Commander is Magic: the Gathering’s most popular format today, and with access to virtually all cards in the game’s 30+ year history, you can either make a deck really expensive (and uber powerful), or actually spend very little and still make a highly competent and synergized deck.

Today’s deck tech focuses on Ratonhnhaké꞉ton, one of several new Legendary Creatures from Universes Beyond Assassins’ Creed. His white, blue and black color identity is equally ‘well-equipped’ to deal with threats. He also has Hexproof and the ability to attack unblocked if he hasn’t dealt any combat damage, effectively ensuring you’ll get at least one hit off.

When Ratonhnhaké꞉ton does connect, you get to create a 1/1 token with Menace, though that’s not what makes him deadly. You also get to return an Equipment from the Graveyard to the Battlefield, thus allowing you to re-equip onto Ratonhnhaké꞉ton if you wish to deal Commander damage as part of your winning strategy. Stack multiple equipment on him and no one can stop him from a one-hit kill.

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Colors: white, blue, black | Cost: $115 (TCGplayer) | Power Level: Low / Mid / High / Competitive

Why Did We Pick Ratonhnhake:ton?

With the release of Universes Beyond Assassins’ Creed, there was a whole laundry list of lethal assassins to pick from as our Commander. The flavor of the set was 5-color Ezio Auditore da Firenze, which solved the problem of deciding what cards to put in or leave out of your deck. He had the power too, with the ability to win the game outright when certain conditions are met. At release, he cost $30 to pick up, which put us off that plan.

Then there was Edward Kenway, a seemingly niche Commander for assassins, pirates, or vehicles. Player came to realise that you if you play pirates/assassins with vehicles, Edward Kenway could hoard huge amounts of Treasure. But there have been so many pirate decks that came before it, and vehicles seldom proved itself to be one of the top archetypes.

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton is completely different. It is a voltron-styled Commander, but in a color identity that is not often associated with the archetype. The white, blue and black colors often reflect control magic, offering a powerful balance of destruction and defense. Ratonhnhaké꞉ton exemplified those ideals with its inability to be targeted or blocked (for the first time at least), a unique gift that could be utilised in a Commander game.

The Game Plan

This may sound like a bad plan, but do what the assassins do – sit back and wait. As Ratonhnhaké꞉ton can only kill one opponent at a time with Commander damage, and takes incredible amount of set up to do so, it’s best not to be the aggressor in a table of 4. Start off by dumping Equipment either onto the Battlefield or into the Graveyard, and cast a couple of stable blockers such as Danitha Capeshen, Paragon or Eowyn, Lady of Rohan, both of whom can attack with Vigilance and stay back as a blocker.

If you’ve put some rather expensive Equipment into the Graveyard (Excalibur, Sword of Eden or Argentum Armor for example), it would make sense to have Ratonhnhaké꞉ton connect with an opponent just so you can bring that Equipment back to the battlefield equipped to the new 1/1 token. It’s not a bad strategy to use those Assassin tokens or other equipped creatures to do the dirty work, since this deck does have Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist and the new Arna, Kennerud Skycaptain that makes equipping or duplicating Equipment so easy it’s almost unfair.

Continue to chip away with equipped creatures, control the game with powerful removal spells and control magic, and reanimate cards from the Graveyard to get the upper hand (and dagger) on the opponent’s throat.

Ways to Win

One of the key strategies for Ratonhnhaké꞉ton is to win by Commander damage. A heavily-equipped Ratonhnhaké꞉ton can swift dispatch an opponent in two strikes (and sometimes one if you’re lucky). You’re almost guaranteed a first hit, so keeping him alive for the second is vital. And even if Ratonhnhaké꞉ton has connected once and lost Hexproof, there are Getaway Glamer and Haystack that will make it hard for opponents to get rid of him.

The secondary and only other strategy is to outmuscle your opponents using heavily-equipped creatures or tokens. There are many viable candidates for this, but Kamiz, Obscura Oculus and Lydia Frye and strong options. Many cards in the deck also lets your creature through blockers, so it’s important to leverage that even as you’re sending only one creature through.

Weaknesses & How to Make Do

Although Ratonhnhaké꞉ton cannot be targeted before his first hit, he is still susceptible to sacrifice effects, or the occasional mass destruction spell. Luckily, having blue in your deck means counter magic is usually available to you, though in this deck we’ve kept that number to a minimum. Resistance Reunited is a nice trick to give Indestructible to one of your creatures, if you’re lucky enough to draw it.

Again, the availability of white and black reanimation in a voltron-styled deck shouldn’t go unrecognised. Cards such as Layla Hassan, The Revelations of Ezio, Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostleand Pre-War Formalwear can all bring your Commander or other creatures or equipment back and should be utilised as much as possible. With recursion from the Graveyard, this deck can keep up with others that may draw more cards due to other effects.

Advice from Real Game Experience

Despite being a mish-mash of lower-tier Equipment led by a unfavored Assassin Commander, this budget Ratonhnhaké꞉ton deck has delivered better than average results across different games. He is often overlooked as less threatening, since his invisibility lasts only once. However some may not know that if you recast or reanimate your Commander, his abilities are ‘refreshed’ as though it was a brand new person. Ratonhnhaké꞉ton costs only 3 Mana, so casting him multiple times through the course of a game is very doable and should be done if you are in need of a finishing blow.

The deck is filled with strong yet budget-friendly removal options. Path to Exile, Despark and Mortify can deal with all kinds of threats, but it’s important to save them for times when you are in direct danger. The new card Desynchronization also works wonders for this deck, since all your Equipment and Legendary creatures will remain untouched (though inevitably some cards will be return to your hand).

Like a real assassin, don’t draw too much attention to yourself. It’s unlikely this deck can kill off 3 players, or hold off all their attacks, so it’s best to go for a surgical strike when the time is right.