So. Value. Isn't it great?
Entering the Dungeon
This deck is all about dungeons. That's right, the throwaway mechanic from AFR and BBG. For the uninitiated, anytime a card tells you to "Venture into the dungeon" you enter a dungeon out of the original three (or go into the Undercity if the card specifically tells you to "Venture into the Undercity." They do this through giving you "The Initiative," a monarch-esque token that passes around on combat damage and causes you to Venture into the Undercity when you get it or at the beginning of your upkeep). If you're already in a dungeon, you instead move one level down into a room of your choice.
Most dungeons have a reward at the final room (at which point you leave the dungeon and start again next time you Venture), with moderate upside in all the others. Hopefully, you're starting to see where our commander comes in. Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker lets all of our dungeons trigger an additional time, making Venture a great way to get value. However, not all dungeons are created equal. If we can help it, we always want to Venture into the Undercity. All of its rooms give us a huge amount of value. However, if we don't have an initiative card to play and have to venture into one of the original three, Dungeon of the Mad Mage is still fairly good and even has a comparable final room. Lost Mines of Phandelver isn't great but can be run quickly to get a ton of triggers from its Dark Pool room, and Tomb of Anihilation (which should actually be called the Tomb of the Nine Gods, or the Tomb of Horrors if you're going for nostalgia) is completely awful and an utter slog to go through. Just like in D&D.
Card Choice
Since The Undercity is the best dungeon to go through, the core of our deck is cards that gain us the Initiative (such as Tomb of Horrors Adventurer, Aarakocra Sneak, Feywild Caretaker and others). Complementing these are cards that Venture us normally (such as Radiant Solar, Midnight Pathlighter, etc), and ways to keep the initiative (examples: Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Dissipation Field plus a couple more). In order to get more value out of each Venture, we have ways to clone our commander (the fun ones being Irenicus's Vile Duplication, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Spark Double but with Dungeon Delver also working) and get triple or quadruple dungeon triggers. In order to capitalize on the final rooms of the two dungeons that we'll be running, both of which let us cheat out creatures, we have cards that have powerful ETBs (such as Karmic Guide, Mulldrifter, Agent of Treachery ) and ways to get more value out of those, as well as the cards that give us the initiative on ETB. We do this with flicker effects and ETB doublers (my personal favorites Brago, King Eternal, Eerie Interlude, Panharmonicon, and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, whose epithet was already in use, thank you very much). With all of this thrown together, we'll be able to have some incredibly explosive turns.
Going infinite-- I mean, nondeterministic
So. You've got the initiative thanks in no small part to the pillowfort effects in the deck. You have Hama Pashar, maybe a clone or two, a Panharmonicon if you're feeling spicy, and are about to trigger Throne of the Dead Three.
Things are about to go crazy.
The multiple triggers of Throne of the Dead Three allow you to get more Initiative creatures. Since each time you gain the initiative, you Venture into the Undercity, you can start going through a second trip before all the triggers have resolved. You'll also hit some decent beatsticks|Akroma, Angel of Wrath, which will have hexproof and some +1/+1 counters. Go through most of the Undercity again, get your disgusting amount of Throne of the Dead Three triggers, and realize that you just had a whole turn... in your upkeep... without spending any mana.
Yep, you still have a main phase. Tell your opponents to go get a latte, because this turn is going to take a while.
If you have a Panharmonicon effect, play it. Using the deck's flicker effects, flicker your Initiative (or just normal Venture) creatures and artifacts. Complete The Undercity a second time for the turn. getting even more value this time. It's highly probable that the initiative creatures you flip off of Throne of the Dead Three (or the final room of Dungeon of the Mad Mage, for that matter) will get you through the dungeon again... and again... and again.
While you're looping like this, I'd recommend going through the Forge and Trap! rooms. Forge buffs your creatures, and Trap! deals direct damage to opponents. These will allow you to kill people directly, if your opponents haven't already conceded at this disgusting amount of value.
Conclusion
This is definitely a weird deck. The pile of triggers while giving the middle finger to actual D&D and looping through the Undercity gets huge fast, and the deck's solitaire nature (even if it does have a good amount of removal and boardwipes) isn't everyone's cup of tea. However, if you've been hankering for a storm deck without the storm, this might be the deck for you.
If you like the deck, please leave an upvote! I also have a couple of other decks that you might want to check out, so make sure to look at my profile. Finally, if you have a suggestion to improve this deck, please leave a comment. Thanks!
