Gladiator — The Thumb and the Crowd

Commanded by Maximus Decimus Meridius, this Naya (red/green/white) 100-Card Commander Deck follows a general who is betrayed, sold in Zucchabar and put on the sand, where the only power he has left is the one the stands give him. Both films are here: Commodus, Lucilla, Marcus Aurelius, Proximo, Juba, Hagen, Tigris of Gaul, Quintus, Gracchus and Cicero, then Lucius Verus as Hanno, Macrinus, General Acacius, the twin emperors Geta and Caracalla, Ravi, the rhinoceros and the baboons. Maximus has vigilance, both of the deck's keywords, and gets one extra acclaim counter every time you get any.

• Crowd-Pleaser: printed on twelve cards, including the Gladiator Recruit token. Whenever the creature fights or deals combat damage to a creature whose power is greater than its own, you get an acclaim counter — win or lose. The deck wants small, tough gladiators (Murmillo Veteran, Endure the Blow, The Spaniard's Armour) and ways to start fights (Win the Crowd, Tiger Pits of the Colosseum, The Colosseum).
• Thumbs: printed on fourteen cards. When the creature damages an opponent's creature and it survives, its controller chooses: Mercy taps it and you draw a card, Death destroys it and you get an acclaim counter. Lucilla rewards Mercy, Lucius Verus rewards Death, Geta and Caracalla give you the other reward too, and Commodus, at five acclaim, takes the thumb away from the table and chooses himself.
• The Crowd: acclaim counters stay on you and pay for abilities. One untaps a creature (The Emperor's Box), two recall the dead (Lucilla), three make Maximus fight, five return a creature to the battlefield (Marcus Aurelius), and twenty, on The Rudis of Freedom, win the game.

Why Naya

Red is the fight — the sword, the tigers, the fire arrows of Germania. Green is the body and the beasts, and the farmer from Trujillo. White is Rome as an institution — the Senate, the Praetorians, the imperial box, the vote of the crowd. Two combos finish the game: Bread and Circuses (Juba, Numidian Hunter + The Emperor's Box + Bread and Circuses) drains each opponent on every loop, and The Games Never End (Cassius, Master of the Games + Praetorian Turncoats) makes endless hasty 3/3s that steal permanents. The Aurelian Seal, Imperial Signet and Grain Ships from Egypt ramp; Bought in the Slave Market tutors; Thrown to the Tigers, Pollice Verso and The Emperor's Verdict remove threats; The Battle of Carthage and Unleash Hell sweep the board.

A complete 100-card Commander deck plus 4 tokens, tuned for Bracket 4, available as a digital print-yourself edition or a printed physical deck, and offered in 10 languages.