Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Dakkon Blackblade!

Dakkon is a six mana */* where it’s power and toughness is determined by the number of lands you have.

We are bringing in the New Year with an odd Commander.

This is another issue that a lot of legendary creatures had at the time, which is that sometimes the effects of the creature don’t match up with a lot of modern color pie aspects.

Now this can be excused because all aspects of the color pie were not even close to being fully defined at this point, but having a lands matter Commander in white, blue, and black is definitely going to be a challenge.

White can do well in terms of catch up ramp, but the other two color are going to present some challenges.

Luckily for us there are options to get lands onto the battlefield via colorless sources, which help accentuate the options we have in white.

Walking Atlas can allow us to essentially play a second land each turn, which is a slow way to ramp but one that is necessary.

There is also Solemn Simulacrum and Burnished Hart, which are also ways to get lands onto the battlefield, albeit a bit slower than we would like.

As far as white catch up ramp we have access to creatures like Knight of the White Orchid, Weathered Wayfarer, and Claim Jumper to help us get some ramp if we fall behind enough.

If you have access to it, Land Tax is a great way to get the lands into your hand in order to fix whatever colors you’re missing, even though you will end up playing a lot more basics than you would like in a three color deck.

If you are feeling generous, then Ghirapur Orrery can help us as a colorless way to play an additional land, though every player will get this benefit including the ability to draw three cards if that player has an empty hand, so be careful with that.

If our goal is to play extra lands, we might as well delve into the Landfall aspect of the deck and play a few.

Retreat to Hagra can help us drain our opponents whenever we play an extra land, and can help us potentially get a boost and make an opponent make an uncomfortable block.

Felidar Retreat is an excellent option because it can either get us an extra body on the field or boost our creatures with a +1/+1 counter and vigilance until the end of turn.

Iridescent Vinelasher is also a way to ping an opponent, especially if we are able to get its Offspring ability online, Emeria Angel gets an additional flying body on the battlefield, and Grappling Kraken can tap down an opponent’s board and give those creatures a stun counter.

A lot of this deck is going to be a bit more of a midrange deck that has some Landfall synergies, so we are going to be a bit heavier on the removal side of things.

Slash the Ranks is a good way to clear the board while keeping Dakkon on the battlefield to still be a threat to other players, especially those who don’t have their Commander on the battlefield.

Vindicate, Void Rend, and Fracture are going to be used as spot removal for problematic permanents and cards like Dovin’s Veto, No More Lies, and An Offer You Can’t Refuse are going to be helpful as cheap counter spells with some additional effects.

The goal is to make sure everyone else is low on resources as we build up the resources we need to swing out with Dakkon. The more lands we have the better, and if we can manage to get Landfall effects to stick, then we will be in a better position.

Dakkon is a difficult Commander to build around, and doing a midrange Landfall deck is unusual in these colors, but I think it can be done.

The New Year is here and there are still plenty of Commanders to look at, and I hope to have you all stay with me on this journey.

Happy New Year!

From, J.M. Casual