Welcome to Signature Commander, the article series where I discuss the Commander decks I love to play! In this article, I’ll show off the latest version of one of my very first decks. This deck, helmed by Vial Smasher the Fierce and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, wants to make lots of Vial Smasher clones and burn its opponents to the ground with a combination of small interaction spells and huge haymakers.

If you’d rather view the decklist without commentary, head over to Moxfield. Then come back here to let me know your thoughts below!

Vial Smasher has two strengths that make her fun to build around and play. First, her ability serves as a win condition in and of itself, meaning every interaction spell, draw spell, ramp spell, and so on gets you closer to winning. Second, the ability doesn’t force you into any one strategy, meaning you can use high-mana-value slots for just about any top-end that you find most fun.

This deck leans toward the more powerful end of the spectrum, but doesn’t quite reach cEDH territory. As such, its best win conditions are extra turn spells, which are worth a big chunk of damage with Vial Smasher on the field.

Strategy

This deck is a bit of an odd duck because it almost always wants to play its commanders as soon as possible on turns three and four and therefore doesn’t benefit much from ramp. A two-mana ramp spell doesn’t help you cast either commander earlier, so this deck prefers to use the first two turns to play something that builds the board in other ways. In the absence of ramp, I’ve chosen to include a high land count so that I can still cast my spells.

Here’s how I broke down the available slots in the deck:

• 39 lands, so I can hit my land drops.
• 21 one- or two- drops, so I can play something before using turns three and four to cast my commanders.
• 9 spells that will always draw cards. This deck will sometimes need to burn interaction to keep itself safe, and it’s important to be able to refill.
• 9 pieces of interaction. These are all instants, to take advantage of Vial Smasher’s ability.
• 7 clones. This number could probably be even a little lower, since one of the most important clones is already in my command zone.
• 13 haymakers. These spells have high printed mana costs and/or a high impact on the board when I play them.

Decklist

Baral, Chief of Compliance, Goblin Electromancer, Nightscape Familiar, Dockside Extortionist, Search for Azcanta, Sol Ring

These cards comprise the deck’s primary ramp package. Each of them is a two-drop that can generate more than two mana each turn OR produces value in some other way. Baral and Search for Azcanta are particularly helpful as they can help dig through my deck and fill my graveyard for the big delve spells that make up the deck’s top end.

Baleful Strix, Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Jacob Hauken, Investigator, Ledger Shredder, Sygg, River Cutthroat

Each of these cards generates card advantage or filtering in some way. Baleful Strix is a particularly great turn-two play because it’s a phenomenal blocker in a deck that doesn’t have many creatures that want to block. Ledger Shredder can also become a huge threat, though it takes more time. Sygg is the best at generating card advantage, since Vial Smasher’s ability can make Sygg trigger multiple times per turn cycle.

Electrostatic Field, Firebrand Archer, Thermo-Alchemist

While each of these creatures is a bit weaker than a Guttersnipe, they can all come down before turn three. Guttersnipe is an awkward card in this deck since I usually want to play Vial Smasher on turn three, which means I won’t be playing Guttersnipe till turn five at the earliest. At that point, I’d prefer to play draw spells, interaction, or other cards that will allow Vial Smasher to deal more damage.

Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Spellskite

I find that my opponents don’t generally see Vial Smasher as a threat in the early game, but once she starts dealing damage, she becomes a removal magnet. Each of these spells can come down on turn two and sit on the battlefield until I need to use them to protect Vial Smasher.

Dauthi Voidwalker

This card mostly serves as early graveyard hate, but it has a second function: If you can use its last ability to steal something big, that’s another free spell with which to trigger Vial Smasher.

Demonic Tutor

In a less-powerful meta, this is a card I’d take out. I’m not generally a huge fan of tutors, but this deck really wants early-game plays, and it’s got a very strong tutor target: Fierce Guardianship. By grabbing the free counterspell on turn two, I can protect my board from interaction without having to leave up mana.

Shadowspear

This deck relies heavily on fetches and shocks, and without good blockers it’s often open to big attacks. The lifelink on Shadowspear helps Vial Smasher keep my life total up, and its other abilities are tangentially useful.

Strionic Resonator

The Resonator serves a similar function as clones, but it can come down before Vial Smasher and doesn’t rely on an extra piece to neutralize the legendary rule before it can be useful.

Echo of Eons, Time Spiral, Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Misfortune

This deck really wants to dig for extra turn spells in the late game, and drawing seven new cards for cheap is the best way to do that. Time Spiral is the best of the bunch because it’s free, but the others have their benefits. The wheels can fill your graveyard to fuel delve spells, and Echo of Eons lets you cast it a second time from your graveyard. Time Spiral and Wheel of Fortune are obviously quite expensive, so for a more reasonable deck price, you can replace them with cards like Succumb to Temptation that draw cards at instant speed, or cards like Dark Deal and Windfall that serve similar functions at a more reasonable price.

Blood Pact, Painful Truths, Expressive Iteration

Of these, my favorite is Painful Truths since it straight-up draws three cards. Expressive Iteration is usually a serviceable Divination for one less mana. Blood Pact gets a special shout-out for being instant speed.

Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise

Big delve spells are this deck’s bread and butter. Each of these is worth eight damage per copy of Vial Smasher on the field, but they usually cost just a couple of mana and draw a lot of cards. Dig Through Time is one of my favorite cards to see in the mid-game, for good reason.

Fierce Guardianship, An Offer You Can’t Refuse, Arcane Denial, Deflecting Swat, Rewind

Fierce Guardianship is one card I almost always want to draw so I can protect my board for free whenever I need to. While there are other free counterspells, even cheap ones, this deck can’t afford to lose cards from its hand to pay for spells like Force of Will. Instead, I’m playing Deflecting Swat, which has the same function as Fierce Guardianship if I need to protect my commanders or one of my other spells. Rewind is also free… kinda. At the very least, it allows me to trigger Vial Smasher for four damage and still have mana up for something else later. An Offer You Can’t Refuse is probably the best one-mana counterspell for other tight spots, and Arcane Denial has the enormous benefit of replacing itself.

Curtains’ Call, Bedevil, Chaos Warp, Deadly Rollick

Curtains’ Call is one of my favorite black removal spells since it destroys two things. Its high mana value is great for Vial Smasher, too. Deadly Rollick is another free spell that deals some good damage with Vial Smasher. I’ve included Bedevil and Chaos Warp because of their flexibility at instant speed.

Spark Double, Irenicus’s Vile Duplication

Apart from Sakashima, these are the two most important clones in the deck, since they enable all the other clones to copy Vial Smasher without succumbing to the legend rule.

Cackling Counterpart, Quasiduplicate

Both of these clones come cheap at three mana, and they can each be used twice.

Undercover Operative, Stunt Double, Phantasmal Image

Each of these clones is fairly average but has its benefits. Undercover Operative is helpful because it can protect itself, while you can cast Stunt Double at instant speed and trigger Vial Smasher on someone else’s turn. Phantasmal Image is just here because it’s so cheap.

Temporal Trespass, Temporal Mastery, Temporal Manipulation, Time Warp

These are the spells that I want to use to win the game. In other decks, I’d be a bit more hesitant to play extra turn spells. In this deck, however, they’re really just huge burn spells. Temporal Trespass and Mastery are particularly strong because they can be cast for very cheap under certain conditions.

Volcanic Vision, Immolating Gyre, Volcanic Offering

Volcanic Vision is one of my favorite cards, period. It’s an asymmetrical board wipe AND it gives me a second use of one of my haymakers. Immolating Gyre doesn’t come with a free card, but it’s another asymmetrical board wipe in a deck that desperately wants to get rid of its opponents’ creatures without hurting its own. Volcanic Offering isn’t as splashy but it does get rid of four things for one spell, which is still great–and instant speed is a plus.

Dragon Cultist

This is a silly card from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate that happens to curve out perfectly with my two commanders. If I can play turn three Vial Smasher, turn four Sakashima, and turn five Dragon Cultist, my commanders will deal ten damage AND I’ll get to create two 4/4 dragons. If each of those cards sticks around, I can make more and more dragons. That’s a pretty big deal for a deck that otherwise doesn’t play many threats.

Shadow of Mortality

This card is worth fifteen damage for two mana if I have Vial Smasher on the field and 27 or less life left. It’s got the single highest mana cost in the deck, and it doesn’t need to eat my graveyard like the delve spells. Getting a 7/7 on the battlefield to block or attack is just gravy.

Wound Reflection

With one copy of Vial Smasher on the field, Wound Reflection is worth twelve damage on the turn I cast it alone. It’s a massive threat if it sticks around.

Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant

In some decks, this version of Jin-Gitaxias is just a mean stax piece, but in my deck it can be a real win condition. Since I’m playing some huge spells, Jin-Gitaxias’s copy ability can generate a lot of value very quickly, and it should be able to protect itself and the rest of my board at least long enough to untap.

Brass’s Bounty

In the worst-case scenario, Brass’s Bounty will deal seven damage per copy of Vial Smasher while giving me back a bunch of mana to keep casting spells. The fact that it makes Treasure tokens means it can serve as real explosive ramp if I don’t use any of them before untapping on my next turn.

Treachery

This is one of my all-time favorite cards. It’s technically removal, and it gives me access to all the good cards my opponents are playing. Best of all, it gives me back all my mana so that I can keep casting spells on my opponents’ turns if I need to.

Lands

This deck is desperate to fill its graveyard, so it plays all nine fetchlands that can grab lands in its color identity. The rest of the lands are fairly standard, but I’d give a special shoutout to Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire, which is yet another piece of protection for my commanders.

Conclusion

The above is just one way to build an amazing Vial Smasher clone deck. While I’ve chosen to build a powerful and expensive deck, her ability is flexible enough to allow budget builds. There are strong substitutes for all of the most powerful cards in this deck, up to and including wheels and free counterspells. Instead of expensive extra turn spells, you could also pack your win condition slots with punchy cards like Combustible Gearhulk that still allow Vial Smasher to deal lots of damage while adding a big beater to your board and giving you an extra target for your clone spells. I’ve piqued my own curiosity, so next week I’ll be back to try a budget build of Vial Smasher that fulfills the same fantasy without massively-expensive cards.

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