Anowon, the Ruin Thief | EDH Three Ways [Commander Strategies for Every Player]

Anowon, the Ruin Thief is a new Dimir (Blue, Black) commander, making it's debut into the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse for the first time in Zendikar Rising, in one of the Zendikar Rising Commander decklists. Joel offers 3 different strategies for building Anowon in EDH: Strong, Fun and Mean. Rogue Tribal, starts things off in the "Strong" category, followed by Unblockable for the "Fun" way, and then finally the "Mean Build," we will be leaning into mill, and really hit our opponents where it hurts. There is a lot to go over! Check out the video and thanks for spending your time with us!
About the Three-Ways Series:
Some people like their chicken wings sweet while others prefer them scorching hot; either way, you are eating chicken. Magic the Gathering is a game with many different rules and building a Commander deck that works takes some time and strategy. Understanding the commander of your deck will help inform a deck-building plan that works for you. In this series, Joel discusses commander strategies for every player. This broad-strokes approach will give you a basic breakdown of the commander and three different ways you can build your deck to work with its abilities, without providing a full deck-tech.
What is Commander:
Commander, officially recognized on June 17, 2011, originated from a format called EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander-- there can only be one). The first time we played EDH was around 2009. It is easily the best way to play Magic: The Gathering. The idea was to have a casual format with 100 cards and only a single copy of any one card, with a General: a singular Legendary Creature card in its own zone that can be cast any time, once you have the mana for it. If your general is removed, it goes up by a casting cost of 2 for each time it is removed. Once WOTC officially recognized the format and printed the first Commander product, your General was instead called your Commander and instead of the format being called EDH, it instead became recognized as Commander. If you ever hear anyone say EDH, they are talking about Commander. Make sure to know the cards that are banned in the format before building your deck (listed below).
Commander Banlist:
magic.wizards.com/en/game-inf...
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Jake and Joel are comedians living in Los Angeles and Boston, respectively, with a passion for Magic: the Gathering and all things Standard, EDH, Finance, & MTG Arena.
We post new videos every week, covering all things Magic the Gathering, MTG Arena Gameplay, Standard, Commander, and MTG Finance!
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Executive Producers: Jennifer Moseley & Annie Bond
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This video and all videos on this channel are in no way intended for children (kids) nor do they intend to target children as an audience in any way, shape, or form.

[@JakeandJoelareMagic]

Anowon, the Ruin Thief 1. Strong - Rogue Tribal a. Zareth San, The Trickster b. Tinybones c. Brazen Borrower d. Sygg, River Cutt e. Notorious Throng f. Rankle, Master g. Knowledge Exploitation h. Thada Adel, Acquisitor i. Thieving Skydiver j. Oona's Blackguard k. Soaring Thought-Thief l. Sure-Footed Infiltrator 2. Fun - Unblockable.dek a. Deepchannel Mentor b. Thassa, God of the Sea c. Whispersilk Cloak d. Keeper of Keys e. Prowler's Helm f. Rogue's Passage g. Key to the City 3. Mean - MILL BABY a. Phenax, God of Deception b. Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker c. Oona, Queen of the Fae d. Mesmeric Orb e. Consuming Abberation f. Mind Grind g. Psychic Corrosion h. Memory Erosion i. Sphinx's Tutelage j. Fraying Sanity k. Jace Memory Adept l. Syr Konrad m. Mindcrank n. Ashiok, Dream Render o. Ashiok, Sculptor of Fears

[@blaserjagdwaffen]

True-Name Nemesis should've been included into the rogue list. Or unblockable? But surely it will surely hurt your opponent a lot if you have a card that's protection from a player haha

[@mikebott6940]

@@blaserjagdwaffen Give it mill equipment and lose friends.

[@jessianderson3959]

So, I've already milled my table to death with Mind Grind, and after several different decks throwing that out, some promises had to be made that I wasn't going to go that route going foreward. That influenced my build quite a bit here, because i thought rogues would be a cool Tribal. What I did was focus a lot on quick unblockable damage, a few rocks to get Anowon out on turn 3, some artifact equipments that trigger of their bearer doing damage (these are very important for momentum), and as many cards that allow me to steal as possible from board, deck or grave. Grave is really important because there are some great cheaper to cast black spells that target "a graveyard", but i didn't shy away from 5 costs either as this is more of a late game play you make. So kinda like the pre-con, but a lot more "steal-y". By forgoing all but 1 board whipe in favor of Grave reccursion, you can kindof rely on your opponents doing the wipe for you, then all you have to do is rebuild using their biggest pieces with the recursion you hopefully drew on Anowon. The goal was to have a mill deck that wasn't super salt inducing, and it does that fairly well, while still holding its own!

[@R_Arsiks_6]

@@jessianderson3959 This sounds like exactly what I would like to do, but I've never played commander before and am not sure how to build a deck. Mind sharing your list so I can check it out?

