The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang | Art by Andrew Mar

We recently got to see all the cool new cards featured in the upcoming Mystery Booster Commander Edition; if you missed seeing them, be sure to read about it here: Mystery Booster Commander Edition Adds 60 Legal Commanders. Honestly, I am incredibly stoked about many of these 60 new legends and can't wait until the singles make it out there so I can pick them up. So many of them are incredibly fun (and weird) designs, and solving deckbuilding puzzles is one of my favorite things to do.

This brings me to today's Commander deck tech built around this delightfully weird Jund () card:

What Does The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang Do?

The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang is just a 3/3 for four mana and no keyword abilities, but the text box is impressive at first glance: "Each other creature you control gets +3/+3"! Wow, that's an incredible boost to your army of creatures! But wait, there's some fine print to finish off the sentence: "...as long as it's not attacking or blocking."

So, the significant size bonus only matters if the creature isn't attacking or blocking. What good is that? Aha, that's where the deckbuilding puzzle comes in, and it turns out there are a ton of great ways to take advantage of that size boost outside of attacking or blocking!

Wait, there's more text in the box: "Creature spells you control and creature cards you own in any zone other than the battlefield or the stack get +3/+3." Figuring out how that could matter represents more twists and turns to the deckbuilding puzzle. Ready to get some ideas? Let's sling some muck!

Key Cards for The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang

There are a lot of cards that care about creatures with power four or greater, which will be any creature in your deck with printed power of one or more so long as they aren't attacking or blocking. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal SismaGoreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma will discount any such creature by two generic mana, while Giant-Man, Gargantuan GeniusGiant-Man, Gargantuan Genius will give you a green mana for each creature you control with power four or greater.

With the Gang on the battlefield, Fanatic of RhonasFanatic of Rhonas will satisfy its own ferocious condition and tap for a whopping , and Ilysian CaryatidIlysian Caryatid will allow itself to tap for . Whisperer of the WildsWhisperer of the Wilds won't quite satisfy its own ferocious ability, but most other creatures in the deck will.

The Gang's power boost works on creature cards in your library, so Thundermane DragonThundermane Dragon should let you cast most of them from the top of your library. You can activate Herd HeirloomHerd Heirloom to give a creature trample and that card draw ability before it gets sent into combat and loses the Gang's bonus. The power-up ability of Goliath, Mass ManipulatorGoliath, Mass Manipulator should work to draw a fair number of cards with the Gang on the battlefield.

I've added a gaggle of more card-drawing options with Outcaster TrailblazerOutcaster Trailblazer, Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising, Bonders' EnclaveBonders' Enclave, and The Chief WargThe Chief Warg.

Power five or greater is also going to be pretty easy to meet in this deck, so Monstrous VortexMonstrous Vortex will let you discover early and often, while Gwenna, Eyes of GaeaGwenna, Eyes of Gaea will grow and untap to make more mana. PaleolothPaleoloth will trigger a bunch to bring back creatures from your graveyard.

Seven power or more is a bit more ambitious, but still pretty easy to satisfy in this deck. Bugenhagen, Wise ElderBugenhagen, Wise Elder is a nice color-fixing mana-producer that should be able to snag you an extra card on your upkeep. Sarkhan's UnsealingSarkhan's Unsealing is going to be bonkers in this deck, sniping creatures with damage or even going to the dome and hitting your opponents' life totals.

I've also added a bunch of cards that become more powerful the larger your creatures become. Bighorner RancherBighorner Rancher can provide a bunch of extra mana, and in a pinch can be sacrificed for a big life boost. Disciple of FreyaliseDisciple of Freyalise can be played as a land in a pinch, but it's mostly going to sacrifice another creature to draw a bunch of cards. Altar of the WretchedAltar of the Wretched is a wild bit of technology, sacrificing a creature to draw X cards and mill X cards, where X is that creature's power. But then you can activate its craft ability to exile one or more creatures from the battlefield or your graveyard, and if the Gang is on the battlefield each of those exiled creatures will count as having +3/+3 to its power and toughness plus most of those creature's keyword abilities!

Since whatever creature saddles The Gitrog, Ravenous RideThe Gitrog, Ravenous Ride won't be attacking, it'll get the Gang's size bonus, which hopefully draws you a bunch of cards and let you put a bunch of lands onto the battlefield. Creatures sacrificed to Tom, Bert, and WilliamTom, Bert, and William or Greater GoodGreater Good outside of combat will draw you three extra cards with the Gang. We all love drawing more cards!

