THE WARHAMMER 40K GAUNTLET
Working at a game store has allowed me the opportunity to interact with a number of different products and intellectual properties. One that has always fascinated me was the Warhammer 40k universe. With its grisly monsters and titanic mechs, it seems like something that would be right up my alley.
Recently, I was able to get a hold of a set of all 4 Warhammer 40k Collector’s Edition decks and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to blend an alluring aesthetic with a passion project I had been toying with for years. The Commander Gauntlet. This concept essentially boils down to creating a curated gameplay environment between all 4 decks through the iterative modification of decklists over time. It has become a fun and interesting process that I would be delighted to share with you in the article below.
To start, let’s talk about the decks that we are working with. The Warhammer 40k product comes with 4 decks: Tyranid Swarm, Forces of the Imperium, Necron Dynasties, and The Ruinous Powers.
Tyranid Swarm is a counters focused deck in Temur colors that aims to make a ton of mana in order to ramp out expensive threats to overwhelm the board.
Forces of the Imperium is an Esper token deck that is focused on controlling the board while trying to outvalue its opponents with tokens and card draw.
Necron Dynasties is a graveyard centric strategy that is focused on milling cards into the graveyard and then grinding out its opponents through reuse and reanimation of resources.
Finally, the Ruinous Powers is a spellslinger deck which seeks to utilize the big demons and passive life loss strewn throughout the deck in order to cascade into fun and flashy spells.
Gameplay between these decks seems to be true to the ethos of the Warhammer 40k universe, based on my limited understanding. Games are often long, grindy affairs that really give players agency to step into the thematic roles that the decks portray. Players feel like they are a part of these titanic civilizations vying for control over the universe.
In my experience piloting the Tyranid deck, I embraced the role of the interconnected and ever-expanding horde as I moved counters from one permanent to another or resolved my Swarmlord for a third time after surviving the Imperium player’s third board wipe of the game. Even as someone who is not heavily invested in the Warhammer 40k lore, I found it to be a particularly enthralling experience to play with decks composed of so many completely new cards or existing cards rethemed in the Warhammer setting. The decks tell a very interesting story that, for me at least, was a hook into doing more extensive research into the Warhammer 40k universe.
WHY ADD CARDS TO THE DECKS?
If the decks have such an immersive storytelling experience out of the box, the first question invariably becomes, “Why not leave them as is?”. My answer to this question stems not from my desire to change the decks, but rather an opportunity for growth as a Magic player. By changing the decks over time, I am trying my hand for the first time at developing a self-contained gameplay experience.
The interesting wrinkle that I decided to add to this process is that, rather than having the additions/subtractions be solely controlled by me, I have decided to have each player in the pod of 4 recommend a card that they would like to cut from their respective deck and a card that they would like to add in its place. I thought that this would allow the decks to become more streamlined, but in a gradual way that gives players a broader experience in gameplay. I aim to keep a running log of each addition/subtraction to hopefully foster a fun, collaborative deckbuilding experience and maybe create more meaningful connections within my playgroup.
From my perspective, Commander has always been the format with the most accessibility in terms of representation through deckbuilding. A player can play whatever commander they would like and include whatever cards they would like as long as they fit within the inherent constraints of the format. I decided to develop this Gauntlet as a means for players to see themselves and other players represented through their choices for additions/subtractions to the decks. Furthermore, I think it may make for informative discussion within my playgroup to examine how the gameplay changes as the decks develop over time. While I haven’t played enough games within the Gauntlet to give an opinion on whether or not gameplay has changed, it might offer some helpful context for informing gameplay expectations outside of the Gauntlet.
So far the Gauntlet has gone through 3 games, all of which have been a blast. After each game, I sat down with each player involved and asked them for an addition/ subtraction to their respective decklist. While I don’t necessarily have the word count to share all of the changes and rationale for each one, I thought I’d take the time to highlight a couple in particular that I thought were emblematic of the experience that I am trying to cultivate with this Gauntlet.
The first change I’d like to highlight actually comes from fellow RIW writer, Brian DeMars. Brian chose to cut Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph and replace it with Scavenging Ooze in the Tyranid Swarm deck.
Scavenging Ooze seems like an exceptional include from my perspective because it synergizes with the +1/+1 counter theme evident throughout the deck, while also providing graveyard hate, which is particularly relevant considering that this environment will regularly contain a strong graveyard based strategy in the Necron Dynasties deck. While I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, I think that this also happens to be an excellent inclusion from a flavor perspective. From what I understand, an ooze that engulfs everything in its wake seems fairly in line with the way the Tyranids swarm across the galaxy.
It’s no surprise that an inclusion from Brian would be extremely proficient, given his packed resume as both a competitive Magic player and content creator. I also found it particularly interesting that Brian’s inclusion was a card with an exceptionally strong tournament pedigree relative to other cards in the Commander format. Given that myself and many of the others who I have involved with the Gauntlet are comparatively burgeoning Magic players, it is awesome to have the perspective of someone who has been with the game since its infancy.
The second change that I would like to highlight comes from Zach, a fellow coworker at RIW. Zach decided to cut Hexmark Destroyer and replace it with Fractured Powerstone in the Necron Dynasties deck. I think that this is a useful inclusion to the deck because it makes the deck a little faster by increasing the probability of early game ramp, while also being an artifact that can be utilized for value outside of just tapping for mana in the late game.
More important than the usefulness of the addition however, is the way that it represents the player. In the time that I have known Zach, I would definitely define him as a brewer. Nearly every time I see him, he is talking about his next brew for some niche format or introducing me to obscure cards that I’ve never heard of and this is one such example. Furthermore, the fact that this card interacts with the Planar die, is a reference from Zach to the fact that I particularly don’t care for the Planechase format. I won’t get into the reasons for that here, but I think that this small innocuous joke between friends is representative of how players can utilize Magic as a meaningful medium for expression.
THE FUTURE OF THE GAUNTLET…
I hope to keep this experience going for as long as my playgroup is willing to humor me. So far it has been extremely fun and interesting, even in the short amount of time it has been going on. I envision an article in the future in which I might potentially speak on the ways gameplay has changed within the Gauntlet and why that might be.
Recently, I was asked a question which asked, if I was given an Alpha Black Lotus, but it meant I had to quit playing Magic forever, would I accept? I thought for a minute and then confidently said no. For me, this was kind of a realization as to just how important this game has become in my life. While I’ve only been playing for about a third of the game’s lifespan, I have managed to make numerous meaningful friendships that I wouldn’t trade for a singular piece of cardboard or the monetary value that comes with it. I say this only to emphasize the importance of Magic in bringing people together. I don’t think I’m the first, nor will I be the last to connect Magic, the Gathering to an idea of community. This sense of community is what made me want to embark on this Gauntlet project in the first place. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my article and I look forward to keeping readers updated on where this project goes.
