Art by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
Commander deckUW
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Slow the game to a dead crawl using tax, prison, and lockdown effects. Completely neuter aggressive combat commanders by turning off creature activations, taxing attacks, and locking down commander casts.
Asked for“Create a deck that completely counters Lightning, Army of One, making it impossible for the player to play, so that even if it's branch 5, it feels like it's branch 1.”
Deck anatomy
What this list actually runs on: how cheaply it casts things, and whether it has enough ramp, card draw and interaction to keep up at the table. Each block is one card — hover for its name.
Mana curve · 62 nonland cards
The working parts
Counted from Scryfall’s community card tags, not from the builder’s own labels. A card that does two jobs counts twice, so these add up to more than the deck. The hatched band is a common rule of thumb, not a law — combo decks run leaner, battlecruiser decks heavier.
Colored mana symbols
Commander
1Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
2WULegendary Creature — Human Advisor
Chosen commander for the requested strategy.
Ramp
10
Card Draw
10
Esper Sentinel
WArtifact Creature — Human Soldier
taxes noncreature spells while drawing cards
Ledger Shredder
1UCreature — Bird Advisor
looting engine that grows against aggressive spell slinging
Removal
12
Imprisoned in the Moon
2UEnchantment — Aura
completely neutralizes an enemy commander
Darksteel Mutation
1WEnchantment — Aura
turns commander into an indestructible useless bug
Threats/Wincons
22
Drannith Magistrate
1WCreature — Human Wizard
locks opponents out of casting their commanders
Blind Obedience
1WEnchantment
forces opposing creatures and artifacts to enter tapped
Propaganda
2UEnchantment
taxes attackers making aggressive wide attacks impossible
Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2WLegendary Creature — Human Soldier
makes creatures and nonbasic lands enter tapped
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2WWLegendary Creature — Angel
shuts down all activated abilities of opponent creatures
Approach of the Second Sun
6WSorcery
clean alternate win condition once control is established
Phyrexian Censor
2WCreature — Phyrexian Wizard
limits players to one non-Phyrexian spell per turn
Ethersworn Canonist
1WArtifact Creature — Human Cleric
restricts non-artifact spell casting
Archon of Absolution
3WCreature — Archon
taxes attackers and blocks white creatures
Baird, Steward of Argive
2WWLegendary Creature — Human Soldier
additional attack tax piece
Spurnmage Advocate
WCreature — Human Nomad
repeatable targeted creature destruction against attacking creatures
Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset
2WULegendary Planeswalker — Teferi
planeswalker utility, life gain, and mana untapping
Spark Double
3UCreature — Illusion
duplicates commander to double the tax effects
Utility
8
Lightning Greaves
2Artifact — Equipment
protects Grand Arbiter with shroud and haste
Reins of Power
2UUInstant
steals an opponent's army during their combat to wipe them out
