Hey everyone! It’s TwentyNine here again with another write up of a deck that I think really helped advance me as a deck builder: Golbez, Crystal Collector. When I build decks, I have a tendency to only build archetypes that really make sense to me. The 2 archetypes that really make sense to me are go wide and Voltron. Out of the 23 decks I currently have built, 4 are Voltron, and 7 are go wide decks. I’ve tried building a few different styles of deck including:
- A Vannifar, Evolved Enigma blink deck that was a face down disaster.
- An Imodane, the Pyrohammer burn deck that couldn’t even smolder.
- A half-baked Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier pinger deck that neither pinged nor ponged.
I kind of chalked up the lack of success with these to the fact that I really didn’t understand something that wasn’t go wide or Voltron.
Enter the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set. I love Final Fantasy (as you can see by my last Final Fantasy deck: Adelbert Steiner). I was convinced I was going to make a deck from my favorite Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy 1. But when you look at the possible commanders from Final Fantasy 1 in the main set you have:
- Garland, Knight of Cornelia who I didn’t want to try to play.
- Warrior of Light is just Jodah, the Unifier, which I didn’t want to build.
- Princess Sarah is just Azusa, Lost but Seeking and I didn’t want to build another landfall deck.
After I built Adelbert Steiner I’d remembered about a card that I saw while opening Final Fantasy packs: Golbez, Crystal Collector. I loved Golbez in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the 3DS and Switch. Also my partner’s favorite Final Fantasy game is Final Fantasy 4.
Golbez, Crystal Collector
Golbez is a blue and black artifacts-matter commander that wants high-power creatures in the graveyard. Every time an artifact enters, you get to surveil 1, which gets you your creatures into the graveyard and card selection. At your end step, if you have 4 artifacts out, you pull a creature out of your yard to your hand. If you have 8 or more artifacts, each opponent loses life equal to that creature’s power as well. Keep in mind * power creatures like Consuming Aberration have their calculated power in all zones, including the graveyard.
Golbez presented an interesting deckbuilding challenge for me. I’m used to Go Wide, Voltron, and +1/+1 counter archetypes. I’ve noticed that if I attack with anything big, the table says, “Oh…” and then there’s attention on the player. I decided to give myself a challenge.
What if I made a deck that never attacked? If the deck goes the whole game without attacking, can it actually win?
What does the decklist look like?
How does a Golbez deck win?
Get 8 artifacts onto the field quickly and stay quiet. One thing I’ve noticed about commander is if you just kind of take your turn and you’re not being flashy, a lot of players will just ignore you. You’re just surveilling and playing artifacts until you get 8; then all of a sudden you start burning the table from between 6 to 20+ each of your end steps.
How do we lose?
You’ll have at least one game you’ll get hit with a Vandalblast or something like that and it’ll kind of be all over. Or you’ll get hit by a Rest in Peace or Dauthi Voidwalker. It happens, you deal with it and move on. After all, it’s just a game of Magic. Also if someone sniffs out your plan, you don’t have a ton of defenses and can get run over.
What do you use for burn creatures?
This was an interesting problem and one that I talked out with Cement when I was initially planning this deck. One thing that I noticed is that there’s a number of big power creatures that also cycle. That is where the name of the deck (Tour de Golbez) comes from. I’m using a bunch of big power creatures that have cycling that I can just toss into the graveyard at will. Here’s a list of creatures that can cycle in B/U that’s sorted by power.
Best Cycling Creatures for Golbez
Cycling creatures are one of the strongest aspects of the deck. They get themselves into the graveyard, serving as a backup option in case surveilling them into the yard doesn’t work. It also means you don’t need to spend too much deck real estate on discard outlets. Secondly, when you’re in the Golbez mid-game of being between 4 and 8 artifacts, you can return a cycle creature to hand and just re-cycle it for a new card, keeping cards flowing into your hand.
