Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year | Art by Steven Belledin

I took apart my Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound Commander deck a few week ago. I loved that deck, but nobody ever wanted to play against it. It's a deck that I took pride in, but I'd resolved to bring my deck count to less than 20 and when it came time, I pulled the trigger. I'm sorry, my sweet Warlock.

But during Lorwyn Eclipsed preview season, I saw Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year and felt similar to how I felt when I first saw my Rakdos () Warlock. I thought, "This feels like a less busted, more unassuming Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound."

I reined myself in a little bit, but in playtesting this deck, I see a lot of overlap with Prosper and get a similar feeling from this little Goblin Sorcerer.

What Does Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year Do?

Sanar's textbox required a few readings to fully get just how strong this little four-mana 2/4 is.

The vivid ability triggers at the beginning of your main phase, and you reveal cards from your deck until you see a nonland card for each color among permanents you control. Then for each of those colors you may exile one revealed card of that color - this means you'll whiff on colorless cards, like lands, every time. You can then cast the exiled cards until end of turn, and the other revealed cards get shuffled into your library.

If Sanar is your commander, you'll only get to exile two cards, since the rules of Commander restrict you to playing cards that adhere to your commander's color identity - in this case Izzet (). But if you play something like Mysidian ElderMysidian Elder to make a black Wizard or create a green/white Citizen token with Exhibition MagicianExhibition Magician, those count toward Sanar's vivid trigger, meaning you'll get to reveal more cards.

Let's say you have Sanar in play with a black Wizard token and a green/white Citizen token, then proceed to your first main phase - you will reveal cards until you see five nonland cards from your deck, and you'll be able to choose two from among them, a blue and a red card, to exile to cast this turn.

But if Sanar were in the 99 of a multicolor-matters deck, like Jared CarthalionJared Carthalion, you might very well be able to exile all five cards to play from exile.

Greedier players will tell you that two cards is not enough, but I urge you to playtest the deck below. When you regularly get to look at the next five nonland cards of your deck and choose the best ones that suit your needs, shuffling the rest away, you'll find the selection not only powerful, but exceptionally flexible.

I've compared Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year to Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound for a number of reasons. First of all, I'm writing on the internet and need you to be baffled so you keep reading. Shout out to the current attention economy of the modern web, in service of algorithmic gods. Secondly, I believe Prosper, a top-five Rakdos commander, really put the casting-from-exile strategy on the map for many players. In almost every set, there's a card that makes players go "that'd be great for Prosper" and it's usually a card that bottles cards (exiles cards that you're allowed to play within some conditions).

While Prosper decks are often associated with bottling, at the end of the day, they tend to run more cards for an artifact token Aristocrats strategy. Prosper's card draw and ramp in the command zone are what makes him very strong and popular. However, he only "draws" you a single card, and that's at your end step. Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year does the digging at the beginning of one of your most important phases and forecasts a plan that you get to set in motion very transparently while still being able to run similar pieces to Prosper.

Key Cards for Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year

Sanar gets to run your Keepers of SecretsKeepers of Secrets, NalfeshneeNalfeshnees, Unstable AmuletUnstable Amulets, Passionate ArchaeologistPassionate Archaeologists, and Spider-VerseSpider-Verses without needing to run Commune with LavaCommune with Lava or Wrenn's ResolveWrenn's Resolve. But he isn't capable of a snowball effect like Prosper because he doesn't get all that ramp, especially because you want your colorless artifact count down so you don't whiff much.

This led my first draft of the deck to leaning into playing as many Izzet multicolored cards as possible. Unfortunately, many of these cards care about instants and sorceries, and I don't, really. So I switched it up for noncreature and tooled with the list enough to recognize that it isn't about getting as many cards exiled per Sanar trigger, but rather getting the right card. Therein lies the power of this commander.

I packed this deck with a ton of noncreature and cast-from-exile/anywhere-but-your-hand payoffs, which has been not only fun, but extremely versatile. Every playtest I've done with this deck has revealed a new path to victory.

Which cool cards are available in Sanar that you don't get in similar strategies?

Spider-Man 2099Spider-Man 2099 provides a great way to keep the pressure on your opponents by simply playing your gifts from Sanar. If you've got Kami of CelebrationKami of Celebration out, you'll find that Spider-Man 2099Spider-Man 2099 is the perfect place for those counters. Great on offense, on defense, and for lowering life totals.

Heck, you can aim that damage at a creature, too. This is probably my favorite card to play in this deck.

CrackleburrCrackleburr is a great reason to lean into the Izzet creatures. A well-timed Mana GeyserMana Geyser with two Izzet creatures and a CrackleburrCrackleburr can end the game or put all your opponents on the back foot. Return a bunch of creatures back to their owners' hands and Lightning BoltLightning Bolt players to the face.

Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier is the ultimate black Wizard, one of my favorite tokensmy favorite tokens - thank you, Final Fantasy! A pain in the butt in Standard, Vivi gets big, hits each opponent when you cast noncreature spells, and gives you all the mana you need. Absolute house. There's a good reason this card is pricey.

The Twelfth DoctorThe Twelfth Doctor is fantastic in this deck. Lots of your cards might not mean much to other players. What's the Umori, the CollectorUmori, the Collector-companioned deck going to do with a copy of Mysidian ElderMysidian Elder or Memory WormMemory Worm? Making two copies of The Lost and the DamnedThe Lost and the Damned is great for you, but a copy on your opponent's board when they're not playing exile-matters strategies is just going to be a blank enchantment.

Wow, would you look at that. Three of the four cards highlighted are from Universes Beyond. Fun!

How Does This Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year Commander Deck Win?

I've already mentioned the black Wizard tokens from Final Fantasy. Pack the deck with all the options you can run, like Queen BrahneQueen Brahne, Lindblum, Industrial RegencyLindblum, Industrial Regency, Vivi's PersistenceVivi's Persistence, and of course, the already-mentioned-numerous-times Mysidian ElderMysidian Elder. Lindblum particularly does double duty by creating the Wizard token and giving you something to play from exile when the time is right.

Shadow of the GoblinShadow of the Goblin, Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets, and Memory WormMemory Worm all trigger off of casting things from exile, which your deck is all about! Specifically, they deal damage and, with every turn you exile cards with Sanar, you'll be triggering these easily.

Combine these with NalfeshneeNalfeshnee or Spider-VerseSpider-Verse and turn up the heat. You could also run these alongside one of the deck's biggest all-star: Artist's TalentArtist's Talent

Artist's Talent does it all. Getting to loot off a noncreature spell means that you turn your rotten luck of missing lands into a chance at hitting another land drop. Up the class to reduce mana costs so you can keep the chain going, then finally, the final level turns all of your pings and stings into bolts and joltsbolts and jolts.

But what about other ways to win?

Iraxxa, Empress of MarsIraxxa, Empress of Mars can get out of hand, creating attackers for you toss at your foes. Frostcliff SiegeFrostcliff Siege gives these guys a boost, haste, and trample, so you can swing. But what really pumps a board is giving everybody prowess in a noncreature spell based deck. Thanks, Bria, Riptide RogueBria, Riptide Rogue!

She'll also give some lucky creatures a way through without worrying about blockers. The same goes for Hraesvelgr of the First BroodHraesvelgr of the First Brood who also happens to be a flying beater with Ward.

Three-Card Win - Boring

There's already a meme deck floating around that I learned about here. The deck is Sanar, Solstice RevelationsSolstice Revelations, Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle, and 97 lands. If you know me at all, that's a big yawn from Mikey. Basically, Sanar triggers, and you exile Thoracle and the Revelations. Cast Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle then in response to its entering ability, snap off Solstice RevelationsSolstice Revelations which will exile the rest of your deck and win you the game.

It's unlikely you'll pull this off more than once. You'll spend more time sleeving the 97 lands than playing this deck. If this is worth it to you, go for it. I can't stop you! Sidenote: Is this why Seismic AssaultSeismic Assault is on this EDHREC page?

Some Considerations

If Sanar sticks around, you'll be shuffling your deck at least once a turn, so invest in some good sleeves. Copies of Sanar will force you to shuffle, and because you reveal until you hit nonland cards, you really can't short cut through the triggers. Maybe there's a meme deck in here to see how many times you could shuffle your deck. What if someone had a Drannith MagistrateDrannith Magistrate out against my Sanar Clone deck and I refused to exile any cards because I couldn't cast them anyway, would I still have to shuffle for each Sanar trigger? Either way, the big takeaway here is buy some really good sleeves.

Is this an Omen MachineOmen Machine deck? With Sanar out, you'll usually be up two cards on each player. I think I'll be trying this in my not-for-EDHREC article build of this deck.

You see a lot of cards in this deck. It's very battlecruiser, but flexible, especially with Eruth, Tormented ProphetEruth, Tormented Prophet as a backup commander for when Sanar is too expensive.

It's not your typical Izzet deck. Izzet tends to love instants, sorceries, and storming off. They also tend to run CounterspellCounterspells and are usually reactive. Not this deck. Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year only lets you cast those cards until the end of your turn. Also, I know MDFCs are tempting to include for many reasons, but you cannot play cards exiled with Sanar - specifically, you may cast those cards. I wouldn't consider MDFC lands as part of my land count for this deck.

Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I was delightfully surprised by Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year! You see a lot of cards in this deck, and it's very battlecruiser, which I appreciate.

How would you build a Sanar, Innovative First-YearSanar, Innovative First-Year deck? Do you have a list? I'd love to see it! Pop a link in the comments.