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Why bother playing your ownMagic: The Gatheringcards when you could steal someone else’s? In Outlaws Of Thunder Junction’s Grand Larceny Commander deck, you’ll learn that crime actually does pay, and what it pays is your opponent’s spells.
Grand Larceny is full ofpirates, rogues, ninjas, and ne’er-do-wells all eager to take what doesn’t belong to them. When you finally run out of cards to take, you’ll finally end your unfortunate victim before looking for another patsy to fleece for all their worth. If you’re ready to live the high life on someone else’s dime, then Grand Larceny is ready to show you just how much crime can pay.
Sage of the Beyond
Curse of the Swine
Yavimaya Coast
Grand Larceny Commander Deck Themes
The main theme for Grand Larceny is right there in the name. This deck aims tosteal everything that isn’t nailed down, whether that’s coming directly from your opponent’s library (Dream-Thief’s Bandana), cards that are already in play (Hostage Taker), or cards in your opponent’s graveyard (Diluvian Primordial, Arcane Heist).
Exactly how you steal those cards will come in a few different flavors. The main way is byexiling the top card of your opponent’s libraryand allowing you tocast that spell using mana of any color. Another way is by manifesting your opponent’s cards (such as withThieving AmalgamorOrochi Soul-Reaver) and then paying their casting cost to flip them over. There are also a few cards that let you steal until the end of the turn (such asNashi, Moon Sage’s ScionorStolen Goods).
But best of all are the cards that just allow you toplay your opponent’s spellswithout paying for them. Cards likeDiluvian Primordial,Villainous Wealth, andMind’s Dilationall allow you to play your opponent’s cards without needing to tap any additional mana.
The great thing about theft as a strategy is thatyour deck’s win condition essentially becomes your opponent’s win condition, whether that’s making a bunch of tokens, playing a bunch of damage spells, or comboing-off with several cards. Even if you don’t necessarily steal enough cards to fully adopt your opponent’s strategy, it’s often enough to disrupt their plans and let you pull ahead.
If your “steal everything” plan doesn’t quite pan out, you can always fall back on Grand Larceny’ssecondary theme of unblockable creatures. There are plenty of creatures in Grand Larceny that either have evasive keywords like menace or flying, or flat-out can’t be blocked (like Slither Blade and Silhana Ledgewalker).
Theseunblockable creatures provide you with further avenues for theftviaGonti, Canny Acuisitor,Dream-Thief’s Bandanna, orArcane Heist.
They’re alsothe perfect way to insert ninjaslikeSilent-Blade OniandOrochi Soul-Reaverfor surprise damage.
Speaking ofGonti, Canny Acquisitor, this Aetherborn Rogue is yourbox-topper choice for commander, and it’s not hard to see why. With all your evasive creatures, you’ll be sure to get immense value out of Gonti’s ability to turn every creature that deals damage to a player into opportunities for taking your opponent’s spells.
Next is Gonti’s second in command,Felix Five-Boots. This Ooze is an extremely potent commander choice that could easily substitute for Gonti in Grand Larceny. That said, Felix would be best served by a deck built specifically around getting as triggered ability activations as possible, which would make theft-specific cards like Thieving Varmint and Sage of the Beyond less useful.
Your third option would be the partnersCazur, Ruthless StalkerandUkkima, Stalking Shadow. While these cards would maintain the blue, black, and green colors and provide a decent escalating threat, they don’t quite fit Grand Larceny’s theme when used as commanders.
For the purposes of this guide,stick with Gonti, Canny Acquisitor as your commander.
Grand Larceny Commander Deck Analysis
Grand Larceny is pretty good straight out of the box. The deck is mostly creatures that play well with your commander’s ability, with a supporting cast of instant-speed answers, board sweepers, and ramp spells. A solid base of artifacts and lands provides sufficient mana to keep the whole thing rolling.
While it’s great to steal your opponent’s cards, having plenty of your own cards in hand is not a bad idea. And while most of the creatures in Grand Larceny are good,a few stinkers could be replaced for something better.
