The 9 Most Ridiculous EDH Meme Decks Based on Art

Last updated on December 11, 2025

Swords to Plowshares | Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

Three quarters of the people at any EDH table lose the game. But what if I told you there were more ways to win than you think?

You already know this, though, don’t you? You know you’ve got that pet deck that is just fun to play but doesn’t quite work. Maybe it’s cephalid/octopus typal or all old border cards or “CARDNAME typal” where every card name is formatted as “X of Y”. And you win just by hanging out with your friends and playing something that makes you smile.

Today we’re going to explore some of the decks that make me smile through art memes. Along the way we’ll highlight some of the best cards so that you can see if any of these decks have what it takes to win a table, because the only thing better than playing a meme deck is winning with one!

What Are Art Meme Decks?

Yargle, Glutton of Urborg (Multiverse Legends) | Illustration by Serena Malyon

An art meme deck is an EDH deck based on a coherent theme in the cards’ art. It can be limited to creatures or can extend to other card types, often based on what’s possible in the span of what can be found in MTG art.

In some ways, it all started with Tejai Wallace, a brewer who goes by “TransientJesus”, and his “Ladies Looking Left” brews. He told Draftsim that “Chair Tribal” was a thing people had heard about, but that the origins of this, for him, was a bit of luck:

The idea originally came from a fit of boredom at my LGS. I was hanging out with a friend and talking about how I haven’t found anything interesting to build lately for EDH, and he proposed a challenge. He would select a random card from his binder and I would have to build a deck with ‘cards like that’. The initial card chosen was Eternal Witness.

And that developed into “Ladies Looking Left”, which Wallace posted to Reddit (here’s an example deck post), and the meme deck did what memes do and spread.

Scryfall’s art tags project makes this all easier to research, and for that we give a shoutout to Scryfall and the Scryfall supporters who tag the cards. You can search for art commonalities to think up new brews. I’ve also scoured Reddit and done a stack of searches to uncover meme decks, both fresh and not so much, to inspire your creativity and love of the game. Enjoy!

#9. Chairs!

Entirely Normal Armchair | Illustration by Tom Babbey

The mythical ur-meme itself! Here’s a classic version. Most that I’ve found seem to be centered on Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, because of course they are. That’s perhaps the most epic chair in MTG, and it looks like what Oloro sat in when he sliced Thanos in half (not canon!)

The deck is full of people sitting on chairs, including creatures and noncreatures alike. There's also a nice suite of Thrones, from Dragon Throne of Tarkir to the old school Throne of Bone.

Best Cards

Here’s a few of the good cards. They don’t really synergize, and that’s kinda the tough part for this deck.

It’s gotta be the art by Izzy of the guy puking gold from his chair. Greed is good, for black decks anyway. Card draw in black always comes with a price, and lots of black decks actually want a bit of life loss while they’re at it!

Let’s go, stax! Maybe Grand Arbiter Augustin IV just wants to slow the game down because they're tired and want to sit for a spell. Augustin's gotta be super old, after all, so slow down, you darn kids! And stay off his lawn!

Sai, Master Thopterist is a key piece of most artifact decks that run blue. I never noticed they're sitting down before even though I have like six copies of this card, and Sai’s obviously sitting. I guess I’m just always looking at those hand.

#8. Angry Harrison Ford – Pointy Typal

Alistair, the Brigadier | Illustration by Thanh Tuan

It’s one of Ford’s famous go-tos for being angry, and I’ve always wanted a deck that can play Abbey Matron. Aji has one led by Saskia the Unyielding. But I’m not sure this deck plays.

I think something with Alistair, the Brigadier would be better. The artifacts synergies wouldn’t be there, but the pay 8 mode is pretty fun (also impossible, but do you remember what you’re reading?). It allows you to play blue cards, and I’m excited about it because of the iconic Spider-Man image in Impostor Syndrome! There’s also Opposition if you wanna be that person, and loads of UW soldiers like Prince Imrahil the Fair and Yotian Tactician.

Also, I’m playing Soldevi Heretic in this deck. You can’t stop me.

#7. Ladies Looking Left

Tazri, Beacon of Unity | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Ladies Looking Left caught on, and lots of players are now iterating on the theme. Arguably all art meme decks have this invention to thank for their origins.

The idea is simple. All the cards except for lands have female figures looking left, from creatures like Coralhelm Guide to planeswalkers like Kiora, the Crashing Wave, and even other cards types: enchantments like Abundance, sorceries like Primal Growth, instants like Chain of Vapor, and even an artifact in Paradise Mantle. You have to make sure a card with multiple arts like Swords to Plowshares uses the correct version, in this case the Ice Age print with art by Kaja Foglio.

How does the deck work? A Bant () build uses Jenara, Asura of War as a general, and folks also brew with Tazri, Beacon of Unity for a 5-color commander. Within that it’s pretty much just a pile of cards. All these decks are, to some extent. As the years go on and more cards are printed there are more options and better decks, but this isn’t likely to win a lot.

