Deck Tech - Loot, the Key to Everything
Storming from exile with Pikachu!
Deck Techs
$100 decks that are cheap, fun, and competitive.
Total cost: $85.18 (at time of publication)
For quite some time, I've always wanted to build an "exile matters" deck because of the random and immediate nature of it. Also, I'm someone whom other's would describe as a value EDH player (I love drawing cards and ramping). I had been waiting for the perfect commander to come along that would let me do ramp, draw cards, and fly by the seat of my pants, so when Loot, the Key to Everything was spoiled I knew I had to build around Magic's version of Pikachu.
Playing Loot feels like you're piecing together a different puzzle every time you play it. By casting lots of "play from exile" cards, you churn through your deck very quickly but, from the nature of a randomized 100 card deck, you never know the order things can happen in, especially since you only have access to the cards you exile until (at most) the end of your next turn.
Win conditions
With Loot, the goal is to make everything a ramp or draw spell, and in doing so, kill your opponents using classic spellslinger payoffs. The first card that should go in the deck is Guttersnipe. Every time you cast a spell, you'll shock your opponents.
Some variations on this effect are Electrostatic Field, Fiery Inscription, Unstable Amulet, and Keeper of Secrets, with the last two being specifically for casting spells from exile.
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might is here to up that damage to 4 on every spell cast. There are other options like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus or Fiery Emancipation, but these are either too expensive for our budget or too mana intensive, respectively.
And that's the game plan! Every card you play either lets you add mana or impulse draw into more cards. The only puzzle you have to solve is how to manage your mana efficiently and string together as many possible instants and sorceries in a single turn to trigger these win conditions.
(Yes, we're playing a storm deck, which can often end up feeling like Solitaire to our opponents. This is why there are multiple of these effects in the deck, so that when we are ready to win, we're not durdling around as 2-3 of these effects should compound the damage quickly enough).
Ramp
The ramp can be split into three categories:
- Play extra lands
- Reduce the cost of instants and sorceries
- Burst of mana
Because we're going to be exiling so many cards, we really want to take advantage of the lands we exile. Summer Bloom is an all star in this regard.
Our mana curve is between 2-3, so ideally we want to reduce the cost of our spells to just a single mana. Goblin Anarchomancer, Goblin Electromancer, and Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius fit the bill.
The turn we want to go off, having a burst of mana will greatly accelerate us. Mana Geyser is the MVP of this deck, and I included one tutor in the deck, Solve the Equation, effectively acting as a second copy. Rousing Refrain is a poor man's Mana Geyser and has the added benefit of being on theme as you can suspend it and cast it from exile later.
Card draw
For this deck, I'm going to define card draw as any spell that gives us immediate access to at least 1 more playable card that same turn. Not including Loot, there are over 20 pieces of card draw. Wrenn's Resolve, Rob the Archives, Reckless Impulse, and Seek the Beast are often 1 mana, draw two. Others, like Inspired Tinkering or Escape to the Wilds, have mana generation stapled to them.
The most explosive combo in the deck is Song of Creation paired with Eruth, Tormented Prophet. For every spell you cast, you draw 2 cards. Eruth says that every time you draw, you instead exile two cards. Pretend you cast Wrenn's Resolve. On cast, you exile 4 cards with Eruth, and then 2 cards with Wrenn's Resolve. That's 6 cards off of a single spell! I've managed to exile about 30 cards in one turn with this combo.
I'd be remiss without mentioning that our commander is a card draw engine himself! He'll typically net you 1-2 extra exiled cards a turn.
Interaction
The interaction package is less about keeping your opponents in check than it is about making sure you can stop your opponents from messing up your game plan. The counter spells can all have their cost reduced to just 1 blue pip, which is great in a deck that is red-heavy. I've included a few spot removal cards, like Reality Shift and Resculpt, as well as some removal that you can cast from somewhere other than your hand (see, on theme!) in Dire-Strain Rampage and Depart the Realm.
Similarly, for board wipes, we're a little light, but with all of the cards you'll be drawing you shouldn't be worried about finding them. Blasphemous Act is a red staple, and Volcanic Torrent is perfect because it cascades into another spell and only hurts your opponents, a key thing to keep in mind when our win conditions are stapled to creatures.
One card I added for fun is Tidal Barracuda. This ensures that on our turns when we're storming off, our opponents will not be able to interact.
Alternate Win Conditions
After playing the first iteration of this deck, I realized that sometimes I would accidentally permanently exile all of my payoff cards. As a backup way to win, we can flood the board with tokens and swing in for good ol' combat damage. The Lost and the Damned and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald trigger with each card played from exile, and Elemental Eruption creates a ton of tokens based on our storm count.
The other benefit of these cards is that they generate blockers. Spellslinger decks can often get beat out by creature heavy decks, so having some ways to chump damage is pretty handy.
Don't get fooled
Here are some things to keep in mind when building Loot that may not be obvious:
- EDHREC lists a ton of cards that both deal with combat damage and exile. Professional Face-breaker is a generically great card, but its focus on combat damage is not helpful. The same thing goes for Laelia, the Blade Reforged. She gets bigger for every card we exile, but voltron is also not what we're focused on.
- There are quite a few cards that theoretically would be good but their mana value is prohibitive. Sure, we could cast Etali, Primal Storm, Sage of the Beyond and Urabrask, Heretic Praetor, but with the same mana we could've played 2-4 other draw or ramp spells.
- You'll notice a lack of mana rocks, outside of Sol Ring and Arcane Signet. There are quite a few play extra land cards, making cards like Talismans and Signets redundant.
Before we go
One final thought is that if you decide to put your own spin on this deck, you may want to try out cards that utilize the following mechanics:
- Flashback
- Plot
- Adventure
- Foretell
These will trigger the same effects that look for things played not from your hand. Most of these tend to be stapled on to creatures, so there is a version of Loot that's more creature and combat damage focused. Undoubtedly WOTC will continue to create cards utilizing these mechanics, so there will always be upgrade options.
Clean up
From my playtesting, this deck can win as early as turn 5, with the typical turn being about 7 or 8. This was without infinite combos and, granted, relied heavily on getting Mana Geyser into your hand, but it demonstrates the power you can generate with Loot. Who knew that Magic's version of Pikachu could be so fun!