Season of GatheringSeason of Gathering is another way of drawing a bunch of extra cards while either boosting a couple creatures or destroying all artifacts or enchantments. Boom! The activated ability of Mosswort BridgeMosswort Bridge will be so easy to satisfy in this deck and let you cast the hideaway spell. Halana and Alena, PartnersHalana and Alena, Partners gets pretty wild with a +3/+3 boost at the beginning of combat!

Ghalta, Primal HungerGhalta, Primal Hunger will easily cost just to cast thanks to the Gang. A creature sacrificed to Ghoulcaller GisaGhoulcaller Gisa will generate three extra 2/2 Zombie tokens with Gang on the battlefield, which will be 5/5 Zombies outside of attacking or blocking. Alesha, Who Laughs at FateAlesha, Who Laughs at Fate's raid ability triggers after combat so even if you've attacked with Alesha, it will get the Gang's boost to bring back a creature from your graveyard.

The boost from the Gang will make your own creatures big enough to sidestep Toxic DelugeToxic Deluge so long as you've got a way to increase the size of the Gang beyond the value you've chosen for X. You'll want to do this after combat if you plan on attacking. If you choose the Gang with Mandate of AbaddonMandate of Abaddon, all the rest of your creatures will be immune to its effect.

Belt of Giant StrengthBelt of Giant Strength and O-NaginataO-Naginata will both be easier to equip than normal with the Gang on the battlefield, while The Scarlet WitchThe Scarlet Witch will make casting your more expensive instant and sorcery spells much cheaper to cast.

I've been wondering what sort of deck I could run Yavimaya BloomsageYavimaya Bloomsage in, and this seems like as good a place as any since the ability to get prepared should be pretty easy to meet. The chance to play ChannelChannel in Commander? Wild, y'all! Gang makes activating the station ability incredibly easy, so you can get the first station level of Dawnsire, Sunstar DreadnoughtDawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought turned on quickly and start laser beaming problem creatures for 100 points of damage a pop. Quickly turn on the station ability of Susur Secundi, Void AltarSusur Secundi, Void Altar and you've now got another way to sacrifice a creature to draw cards equal to its power.

Since the size boost of the Gang doesn't work on attackers or blockers, I'm running some other ways to turn size into damage directly to an opponent's life totals. ThudThud and the Adventure side of Callous Sell-SwordCallous Sell-Sword does it through sacrificing a hopefully lethally huge creature.

Essence HarvestEssence Harvest is a little more expensive and doesn't require a sacrifice. You'll want to Ram ThroughRam Through a huge creature you control that has trample (say, Ghalta, Primal HungerGhalta, Primal Hunger) to kill a creature and push the excess damage to an opponent's life totals.

How Does This The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang Commander Deck Win?

I'm incredibly excited about how easy it's going to be to pump up Mossbridge TrollMossbridge Troll +20/+20 at least once, possibly twice, and smash some opponents' life totals. Warstorm SurgeWarstorm Surge or Terror of the PeaksTerror of the Peaks will turn a flurry of Gang inflated creatures into damage to pick off creatures or opponents' life totals.

After pumping Mossbridge TrollMossbridge Troll with just a couple creatures, how about casting Overwhelming StampedeOverwhelming Stampede to make Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth feel inadequate? Become the AvalancheBecome the Avalanche is another crazy mass pump spell that also should draw a bunch of cards. And then there's Dragon Throne of TarkirDragon Throne of Tarkir, a card I'm always happy to put in a Commander deck where it makes sense, letting one of your creatures get that Gang boost and tap to give a big bonus to all your creatures that boost and trample, then crash in to attack!

The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I built this deck as a Core (Bracket 2) Commander deck, built to grind value and appreciate the extra turns to build up resources and have the Gang on the battlefield early and often. Opponents will be wise to hit The Muckslinger GangThe Muckslinger Gang with removal quite often, but this is a green deck with a bunch of mana ramp along with plenty of card draw to keep making your land drops each turn, so replaying the Gang several times won't be difficult and will hopefully lead to one or two really spectacular turns. If you're looking for a weird deck that makes you puzzle out interesting situations, give this a try!

What other cards would you run in a deck like this? And what other new commanders from Mystery Booster Commander Edition look like fun to build around?

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