Mastering the Tinybones: Bauble Burglar Commander Deck Guide

Tinybones, Bauble Burglar is a monocolor black commander introduced in the Magic: The Gathering Foundations set. While it is limited to one color, this card offers a lot of versatility by incorporating elements of theft and forced discard strategies.

Building a Tinybones, Bauble Burglar Commander deck is ideal for players who enjoy using their opponents’ own cards against them, winning with their strategies instead of relying solely on their own. This unique theft approach allows you to select the cards you’re taking by removing them directly from your opponents’ hands.

Decklist

The deck features one planeswalker, 25 creatures, 15 sorceries, three instants, 12 artifacts, nine enchantments, and 34 lands. Most of the cards revolve around forcing your opponents to discard or benefiting from discarded cards.

Key Cards

Tinybones, Bauble Burglar

The commander of this deck, Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, is crucial for turning discarded cards into spells you can play later. To exile cards with stash counters, Tinybones must be on the field. If it gets removed, those cards will simply go to the graveyard.

Tinybones, Bauble Burglar enables you to cast any spells exiled with stash counters using any color of mana. As Tinybones has low attack and toughness, it’s best not to use it for attacking. Instead, focus on utilizing its ability to force opponents to discard cards.

Waste Not

Waste Not serves as one of your main tools to gain an advantage while your opponents’ hands deplete. It can generate card draw, create 2/2 tokens, or provide mana ramp, depending on what your opponents discard when they have to.

The real power of Waste Not lies in its ability to trigger for each card discarded. If an opponent discards two cards, Waste Not activates twice, giving you plenty of value. There are multiple options to force all opponents to discard multiple cards, maximizing the benefits from Waste Not.

Chain of Smog

Chain of Smog has the potential to leave all players without cards in hand. The target of Chain of Smog can choose to copy it, leading them to make another player discard two cards. This chain reaction can continue until no one retains any cards in their hand.

The only drawback is that whoever you target could target you with a copy of the spell. Still, this often allows you to target someone else to force more discards and gather additional cards for exile. You don’t need to worry about your hand since casting spells from exile is your objective, making having an empty hand less significant in a Tinybones deck.

Bandit’s Talent

Many of the ways to force discard can also cause you to discard cards. Although you can operate without a hand due to Tinybones, Bandit’s Talent allows you to convert your opponents’ empty hands into card draws for yourself. It provides you with an extra card for each opponent having one or fewer cards in their hands. Consequently, if all three opponents have one or no cards, you’ll gain three additional cards during your draw step.

Bandit’s Talent requires at least one discard from each opponent, and if they lack a nonland card, they have to discard two instead. At level two, you can start regaining the lost life since the deck has limited defensive measures.

How to Play the Deck

A Tinybones, Bauble Burglar Commander deck focuses on discarding your opponents’ cards and using them for your advantage. Since you have access to any color of mana, the deck benefits from extra mana sources to ensure you always have ample resources. Thieving Varmint can also tap itself to give you two mana of any color, as long as it’s used for casting spells you don’t own.

The best cards for forcing discard are those that affect everyone. Cards such as Dark Deal, Delirium Skeins, and Rankle’s Prank require all players to discard, while Let’s Play A Game, Syphon Mind, and Tasigur’s Cruelty focus only on your opponents.

Since you’ll also be discarding cards, it’s beneficial to include a few draw mechanics in the deck (though not essential). Waste Not and Bandit’s Talent can serve as conditional draws, Hostile Investigator turns discards into Clue tokens, and Tergrid, God of Fright brings discarded permanents directly to your side of the board.

The primary strategy of this deck is to earn victory through superior value. You aim to cut your opponents off from their essential game-winning cards and combos by forcing them to discard, leaving them with little to no options. Meanwhile, you utilize the cards exiled with stash counters, further solidifying your advantage.

One of the biggest challenges for this deck is its limited defenses. Though you can make your opponents discard numerous cards, if creatures are played against you, you won’t have much protection. Your defense heavily relies on the quality of cards you steal from opponents; if you end up with weak creatures, your board strength will falter, making you a target for enemy attacks.