Did You Make It To Your LGS for Magic Presents: Pride? Here’s What You Might’ve Missed (Plus, My Janky Decklists!)
Okay, I know I’m a little late to the party, but if you’ve clicked on this article, chances are you agree: Pride isn’t just something we celebrate for a month. It’s a daily act of respect, visibility, and joy. That’s exactly what Magic Presents: Pride aimed to highlight in the final weekend of June at local game stores around the country. I played at my local card shop, Baseball & Games in Hesperia, CA and it had good vibes all around (they only had a limited amount of the Chromatic Lantern cards so sadly I didn't get one).
Did you catch it? Maybe you played and want to see what others experienced, or maybe you missed it and want to know what went down. Either way, I’m here to share my time at the event… and yes, my decklists too.
What Is Magic Presents: Pride?
Wizards of the Coast launched this event as a way to show support and celebrate inclusivity in the Magic community. The highlight being a giveaway of a gorgeous, limited-edition foil Chromatic Lantern (provided your local card shop had them) and a unique, limited-time Commander game mode: Pride Commander.
In Pride Commander, every Legendary Creature gains the "Partner" ability, which opens up some incredibly fun, chaotic, and creative deckbuilding possibilities. The format encourages expression, experimentation, and good vibes all around.
As someone who builds mostly jank and meme decks, I was thriving. I don’t care much about winning—just about having a good time, trying wild combos, and seeing what weird interactions I can pull off. And this format? It was perfect for that.
If you missed the event, don’t worry, you can still recreate it with your pod. Host your own Pride Night. Try the Partner-everything rule. I promise it’ll be a blast.
My Decks: Jank, Memes, and a Little Bit of Sparkle
I brought two decks to the event: one focused on artifact value with built-in protection, and one that I call my Twilight Deck—a Werewolf/Vampire tribal mashup that’s as goofy as it sounds.
Deck 1: Artifact Value Engine
MTG Pride: Artifact Value Decklist
This deck revolves around Mendicant Core, Guidelight and Winter, Cursed Rider. It’s basically an Aetherdrift engine designed to snowball into absurd value.
Mendicant Core scales its power with the number of artifacts you control. Once you're at Max Speed, you can pay just one mana to copy any artifact you play.
Winter protects your board by giving all artifacts Ward – Pay 2 life, turning every targeted removal into a little punishment.
The goal is simple:
Get Mendicant Core out by Turn 2
Flood the board with artifacts
Hit Max Speed and start doubling down
Use a few removal spells or tricks to push through for lethal
If you want to spice things up, try adding effects to make Mendicant unblockable. That’ll really seal the deal.
Deck 2: The Twilight Deck
This one’s a pure meme. No shame. I watched Twilight for the first time (yeah… finally), and with Innistrad Remastered offering a treasure trove of Vampires and Werewolves, I thought—why not?
So I had Arlin Kord lead the werewolf side, and Olivia Voldaren lead the vampire side. It’s a Vampire/Werewolf tribal deck. The idea is just to go wide with bloodsuckers and howlers, and if things go sideways, hopefully Olivia Voldaren can bite something big and swing the momentum.
There’s no real wincon here aside from bashing your opponents enough times. It’s not optimized. It’s not competitive. It’s Twilight. You get what you came for.
One last thing, the first thing you should probably upgrade in this deck, is add some Dual lands.
Final Thoughts
Magic Presents: Pride was a breath of fresh air. It was fun, inclusive, lighthearted, and gave players permission to break out of their usual deckbuilding mold. It’s a celebration of identity and creativity, and I hope WotC keeps events like this going.
Even if you missed the official event, the spirit of Pride Commander can live on at your table. Break out those janky legendaries, give everyone Partner, and build something wild.
And hey—if you end up playing one of my decks (or building your own meme masterpiece), let me know how it goes!
