Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Captain Howler, Sea Scourge!

Captain Howler is a four mana 5/4 with ward 2 and pay 2 life, and whenever you discard one of more cards, target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn for each card discarded and whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player this turn you draw a card.

Discarding for benefits has been popping up more recently and this is a form of aggressive discard, in the way that Captain Howler wants you to discard a lot of cards to make a much bigger creature, while also incentivizing you to attack with that creature in order to draw cards. If we play multiple ways to discard we can make our creatures bigger and get even more draw power.

The game plan is that we find ways to discard as many cards as possible, play with some other discard synergies, and have ways to make sure that we can get damage in to draw more cards.

The first thing that we are going to be looking for is for ways for us to discard a lot of cards at once, ideally.

Change of Fortune is a great card for this since we discard our hand and draw a card for each card that we’ve discarded this turn, which is helpful because we can play other discard cards to then finish off with this one for a mass amount of draw power while also giving a decent amount of discard.

Careful Study is a one mana way to draw two cards and then discard two cards, Cathartic Reunion has an additional cost of discarding two cards to draw three cards, Faithless Salvaging lets us discard and then draw a card with Rebound, and Faithless Looting has us draw two cards and then discard two cards with Flashback.

There are also some ways we can discard cards defensively with something like Foil, which is a counter spell that would normally be cast for four mana but has the alternate cost of discarding an Island and another card rather than paying the mana to cast it.

We can also use Rites of Refusal which has us discard any number of cards in our hand and we counter target spell unless our opponents pays three mana for each card discarded this way, which can be very helpful as a way to close out the game if an opponent tries to use a removal spell on a creature we intend to buff.

Channeled Force also brings to attention in using discard outlets as an offensive tool because we discard X cards as an additional cost and target player draws X cards and then Channeled Force deals X damage to up to one creature or Planeswalker.

If we want some more continuous ways to discard cards then something like Tectonic Reformation may work in our favor since it gives lands in our hand the ability to cycle themselves for one red mana, which if we happen to have a land heavy hand can be very useful.

Or if we want to get more bodies in play then we can use Drake Haven which if we pay one mana whenever we cycle or discard a card we make a 2/2 Drake creature token with flying, which if we have to mana we can get a blocker or two whenever we cycle or dicard.

The next thing we need are creatures that can help us get damage through, which usually means small unblockable creatures.

Cunning Survivor is the perfect creature for this because it also gets a +1/+0 boost whenever we cycle or discard a card while also becoming unblockable in the process, which if we combine with Captain Howler means that even just one card discarded, Cunning Survivor becomes an unblockable 4/3.

Silent Hallcreeper is also a solid card to include because it can’t be blocked and whenever it deals combat damage to a player we get to choose one of three options that hasn’t been chosen between putting two +1/+1 counters on itself, drawing a card, or becoming a copy of another creature we control.

Shoreline Looter is interesting because it can’t be blocked, and when it deals combat damage to a player we draw a card and then discard a card, but if we reach Threshold then we don’t need to discard a card. While it would be useful to have another discard outlet, the fact that the discard comes after dealing combat damage isn’t as effective, but being a cheap unblockable creature that can draw us a card is never a bad thing.

Conspiracy Theorist is another interesting card to include because while it isn’t unblockable, whenever it attacks we may pay 1 to discard a card and then draw a card and whenever we discard one or more cards, we may exile one of them from our graveyard and we can cast that card this turn, which can be very handy in gaining a bit of extra use from our discarded cards.

Cephalid Inskshrouder is another excellent card to include because it also acts as a discard outlet to give itself shroud and becomes unblockable, which because of how timing works we can still get one Captain Howler bonus to work with it and have it be a difficult to destroy unblockable creature.

The last thing we need are additional ways to get damage through so we can win, because sometimes combat is not always an option and we may need to be creative with how we deal damage.

Brallin, Skyshark Rider is excellent for this even if their Partner Shabraz, the Skyshark isn’t in the deck, because whenever we discard a card we put a +1/+1 counter on Brallin and deal 1 damage to each opponent and for a red mana we can give a Shark we control trample until end of turn, which still actually works really well with Captain Howler.

Magmakin Artillerist is another way to deal some decent damage to our opponents since whenever we discard one or more cards, we deal that much damage to each opponent, and it can also cycle itself and when it does it deals 1 damage to each opponent.

This can combine well with Glint-Horn Buccaneer, which whenever we discard a card it deals 1 damage to each opponent and we can pay two mana and discard a card to draw a card, but only when the Buccaneer is attacking.

Surly Badgersaur is almost like a self fueling Waste Not where if we discard a creature card we put a +1/+1 counter on it, if we discard a land we make a Treasure token, and if we discard a noncreature, nonland card the Badgersaur fights target creature we don’t control, which if we stack our discards correctly can mean we get a decent body and a way to clear the battlefield a bit.

All-Seeing Arbiter is an neat card to include in the deck since whenever we discard a card it gives an opponent’s creature -X/-0 where X is equal to the number of different mana values of cards in our graveyard, while also being able to draw two cards and discard a card whenever it enters or attacks.

If discarding cards becomes an issue, then there is a way for us to recoup our losses while still gaining the benefits and that is with Library of Leng, which gives us no maximum hand size and if we were to discard a card as part of an effect, we can choose to put it into the graveyard or on top of our library instead, which can a very effective way for us to sculpt our perfect hand while also still being able to trigger discard effects, except as part of additional costs because that is not part of the effect. Rulings are always interesting.

Captain Howler is very much an interesting play on a value Commander because of how discard interacts with Captain Howler. We want our creatures to be big so we need to discard more cards, which can be used on Captain Howler themselves because of the protection they have, but we can guarantee damage from unblockable creatures in order to access more card draw.

Self Discard Commanders are always fascinating to me because there comes a point where you need to not discard cards in order to not lose, but you still need to discard in order to get the deck working. An interesting balance that requires some important choices when playing a game.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual