Aragorn, the UniterAragorn, the Uniter | Illustrated by Javier Charro

This week I really struggled to find a deck to brew in the top 200 commanders list. I was really tempted by a Doran, Besieged by TimeDoran, Besieged by Time deck built around GroundbreakerGroundbreaker, but Steve Heisler's article on Doran was so good (Modern mentioned! Rest in peace GriselbrandGriselbrand+Nourishing ShoalNourishing Shoal, taken from us took soon) that I felt like I should wait a little while longer for that one.

While I was digging through the top 200 of the week, I came across Aragorn, the UniterAragorn, the Uniter. This card does a ton of work in my own Jared CarthalionJared Carthalion deck, so I figured I'd have a passing look, but the more I looked at Aragorn itself and the cards around it the more I got inspired to write. That's when it dawned on me that my friend Fin has an Aragorn deck, focused on the idea of color hacking, a mechanic Wizards hasn't really touched in a long time.

The Aragorn "Color Hacking" Deck List

What the Hack is Color Hacking?

Basically the idea is to change the color words, like "red" or "black", in a cards text box with cards like Mind BendMind Bend, or change the color of permanents and spells with something like Painter's ServantPainter's Servant, to utilize powerful but very niche effects, like Jaya Ballard, Task MageJaya Ballard, Task Mage.

Most color hack decks that you see, which according to the color hack page is around 130 out of all of the deck across EDHREC, want to affect opponents' cards by changing their color and destroying or countering them. Being able to drop a Painter's ServantPainter's Servant or a Vodalian MysticVodalian Mystic into DouseDouse or Order of the Sacred TorchOrder of the Sacred Torch to counter every spell. Alternatively the Servant or a Tidal VisionaryTidal Visionary with Spinal VillainSpinal Villain or King CrabKing Crab to have constant access to removal. The most oppressive of these is, of course, the banned Iona, Shield of EmeriaIona, Shield of Emeria, but Llawan, Cephalid EmpressLlawan, Cephalid Empress does a decent imitation forcing your opponents to find a removal spell before they can progress their board.

Fin's deck does do this but it also has some extras on top. One of these extras is to change the color words in Aragorn's text box all to "blue" so that he can spam a ton of cantrips (like OptOpt) to trigger all four of Aragorn's abilities at once, and let me tell you, +4/+4, a 1/1 Human SoldierHuman Soldier, damage to your face, and scrying all for a single mana builds up really quickly. The deck goes from "haha, nice meme" to "oh no, I need a Wrath of GodWrath of God immediately" extremely quickly.

The key to this is the wording on some of the "hack" cards. While Crystal SprayCrystal Spray specifically says "until end of turn", cards like Mind BendMind Bend and Alter RealityAlter Reality don't. This means once Aragorn's token making ability is changed from white to blue with one of these cards it stays that way until he is removed from the battlefield in some way. This allows him to change all of the color names in Aragorn's abilities to blue permanently and start churning through cheap blue cards.

While the Aragorn plan is often enough to close games out you do need other win conditions. For Fin this was pretty easy: he has an original Alara Rith, the AwakenerRith, the Awakener from when he first started playing that he wanted to put into a deck, and by turning all of his permanents into one color suddenly Rith becomes a huge threat, generating a ton of SaprolingSaprolings that also share that color effectively doubling the number of tokens created every turn. On top of Rith, though, his list also runs Exalted Flamer of TzeentchExalted Flamer of Tzeentch and Metallurgic SummoningsMetallurgic Summonings which double up as both win conditions and utility to return the permanent hack spells from his graveyard, should Aragorn get removed.

The deck runs a few game changers: Jeska's WillJeska's Will, Crop RotationCrop Rotation and Mystical TutorMystical Tutor. While we try to limit the game changers in our playgroup (I don't remember the last time I saw a Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift, for example), we're also willing to let people try them out and then discuss what we thought. A good example of this is in my Melek, Reforged ResearcherMelek, Reforged Researcher deck where I run both Force of WillForce of Will and Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship, but the linear nature of the deck makes it easy to interact with and the five-cost commander makes it slow so it balances out. In regards to these, Jeska's Will is the only one here that is a "good stuff" card since Crop Rotation and the tutor are always looking for specific cards that don't have a real negative impact on the flow of the game.

