Arcum's AstrolabeArcum's Astrolabe | Art by Igor Kieryluk

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 aims to utilize the snow mechanic as a large part of the deck's theme or game plan in a significant yet creative and interesting way.

We collected submissions from the Archidekt newspost and evaluated them based on their creativity and originality.

Now, it's your turn to decide who'll 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, January 28, 2026 will be the winner, and receive $250 credit to cardsphere.com.

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

Here are the three finalists chosen for this month's contest, presented in no particular order. Follow the link in each deck list to vote on your favorite!

Riku's Snowbear Slinging Scuffle by friscomm

To start us off we have this Riku of Two ReflectionsRiku of Two Reflections list by fjalex. The main plan for this brew is to build up as many snow permanents as possible, aided in part via Riku's copy ability, and then fling the most swole of the bodies directly at your opponent's head like a giant, frozen Treefolk/Owl/Bear-ball.

Abominable TreefolkAbominable Treefolk, Rimefeather OwlRimefeather Owl, and Spirit of the AldergardSpirit of the Aldergard are the best targets in the deck to both fling and copy as they scale with the number of snow permanents. Cards like Green Sun's ZenithGreen Sun's Zenith and Finale of DevastationFinale of Devastation can help ensure they're readily available, and alongside Riku's ability, clones like MockingbirdMockingbird and Mirror ImageMirror Image can duplicate them once they're on the field.

Once hulked up to lethal size, there's more than half a dozen ways to turn these snow-puffed creatures into deadly projectiles, cards like Chandra's IgnitionChandra's Ignition, FlingFling, Self-DestructSelf-Destruct and Pyrrhic BlastPyrrhic Blast. And if you aren't lucky enough to draw into one of them, SpellseekerSpellseeker can spell-seek them out for you.

The deck isn't entirely reliant on blasting damage to the face, however; BerserkBerserk can turn one of these frost inflated critters into a double-sized trampling avalanche. And because it doesn't destroy the creature until the end of the turn, the creature can be flung at someone after it successfully attacks.

Ognis Avalanche by Cloudbreaker

Next up we have Cloudbreaker's Ognis Avalanche list, a deck whose stated goal is to be as aggressive as possible. This deck is built around launching all-out attacks each and every turn with earthbended lands with no thought paid to crack-backs because the deck's pilot is being protected by Constant MistsConstant Mists, Glacial CrevassesGlacial Crevasses, and SunstoneSunstone.

Most Commander decks run ramp just as a matter of course, but here it serves the purpose of providing fodder to the fog engines while also putting lands out that can be turned to creatures using the new earthbending mechanic from the Avatar set. Because of how earthbending works, these sacrificed lands return to play, available to be sacrificed to feed the fogs again and again.

It's a perfect example of how to eliminate the downside/cost of a card. Normally using damage prevention effects like Constant MistsConstant Mists or SunstoneSunstone costs you a land, gradually weakening you while also putting you on a clock. You get weaker and weaker each turn just surviving. Here, however, not only does earthbending auto-magically recur your lands to play, but you can also use them as attackers to create Treasures that advance your board state instead of receding it.

There's plenty of haste enablers in the list to ensure all these lands can attack and generate Treasures, and they're ones that stack. If you have Rhythm of the WildRhythm of the Wild in play and draw a Hammer of PurphorosHammer of Purphoros, for example, neither are dead cards as you can still use Rhythm to put counters onto creatures, or use Hammer to sacrifice a land to make a Golem.

And the land you sacrifice? If it was earthbended it will come back to play, and it might come back to play untapped if there's an Amulet of VigorAmulet of Vigor on the field.

Fractal Blizzard: Orvar's Snow-Covered Singularity by pensierostupendo94

This brings us to the deck Fractal Blizzard: Orvar's Snow-Covered Singularity submitted by pensierostupendo94, a deck that digs deep into the archives to find cards like Thermal FluxThermal Flux to use as a strategic linchpins.

Thermal Flux gives any permanent the snow supertype until the end of the turn, and Orvar creates a copy of any permanent targeted with an instant or sorcery. Functionally, in targeting snow lands with cheap spells, you can use Orvar to ramp yourself to the moon. If you hit a land with a spell like TwiddleTwiddle, you not only untap it to use it again but you make a copy of it to give you more mana to cast more spells.

So what are you going to do with all the mana you make in the early game? Why, summon Marit LageMarit Lage, of course. Both Dark DepthsDark Depths and Marit Lage's SlumberMarit Lage's Slumber can be used to wake the immense planes-treading Avatar from the depths where she lies dreaming, not dead. This mana can be pumped into either the land to trigger the token creation, or to hit the snow permanent threshold on Slumber. Thespian's Stage servers as a backup way to free the Great One from her icy prison as well.

Once summoned, a 20/20 indestructible flying Avatar token should wrap things up quickly and with extreme prejudice.

There you have it, our finalists for the January 2025 Archidekt Deckbuilding Contest.

Which is your snowy favorite? Follow the links in the headers of each section to visit the deck pages and vote for the one you think should win!

The final rankings based on your votes will be announced on Wednesday, January 28th, 2026.