Ekthi, Contaminator PriestEkthi, Contaminator Priest | Art by Fariba Khamseh

I've been playing a lot of Vintage Cube recently, which has led me to cast NettlecystNettlecyst a good few times. That card rocks in artifact-centric decks, and I've become quite fond of its living weapon ability.

Having an Equipment enter the battlefield as an instant threat, rather than requiring further mana investment for a realized benefit, is super strong.

So when I saw Ekthi as the very first card from the upcoming Mystery Booster product, I jumped at the opportunity! Let's see what's up with this Phyrexian Cleric.

What Does Ekthi Do?

For , Ekthi is a 3/3 that gives all of our other Phryexians +1/+1. It also gives each of our Equipments living weapon, allowing us to create a 0/0 Phyrexian Germ and attach the Equipment to that Germ when an Equipment enters the battlefield.

Equipment with living weapon tend to cost a bit more than tradtional cards in the category, because they come pre-equipped on a disposable creature.

When we get into the 99 I've put together for Ekthi, you'll see that providing what amounts to a free equip to every Equipment we cast can get out of hand quickly. Some Equipment are balanced by high activated ability costs, after all.

In a roundabout way, I'm reminded of Bruenor BattlehammerBruenor Battlehammer. Both of these commanders allow us to put Equipment on our creatures for free, and buff those creatures too. But, Breunor's buff is purely offensive while Ekthi's anthem allows our Germs to live on after our Equipment are detached!

We'll use Ekthi's abilities to cheat on equip costs, making some of the best Equipment in Commander even better. We'll crash through with evasive, bulky creatures and make great use of some recently printed cards as we cruise to victory.

Key Cards for Ekthi

The best Equipment in this entire deck is Colossus HammerColossus Hammer. Assuming we've got our commander on the field, we can spend just to put an 11/11 Phyrexian Germ onto the board with this artifact. That's an unbeatable rate, and comes with virtually no drawbacks!

We can create other big bodies with NettlecystNettlecyst, Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforged, and even Hulkbuster ArmorHulkbuster Armor.

All of these Equipment let us pay a pretty small amount of mana for a huge body! If we want to stack a bunch of modifications onto one creature, though, we can use Golem-Skin GauntletsGolem-Skin Gauntlets, Swordsman's SteelSwordsman's Steel, and Thran Power SuitThran Power Suit.

That play pattern can be useful in getting through board stalls, especially if we group those Equipment on an evasive creature like Cid, Freeflier PilotCid, Freeflier Pilot.

There's also a great supporting cast of creatures in this deck. is the best color for Equipment in Commander, after all, so I've slotted card advantage engines like Armored SkyhunterArmored Skyhunter, tutors like Cloud, Midgar MercenaryCloud, Midgar Mercenary and even life gain enablers like Haliya, Guided by LightHaliya, Guided by Light into this deck.

I want to talk about Haliya a bit more, though, because she's fantastic in this deck specificially. She'll let us gain one point of life when an Equipment enters, and let us gain another when the Germ token our commander creates hits the field. If we're casting more than one spell per turn, odds are we'll gain the requisite life to draw a card with her!

Because Equipment are artifacts, I've included some neat removal spells like Banish to Another UniverseBanish to Another Universe and DispatchDispatch.

These cards will be operating at maximum effectiveness throughout the game, providing us with great effects for just .

Similarly, Fabrication FoundryFabrication Foundry will let us cast our Equipment more easily while also serving as a repeatable way to bring artifacts back from the beyond.

This is great to have, as cards like Colossus HammerColossus Hammer will likely be targeted with opposing removal early and often.

To round out the artifact synergy package, I added in Thousand Moons SmithyThousand Moons Smithy. We can tap Equipment with little consequence to flip this card over, and then use it to flood the board with increasingly frightening Gnomes!

How Does This Commander Deck Win?

We'll be able to take some pretty big bites out of opposing life totals with our equipped Germs. But, in case we need a bit of extra help, I've included Andúril, Narsil ReforgedAndúril, Narsil Reforged.

We'll have a pretty wide board, allowing us to ascend with ease, and making the pair of +1/+1 counters that this blade puts on our creatures even more potent. If we've got just five creatures on the battlefield, this Equipment provides us with a boost of 10 power and toughness each turn!

If we're in the mood for keyword soup, we can cast Long-Lost LancesLong-Lost Lances (from the Hobbit scene box) to provide all of our creatures with first strike and vigilance. Those are both super powerful combat abilities, and it's crazy strong to dole them our for just .

But, what's better than first strike? Double strike! I've included Halvar, God of BattleHalvar, God of Battle to double the combat effectiveness of our 99. This deity will make our creatures hit twice as hard, and can help us shuffle Equipment around if we feel inclined to do so.

Finally, I wanted to talk a bit about the Phyrexian side of this decklist. All of the tokens that our commander creates have that creature type, as does Elesh NornElesh Norn. This four-drop is a neat control piece on its face, but it can become a potent one-sided board wipe when transformed.

If we manage to get all the way to chapter three, we'll wipe almost everything out of existence (except for our Equipment and the Phrexyian Germ tokens that they're attached to). Other Phyrexians in our 99, like Phyrexian CensorPhyrexian Censor and Scrawling CrawlerScrawling Crawler, will be spared too.

Ekthi, Contaminator Priest Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Mystery Booster Commander Edition has brought some really interesting cards to the format. We've seen references to obscure characters in Magic's vast lore, like Sash and Waistcoat, UnmenSash and Waistcoat, Unmen, printed alongside what will surely be format-warping bombs, like Uugguu, the OmniplasmUugguu, the Omniplasm.

I'm all for interesting new commanders, especially if it means I can write a deck tech about one of them, but some of these cards give me pause.

The rulebreaker cards are fun, but may lead to somewhat generic gameplay. Let's look at The EverforgerThe Everforger as an example. It's great that we can include a wider variety of artifacts (and basic lands) in our 99, as that opens up a full 800 cards for us to potentially place in a decklist.

But, in that case, why not just build an artifact-centric deck with more colors in its identity, like Breya, Etherium ShaperBreya, Etherium Shaper?

As another example, let's look at Seluma, Light of AysenSeluma, Light of Aysen. She lets us put all of Commander's Angels into one deck!

That's neat, but there's just three Angels outside of that synergize with other Angels in any meaningful way.

Seluma will differ from a typical, mono-colored Angels deck by the inclusion of some curve-toppers like Aurelia, the Law AboveAurelia, the Law Above and some synergy pieces like Errant and GiadaErrant and Giada. But, the deck will be largely the same as other Angelic lists!

I struggle to see the merit in bending commander's rules so heavily for such a minor difference in gameplay.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Mystery Booster Commander, and on rulebreaker cards specifically. Drop me a line in the comments, and thanks for reading.