Hello and welcome to Weekly Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Flubs, the Fool!

Flubs is a three mana 0/5 that let’s you play an additional land on each of your turns and whenever you play a land or cast a spell, draw a card if you have no cards in hand, otherwise you discard a card.

Flubs is a Commander that I have had a massive amount of fun playing on Arena and have been wanting to build a paper version of the deck for a good period of time. The way that the deck plays is that you get rid of your hand as fast as possible, and then when you are close to empty handed, preferably one card, you then cast Flubs and go into a value spiral.

The downside of the deck, other than the long turns that the deck can take, is that when you are unable to cast more spells, then when you next cast a spell you will inevitably end up discarding a card to Flubs effect.

The goal of the deck is to minimize this risk as much as possible, get as many lands and mana sources into play as possible, and then cast as many cheap spells as we can so that we go through our deck and get as much value as we possibly can.

Lands for Days

The first thing we need are as many ways we can get additional land drops for Flubs as we can so that we can make use of the fact that his ability triggers on land drops and when we cast spells.

Druid Class is a nice little way for us to not only get an additional land drop when we take it to level 2, but for us to also gain some life from all of the additional land drops that we will make at base. The level 3 ability is an interesting little mana sink that can potentially make a land swing in for a good bit of damage, but that’s more of a contingency than the main plan.

There is also some of the more brute force ways to get more land drops like with Summer Bloom which let’s us play up to three additional lands this turn, Exploration which gives us one additional land drop each turn, Azusa, Lost but Seeking to give us two additional land drops each turn, or Dryad of the Ilysian Grove which gives us one additional land drop each turn and gives lands we control each basic land type in addition to their other types.

Beanstalk Wurm is actually much better then one would expect because it’s Adventure Plant Beans let’s us play an additional land this turn, and if we end up empty handed and can’t cast a spell, then we can cast the Wurm in order to get the Flubs chain going again.

Case of the Locked Hothouse also serves as a great land utility piece since it let’s us play an additional land each turn and once we solve it by getting seven or more lands into play, then we can look at the top card of our library at any time and we can play lands from the top our library and cast creature and enchantment spells from the top of our library as well.

Zell Dincht is a neat piece of synergy as well since he also let’s get an additional land drop each turn and he gets +1/+0 for each land we control with the slight downside in that at the beginning of our end step we must return a land we control to it’s owner’s hand. If we run our of gas with a card we can’t play, then we can bounce a land to our hand and when we draw our next card for turn we can cast a spell or play a land, discard a card we don’t need, and then still have one card for the Flubs chain.

Bargain Bin

The next thing we need are as mana cheap spells that we can get, prioritizing cards that have a lower mana value or are efficient with our mana.

Tormod’s Crypt is a solid zero mana spell that we can use not only as a way to cast a cheap card, but we can also tap and sacrifice it in order to exile a player’s graveyard, which is always a nice way to keep graveyard decks in check in order to make sure they either get punished if they try to do what they want or keep them skittish from doing anything and waste a removal spell for the Crypt.

Mishra’s Bauble get’s us a bit of knowledge of what an opponent is going to draw while also drawing us a card, Welding Jar to regenerate target artifact, Dark Sphere to reduce the damage dealt to us by a single source by half, and Zuran Orb to gain us 2 life if we happen to sacrifice a land.

Cheap creatures are also going to play an important role in the deck, and Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh is excellent because he is a zero mana creature that has first strike, menace, and trample, which can work as a way to help deal some damage if we use some of the zero or one mana Equipment like Bone Saw, which gives a +1/+0, or Diamond Pick-Axe, which gives +1/+1 and makes a Treasure token whenever the equipped creature attacks

Ornithopter and Memnite are also solid zero mana creatures that can at the very least be blockers, the various zero mana Kobolds like Kobolds of Kher Keep, Crimson Kobolds, and Crookshank Kobolds can also be pretty good at keeping the Flubs chain going while getting bodies in play.

There is also the need for cheap, mana efficient spells like Snap, which bounces a creature to its owner’s hand but just so happens to also untaps up to two lands, meaning that we can cast a spell or two for Flubs.

Tinder Wall is a zero mana creature that can sacrifice itself to make two red mana, Strike It Rick makes a Treasure token and can be cast from the graveyard for its Flashback cost, and Frantic Search to draw two cards then discard two cards and letting us untap up to three lands.

Redundancy

The next thing we need are ways to make sure that we can keep the spell casting chain going as much as possible, even when we inevitably become empty handed.

Past in Flames is one of the better ways to take advantage of the spells we have in the graveyard and provide an additional bit of redundancy because it gives each instant and sorcery in our graveyard Flashback until end of turn which is equal to its mana cost, while it also happens to have Flashback so we can do it again if we need to.

If there is one deck that can make use of a lot of Game Changers it’s Flubs, and Underworld Breach is another way to let us cast spells from the graveyard because it gives nonland card in our graveyard an Escape cost of its mana value and exiling three cards.

There are also additional ways to cast spells if we just so happen to be empty handed that are harder to interact with. I have found that the Discover lands from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan like Hidden Nursery to be solid backup plans to cast at least one additional spell, especially since a majority of our deck has mana value less than or equal to 4.