There’s lots of choices, they’re almost all (except Troll of Khazad-dum) under a dollar. I prefer 5+ power creatures and things that cycle for 2 mana. The current set of cycling creatures I use are Drownyard Lurker, Eldrazi Ravager, Marauding Brinefang, Shefet Archfiend, Troll of Khazad-dum. I also include Mirrorshell Crab in these even though it’s channel and not cycle because for my purposes, it’s the same thing.
Basically none of these is worth much on the battlefield (Shefet Archfiend can sweep 1/1 tokens in the worst case, Eldrazi Ravager has Annihilator 1 which is something I guess), so you’re going to want to just use them for cycling. Canyon Crawler can be nice as it’ll get you a food (+1 artifact) if it ever ETBs. Shardless Outlander, Archfiend of Ifnir, Slipstream Eel, Scion of Darkness, or Chitin Gravestalker are also fine choices.
Big Power Artifact Creatures
The next set are the artifact creatures with big power. They’re a little bit harder to get to your graveyard but have big power. These are Triplicate Titan, Ancient Stone Idol, and Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. Traxos is probably the only one you’re going to want to cast since it won’t be at all difficult to untap if you need to swing it, Triplicate Titan is nice in that you can get 3 artifacts for 1 if it gets destroyed, but there’s better things to do on your turn with 9 mana. It’s a great target to find with the Planetarium though. One Ancient Stone Idol burn is 30% of a starting life total and can easily close out games. Try not to leave these guys in your graveyard for too long as they’re going to be bullseyes for targeted graveyard hate once your opponents see through you.
* Power Creatures
The last set are the * power creatures. It’s important that they are the * power creatures and not X power creatures because the * power creatures retain their power in the graveyard. I use Master of Etherium because it’s most likely late game going to burn for 10+, Filigree Attendant (for the same reason) and Consuming Aberration. Consuming Aberration is strange because sometimes you’re going to go against someone milling themself and you’re able to burn for 30 and sometimes you’re actually going to want to get it down on the battlefield to use its attack trigger. Attacking with Consuming Aberration is going to put a target on you since a lot of people don’t like mill, but it can one-shot the table if you can get it to the yard and back out.
What do you use for non-token artifacts?
The artifact breakdown I use is Mana Rocks, Utility Artifacts (something that doesn’t necessarily win me the game, but just helps) and Win-Con Artifacts (the artifacts that will actually move you forward towards winning).
Mana Rocks
I play as many 1 or 2 cost mana rocks in this deck as I can. The reason is twofold. First, they’re going to ramp you along to be able to cast more artifacts. Secondly, remember I’m managing my threat here. Outside of Sol Ring, nobody bats an eyelash at mana rocks. It’s not even going to get the guy who is scrolling Reddit during your turn off his phone. I play 6 mana rocks and I think it’s a pretty good number for the CMC of the deck. The Soul Stone is really only in the deck as a flex because I bought a lot of Spiderman packs for a reason that even I can’t figure out. You can replace this with an Arcane Signet 100 times out of 100 and it’s probably actually better because the signet makes blue mana. I lump Leaden Myr and Silver Myr in with the mana rocks because they’re really only there for the same reason as the other mana rocks; something non-threatening that counts towards artifact count. I’d stay away from 3 cost artifacts. I don’t need the body from Dimir Keyrune, Commander Sphere and Dimir Locket need to sacrifice for their utility and we want to always be going up in artifact count. This is Golbez. Where in the video game did he willingly give up something?
Utility Artifacts
I’m lumping in this category everything that counts as an artifact but doesn’t necessarily push us towards winning. Dubious Delicacy can be used as a removal spell and even a little burn if you’re missing the last chunk of burn. Demonic Junker and Transmogrifying Wand work for removal. Ghost Vacuum gives some graveyard hate, Falcon’s Wing Harness is good for a little bit of protection for Golbez (and lets him block small flyers easily), but as soon as I can get my hands on a Wizard’s Staff from The Hobbit set, I’m going to get one and remove this. Thrór’s Map is there for the looting moreso than the basic land, but the land is not bad if you need one. Liquimetal Coating is nice to pull you past the sad 7 artifact number and remember, it can turn lands in to artifacts if you’re worried about turning a creature into an artifact and having it blown up. Liquimetal Torque is nice and does work as a mana rock, but it won’t turn lands into artifacts and also is significantly more expensive. I don’t include this in the Win-Con Artifacts because often it’ll only be really needed for a turn or 2 to get you over the 3s and 7s hump.