Now this is all pretty typical stuff for a color hack deck, whatever that means, but Fin took it a step further. He's a bit of an eclectic guy. His current decks are:

• The Aragorn color hack deck we're talking about today
• A Vadrok, Apex of ThunderVadrok, Apex of Thunder deck that blows up all of its own lands to play Planar BirthPlanar Birth over and over
• Dong Zhou, the TyrantDong Zhou, the Tyrant "clones"
• and a deck based around the "Mongers" in Magic, such as WarmongerWarmonger, giving your opponents the ability to pay for your abilities while also gaining benefits from it through cards like Harsh MentorHarsh Mentor

So of course, with a roster like that Fin wasn't just going to leave it at the list of cards on EDHREC's color hack page for Aragorn. He wanted more silliness; thus was born the "land hack" package in his deck.

Hacking Up Lands

This started as a meme in our playgroup and quickly became a force to be reckoned with. Fin, for whatever reason, loves the card LifetapLifetap. I'm not sure if it's the original goofy art, the underwhelming ability, or something else, but he has jammed it in ever deck for multiple years at this point. Over time it became less and less funny as the format shifted towards green being the real forerunner in terms of power level. Suddenly he was always at 80+ life and due to us removing more and more combos and reverting back to hitting each other with rocks and sticks, this became to feel insurmountable.

So we adapted (enchantment removal, etc.), but then he found Roots of LifeRoots of Life and they released Yavimaya, Cradle of GrowthYavimaya, Cradle of Growth and he picked up a copy of Urborg, Tomb of YawgmothUrborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and now every time we played a spell he was gaining upwards of 10 life. The thing that really pushed it over the edge and made it a staple of the playgroup was when he made Aragorn, because cards like Mind BendMind Bend don't just say "color", they also say "basic land type". This means you can play Urborg, turn the word "SwampSwamp" into "IslandIsland", and now all of your lands tap for double with High TideHigh Tide and all of your opponents' lands are triggering both Roots of Life and Carpet of FlowersCarpet of Flowers.

This deck has become a real powerhouse in our group, and is so popular that when we need a shake up we tend to borrow each others decks, and this is often one of the first that people reach for. The synergy between all of the hacking cards backed up by some more typical Aragron synergies, like Galadriel of LothlórienGaladriel of Lothlórien or even cards like Fanatical DevotionFanatical Devotion, a card in 0.59% of all decks, becoming a consistent way to keep Aragorn alive because every spell makes a token make this deck an absolute blast to both play and play against.

What Next?

This is the real question. Fin and I have both been super busy, so we've not been able to play any games recently, but when I asked for the deck list the first thing he said was "would probably recommend tightening it up", which got me thinking, what could we add to this list to smooth out some of the edges? That isn't so say this is going to be some bracket four or five deck that wins every game it plays, but how can we make it so that the deck consistently "does its thing".

Like I mentioned above, the deck has gone through a lot of iterations. Luckily, Lorwyn Eclipsed has been amazing for cards that care about colors. Tam, Mindful First-YearTam, Mindful First-Year is an excellent protection option with the ability to make any of your creatures all colors to give them hexproof and along with her own ability cards that allow you to change the color of cards gives some flex around stopping spot removal.

This deck would also benefit from a lot of the Vivid cards from the new set Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year and Aurora AwakenerAurora Awakener both leverage Vivid to provide card advantage, either exiling cards that you can play later while Prismatic UndercurrentsPrismatic Undercurrents ensures you always have access to land drops. Vivid cards can even give you access to ways of more efficiently closing out the game with Elemental SpectacleElemental Spectacle, Glister BairnGlister Bairn, or the newest Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth imitation, PrismabasherPrismabasher. The less colors you have the weaker these are but since this list allows you to change the colors you can almost always get the max benefit from these cards.

If I had to pick one card from the new Lorwyn cards Tam is definitely the card I'd add. The reliance on Aragorn that this deck has requires as much protection as possible.

This deck is incredibly fun to play and to play against. I'd highly recommend if you see me at an event (like Magicon Amsterdam this year....) then ask for a game and I'll get Fin involved with this Aragorn deck so you can truly experience the "ha ha" into "oh no" feeling that you get from PreordainPreordain triggering a million different abilities.