Commander Deck Tech: Aladdin and Rule 0

Commander is a very social game. I always added a quote by a Gundam Build Fighters character to my first articles about Commander, and just like he wanted more freedom in his hobby, I also said that "Commander is all about freedom". And that's really what I feel about this format: it is a way for great people to play great games while they have great conversations and eat great food.

In today's article, we'll explore rule 0, the gracious agreement players shake on before each match, and how great it can be by exploring a creature that is legendary in name but not on paper.

Today, straight from Arabian Nights, let's see Aladdin as a commander!

Rule 0 is one of the most interesting things about Commander precisely because it opens space for ideas that aren't always viable in a competitive format full of other rules. Not every funny card comes out as a legendary creature, and that means many old, weird, or simply forgotten designs have to stay out of the command zone. Even when they'd be perfect as the main star in a certain deck or archetype.

Aladdin comes to mind because he offers a clear, unusual game plan for red decks. This card is from Arabian Nights, a set that predates legendary creatures as a mechanic (they came out a bit after the Legends set). Aladdin was directly inspired by the character from the One Thousand and One Nights folk tales and was clearly designed to be an iconic character in his set. Just like other legendary cards were the main stars of their own sets later on.

So, Rule 0 is not just an "extra rule" that ignores certain details or even other rules. It's an opportunity to put cards that would usually end up forgotten under the spotlight again. Considering how creative Commander is and how each Commander pod can decide how powerful they want their matches to be, this type of agreement only results in more interesting strategies and decks. Like so, Commander can still have space for diverse archetypes and deckbuilding styles.

Aladdin is a 1/1 and costs four mana. His ability lets you pay 3 mana and tap him to gain control of an artifact for as long as you control Aladdin. He is fragile and needs to survive at least one turn to do something, so he appears to be quite weak. In turn, this could be enough to convince your friends to accept him as a Rule 0 exception.

His effect is pretty interesting, particularly in Commander because this format is full of artifacts. Stealing a Sol Ring, The One Ring, relevant equipment, or even an enemy engine piece will change the course of a match. Furthermore, there are many ways to get haste, protect your creatures, and turn permanents into artifacts when you're playing red decks. So Aladdin can definitely be more than just an old card. He can work as the center of a very unusual board control list.

The only thing you should note is that Aladdin strategies need to be more than just a bunch of cards that seem good with artifacts. What you really want is an engine that puts Aladdin in play, activates him early, and protects him so that you can keep stacking artifacts. Meanwhile, as you do all of this, you'll find relevant targets for his ability.

This is a Monored artifact list that centers on stealing and controlling resources. Instead of trying to win fast through combos, it will build a board that is hostile to enemy artifacts and activate Aladdin's ability again and again.

Once his ability can force opponents to keep artifacts in their hand, Liquimetal Coating, Liquimetal Torque, and Myr Landshaper are the main stars in this deck. With these cards, Aladdin will no longer rely only on the artifacts that the opponents play. He can just threaten other important permanents as well.

Today's list fits Bracket 3, but it is still very powerful:

Turning Permanents into Artifacts

As we have just mentioned, these are the most important cards in this list. Liquimetal Coating and Liquimetal Torque allow you to turn permanents into artifacts until the end of the turn. Like so, you'll be able to steal cards that would usually be out of Aladdin's reach. Myr Landshaper does something similar with lands. It allows you to disrupt mana bases or take advantage of other relevant lands.

This type of effect also improves your removals. Cards that hit artifacts, like Vandalblast and Abrade, are much better when you can decide what's an artifact before you use them. Like so, this kit will still be useful even when your commander isn't in play.

Activating Abilities Extra Times

In a fair world, considering you need to tap Aladdin to use his ability, you can only use his ability once per rotation. But we don't want a fair world. We want unfair worlds, and unfair ways to activate Aladdin's ability more than once per rotation. Thousand-Year Elixir is one of the best cards in this deck because it lets you activate your commander as if he had haste and also lets you untap him. Magewright's Stone and Patriar's Seal are similar, as they allow you to use Aladdin's ability more than once per cycle.

Manifold Key seems simple, but it is helpful in two different ways. It untaps important artifacts and, in some matches, can make a creature unblockable. This is relevant when you need to end the game with Hellkite Tyrant or another creature with enemy equipment attached.

Cards that copy activated abilities are also important in this list. Illusionist's Bracers, Battlemage's Bracers, and Rings of Brighthearth let you steal another piece each time you activate Aladdin's ability.

However, you must pilot this deck carefully because the best target won't always be the strongest artifact on the board. Oftentimes, stealing a mana rock or card draw piece will already create a great advantage without making you the #1 target on the board.

Recursion and Artifacts

This recursive kit will allow you to reuse your pieces and also create interesting strategies with big artifacts.

Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer are excellent. They let you get or swap artifacts according to what you need in each particular situation.

Daretti, Scrap Savant does something similar and also filters your hand. As for Trash for Treasure, it lets you reuse heavy pieces, like Portal to Phyrexia or Spine of Ish Sah.

Scrap Trawler, Myr Retriever, and Junk Diver are great in "grind-y" game states. They'll let you reuse artifacts as they're destroyed or sacrificed.

Trading Post is slow but flexible. It draws cards, creates tokens, gives you life, and recycles artifacts, so it's great in longer matches.

Interaction

Red is a bit limited, so we need to add flexible answers to make up for it.

Chaos Warp and Wild Magic Surge deal with problematic permanents that this list wouldn't be able to remove in other ways, like enchantments.

Abrade is simple yet excellent, as it removes small creatures or artifacts. Bolt Bend protects important pieces when you have a very powerful creature in play or simply redirects a removal that would push Aladdin off the board.

Artifact removals are particularly strong in this case because this deck decides what can be an artifact. Vandalblast is the best of them, particularly when you overload it. Shattering Spree and By Force scale pretty well when you have mana available, while Blasphemous Act removes creatures when the game gets out of control.

The first way to win with this deck is with Hellkite Tyrant. Considering you'll steal artifacts and control the board pretty well, you can win through damage and through this alternative win condition, particularly when you've already traded resources.

The second way to win is with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts. This win condition is pretty strong for a powerful Bracket 3 list and often shows up later on. It is not the main way to win, and you can't tutor it easily, but it is a great late-game plan B to have in your back pocket. Particularly if you're playing a slow list.

Finally, the other way to win with this deck is by stealing cards. Taking control of mana rocks, controlling equipment cards, recycling artifacts with Goblin Welder, and keeping Aladdin alive for several turns will give you a pretty big advantage. It will be a miracle if your opponents manage to neutralize it.

Being able to explore a character from such an old set made me pretty happy. Aladdin gives something new to Monored lists and really meets our expectations of what an Arabian Nights legendary card should be.

This deck is also far from being so overwhelmingly powerful that it breaks your Commander pods, so most players will be glad to see it in your hands.

I've always wanted to explore these "Rule 0" cases, so I am pretty happy that I found a fun build to do that. I'd love to do this with my favorite MTG card, but no one would ever accept a Rule 0 Shahrazad.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!