Win-Con Artifacts
These are the artifacts that we’re looking for in order to really progress along towards our burn. Monument to Endurance is going to be able to draw cards and burn opponents when we’re in a loop of cycling a creature. Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass (I don’t know. Is u spyglass?) is expensive, but the ability to cast artifacts and artifact lands from the top of the deck is amazing. Retrofitter Foundry taps for 2 to get an artifact. It can also trade in some of our other artifacts for bigger or evasive artifacts in case things hit the fan and you need that. Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong is awesome. Being able to cast something normally expensive for free is awesome in the deck. It can also hit one of the token making enchantments that you’d rather not spend your mana on. The important thing is that you can only use the trigger once, so don’t be reckless. If you expect multiple surveil triggers, you don’t have to use it on the first one. Looking is a must, casting is a may. Fodder Tosser is a sneaky great card in this deck (with amazing flavor text). If you end up with a big power creature in your hand, toss it at someone else for 2. 2 isn’t a lot of damage, but it can be enough.
What other kind of cards are needed for the deck?
Removal
Like any deck, you’re going to need some removal. Remember that if you can use an artifact to do the removal, it’s the best, but I run a few targeted pieces of removal and a couple board wipes. Lethal Scheme lets the deck connive which is removal but also can help to get a pesky non-cycling burn creature out of hand. Join the Dead is nice because it will (for the most part) be a -10/-10 spell. Overkill and Withering Torment remove at instant speed. Terror Tide is an expensive sorcery speed board wipe, but will most likely be -10/-10 to all creatures. Ephara’s Dispersal should usually be held back for bouncing an attacker back to hand. Desynchronization is great and will mess up token decks pretty bad but with the amount of legendary creatures floating around it can sometimes just be meh. It’s worked great on flying demon tokens and elf balls before but I was once playing in a game against a Jodah, the Unifier deck and the card was a dead draw.
Utility Artifact Creatures
I have a stack of cards that I call Utility Artifact Creatures. They’re artifact creatures that aren’t going to be the most impactful, but can help get you out of the deck stalling. Also since they are artifacts, they give 1 to the artifact count. Thought Monitor is going to, for the most part, be a 1 mana draw 2. Valkyrie Aerial Unit will be 2 mana surveil 2. Etherium Sculptor and Ironheart, Clever Champion are going to help you cast artifacts. Baleful Strix gets you a card and a nice blocker. Diversion Unit works as a telegraphed counter. The 2 that I floated between putting in this and the next category are Pactdoll Terror and Rook Turret. Pactdoll Terror is actually going to get you a sneaky large amount of life and ping damage. Rook Turret can help churn through your deck to get the burn creatures into the graveyard. At 4 mana each, they can be a hefty investment if you haven’t draw a bunch of the mana rocks, but they’re worth using.
“Accelerators”
The last batch I lump together as what I call “accelerators”. These are the things that are going to make extra artifacts or give you big steps towards winning.
In this category are Dauntless Scrapbot, Efficient Construction, Obsessive Pursuit, The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan, Thopter Spy Network, Sai, Master Thopterist, and Supper for Spiders. All of these cards are in the deck because of their ability to enter the battlefield and generate artifacts during regular game actions. Supper for Spiders is to help if a board wipe happens. Its floor is going to be 1 or 2 artifacts and ceiling at many artifacts.
The next category of cards are the cards that help to sculpt the graveyard. Buried Alive lets us tutor for 3 things to toss in the graveyard. Cerebral Download, Otherworldly Gaze, Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Three Steps Ahead and Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator give selection for putting things in the graveyard as well.
