies can be in non-Boros colors.

Since our theme of the article is Equipment, I clicked around the color combinations to see which ones needed some love.

With a whopping 183 decks to its identity, Simic/Quandrix (green and blue), was our winner! There were several 4-color combinations that had under 183 decks with an Equipment theme, but limiting our colors will really force us to find creative ways to play, and that’s the whole point of this series!

Let’s meet our commander, or should I say commanders:

Why Vhal, Candlekeep Researcher? The simple answer is: she helps to pay for equip costs. I’m sure you’re thinking: “wait, but she’ll be tapped if you use her to pay for equip costs! How will that work??” Thus, takes us into our first category…

Category #1: Evasive Threats

Unlike most Equipment decks that are solely reliant on making their commander huge and killing someone in one hit, this deck relies on small evasive threats to carry our sword for us. For example, something like a Pollywog Prodigy is an absolute house in a deck like this.

It comes down early, and the bigger it gets, the more likely we are to draw cards from its ability! It’s a win/win! The other all-stars from this category are cards like Ledger Shredder, Invisible Stalker, and Cold-Eyed Selkie.

We can include Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus if we want to go the poison route, but I know that’s not for everyone, so I didn't include those in my list.

There are 3 specific cards I wanted to mention in this category that pull double duty for us: Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Azure Beastbinder, and Cephalid Facetaker.

Malcolm is a powerful commander in his own right, but in this deck he gives us the ability to consistently loot from turn 2, and can turn into a powerful value engine when he gets to 4 chorus counters.

Azure Beastbinder can blank our opponent’s best creature on attack until our next turn, which is absolutely crazy. Finally, Cephalid Facetaker is already unblockable, but can turn into an unblockable version of the best creature on the board! (Yes, it’ll still be a 1/4, but that’s nothing a few swords can’t fix!)

Now that we’ve covered a few great evasive threats, let’s move into our next category: using Vhal’s ability.

Category 2: Using Vhal’s Ability

Seeing Vhal’s ability, it’s no secret that she can go infinite with just about anything, but we’re trying to avoid that in this deck. In my list, I do include Umbral Mantle, and while that’s a notorious combo piece, it’s also an Equipment, so it’s on theme. It can also make Vhal huge.

In theory, using Vhal’s ability for equip costs makes sense, but there are other cards that can profit off of her, and I have included those cards in this deck.

For example, we can draw cards with Prophet of Distortion, Diviner’s Wand, or Book of Rass; untap our lands with Magus of the Candelabra; filter out mana of any color with Energy Refractor; or just store mana for later with Kruphix, God of Horizons.

These abilities are only the tip of the iceberg, as Vhal’s ability only cares about not casting spells from our hands. What this means is, we can take huge advantage of casting spells from other zones. One of the best cards in this deck for this reason, is Sword of Forge and Frontier.

It allows us to “impulse draw” 2 cards, which we can use Vhal’s mana to cast. Dream Thief’s Bandana allows us to do something similar, but we are getting spells from the top of an opponent’s deck instead of our own.

Since flashback is also casting a spell not from our hand, I added Dryad’s Revival as a piece of recursion that we can cast from our graveyard on later turns.

Plot costs can also be paid with her mana, so I included Fblthp, Lost on the Range to let us plot cards from the top of our library and set up huge turns.

Using Vhal’s mana for equip costs is a way for us to spread the Equipment to our evasive threats, but we can also wait until our second main phase to activate Vhal. This way, she can attack if she’s equipped, and since she has vigilance, we can use her ability to equip something after combat.

Category #3: Protection and Removal

Whenever you go all in with an aggressive strategy like Equipment, you need to make sure you can protect yourself and deal with any problems on the board. For that reason, I’ve decided to add cards like Aetherize and Propaganda, both of which serve as fantastic protection against any aggression we may cause.

To protect our creatures, I have included Ring of Evos Isle. This can give the equipped creature hexproof while growing the equipped creature on each of our upkeeps. (Growing Vhal every single turn is very good)

The removal portion of this deck is tricky because most removal spells in blue and green involve giving a creature in “exchange” for destroying something (i.e. Pongify). This can cause problems because we need to get in for damage and giving opponents blockers can put a wrench in our gameplan. I still included Beast Within in this deck, as it’s too versatile to not include, but I shied away from things like Pongify and Rapid Hybridization.

Category #4: Cost/Budget

With any deck building, it’s important that we keep budget in mind. Equipment decks would seem strange without any of the “sword of” cycle, but I tried to keep this deck as “budget conscious” as I could. I splurged on a couple of cards, Academy Ruins and Shadowspear especially, but there are easy swaps for these cards that I recommend.

Shadowspear can be swapped for Loxodon Warhammer, as those cards occupy a similar space with what they do. There is already Buried Ruin in the deck, so Academy Ruins isn’t necessary, but extra recursion is never bad.

Category #5: Secret Spice

When it comes to building a deck, there’s always an option to add those few tech cards that can make your deck truly unique. I call this the “secret spice” of the deck, and this deck’s “secret spice” revolves around 2 cards.

1. Assault Formation

Assault Formation seems like a strange inclusion, but it allows us to sink our mana from Vhal into something before damage because she has vigilance! This can lead to Vhal dealing a ton of damage out of nowhere. We are already including a few Equipment that care about boosting toughness, like Slagwurm Armor and Accorder’s Shield, so Assault Formation can put in some work in the right circumstances.

2. Swashbuckler's Whip

This relatively unknown card from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan might seem underwhelming at first, but remember, Vhal has vigilance. This allows us to attack with Vhal, and then activate the whip in our second main phase as long as it’s attached to another creature we control. Discover 10 is insane, and it’s sure to grant us some ridiculous value. Even if we can’t tap for 8, the first ability gets a blocker out of the way in a pinch, and that’s very valuable in this deck.

This brings us to the end of our first edition of Bottom of the Barrel! I hope you enjoyed exploring a lesser-played color-combination in the world of Equipment, and hope you’ll take my ideas and brew your own craziness around Vhal and Raised by Giants!

Check out my decklist below!

Nick Benstead

Nick is a full-time educator of America's youth, teaching them to love stories, and write for expression. Outside of teaching, his life is steeped in Magic the Gathering, whether it be through playing commander with his fiancee, or coming up with wacky brews to take to Friday Night Magic at his local game store.