Welcome one and all! This is Captain Red Zone coming at you once again with another deck for your viewing pleasure. This week I’m going to bring to you a Commander deck that I've wanted to try since the beginning of this month. If you read my other article here at 3TF, you know that on the 29th of this month there's a remake of a show from my childhood. That show being ThunderCats! So I figured that this week I’ll bring to you my ThunderCats Themed Commander deck.
In Magic there are a few Legendary Cats to pick from.
What... Mistform is a Cat... Shut Up!!!
From Purraj of Urborg to Mirri, Cat Warrior, we have a few chooses to make. We could go White, Blue, Green, or Black and a few mixes of these to make a deck. So I am going to let the show lead the way for this one. If you know the show, the one in charge of the ThunderCats is none other that Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats.
He wields the powerful Sword of Omens. A sword so powerful it fuels the entire group with extra strength, power, and pride. When he holds it’s up and lets out his cry to summon the team, they go into a trance like state and rush to the aid of their leader no matter what they were doing or where there are.
So who we pick as our Commander here has to be strong, pure of heart, and like to use weapons. From the list of Legends there is only one I can see being our leader here… Raksha Golden Cub!
He’s white, so there’s your pure part. He’s not the biggest guy on the team but Lion-O wasn’t either. But the best part is his ability. When he has an Equipment, let’s say a sword of some kind, he gets bigger, makes his team of cats bigger, and they all become better fighters with double strike. Sounds pretty close in to Lion-O to me. So let’s get started with the rest of our team!
ThunderCats Are On The Move!
While there are only a handful of Cats on the show, we can’t make a deck without the key lineup.
Kemba, Kha Regent, Jareth, Leonine Titan, Leonin Abunas, Skyhunter Skirmisher, Kemba’s Skyguard, Seht’s Tiger, and Spirit of the Hearth: This is our starting line-up. Kemba is our strong female character Cheetara. Jareth is the local strong man Panthro. Leonin Abunas is the master of invisibility Tygra. The Skyhunter and the Skyguard are the high flying WilyKit and WilyKat. Seht’s Tiger is the ever loving but mostly annoying Snarf. Rounding out the cast is Spirit of the Hearth as the ghostly guide Jaga.
While this is our main cast, there are other Cats that show up later in the show’s season. I could name a few more names but I don’t remember the rest so well, and I’m not going to act like I do. So, I’ll just round out this part with other cool Magic cats to fill the Pride.
Kemba’s Legion, Leonin Den-Guard, Leonin Shikari, SkyHunter Cub, Sunspear Shikari, and Taj-Nar SwordSmith: These are our Equipment loving backups. Kemba’s Legion is here for blocking multiple dudes. Leonin Den-Guard, Skyhunter Cub, and Sunspear Shikari gain extra abilities for carrying a weapon which makes them a good B-Squad if we have trouble finding our other main cards. Leonin Shikari and Taj-Nar Swordsmith bring some extra tricks to get what we need.
Ajani’s Pridmate, Blade of the Sixth Pride, Jedit’s Dragoons, Jhovall Queen, and Leonin Battlemage: This is our team of big men... er... cats... um... catdudes? ...whatever, you know what I mean. Ajani’s Pridemate and Blade of the Sixth Pride are not to ones you write home to mom about, but in a deck with a little life gain here and there, a few weapons, and Lion-O backing them up they could get there. They're strong early game, ok mid-game, and could be the final push you need in the end game. Jedit’s Dragoons, Jhovall Queen, and Leonin Battlemage are our vigilant dudes. This is an ability that needs to be in more Commander decks. The ability to attack and block is pure money in a multiplayer game.
Felider Sovereign, Leonin Arbiter, Leonin Relic-Warder, and Whitemane Lion: These are here to round out the team. A win con in Felidar Sovereign, not much of one... but hey it could happen. Leonin Arbiter is here to make it a little harder for the other players to look for their combo pieces. Leonin Relic-Warder for a little removal and Whitemane Lion to save a dude we don’t want dead.
ThunderCats Are Loose! (like your mom)
So we need a sword for this deck. But to make sure we get what we want, we’re going to need a few more weapons. So on to...
Convenient plot device for writers who have run out of time to logically solve their problems.
The Mirran Sword cycle (Sword of “Bam” and “Boom”, don’t act like you don’t know them): If you’re playing an equipment deck with the intent to win, you should have these. Here they can be even more broken because of Raksha. With him out and equipped, these become everything they say times two. A Body and Mind milling 10 and making a 2/2 wolf kind of sucks. A body of mind that does twice the damage, mills 20, and makes 2 2/2 wolves is just wrong. And that’s with the “worst” one.
Sword of Vengeance and Sword of the Paruns: A few extra swords can’t hurt. Sword of the Paruns can give a guy quasi-vigilance and a nice pump for what we could use at the time if we need extra attack or defense. And come on, look at Sword of Vengeance and tell me it doesn’t look like Sword of Omens.
Leonin Bola, Leonin Scimitar, Lighting Greaves, and Swiftfoot Boots: These are our cheap equip cards for when we need to pump a guy or we’re low on mana.
Champion’s Helm and Whispersilk Cloak: When we get Raksha out and give him a sword, I want to keep him out without feeling like a Terror will kill him.
Give Me Sight Beyond Sight!
Here are our other white cards I want to put in, just because they're cool… not everything I do has to have a reason… don’t judge me!
Roar of the Kha, Call of Glory, and To Arms!: The Roar of the Kha is the reason for these cards here. I just imagine Raksha with a sword held high telling the team “the enemy is attacking, ThunderCats…HOOOOOO!!!!” and the team just gets that look and stand up ready to fight for you!
Return to Dust, Dust to Dust, Cleanfall, and Cleansing Meditation: Here we have artifact and enchantment hate. The last thing we want is for some combo to go off without us having some kind of way to stop it.
Path to Exile, Oblation, Day of Judgment, Wrath of God, and Hallowed Burial: Creature removal is one of the things white is best at and if you’re in white you have to have a board wipe.
Resurrection, White Sun’s Zenith and False Defeat: Here we have three ways to come back after the board has been wiped.
Brave the Elements, Enlightened Tutor, and Stir the Pride: Brave can save the team or help the team get past the other mono-colored player's forces. Stir the Pride can be like our Overrun or a way to gain a ton of life to stay in the game. Enlightened Tutor can get the artifact or enchantment we want. And speaking of enchantments…
Honor of the Pure, Shared Triumph, Light from Within, and Marshal’s Anthem: The pump Enchantmentss that can help keep our dudes big and in the game, and a little creature recursion with the Anthem.
Ghostly Prison, Journey to Nowhere, and Oblivion Ring: Like I said before, me and Ghostly Prison are having a little love affair. I haven’t told my wife. Keep it to yourself and I won’t have to O-Ring you.
True Conviction: If you weren’t going into the red zone by now get up off your ass.
HOOOOOO!
34 lands later and there we have it. This is getting to be a lot more fun then I figured it would be. Just remember to put in your land based hate cards like Ghost Quarter and stuff to cut off the people who are ramping hard and early.
Hope you had fun and please leave any comments or suggestion. Until next time,
This is your Captain speaking... We're heading in to the Red Zone!!!
Good Deck idea! My only suggestion for this would be to have Mageta the Lion - I know that the art doesn't really say "cat" but come on - LION! Plus, you'd have a body left over after you destroy everything of theirs
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