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Loot, the Pathfinder is one of the many legendary creatures introduced inMagic: The Gathering’sAetherdrift set. The third iteration of Loot also happens to be its best, with versatile abilities to help you do a ton of different effects over the course of a game.
Loot, the Pathfinder is largely a combo deck, built around constantly blinking Loot so it “forgets” it used its exhaust abilities so you’re able to keep using them. It’s very much a blink deck with various combo lines to close out games. If you’re after a very consistent combo deck, Loot, the Pathfinder is the perfect commander for you.
Terror of the Peaks
Helm of the Host
x7 Forest
x8 Island
x6 Mountain
Grapeshot
Yavimaya Coast
The decklistcontains 21 creatures, seven sorceries, 18 instants, 17 artifacts, two enchantments,and34 lands. Many of the cards help to blink your creatures, create copies, or are counterspells.
Key Cards
Loot, The Pathfinder
Loot, the Pathfinderis what the entire deck is built around. You have a ton of options for what you can do with Loot, be itramp quickly, deal some burn damage, or draw three cards. Even without these abilities, Loot has solid keywords to make it great in combat both offensively and defensively.
An exhaust abilitycan only be used once on a creature. Once it’s used, it cannot be used again for the rest of the game unless the creature is removed from the battlefield and returned to it.Using one of the exhaust abilitiesdoes not mean you can’t use the others. Each exhaust ability is separate from the rest.
Generally,you won’t want to or need to use Loot’s burn damageeffect, as the combos will do the burn damage for you. In some cases, it can be used to remove a problem creature. Drawing cards helps you quickly get to your combo pieces whileadding three mana of any color is the main ability used in various combos.
Displacer Kitten
The key to just about every combo in the deck, Displacer Kitten is the best card in the 99.The effect to blink a creaturewhen you cast a noncreature spell is phenomenal, andhow to consistently reset Loot so you can keep using its exhaust abilities.
Since Displacer Kittentriggers every time you cast a noncreature spell, you can loop it with various other cards, primarily the combo ofIsochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal. These two let you cast an infinite number of copies of Dramatic Reversal which in turn gives you an infinite number of Displacer Kitten triggers.
There is alsoa combo with Sensei’s Divining Top and The Reality Chip or Mystic Forgethat lets you draw your whole deck.
Prerequisites
Displacer Kitten and Sensei’s Divining Top are on the battlefield. The Reality Chip is reconfigured onto a creature or Mystic Forge is on the battlefield.Any mana rockthat can produce one mana is on the battlefield.
Step 1
Activate Sensei’s Divining Topto draw a card and put Sensei’s Divining Top on top of your library.
Step 2
Tap your mana rock to add one mana. Use it tocast Sensei’s Divining Topfrom the top of your library.
Repeat steps 1-3for infinite card draw.
Helm Of The Host
Helm of the Hostis the best Equipment for Loot, the Pathfinder as it lets you create multiple copies of it.A copy of Loot will be individual from the original. This means that you can useall the exhaust abilities on the new copy,even if the original had used any of them.
Since Loot’s effects can be used right away, you can immediately use them for whatever you need for any given gamestate. This isone of the times it can be good to use Loot’s burn damage effect, as multiple triggers of it can drain your opponent’s life totals quicker.
Deadeye Navigator
Deadeye Navigatoris one of the key combo pieces with Loot, the Pathfinder.You’ll always want to soulbond with Loot,as this allows Loot to easily blink itself. When it returns to the battlefield, youcan soulbound it to Deadeye Navigator right away.
While Deadeye Navigator does cost a hefty bit of mana to cast, once it’s on the battlefieldyou can generally win the game with it. The main combo with Deadeye Navigator and Loot, the Pathfinder is this:
Haveat least two green mana available. Deadeye Navigator and Loot, the Pathfinder must be paired.
Tap Lootto add three blue mana (using one green mana).
Use the ability granted by Deadeye Navigatorto blink Loot (leaving you with one blue mana leftover).
Loot re-enters the battlefield, letting youpair it with Deadeye Navigatoragain.
Step 4
Activate Loot’s ability to add three green manawith your other green mana (you should have one blue mana and three green mana now).
Step 5
Blink Loot again, using one blue and one green mana (leaving you with two green mana and zero blue mana).
Step 6
Re-bond Loot with Deadeye Navigator. Activate Loot to add three blue mana with one of your floating green mana (leaving you with one green mana and three blue mana).
Step 7
Blink Loot using two blue mana(leaving you with one green mana and one blue mana leftover).
Repeat steps 3-7for infinite enter the battlefield triggers.
How To Play The Deck
A Loot, the Explorer Commander deck isall about comboing off. You want to get to your combo pieces as quickly as possible, as the sooner you do, the quicker you may win the game. Loot’s ability to draw three cardsis an excellent way to get your key cards into your hand, especially when youcopy or clone Loot with other cards like Spark Double and Sakashima the Imposter.
Since your combo is so important,counterspells are vital to keeping the combo safe. You also have cards such as Whispersilk Cloak, Lightning Greaves, and Swiftfoot Boots to help give extra layers of protection to your creatures vital to your combos.
The primary win condition is winning through combo. This is done with infinite blink loops with Impact Tremors, Agate Instigator, and Purphoros, God of the Force all dealing infinite burn damage to go along with it.Alternatively, you can win bycasting an infinite number of spells to use amaxed-out storm countwith Brain Freeze and Grapeshot
Thebiggest weakness of the deck is its lack of sustainability in combat. There aren’t a ton of creatures in the deck, and most of them exist to help your combos as opposed to keep you defended. Counterspells help control the battlefield somewhat, but it is very hard to defend yourself from a large onslaught of multiple attackers.It’s a race to get your combo offbefore your opponents take you out of the game.