Cards that have Adventure are also really good and something like Lindblum, Industrial Regency is excellent because it’s Adventure Mage Siege makes a 0/1 Wizard token that deals 1 damage to each opponent whenever we cast a noncreature spell and it is also a land, meaning that if we have access to an additional land drop we can play it to get another Flubs trigger.

Speaking of land drops, we can also use cards that let us play lands from the graveyard like Crucible of Worlds, Ramunap Excavator, and Icetill Explorer to make use of us having to discard lands or make use of the Discover lands again so we have more options if we have land drops available but aren’t drawing lands.

As mentioned earlier this deck can make liberal use of Game Changers and they can all help facilitate a different sort of strategy depending on how you want to steer the deck. In terms of pure cheap mana production, you can use Chrome Mox as a way to help fix your mana and ramp you early so you can start the Flubs chain sooner.

You can use Crop Rotation to tutor our Field of the Dead in order to start making a ton of Zombie tokens for each of your many land drops, you can use the one mana tutors to sculpt your next few turns, or use Underworld Breach and Lion’s Eye Diamond for a ton of mana. There is even a possibility for the deck to produce a Thassa’s Oracle win if you really want to.

Foolish Victory

Now, while there are a couple of ways we can achieve a win with Flubs, but I want something that helps evoke the full name of Flubs and win with something goofy.

So, with one of the downsides of Flubs being that if we have cards in our hand then we always have to discard one at some point in order to reset the Flubs chain. So, if we can make it that we don’t draw cards, then we can potentially extend our Flubs chain, which makes something like Eruth, Tormented Prophet great since she has it so that if we would draw a card, we exile the top two cards of our library instead and play those two.

Wild Wasteland has us skip our draw step and instead let’s us exile the top two cards of our library and play them instead, Count on Luck exiles the top card of our library at the beginning of our upkeep and let’s us play it this turn, and Loot, the Key to Everything has it so that at the beginning of our upkeep we exile the top X cards where X is the number of card types among other nonland permanents we control and can play those cards this turn.

Next, we need to make sure that we can keep the spell train going by making as much mana as we can by using Birgi, God of Storytelling who makes a red mana whenever we cast a spell and has it that until the end of the turn, red mana isn’t lost as steps and phases end.

Storm-Kiln Artist makes a Treasure token whenever we cast or copy an instant and sorcery (which will be relevant in a moment), Electro, Assaulting Battery makes a red mana whenever we cast an instant or sorcery and makes it so that red mana isn’t lost as steps and phases end, and Urabrask makes a red mana and deals 1 damage to target opponent whenever we cast an instant or sorcery spell.

Now since we are aiming to make a lot of red mana, we need a way to filter it, and that is where something like Chromatic Orrery is great at this because it let’s us spend mana as though it were any color while also being able to add five colorless mana. We can also use Mycosynth Lattice to make everything on the battlefield and not on the battlefield artifacts and colorless in addition to their other types but can also have everyone be able to spend mana as though it were mana of any color.

We also have a contingency plan in Elixir of Immortality, which for two mana and tap we can gain 5 life and shuffle it and our graveyard back into our library to refuel everything. We also have Blessed Respite to shuffle a player’s graveyard back to their library while preventing combat damage dealt this turn.

The plan is for a Storm win, but the particular variety that I am personally a fan of is to use Chatterstorm, which makes a 1/1 Squirrel token that has Storm and then use something like Song of Totentanz, which makes X 1/1 Rat tokens that can’t block, and then gives all creatures we control haste and then swing out to win.

There is also of course Grapeshot to deal 1 damage to any target, Empty the Warrens to make two 1/1 Goblin tokens, Elemental Eruption to make 4/4 Dragon tokens with flying and prowess, Spreading Insurrection to steal an opponent’s creature for a turn and give it haste, and Brain Freeze to have target opponent mill three cards.

In Conclusion

I adore Flubs as a deck because it builds upon value for playing spells, with the tricky aspect being that you need to have one card in your hand so that when you play it, you become empty handed.

The sequencing of spells and land drops becomes a lot of tracking and logistics, that it can be pretty intimidating to new players. Spellsplinger decks are pretty tricky at the best of times, but having one that can continuously feed itself into a win, while also triggering off of land drops is something most people are not interested in.

The reason I enjoy the Flubs deck is because it also happens to be non-deterministic, in that you don’t always know that the next card you draw will help you in your game plan or is something that came at an inopportune time and you have to just deal with it.

With other Storm decks I find that they tend to follow similar patterns of play where you ritual off until you find your win condition or a tutor for it and then you win from there, With Flubs you can build him in a traditional Storm way, but you also have the random value feed engine where he forces you to either discard a card when you play a spell or a land or you draw something if you are empty handed.

It can lean heavy into a high risk Commander that can be very rewarding to play, but the risk of tracking everything is definitely a valid concern when playing the deck. It can lead to very long turns and getting lost in the sauce as it were, which can lead to a bad play experience.

If you want to keep Flubs simple you can by reducing the number of multiple land drop options to a easy to manage number while just playing a couple of cheap spells to feed the chain at a much more reasonable pace.

If you have access to Flubs on Brawl on Arena I would highly recommend it since it does a majority of the tracking for you, plus you can play the busted Oracle of the Alpha to play the Power Nine to make things even wackier. Sure there is the paper version of the Oracle, but that’s 150 dollars unless you proxy.

Thank you all for reading, see you next week for the next Weekly Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual

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