Gonti, Canny Acquisitor leads a "theft" deck: a swarm of cheap evasive creatures connects with opponents every turn. Each hit triggers Gonti, Canny Acquisitor and a stack of similar "deals combat damage to a player" effects that exile cards off the top of opponents' libraries for the deck to play. Gonti, Canny Acquisitor and the other cost reducers make stolen spells cheaper, Felix Five-Boots doubles every combat-damage trigger, and bounce, top-of-library tricks and graveyard manipulation decide which cards get stolen. How it wins: Unblockable chip damage turns into an overwhelming card and mana advantage by playing opponents' best cards against them, and it closes with pumped attackers (Beastmaster Ascension, Cazur) or a big Villainous Wealth turn. Key roles: - Evasive connectors: A wide spread of cheap unblockable, shadow, fear and flying creatures, plus evasion enablers, make sure combat-damage triggers fire every turn, often several per combat (Slither Blade, Tormented Soul, Invisible Stalker). - Combat-damage theft and draw triggers: Extra copies of the Gonti, Canny Acquisitor effect and card-draw triggers on hits, doubled by Felix Five-Boots, turn each connection into multiple stolen or drawn cards (Felix Five-Boots, Gonti, Night Minister, Edric, Spymaster of Trest). - Steal-and-cast spells: Spells and enter-the-battlefield effects take cards from opponents' hands, libraries, graveyards or battlefields to play with any mana (Villainous Wealth, Hostage Taker, Outrageous Robbery). - Top-deck setup: Effects that put creatures or cards on top of an opponent's library, or counter spells back onto it, both answer threats and choose exactly what the next hit will steal (Time Ebb, Memory Lapse, Misinformation). - Stolen-spell cost engine: Discounts and special mana for casting cards not owned or cast from exile stack with Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, and Gonti, Night Minister supplies Treasure, making stolen cards nearly free (Thieving Varmint, Savvy Trader, Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius). - Go-wide finishers: Attack-based anthems and counters turn the small evasive crew into lethal threats (Beastmaster Ascension, Cazur, Ruthless Stalker).

Gonti, Canny Acquisitor decklist

• Access Tunnel
• Anchor to the Aether
• Aqueous Form
• Arcane Heist
• Arcane Signet
• Beastmaster Ascension
• Bident of Thassa
• Black Cat, Cunning Thief
• Cazur, Ruthless Stalker
• Changeling Outcast
• Command Tower
• Covetous Urge
• Creeping Tar Pit
• Cruelclaw's Heist
• Cultivate
• Darkwater Catacombs
• Dauthi Horror
• Dimir Infiltrator
• Dimir Signet
• Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius
• Dream-Thief's Bandana
• Dreamroot Cascade
• Drown in the Loch
• Drowned Catacomb
• Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• Enter the Enigma
• Exotic Orchard
• Extraordinary Journey
• Farseek
• Feed the Swarm
• Felix Five-Boots
• 5× Forest
• Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• Gonti, Night Minister
• Gríma, Saruman's Footman
• Growth Spiral
• Heartless Conscription
• Hinder
• Hinterland Harbor
• Hostage Taker
• Invisible Stalker
• 4× Island
• Kotis, the Fangkeeper
• Llanowar Wastes
• Memory Lapse
• Misinformation
• Mist-Cloaked Herald
• Nightveil Specter
• One with Nature
• Opal Palace
• Opulent Palace
• Outrageous Robbery
• Overflowing Basin
• Overgrown Tomb
• Phantasmal Image
• Predators' Hour
• Rampant Growth
• Reconnaissance Mission
• Rogue Class
• Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Savvy Trader
• Shadowmage Infiltrator
• Shoreline Looter
• Silent Hallcreeper
• Silhana Ledgewalker
• Simic Signet
• Siphon Insight
• Siren Stormtamer
• Slither Blade
• Sol Ring
• Sunken Hollow
• 5× Swamp
• Swiftfoot Boots
• Tear Asunder
• Temporal Spring
• Thalakos Sentry
• Thief of Sanity
• Thieving Skydiver
• Thieving Varmint
• Time Ebb
• Tormented Soul
• Triton Shorestalker
• Underground River
• Villainous Wealth
• Viridescent Bog
• Watery Grave
• Whisk Away
• Woodland Cemetery
• Wretched Confluence
• Yavimaya Coast
• Cunning Rhetoric