How to Make a Theme Work ft. Wayne Tech

    The first two posts were a great way to get my feet wet writing about MTG. Now that we are tuned in, let's have some fun. I never expected the overwhelming wave of support I received for the Black History Month post, so thank you to my redditors and other readers for supporting a homie! I will be making a follow up in the coming weeks. 

    Today, I want to get into the thought process behind crafting a theme deck. Theme decks are usually not too competitive; however, they are a blast to play with and against. If you have a friend who's a good artist, or you're an illustrator like me, you'll have even more fun taking the cards in that deck and giving them visuals to match the characters/locations/items they represent. 

    Since we are focusing on making a themed deck, we need a theme first, don't we? Let's go with the superhero angle and pick someone literally EVERYONE knows. Like seriously, if you aren't aware of this character at all, you must not be of this planet. The theme we will use today is the wonderful world of Batman. 

    DISCLAIMER: We here are theorizing about how to build a Batman deck. Therefore, some of the cards may be a bit pricey if you'd like to build this specific list in person. I have played a Syr Gwyn deck numerous times in the Brawl format, so I know how to roughly go about making the deck actually run well. So don't come crying to me if you spend $200 bucks on this and it doesn't win you a tournament at your LGS! (If you're reading this during the pandemic, then replace LGS with virtual playgroup or however you kids play Magic.) 

    And a final heads up, this is a commander deck tech. If you try building a theme deck in other constructed formats and get back to me on how that works out for you. Watch me eat those words a few posts from now when I attempt to do it. 

Now I’m gonna stop making stupid banter and get into the show!

THE CAPED CRUSADER:

    So we have a human knight who cares about equipment (i.e. gadgets), and has vigilance and menace?! In addition, the fact that she draws you a card when attacking can be paralleled to Batman's brutal interrogation tactics, or his skills as a detective, gaining insight as you play. Let's also throw in the fact that Syr Gwyn's color identity is red, white, black; the colors of emotion, justice, and self sacrifice (in that order). After all this, I'm starting to wonder if they had Batman in mind while designing this card. The parallels are UNCANNY! Therefore, I see no better commander than Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale. When creating a theme for your deck, these are the kinds of parallels you want. It's one thing to staple an external meaning onto a cool looking card, but it’s another thing to actually be able to have your gameplay reflect the world you're parodying. 

    So, what's our angle with this deck? Pulling inspiration from my last deck building post, a good deck should vibe off of a strategy consistently present throughout the deck. Cards should not only work with your commander, but also work well with each other. Well, let's use what we know about Batman to create a game plan. Batman has a rogues gallery of unique characters, is a very… hands-on fella, and sure as hell loves technology. Using those traits, I think this deck calls for a "Voltron" style strategy. Voltron is another coined term in the MTG community that is used for decks that rely on a few key creatures to build upon. With those big scary threats, you swing in and try to annihilate your opponents using combat damage and sometimes even combat trickery. Let's dive into how I make Syr Gwyn the hero we don't need, but the hero we deserve. 

Here's how we are going to organize this– the setting, the gadgets, then the characters. 

THE SETTING:

    To begin, we are taking a step back and looking at the city of Gotham. This is a dark, gothic and gritty city with a lot of character. Using our card pool, let’s see how we can interpret that. As we can see below, Desecrated Tomb has the Batcave written all over it. Not only is it spooky, but it creates bats every time a creature leaves the graveyard, similar to how oftentimes bats flood the air as Batman exits/enters his Batcave. Magic is just making my job too easy, yo. 

    One may ask, "Harland, master deck builder extraordinaire, how do you incorporate a new setting into a card game with an established narrative?" Great question. 

    Short answer: imagination and lands. Using our mana base, a required piece to any deck, we can add flavor by carefully choosing the lands that best reflect the city of Gotham and other settings that are a part of the story. Let's look at three lands, and as you scroll through, think about what they remind you of, then read what they remind me of in the Batman universe. 