Best Cards

I usually want Knight of Autumn in my Selesnya () decks, but this slot is really about picking a lot of cards that are answers in this art space. It’s hard to build a deck with real synergies that work, so you have to increase your chances to get lucky.

You need the Junji Ito print of Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, but I don’t have to convince you that it’s a powerful card in Commander!

Traditionally used in the 99 in this deck, there are now hundreds of cards that would fit this deck in Selesnya colors, and many of those are legends, so maybe it’s time for Captain Sisay to take the helm?

#6. Kaiju! – Larger than Landscape

Illuna, Apex of Wishes (Ghidorah, King of the Cosmos) | Illustration by Nicholas Gregory

This has been on my radar for a while, but I couldn’t get a handle on the numbers until recently, now that there are enough big Simic monsters () to work. There are lots of giant things across colors, like Erebos, God of the Dead and spells like Dictate of the Twin Gods, but not a good way to pull it together with all the colors. A good meme deck shouldn’t waste everyone’s time at the table!

But now we have over 100 huge things across the Simic colors, and of course the idea of giant monsters coming out of the water like the Kraken in Clash of the Titans or any version of Godzilla hits the mark right on the head. I’m still working on my list though, sorry!

You have some choices of commander here. Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is perfect in every way, except it’s one of the most popular and powerful Simic commanders, and you don’t really want that kind of attention at the table. You can use any version of Koma, perhaps, but on theme, I’d choose Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle. It feels really good that you can’t see it and that the mechanic of the card has you wait for it to emerge. It also makes the non-gigantic looking ramp cards you’ll have to play feel alright as you quietly ramp for a while. I know the ramp cards will be off theme, so there’s a downside to this one, but there’s no way to do it otherwise.

Best Cards

This plays close enough to a normal battlecruiser Commander deck from like 2014, so the best cards are kind of flashbacks to an earlier, more innocent time. Maybe?

There are other blue cards that bounce the table or tap them down. Kederekt Leviathan and Cyclone Summoner are just the classics. Bouncing or tapping are about the only ways to win, usually, although that honestly won’t come often.

Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is another good way to do the thing, as is old faithful, Craterhoof Behemoth.

You can think of any number of giant Eldrazi beaters or Simic powerhouses across formats like Emrakul, the Promised End and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. Most of them are giant monsters that fit the deck!

#5. Closed Fists!

Taigam's Strike | Illustration by David Gaillet

As I started looking at the art tags on Scryfall I just started listing out all the poses I could think of. Looking up and down is kind of unsatisfying because sometimes it’s eyeballs looking, sometimes heads, sometimes bodies. It just doesn’t cohere the way my meme brain would like.

But closed fists? Yes, those are things. And, welp, they just happen to appear on a lot of aggressive Boros cards (), which, ya know, fists: Boros Charm.

You have to use Neyali, Suns' Vanguard as the commander to do Boros, which doesn’t synergize perfectly with the deck (yet!). But there are a lot of aggressive Boros creatures you can use, like Jaxis, the Troublemaker, a smattering of planeswalkers, and lots of pump spells like Antagonize and Infuriate.

There’s not enough to really finish the deck unless you want to run mostly spells without fists on them or open the theme to grabbing stuff, though that sort of defeats the intentions.

Best Cards

But if you’re trying to nail the theme, there’s a few good cards in here.

Want some Treasures? Professional Face-Breaker has plans for your face if you don’t. Care to try that again, bub?

Response // Resurgence gives a very clear feel to this deck.

You can borrow Moraug, Fury of Akoum from your Isshin, Two Heavens as One deck.

#4. Send Feet Pics

Crush Underfoot | Illustration by Stteven Belledin

Don’t blame us. Brewer Xyre called the deck that, so well, that’s where we are.

You get it, by now. Xyre’s deck is a 5-color stampede led by Karona, False God, which feels a little off. The feet are barely emphasized! Given the vast amount of nekkid hobbit feet we dealt with in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth there’s likely to be a better commander (and plenty of other cards for the 99!).

might choose Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion along with background Popular Entertainer. It’s another creature-heavy Boros deck, including lots of goblins and giants because they usually don’t wear shoes. I’d also follow Xyre’s lead and include footwear equipment like Swiftfoot Boots and Trailblazer's Boots.

Best Cards

You actually get some removal in this deck. Chained to the Rocks is fine spot removal. If elephant feet count, you can lump in Generous Gift.

Karmic Guide is still a solid value play, but you have to go back to the Urza’s Legacy art by Heather Hudson to get bare feet.

#3. Flower Power

Mayael the Anima | Illustration by Jason Chan

There are a few hundred cards with flowers in them in MTG. I feel like I’m honor bound to use Mayael the Anima as a commander for this deck, because just look at that art!

But I think this’ll have to be a subtype of a faerie deck to work, at least so far. That likely means running Oona, Queen of the Fae and focusing only on faerie and support cards with flowers in them. It turns out that’s not as hard as it might seem, but this is still a powered down faerie deck with the flower restriction because you lose typical inclusions like Glen Elendra Liege.