Finally,a few more threats in Grand Larceny would give the deck win conditions of its ownrather than relying on whatever you steal from your opponents.
Slither Blade
Triton Shorestalker
Void Attendantis the first recommended cut. Turning stolen cards into 1/1 tokens that could later be turned into mana isn’t a bad ability, but it’s not likely to be your best option all that often.
Bladegriff Prototypeisn’t bad, but its effect doesn’t always help you as much as it helps others, and once a multiplayer game is down to two players, it’s basically just your opponent sacrificing permanents, which might not be that impactful in the late game. Better to cut it for something that’s more consistently helpful.
TheMimeoplasmis a good card, but it’s mostly graveyard hate with the potential to be a big monster. As with the Bladegriff, we can substitute for something more consistent and also more on-brand with Grand Larceny’s thieving theme.
Sage of the Beyondis fairly expensive and doesn’t provide a lot of power to back up its price tag. Yes, making stolen cards cost two mana less is good, but you already get a discount from Gonti. There are better options here.
Culling Ritualis a decent board sweeper and ramp card, but we’ve got enough ramp and there are better sweepers out there. A single act of theft isn’t as good as repeatable theft, which givesStolen Goodsthe boot, andChaos Wandis just really expensive thievery when we could just tap an unblockable critter, so it’s cut too.
Slither BladeandTriton Shorestalkerare both fine cheap unblockable creatures, but they aren’t very good for the late game. We’ve got two much better options to discuss in the budget upgrades section below.
Grand Larceny Commander Deck Budget Upgrades
Moreconsistency, morepower, morethieving, and moreflexibility—these are the cornerstones of any good Commander deck, plus thieving. These cards will give Grand Larceny that extra oomph to take games as well as spells.
Reason
Court of Locthwain
Yes, using a thieving creature like Gonti is a fine strategy for theft, butso is resting on your throne as monarch and simply ordering tithes. And if nobody else has any monarch cards, you can cast those spells for free. This enchantment is too good to pass up.
Dimir Infiltrator
For one more mana than a Slither Blade, you get a creature that’s just asunblockable, doesn’t die to a Shock,and can tutor for a two-mana card(such as Feed the Swarm or Predator’s Hour) if you don’t need another unblockable creature.
Drana, Liberator of Malakir
Similar to Ukima,Drana provides you with another escalating threatthat can win games if not dealt with. And for only three mana, too.
Gaze of Granite
If you want abetter board sweeper than Culling Ritual(and you do), Gaze of Granite is here to help. You’ve also got the flexibility to save certain cards, depending on their converted mana value.
Gloomshrieker
A 2/1 creature with evasion (menace) that alsoreturns a dead card from your graveyardto your hand. Gloomshrieker provides great value.
Hoarding Broodlord
Hoarding Broodlord is a giant monster that tutors for a cardand alsogives all your exiled spells(or rather, your opponent’s exiled spells that you stole) theconvoke keyword. That’s perfect for Grand Larceny and way better than Sage of the Beyond.
Invisible Stalker
Basically a better Silhana Ledgewalker, it’s also better than Triton Shorestalker and Slither Blade.
Siren Stormtamer
It’s not unblockable like Slither Blade, but it’s still gotevasion in the form of Flying, and it has arelevant ability for the late gameif you don’t need another 1/1 flyer. Basically, Siren Stormtamer keeps Gonti alive.
Tasha, The Witch Queen
Even if Tasha didn’t have her own activated abilities, the trigger of havinga Demon show up every time you cast a stolen spellis great for Grand Larceny. Throw in the ability to play your opponent’s instants and sorceries, and Tasha is just the Witch Queen Grand Larceny needs.
Toski, Bearer of Secrets
This best Squirrel in Magicgives all your evasive creatures the ability to draw cardsonce they deal damage to a player. Plus, Toski is indestructible and can’t be countered.