 

    Make sure to comment what these lands reminded you of if you differ from what I’m about to suggest! Here's what I thought of: Rakdos Carnarium is a circus stage filled with torture objects and body parts. Remind you of a certain clown who loves to play twisted jokes? Vault of the Archangel not only fits the theme in the name, but can also be seen as a hallway of the Batcave with the domineering presence the art has. Specifically one where Bruce (I mean, Batman) keeps some of his momentos from previous battles, as we have seen in comics and movies alike. 

    Lastly, Cavern of Souls makes for a fantastic reference to the Lazarus Pit commonly used by Ra’s Al Ghul. Hell, it even gives you mana TO CAST CREATURES similar to how the pit is used as a way by the Bat-ethos writers to revive characters like Jason Todd, Deathstroke and Damian Wayne. Not only are these lands flavorful, but useful in the deck as well. I'll quote myself saying this exact phrase probably a few times– make the cards work for you! 

    The setting of your deck is not only useful for providing scenery cameos. Take your theme deck a step further, and you could build a deck even more defined than this. There are many times when Batman has to up his game, piloting big mech suits of armor to level the playing field against certain enemies. You can find examples of this in the beginning battle of the Endgame comic, Jim Gordon’s time as Batman during the New 52 era, or in the notoriously mediocre Batman v Superman movie based off the Dark Knight Frank Miller run (for those who don’t know DC comics– yes, there is an Endgame in Batman. It’s as good as it sounds). 

    Using equipment such as Shambling Suit and Grafted Exoskeleton, we can mimic the mech suit. Taking it a step further, weapons such as the Shadowspear and Embercleave can represent the weapons those suits wield, which are sometimes loaded with red or green kryptonite. I just splashed these in for flavor, but imagine how cool it would be to specifically theme your deck around Batman versus Superman? Or maybe around the Killing Joke, using the Cult of Rakdos to portray the carnival of trauma created by the Joker. That’s why the Batman mythos is such a great one to use, but I digress. Let’s get onto the next part of the deck tech– the gadgets. 

THE GADGETS:

    Batman is not only known for his daddy issues and edgy demeanor, he is also a master tactician. The gadgets are as iconic to the character as the Bat nipples were to George Clooney’s suit. Since the creation of the character, he has always had a gadget for every situation, and a suit of armor that is unlike any other. Therefore, it‘s only fitting that we recreate the Batsuit with Magic cards. Luckily for us, equipment artifacts not only fit the theme of the deck, but are also the gears we will use to make the deck function. Using the cards Whispersilk Cloak, Vulshok Gauntlets, Swiftfoot Boots, Darksteel Plate, and Mask of Avacyn, we now have a full suit of armor for Batman to wear in battle! 

    On top of the armor, there's quite literally a grappling hook card already in the game! There's also cards such as Infiltration Lens that can capture some of Batman's many tools. These are great examples of using the Voltron strategy to our advantage, while staying on theme. The main goal of this deck is to create Batman’s suit of armor. He doesn’t use guns or weapons, so we aren’t filling the deck with the many swords and hammers we see in MTG. The suit of armor is going to create the protection and power you need to win. Now, let’s say your opponents have done a good job of keeping Syr Gwyn off the board. You have all these flashy gadgets but nothing to do with them. Fear not, that’s why this deck comes with a crew of characters to provide back up. 

THE CHARACTERS:

    No Batman deck is complete without the characters that make up his rogues gallery of villains, and the ones that form the legendary Bat family. Let's start with the Bat family, shall we? Whether you want to add Catwoman, Batgirl, Red Hood, or a Robin, there is no doubt a currently printed card fits the role. The key is brainstorming what place that character holds in that universe, their personality, and translating that to MTG. When coming up with the concept of the deck, the first card I knew would have a home in this deck was Dark Confidant. Not only is it a great way to speed up the power of the deck through information (card draw), but it is a perfect representation for Batman's dark confidant and butler, Alfred. Akiri, Fearless Voyager's acrobatics serves as a great figurehead for Nightwing, also assisting Batman (Syr Gwyn) by making him indestructible for one mana. Not to mention also adding to the card draw value we get from attacking. Go ahead, throw equipment on Nightwing too and watch him go. After all, he uses gadgets and armor too, so placing your armor pieces on him doesn’t subtract from the theme. 