Best Cards

You can add some darkhorse non-fairies to use your commander’s abilities to anchor some kind of Dimir () control deck. Search for Azcanta / Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin and Emry, Lurker of the Loch have flowers, for example. You can also use some more classic faerie cards.

Maybe not as good in Commander as it was in its reign of Standard terror, Vendilion Clique is a still a card worth running.

Always nice to have a Control Magic around for emergencies. Sower of Temptation is more fragile, but it looks cool, so there’s that.

This classic is named after a flower, so of course Bitterblossom fits, as does its callback version, Bitterbloom Bearer.

#2. Suitors Staring Starboard

Torens, Fist of the Angels | Illustration by Justine Cruz

This is a bit of an abandoned project from TransientJesus, but I think I found the solution in Crimson Vow (and it might be the same solution as with the Ladies deck): Selesnya. Choose Torens, Fist of the Angels as your leader and pack the deck with low-to-the-ground Selesnya soup that takes advantage of its support for tokens and +1/+1 counters.

Best Cards

Our #1 outlast card is back! Abzan Falconer makes most of your Selesnya board fly. ‘Nuff said.

You want the Jesper Ejsing version of this classic removal spell to be on theme. Green decks don’t like to leave home without Beast Within.

See? These meme decks aren’t all bad. You know Esper Sentinel is the business!

#1. T-Pose

Niv-Mizzet Reborn | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

Seemingly invented by jacobsh97, this “Asserting Dominance” deck works perhaps the best of all these decks. A superpowered meme deck that arose right out of meme culture, this deck almost begs you to engage in some Amy Cuddy-style power posing right when you sit down, which might be a problem at your table. Assert your dominance in a more contained and restrained way, maybe?

Aptly commanded by Niv-Mizzet Reborn for the five colors and the “come at me, bro” pose, there are a lot of cards in this deck that synergize with Niv’s color requirements, like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician and Savra, Queen of the Golgari.

With this deck you have to choose between the thematic intensity of T-posing like the art on Chromatic Armor, the Chad vibes on Enslave, or cards that just work better in a game like the Andrew Goldhawk Absorb, Aurelia's Fury, and Guided Passage.

Best Cards

Not all of these cleanly synergize with Niv-Mizzet. Honorable mention to Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, of course, in the standard Martina Fackova artwork.

Another honorable mention to a set of Rakdos cards () that could be another build of this deck when we get a few more options printed:

• Judith, the Scourge Diva
• Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• Mayhem Devil
• Theater of Horrors

Iroas, God of Victory is kinda okay in a Niv deck, and the thematic prowess is on point.

This Cube build-around is good in Commander, too, though this deck gives new context. Is Hostage Taker asserting its dominance and we follow just 'cause? I know they've got a sword to the throat, but still.

I know, Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is kinda sketch, but when you flip to Nicol Bolas, the Arisen, Nicky B is def your huckleberry.

You know how broken Omnath, Locus of Creation is across formats. You could legit do a T-pose deck helmed by Omnath and be happy. The trouble is that you might be a target of folks who don’t believe you’re running a charming meme deck with such an OP commander. Omnath, Locus of All may very well put you in the same boat once that starts to see play.

Depending on the art you could always run another Omnath if you like, although you could end up in pedantic T-pose arguments given that Omnath has four arms and tends to do more of an X-pose.

Are Art Meme Decks Good?

No, not in a typical sense.

Look, if your goal is to win, then no. If your goal is to have some fun and have the best victory of your Commander life if you can scrounge a win with one of these, then yes, absolutely.

Wrap Up

Fblthp, the Lost | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

I’ve got my eye on a couple of potential decks that don’t quite have the pieces together yet:

• It’s Alive!: A Grixis Laboratory Deck – Almost there with Norman Osborn, but this deck is one where every card should fit the bill, including instants and sorceries, because we’re like one horror set away from getting there. I’m a purist on this one. Patience!
• Backlit – There are enough cards in Boros () to sleeve this one, but it’s almost an angels deck that isn’t really fun to use. Believe me, I’ve tried.
• Dress for Success! Scryfall tags show us 11 different colors of dresses we can work with. Do you know which color of dress is rarest in MTG art? Yellow! (Hard act to follow Alpha’s Creature Bond art by Anson Maddocks).
• Dr. Teeth and the MTG Mayhem! This one doesn’t have a commander yet, especially given all the horrific dentistry on Phyrexia: All Will Be One white cards.

And then there’s the dabbing deck, which at this point may never have enough cards. Check out the Scryfall tagger and see if you can find inspiration. There’s a lot there. I can’t see making a deck out of cards that all have vases in them, but that might be exactly your jam.

Commander and MTG deckbuilding is a creative outlet for a lot of us, and as Commander decks get more powerful, we’re all at risk of doing what streamer Jeff Hoogland talks about as one of the key mistakes of cards gamers, optimizing the fun out of our game. It’s good to remember to have fun and practice losing with grace and no salt.

Which EDH meme decks would you want to build? Which ones do you like just in concept? Let me know in the comments below, or join the discussion over in the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time!