Captain Howler is a BEAST. Assembly instructions inside. (Bracket 3)

This deck is super fun to play. I've spent pretty much every minute of free time I've had over the last 2 weeks fine-tuning this deck list (and extensively testing out some ideas in Arena Brawl to see what works and what doesn't). I've brought a work-in-progress version of it to my LGS twice already and despite some glaring flaws, it's been absolutely killing it.

So here are some of my observations when coming up with a decklist and commentary on what works and what doesn't, in bullet point form (all advice is meta-dependent and might not apply to YOUR environment):

* Slow down. Trying to speed things up leaves you vulnerable to early interaction and you might end up dead in the water (heh). Plan for the long game.

* Big bursts of damage will come almost effortlessly. I've surprised myself quite a few times.

* Avoid playing "do nothing" loot cards. Things like Cathartic Reunion and Tormenting Voice seem like a good idea, but then you're playing what is essentially a storm deck and having little to no impact on the board state, just to pump up your creatures. Instead, play cards that have discard effects attached to whatever else they're trying to do.

* Remember you have 3 opponents. Going in for 25 damage against one opponent is fun, but if it leaves you treading water (heh), then you're no better off. Try to only juice as much as necessary.

* Teferi's Ageless Insight is easily one of the strongest cards in the deck. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone how much work this card can do, but this deck has so much incidental card draw that you will often overfill your hand without even trying.

* Trade Routes. Try it.

* For the 3 game changer cards I chose Ancient Tomb, Cyclonic Rift and Fierce Guardianship. I find it to be a good mix of early ramp, board clear and protection. Some alternative GC I could recommend would be: Chrome Mox and/or Mox Diamond, The One Ring and Force of Will. I choose not to play Force of Will personally because in THIS deck in particular, finding a spare blue card to exile from hand can be rough at times. Definitely would slot it in for more cut-throat pods. Mox Diamond and/or Chrome Mox are fantastic additions to the deck considering the number of important 2mv creatures the deck plays. Being able to essentially move ahead one whole turn on your game plan/sequence is really valuable.

* Speaking of game plan, most often I find myself playing a utility/evasive creature on turn 2, a good setup or engine piece on turn 3 and then my commander on turn 4 or 5 (depending on whether I need to have spare mana or not). Those early creatures are so low impact they should rarely eat removal until after they've done their damage.

* (Some) vehicles can be very helpful. Sitting in play and avoiding removal until the turn you cast your commander, crew them and attack can turn a game around. HOWEVER! I have significantly reduced the number of vehicles I was originally running from 11 down to 3. I love my boats, but I found they were a little too costly to play and were usually the first cards I decided to discard. After a dozen games of never casting one and choosing to just ditch them instead, I realized I'd rather have cards i feel more conflicted about discarding and cut most of them out.

* Double Strike does a lot of work. Doubling damage is nice, but doubling the draw triggers from Captain Howler is enormous.

That's all I can think of for my disorganized rambling, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask! I hope this deck is helpful to anyone looking to build Howler.