    In addition, we only have one planeswalker in the deck list that I’d like to address, due to her not really having a place in the deck outside of the theme. And the Liliana Vess spot has to go to my favorite character in the Gotham universe (and self proclaimed twin)– Harley Quinn. They’re both women taken advantage of and manipulated by evil, ego driven maniacs. They both have traumatic home lives that lead to them constantly walking the line between good and evil, with good eventually winning. Even though she only exists in this deck as a tutor for the most part, this is another great example of how you can use the lore of MTG to add to the power of your theme. 

    Before I start going on about more heroes, I’ll save the others for the imagination, and move onto the villains. As many fans of the franchise know, the Batman universe has so many iconic villains it's almost maddening. However, that works out great for us because it gives us so many characters to pick from. Phyrexian Crusader, for example, works as a great Bane. It is a deadly, hulking creature that can kill an opponent with one attack when equipped with enough damage to make the infect lethal. Not to mention someone could make a whole deck based on how Phyrexian mutation could be used as venom or fear toxin. Sram, Senior Edificer in my eyes, makes a great Riddler. In its own deck, this card can pump out RIDICULOUS amounts of draws a turn; I see this being very similar to the brilliance of Edward Nygma, and how no matter what Batman does to counter him, he's always one step ahead. I hope you have noticed a small thing I’ve been doing with card draw by now. I have been comparing card draw to gaining intel. Using this, I can look at card mechanics in a new way to make them fit the theme. Think about this when you build your version. What could you make first strike symbolize? Maybe your Superman should be indestructible. Just another thing to consider as you build. 

    Now, you might be thinking, where’s our favorite psychopathic edgelord? Oh, he’s coming. He has to be a part of this deck. Choosing a role for Joker is a bit tricky. With many different spins on the character with different tactics and motives, it can be hard for a Gotham fan to pin him down into one card. Nonetheless, I’m here to make the magic happen, so I’m going to use two options I found suitable as his stand-in. Magus of the Wheel is an ode to a classic, chaotic mechanic in Magic known as wheeling. Nothing screams “I hate everyone, even myself,” more than making everybody throw away their cards to randomly reload to 7. Every time a wheel has been played in a game I’ve been in, it completely shifted the dynamic of the game, similar to how Joker can turn any Batman story upside down. 

    The next card I thought of was Rankle, Master of Pranks. This card is one of my favorite standard legal cards. It is sometimes the funniest way to control the board, with the addition of haste, making him an immediate problem. On top of the card’s abilities, the flavor of the card speaks for itself. Pairing these cards with other spells such as Tormenting Voice or Painful Truths, you got yourself something that could end up on Magic Arcanum’s mustache minute. 

    And there you have it, a complete guide to building on theme using Batman as our vehicle. I encourage you to try your own version of this brew! Speaking of vehicles, maybe you include a different one to represent the Batmobile (Smuggler’s Copter gang), or maybe you decide to replace Nightwing with Deathstroke using the oddly similar Fiendslayer Paladin. 

    This is what makes theme decks so much fun. I see this practice similar to how mods add fun twists to video games. Treat your next theme deck like a PC copy of Skyrim; go as in depth as you’d like. Unfortunately, some things are harder to do than others, but you never know what’s out there! Thor fans can now finally build the decks of their dreams with the new Kaldheim set, and Disney fairytales (as much as I hate them) are now possible through cards from Throne of Eldraine. Regardless, as long as you use your creativity and deck building skills, the fun is absolutely endless! 

Check out my version of the deck here!

-Harland 

Editor: Gem Díaz Velázquez 

NEXT TIME IN FLAVORTOWN: 

So, Valentine’s Day is coming up. My partner and I agreed when we started dating over a year ago we wouldn’t make a big deal out of the day, so I’m gonna do the opposite. This Sunday, tune in at noon (CST) when I’ll be honoring my best friend, magic student, editor of this blog and the love of my life with a Magic deck themed around gay pride and land destruction! 

IG: @_harleys_angels_

Twitter: @TyronicTheTrill