Commander Deck Tech: King T'Challa (Black Panther, Hope Enduring)

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To Wakanda, a leader and a protector. To the world, a hero. And to you, your next commander. In this article, check out how you can build King T'Challa (Black Panther, Hope Enduring)!

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Translated byJoey

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Revised byJoey

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Introduction

“Did you truly think you could run from me?”

- T'Challa, the Black Panther

Can you lead and protect a country at the same time? The adventures of King T'Challa show us that yes, that's possible.

T'Challa, under the mantle of Black Panther and the crown of Wakanda, one of the most technologically advanced nations in the Marvel universelink outside website, is loyal to his people and a respected hero among the Avengers.

In this article, you'll find two fun lists with this legendary creature that are perfect for your Commander pods.

The main list centers around card draw interactions and constantly benefits from T'Challa's passive ability and drawing outside your turn.

The alternative list is a classic Voltron strategy. It's a simpler option, better suited for Commander beginners.

Let's know this hero a little better!

Commander: King T'Challa (Black Panther, Hope Enduring)

“The strength of Wakanda lies in more than its technology.”

- T'Challa, the Black Panther

T'Challa spent years training his body, mind, and soul to lead and protect Wakanda. This African country was graced with huge amounts of Vibranium, which was crucial to its technological progress.

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In MTG, the main side of this noble hero was represented as an Azorius Magic Symbol wMagic Symbol u creature with Flash that draws a card for you whenever a player draws their second card each turn.

Please note that this effect checks all players, so it applies to you as well.

Just like other legendary creatures in this set, King T'Challa comes with a different side, Black Panther, Hope Enduring. This side, besides Flash, has Double Strike and prevents damage that would be dealt to him. When this side deals combat damage, you also draw a card.

Regardless of which side you play, one thing is certain: in some way, T'Challa will help you draw cards. So, the first thing we'll cover in this article couldn't be anything but...

Card Draw

Let's go through a few cards that make you and other players draw cards:

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Your opponents will love cards like Wheel and Deal, which make them draw cards. They might even get confused when they see Teferi's Puzzle Box, but please note that this list is not a group hug strategy. Instead, we'll take advantage of these draws to burn their life points:

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These two artifact creatures can give you a win in very little time. While Psychosis Crawler attacks the opponents' life points when you draw cards and eventually becomes a pretty big creature, Scrawling Crawler will force players to draw in your upkeep step and deals damage to them whenever they draw a card.

These cards interact really well with another artifact creature in this deck, Krang, the All-Powerful, from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe. This card will double all your "card-draw-related" triggered abilities.

As we're talking about cards that give you wins and cards, let's see one of the most iconic cards in this type of strategy, one that gets even stronger with card draw:

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Approach of the Second Sun is one of the most popular win conditions in casual Commander pods. It basically wins the game for you.

So, it's important that you draw it after it becomes the 7th card in your deck and that no opponent interferes with this with a Counterspell or similar.

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Unfortunately, your commander won't save you from the hand limit. However, this list plays various cards that remove that limit and create mana or even put targets on a target creature, like the ones above.

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Besides access to nearly all the cards in your deck, a full hand will also help you gain life!

Ivory Tower is the perfect artifact to do that. Though this deck doesn't center around life gain, this card is pretty cheap and easy to trigger. Like so, it will help you carry on with your game plan without dying.

Other interactions with card draw in this list include:

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When Heliod, the Radiant Dawn enters play, you'll be able to save a Teferi's Ageless Insight, Smothering Tithe, or even a Propaganda that you lost somehow.

Then, you can transform it and make other players' lives pretty complicated.

Besides letting you cast all your spells as if they had Flash, Heliod, the Warped Eclipse also lets you cast your spells for one less generic mana for each card your opponents drew that turn.

With its help, you might be able to end the game really early on.

Interactions

What is a casual Commander pod if not a small stage for great interactions to perform?

This list includes many of them so that you can remove problematic pieces:

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And these interactions will also help you with mana:

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Smothering Tithe might even make your opponents annoyed, as it prompts the famous question, "Will you pay 2?", but it is valuable to King T'Challa in another way as well. It creates Treasures according to the cards your opponents draw.

The other two cards in this section annoy the opponents way less. Nonetheless, they make sure all your lands are in play and give you a few Treasures so you can cast your spells.

Flash

If there is one thing Azorius players usually do well, it's bluffing.

You'll follow in your commander's steps. You want as many spells in your deck with Flash as possible so that you can bluff stress-free and cast whatever you need as you pass, before your turn even begins.

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Protection

This list doesn't play many creatures, but it does play effects that create tokens so that you can at least fill your board. So, of course, we just had to add these two enchantments:

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Besides them, this list plays Teferi's Protection, Unstable Molecule Suit, Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, and Bastion Protector.

Main List

The final list with King T'Challa and all these wonderful card draw interactions ended up like this:

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Alternative List

The alternative list includes simpler interactions. Considering Black Panther, Hope Enduring has Double Strike, draws cards, and also prevents the damage that would be dealt to him, it's only logical that we try to attack with him as much as possible.

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Like our main list, this one plays many card-draw interactions. However, besides them, we also added cards that specifically interact with this side of T'Challa.

With Pariah's Shield or Pariah, for instance, you'll be heavily protected and will rarely take damage directly.

Besides these two, this list also plays a few removals and control tools, popular figures in Azorius lists, like Dovin's Veto, Path to Exile, Negate, Generous Gift, and similar. This way, you can get rid of any threat.

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Final Words

King T'Challa is an extremely versatile and fun commander.

As you'll draw cards with any of his sides, you can build lists with him however you like and take advantage of any mechanics you want as long as they're in his colors.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!