The last couple cards help us advance forward but I’ve found are situationally good. Matoya, Archon Elder will draw a bunch of cards and give you selection on your draw since you surveil first but sometimes you end up needing to cast an artifact at 3 mana. Padeem, Consul of Innovation gives protection to artifacts and can be used with Liquimetal Coating to give spot protection to Golbez but there can be other things to do at 4 mana. Y’shtola Rhul gives a second end step that can be great for closing out the game (21 from Triplicate Titan and Ancient Stone Idol is great) but is also 6 mana and tends to eat targeted removal. Blinking artifact creatures gets you another surveil and, if applicable, an enters trigger too.
One thing that you might have noticed is that I don’t have dedicated counterspells in the deck. Mirrorshell Crab, Three Steps Ahead and Diversion Unit can kind of counter, but in longer games it won’t make that much of a difference. I didn’t find room for them in the deck. It meant cutting removal which I didn’t want to do. One thing you can do is to put in An Offer You Can’t Refuse and counter your own burn creature spell. You’ll get the 2 treasures which is nice, but it seemed like such a niche use that I didn’t bother with it. I also didn’t include dedicated draw spells in the deck. I would rather the draw come stapled onto an artifact than just being an instant or sorcery that draws.
What does the land base of the deck look like?
I’m running 36 lands in the deck, but broken down into 3 categories, Mana Lands, Utility Lands and (most important) Artifact Lands.
Mana Lands
I won’t go too in depth on the mana lands here because it’s basically what you’d expect (and you can find a full guide on dual lands here). B/U dual lands and a handful of basics. I like to make sure that I have Golbez out on turn 2 and lands that enter untapped, but if you’re working on a budget and you need to run more tap lands, you’re ok here. If you’re going to run more tap lands, just make sure you have enough basics to get Golbez out. I like Hidden Lair from Marvel Super Heroes because if I get it turn 2 and need it for the B/U I’m good and we’re pretty ok if it only generates a colorless after that. Sunken Ruins can be nice if you seem to be missing a color and you need to cast Golbez turn 2.
Utility Lands
For the utility lands, the most important is Academy Ruins. There’s times that you’ll need to surveil away some artifacts and it’s super helpful to get one back. If your artifact count is propped up by more fragile artifacts like thopters, it can help to get a more durable artifact card that you surveilled away. If your Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong or Monument to Endurance gets removed, it’s helpful to be able to bring them back. Fomori Vault is nice for the card selection since (hopefully), you’ll be able to search the top 8 of your deck and get whatever you need.
The Mycosynth Gardens helps out if you get the sad 7 artifacts to push you over to the 8th. For the other 3, Spire of Industry is nice in case you can’t seem to get the other color of mana. Archway of Innovation can help with artifact cost if you can tap some of the throwaway artifacts that we get like clues/landers for mana instead. Surveillance Room is all of the utility of Undercity Sewers without any of the colored mana, but it’s significantly cheaper.
Artifact Lands
I run all the artifact lands that are legal in B/U including Power Depot and Scene of the Crime. They’re great for getting your artifact count up and they’re all around $1 outside of Vault of Whispers (even though it got a reprint in Foundations Jumpstart and a Duskmourn commander deck and that wasn’t the one that everyone wanted).
Remember that they’re going to count for Golbez surveil triggers so try not to play them before turn 3, that way you get the maximum utility from them. A caution about these lands: they’re not immune to artifact sweepers. While Darksteel Citadel and Mistvault Bridge will survive a Vandalblast, all of them get wiped away with a Farewell that selects artifacts.
Final Fantasy Victory Fanfare!
Golbez is a pretty popular commander that can be built pretty strong. I think this deck can operate in the bracket 3 space. What did you do for your Golbez deck to increase the power level? What did I miss in building this deck?
If you like this Final Fantasy deck, check out my other write up for Adelbert Steiner, a voltron deck that plays much different to Golbez’s more quiet gameplan.