[@robertviscomi8199]

May I ask if you have a sample list for the mean/strong versions of this deck?

[@benjaminsiera1691]

Thanks for the video, I really enjoy those "EDH Three Ways"! Your videos add to my magic knowledge as well as they entertain me :-) keep up the good work!

[@kellyoubre7433]

I think this deck will be really fun to play & looking forward to testing this out once I'm done upgrading it. Glimpse the unthinkable works really well in this 👍

[@JakeandJoelareMagic]

Hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it goes.

[@poofypeanut0221]

Sweet video again! This commander doesn’t personally interest me but these are definitely great ways to upgrade it if you are. You guys rock!

[@poofypeanut0221]

Also, I’m sure there’s better ways to write this lol, but it’s pronounced something like “A-quiz-itter”

[@benjaminkaye5119]

I do like Altar of the brood And bruvac for the mill strategy. Leyline of the void as another way to exile opponents graveyard. Great video , always enjoy your 3 ways.

[@josyhiathompson6883]

Thanks for the suggestions! I got the anowon precon because i wanted the naya lands precon and my lgs only let you buy the two together for $40 (probally because the naya deck sold more). And after playing it a couple times out of the box I really liked it. Its different from my usual stompy or go nuts with tokens plan.

[@wheelchazeal8089]

Loved this man. 🤘 got my sub

[@russelravellette6612]

I love these videos!

[@rafaellumrodas350]

Good stuff!!!

[@Corbin8]

Thanks for the video! I'm going to have to grab a tiny bones now..

[@Grozdrak]

I was thinking of going more with Obuun but that strong tribal synergy for me kinda changing my mind.

[@moreparmesan5261]

I was going to build Obuun too, trust me, Anowon rouge tribal is so much more fun. And the precon (aside from the lands) seems very well put together.

[@MyAverageLife01]

Key to the city is one of my favorite cards. Best card in Alesha

[@randomwny]

Mine is heavy rogues, some unblockable and some mill. I'd like more unblockable. Thanks for the tips. How about an Arni Brokenbrow 3 way?

[@thedanath]

Oona's Blackguard is already in the precon :)

[@JakeandJoelareMagic]

nice!

[@skfaenwulfgrimmwald3041]

I love this deck, i think anowon is a good commander, yes not the best but very solid. I have to warn you, don't play mindcrank on turn 2, otherwise you are the enemy of the whole table 🤣

[@daemonrider2199]

Can there be a variant with vampires and rogues by adding vroska the scheming gorgon?

[@robertmorris4163]

I upgraded mine with a nod to the story and have him focus on stealing stuff so added agent of Treachery . , Zeartheth, notion thief and 9ther rogue steal stuff cards. my sub theme 8s mill.

[@ElleHasAGock]

I wanna do anowon mill infect but idk where to start

[@adamcappella8088]

I got a rogue deck. If notorious throng is played, the game is over

[@evandercaruso5085]

I run an Anowon that combines all three but leans toward your mean style. Add a Bloodcheif Ascension and Mind Crank goes infinite. Bruvac combined with a kicked Maddening Cacophony will also get you an instant kill on someone.

[@thew1ldcard886]

I wish I had a tinybones so bad for this deck.

[@jamesperry459]

Is there a fun way build a mill deck well guess fun be just you. Don't say your opponents need have fun

[@medicdan5981]

Unblock-able equals milling .... and oh yeah everyone gets pissed really quick lol so fun and mean

[@collectingclassics]

Strionic Resonator

[@zackjordan4728]

Horsemamship for unblockable

[@samdalfthegray4495]

My goal for the deck is to assemble sol ring tron by stealing all of my opponent's and also using my own XD

[@mitchnusco1600]

As a Mitch I accept your apology... only because I plan to build a mill deck

[@kylesavage4525]

I would like to see Snapdax (infect/mutate/equipments) and Kalamax (value/combo) built in three ways. I have started building them both so i would love some insight. Btw i do not think that mill in general is considered a mean archetype since it tends to be quite slow and weak. Plus in edh a lot of people can either use cards in their gys or have cards like the original eldrazi titans that shuffle their gys into their libraries which means that u basically can not win by mill. 0:03-0:13 just lmao man

[@craigslattery1901]

My deck is so close to this mill deck, only better. My wife throws he cards and dice as she walks off. FUN FUN FUN for everyone.

[@nastymcraw2620]

I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track to creating the "mean deck" very interested in that build. Would anyone be willing to check my deck and see where I'm at?

[@bradmacgregor8722]

No

[@starmorpheus]

@@bradmacgregor8722lol

[@mraidandm]

I’d totally just grave steal deck steal. I’m a thief

[@vigormortis8634]

I'm not a mitch and I'm offended

[@bobbyz5443]

Good look doing the less popular precon 1st while everyone did this 1 first