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Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is one of the many legendary creatures found inMagic: The Gathering’sFinal Fantasy set. Acting as the main antagonist of Final Fantasy 9, Kuja wreaks havoc and pulls the strings on many of the game’s events. Kuja can also create Black Mages from mist, something seen in his effect to create black Wizard tokens.
If you want to build a deck around Black Mages (0/1 Wizard tokens that do burn damage when you cast a noncreature spell), then Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is the perfect commander for the archetype. Kuja is a great mixture of control and burn, so if those are appealing to you, look no further than Kuja for your commander.
Go for the Throat
x12 Mountain
Sulfurous Springs
x10 Swamp
The decklist contains16 creatures, ten sorceries, 23 instants, 11 artifacts, five enchantments,and34 lands. The creature count is light since Kuja generates tokens on its own, with noncreature spells being very important, hence the high amount of them.
Key Cards
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer is an easy way toconstantly produce black Wizard tokens, which this deck wants as many as possible on the battlefield. As such, youwant Kuja on the battlefield as quickly as possible to start getting the most out of his effect. Kuja is relatively cheap, so this is easily done.
When Kuja flips to Trance Kuja,all your Wizards deal more damage. This doesn’t just apply to your black Wizard tokens, but any Wizard you control, andapplies to both noncombat and combat damage, making them great attackers as well.
Trance Kuja is a Wizard itself, so if you deal damage with it, you’ll deal eight damage instead of just four.
Harmonic Prodigy
Harmonic Prodigy is the best creature in the deck, as it’llmake all your Shaman and Wizard creatures double up on their effects. If you have only five black Wizard tokens, it makes them deal a total of ten damage with just one noncreature spell.
Notably,Kuja is a Wizard itself, which means Harmonic Prodigy makes it easier to flip Kuja to Trance Kuja and provideeven more token generation.Nearly every creature in the deck is a Shaman or Wizard, allowing Harmonic Prodigy to support about every creature you have.
Whip Of Erebos
With yourblack Mage tokens, it’s the creatures themselves that are dealing damageto your opponents. So, if you give them lifelink, not only will they burn, but you’ll also gain life from that burn damage.
This is why Whip of Erebos is so important.You have rather low defenses,so Whip of Erebos is a great way to gain back all the life you’re likely to lose in the early stages of the game. In a pinch, itcan be used for a one-turn reanimationof an important creature you might need to close out a game.
Storm-Kiln Artist
If you’re playing a deck that plays a ton of spells, Storm-Kiln Artist is going to be one of the best cards you can play. Itcreates a token for every instant or sorcery spell cast or copied, allowing you to get a ton of “free” spells if they only cost one mana, since theyleave behind a Treasure token.
In addition to being a generically good card, Storm-Kiln Artist isalso involved with an infinite combo with Haze of Rage. This not only gives you infinite Treasure tokens, but if you control even one black Wizard token, you can deal infinite burn damage. Here’s how the combo works.
Step
Prerequisites
Storm-Kiln Artist on the battlefield, Haze of Rage in hand, three red and one generic mana available. Three spells cast previously, so storm count is three.
Step 1
Cast Haze of Rage, using the extra two mana to useits buyback abilityto return it to hand after it resolves.
Step 2
Storm-Kiln Artist triggers,creating Treasure tokens equal to the number of copiesit makes from storm, as well as from its initial cast.
Step 3
Resolve Haze of Rage, giving all your creatures +1/+0 until end of turn.
Repeat steps 1-3.
Results
Infinite Treasure tokens, infinite noncreature spell casts, infinite burn (if a creature that deals damage when a noncreature spell is cast is on the battlefield), infinite power for all creatures you control.
How To Play The Deck
A Kuja, Genome Sorcerer Commander deck isbuilt around flooding the battlefield with black Wizard tokens and casting as many noncreature spells as possible to deal as much burn damage as you can (and as quickly as possible). There is a ton of burn damage from permanents, along with cards like Lightning Bolt, Boltwave, and Play With Fire to do more direct damage.
Permanents that cause extra damage to be taken are extremely important for closing games out quickly. City on Fire, Gratuitous Violence, and Fiery Emancipation are all great ways to do so, along with Trance Kuja.
Thedeck does not have many creatures naturally, so you’ll have low defenses. You can counteract this with Young Pyromancerto make more tokens, with Queen Brahne and Kuja, Genome Sorcerer able to make tokens as well, albeit much slower. However,your life total doesn’t matter, as you only care about burning your opponents' life totals down in big bursts.
Youwant to use your removal spells to keep your opponents off their big threats. Since you need to be careful about your life total, youwant to focus on creatures with high attackas opposed to ones with low power, as those will often take a while until they become a problem (if they even do at all).
Win Condition And Weaknesses
Theprimary win condition of Kuja is through burn damage. With how many black Wizard tokens you’ll be making, this is easily accomplished. Many noncreature spells only cost one mana, allowing you to cast multiple in a turn for huge amounts of damage by chaining noncreature spells together once you have a battlefield of mages.
Thebiggest weakness of the deck is its low defenses. There aren’t a ton of creatures, and the permanents that create tokens create ones with weak stats that only act as chump blockers. As such, you’ll never be winning with combat damage, soyour only real path to victory is with burn damage.
